Actress talks dishes about rumors during 'MTV First: This Means War,' airing tonight at 7:56 p.m. on MTV and MTV.com! By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Justin Bieber Photo: Scott Legato/ FilmMagic
A few weeks back, a rumor hit the Internet that Justin Bieber wanted to remake "Fear," his pal Mark Wahlberg's classic thriller. Being that Wahlberg and Bieber already have a project in the works, it wouldn't be too off base for the teen star to try his hand at the creepy film that follows a young man (Walhberg) who becomes obsessed with his teen girlfriend (Reese Witherspoon) and goes on a dangerous rampage when the romance turns sour.
Witherspoon will sit down with MTV News on Tuesday (January 31) for an exclusive interview and premiere of a previously unseen clip from her upcoming film, "This Means War." The special, "MTV First: This Means War," will air at 7:56 p.m. ET on MTV and MTV.com. And, during that chat, she has an interesting reaction to the news that her film may get a new-millennium remake.
"Oh, really? Fine, great. That'd be cool. Would he be playing me, or is he playing Mark Wahlberg?" she wondered. "Is it like a girl who harasses the family, like a stalker who can't leave him alone? That would be good, right? I mean girls get crazy about him. Yeah, he's very talented."
Much like MTV First: Reese Witherspoon" hits MTV on Tuesday at 7:56 p.m. ET, check out Reese's first-ever, totally adorable MTV interview, when she opened up in 1991 at the age of 14 about what drew her to Hollywood. And make sure to stick with Reese's chat when it moves to MTV.com after an exclusive clip premieres Tuesday on MTV!
So why is Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger planning to park his rear end on the other side of Art Rooney?s desk and ask hard questions about the future of the offense?
It could be that Roethlisberger wants to ensure that quarterbacks coach Randy Fichtner replaces Bruce Arians as the next offensive coordinator of the Steelers.
?When I get back, I?m going to go up to Mr. Rooney?s office and ask him what he wants from me, what he wants from this offense, because I think that?s a viable question for him,? Roethlisberger said recently.? ?He?s our owner and our boss, so I really would like to know kind of what he wants and where he sees our offense going because I?d like to tell him where I see us going.?
Roethlisberger surely sees the offense going toward Fichtner, who has joined Ben in Hawaii for the Pro Bowl and who has worked with the quarterback since 2007, when coach Mike Tomlin hired him.? Fichtner previously ran a spread offense at Memphis, and Peter King explained last night on NBC SportsTalk that Fichtner was instrumental in helping Roethsliberger reintegrate into the roster after a four-game suspension to start the 2010 season.
And so the deeper question is whether Rooney wants to change the offense, or whether he simply wanted to change the coordinator.? If it was a matter of dumping Bruce Arians and promoting Fichtner, the move probably would have happened by now.
Some may wonder why Rooney would possibly want to retreat to a more traditional Steelers attack ? play great defense, run the ball extensively, and pass selectively not extensively.? That would seem to be an unusual decision, given the presence of three very good young receivers:? Mike Wallace, 2011 team MVP Antonio Brown, and Emmanuel Sanders.
But here?s the thing.? Receivers who catch a lot of passes eventually command a lot of money.? So if the Steelers continue to stretch the field, it could force them to stretch their wallet and/or salary cap in order to keep the pieces in place.? Competent running backs, generally speaking, are much cheaper, more interchangeable, and far easier to find.
Rooney offered no concrete clues during a recent interview with Steelers Digest editor Bob Labriola when commenting on the fact that the two Super Bowl teams have quarterbacks who passed for more than 10,000 yards combined this season and defenses that landed near the bottom of the league.
?There?s no question the league is changing and the league?s always evolving,? Rooney said.? ?And there?s no doubt that I think we?ve seen quarterback play in general this year at maybe the highest level we?ve ever seen it, from a number of players.? And so number one I think we?re fortunate to have a lot of very good quarterbacks in the league right now.? Number two, the rules have changed to allow more prolific passers.? And so I think that?s what we?re looking for for our quarterback, to be up there with the elite quarterbacks and to have that kind of production.? And so I think you have to recognize all those facts.
?The other side of the coin is I think if you look at these playoffs so far, we?re not seeing teams scoring 30 and 40 points a game.? And so I think you have to remember what playoff football is all about.? Defense still is a big part of the game.? And the games that we?ve seen for far in the playoffs, the defenses have made big plays.? And as I say, the scoring has been fairly consistent with past playoffs.? And so I think the game is evolving, but maybe not to the degree that some people would like to play it.?
Apart from the fact that the Giants scored 37 at Lambeau Field and the Pats scored 45 against the Broncos, who scored one point less than 30 against the Steelers, and the 49ers and Saints combined for 68 points and the Saints and Lions cominbed for 73 points, Rooney seems to be struggling to reconcile the recent explosion in offense with the time-honored notion that defense wins championships.
Of course, there?s also a chance that Rooney wants to continue to stretch the field, but that he doesn?t believe Fichtner is the right guy to orchestrate the attack.? Either way, these decisions about the future of the Steelers offense seem to be coming not from the top of the coaching staff, but from the top of the organization.? And it?ll be interesting to see whether Roethlisberger likes what he hears when he plops his caboose in Art Rooney?s office.
The Epson PowerLite 96W Multimedia Projector ($899 direct) is a classroom projector loaded with bells and whistles, providing a wealth of connectivity choices. Teachers can hook it to a LAN (it has an Ethernet port and supports an optional Wi-Fi module), run presentations off a USB thumb drive, control it and other networked projectors via a Web browser, and more. The 96W?s image quality, for both data and video, was so-so in our testing, but its versatility should make it a welcome addition to many classrooms.
The PowerLite 96W?s light source, based on the 3LCD technology developed by Epson, is rated at 2,700 lumens. The projector provides WXGA (800 by 600 pixel) native resolution, at a 16:10 aspect ratio. It has a similar feature set to the Editors? Choice NEC NP-M260W ($850 street, 4 stars), a WXGA projector rated at 2,600 lumens.
The two-tone (white and gray) PowerLite 96W measures 4.2 by 13.6 by 10.3 inches (HWD), including feet, and weighs 7.2 pounds. It?s large enough that you won?t want to carry it around much, and it lacks a carrying case. It?s best used on a table or cart, or mounted on a ceiling (it has holes to fit a ceiling mount), which Epson sells separately. The projector has manual focus and zoom wheels accessible through an indentation above the lens; I was able to bring the projector to a reasonably sharp focus.
The PowerLite 96W has an abundant selection of ports: two VGA-in (with audio jacks to match) for connecting to computers, a monitor-out VGA port (with an audio-out jack); HDMI-in; 3 RCA plugs for composite video and audio; S-video; a type B USB port for connecting with a PC (USB Plug'n'Play provides easy connectivity with both Macs and Windows PCs); a type A port that fits a USB thumb drive; RS-232; an Ethernet port for LAN connectivity; and a microphone jack.
Still and Video Image Testing
From a distance of about 8 feet away, the PowerLite 96W filled our test screen with an image about 64 inches on a diagonal. The image was bright in a darkened room, and held its own even with a considerable amount of ambient light. The projector should be fine for small to mid-sized classrooms.
In our DisplayMate testing, the PowerLite 96W?s data image quality was adequate for typical classroom presentations, though not without flaws. There was occasional tinting; some bright white areas had a slight yellowish tinge, and grays sometimes looked a bit greenish. White-on-black text appeared slightly fuzzy and red tinted at the two smallest sizes.
Video quality is good enough for showing short clips, but I wouldn?t recommend it for longer clips, let alone for screening movies. I saw some loss of detail in bright areas in our test clips, as well as posterization?abrupt changes in color where they should be gradual. Skin tones sometimes looked a bit pasty, and occasionally I?d see artifacts in the form of a mild hatching, particularly in scenes portraying motion.
The PowerLite 96W?s single 16-watt built-in speaker easily gets the job done, providing sound of reasonably good audio quality loud enough to fill a mid-sized classroom.
A Projector for the Teacher
The Epson PowerLite 96W Multimedia Projector has a wealth of connectivity features befitting a classroom: wired or (optional) WiFi connectivity; an abundance of input choices including an HDMI port; the ability to accept input from more than one PC; a port to run presentations off of a USB thumb drive, and more. The Editors? Choice NEC NP-M260 is similar in price, brightness, and features but is slightly lighter, comes with a soft carrying case, and has better image quality for both data and video. The Editors? Choice Optoma TW675UTi-3D ($1,800 street, 4 stars) or the Epson Brightlink 450wi ($2,200, 4 stars) are pricier, but they?re geared to letting you create interactive presentations. As is, the 96W is a versatile and solid choice as a projector useful in a variety of classroom situations.
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??? Epson PowerLite 96W Multimedia Projector ??? Acer X1261P ??? NEC NP-V260 ??? NEC NP-V260X ??? Epson EX5210 Multimedia Projector ?? more
Walter Isaacson has unleashed a torrent of new books about Steve Jobs and Apple. But nobody has written anything quite like Caleb Melby's The Zen of Steve Jobs, a graphic novel that charts Jobs' relationship with a Buddhist priest called Koby Chino Otogawa. The book is a both a visual and textual delight and I couldn't resist inviting Melby, who also writes for Forbes, into our New York City studio to talk about Zen and the art of Steve Jobs.
A tiny mountainous region in southern Siberia may have been the genetic source of the earliest Native Americans, according to new research by a University of Pennsylvania-led team of anthropologists.
Lying at the intersection of what is today Russia, Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan, the region known as the Altai "is a key area because it's a place that people have been coming and going for thousands and thousands of years," said Theodore Schurr, an associate professor in Penn's Department of Anthropology. Schurr, together with doctoral student Matthew Dulik and a team of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, collaborated on the work with Ludmila Osipova of the Institute of Cytology and Genetics in Novosibirsk, Russia.
Among the people who may have emerged from the Altai region are the predecessors of the first Native Americans. Roughly 20-25,000 years ago, these prehistoric humans carried their Asian genetic lineages up into the far reaches of Siberia and eventually across the then-exposed Bering land mass into the Americas.
"Our goal in working in this area was to better define what those founding lineages or sister lineages are to Native American populations," Schurr said.
The team's study, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, analyzed the genetics of individuals living in Russia's Altai Republic to identify markers that might link them to Native Americans. Prior ethnographic studies had found distinctions between tribes in the northern and southern Altai, with the northern tribes apparently linked linguistically and culturally to ethnic groups farther to the north, such as the Uralic or Samoyedic populations, and the southern groups showing a stronger connection to Mongols, Uighurs and Buryats.
Schurr and colleagues assessed the Altai samples for markers in mitochondrial DNA, which is maternally inherited, and in Y chromosome DNA, which is passed from fathers to sons. They also compared the samples to ones previously collected from individuals in southern Siberia, Central Asia, Mongolia, East Asia and a variety of American indigenous groups. Because of the large number of gene markers examined, the findings have a high degree of precision.
"At this level of resolution we can see the connections more clearly," Schurr said.
Looking at the Y chromosome DNA, the researchers found a unique mutation shared by Native Americans and southern Altaians in the lineage known as Q.
"This is also true from the mitochondrial side," Schurr said. "We find forms of haplogroups C and D in southern Altaians and D in northern Altaians that look like some of the founder types that arose in North America, although the northern Altaians appeared more distantly related to Native Americans."
Calculating how long the mutations they noted took to arise, Schurr's team estimated that the southern Altaian lineage diverged genetically from the Native American lineage 13,000 to 14,000 years ago, a timing scenario that aligns with the idea of people moving into the Americas from Siberia between 15,000 and 20,000 years ago.
Though it's possible, even likely, that more than one wave of people crossed the land bridge, Schurr said that other researchers have not yet been able to identify a similar geographic focal point from which Native Americans can trace their heritage.
"It may change with more data from other groups, but, so far, even with intensive work in Mongolia, they're not seeing the same things that we are," he said.
In addition to elucidating the Asia-America connection, the study confirms that the modern cultural divide between southern and northern Altaians has ancient genetic roots. Southern Altaians appeared to have had greater genetic contact with Mongolians than they did with northern Altaians, who were more genetically similar to groups farther to the north.
However, when looking at the Altaians' mitochondrial DNA in isolation, the researchers did observe greater connections between northern and southern Altaians, suggesting that perhaps females were more likely to bridge the genetic divide between the two populations.
"Subtle differences here both reflect the Altaians themselves ? the differentiation among those groups ? and allow us to try to point to an area where some of these precursors of American Indian lineages may have arisen," Schurr said.
Moving forward, Schurr and his team hope to continue to use molecular genetic techniques to trace the movement of peoples within Asia and into and through the Americas. They may also attempt to identify links between genetic variations and adaptive physiological responses, links that could inform biomedical research.
For example, Schurr noted that both Siberian and Native American populations "seem to be susceptible to Westernization of diet and moving away from traditional diets, but their responses in terms of blood pressure and fat metabolism and so forth actually differ."
Using genomic approaches along with traditional physical anthropology may lend insight into the factors that govern these differences.
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University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews
Thanks to University of Pennsylvania for this article.
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ScienceDaily (Jan. 26, 2012) ? A multi-university research group, which includes several University of Notre Dame faculty and graduate students, has recently published a paper detailing new work on the analysis and dating of human bruises. The research, which is funded by the Gerber Foundation, will have particular application to pediatric medicine, as bruise age is often key evidence in child abuse cases.
Using a combination of modeling and spectroscopy measurements, the researchers have advanced our understanding of the changing composition of aging bruises and developed new tools for detailed biomedical studies of human skin tissue.
Spectroscopic measurement determines the chemical composition of tissue by measuring the extent to which it absorbs and reflects light of different wave lengths. In this case, the researchers examined accidental bruises to determine their concentrations of bilirubin, blood volume fraction, and blood oxygenation, which peak at various periods after contusion occurs.
The data were combined with modeling via Monte Carlo methods, which are often used to simulate highly complex systems -- like the propagation of electromagnetic waves in healthy and contused skin -- involving many interacting degrees of freedom. The result was a multilayered model in which each layer is characterized by a number of parameters, including thickness of layer, absorption and scattering properties, refractive index, and scattering anisotropy factors. Previous research had produced models simulating only one to three layers of skin; this one simulates seven, allowing for a much clearer spectroscopic picture of a bruise's composition and age.
The paper, titled "Reflectance spectrometry of normal and bruised human skins: experiments and modeling" is published in the current issue of Physiological Measurement. The authors are Oleg Kim (Notre Dame), John McMurdy (Brown University), Collin Lines (Notre Dame), Susan Duffy (Hasbro Children's Hospital), Gregory Crawford (Notre Dame) and Mark Alber (Notre Dame).
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Oleg Kim, John McMurdy, Collin Lines, Susan Duffy, Gregory Crawford, Mark Alber. Reflectance spectrometry of normal and bruised human skins: experiments and modeling. Physiological Measurement, 2012; 33 (2): 159 DOI: 10.1088/0967-3334/33/2/159
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NAPLES, Fla. ? Buoyed by strong crowds, Republican Newt Gingrich put a greater emphasis Tuesday on a possible matchup with President Barack Obama and spent less time drawing contrasts with GOP presidential rival Mitt Romney.
The former House speaker saw his crowd sizes swell into the thousands, including an event at a U.S. flag-draped Sarasota airport hangar and another overflow event at a town square in Naples. He also enjoyed a burst of fundraising with a week to go before Florida's presidential primary. An official at a political action committee backing his White House bid said they were buying $6 million in Florida ad time.
All day, Gingrich made brief mentions of Romney. Gingrich referred to his rival as the moderate in a race where conservative credentials matter most. He linked Romney to Florida's former Republican governor-turned-independent, Charlie Crist, by talking about campaign staffers common to both men.
But he swung harder at Obama, saying he would offer the most striking choice against the incumbent in a November election.
Gingrich's remarks were partially timed to Tuesday night's State of the Union address. Gingrich said Obama should stop blaming his Republican predecessor for the country's economic woes.
"This is the fourth year of his presidency. He needs to get over it," Gingrich said. "A friend of mine says, `He has shifted from Yes We Can to Why We Couldn't.'"
Barely a half-year after his campaign all but imploded, Gingrich is reveling in a surge. He rebounded from disappointing showings in Iowa and New Hampshire to trounce Romney in South Carolina. Since then, he has shot to the front of many polls in Florida and nationally.
It's showing in his campaign finances, too. Gingrich officials said they raised more than $2 million since his win Saturday in South Carolina and expected hundreds of thousands more from finance events Tuesday.
A fundraising appeal sent out to supporters Tuesday underscored the new-found confidence.
"There is no longer any doubt that we can win the GOP nomination," Gingrich says in the pitch.
Winning Our Future, a Super PAC run by former Gingrich adviser Rick Tyler, said separately it would use its newly purchased ad time to criticize Romney on health care. Romney approved a health law as governor of Massachusetts that some have described as a model for the controversial insurance mandate achieved by Obama.
The PAC is financed largely by the family of a Las Vegas casino magnate.
___
Associated Press writer Shannon McCaffrey in Atlanta contributed to this report.
CHICAGO?? Not too long ago, Web coding was the rarified realm of computer geeks, but a new crop of entrepreneurs is making this valuable computer skill available to just about anyone with an inclination to learn.
In New York, a nascent startup called Codecademy, the brainchild of two former Columbia University students, has managed to sign up hundreds of thousands of users since launching in August. Celebrity participants such as New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg have helped create buzz.
"Coding is the new literacy," said cofounder Zach Sims.
"As the world moves toward becoming increasingly complicated, it's important to know what you're doing."
Codecademy's self-guided courses, with names like "Hello New York," and "FizzBuzz," are free. An introductory segment to JavaScript, a language often used to build websites, took about five minutes and was admittedly addictive.
Sims, who at 21 has already worked for prominent startups including the former file-sharing service Drop.io and group messaging site groupme ? now part of Skype ? took a leave of absence from Columbia so that he and partner Ryan Bubinski could dedicate their time fully to the effort. The project was born in part from Sims' frustration when learning to code.
"I was reading books and taking classes and watching video," he recalled. "I was always dissatisfied.
Codecademy had more than 500,000 users through early November, the last time figures were disclosed. Its latest initiative, dubbed Code Year, challenges would-be users to make coding a New Year's resolution; the campaign pulled in close to 300,000 adherents in just eight days time, Sims said.
In October, Codecademy announced $2.5 million in startup funding from a group of high-profile investors. Among them was Union Square Ventures, a VC firm that has backed powerhouses such as Twitter and Zynga.
"On a really fundamental level their vision is teaching the world how to program for free," said Andy Weissman, a Union Square partner. "That's a really big vision; it's a vision that's really right for the time that we're in now. It's an important skill for people to learn."
Sims declined to provide specifics on the business model, but said once the site builds scale, it should be able to attract a range of business partners. Weissman said the creation of a large network of engaged users could generate interest among corporate recruiters and as well as those looking to find jobs.
Skilled IT professional are hard to find. According to a May 2011 survey from ManpowerGroup, the employment services agency, IT staff and engineers were among the top ten most difficult U.S. jobs to fill.
Even those who don't plan on becoming professional coders are finding the skills beneficial, whether they run their own businesses, work in large companies or use them in everyday life.
One is David Whittemore, the co-founder of Clothes Horse, an emerging startup that offers advise about clothing fit and sizing to consumers who purchase apparel online. He has been taking Codecademy courses, but has no plans to become a Web engineer.
"I actually think almost everybody should learn to code," said Whittemore, adding that his new knowledge has eased the burden on his company's chief technology officer. "The more I can get involved and help him out, the better it is for our business ? being able to put a prototype together for him, get access on the data on how a product is performing so I don't have to ask him," he said. "How much will it save us? Basically hiring a consultant or contractor or having to hire another team member."
Therein lies the rub. At a time when more and more new ventures are deploying so-called "lean" startup practices, the more skills and services they can perform in-house will help keep costs down.
Other entrepreneurs have recognized this need. In Chicago, Mike McGee and Neal Sales-Griffin, a team of recently minted Northwestern University graduates, are tapping demand for coding skills with a different kind of training model under a similar name: Code Academy. Theirs charges students $6,000 a pop for a 10-week course at an actual school.
The two began working on the idea in April, eventually quitting their jobs and jumping in headlong.
Demand for initial classes beginning in October quickly outstripped supply. There were 88 applicants for just 12 spots, all willing to plunk down tuition before Code Academy had even secured actual office space. So the founders upped the class size to 35, and lucked out with leasing space inside of the headquarters of Groupon, the online couponing site.
"We didn't have to take in any investment," said McGee, at 23 younger than many of his students. "We went from having no money to being profitable by the first week of September."
The program recently began its second series in the city's John Hancock building with 57 students, including some who are taking instruction in website design.
"It's just exploding," said McGee, whose business is already profitable. "We have people that are 21 and people that are 52 ? from all over the world. It's just a big mixing pot."
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For a long time, it was easy to search for patents on the Web, but trademarks? Not so much. Thanks to startups like TechCrunch 50 grad Trademarkia, anyone can now do a simple keyword search and pick through each and every U.S. trademark filed since 1870 -- if your heart so desires, of course.
CAMP PENDLETON, Calif (Reuters) ? The U.S. Marine sergeant accused of leading a 2005 massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians in Haditha returned to a military court at Camp Pendleton near San Diego on Tuesday to face sentencing for his guilty plea to one count of dereliction of duty.
Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, 31, entered his plea on Monday as part of a deal with military prosecutors in which more serious charges of involuntary manslaughter and aggravated assault were dismissed.
The guilty plea cut short Wuterich's court-martial, ending the final prosecution of alleged atrocities that sparked public outrage and brought international condemnation of U.S. troops.
As part of his guilty plea, Wuterich accepted responsibility for providing negligent verbal instructions to the Marines under his command when he told them to "shoot first and ask questions later," which resulted in the death of innocent civilians.
He faces a maximum sentence of three months of confinement, forfeiture of two-thirds of his pay for three months and a reduction in rank when he is sentenced on Tuesday, a Camp Pendleton spokesman said.
Any discharge process Wuterich may face will be separate from the plea and sentencing.
Appearing in court on Tuesday, Wuterich, wearing his military uniform, sat stoically, hands folded and elbows resting on the table, and calmly listened. His lawyer, Neal Puckett, questioned one of several character witnesses expected to be called before sentencing is imposed.
Wuterich was accused of being the ringleader in a series of November 19, 2005, shootings and grenade attacks that left two dozen civilians dead in Haditha, a city west of Baghdad that was then a hotbed of insurgent activity.
The killings were portrayed by Iraqi witnesses as a massacre of unarmed civilians -- men, women and children -- carried out by Marines in anger after a member of their unit was killed by a roadside bomb.
Lawyers for the troops involved argued the deaths resulted from a fast-moving situation in which the Marines believed they were under enemy fire. Wuterich was originally charged with murder in the case.
Six out of the eight Marines originally accused in the case had their charges dismissed by military judges, and a seventh was cleared of criminal wrongdoing.
Wuterich enlisted in the Marines after his 1998 graduation from high school, where he was an athletic honor-roll student and played with the marching band.
He was serving his second tour of duty in Iraq when the Haditha incident occurred.
Quitting smoking is never easy. However, when you're poor and uneducated, kicking the habit for good is doubly hard, according to a new study by a tobacco dependence researcher at The City College of New York (CCNY).
Christine Sheffer, associate medical professor at CCNY's Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, tracked smokers from different socioeconomic backgrounds after they had completed a statewide smoking cessation program in Arkansas.
Whether rich or poor, participants managed to quit at about the same rate upon completing a program of cognitive behavioral therapy, either with or without nicotine patches. But as time went on, a disparity between the groups appeared and widened.
Those with the fewest social and financial resources had the hardest time staving off cravings over the long run. "The poorer they are, the worse it gets," said Professor Sheffer, who directed the program and was an assistant professor with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences at the time.
She found that smokers on the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder were 55 percent more likely than those at the upper end to start smoking again three months after treatment. By six months post-quitting, the probability of their going back to cigarettes jumped to two-and-a-half times that of the more affluent smokers. The research will be published in the March 2012 issue of the American Journal of Public Health and will appear ahead-of-print online under the journal's "First Look" section.
In their study, Professor Sheffer and her colleagues noted that overall, Americans with household incomes of $15,000 or less smoke at nearly three times the rate of those with incomes of $50,000 or greater. The consequences are bleak. "Smoking is still the greatest cause of preventable death and disease in the United States today," noted Professor Sheffer. "And it's a growing problem in developing countries."
Harder to Stay Away
Professor Sheffer suggested reasons it may be harder for some to give up tobacco forever.
Smoking relieves stress for those fighting nicotine addiction, so it is life's difficulties that often make them reach for the cigarette pack again. Unfortunately, those on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale suffer more hardships than those at the top ? in the form of financial difficulties, discrimination, and job insecurity, to name a few. And for those smokers who started as teenagers, they may have never learned other ways to manage stress, said Professor Sheffer.
For people with lower socioeconomic status (SES), it can be tougher to avoid temptation as well. "Lower SES groups, with lower paying jobs, aren't as protected by smoke-free laws," said Sheffer, so individuals who have quit can find themselves back at work and surrounded by smokers. Also fewer of them have no-smoking policies in their homes.
These factors are rarely addressed in standard treatment programs. "The evidence-based treatments that are around have been developed for middle-class patients," Professor Sheffer pointed out. "So (in therapy) we talk about middle-class problems."
Further research would help determine how the standard six sessions of therapy might be altered or augmented to help. "Our next plan is to take the results of this and other studies and apply what we learned to revise the approach, in order to better meet the needs of poor folks," she said. "Maybe there is a better arrangement, like giving 'booster sessions'. Not everybody can predict in six weeks all the stresses they will have later on down the road."
"Some people say [quitting] is the most difficult thing in their life to do," said Sheffer. "If we better prepare people with more limited resources to manage the types of stress they have in their lives, we'd get better results. "
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City College of New York: http://www2.ccny.cuny.edu
Thanks to City College of New York 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.
TORONTO (AP) ? BlackBerry maker Research in Motion'co-CEOs, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, announced Sunday they are stepping down from the once-iconic company that has struggled to compete in recent years.
The pair who founded RIM will be replaced by Thorsten Heins, a chief operating officer who joined RIM four years ago from Siemens AG, RIM said.
Balsillie and Lazaridis have headed Waterloo, Ontario-based RIM together for the past two decades.
"There comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognize the need to pass the baton to new leadership. Jim and I went to the board and told them that we thought that time was now," Lazaridis said in a statement.
The Canadian company has suffered a series of setbacks and has lost tens of billions in market value. A company that was worth more than $70 billion a few years ago now has a market value of $8.9 billion.
RIM said last month that new phones deemed critical to the company's future will be delayed until late 2012. And its PlayBook tablet, RIM's answer to the Apple iPad, failed to gain consumer support, forcing the company to give it deep discounts to move the devices off store shelves.
A widespread outage also frustrated tens of millions of BlackBerry users in October.
Lazaridis will take on a new role as vice chairman of RIM's board and chairman of the board's new innovation committee. Balsillie remains a member of the board.
"I agree this is the right time to pass the baton to new leadership, and I have complete confidence in Thorsten, the management team and the company," Balsillie said in the statement. "I remain a significant shareholder and a director and, of course, they will have my full support."
BAGHDAD ? An aide to Iraq's most prominent Shiite cleric is urging politicians on both sides of the country's sectarian divide to end a government crisis, as fears of civil war rise a month after the U.S. military withdrawal.
Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's aide Ahmed al-Safi said during a Friday sermon in the holy city of Karbala that the war-ravaged country "cannot bear further tensions among politicians."
Sistani, revered among Iraqi Shiites, normally exerts his influence through sermons and statements made by his aides.
The crisis erupted last month after the Shiite-led government issued an arrest warrant against the Sunni vice president on terrorism charges. In protest, the Sunni-backed bloc has been boycotting parliament and Cabinet sessions.
Newt Gingrich's fiery response to CNN moderator John King's question about his ex-wife was the electrifying highlight of Thursday's Republican debate. After the session was over, King defended his decision to ask the question that had everybody talking.
Gingrich flatly condemned King, along with CNN, for asking a question about Marianne Gingrich, who told ABC News earlier on Thursday that her ex-husband had asked her for an open marriage while he was having an affair with his eventual third wife. Gingrich said he was "appalled" by King's decision to lead off the debate with a question about his former wife's allegations, calling it "close to despicable."
Speaking on a CNN panel, King said he had a friendly conversation with Gingrich after the debate was over. He called it a "damned if do you, damned if you don't" situation.
"Is it an issue I'm happy came up?" he said. "Of course not." But he came firmly down on the idea that, since people were talking about Gingrich's past, the issue was worth raising.
"I understood that if I asked the question he was not going to be happy with it, and he was going to turn on me," he said of Gingrich. "...It was my judgment, my decision, and mine alone. If we're going to deal with it, let's deal with it up front."
The other panelists mostly backed King up. David Gergen called Gingrich's infidelity issues "the elephant in the room," and said King had a "duty" to ask the question. Ari Fleischer, George W. Bush's former press secretary, was not so charitable.
"I don't think it was the right sequence," he said, explaining that he thought the question was too geared towards political junkies and not enough towards a broader audience interested in bigger issues.
King parried the disagreement with aplomb. "This is a debatable question," he said. "...I completely understand and respect those who disagree."
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Background on Newt Gingrich.
Experience -- And Baggage
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Newton Leroy Gingrich entered Washington politics as a Georgia congressman in 1979 and exited in 1999 after resigning his position as speaker of the House. His four-year speakership is most frequently noted in conservative circles for his success in pressuring President Bill Clinton to sign a conservative welfare reform package into law and overseeing a short period of balanced or near-balanced budgets. He also received a large share of the blame for the 1995 government shutdown, when the public saw him as a stubborn politician more willing to allow the government to run out of funds than to compromise. But beyond the capital he's cultivated in the conservative movement, Gingrich's real political credentials have always been undercut by his personal history. He's had three wives. He reportedly brought divorce papers to his first wife while she was in a hospital bed recovering from uterine cancer (though this narrative was denied by both Gingrich and his daughter, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, in a recent report). His eventual separation from his second wife was less dramatic, but no less memorable. According to an extensive profile in Esquire, he told Marianne Gingrich that she was a "Jaguar" and that "all I want is a Chevrolet." That brought him to his third marriage to Callista Gingrich, who was a House staffer when she began an affair with her eventual husband. Newton Leroy Gingrich entered Washington politics as a Georgia congressman in 1979 and exited in 1999 after resigning his position as speaker of the House.
His four-year speakership is most frequently noted in conservative circles for his success in pressuring President Bill Clinton to sign a conservative welfare reform package into law and overseeing a short period of balanced or near-balanced budgets. He also received a large share of the blame for the 1995 government shutdown, when the public saw him as a stubborn politician more willing to allow the government to run out of funds than to compromise.
But beyond the capital he's cultivated in the conservative movement, Gingrich's real political credentials have always been undercut by his personal history. He's had three wives. He reportedly brought divorce papers to his first wife while she was in a hospital bed recovering from uterine cancer (though this narrative was denied by both Gingrich and his daughter, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, in a recent report). His eventual separation from his second wife was less dramatic, but no less memorable. According to an extensive profile in Esquire, he told Marianne Gingrich that she was a "Jaguar" and that "all I want is a Chevrolet." That brought him to his third marriage to Callista Gingrich, who was a House staffer when she began an affair with her eventual husband.
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Experience -- And Baggage
Newton Leroy Gingrich entered Washington politics as a Georgia congressman in 1979 and exited in 1999 after resigning his position as speaker of the House. His four-year speakership is most frequently noted in conservative circles for his success in pressuring President Bill Clinton to sign a conservative welfare reform package into law and overseeing a short period of balanced or near-balanced budgets. He also received a large share of the blame for the 1995 government shutdown, when the public saw him as a stubborn politician more willing to allow the government to run out of funds than to compromise. But beyond the capital he's cultivated in the conservative movement, Gingrich's real political credentials have always been undercut by his personal history. He's had three wives. He reportedly brought divorce papers to his first wife while she was in a hospital bed recovering from uterine cancer (though this narrative was denied by both Gingrich and his daughter, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, in a recent report). His eventual separation from his second wife was less dramatic, but no less memorable. According to an extensive profile in Esquire, he told Marianne Gingrich that she was a "Jaguar" and that "all I want is a Chevrolet." That brought him to his third marriage to Callista Gingrich, who was a House staffer when she began an affair with her eventual husband. "; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });
The awards 'recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the [LGBT] community.' By Jocelyn Vena
Lady Gaga Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage
Lady Gaga and the cast of "Glee" are some of the A-list folks up for awards at the 23rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards. On Thursday (January 19), GLAAD announced their nominees for the annual awards, which "recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives."
Previous GLAAD Award winner Lady Gaga is up for Outstanding Music Artist along with "The Voice" contestant Beverly McClellan, Girl in a Coma, Hunx and His Punx, and MEN. "Pretty Little Liars," which features a lesbian character, will face off against "Degrassi," "Grey's Anatomy," "Shameless" and "Torchwood: Miracle Day" for Outstanding Drama Series. On the comedy side of the TV spectrum, Golden Globe winner "Modern Family" will duke it out against "Glee," "Happy Endings," "The Big C" and "Exes and Ohs." Another "Glee"-related program, "The Glee Project," is up for Outstanding Reality Program along with "Dancing With the Stars," "Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys," "The Real L Word" and "The Voice" (which returns on February 5).
"J. Edgar" has been recognized in the Outstanding Film - Wide Release category alongside "Albert Nobbs" and "Beginners." HBO's "Cinema Verite" is the only film up for Outstanding TV Movie or Mini-Series.
"As media continue to tell new stories about LGBT people and families, a majority of Americans now support full equality of LGBT Americans," Mike Thompson, GLAAD's acting president, said in a statement about this year's nominees. "This year's nominees enlighten and entertain, while spotlighting the diversity of our community. Audiences expect to see their own worlds reflected in media, and today more than ever, those include the lives of LGBT people. Viewers know that LGBT characters and stories are simply natural extensions of, and glimpses into, their own experiences from across America."
Three ceremonies will be held to hand out awards, in New York on March 24, Los Angeles on April 21 and San Francisco on June 2.
Coexisting medical conditions increase treatment costs Public release date: 18-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lauren Pearson pearson@aaos.org 847-384-4031 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Weight loss and malnutrition are the biggest culprits
More than 250,000 hip fractures occur every year in the U.S., often resulting in hospitalization, surgery, nursing-home admission, long-term disability, and/or extended periods of rehabilitation. Independent existing medical conditions (otherwise known as comorbidities) significantly increase the treatment cost and length of hospitalization for older adults who have sustained a hip fracture, according to a new study recently published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.
"The purpose of our investigation was to gain a better understanding of the coexisting medical conditions that impact the cost of treating patients with hip fractures and how those conditions affect the overall cost and duration of hospitalization," said orthopaedic surgeon Kevin P. Black, MD, one of the study's authors and C. McCollister Evarts Professor and Chair, Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Penn State College of Medicine
Specific Study Details
Researchers gathered hospital-discharge information from a 2007 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) report which included data from 1,044 hospitals in 40 states. The study involved 32,440 patients, and included information on race, sex, hospitalization cost, length of stay, age, type of hip fracture sustained, and type of surgical hip fracture treatment. Almost 80 percent of patients were age 75 or older, 72.3 percent were female, 87.9 percent were Caucasian, 4.3 percent were Hispanic, and 3.7 percent were black.
Patients most commonly had two or three comorbidities. Only 4.9 percent of patients had no comorbidities. High blood pressure, affecting 67 percent of patients, was by far the most common comorbid condition. Others, listed from more common to less common, included:
deficiency anemias (disorders caused by a lack of certain nutrients, such as iron or vitamin B12);
fluid and electrolyte disorders;
chronic lung diseases;
uncomplicated diabetes;
neurological disorders;
hypothyroidism (a condition in which the thyroid gland does not produce enough thyroid hormone); and
congestive heart failure.
Key Study Findings
Comorbidities significantly raise the cost of hospitalization and length of hospital stay, according to the study. Hip fracture patients who were very thin or malnourished had the greatest increased costs, followed by those with pulmonary circulatory disorders (disorders of blood flow to and from the lungs). Recent weight loss or malnutrition also had the greatest effect on length of hospitalization, increasing the hospital stay by 2.5 days. Congestive heart failure increased the hospital stay by 1.1 days, and pulmonary circulation disorders, by 0.9 day. Fluid and electrolyte disorders, paralysis, and conditions contributing to blood clots also lengthened hospitalization significantly.
The study results may have major implications for doctors, hospitals, and payors, according to Dr. Black.
"Current reimbursement to hospitals only considers if a patient is categorized as having a major comorbidity, a comorbidity, or no comorbidity," said Dr. Black. "Our study demonstrates that specific comorbidities significantly increase costs and length of stay associated with the treatment of hip fractures."
Two major issues deserve further investigation, said Dr. Black.
"First, we need to better understand the total cost of caring for hip-fracture patients. Our study focused only on acute hospitalization, but care typically extends well beyond this, since many patients are discharged to rehabilitation and skilled-nursing facilities," said Dr. Black. "Second, this study did not investigate the quality or outcomes of care. As our population ages, there is reason to believe that the number of hip fractures will increase. Having a better understanding of the comorbidities that affect hip-fracture patients hopefully will lead to the development of strategies to more effectively care for these patients."
In an effort to prevent hip fractures, Dr. Black and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) suggest the following fall-prevention strategies:
Keep floors clear of clutter.
Wear low-heeled, rubber-soled shoes.
Make sure all rooms are well-lit.
Walk on the grass when the sidewalks are slippery.
Make sure rugs have skid-proof backs.
Have grab bars installed on the bathroom walls near the bathtub or shower and toilet.
Use a nonskid bath mat in the shower or bathtub.
Make sure the stairs are well-lit and have handrails on both sides.
For more fall-prevention resources, visit orthoinfo.org/falls
###
Disclosure: None of the authors received payments or services, either directly or indirectly (i.e., via his or her institution), from a third party in support of any aspect of this work. One or more of the authors, or his or her institution, has had a financial relationship, in the thirty-six months prior to submission of this work, with an entity in the biomedical arena that could be perceived to influence or have the potential to influence what is written in this work. No author has had any other relationships, or has engaged in any other activities, that could be perceived to influence or have the potential to influence what is written in this work.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Coexisting medical conditions increase treatment costs Public release date: 18-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lauren Pearson pearson@aaos.org 847-384-4031 American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Weight loss and malnutrition are the biggest culprits
More than 250,000 hip fractures occur every year in the U.S., often resulting in hospitalization, surgery, nursing-home admission, long-term disability, and/or extended periods of rehabilitation. Independent existing medical conditions (otherwise known as comorbidities) significantly increase the treatment cost and length of hospitalization for older adults who have sustained a hip fracture, according to a new study recently published in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.
"The purpose of our investigation was to gain a better understanding of the coexisting medical conditions that impact the cost of treating patients with hip fractures and how those conditions affect the overall cost and duration of hospitalization," said orthopaedic surgeon Kevin P. Black, MD, one of the study's authors and C. McCollister Evarts Professor and Chair, Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, Penn State College of Medicine
Specific Study Details
Researchers gathered hospital-discharge information from a 2007 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) report which included data from 1,044 hospitals in 40 states. The study involved 32,440 patients, and included information on race, sex, hospitalization cost, length of stay, age, type of hip fracture sustained, and type of surgical hip fracture treatment. Almost 80 percent of patients were age 75 or older, 72.3 percent were female, 87.9 percent were Caucasian, 4.3 percent were Hispanic, and 3.7 percent were black.
Patients most commonly had two or three comorbidities. Only 4.9 percent of patients had no comorbidities. High blood pressure, affecting 67 percent of patients, was by far the most common comorbid condition. Others, listed from more common to less common, included:
deficiency anemias (disorders caused by a lack of certain nutrients, such as iron or vitamin B12);
fluid and electrolyte disorders;
chronic lung diseases;
uncomplicated diabetes;
neurological disorders;
hypothyroidism (a condition in which the thyroid gland does not produce enough thyroid hormone); and
congestive heart failure.
Key Study Findings
Comorbidities significantly raise the cost of hospitalization and length of hospital stay, according to the study. Hip fracture patients who were very thin or malnourished had the greatest increased costs, followed by those with pulmonary circulatory disorders (disorders of blood flow to and from the lungs). Recent weight loss or malnutrition also had the greatest effect on length of hospitalization, increasing the hospital stay by 2.5 days. Congestive heart failure increased the hospital stay by 1.1 days, and pulmonary circulation disorders, by 0.9 day. Fluid and electrolyte disorders, paralysis, and conditions contributing to blood clots also lengthened hospitalization significantly.
The study results may have major implications for doctors, hospitals, and payors, according to Dr. Black.
"Current reimbursement to hospitals only considers if a patient is categorized as having a major comorbidity, a comorbidity, or no comorbidity," said Dr. Black. "Our study demonstrates that specific comorbidities significantly increase costs and length of stay associated with the treatment of hip fractures."
Two major issues deserve further investigation, said Dr. Black.
"First, we need to better understand the total cost of caring for hip-fracture patients. Our study focused only on acute hospitalization, but care typically extends well beyond this, since many patients are discharged to rehabilitation and skilled-nursing facilities," said Dr. Black. "Second, this study did not investigate the quality or outcomes of care. As our population ages, there is reason to believe that the number of hip fractures will increase. Having a better understanding of the comorbidities that affect hip-fracture patients hopefully will lead to the development of strategies to more effectively care for these patients."
In an effort to prevent hip fractures, Dr. Black and the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) suggest the following fall-prevention strategies:
Keep floors clear of clutter.
Wear low-heeled, rubber-soled shoes.
Make sure all rooms are well-lit.
Walk on the grass when the sidewalks are slippery.
Make sure rugs have skid-proof backs.
Have grab bars installed on the bathroom walls near the bathtub or shower and toilet.
Use a nonskid bath mat in the shower or bathtub.
Make sure the stairs are well-lit and have handrails on both sides.
For more fall-prevention resources, visit orthoinfo.org/falls
###
Disclosure: None of the authors received payments or services, either directly or indirectly (i.e., via his or her institution), from a third party in support of any aspect of this work. One or more of the authors, or his or her institution, has had a financial relationship, in the thirty-six months prior to submission of this work, with an entity in the biomedical arena that could be perceived to influence or have the potential to influence what is written in this work. No author has had any other relationships, or has engaged in any other activities, that could be perceived to influence or have the potential to influence what is written in this work.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 18-Jan-2012
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