Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.
Source: http://greenvilleonline.com/article/20130430/NEWS03/304300019/-1/rss
bolton muamba crystal cathedral sxsw st. patrick s day brandon lloyd brandon lloyd celtic thunder
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Nurse Manager III - Pediatric and Adolescent Behavioral Health ...
Intermountain Home Care is currently seeking to employ Nurse Manager III - Pediatric and Adolescent Behavioral Health on Mon, 29 Apr 2013 23:41:43 GMT. This position is responsible for providing management and oversight of daily Nursing activities to the Pediatric and Adolescent Behavioral Health Unit and the outpatient Day Treatment. He/she will work in partnership with Nursing leadership and other facility management and departments to ensure the provision of optimal patient care, attainment of financial goals, and development of leaders. Job...
Location: Ogden, Utah
Description: Intermountain Home Care is currently seeking to employ Nurse Manager III - Pediatric and Adolescent Behavioral Health right now, this vacancy will be dwelled in Utah. More complete informations about this vacancy opportunity please read the description below. This position is responsible for providing management and oversight of daily Nursing activities to the P! ediatric and Adolescent Behavioral Health Unit and the outpatient Day Treatment. He/she will work in partnership with Nursing leadership and other facility management and departments to ensure the provision of optimal patient care, attainment of financial goals, and development of leaders.
Job Essentials:
Leadership:
Responsible for the environment in which clinical nursing is practiced. Contributes to the strategic planning process, day-to-day operations, standards of care, and attainment of organizational goals. Facilitates collaborative problem solving among interdepartmental disciplines. Advocates for and allocates available resources to promote efficient, effective, safe and compassionate nursing care based on current standards of practice. Promotes shared decision-making and professional autonomy by providing department input into executive-level decisions, and by keeping staff informed of executive level activities. Implements and role ! models the vision, mission, core values of the Nursing Philoso! phy of CARING and Intermountain Healthcare's Healing Commitments.
Operational Effectiveness:
Responsible for development, implementation and management of annual capital/operating and personnel (FTE) budget for department. Uses resources effectively and manages expenses to meet financial goals of department.
Employee Engagement:
Models and fosters an environment of professionalism and employee engagement on the department. Responsible for recruitment, retention, and employee satisfaction. Ensures competent and sufficient number of staff to meet patient care needs, which includes hiring, orientation, and managing staffing to a changing census. Ensure that new skill training and ongoing competency verification is completed annually. Evaluate staff competency through use of performance reviews and peer reviews. Mentors staff and provide professional educational opportunities. Utilizes participative practice management models.
Clinical Excellence:
Responsible for department performance and compliance with patient safety initiatives, federal, state and other regulatory bodies such as Joint Commission, OSHA, CMS, DOPL, and other department specific accrediting and certifying bodies. Ensures achievement of clinical program goals and implements action plans to improve performance as needed. Effectively uses professional and organizational best practices to ensure the delivery of quality patient care. Participating member of a professional nursing organization appropriate to position and service line. Facilitates and encourages staff nurse participation in professional organizations. Facilitates use of resources by nursing staff such as nurse practitioners, other expanded role RNs, and other specialty roles.
Service Excellence:
Monitors and improves patient satisfaction utilizing available service metrics and national benchmarks to develop and implement action plans to ach! ieve desired outcomes in service excellence goals. Acts as a role model! for staff and encourages the incorporation of Healing Commitments and Healing Connections in every aspect of patient care delivery. Ensures that staff incorporates evidence based practice into all aspects of care delivery.
Physician Engagement:
Partner with physicians at the department level to achieve clinical, operational, and service goals.
Community Stewardship:
Communicates to staff and encourages participation in opportunities for community outreach activities (ex: health fairs; middle and high school education). Manage, coordinate, and support student nurse activities. Supports staff participation in outside community organizations such as volunteer health clinics, health fairs and advisory boards for not for profit organizations.
Benefits Eligible: Yes
Shift Details: Full time, 40 hours a week.
Department: Pediatric and Adolescent Behavioral Health and Outpatient Day Treatment - McKay-Dee! Hospital
Minimum Requirements
Bachelor's degree in Nursing (BSN) from an accredited institution. Intermountain verifies both degree attainment and educational institution accreditation following an offer of employment.
Registered Nurse (RN) License valid in the State of Utah
Leadership or supervisory experience
Two or more years clinical experience
Basic Life Support (BLS) certification for Healthcare Providers.
Physical Requirements
Carrying, Hearing/Listening, Lifting, Manual Dexterity, Pushing/Pulling, Seeing, Speaking, Standing, Walking.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience in Behavioral Health
Experience in Pediatric or Adolescent Behavioral Health
Master's degree
Please Note
All positions subject to close without notice
Intermountain Healthcare is an equal opportunity employer M/F/D/V
Salary: . Date posted:
- .
If yo! u were eligible to this vacancy, please give us your resume, with salar! y requirements and a resume to Intermountain Home Care.
Interested on this vacancy, just click on the Apply button, you will be redirected to the official website
This vacancy starts available on: Mon, 29 Apr 2013 23:41:43 GMT
Apply Nurse Manager III - Pediatric and Adolescent Behavioral Health Here
Source: http://pediatriciansjob-ut.blogspot.com/2013/04/nurse-manager-iii-pediatric-and.html
2013 Grammys kelly clarkson Lumineers The Lumineers grammys miguel frank ocean
How does pregnancy reduce breast cancer risk?
Monday, April 29, 2013
Being pregnant while young is known to protect a women against breast cancer. But why? Research in BioMed Central's open access journal Breast Cancer Research finds that Wnt/Notch signalling ratio is decreased in the breast tissue of mice which have given birth, compared to virgin mice of the same age.
Early pregnancy is protective against breast cancer in humans and in rodents. In humans having a child before the age of 20 decreases risk of breast cancer by half. Using microarray analysis researchers from Basel discovered that genes involved in the immune system and differentiation were up-regulated after pregnancy while the activity of genes coding for growth factors was reduced.
The activity of one particular gene Wnt4 was also down-regulated after pregnancy. The protein from this gene (Wnt4) is a feminising protein - absence of this protein propels a foetus towards developing as a boy. Wnt and Notch are opposing components of a system which controls cellular fate within an organism and when the team looked at Notch they found that genes regulated by notch were up-regulated, Notch-stimulating proteins up-regulated and Notch-inhibiting proteins down-regulated.
Wnt/Notch signalling ratio was permanently altered in the basal stem/progenitor cells of mammary tissue of mice by pregnancy. Mohamed Bentires-Alj from the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, who led this study explained, "The down-regulation of Wnt is the opposite of that seen in many cancers, and this tightened control of Wnt/Notch after pregnancy may be preventing the runaway growth present in cancer."
###
Parity induces differentiation and reduces Wnt/Notch signaling ratio and proliferation potential of basal stem/progenitor cells isolated from mouse mammary epithelium
Fabienne Meier-Abt, Emanuela Milani, Tim Roloff, Heike Brinkhaus, Stephan Duss, Dominique S Meyer, Ina Klebba, Piotr J Balwierz, Erik van Nimwegen and Mohamed Bentires-Alj
Breast Cancer Research (in press)
BioMed Central: http://www.biomedcentral.com
Thanks to BioMed Central for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
This press release has been viewed 43 time(s).
Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127977/How_does_pregnancy_reduce_breast_cancer_risk_
derbyshire the matrix oceans 11 ferris state hockey mary poppins john derbyshire kinkade
Reminder from Boston Marathon bombings: A need to integrate immigrant children
As soon as Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the alleged perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombings, were identified as Chechen immigrants, and then as refugees, questions were raised about where the system had gone wrong to admit them to the United States. But careful examination of the known facts reveals no flaws in the asylum system; it worked as it should have.
The tragedy in Boston could not have been foreseen in the case files of an 8-year-old asylum seeker and his 15-year-old brother. What can ? and has ? been questioned is whether authorities at all levels in the US do enough to integrate immigrant children into mainstream American life. (The same question could, of course, be asked about other disadvantaged children in the country?s underclass or those who suffer from undiagnosed or inadequately treated mental illness.)
OPINION: Boston bombings and a Muslim identity crisis
To immigrants in general, the US offers a bootstraps approach: a generous admissions policy compared to most other developed countries and very little help for those who take up the offer. A condition for legal immigration is that the immigrant is not likely to become a ?public charge.?
An exception is made for refugees and asylum seekers, in recognition of the fact that they were compelled to leave their home countries for fear of persecution. But even for them, assistance is very limited ? about seven months of cash assistance and help in connecting to a job, housing, and most of the public benefits available to US citizens.
The Tsarnaevs? family origins in Chechnya gave them a solid claim to a ?well-founded fear of being persecuted,? in the language of US and international refugee law. When the Tsarnaev family briefly moved to Chechnya from Kyrgyzstan after the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, things may have looked promising for the region.
But life in Chechnya became a nightmare after Russia invaded in 1994 to end Chechnya?s bid for independence. The subsequent turmoil tossed the family back to Kyrgyzstan, then to Dagestan, Mrs. Tsarnaev?s family homeland, and on to the US in 2002. Tamerlan would follow his parents and younger brother Dzhokhar to the US a year later.
Chechens as a group were always subject to discrimination throughout the Soviet Union, and from 1999 on, they were also tainted with the terrorist attacks that Chechen militants visited on Moscow and other Russian cities. Chechens, even those like the Tsarnaevs who had nothing to do with the insurgency, were subject not only to discrimination but attack, including by the police. By 2003, Chechens were by far the largest group of asylum seekers in Europe.
Tens of thousands of Chechens were granted asylum in the European Union, but many were pushed back to the borders of the EU, returned to countries that offered no effective protection, or even sent back to Russia. It was a logical move for a man like Aznor Tsarnaev, looking for a decent prospect for his family, to seek asylum in the US, especially since he had family already settled there. In 2003, the US had the second highest recognition rate for asylum seekers from Russia of any country, second only to Austria (which had given asylum status to 17,000 Chechens by 2005).
The Tsarnaev family showed no signs of anything more sinister than homesickness in most of their time in the US. The brothers? journey to disaffection, violence (in the case of the elder brother), and finally terrorism has yet to be fully traced. But to say that they should not have been given asylum in 2002 is to deny an honorable tradition of the United States as well as the facts of the Tsarnaevs? history.
They had every reason to claim ? and be granted ? asylum. If US authorities had made a blanket decision that children from Russia were potential terrorists, they would have turned away 6-year-old Sergey Brin, the computer genius who co-founded Google, along with 8-year-old Dzhokar Tsarnaev.
The laissez-faire immigration system of the US permits catastrophic failures as well as off-the-charts successes, though the reality for most newcomers to the United States lies well between those two extremes. One way to guard against failures is to pay more attention to the integration of children who come to the US, especially those who may be troubled by the legacies of war-torn areas, and to be alert to signs of disaffection.
A little help getting settled in the first few months after arrival does not constitute sufficient support for refugee families. A longer and deeper engagement both by government agencies and communities is needed to heed warning signs like a fall-off in school performance, a turning away from friends and activities, gang involvement or previously unheard-of aggressiveness.
OPINION: Motive in Boston bombings: Look to tribal code of honor
Such developments should prompt teachers, coaches, friends, and religious figures to ask questions and let kids know that someone notices them and cares what happens. If their families and ethnic communities feel themselves fully part of this country, they will be part of that effort as well.
Kathleen Newland directs the Migration Policy Institute?s refugee protection program. She serves on the boards of the International Rescue Committee, USA for UNHCR, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), and the Stimson Center. She is a chair emerita of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children.
Related stories
Read this story at csmonitor.com
Become a part of the Monitor community
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/reminder-boston-marathon-bombings-integrate-immigrant-children-154415385.html
Claire Danes Amy Poehler Australian Open Girls Hbo Golden Globes homeland homeland
Movement of pyrrole molecules defy 'classical' physics
Monday, April 29, 2013
New research shows that movement of the ring-like molecule pyrrole over a metal surface runs counter to the centuries-old laws of 'classical' physics that govern our everyday world.
Using uniquely sensitive experimental techniques, scientists have found that laws of quantum physics - believed primarily to influence at only sub-atomic levels ? can actually impact on a molecular level.
Researchers at Cambridge's Chemistry Department and Cavendish Laboratory say they have evidence that, in the case of pyrrole, quantum laws affecting the internal motions of the molecule change the "very nature of the energy landscape" ? making this 'quantum motion' essential to understanding the distribution of the whole molecule.
The study, a collaboration between scientists from Cambridge and Rutgers universities, appeared in the German chemistry journal Angewandte Chemie earlier this month.
A pyrrole molecule's centre consists of a "flat pentagram" of five atoms, four carbon and one nitrogen. Each of these atoms has an additional hydrogen atom attached, sticking out like spokes.
Following experiments performed by Barbara Lechner at the Cavendish Laboratory to determine the energy required for movement of pyrrole across a copper surface, the team discovered a discrepancy that led them down a 'quantum' road to an unusual discovery.
In previous work on simpler molecules, the scientists were able to accurately calculate the 'activation barrier' ? the energy required to loosen a molecule's bond to a surface, allowing movement ? using 'density functional theory', a method that treats the electrons which bind the atoms according to quantum mechanics but, crucially, deals with atomic nuclei using a 'classical' physics approach.
Surprisingly, with pyrrole the predicted 'activation barriers' were way out, with calculations "less than a third of the measured value". After much head scratching, puzzled scientists turned to a purely quantum phenomenon called 'zero-point energy'.
In classical physics, an object losing energy can continue to do so until it can be thought of as sitting perfectly still. In the quantum world, this is never the case: everything always retains some form of residual ? even undetectable ? energy, known as 'zero-point energy'.
While 'zero-point energy' is well known to be associated with motion of the atoms contained in molecules, it was previously believed that such tiny amounts of energy simply don't affect the molecule as a whole to any measurable extent, unless the molecule broke apart.
But now, the researchers have discovered that the "quantum nature" of the molecule's internal motion actually does affect the molecule as a whole as it moves across the surface, defying the 'classical' laws that it's simply too big to feel quantum effects.
'Zero-point energy' moving within a pyrrole molecule is unexpectedly sensitive to the exact site occupied by the molecule on the surface. In moving from one site to another, the 'activation energy' must include a sizeable contribution due to the change in the quantum 'zero-point energy'.
Scientists believe the effect is particularly noticeable in the case of pyrrole because the 'activation energy' needed for diffusion is particularly small, but that many other similar molecules ought to show the same kind of behavior.
"Understanding the nature of molecular diffusion on metal surfaces is of great current interest, due to efforts to manufacture two-dimensional networks of ring-like molecules for use in optical, electronic or spintronic devices," said Dr Stephen Jenkins, who heads up the Surface Science Group in Cambridge's Department of Chemistry.
"The balance between the activation energy and the energy barrier that sticks the molecules to the surface is critical in determining which networks are able to form under different conditions."
###
University of Cambridge: http://www.cam.ac.uk
Thanks to University of Cambridge for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
This press release has been viewed 37 time(s).
Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127970/Movement_of_pyrrole_molecules_defy__classical__physics
bachelorette penn state Ernie Els Teen Choice Awards 2012 Aurora victims usher James Holmes
Monday, April 29, 2013
Sumitomo pulls out of Aquila coal JV in Australia
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Aquila Resources on Monday suffered a set back to its plans to raise capital via asset sales to help fund a A$7.4 billion ($7.6 billion) Australian iron ore project after Sumitomo Corp pulled out of a coal exploration partnership.
A memorandum of understanding reached between the two companies a year ago was designed to pave the way for an acquisition by Sumitomo of a 20-50 percent interest in coal mining tenements held by Aquila in Queensland state.
"Following two independent valuations, averaging A$108.8 million on a 100 percent basis, Sumitomo has elected not to acquire an interest in the tenements," Aquila said.
Aquila shares tumbled almost 10 percent to A$1.83 in early trading.
The proceeds from the sale and the joint venture agreement, on top of Aquila's existing cash reserves, were aimed provide funds needed to finance Aquila's share in the undeveloped West Pilbara Iron Ore Project.
Aquila in February put the iron ore project on ice at least through June due to funding difficulties, as soaring costs and volatile commodity prices take a toll on new mine developments.
The West Pilbara Iron Ore project in Western Australia is one of a number that have stalled since the mining boom cooled last year in the world's top iron ore exporter after Chinese demand slowed.
Aquila's project requires billions to be spent on rail and port access, stretching funding prospects.
Aquila and its partners American Metals and Coal International (AMCI), a mining investment firm, and South Korean steel giant POSCO effectively froze the project last September after failing to agree on a budget for the year to June 2013. ($1 = 0.9721 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Ed Davies)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sumitomo-pulls-aquila-coal-jv-australia-003350237.html
London 2012 closing ceremony Shark Week 2012 evelyn lozada UFC 150 Caster Semenya Medal Count 2012 Olympics victoria beckham
Study identifies key shift in the brain that creates drive to overeat
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 29-Apr-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Liz Rosdeitcher
rosdeitc@indiana.edu
812-855-4507
Indiana University
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A team of American and Italian neuroscientists has identified a cellular change in the brain that accompanies obesity. The findings could explain the body's tendency to maintain undesirable weight levels, rather than an ideal weight, and identify possible targets for pharmacological efforts to address obesity.
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition this week, identify a switch that occurs in neurons within the hypothalamus. The switch involves receptors that trigger or inhibit the release of the orexin A peptide, which stimulates the appetite, among other behaviors. In normal-weight mice, activation of this receptor decreases orexin A release. In obese mice, activation of this receptor stimulates orexin A release.
"The striking finding is that you have a massive shift of receptors from one set of nerve endings impinging on these neurons to another set," said Ken Mackie, professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington. "Before, activating this receptor inhibited the secretion of orexin; now it promotes it. This identifies potential targets where an intervention could influence obesity."
The work is part of a longstanding collaboration between Mackie's team at the Gill Center for Biomolecular Science at IU Bloomington and Vincenzo Di Marzo's team at the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry in Pozzuoli, Italy. Both teams study the endocannabinoid system, which is composed of receptors and signaling chemicals that occur naturally in the brain and have similarities to the active ingredients in cannabis, or marijuana. This neurochemical system is involved in a variety of physiological processes, including appetite, pain, mood, stress responses and memory.
Food consumption is controlled in part by the hypothalamus, a portion of the brain that regulates many essential behaviors. Like other important body systems, food consumption is regulated by multiple neurochemical systems, including the endocannabinoid system, representing what Mackie describes as a "balance of a very fine web of regulatory networks."
An emerging idea, Mackie said, is that this network is reset during obesity so that food consumption matches maintenance of current weight, not a person's ideal weight. Thus, an obese individual who loses weight finds it difficult to keep the weight off, as the brain signals the body to eat more in an attempt to return to the heavier weight.
Using mice, this study found that in obesity, CB1 cannabinoid receptors become enriched on the nerve terminals that normally inhibit orexin neuron activity, and the orexin neurons produce more of the endocannabinoids to activate these receptors. Activating these CB1 receptors decreases inhibition of the orexin neurons, increasing orexin A release and food consumption.
"This study identifies a mechanism for the body's ongoing tendency to return to the heavier weight," Mackie said.
The researchers conducted several experiments with mice to understand how this change takes place. They uncovered a role of leptin, a key hormone made by fat cells that influences metabolism, hunger and food consumption. Obesity causes leptin levels to be chronically high, making brain cells less sensitive to its actions, which contributes to the molecular switch that leads to the overproduction of orexin.
###
Co-authors include lead author Luigia Cristino, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pozzuoli, Italy; Giuseppe Busetto, University of Verona, and National Institute of Neuroscience in Verona, Italy; Roberta Imperatore, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Ida Ferrandino, University Federeico II, Naples, Italy; Letizia Palamba, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, and University of Urbino "Carlo Bo," Urbino, Italy; Cristoforo Silvestri, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Stefania Petrosino, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Pierangelo Orlando, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Naples, Italy; Marina Bentivoglio, University of Verona; and Vincenzo Di Marzo, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pozzuoli, Italy.
The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Compagnia di San Paolo.
To speak with Mackie, contact Liz Rosdeitcher at 812-855-4507 or rosdeitc@indiana.edu. For additional assistance, contact Tracy James at 812-855-0084 or traljame@iu.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 29-Apr-2013[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Liz Rosdeitcher
rosdeitc@indiana.edu
812-855-4507
Indiana University
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A team of American and Italian neuroscientists has identified a cellular change in the brain that accompanies obesity. The findings could explain the body's tendency to maintain undesirable weight levels, rather than an ideal weight, and identify possible targets for pharmacological efforts to address obesity.
The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition this week, identify a switch that occurs in neurons within the hypothalamus. The switch involves receptors that trigger or inhibit the release of the orexin A peptide, which stimulates the appetite, among other behaviors. In normal-weight mice, activation of this receptor decreases orexin A release. In obese mice, activation of this receptor stimulates orexin A release.
"The striking finding is that you have a massive shift of receptors from one set of nerve endings impinging on these neurons to another set," said Ken Mackie, professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences in the College of Arts and Sciences at IU Bloomington. "Before, activating this receptor inhibited the secretion of orexin; now it promotes it. This identifies potential targets where an intervention could influence obesity."
The work is part of a longstanding collaboration between Mackie's team at the Gill Center for Biomolecular Science at IU Bloomington and Vincenzo Di Marzo's team at the Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry in Pozzuoli, Italy. Both teams study the endocannabinoid system, which is composed of receptors and signaling chemicals that occur naturally in the brain and have similarities to the active ingredients in cannabis, or marijuana. This neurochemical system is involved in a variety of physiological processes, including appetite, pain, mood, stress responses and memory.
Food consumption is controlled in part by the hypothalamus, a portion of the brain that regulates many essential behaviors. Like other important body systems, food consumption is regulated by multiple neurochemical systems, including the endocannabinoid system, representing what Mackie describes as a "balance of a very fine web of regulatory networks."
An emerging idea, Mackie said, is that this network is reset during obesity so that food consumption matches maintenance of current weight, not a person's ideal weight. Thus, an obese individual who loses weight finds it difficult to keep the weight off, as the brain signals the body to eat more in an attempt to return to the heavier weight.
Using mice, this study found that in obesity, CB1 cannabinoid receptors become enriched on the nerve terminals that normally inhibit orexin neuron activity, and the orexin neurons produce more of the endocannabinoids to activate these receptors. Activating these CB1 receptors decreases inhibition of the orexin neurons, increasing orexin A release and food consumption.
"This study identifies a mechanism for the body's ongoing tendency to return to the heavier weight," Mackie said.
The researchers conducted several experiments with mice to understand how this change takes place. They uncovered a role of leptin, a key hormone made by fat cells that influences metabolism, hunger and food consumption. Obesity causes leptin levels to be chronically high, making brain cells less sensitive to its actions, which contributes to the molecular switch that leads to the overproduction of orexin.
###
Co-authors include lead author Luigia Cristino, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pozzuoli, Italy; Giuseppe Busetto, University of Verona, and National Institute of Neuroscience in Verona, Italy; Roberta Imperatore, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Ida Ferrandino, University Federeico II, Naples, Italy; Letizia Palamba, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, and University of Urbino "Carlo Bo," Urbino, Italy; Cristoforo Silvestri, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Stefania Petrosino, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche; Pierangelo Orlando, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Naples, Italy; Marina Bentivoglio, University of Verona; and Vincenzo Di Marzo, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pozzuoli, Italy.
The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Compagnia di San Paolo.
To speak with Mackie, contact Liz Rosdeitcher at 812-855-4507 or rosdeitc@indiana.edu. For additional assistance, contact Tracy James at 812-855-0084 or traljame@iu.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/iu-sik042913.php
deep impact miesha tate vs ronda rousey idiocracy usssa baseball alex o loughlin the godfather cape breton
Analysis: U.S. emergency care cost estimates are too low
Apr. 29, 2013 ? U.S. emergency care costs may be more than twice previously published estimates, according to a new analysis that critiques those estimates, argues for improved accounting, and suggests considering the value of emergency care as well as total spending.
Alternately praised in the aftermath of horrible tragedies as a heroic service and lamented in policy debates as an expensive safety net for people without primary care, emergency medicine is often a hot topic. Despite that importance, an analysis published online April 26 in the Annals of Emergency Medicine finds that national expenditures on emergency care are likely significantly higher than previously thought.
"The ER has become increasingly important as a place where people go for acute unscheduled care, however there has been little rigorous analysis of its cost structure," said paper lead author Dr. Michael Lee, assistant professor of emergency medicine in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a physician at Rhode Island Hospital and The Miriam Hospital.
Lee, who had a prior career in economics and finance before training in emergency medicine, co-wrote the analysis with Dr. Brian Zink, professor and chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Alpert Medical School, and Dr. Jeremiah Schuur, assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and director of quality and patient safety for the Department of Emergency Medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital.
The challenge of properly accounting for the costs of emergency care, Lee said, becomes crucial as health care financing moves from a fee-for-service model to bundled payments for patient populations or episodes of care.
Clarifying costs
The analysis first examines current estimates of aggregate spending on emergency department (ED) care. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) estimates $48.3 billion of spending on emergency care in 2010, or 1.9 percent of the nation's total health care expenditures of $2.6 trillion. With the message that "The total cost is small relative to the entire health care system," the American College of Emergency Physicians has embraced the AHRQ figure in its "Just 2 percent" public relations campaign.
How big a part of the whole bill?
A new cost analysis suggests that emergency care accounts for far more than the commonly accepted 1.9 percent of the nation's $2.6-trillion annual health care bill. It's more likely between 4.9 and 5.8 percent -- possibly as high as 6.2 to 10 percent.But Lee and his co-authors point out, based on data from other studies, that MEPS undercounts the number of ED visits and the number of ED patients who are admitted to hospitals. Adjusting for those discrepancies using data from a variety of other published sources, the authors estimate that ED costs are between 4.9 percent to 5.8 percent of total health care spending.
The authors went beyond national data sets, including the National Emergency Department Sample, to review ED spending data from a different source: a major national private insurer. The data included charges from doctors and hospitals for imaging, testing, and other procedures. But again there were accounting differences between admitted and discharged patients and a need to account fully for spending from Medicare and Medicaid. The authors' estimate based on this data is ED spending that is 6.2 to 10 percent of total health care spending.
Much of the debate in the academic literature around the expense of ED care has to do with whether the bulk of costs are fixed (e.g., expensive equipment and continuous staffing) or marginal (e.g., flexible staff time, expendable supplies). According to Lee, the cost structure of the ED remains poorly understood and is significantly more complex than what is modeled in existing studies.
As with assessments of total costs, the authors report, the studies vary widely even after adjusting for inflation. Across four major studies over the last three decades, the average cost per patient of an ED visit in 2010 dollars ranged from only $134 to more than $1,000, Lee and colleagues found. Meanwhile, the marginal cost of an ED visit (factoring out the fixed costs), ranged from $150 to $638.
Alternative accounting
The authors instead argue for an accounting based approach to ED costs using a methodology known as "Time-Driven Activity Based Costing (ABC)," which has been applied to health care by Robert Kaplan and Michael Porter, professors at the Harvard Business School.
The method maps all clinical, administrative, and diagnostic steps in a patient encounter and assigns costs to each activity, explicitly accounting for the time spent on each task.
ABC accounting might provide a more realistic and transparent measure of ED costs, Lee said, because the emphasis on time is particularly relevant for emergency medicine.
"The real cost of providing emergency care has to do with accurately measuring the resources that are used, and time is an important variable to take into account," he said.
The authors envision using the methodology to measure the cost of common ED processes or chief complaints, and to compare this to alternative sites such as primary care offices or clinics, he said. They also point out that ABC accounting gives "gives ED managers specific data they can use to improve the value of care by identifying high-cost steps in the process."
Emphasize value, not just cost
The authors acknowledge that an outcome of their analysis reporting higher overall costs for emergency care, may invite further criticism that the expense of emergency care represents unnecessary, inefficient care.
"However, we offer a more sanguine interpretation -- the high share of spending affirms the importance of emergency medicine within the health care system," they wrote. "With 130 million visits, 28 percent of all acute care visits, and accounting for nearly half of all admissions, emergency medicine should be expected to represent a large share of health care spending."
And Lee cautions, based on other studies, that efforts by private and government payers to divert ER care may not lead to large aggregate savings.
"Diverting nonemergency care may simply shift costs onto primary care offices and clinics which may not have the infrastructure to accommodate a large volume of unscheduled care," Lee said.
Instead there may be more potential for cost savings by focusing on reducing unnecessary diagnostic testing in the ED or unnecessary admissions that originate from the ED.
Lee and his co-authors call for the debate to include value, not just cost.
"More attention should be devoted to quantifying the value of specific aspects of emergency care," they wrote. "Rather than minimize the issue of cost, we should recognize the economic and strategic importance of the ED within the healthcare system and demonstrate that costs are commensurate with value.
Lee acknowledges that this remains a challenge for the field of emergency medicine. "The core of our business is ruling out critical diagnoses. Many of the things we look for are low probability but highly dangerous conditions. The big question is how do you quantify value when your work is often focused on trying to demonstrate the absence of something?"
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Brown University.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Michael H. Lee, Jeremiah D. Schuur, Brian J. Zink. Owning the Cost of Emergency Medicine: Beyond 2%. Annals of Emergency Medicine, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.annemergmed.2013.03.029
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/-2Lv_P_FvXM/130429130514.htm
whitney houston funeral live pat buchanan slither slither naacp glen campbell jerusalem artichoke
N. Korea charges U.S. man in plot to overthrow regime
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? North Korea announced Saturday that an American detained for nearly six months is being tried in the Supreme Court on charges of plotting to overthrow the government, a crime that could draw the death penalty if he is convicted.
The case involving Kenneth Bae, who has been in North Korean custody since early November, further complicates already fraught relations between Pyongyang and Washington following weeks of heightened rhetoric and tensions.
The trial mirrors a similar situation in 2009, when the U.S. and North Korea were locked in a standoff over Pyongyang's decision to launch a long-range rocket and conduct an underground nuclear test. At the time, North Korea had custody of two American journalists, whose eventual release after being sentenced to 12 years of hard labor paved the way for diplomacy following months of tensions.
Bae was arrested in early November in Rason, a special economic zone in North Korea's far northeastern region bordering China and Russia, according to official state media. In North Korean dispatches, Bae, a Korean American, is called Pae Jun Ho, the North Korean spelling of his Korean name.
The exact nature of his alleged crimes has not been revealed, but North Korea accuses Bae, described as a tour operator, of seeking to overthrow North Korea's leadership.
"In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility toward it," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Saturday. "His crimes were proved by evidence. He will soon be taken to the Supreme Court of the DPRK to face judgment."
DPRK is the acronym for North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. No timing for the verdict issued at the austere Supreme Court in Pyongyang was given.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the U.S. government is "aware of reports that a U.S. citizen will face trial in North Korea" and that officials from the Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang had visited Bae on Friday. She said she had no other information to share.
Because Washington and Pyongyang do not have diplomatic relations, the Swedish Embassy in North Korea represents the United States in legal proceedings.
Friends and colleagues described Bae as a devout Christian from Washington state but based in the Chinese border city of Dalian who traveled frequently to North Korea to feed the country's orphans.
At least three other Americans detained in recent years also have been devout Christians. While North Korea's constitution guarantees freedom of religion, in practice only sanctioned services are tolerated by the regime.
Under North Korea's criminal code, crimes against the state can draw life imprisonment or the death sentence.
In 2009, American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced to hard labor for trespassing and unspecified hostile acts after being arrested near the border with China and held for four months.
They were freed later that year to former President Bill Clinton, who flew to Pyongyang to negotiate their release in a visit that then-leader Kim Jong Il treated as a diplomatic coup.
Including Ling and Lee, Bae is at least the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The others eventually were deported or released.
"For North Korea, Bae is a bargaining chip in dealing with the U.S.," said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, South Korea. "The North will use him in a way that helps bring the U.S. to talks when the mood slowly turns toward dialogue."
As in 2009, Pyongyang is locked in a standoff with the Obama administration over North Korea's drive to build nuclear weapons.
Washington has led the campaign to punish Pyongyang for launching a long-range rocket in December and carrying out a nuclear test, its third, in February.
North Korea claims the need to build atomic weapons to defend itself against the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea and over the past two months has been holding joint military drills with South Korea that have included nuclear-capable stealth bombers and fighter jets.
Diplomats from China, South Korea, the U.S., Japan and Russia have been conferring in recent weeks to try to bring down the rhetoric and find a way to rein in Pyongyang before a miscalculation in the region sparks real warfare.
South Korean defense officials said earlier in the month that North Korea had moved a medium-range missile designed to strike U.S. territory to its east coast.
The Korean Peninsula remains in a technical state of war because the three-year Korean conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.
___
Associated Press writers Jean H. Lee in Pyongyang; Sam Kim and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Tom Strong in Washington contributed to this report. Follow Lee, AP's Korea bureau chief, at www.twitter.com/newsjean and Sam Kim at www.twitter.com/SamKim_AP.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nkorea-charges-us-man-plot-overthrow-regime-185113441.html
born this way foundation lytro camera lytro camera andrew brietbart branson mo monkees songs rail gun
U.S. earnings beating forecasts but jury's out on rest of season
By Caroline Valetkevitch and Ben Berkowitz
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. companies have easily beaten expectations for first-quarter earnings so far in the reporting season, but nearly half of the members of the S&P 500 are yet to announce results and they are unlikely to be as robust.
With results in from 271 of the S&P 500 companies, year-over-year earnings growth is projected at 3.9 percent, compared with a forecast for 1.5 percent growth at the start of the earnings season, Thomson Reuters data shows. That figure includes those that have reported and analyst estimates for those who have not.
The companies yet to report are expected to post an aggregate earnings decline of 0.4 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data - whereas the companies that have already reported have posted growth of 6.1 percent.
Among the biggest companies yet to report are Dow components Wal-Mart Stores Inc
Some 69 percent of the S&P 500 have beaten forecasts, once again conforming to the pattern of lowering expectations enough to "surprise" by beating them. The 69 percent figure exceeds the long-term average of 63 percent. This has been the pattern for the last 15 quarters, with growth estimates at the beginning of earnings ultimately being beaten by at least a full percentage point.
From April 1 to April 24, S&P 500 earnings growth expectations fell 170 basis points for the second quarter, 130 basis points for the third quarter and 70 basis points for the fourth quarter.
"If this recent pattern holds, you're going to find that those beats will continue and therefore lead earnings season to be one of continued positive surprise," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.
So far, this has been good enough for investors. Since earnings season began with Alcoa's report on April 8, the S&P 500 has gained 1.2 percent, and it closed Friday less than 1 percent from its all-time high of 1,593.37 reached on April 11. So far this year, it has climbed nearly 11 percent.
GOING FORWARD, WITH CAUTION
Even though profits have been better than expectations, revenue forecasts have declined, a sign, once again, that companies are exceeding results on the bottom line because of reduced expenses, and not because of stellar sales. So far, just 42 percent of companies are beating revenue expectations, below the long-term average.
First-quarter revenue now is expected to fall 0.3 percent, which is worse than the forecast for 1 percent growth when the season started.
That means companies - yet again - have been able to squeeze out higher profits through cost-cutting and other measures. But that does not bode well for hiring and stands as a potential headwind to the economy in coming quarters.
"It does concern me. It's not sustainable over the medium or the long term. There's only so much companies can do to sustain growth without increasing sales," said Paul Zemsky, head of asset allocation at ING Investment Management, in New York.
There are plenty of examples of major companies that were deeply reserved about the second quarter or the remainder of the year.
Among those were Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc . Apple, until recently the world's biggest company by market value, saw its first quarterly profit decline in a decade and issued a soft outlook for the second quarter that fell short of investor hopes. The stock has lost about 40 percent of its value since September.
"The market was telling you the numbers were too high," BGC analyst Colin Gillis said of Apple's outlook, adding that it was "pretty much even worse than even I was expecting."
(Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos and Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-earnings-beating-forecasts-jurys-rest-season-211946052.html
dale earnhardt jr michigan primary daytona 500 winner cleveland plain dealer john scott barry sanders barry sanders
Sunday, April 28, 2013
Steady rain greets Jazz Fest as 1st weekend closes
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? A steady, sometimes heavy rain pelted fans at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, but the music flowed on.
Umbrellas, rain boots and plastic ponchos were out in abundance Sunday as fans stood among the puddles and water-soaked grass awaiting clearer skies.
As Khris Royal & Dark Matter played the Gentilly Stage, pockets of fest-faithfuls grooved and danced to his funky saxophone opening instrumental. Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band enticed fans to the front of the nearby Fais Do-Do stage, where a few couples rocked a two-step to the band's steady beat.
The Nevilles, without brother Aaron, perform later Sunday just before the Dave Matthews Band, which closes the fest's first weekend and largest stage.
Other headliners include blues legend B.B. King and Earth, Wind & Fire.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/steady-rain-greets-jazz-fest-1st-weekend-closes-182236045.html
shawn johnson Tony Sly Lauren Perdue tagged Heptathlon London 2012 shot put London 2012 Track And Field
Optimizing nanoparticles for commercial applications
Apr. 26, 2013 ? Nanoparticles are used in many commercial products catalysts to cosmetics. A review published today in the Science and Technology of Advanced Materials by researchers in Sweden and Spain describes recent work on the 3 main nanoparticles used in photocatalytic, UV-blocking and sunscreens.
Nanoparticles are currently used in commercial products ranging from catalysts, polishing media and magnetic fluids to cosmetics and sunscreens. A new review by researchers in Sweden and Spain describes recent work to optimize the synthesis, dispersion and surface functionalization of titania, zinc oxide and ceria -- the three main nanoparticles used in photocatalytic, UV-blocking and sunscreen applications.
With the commercial success of self-cleaning glass in the window frames of high-rise buildings, there is growing interest in applying photocatalytic, self-cleaning titania coatings on building facades and other construction materials. These coatings not only can keep building surfaces clean but also reduce concentrations of harmful airborne pollutants. The antibacterial properties of photocatalytic coatings also offer a means of managing persistent bacteria, mainly in hospitals.
Transparent UV-absorbing or UV-blocking coatings currently have two main applications: as a UV-protecting lacquer for wooden surfaces, and as a UV-barrier coating deposited on the surface of polymer-based products or devices to slow down their deterioration.
Published in the journal, Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, this study describes the structural and chemical requirements as well as the various routes for producing transparent photocatalytic and nanoparticle-based UV-blocking coatings and sunscreens. The authors review the main methods for synthesizing titania, zinc oxide and ceria nanoparticles, with a focus on recent research on the generation of non-agglomerated powders. (Agglomeration is often the major cause of poor performance and limited transparency.) The authors also identify organic additives that are efficient dispersants and can improve the compatibility of inorganic nanoparticles with an organic matrix.
In addition to discussing the technical performance of nanoparticles, the authors address concerns related to distributing them in the environment. They conclude by describing future prospects for nanoparticles and identifying promising materials, such as multifunctional coatings and hybrid films.
Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:
Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:
Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by National Institute for Materials Science, via ResearchSEA.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Bertrand Faure, German Salazar-Alvarez, Anwar Ahniyaz, Irune Villaluenga, Gemma Berriozabal, Yolanda R De Miguel, Lennart Bergstr?m. Dispersion and surface functionalization of oxide nanoparticles for transparent photocatalytic and UV-protecting coatings and sunscreens. Science and Technology of Advanced Materials, 2013; 14 (2): 023001 DOI: 10.1088/1468-6996/14/2/023001
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/5iewoNBStdY/130428144955.htm
ufc diaz vs condit super bowl start time target jason wu gi joe jason wu for target collection nick diaz vs carlos condit the patriot
OpenMobile ACL for webOS resurrected on Kickstarter, hopes to bring Android apps to HP Touchpad
The promise of OpenMobile's Application Compatibility Layer is inticing: seamlessly run Android apps on another operating system as if it was meant to be there. Unfortunately for fans of Palm's last hurrah, the project's webOS port died with the HP Touchpad. That won't stop dedicated fans, however -- Phoenix International Communications plans to resurrect webOS ACL. Taking the project to Kickstarter, the team is showing an early build on an HP Touchpad, seamlessly running Android apps in cards alongside native webOS applications. Phoenix hopes that a functional ACL will reduce Touchpad owner's reliance on dual-booting Android, giving them the freedom to enjoy webOS without sacrificing functionality. The team is promising a relatively short development time, thanks to OpenMobile's early work, and hopes to deliver a consumer ready build in July. But first the Kickstarter campaign will need to meet its $35,000 goal. Interested in pitching in? Check out the Kickstarter link at the source.
Source: Kickstarter
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/qcUvqY4TqGI/
chipper jones mickael pietrus heart transplant the international preppers geraldo obama trayvon martin
Phil Jackson Was Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer in 2011, Told the ...
Phil Jackson was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2011, the former Lakers? coach reveals in his new book. According to the O.C. Register, Jackson revealed the bad news to his team during the playoffs as what sounds like an attempt to motivate. (The story is behind a paywall, but a?Lakers? forum?has the full story.)
Jackson was diagnosed with prostate cancer in March 2011. After doctors assured him the cancer could be controlled by drugs temporarily, Jackson waited until after the season to undergo surgery.
Jackson decided to divulge his situation to his players when he sensed the team was lacking something in the playoffs.
?Shocking,? Pau Gasol said Saturday, remembering Jackson?s disclosure to the team. ?But then you also could understand certain moments of his demeanor, energy and involvement because of what he was going through health-wise. It explained certain things. It was a shock. A difficult moment for the team.?
Gasol said Jackson talked with team captains Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher privately before telling the whole team in a video session ? but Jackson was left second-guessing the revelation in which he became teary-eyed as he spoke ? the Lakers strangely fading in that series vs. Dallas.
Whatever Jackson?s motivation for telling his team, it sounds like they were understandably shaken by the news. Whenever Jackson told them, the team was done. The Lakers were eliminated from the 2011 Playoffs by the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks in a 4-game sweep. The series ended with a 122-86 blowout in Dallas that featured?Andrew Bynum?s flagrant foul on J.J. Barea.
Gasol allowed that it was different for the team to see Jackson ? ?such a big figure, the physical and spiritual leader of the team? ? as vulnerable.
?As much as I love Phil and I appreciate everything about him,? Gasol said, ?it was difficult to know.?
The good news ? for Jackson at least ? is that he must be feeling pretty good again. People say he is interested in coaching again and there is a rumor about every team in the league making a run at him for various positions.
[OC Register, LakersGround, USA TODAY Sports Images, h/t Herbie]
chicago bulls dallas cowboys russell westbrook tyler bray tyler bray matt barkley yvette prieto
NKorea says it will indict American citizen
PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? North Korea said Saturday it will soon put a detained American on trial for allegedly trying to overthrow the government, further complicating already fraught relations between Pyongyang and Washington.
The indictment of Kenneth Bae comes in the middle of a lull after weeks of war threats and other provocative acts by North Korea against the U.S. and South Korea. It has expressed rage over U.N. sanctions over a February nuclear test and ongoing U.S.-South Korean military drills, though analysts say Pyongyang's motive is to get its Korean War foes to negotiate on its own terms.
"For North Korea, Bae is a bargaining chip in dealing with the U.S. The North will use him in a way that helps bring the U.S. to talks when the mood slowly turns toward dialogue," said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean Studies at Seoul's Dongguk University.
Bae, identified in North Korean state media by his Korean name, Pae Jun Ho, is a tour operator of Korean descent who was arrested after arriving with a tour on Nov. 3 in Rason, a special economic zone bordering China and Russia.
He is the sixth American detained in North Korea since 2009. The other Americans were eventually deported or released after high-profile diplomatic interventions, including some involving former Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter.
"The preliminary inquiry into crimes committed by American citizen Pae Jun Ho closed," the official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief report. "In the process of investigation he admitted that he committed crimes aimed to topple the DPRK with hostility toward it. His crimes were proved by evidence."
DPRK is the acronym for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Under North Korea's criminal code, terrorist acts include murdering, kidnapping and injuring the country's citizens can lead to a death sentence or life in jail.
North Korea and the United States fought the 1950-53 Korean War and still don't have diplomatic relations. The Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang represents the United States.
KCNA didn't say when Bae's trial will take place or what the charges were.
North Korea's state media and the U.S. government have made little information about Bae public.
But his friends, colleagues and South Korean activists specializing in North Korea affairs said Bae is a Christian missionary based in a Chinese border town who frequently made trips to North Korea to feed orphans there. It is not known whether he tried to evangelize while in North Korea.
Officially, North Korea guarantees freedom of religion. In practice, authorities crack down on Christians, who are seen as Western-influenced threats to the government. The distribution of Bibles and secret prayer services can mean banishment to a labor camp or execution, defectors from the country have said.
In 2009, American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee were arrested and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for trespassing and unspecified hostile acts. They were freed later that year after former President Bill Clinton visited Pyongyang to negotiate their release.
Meanwhile, South Korea is pulling its citizens from a joint factory park in North Korea after Pyongyang rejected Seoul's demand for talks on the inter-Korean symbol of detente on Saturday. The park was shuttered earlier this month after the North pulled its workers out of it, objecting to views in South Korea that the complex is a source of badly needed hard currency for Pyongyang.
__
Associated Press reporter Sam Kim contributed from Seoul, South Korea.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nkorea-says-indict-american-citizen-031457146.html
glenn miller who do you think you are superpac steve appleton bishop eddie long madonna give me all your luvin video
FAA says air travel system to be normal Sunday night
(Reuters) - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Saturday it had suspended all employee furloughs and that it expects the U.S. air travel system to return to normal by Sunday evening Eastern Time.
The suspension follows passage on Friday of a bill allowing the agency to shift money within its budget to halt furloughs of air-traffic controllers that started April 21.
The furloughs, prompted by automatic budget cuts, caused thousands of flight delays and hundreds of cancellations throughout the week. The FAA said in a statement on Saturday that it expects staffing to return to normal levels over the next 24 hours.
Airports around the country were reporting that flights were arriving and departing on time at 1 p.m. EDT, with the exception of San Francisco, where arrivals were delayed 44 minutes on average because of construction, the FAA said.
Earlier on Saturday, President Barack Obama chided Republicans in his weekly radio address for approving a plan to ease air-traffic delays while leaving untouched budget cuts that affect children and the elderly.
Congressman Bill Shuster, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and a Republican from Pennsylvania, said the FAA could have complied with the automatic budget cuts, known as sequester, in a way that avoided inconveniencing travelers.
(Reporting by Alwyn Scott; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/faa-says-air-travel-system-normal-sunday-night-171531869.html
Jeanie Buss NFL playoff schedule 2013 Bronson Pelletier andy reid redskins sugar bowl downton abbey season 3
Select images from Bangladesh building collapse
(Ends first round) NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - Selections in the first roundof the 2013 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday (picknumber, NFL team, player, position, college): 1-Kansas City, Eric Fisher, offensive tackle, Central Michigan 2-Jacksonville, Luke Joeckel, offensive tackle, Texas A&M 3-Miami (from Oakland), Dion Jordan, defensive tackle, Oregon 4-Philadelphia, Lane Johnson, offensive tackle, Oklahoma 5-Detroit, Ezekiel Ansah, defensive end, Brigham Young 6-Cleveland, Barkevious Mingo, linebacker, LSU 7-Arizona, Jonathan Cooper, guard, North Carolina 8-St. ...
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/select-images-bangladesh-building-collapse-063137805.html
doctor who Phil Ramone louisville Kevin Ware Injury Video Richard Griffiths FGCU Reid Flair
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Wall Street Week Ahead: Central banks, data to steer investors
By Wanfeng Zhou
NEW YORK (Reuters) - With signs of a slower economy mounting, the near-term outlook for U.S. stocks isn't rosy, but investors may find comfort next week from the world's major central banks.
The Federal Reserve will meet on Tuesday and Wednesday, with the report of weaker-than-expected, first-quarter growth could reinforce expectations the Fed will keep purchasing bonds at a pace of $85 billion a month.
Low interest rates and ample liquidity provided by the Fed and other central banks have buoyed global equity markets because low borrowing costs for businesses and consumers lead to richer corporate profits. Major U.S. stock indexes hit record highs earlier this month.
"As long as it looks like central banks are on your side and on investors' side as far as providing more liquidity, that's going to help improve sentiment," said Brian Jacobsen, chief portfolio strategist at Wells Fargo Funds Management in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.
"I don't think (Fed officials) have got enough data since the last meeting to really justify changing policy. I really don't think they're going to look at slowing the pace of purchases until probably September."
A strong commitment from the Fed to continue its stimulative policy, coupled with corporate earnings that have mostly exceeded lowered forecasts, could help Wall Street extend a rally despite signs that the U.S. economic recovery is losing momentum.
Even though the market ended flat on Friday, its performance for the week was positive. The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 1.7 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.1 percent and Nasdaq Composite Index rose 2.3 percent
The economy expanded at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter, the Commerce Department said on Friday, short of expectations of 3.0 percent and setting a cautious tone.
A heavy slate of key economic indicators will be released next week, including personal income and spending, the Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing and services activity indexes, pending home sales, the Chicago purchasing managers' index and consumer confidence from the Conference Board.
The highlight of the week will come on Friday when the Labor Department releases its employment report for April.
Economists polled by Reuters are looking for job growth of 150,000, up from 88,000 in March. The unemployment rate is likely to remain unchanged at 7.6 percent.
"Today's (GDP) data suggests maybe the momentum is much weaker that what was priced in," said John Praveen, chief investment strategist at Prudential International Investments Advisers in Newark, New Jersey.
"We have had a very strong rally, so people are looking for any trigger for profit-taking," he said. Praveen said the market could see a 5 percent pullback in the months ahead should upcoming data prove weaker than expected.
Stocks have had a wild run over the past week after hackers attacked the website of stock broker Charles Schwab Corp
On Thursday, a software glitch shut down the Chicago Board Options Exchange for half the day, preventing trading in options on two of the stock market's most closely watched indexes and delivering the latest blow to confidence in the way U.S. financial markets operate.
EUROPE, EARNINGS
The European Central Bank meets on Thursday and investors will watch to see if it delivers an interest-rate cut as the euro zone economy deteriorates further. Further monetary easing would encourage investors to buy riskier assets and boost stocks.
"The market has been rallying on the fact the ECB might actually start to do something; if the U.S. market reacts in the same way, that might get the market rallying," said John Canally, investment strategist and economist for LPL Financial in Boston.
With earnings reporting now half over, investors will look to see if companies can continue to exceed profit estimates despite lackluster revenue.
According to Thomson Reuters data, of the 271 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings for the first quarter, 69 percent have beaten analysts' expectations, above the 63 percent average since 1994.
However, only 43.9 percent have topped analysts' revenue forecasts, well below the 62 percent average since 2002 and the 52 percent rate for the last four quarters.
Analysts now see earnings growth of 3.8 percent this quarter, up from expectations of 1.5 percent on April 1.
Next week Dow components reporting results will be Pfizer
David Joy, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial, based in Boston where he helps oversee about $700 billion in assets, said the lackluster figures suggest the second quarter may not be as robust as hoped.
"Right now, markets are going through an adjustment process, trying to figure out just how robust the economy is here and overseas as well," Joy said. "You have investors sort of biding their time. They are invested, but not with complete conviction."
(Reporting By Wanfeng Zhou; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-week-ahead-central-banks-data-steer-094959885.html
cujo karen handel hangout todd haley kareem abdul jabbar miramonte elementary school mark jenkins
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)