YANGON, Myanmar ? A fire followed by several explosions engulfed many state warehouses and neighboring homes, killing at least 16 people and injuring 108 in Myanmar's main city of Yangon on Thursday.
The blasts occurred as firefighters were putting out the fire that had started in a state-owned warehouse before spreading to other warehouses and nearby homes and buildings before dawn.
The Yangon General Hospital's emergency ward was in commotion as dozens of injured people and dead bodies were brought in by ambulances and pickup trucks.
A total of 108 injured people were brought in and more were continuing to arrive, said a senior nurse. She confirmed that 16 people had died.
She said the dead include at least three firefighters who were caught in an explosion during the conflagration in Mingalar Tahung Nyunt township in eastern Yangon.
The nurse did not want to be identified because she is not authorized to speak to the media.
"Many of the dead were hit by flying debris of broken walls and stone slabs that were flung on to the streets due to the explosion," Maung Win, a 45-year-old resident, told the Associated Press.
The explosions knocked down buildings including a Buddhist monastery near the warehouse. Windows from the nearby buildings were shattered due to powerful explosions, witnesses said.
The explosions rocked the entire city, jolting residents from sleep. A 20-foot (6-meter) -wide and 15-foot (4.5-meter) -deep crater was visible at the site. Black smoke was seen billowing from the rubble Thursday morning.
Firefighters were searching for bodies from among the debris.
It was not immediately clear what caused the fire and the explosion.
Residents said the fire started in a warehouse that stored electronic goods and spread to another warehouse that stored some kind of chemicals. Officials did not immediately given any details.
Well, I'm not entirely sure on that one. First, there are disputes over how to even perform CPR for maximum effectiveness, with some saying that chest compression alone produces better outcomes than a mix of chest and breathing. If the doctors aren't in agreement over what CPR should be done, and different methods are being rolled into a single line item, then the statistics for the outcome really don't mean anything useful. It tells you that *something* is ineffective, but it cannot tell you what that something is.
That's not actually quite correct. The current debate isn't about whether hands-only CPR is more effective than full CPR (It's not), the question is whether hands-only is more easily performed correctly than compressions/vents, and is, on average, going to be more effective as it gets performed in the field, add into that the fact that hands-only is easier and faster to teach, and maybe we'll have more of the population able to perform CPR, which means a decrease in time from arrest to start of CPR, which will always improve outcomes.
Second, all doctors either swear to the Hippocratic Oath or implicitly sign up to it by becoming doctors. Since the Oath is witnessed by an independent third party, it is arguably a legally-binding common law "gentleman's agreement"/"verbal contract". Technically, the Oath states that doctors should do no harm and minimizing suffering is technically doing just that. However, very few Western nations interpret things that way. If they did, assisted suicide under well-defined conditions* would be legal. It isn't because they don't. As such, doctors end up in a double bind. Do they do the clinical least harm or the legal least harm? Whichever one they do, they violate the other.
Well, here we get into bioethics, which is a tremendously involved field, but I'll just give the nickle tour of the applicable issue.
The big one is the notion of patient autonomy. The patient (or their appointed medical decision maker) gets to choose what happens, provided they are competent to do so. As a medical professional, it is my job to determine what course is most appropriate, explain it to the patient, and once they understand what's going on, what the pros, cons and risks of the treatment are, they give me consent and I do it, if they refuse consent, I find the next most appropriate thing...rinse and repeat. In cases where there are multiple courses which balance the pros/cons/risks, I present them all, and let the patient choose.
A couple of quick sidelines we need to explore here, in order to have a decent understanding of the beast.
First is consent, and the second is competency, and the two are very closely linked, so we're going to do them as one.
There are two forms of consent, implied and expressed, expressed is relatively easy, the patient says "Yes do that" or "No go away.", alternatively, actions can be interpreted as expressed consent, if I need to take someone's blood pressure, and when they see the cuff in my hand, they roll up their sleeve, that's expressed consent...this can, of course get a little murky, and is part of why I have to carry malpractice insurance, since if I do something a competent patient didn't want, even with the best of intentions and in the full faith that I had been given consent, technically, I've just committed battery.
Implied consent isn't nearly as clear cut as that. Implied consent is used when a patient for one reason or another is not capable of giving consent, it could be because they're unconcious (obviously not going to be telling me to go ahead), they're a child (You're not legally competent until you're 18, or a variety of rare loopholes), they're confused and disorientated (If you don't know where you are, you surely can't understand medical procedures) or they're in the midst of a psychiatric emergency (If you think I'm a giant talking turtle, you're not going to understand medical procedures.). In the care of implied c
It?s no longer news when the company that once famously refused to run commercials does so ? another sign of conventionality in the company that?promised not to be conventional?? but it is still rare enough to be worthy of analysis.
Above is the Google holiday commercial, where the Muppets do a Google+ Hangout.
You get a sense of Google?s strategic priorities by seeing that it?s spending millions to promote Google+. The war for personal information is crucial to Google, and it?s the impetus behind Google+, as I?ve written?here. Further information comes in a follow-up interview with?Bradley Horowitz,?a co-leader of the project.
You get a sense of what works well in Google+ by noting that the focus of the ad is?Hangouts, a relatively late addition to Google+ that has helped hone its purpose. It?s a cool feature, but also makes a statement: This product is about what?s happening now. Google is well-placed to be a leader in real-time presence, and merging group chat into a social experience has been a win.
But there?s another message, too. You get a sense of Google?s culture ? and who the people of Google are ? by the choice of the?Muppets?as the stars of the commercial. Muppets are central to the lives of Googlers. The vast majority of Googlers are people in their twenties and thirties who have completed the perilous obstacle course of the meritocracy, probably starting when their ambitious parents plucked them in front of the telly to absorb the lessons of Big Bird and Count Von Count. (My bet is that many of those parents were otherwise parsimonious with tube time.) Along with the lessons, they bonded with the puppets, much as toddlers get fixated on blankies and stuffed animals.
As a result, even the most math-geeky Googlers kind of melt at the sight of Miss Piggy. It?s not even too much of a stretch to claim that the do-goody ethic of Sesame Street was the forerunner of Don?t Be Evil.
The Muppets keep popping up at the Googleplex. Google?s very first paid employee, Craig Silverstein, was the founder of the internet group??rec.arts.henson+muppets
One of the languages included in?Google?s translation program?is the weird (?bork, bork, pork!?) pidgin of the Swedish Chef from the Muppets Show.
According to Doug Edwards (in his memoir?I?m Feeling Lucky)?in Google?s early days, the most important chart on the internal web site was the measure of search quality of various engines. Each line on the chart (representing the effectiveness of a given company in delivering results) was labeled by a Muppet character. Google?s label for itself was ?The Great Gonzo.?
Continue reading ?Why Google Just Can?t Quit the Muppets? ?
With less than a month before South Carolina?s first-in-the-South primary, the presidential candidates are jumpstarting their Palmetto State organizations, opening offices, hiring workers and reaching out to potential backers.
Frontrunner Newt Gingrich is one of the state?s ?ground game? leaders thus far. The former speaker of the U.S. House has hired 12 full-time staffers who are working out of five offices in Bluffton, Columbia, Greenville, Myrtle Beach and North Charleston, according to his campaign.
Gingrich ? who is leading in the two latest S.C. polls although losing steam according to some national polls ? is also picking up his visits to South Carolina and ate shrimp and grits with supporters at a Columbia restaurant Thursday.
Gingrich has also picked up some S.C. Tea Party support ? to the chagrin of some factions of the movement.
This month, Tea Party groups in Myrtle Beach and Laurens County endorsed him. Gingrich also hired a couple of Tea Party members to work for his campaign.
That raised the ire of some S.C. Tea Party members who are supporting former Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and say Gingrich is a Washington insider who is trying to buy the Tea Party vote in the Palmetto state.
Gingrich's camp denies the claim.
?He?s just trying to hire the best people he can hire,? said Billy Wilkins, a former federal judge who is co-chairing Gingrich?s S.C. operation. ?I can assure you no one tried to buy anyone?s allegiance.?
Bachmann may be trailing in the polls, but she, too, has beefed up her S.C. team.
In this June 9, 2011, photo, an evacuee lies down in her makeshift temporary home on the floor of the Big Palette convention center in Koriyama, Japan. Tens of thousands of people fled their homes surrounding the damaged nuclear power plant. (AP Photo/AP Photographer David Guttenfelder on assignment for National Geographic Magazine)
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Published: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 12:01 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 at 12:01 p.m.
IWAKI, Japan ? Fukushima was just emerging from the snows of winter when the disaster hit ? a 9.0-magnitude earthquake, the strongest in Japan's recorded history, followed by a tsunami.
The wall of water destroyed much of the northeastern coast on March 11. In the northeast region of Fukushima, a different disaster was brewing: Three reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant were melting down, irreparably damaged by the super tremor.
Now, as the snows are beginning to fall again, the government has announced the plant has attained a level of stability it is calling a "cold shutdown." As many as 3,000 workers ? plumbers, engineers, technicians ? stream into the facility each day.
The tsunami's destruction is still visible. Mangled trucks, flipped over by the wave, sit alongside the roads inside the complex, piles of rubble stand where the walls of the reactor structures crumbled and large pools of water still cover parts of the campus.
In the ghost towns around Fukushima Dai-ichi, vines have overtaken streets, feral cows and owner-less dogs roam the fields. Dead chickens rot in their coops.
The tens of thousands of people who once lived around the plant have fled. They are now huddling in gymnasiums, elementary school classrooms, bunking with friends, sometimes just sleeping in their cars, moving from place to place as they search for alternatives.
For those who lived on the perimeter of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, fliers used to come in the mail every so often explaining that someday this might happen. Most recipients saw them as junk mail, and threw them away without a second glance. For those who did read them, the fliers were always worded to be reassuring ? suggesting that although a catastrophic nuclear accident was extremely unlikely, it could require evacuating the area.
Never was it even hinted that the evacuation could last years, or decades.
At most of the shelters, food is doled out military-style, at set times. Personal space is extremely limited, often just big enough to fit a futon and the collective snoring at night makes sleep fitful, at best. Baths are public, cramped, dark.
The total amount of radiation released from the plant is still unknown, and the impact of chronic low-dose radiation exposures in and around Fukushima is a matter of scientific debate.
Recent studies also suggest Japan continues to significantly underestimate the scale of the disaster ? which could have health and safety implications far into the future.
According to a study led by Andreas Stohl the Norwegian Institute for Air Research, twice as much radioactive cesium-137 ? a cancer-causing agent ? was pumped into the atmosphere than Japan had announced, reaching 40 percent of the total from Chernobyl. The French Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety found 30 times more cesium-137 was released into the Pacific than the plant's owner has acknowledged.
Under a detailed roadmap, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. will remove the melted nuclear fuel, most of which is believed to have fallen to the bottom of the core or even down to the bottom of the larger, beaker-shaped containment vessel, a process that is expected to begin in 10 years.
All told, decommissioning the plant will likely take 40 years.
Walter Isaacson?s book is long, dull, often flat-footed, and humorless. It hammers on one nail, incessantly: that Steve Jobs was an awful man, but awful in the service of products people really liked (and eventually bought lots of) and so in the end his awfulness was probably OK.
For more great criticism and culture writing, visit our sister site Let's Get Critical.
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Facebook page that reunited tornado victims with pictures shutting down bit.ly/ubGjJ5 @MyFoxALIl y a environ 12 heuresvia twitterfeedRetweeted by 2 people
There were plenty of sightings of Santa Claus in the skies above Canada and the United States overnight, with his reindeer-powered sleigh loaded with gifts for boys and girls.
NORAD confirmed Santa took off from the North Pole around 6 a.m. ET on Saturday with Rudolph's red nose guiding the way. Previously reported sightings of the gift-laden sleigh were apparently test runs, a requirement to warm up the reindeer for their epic global trek.
Satellite images available on NORAD's website show Santa's minute-by-minute progress. By about 8 p.m. ET he had touched down in South America, Europe, Russia, the Far East, a number of small islands in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, New Zealand and Australia, the Middle East, South Asia and Africa.
"He's making good progress around the world," Lt.-Gen. Thomas Lawson, the Canadian deputy commander of NORAD, told CBC News.
Santa reached the shores of North America at about 10 p.m. ET, on the final leg of his journey around the world. He was seen first in Charlottetown, before moving into the rest of Atlantic Canada and then inland. He was also spotted in dozens of communities south of the border.
By midnight he had delivered around 1.7 billion gifts to the good boys and girls of the world.
On the NORAD Tracks Santa website, children can see a map of where Santa has dropped off presents and watch videos of his flight.
The website explains that the military organization, responsible for aerospace and maritime defence in Canada and the U.S., tracks Santa with a combination of radar, satellites, cameras and fighter jets.
That detection is made much easier thanks to Rudolph's bright, red nose which emits an infrared signature, Lawson said.
The latest information available from NORAD said Santa appeared to be in good spirits and his reindeer are doing fine.
"We don't know exactly his flight plan, but best be in bed when he does come," Lawson said.
Former Chiefs Coach Ian Foster is the new Assistant Coach of the All Blacks while All Blacks great Grant Fox is to join the All Blacks as a Selector, it was announced today.
Meanwhile, former Hurricanes Assistant Coach and NZRU resource coach Brian "Aussie" McLean will join the All Blacks coaching staff as Defence Coach, with a Skills Coach to also be added to the team.
Ian Foster coached the Chiefs in more than 100 Super Rugby matches from 2004 through to this year, and also co-coached the Junior All Blacks.
"This is a great honour to work with the All Blacks. I'm thankful for the faith that Steve Hansen and the Board have shown in me," he said.
"I think the time I have had with the Chiefs and the Junior All Blacks has given me a taste of coaching at an international level, and this is a huge privilege for me as I look to fill Smithy's (Wayne Smith) big shoes," Foster added.
Fox, who played 46 Tests for the All Blacks from 1985 - 1993, will step down from his current position on the Blues franchise Board to take up the All Blacks Selector job.
He will join Hansen and Foster on the All Blacks selection panel which will select the All Blacks squads for each of their regular campaigns - the Steinlager Series June Tests, the renamed Investec Rugby Championship (formerly the Tri Nations) and the All Blacks' Air New Zealand End of Year Tour.
"The chance to be involved with the All Blacks again - a team I care passionately about - was too good an opportunity to turn down and I was flattered when Steve called me and said he wanted me to be a selector," Fox said.
Fox added he was "excited by the challenges" the All Blacks faced. "They climbed their Everest this year and now the aim will be to maintain that success. That's going to be the exciting thing for me."
Aussie McLean said: "This is a huge responsibility which I have been given and I'm honoured and humbled. I'm excited at what lies ahead and ready for the challenge."
New All Blacks Coach Steve Hansen said he was delighted to be able to announce the new positions.
"Grant Fox is not only a legend of our game but also one of the most astute people. I wanted to find someone independent from the team who had the ability to break down a player's game, analyse their strengths and weaknesses and bring a fresh viewpoint to the selection process, and he's that man."
In selecting his coaching staff, Hansen said he firstly looked at what the team's needs were, the coaching expertise that was available, and those who could also complement his skillset.
"I then cross referenced that with coaches both here in New Zealand and overseas before finalising the coaching structure and personnel, which I believe is the best team to take the All Blacks forward."
The Skills Coach for the All Blacks will be announced in the New Year.
Biographies
All Blacks Assistant Coach Ian Foster was Chiefs coach from 2004 to 2011 taking the team to the Semifinals in his first year and the Final in 2009. He was also Co-
Coach of the Junior All Blacks from 2005-2007, during which time the team won a two-Test Series against Australia A, the inaugural IRB Pacific Five Nations tournament and the expanded Pacific Nations Cup. He also co-coached an All Blacks trial team in 2005. A former player, Foster is the most-capped Waikato player (148 games) and also played 28 games for the Chiefs.
All Blacks Defence Coach Brian "Aussie" McLean is one of New Zealand's most well-regarded coaches. He has had more than 20 years coaching experience from club to international level, most recently as Assistant Coach of Samoa at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. He lead the New Zealand Under 19 team to five world championships, including three victories, won titles with Canterbury in 2001 and 2004, provided analysis and coaching for the Crusaders (1999 - 2000) and was Assistant Coach with the Hurricanes (2006 - 2008).
All Blacks Selector Grant Fox is an All Blacks legend. He played 189 matches for Auckland from 1982 - 1993 scoring 2,746 points, and 46 Tests for the All Blacks from 1985 - 1993. He was part of the 1987 Rugby World Cup-winning All Blacks side and finished his All Blacks career with a then record 645 points. He has remained prominent in rugby since his playing days: he runs ground signage company Carnegie Sports; has been on the coaching staff of Auckland and the Blues, as well as a Blues Board Member; and most recently was a highly-respected comments man on SKY Television.
O time de desenvolvimento do Google respons?vel pelo sistema operacional Android fez uma mensagem de natal bem bacana:
O Google gosta tanto do natal que deu at? um jeito de qualquer pessoa seguir os passos do bom velhinho. Para ver por onde ele anda, ? s? acessar o Google Maps do seu Xperia? no dia 24 de dezembro e procurar por ?santa? ? o Papai Noel ? chamado Santa Claus no Estados Unidos ? ou ?noel?. Voc? ver? por onde ele passa com seu trn?, espalhando os presentes para as crian?as que se comportaram. Os pequenos ficam super empolgados com o rastreamento em tempo real?
Quem diria que seu Xperia?, al?m de ser super vers?til, tamb?m poderia trazer um pouquinho da magia do natal?
Luis von Ahn has a pretty impressive track record when it comes to Google acquiring his companies. Not many entrepreneurs can count two exits to the search giant. Google acquired von Ahn's ESP Game, which crowdsourced people to look at images and label them to improve image search, in 2005 and renamed it Google Image Labeler. In 2009, Google bought von Ahn's Captcha startup Recaptcha as well. And now, von Ahn's latest project, Duolingo, is finally launching in private beta. von Ahn explains to me that computer language translation is a broken system. It can be very expensive to pay for quality professional translators to translate web applications and pages on a large scale. That's the problem Duolingo is trying to solve.
Etta James was hospitalized Wednesday after experiencing difficulty breathing, her manager tells The Los Angeles Times.
The "At Last" singer, 73, was taken to a Southern California hospital on Wednesday and is now on a breathing apparatus. Lupe de Leon, James' manager for 30 years, reportedly said the singer is "in pretty bad shape."
Etta James terminally ill with chronic leukemia
It is unknown when or if James will be able to be released from the hospital. It was recently revealed that James is suffering from terminal leukemia. She is also suffering from dementia and had been receiving at-home care.
She previously battled sepsis this past May and in January of 2010.
Source: clemson.greenvilleonline.com --- Wednesday, December 21, 2011 CLEMSON -- Imagine the advantage of learning your craft from the best, an actor sharing a pizza with De Niro, ... ...
One of AOL?s largest shareholders,?Starboard Value LP, has warned? Chief Executive Tim Armstrong that his strategy of transforming the company into a media powerhouse isn?t working.
Over the past few years, AOL has attempted to shift away from its roots as a dial-up internet service provider in favor growing its media and advertising business. The company has also made a number of high-profile acquisitions since 2009, including the $25 million purchase of TechCrunch and the $315 million purchase of The Huffington Post.
Starboard wrote a nine-page letter to Armstrong recently, which points out AOL?s $500 million annual losses and 70 percent decline in stock price in 2011. Starboard also states that AOL?s current market cap of $1.4 billion doesn?t include any of its media properties ? implying that those media properties (TechCrunch, Huff Post) hold little or no value. The company?s overall value essentially depends on its dial-up business.
The investment firm specifically goes after AOL?s local reporting initiative Patch, which it predicts will operate at a loss of up to $150 million in 2011.
?This valuation discrepancy is primarily due to the company?s massive operating losses in its display business, as well as continued concern over further acquisitions and investments into money-losing growth initiatives like Patch,? Starboard wrote in the letter, which was obtained by BusinessInsider earlier today. ?We believe the current market price of AOL fails to reflect the substantial value of the sum-of-its-parts. Shareholders have clearly given up hope that the massive investment in the display business, and most dramatically in Patch, will generate an acceptable return on investment.?
Starboard, which describes itself as an investment management firm that seeks to invest in undervalued and under-performing public companies, has a 4.5 percent stake in AOL. Obviously, it wants AOL to turn around, but it certainly isn?t pulling any punches. As BetaBeat points out, Starboard could also be positioning itself to sit on AOL?s board of directors, which has eight spots up for reelection in February 2012.
AOL issued a formal response to Starboard?s letter, which basically translates to uh-uh. The company writes:
?Over the last two years AOL has significantly reduced costs, sold non-core assets, made significant investments for our future, and also recently repurchased over 10% of outstanding shares. AOL has a clear strategy and operational plan to provide our consumers and customers with exceptional value, which we believe will lead to the creation of shareholder value. Our Board and management team remain firmly committed to creating value for all shareholders and we will continue to aggressively execute on our strategy in 2012 as we continue the turnaround of AOL.?
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LONDON - England captain John Terry will face a criminal charge over allegations that he racially abused an opponent in the Premier League.
Britain's Crown Prosecution Service said Wednesday that there is sufficient evidence to prosecute the Chelsea defender for his on-field exchange with Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand on Oct. 23.
"I have today advised the Metropolitan Police Service that John Terry should be prosecuted for a racially aggravated public order offense following comments allegedly made during a Premier League football match between Queen's Park Rangers and Chelsea," said Alison Saunders, the Chief Crown Prosecutor for London. "The decision was taken in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors and after careful consideration of all the evidence I am satisfied there is sufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction and it is in the public interest to prosecute this case."
The CPS said Terry will appear before West London Magistrates' Court on Feb. 1.
"He is now summonsed with a criminal offense and has the right to a fair trial," Saunders said. "It is extremely important that nothing should be reported which could prejudice his trial."
The 31-year-old Terry has publicly refuted the allegations that he racially abused Ferdinand, who is black.
Police assessed the incident after a complaint by a member of the public last week and passed its evidence to the CPS for consideration on Dec. 1.
Ferdinand submitted his account of the incident to the Football Association and said he has "very strong feelings on the matter."
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Terry to be charged over racism
??England captain John Terry will face a criminal charge over allegations that he racially abused an opponent in the Premier League.
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Beckham's MLS run over?
David Beckham's management company says reports the former England captain has agreed a deal to join Paris Saint-Germain are "premature."
Maryland study finds that US Hispanics were at greater risk for H1N1 flu during 2009 pandemicPublic release date: 5-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kelly Blake kellyb@umd.edu 301-405-9418 University of Maryland
Authors urge federal sick leave mandates to address health disparity
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Social determinants, including the lack of paid sick leave, contributed to higher risk of exposure to the influenza A (H1N1) virus among Hispanics in the U.S. during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, according to a study led by Sandra Crouse Quinn, professor of family science and senior associate director of the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The findings are published online ahead of print in the American Journal of Public Health, November 17, 2011.
Several other studies from the pandemic found that H1N1 disease had a disproportionate impact on minorities, but the factors contributing to this disparity were not clear. Dr. Quinn's team, which included lead author, Dr. Supriya Kumar, and other researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Georgia, investigated how social determinants, such as workplace policies and household size, contributed to the incidence of influenza-like illness during the pandemic. By surveying a nationally representative sample of 2,079 U.S. adults in January 2010, the research team discovered that incidence of influenza-like illness was strongly associated with workplace policies, such as lack of access to sick leave, and structural factors, such as having more children and crowding in the household. Even after controlling for income and education, the researchers found that Hispanic ethnicity was related to a greater risk of influenza-like illness attributable to these social determinants.
"Our findings suggest that we could significantly reduce the incidence of flu, particularly among Hispanics, by creating federal mandates for sick leave that allow people to stay home from work when they need to," said Dr. Quinn, who is also the school's Associate Dean for Public Health Initiatives and the senior author. "The underlying social determinants that affect the health of Hispanics and other minorities also limit their ability to protect themselves during a pandemic. We need to implement policies before an acute disease outbreak happens that allow people to create the social distance necessary to slow the spread of infection."
The study analysis also suggests that the absence of such sick leave policies could contribute to 5 million additional cases of influenza in the general population and 1.2 million additional cases among Hispanics during a subsequent pandemic.
"Dr. Quinn's team was the first to empirically test our conceptual model of disparities in the context of a pandemic, documenting how underlying social disparities can exacerbate the pandemic, unless they are systematically addressed," said Dr. Paula Braveman, Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and senior author of a study that urged policy makers to create plans to minimize disparities during flu pandemics (Blumenshine, et al, in Emerging Infectious Diseases, May 2008). "This is a significant first step in advancing our understanding of how disparities are perpetuated and aggravated in the absence of well-conceived preventative actions."
###
The Impact of Workplace Policies and Other Social Factors on Self-Reported Influenza-like Illness Incidence During the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic was written by Supriya Kumar, PhD, MPH, Sandra Crouse Quinn, PhD, Kevin H. Kim, PhD, Laura H. Daniel, PhD, and Vicki S. Freimuth, PhD and published online, ahead of print, on November 28, 2011 in the American Journal of Public Health. http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300307
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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.
Maryland study finds that US Hispanics were at greater risk for H1N1 flu during 2009 pandemicPublic release date: 5-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kelly Blake kellyb@umd.edu 301-405-9418 University of Maryland
Authors urge federal sick leave mandates to address health disparity
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Social determinants, including the lack of paid sick leave, contributed to higher risk of exposure to the influenza A (H1N1) virus among Hispanics in the U.S. during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, according to a study led by Sandra Crouse Quinn, professor of family science and senior associate director of the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. The findings are published online ahead of print in the American Journal of Public Health, November 17, 2011.
Several other studies from the pandemic found that H1N1 disease had a disproportionate impact on minorities, but the factors contributing to this disparity were not clear. Dr. Quinn's team, which included lead author, Dr. Supriya Kumar, and other researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Georgia, investigated how social determinants, such as workplace policies and household size, contributed to the incidence of influenza-like illness during the pandemic. By surveying a nationally representative sample of 2,079 U.S. adults in January 2010, the research team discovered that incidence of influenza-like illness was strongly associated with workplace policies, such as lack of access to sick leave, and structural factors, such as having more children and crowding in the household. Even after controlling for income and education, the researchers found that Hispanic ethnicity was related to a greater risk of influenza-like illness attributable to these social determinants.
"Our findings suggest that we could significantly reduce the incidence of flu, particularly among Hispanics, by creating federal mandates for sick leave that allow people to stay home from work when they need to," said Dr. Quinn, who is also the school's Associate Dean for Public Health Initiatives and the senior author. "The underlying social determinants that affect the health of Hispanics and other minorities also limit their ability to protect themselves during a pandemic. We need to implement policies before an acute disease outbreak happens that allow people to create the social distance necessary to slow the spread of infection."
The study analysis also suggests that the absence of such sick leave policies could contribute to 5 million additional cases of influenza in the general population and 1.2 million additional cases among Hispanics during a subsequent pandemic.
"Dr. Quinn's team was the first to empirically test our conceptual model of disparities in the context of a pandemic, documenting how underlying social disparities can exacerbate the pandemic, unless they are systematically addressed," said Dr. Paula Braveman, Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and senior author of a study that urged policy makers to create plans to minimize disparities during flu pandemics (Blumenshine, et al, in Emerging Infectious Diseases, May 2008). "This is a significant first step in advancing our understanding of how disparities are perpetuated and aggravated in the absence of well-conceived preventative actions."
###
The Impact of Workplace Policies and Other Social Factors on Self-Reported Influenza-like Illness Incidence During the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic was written by Supriya Kumar, PhD, MPH, Sandra Crouse Quinn, PhD, Kevin H. Kim, PhD, Laura H. Daniel, PhD, and Vicki S. Freimuth, PhD and published online, ahead of print, on November 28, 2011 in the American Journal of Public Health. http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2011.300307
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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NEW YORK -- The Big East's long-awaited additions are set, with more rebuilding to come.
The conference is preparing to announce the additions of Boise State and San Diego State as football-only members and Houston, Central Florida and SMU for all sports as soon as Wednesday, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. The five schools will join in 2013.
The person spoke Tuesday on condition of anonymity because details were still being worked out with the schools and plans for an announcement were being completed.
The Big East has been trying to rebuild as a 12-school football conference since Syracuse and Pittsburgh announced they would be moving to the ACC and West Virginia announced it was leaving for the Big 12. TCU also reneged on a commitment to join the Big East and instead accepted an invite to the Big 12.
The Star-Ledger in New Jersey first reported the Big East was on the verge of making the additions.
The Big East has also been pursuing Navy and Air Force as football-only members, but the military academies are not yet ready to commit to the conference, the person said.
While the Big East is finally about to expand, it's still very much a league in flux.
Commissioner John Marinatto has pledged to hold Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia to the league bylaws and keep the schools in the Big East for two more football seasons. Syracuse, Pitt and the ACC have said they would like to move on as soon as possible, but are not challenging the Big East's rules.
West Virginia is. The school has sued the Big East and wants to join the Big 12 in 2012. The Big 12 needs a replacement for Missouri, which next year is headed to the Southeastern Conference, to have the 10 members it needs to meet the conditions of its television contracts.
"I think what John Marinatto just did, he should get a substantial raise for what he just accomplished," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "Getting Boise State. Getting Houston, SMU. I think that is as good of a job for a commissioner with his back against the wall as I've seen since I've been in athletics. The teams you lost aren't as good in football as the teams you're bringing in."
The Big East is in an even trickier situation. It has contract requirements to meet next season, as well, plus it will begin negotiating a new TV deal in 2012.
Houston, SMU and UCF play in Conference USA and the notification date for those schools to switch leagues next year has passed. Boise State is in its first season as a member of the Mountain West Conference, where San Diego State also competes.
CBSSports.com reported Boise State will place its other sports teams in the Western Athletic Conference, a league it left after last season, and that San Diego State's other teams will compete in the Big West.
It would cost Boise State and San Diego State millions of dollars more to join the Big East in 2012 than in 2013.
So the Big East could be headed into next season with three lame duck teams. And even with the upcoming additions, it still does not have 12 teams committed to the league for 2013.
The Big East eventually wants to have two divisions of six teams and be able to hold a conference title game.
The grand plan is to have Boise State, San Diego State, Houston, SMU and possibly current member Louisville in the west division. The east division would have current members South Florida, Rutgers, Connecticut and Cincinnati, along with UCF.
The Big East is hoping that Air Force can round on the west and Navy the east. But, for now, that's still just a plan.
Boise State and other schools ready to join are hoping the strange geographic pairing will lead to increased television revenue and more access to the Bowl Championship Series and its big payouts.
The Big East pursued BYU as a western partner for Boise State, but when those talks fell through because of BYU's desire to hold the TV rights to its home games, the league directed its attention to San Diego State.
San Diego is 3,067 miles away from the Big East office in Providence, R.I.
The Big East, which has thrived for years as one of the nation's best basketball leagues, has eight schools that do not play football in the league: Providence, St. John's, Georgetown, Marquette, DePaul, Notre Dame, Seton Hall and Villanova.
"The Big East has been the No. 1 conference in all of basketball, obviously, by the amount of bids," Pitino said. "Now, have you made basketball stronger? No. You're not replacing Syracuse and Pittsburgh, so my hope is that they'll go out there and get a Temple or a Memphis to keep basketball strong."
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AP Sports Writer Colin Fly in Louisville, Ky. contributed to this report.
According to NASA, the Kepler Space Telescope has discovered a planet circling a G type star, much like our own sun, that is within the habitable zone where liquid water could be present. The planet in question is two-and-a-half times the size of Earth.
What is the Kepler Space Telescope?
The Kepler is a space-based optical telescope designed to find indications of planets circling other stars. It was launched on March 7, 2009, and soon thereafter assumed a heliocentric orbit, trailing 950 miles behind Earth. In that way Earth does not block out the stars the Kepler is designed to image nor does its reflected light obscure them.
The Kepler started its search for extra-solar planets on May 12, 2009. It has discovered a huge number of such planets by noting how the light of other stars diminish when planets pass between them and the Kepler. Most of the planets thus detected have been gas giants, but there have been some worlds closer to the size and composition of Earth uncovered as well.
Where did the Kepler discover the new planet?
The star is referred to as Kepler-22, a yellow, G type star about 600 light years away from Earth. It is slightly cooler than the sun, however.
What does the planet look like?
The newly discovered planet, dubbed Kepler-22B, is orbiting its star at approximately a little less distance as Earth from the sun with an orbit of 290 days. This places it in the so-called "habitable zone" where liquid water is possibly, therefore life is possible. Kepler-22B is about 2 1/2 times the size of Earth, classifying it as a "super Earth." As of this writing it has not been determined whether the new planet is primarily rocky, liquid or gaseous.
Has the Kepler Space Telescope discovered anything else recently?
At the same conference when the new super Earth was announced, NASA officials said 1,094 new planet candidates have been discovered. 207 are approximately Earth-size, 680 are super Earth-size, like Kepler-22B. 1,181 are Neptune-size, 203 are Jupiter-size and 55 are larger than Jupiter. 48 of the planet candidates are within their stars' habitable zones.
Planet candidates will be confirmed or discarded depending on further observations by the Kepler, the Spitzer Space Telescope and ground based telescopes. Further refinements of the natures of these newly discovered planets will await the deployment of more powerful telescopes, such as the planned James Webb Space Telescope.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of ApolloandThe Last Moonwalker.He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times and The Weekly Standard.
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One of AOL?s largest shareholders,?Starboard Value LP, has warned? Chief Executive Tim Armstrong that his strategy of transforming the company into a media powerhouse isn?t working.
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Public release date: 5-Dec-2011
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