Ex-Mexico president praises Wash. pot businessmen

SEATTLE (AP) ? Washington state businessmen who say they're trying to create the first national brand of marijuana received some heartfelt support Thursday from the former president of Mexico, Vicente Fox.

Fox appeared at a news conference in Seattle, where he recounted how the war on drugs has ravaged his country and praised the states of Washington and Colorado for voting to legalize the recreational use of marijuana last fall.

At the news conference, former Microsoft manager Jamen Shively discussed his plans to launch a new marijuana brand named for his great-great grandfather, Diego Pellicer. He says his company is joining forces with a Washington state chain of medical marijuana dispensaries run by John Davis, the Northwest Patient Resource Center, as well as dispensaries in Colorado and California.

"This historic step today is to be observed and evaluated closely by all of us, because it is a game changer," Fox said. "I applaud this group that has the courage to move ahead. They have the vision, they are clear where they're going, and I'm sure they're going to get there."

Fox, a former Coca-Cola executive who was Mexico's president from 2000-06, specified that he's not involved in the venture. He appeared at Shively's invitation. The two first met 13 years ago, when a company Shively used to run was opening a computer center in Sinaloa and Fox appeared at the inauguration, Shively said.

Shively described grand visions for his pot brand ? hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, tens of millions of customers, more than 1,000 jobs just at Diego Pellicer's Seattle headquarters.

"Yes, we are Big Marijuana," he announced.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission last March, the company wrote that it had raised $125,000 of an anticipated $625,000. Shively suggested those numbers were outdated, but did not provide different figures.

Washington and Colorado expect to begin allowing marijuana sales to adults over 21 at state-licensed stores beginning next year, but marijuana remains illegal under federal law, and the Justice Department has repeatedly said it can continue to prosecute large-scale, privately owned marijuana operations even when they comply with state law.

It isn't clear how Shively's plans for a national marijuana brand might be accomplished without running afoul of federal laws regarding the distribution of an illegal substance or conspiracy to distribute an illegal substance. He and Davis said no money from their business will travel interstate, nor will the marijuana itself, but neither of those factors would necessarily shield them from arrest.

Shively insisted that his deals with the dispensaries are structured in such a way as to minimize any risk of federal prosecution, but neither he nor Davis would explain how. Shively said he had acquired certain "rights" related to the dispensaries, and made the plan sound like a marketing agreement by which the stores, beginning next month, would be re-branded as Diego Pellicer.

"Neither Diego Pellicer nor our investors are exposed to any significant risk, in terms of criminal risk," Shively said. "In terms of criminal risk, that is vastly mitigated. ... We're making strategic investments, but we're making them in such a way that they are not in violation of either federal or state law."

Asked how his plan didn't constitute a federal conspiracy to distribute marijuana, Shively described his operation as "a conspiracy to obey the law."

His securities lawyer, Mike Moyer of the prominent Seattle firm of Dorsey and Whitney LLC, declined to elaborate.

Fox urged the reporters present to maintain a focus on the important issues at hand: the failure of the drug war, the thousands of lives lost, and the better alternative offered by legalization. He noted he'd rather be sitting at a table next to Shively than the notorious cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

"This is a much better option, no doubt," he said.

___

Johnson can be reached at https://twitter.com/GeneAPseattle

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-mexico-president-praises-wash-pot-businessmen-221035609.html

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Pakistani Taliban withdraw peace talks offer

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) ? The Pakistani Taliban withdrew their offer of peace talks Thursday, following the death of the group's deputy leader in an American drone attack, a spokesman for the insurgent group said.

The news is a blow to the incoming government of Nawaz Sharif, elected partly on promises to bring about peace after years of deadly attacks by militants against civilians and security forces.

Ahsanullah Ahsan confirmed to The Associated Press in a telephone call from an undisclosed location Thursday that the group's second-in-command, Waliur Rehman, was killed Wednesday in an American drone attack in the tribal areas of Pakistan that border Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials said at the time that at least four other militants were killed in the attack.

The militant group had said earlier that it was open to peace talks. But Ahsan said Thursday that the Taliban believe the government approves of the drone strikes so they are withdrawing their offer of peace talks.

"We had made the offer for peace talks with the government with good intention but we think that these drone attacks are carried out with the approval of the government so we announce the end of the talks process," he said.

The Pakistani Taliban, formed in late 2007, aims to overthrow the Pakistani government, which it believes is too closely aligned with the United States. The militant group has been responsible for hundreds of shootings and bombings across Pakistan that have resulted in thousands of deaths.

Earlier this year the group had indicated it was open to the idea of peace talks to end years of fighting if certain individuals including two-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif were involved.

The talks did not go anywhere at the time but the victory of Sharif's party at the polls on May 11 once again brought the issue to the forefront.

Days after the election Sharif, who is set to become prime minister for a third time, called for peace talks with the Taliban militants.

Sharif said Taliban offers to talk should be taken seriously.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistani-taliban-withdraw-peace-talks-offer-143948070.html

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Healthy lifestyle choices mean fewer memory complaints

May 30, 2013 ? Research has shown that healthy behaviors are associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and dementia, but less is known about the potential link between positive lifestyle choices and milder memory complaints, especially those that occur earlier in life and could be the first indicators of later problems.

To examine the impact of these lifestyle choices on memory throughout adult life, UCLA researchers and the Gallup organization collaborated on a nationwide poll of more than 18,500 individuals between the ages of 18 and 99. Respondents were surveyed about both their memory and their health behaviors, including whether they smoked, how much they exercised and how healthy their diet was.

As the researchers expected, healthy eating, not smoking and exercising regularly were related to better self-perceived memory abilities for most adult groups. Reports of memory problems also increased with age. However, there were a few surprises.

Older adults (age 60-99) were more likely to report engaging in healthy behaviors than middle-aged (40-59) and younger adults (18-39), a finding that runs counter to the stereotype that aging is a time of dependence and decline. In addition, a higher-than-expected percentage of younger adults complained about their memory.

"These findings reinforce the importance of educating young and middle-aged individuals to take greater responsibility for their health -- including memory -- by practicing positive lifestyle behaviors earlier in life," said the study's first author, Dr. Gary Small, director of the UCLA Longevity Center and a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA who holds the Parlow-Solomon Chair on Aging.

Published in the June issue of International Psychogeriatrics, the study may also provide a baseline for the future study of memory complaints in a wide range of adult age groups.

For the survey, Gallup pollsters conducted land-line and cell phone interviews with 18,552 adults in the U.S. The inclusion of cell phone-only households and Spanish-language interviews helped capture a representative 90 percent of the U.S. population, the researchers said.

"We found that the more healthy lifestyle behaviors were practiced, the less likely one was to complain about memory issues," said senior author Fernando Torres-Gil, a professor at UCLA's Luskin School of Public Affairs and associate director of the UCLA Longevity Center.

In particular, the study found that respondents across all age groups who engaged in just one healthy behavior were 21 percent less likely to report memory problems than those who didn't engage in any healthy behaviors. Those with two positive behaviors were 45 percent less likely to report problems, those with three were 75 percent less likely, and those with more than three were 111 percent less likely.

Interestingly, the poll found that healthy behaviors were more common among older adults than the other two age groups. Seventy percent of older adults engaged in at least one healthy behavior, compared with 61 percent of middle-aged individuals and 58 percent of younger respondents.

In addition, only 12 percent of older adults smoked, compared with 25 percent of young adults and 24 percent of middle-aged adults, and a higher percentage of older adults reported eating healthy the day before being interviewed (80 percent) and eating five or more daily servings of fruits and vegetables during the previous week (64 percent).

According to the researchers, older adults may participate in more healthy behaviors because they feel the consequences of unhealthy living and take the advice of their doctors to adopt healthier lifestyles. Or there simply could be fewer older adults with bad habits, since they may not live as long.

While 26 percent of older adults and 22 percent of middle-aged respondents reported memory issues, it was surprising to find that 14 percent of the younger group complained about their memory too, the researchers said.

"Memory issues were to be expected in the middle-aged and older groups, but not in younger people," Small said. "A better understanding and recognition of mild memory symptoms earlier in life may have the potential to help all ages."

Small said that, generally, memory issues in younger people may be different from those that plague older generations. Stress may play more of a role. He also noted that the ubiquity of technology -- including the Internet, texting and wireless devices that can result in constant multi-tasking, especially with younger people -- may impact attention span, making it harder to focus and remember.

Small noted that further study and polling may help tease out such memory-complaint differences. Either way, he said, the survey reinforces the importance, for all ages, of adopting a healthy lifestyle to help limit and forestall age-related cognitive decline and neurodegeneration.

The Gallup poll used in the study took place between December 2011 and January 2012 and was part of the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index, which includes health- and lifestyle-related polling questions. The five questions asked were:

(1) Do you smoke?

(2) Did you eat healthy all day yesterday?

(3) In the last seven days, on how many days did you have five or more servings of vegetables and fruits?

(4) In the last seven days, on how many days did you exercise for 30 minutes or more?

(5) Do you have any problems with your memory?

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/5qdFDYjjT4s/130530170050.htm

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Youth Fishing Rodeo closes Liberty Park Pond public access ...

The public is asked to not utilize the fishing pond at Liberty Park for the week of June 3 through June 10. This request comes from the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency (TWRA) as it prepares for the annual Youth Fishing Rodeo on June 8.

The Youth Fishing Rodeo is a fun experience for young novice anglers. TWRA coordinates the free event statewide to promote sports fishing in Tennessee.

Anglers enjoy the fishing dock at Liberty Park Pond.

TWRA is coordinating the Saturday fishing rodeo in partnership with City of Clarksville Parks & Recreation. Specifically the public is asked to refrain from pond ?usage starting at 6 a.m. June 3 to 2 p.m. June 10.

For information about the fishing rodeo, please visit: www.cityofclarksville.com.

• Youth Fishing Rodeo closes Liberty Park Pond public access

Source: http://businessclarksville.com/youth-fishing-rodeo-closes-liberty-park-pond-public-access/

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Michele Bachmann: A Fact Checker?s dream (Washington Post)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/309110547?client_source=feed&format=rss

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The Presidential Party Switcheroo, in One Chart

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee is switching parties to become a Democrat. Why is this happening? Because President Obama is enjoying decent approval ratings, and Rhode Island is a Democratic state. The Atlantic Wire plotted the timing of politicians' party switching along the president's approval rating, and we found that presidential approval serves as a pretty good guide for when these guys will switch.?

RELATED: Congress Is No Fun Anymore

This is Chafee's second switch, having left the Republican Party in 2007, several months after losing his Senate seat ? and?when George W. Bush's approval ratings were slipping.?In 2010, amid the Tea Party wave, Chafee won a three-way race as an Independent, getting 36 percent of the vote, compared to the Republican candidate's? 33.5 percent and the Democrat's 23 percent.?But Rhode Island voted for President Obama by 27 points in 2012. Obama's approval ratings have held, despite a trio of scandals. Chafee's up for reelection in 2014, so his switch looks necessary for political survival. Just like it was for the many backstabbers tho?preceded?him. Switchers like Bob Smith, the New Hampshire senator who switched from Republican to Independent in 1999 to run for president, and then switched back to Republican a few months later ? after Chafee's father, Sen. John Chafee, died, so Smith could get Chafee's sweet committee chairmanship.

RELATED: Rhode Island Passes Same-Sex Civil Unions Law

How to read this chart:?We graphed each party switch since President Clinton's first term. Each light gray horizontal line marks a different month between 1993 and 2013. The jagged line running down the middle indicates presidential approval (solid) and disapproval (dashed) ratings as tracked by Gallup. The scale is from zero percent at left to 50 percent (the solid grey vertical line) to 100 percent at right. The color of the approval line changes with each presidency: Clinton and Obama in blue, Bush in red.

RELATED: Eric Cantor Offers Up a Compromise on Tax Loopholes

Each party changer is then identified in a box including his title, name, home state, and the switch that he made. The arrow on the box points to the month that it happened.

RELATED: The Unpopular Debt Limit Plan to Prevent Economic Catastrophe

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/presidential-party-switcheroo-one-chart-203426780.html

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Not in the DSM-5: Internet Addiction & Parental Alienation Disorder ...

Disappointing to some professionals, I?m sure, is the fact that two disorders didn?t make it into the DSM-5 at all ? not even in the chapter ?Conditions for Further Study.?

Those two lonely disorders? ?Internet addiction? and parental alienation disorder.

This is a nice respite from the hype surrounding both these concerns and reaffirms what we?ve been saying here for years ? these are not mental disorders. Do some people have a usually-temporary and almost-always transitory problem with figuring out how much time to spend on the Internet? Sure they do ? it?s just not a disorder-level concern.

And the evidence is simply too sparse for ?parental alienation disorder,? which I believe has propagated more for legal than clinical reasons.

Nearly since the introduction of the term ?Internet addiction? in 1996, I?ve been beating the same drum about this so-called disorder ? it doesn?t exist. I wrote a guide to Internet addiction back in 1999, which we keep updated from time to time.

So here we have 17 years? worth of research, and still the disorder doesn?t even rise to the level of recognition in the DSM of a condition that may need further study. That could be for one of two reasons. One, the working group that looked at the research was biased and decided that such a disorder couldn?t possibly exist (which would require consensus among the entire working group ? a pretty unlikely scenario). Two, the research is still so flimsy and based upon the same flawed instruments it?s been using for most of that 17 years, the data are simply not robust or generalizable.

In 2008, I penned this article about why Internet addiction still doesn?t exist. I had to do an update just 8 months ago to rebut the claim by Forbes that Internet addiction was going to be included in the new DSM-5. (A good argument not to get your health information from a website like Forbes.)

The DSM-5 working groups also didn?t much care for parental alienation disorder, a disorder we covered late last year here. The research data for this concern simply doesn?t support its inclusion at this time. Which is exactly what we told our readers last September (just so there are no surprises!):

??The bottom line ? it is not a disorder within one individual,?? said Dr. Darrel Regier, vice chair of the task force drafting the manual.

??It?s a relationship problem ? parent-child or parent-parent. Relationship problems per se are not mental disorders.?

Could you imagine the outcry the American Psychiatric Association ? the publishers of the DSM-5 ? would receive if they started coding relationship problems as mental illness, on the same level as schizophrenia or clinical depression?

The evidence for both these disorders is so lacking, neither made it into the category ?Conditions for Further Study.? That?s saying something ? especially for ?Internet addiction,? which has had hundreds of peer-reviewed studies published about it.

For all the misplaced angst and media-created melodrama surrounding the publication of the DSM-5, we can be thankful neither of these two disorders made the cut.

?

Dr. John Grohol is the founder & CEO of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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Catch up on other posts by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. (or subscribe to their feed).

????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 28 May 2013
????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

APA Reference
Grohol, J. (2013). Not in the DSM-5: Internet Addiction & Parental Alienation Disorder. Psych Central. Retrieved on May 30, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/05/29/not-in-the-dsm-5-internet-addiction-parental-alienation-disorder/

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Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/05/29/not-in-the-dsm-5-internet-addiction-parental-alienation-disorder/

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Dots Goes Multiplayer

Stupid friggin' Dots. Seriously. When Dots first came out, it felt like half of my team was telling me I just had to play it. "It's beautiful!", they said. "It's so addicting!", they said. I, being a grumpy ass gaming snob, wrote it off as the world's billionth Bejeweled clone. But they kept pushing. Eventually, I gave in. Just one round. No big deal, right?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9hLm46_7bI4/

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Should I Flip or Should I Rent? - RealEstate.com

If you?ve been reading this column for a while, you know the first commandment of the Flippin? Insider: Buy at a discount.

This is good advice because it preserves your options: If you can buy at a discount, you not only have every advantage going into a flip, but you?ll have a much easier time renting it out for more than you are paying out in mortgage, interest, maintenance and taxes. It?s simply much easier to create a cash-flow positive property from a house you buy cheap than from one for which you pay full price.

Many times, you actually have an option: You can continue flipping the property, or you can rent it out and use the proceeds to finance future acquisitions ? or for yourself. Which is better?

The answer, for most, is either one, but not both! At least, not at the same time. Few people excel both at being a property flipper and a landlord. The two require different mindsets: The flipper is a hunter, always on the lookout for his next deal; the renter is a farmer, looking to cultivate his farmland to provide a generous yield every year.

Both approaches can generate very good results over the long haul ? if you do them right. But before you get involved in playing landlord, ask yourself a few questions:

Do I Have What it Takes to Evict People I Like?

If you?re in the landlord game long enough for enough properties, sooner or later you?re going to have to make the difficult choice to evict a sympathetic tenant. We?re talking single moms, kindly grandmothers, nice families with a breadwinner out of work, and the like. In some cases they could be friends or relations ? which is doubly tricky.

Sure, you can step out of the process altogether and have a property manager handle the eviction based on protocols you define ? but that doesn?t absolve you of the responsibility to make the difficult decision. It only isolates you from the consequences for the tenant.

But if you are a real estate investor, you have to be willing and able to do this. Indeed, if your tenants know you will, your chances of having to do so are lower.

Do I Want the 3 a.m. Phone Calls for Plumbing Emergencies?

Being a landlord means you?re always on call. You can never really be ?on vacation? because when the phone call with a big maintenance problem comes, you still have to deal with it. If you?re flipping houses and you want to take some time off, you can do so. Just don?t buy a new place right after you sell one. But being a landlord is a 365-day commitment every year.

Can I Handle the Risk?

You have heard it said that flipping real estate is risky, and there?s a big chance of loss. But I say that rental real estate is at least as risky as flipping, for one simple reason: liability. Your risk is minimal if you?re flipping unoccupied houses, or you don?t own them for very long. But your risk is substantial if you are renting the place out to clumsy, careless or irresponsible people. If someone gets hurt and they can attribute it to your property, they?re coming after you.

Mitigating against this risk takes careful planning, well before the potential tort occurs. For example, you definitely should be speaking to an attorney about using entities to separate your properties from one another ? so that one person who slips on a tile floor cannot sue you and unravel your entire enterprise. But even if they win a lawsuit and attach just one property, or one LLC, that?s a pretty big ding on any small real estate investor.

Who Will My Likely Tenants Be?

The better the neighborhood, and the more substantial the home, the better your tenant quality is likely to be, and the fewer the headaches. Potential issues that landlords encounter include:

• Late-payers.
• Partial rent payments.
• Crime.
• Drugs and drug labs, including environmental clean-up.
• Depressed property values.
• Drama.

This has nothing to do with race. This is true in white neighborhoods, black neighborhoods, Hispanic neighborhoods, Jewish neighborhoods and any kind of community or combination you can think of.

All these issues will not just generate risk: They will also create demands on your time. You must compensate by demanding a lower price, higher rents, or some combination of the two. You can also expect any future buyer will also demand price concessions for the same reasons.

Do I Know the Landlord/Tenant Laws in My Area?

Some areas are much more tenant-friendly than others. One key factor: How long does an eviction take? Some areas can clear out your property in a few weeks with a legal eviction order. Other jurisdictions let the process drag out for months ? during which time you aren?t getting rental income, but still on the hook for your own mortgage, taxes and insurance payments.

You also need to take into account any rent control provisions, zoning restrictions on the number of people who can live in a given house, restrictions on security deposits, and access restrictions: You can?t always just walk into a home you own.

Working with a good attorney early in the landlording process is a must ? from the property acquisition through the development of the lease agreement and through the eviction process. The rules are extensive, vary by jurisdiction, and it takes a full-time commitment to keep up with them all.

Tenant screening is hugely important. Indeed, it?s a make-or-break issue for rental property owners. But the rules are complex, and it?s easy to get in trouble over discrimination and fair housing rules. Make sure you know the rules going in.

Advantages of Renting

That said, there are significant advantages to renting: You get a steady stream of passive income ? which you can use to borrow against to enhance your flipping practice. Renting a cash-flow positive property can also buy you time with a difficult flip: You have an income cushion to see you through if a flip takes longer than anticipated. You can also be a little pickier when courting buyers: Your rental property will still put groceries on your table (though you shouldn?t be cutting it that close).

Successful renters can also relax a bit more between deals. The pure flipper is a hunter ? and must always be hungry and on the prowl for the next deal. The renter is a farmer. If he cultivates his fields, they will provide.

Rental properties are also a nice hedge against disability, illness or life changes. The day may come when you can?t put in the time and relentless energy it takes to flip properties anymore. A rental portfolio is there, through disability, illness, unemployment, and nearly any other economic hazard you can name ? except perhaps a collapse in rent payments!

Finally, a nice rental portfolio is a beautiful thing to pass on to the next generation. You cannot pass a flipping business on to the next generation, unless they are dedicated flippers, too. And if they are, they don?t need you to do it. A rental portfolio, though, is a potential source of income, security and wealth for generations to come. Indeed, historically, landownership is the most long-lasting and reliable legacy and source of family wealth, going back to the ancient world.

That said, combining the two approaches is very difficult. The more time you spend attending to landlord problems, the less time you will have for flipping. So if you are a die-hard hunter ? if you were born for the hunt ? be wary of getting sidetracked too early in your career. But at a certain point, you might want to plan a transition.

Tagged as: flip, flipper, flipping, invest, investing, investor, landlord, real estate, rent, renting, tenant

Source: http://www.realestate.com/advice/should-i-flip-or-should-i-rent-49392/

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NBA approves Kings sale to Sacramento group

NEW YORK (AP) -- The NBA Board of Governors unanimously approved the sale of the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday to a group led by TIBCO Software chairman Vivek Ranadive.

The league said in a statement that the "transaction is expected to close shortly."

After owners blocked the relocation of the franchise to Seattle earlier this month, the Maloof family reached an agreement to sell a 65 percent controlling interest in the Kings to Ranadive's group at a total franchise valuation of $535 million. Ranadive, who will have to sell his minority stake in the Golden State Warriors, becomes the NBA's first Indian-born majority owner.

The Sacramento group also includes 24 Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrov, former Facebook senior executive Chris Kelly and the Jacobs family that owns communications giant Qualcomm.

Moments after the league announced the sale was approved, Ranadive thanked owners in a tweet and wrote that it was an honor and a privilege "to be part of such an amazing community." He also updated his Twitter profile to show that he is the owner of the Kings.

The vote, which had been expected since owners blocked the move to Seattle on May 15, officially ended an emotional saga that has dragged on since January. And for those in Sacramento, almost a decade of uncertainty involving the Maloof family, who entertained relocations to Anaheim, Calif., Las Vegas and Virginia Beach in recent years.

No threat of relocation had been more serious than Seattle.

Chris Hansen had a deal with the Maloofs to buy the Kings and rebrand them the SuperSonics, who left Seattle for Oklahoma City in 2008 and were renamed the Thunder. In a 22-8 vote, the Board of Governors rejected that deal, which would have sold a 65 percent controlling interest at a total franchise valuation of $625 million.

Hansen has vowed to continue his fight to bring the NBA back the Pacific Northwest city.

The next steps for Ranadive will be figuring out the basketball operations and finalizing the deal for a new arena. He already has been busy helping staff sell season tickets and boost sponsorship.

The contract for Kings president of basketball operations Geoff Petrie expires after June 30 and he is not expected to return. Coach Keith Smart is signed through this upcoming season; however, most of his assistants are not.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson - a former NBA All-Star guard - got the City Council to approve a non-binding financing plan for a $447 million facility with a $258 million public subsidy. But that deal is still pending environmental and other reviews.

Source: http://www.nba.com/2013/news/05/28/kings-sale-official.ap/index.html?rss=true

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How America's Biggest Bike Share Will Turn NYC into a Cycling City

CitiBike has landed. Yesterday, amid a scrum of politicians and reporters, city officials introduced the system poised to transform New York street life. But keeping track of 6,000 new bikes?not to mention their riders?will be no small chore. And to do it, the city is implementing a handful of smart systems, ranging from modular docking system to self-powered tail lights.

The program is a long time coming. Other cities, like Boston, D.C., and Chattanooga (who knew?), have been there first. But New York poses its own unique problems: There?s the simmering culture war between cyclists and pretty much everyone else. There?s the vastly understaffed accident investigation squad, which has fumbled the cases of several cyclists killed over the past year. There?s the infrastructural shortcomings of a densely-populated city where roads are vital economic lifelines?and where the use of those roads by cyclists is often viewed as nothing short of aggressive.

CitiBike, then, represents a massive experiment. It will put thousands of new cyclists on the road. It will introduce New York to cycling as a mode of transportation, rather than the rarified subculture of Freds, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and David Byrne. For drivers and longtime cyclists alike, this is a watershed moment, fraught with anxiety. At the same time, for all of the hand-wringing and political backtracking it's incurred, CitiBike represents the culmination of some pretty interesting technologies.

The Docks

CitiBike is being funded by a $41 million sponsorship from?you guessed it?Citibank. But the system itself was designed and built by Public Bike System Company (PBSC, also known as Bixi), a privately-held nonprofit that was formed by the city of Montreal after the successful installation of their bike share system, in 2009. Since then, Bixi has installed similar systems in a host of other cities.

Bixi has surprising origins. The system was created by Charles Khairallah, a Canadian robotics engineer, who designed the docking system from scratch. Khairallah is well-known for his ideas about modular robotics?using a simple series of robotic components, his company has designed complex systems for everything from aerospace engineering to HVAC cleaning. "To build traditional robots you might need 100 different kinds of parts," he said in an interview last year. "With ours, you might need many of only one type of part. This technology is a genetic family of products. We can create different products from mass-produced, identical modules which are scalable for larger or smaller robots."

That ethos?of durable, simple components that interlock to create a responsive system?is the basis for the CitiBike dock. Each dock is made up of a simple set of parts, which can be assembled in minutes and moved at the drop of the hat. The system is completely wireless and self-sufficient, and its few moving parts are designed to be easily replaced. A photovoltaic array sprouting from the RFID-based payment tower supplies all the power needed to send signals back to the system hub, which keeps track of when a bike is checked out and returned.

The bikes themselves?45-pound tanks, with nitrogen-filled tires, three-speed gears, and self-powered LED lights?are simple by comparison. The real intelligence of Khairallah?s system is embedded in the docks themselves.

The Wayfinding Signage

Last year, a Department of Transportation study revealed that most pedestrians, including locals, are basically wandering through the city in a state of perpetual confusion. Well, not quite. But nearly 30% of visitors, plus 10% of locals, admitted to having been lost within a week of being questioned. In fact, many of those interviewed couldn?t say which direction was north. It?s actually shocking those numbers aren?t larger, considering the meager signage options available to lost pedestrians (ask a street vendor? Go back down into the subway to peer at the map? Find some moss?).

On the heels of that study?and in anticipation of CitiBike?the DoT tapped their longtime collaborators, the graphic design firm Pentagram, to create a $6 million comprehensive wayfinding system for pedestrians. The new signs rolled out in March, and they?re an essential part of the CitiBike docking system. Based loosely on Massimo Vignelli?s classic signage for the MTA, the signs orient cyclists and pedestrians with easy, obvious cues. For example, a transparent overlay of landmark buildings. Or a dotted circle that shows scale in terms of walking time.

It?s not the most glamorous part of the bike share system, but it might be one of the most important. The only bigger liability than a lost, distracted pedestrian is a lost, distracted cyclist.

The App

Every CitiBike docking station has a limited number of parking spaces. And because there?s a strict time cap on each rental, giving cyclists a guaranteed place to return their bikes is an important part of the system. That?s where the CitiBike app comes in. Developed by Publicis Kaplan Thaler, the Manhattan mega-agency, the app sits atop the Google Maps API, showing nearby stations as pin icons. The shading of each pin represents the fullness of each dock?that way, you can skim the map and know, immediately, where you?ll be able to dock your rental. You?re also able to favorite stations, route maps, and check in on your membership.

Eventually, according to the CitiBike website, the data culled from the app will be shared with the public. That may be a few months down the line?for now, the CitiBike team is sharing basic user information on their blog. How are things shaping up? After only a single day of operation, there are already 16,463 annual members.

A major goal of the Bloomberg administration has been to make the city ?smarter,? either through design competitions to retrofit pay phones, by naming a Chief Digital Officer, or by asking developers to parse the city's deep well of data though the annual BigApps competition. CitiBike, though it hasn?t really been couched as such, is the first full-scale implementation of these ideas. Beneath all of the teeth-gnashing and turmoil lies a glimpse at the future of our city's smart urban infrastructure.

[Lead image by Dmitry Gudkov of #BikeNYC, via the CitiBike blog]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/how-americas-biggest-bike-share-will-turn-nyc-into-a-c-510074816

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Lenovo's dual-SIM S820 unveiled, joins the Chinese league of feminine phones

Following the likes of the Oppo Ulike 2 and the MeituKiss, Lenovo's decided to join the fun with yet another phone targeted at Chinese female users. Dubbed the S820, this Android 4.2 device appears to be prettier -- with a hint of HTC's One X on both sides -- yet also more gender neutral than the older S720, but Lenovo's marketing team has been working hard to emphasize the phone's vivid redness, soft curves and velvet finish to back its case. Even the launch event yesterday featured bikini-clad models holding the new product, though that might have backfired a little.

Unlike the two aforementioned devices from the competition, the S820 only comes with a 2-megapixel front-facing camera instead of a 5- or 8-megapixel version, but it does have a 13-megapixel imager on the back. You'll also find a 4.7-inch, 720p gapless IPS display on top of a 1.2GHz quad-core MT6589 SoC with 1GB RAM and 4GB internal storage. Removing the flexible back cover reveals a removable 2,000mAh battery, dual SIM slots (WCDMA 2100 and GSM 900/1800/1900) and microSD expansion of up to 32GB. Not bad for ¥1,999 or about $330, and it's already available for pre-order from now until June 2nd. For now, you can check out a hands-on video of the S820 after the break, courtesy of a Dongguan-based trading company.

Gallery: Lenovo S820

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Lenovo

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Via: CNMO

Source: Lenovo

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/29/lenovo-s820-china/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

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Researchers identify genetic suspects in sporadic Lou Gehrig's disease

May 27, 2013 ? Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have identified mutations in several new genes that might be associated with the development of spontaneously occurring cases of the neurodegenerative disease known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, the progressive, fatal condition, in which the motor neurons that control movement and breathing gradually cease to function, has no cure.

Although researchers know of some mutations associated with inherited forms of ALS, the majority of patients have no family history of the disease, and there are few clues as to its cause. The Stanford researchers compared the DNA sequences of 47 patients who have the spontaneous form of the disease, known as sporadic ALS, with those of their unaffected parents. The goal was to identify new mutations that were present in the patient but not in either parent that may have contributed to disease development.

Several suspects are mutations in genes that encode chromatin regulators -- cellular proteins that govern how DNA is packed into the nucleus of a cell and how it is accessed when genes are expressed. Protein members of one these chromatin-regulatory complexes have recently been shown to play roles in normal development and some forms of cancer.

"The more we know about the genetic causes of the disorder, the greater insight we will have as to possible therapeutic targets," said Aaron Gitler, PhD, associate professor of genetics. "Until now, researchers have primarily relied upon large families with many cases of inherited ALS and attempted to pinpoint genetic regions that seem to occur only in patients. But more than 90 percent of ALS cases are sporadic, and many of the genes involved in these cases are unknown."

Gitler is the senior author of the study, which will be published online May 26 in Nature Neuroscience. Postdoctoral scholar Alessandra Chesi, PhD, is the lead author. Gitler and Chesi collaborated with members of the laboratory of Gerald Crabtree, MD, professor of developmental biology and of pathology. Crabtree, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, is also a co-author of the study.

Chesi and Gitler combined deductive reasoning with recent advances in sequencing technology to conduct the work, which relied on the availability of genetic samples from not only ALS patients, but also the patients' unaffected parents. Such trios can be difficult to obtain for diseases like sporadic ALS that strike well into adulthood when a patient's parents may no longer be alive. Gitler and Chesi collaborated with researchers from Emory University and Johns Hopkins University to collect these samples.

The researchers compared the sequences of a portion of the genome called the exome, which directly contributes to the amino acid sequences of all the proteins in a cell. (Many genes contain intervening, non-protein-coding regions of DNA called introns that are removed prior to protein production.) Mutations found only in the patient's exome, but not in that of his or her parents', were viewed as potential disease-associated candidates -- particularly if they affected the composition or structure of the resulting protein made from that gene.

Focusing on just the exome, which is about 1 percent of the total amount of DNA in each human cell, vastly reduced the total amount of DNA that needed to be sequenced and allowed the researchers to achieve relatively high coverage (or repeated sequencing to ensure accuracy) of each sample.

"We wanted to find novel changes in the patients," Chesi said. "These represent a class of mutations called de novo mutations that likely occurred during the production of the parents' reproductive cells." As a result, these mutations would be carried in all the cells of patients, but not in their parents or siblings.

Using the exome sequencing technique, the researchers identified 25 de novo mutations in the ALS patients. Of these, five are known to be in genes involved in the regulation of the tightly packed form of DNA called chromatin -- a proportion that is much higher than would have been expected by chance, according to Chesi.

Furthermore, one of the five chromatin regulatory proteins, SS18L1, is a member of a neuron-specific complex called nBAF, which has long been studied in Crabtree's laboratory. This complex is strongly expressed in the brain and spinal cord, and affects the ability of the neurons to form branching structures called dendrites that are essential to nerve signaling.

"We found that, in one sporadic ALS case, the last nine amino acids of this protein are missing," Gitler said. "I knew that Gerald Crabtree's lab had been investigating SS18L1, so I asked him about it. In fact, they had already identified these amino acids as being very important to the function of the protein."

When the researchers expressed the mutant SS18L1 in motor neurons isolated from mouse embryos, they found the neurons were unable to extend and grow new dendrites as robustly as normal neurons in response to stimuli. They also showed that SS18L1 appears to physically interact with another protein known to be involved in cases of familial, or inherited, ALS.

Although the results are intriguing, the researchers caution that more work is necessary to conclusively prove whether and how mutations in SS18L1 contribute to sporadic cases of ALS. But now they have an idea of where to look in other patients, without requiring the existence of patient and parent trios. They are planning to sequence SS18L1 and other candidates in an additional few thousand sporadic ALS cases.

"This is the first systematic analysis of ALS triads for the presence of de novo mutations," Chesi said. "Now we have a list of candidate genes we can pursue. We haven't proven that these mutations cause ALS, but we've shown, at least in the context of SS18L1, that the mutation carried by some patients is damaging to the protein and affects the ability of mouse motor neurons to form dendrites."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/oJUAdu-WC-s/130527100632.htm

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Shape-shifting nanoparticles flip from sphere to net in response to tumor signal

May 28, 2013 ? Scientists at the University of California, San Diego, have designed tiny spherical particles to float easily through the bloodstream after injection, then assemble into a durable scaffold within diseased tissue. An enzyme produced by a specific type of tumor can trigger the transformation of the spheres into netlike structures that accumulate at the site of a cancer, the team reports in the journal Advanced Materials this week.

Spherical nanoparticles labeled with red or green dye shift their shapes and accumulatte into netlike structures when they encounter a protease secreted by some kinds of cancerous tumors (Click on image for larger view).

Targeting treatments specifically to cancerous or other diseased cells depends on some means of accumulating high levels of a drug or other therapeutic agent at the specific site and keeping it there. Most efforts so far depend on matching a piece of the drug-delivering molecule to specific receptors on the surface of the target cell.

Inspiration for this new strategy came from biological systems that use shape to alter the ability of something to lock in place or slip away and escape, said Nathan Gianneschi, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, who led the project.

"We wanted to come up with a new approach," Gianneschi said. "Specifically, we wanted to design switchable materials that we could inject in one shape and have them change to another between the blood and tumors."

Some cancerous tissues produce high levels of a class of molecules called MMPs, for matrix metalloproteinases. These enzymes change how other proteins behave by altering their molecular configuration, leading to metastasis. Gianneschi and colleagues harnessed this ability to alter their nanoparticles in ways that would cause them to linger at the site of the tumor.

"We figured out how to make an autonomous material that could sense its environment and change accordingly," Gianneschi said.

Each nanoparticle is made of many detergent-like molecules with one end that mixes readily with water and another that repels it. In solution, they self assemble into balls with the water-repellant ends inside, and in that configuration can easily be injected into a vein.

When mixed with MMPs in vials, the enzymes nicked the peptides on the surface of the spheres, which reassembled into netlike threads.

The team tested the concept further by injecting their new nanoparticles into mice with human fibrosarcomas, a kind of cancer that produces high levels of MMPs.

To mark when the spheres broke down to form other structures, the chemists placed one of two fluorecent dyes, rhodamine or fluorescein, inside the spheres. In close proximity, the dyes interact to create a specific light signal called FRET for F?rster Resonance Energy Transfer, when energy jumps from rhodamine to fluorescein.

Within a day they detected FRET signals indicating that the spheres had reassembled at the sites of the tumors, and the signal persisted for at least a week.

The treatment is not inherently toxic. It did not appear to change the tumors in any way, and liver and kidney, the organs most vulnerable to collateral damage from treatments because they clear toxins from the body, were normal and healthy eight days after injection.

Different versions of these nanoparticles could be designed to respond to signals inherent to other types of cancers and inflamed tissue, the authors say. The spheres can also be engineered to carry drugs, or different diagnostic probes.

Right now, this same team is developing nanoparticles that carry an infrared dye, which would enable them to visualize tumors deeper inside the body along with other materials that can be imaged with instruments commonly available in the clinic.

Co-authors include Miao-Ping Chen and Matthew Thompson in Gianneschi's group, and Christopher Barbak and David Hall in UC San Diego School of Medicine's Department of Radiology. Funding agencies include National Institutes of Health, Army Research Office and Air Force Office of Scientific Research. Gianneschi was also supported by a New Faculty Award from the Henry and Camille Dreyfus Foundation and a Research Fellowship from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/mNHJpL6mNQA/130528143729.htm

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Report: Plans for Australia spy HQ hacked by China

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) ? Australian officials on Tuesday refused to confirm or deny whether Chinese hackers had stolen the blueprints of a new spy agency headquarters as a news report claims. A tiny party essential to the ruling coalition's government demanded an inquiry into how much damage may have been done.

Australian Broadcasting Corp. television reported on Monday night that the plans for the 630 million Australian dollar ($608 million) Australian Security Intelligence Organization building had been stolen through a cyberattack on a building contractor. Blueprints that included details such as communications cabling, server locations and security systems had been traced to a Chinese server, the network reported.

Des Ball, an Australian National University cybersecurity expert, said China could use the blueprints to bug the building, which is nearing completion in Canberra, the capital, after lengthy construction delays.

Ball told the ABC that given the breach, ASIO would either have to operate with "utmost sensitivity" within its own building or simply "rip the whole insides out and ... start again."

Attorney General Mark Dreyfus, the minister in charge of the spy agency, on Tuesday refused to confirm or deny the report, citing a longstanding government policy of declining to comment on security matters.

He later said the lakeside glass and concrete structure did not need to be redesigned, and that ASIO will move in this year.

"This building is a very secure, state-of-the-art facility," said Dreyfus, adding that the ABC report contained "unsubstantiated allegations."

"I'm not going to comment on operational matters involving the Australian Security Intelligence Organization or any security matters," he said.

Questioned about the alleged security breach in Parliament, Prime Minister Julia Gillard described the ABC report as "inaccurate" but refused to go into detail.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said China opposed hacking in any form and questioned what evidence the ABC report relied on.

"Since it is technically untraceable, it is very difficult to find the source and identify the hacker," Hong said. "Therefore we have no idea what is the evidence for their report in which they make the claim with such certainty."

He said countries needed to cooperate to fight hacking. "Groundless accusations won't solve the problem," Hong said.

The minor Greens party, which the center-left Labor Party relies on to maintain its minority government, has demanded an inquiry into the future of the troubled building, which has been plagued by cost blowouts from an original budget of 460 million Australian dollars.

"It is time that we had an independent inquiry into the whole sorry history of the ASIO building and the extent to which the current hacking has compromised its capacity to ever be the building and serve the purpose for which it was intended," Greens leader Christine Milne told reporters.

She said no more money should be spent on the building until an inquiry was held into the truth of the hacking allegation and the extent of the alleged security compromise.

The alleged hacking would appear to be "an extremely serious breach" to Australia's intelligence-sharing allies, including the United States, Milne said.

Dreyfus didn't immediately respond to the Greens' call for an inquiry.

ASIO, Australia's main spy agency, has grown rapidly since the al-Qaida attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, and needs the new headquarters to house its growing staff that has trebled to almost 1,800 in a decade.

Tobias Feakin, a security analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said that if a security breach has occurred, it could affect intelligence sharing with allies.

"There is no doubt that instances like this, if proved true, create a period of difficulty," Feakin said. "But one thing that would happen is that there would be mutual assistance provided to be able to plug that gap and no intelligence agency could possibly allow that kind of breach to continue."

Foreign Minister Bob Carr refused to discuss the allegations but said the claims do not jeopardize Australia's ties with its most important trading partner, China.

"It's got absolutely no implications for a strategic partnership," Carr said. "We have enormous areas of cooperation with China."

____

AP researcher Zhao Liang contributed to this report from Beijing

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/report-plans-australia-spy-hq-hacked-china-061636428.html

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US, Russia discuss peace plan as Syria worsens

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Monday, May 27, 2013, in Paris. (AP Photo/Jim Young, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Monday, May 27, 2013, in Paris. (AP Photo/Jim Young, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Monday, May 27, 2013, in Paris. (AP Photo/Jim Young, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Monday, May 27, 2013, in Paris. (AP Photo/Jim Young, Pool)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Monday, May 27, 2013, in Paris. (AP Photo/Jim Young, Pool)

PARIS (AP) ? The top U.S. and Russian diplomats met Monday to try to accelerate frustratingly slow peace efforts in Syria, where the signs point only to a worsening conflict.

Capping off an eight-day trip to the Middle East and Africa, Secretary of State John Kerry flew into the French capital to see Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and exchange updates on their respective diplomatic efforts.

The United States and its Arab allies are attempting to secure the participation of Syria's fractured opposition at an international peace conference in Geneva, planned for next month. Russia is pledging to deliver Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime to the talks.

But despite claims of progress by both powers, there is little evidence to suggest either side in Syria is ready to halt more than two years of violence that has killed more than 70,000 people. President Barack Obama has demanded that Assad leave power; Russia has stood by its closest ally in the Arab world.

Kerry said the U.S. and Russia each are committed to starting a political transition that "would allow the people of Syria to decide the future of Syria."

"We are committed to this," Kerry told reporters upon conclusion of the meeting. "We both want to make this conference happen, if possible, together with many other countries that will join up."

"It is our hope that we will come out of here with greater clarity about some of the issues that need to be worked on in the days ahead," he added.

Lavrov suggested much work remains if any peace conference is going to make headway, calling it a "very tall order." He also signaled continued disagreement between Washington and Moscow on the participants at the conference, saying it should include more interested parties than previous diplomatic gatherings. It was an apparent reference to Iran, which the United States and the Syrian opposition don't want to see involved in any negotiation.

The one-on-one Paris meeting between Kerry and Lavrov, to be immediately followed by a dinner that includes French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, occurred as Sen. John McCain slipped into Syria Monday to meet with rebels, and at an increasingly dangerous time for the country.

For the past week, regime troops and allies from Lebanon's Hezbollah ? and even some Iranian fighters ? have waged an offensive in Qusair, gaining ground against the rebels behind intense bombardments of the strategic western Syria town.

Hezbollah's enhanced role poses an assortment of concerns for the Obama administration, with the group's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, vowing over the weekend that his militants would back Assad to victory.

Beyond providing powerful reinforcements to Assad's regime, Hezbollah's involvement increases the risk of spillover into Lebanon, a country as ethnically divided and fragile as Syria. Two rockets struck a Hezbollah stronghold in southern Beirut on Sunday, raising fears that the country could be plunged back into civil war.

And any conflict with Hezbollah threatens to drag in Israel, which has proven with airstrikes it won't tolerate large-scale and advanced weapons transfers to its northern border. Lebanon's state-run news agency reported one missile fired from that area toward the Jewish state on Sunday night.

For Kerry and other would-be peacemakers, the confluence of developments only reaffirms the need for a serious peace process to begin.

The Americans have stressed that any talks be carried out in good faith and lead to the full transfer of power to an interim government. Logic, they say, compels that this government not include Assad or other members of his government culpable in widespread abuses.

Getting to the talks hasn't been easy. Kerry is waiting for Syria's Sunni-led opposition coalition to unearth itself from a mountain of internal divisions, from adding new representatives to determining how Islamist or how secular to define their movement.

Opposition leaders met among themselves Monday in Istanbul for the fifth straight day. And while they've grappled for unity, they haven't given a firm yes to the peace strategy outlined by Kerry and Lavrov earlier this month.

McCain spokeswoman Rachel Dean confirmed the Arizona Republican met with rebels in Syria. She declined further comment. McCain has been a leading proponent of arming the rebels and other aggressive military steps against the Assad regime.

Russia has achieved, rhetorically at least, greater success. The Syrian government said Sunday it agreed "in principle" to send delegates to Geneva, strengthening Moscow's hand ahead of any direct ? and potentially proxy ? U.S.-Russian diplomatic negotiations.

With Syria's opposition scrambling politically and militarily, the European Union apparently is moving to bolster the opposition effort.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Monday the EU has decided to lift the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition while maintaining all other sanctions against Bashar Assad's regime after June 1.

The Obama administration has been mulling a similar step for months. Despite Assad's military advances and evidence that his forces used chemical weapons against the rebels, the Obama administration remains wary about getting too involved.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-05-27-EU-US-Syria-Diplomacy/id-c422c59c18184173b96b408baf780824

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How patient centered are medical decisions?

Public release date: 27-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Crystal Bozek
Crystal.Bozek@umb.edu
617-287-5383
The JAMA Network Journals

A national survey sample of adults who had discussions with their physicians in the preceding two years about common medical tests, medications and procedures often did not reflect a high level of shared decision making, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Floyd J. Fowler, Jr., Ph.D., from the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation and the University of Massachusetts, Boston, conducted a 2011 survey of a cross section of U.S. adults 40 years or older and asked them to indicate whether they reported making one of 10 medical decisions and to describe their interactions with their physicians concerning those decisions. The decisions included: medication for hypertension, elevated cholesterol, or depression; screening for breast, prostate or colon cancer; knee or hip replacement for osteoarthritis, or surgery for cataract or low back pain.

"we saw great variation in the extent to which patients reported efforts to inform them about and involve them in 10 common decisions," the authors write in their conclusion. "Although there was variation within decision types, decisions concerning four surgical procedures were much more shared than decisions about cancer screening and two very common long-term medications for cardiac risk reduction. If share decision making is to be one defining characteristic of primary care as delivered in medical homes, primary care physicians and other health care providers will need to balance their discussions of pros and cons to a greater degree and ask patients for their input more consistently."

###

(JAMA Intern Med. Published online May 27, 2013. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6172. Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.org.)

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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.

Public release date: 27-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Crystal Bozek
Crystal.Bozek@umb.edu
617-287-5383
The JAMA Network Journals

A national survey sample of adults who had discussions with their physicians in the preceding two years about common medical tests, medications and procedures often did not reflect a high level of shared decision making, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Floyd J. Fowler, Jr., Ph.D., from the Informed Medical Decisions Foundation and the University of Massachusetts, Boston, conducted a 2011 survey of a cross section of U.S. adults 40 years or older and asked them to indicate whether they reported making one of 10 medical decisions and to describe their interactions with their physicians concerning those decisions. The decisions included: medication for hypertension, elevated cholesterol, or depression; screening for breast, prostate or colon cancer; knee or hip replacement for osteoarthritis, or surgery for cataract or low back pain.

"we saw great variation in the extent to which patients reported efforts to inform them about and involve them in 10 common decisions," the authors write in their conclusion. "Although there was variation within decision types, decisions concerning four surgical procedures were much more shared than decisions about cancer screening and two very common long-term medications for cardiac risk reduction. If share decision making is to be one defining characteristic of primary care as delivered in medical homes, primary care physicians and other health care providers will need to balance their discussions of pros and cons to a greater degree and ask patients for their input more consistently."

###

(JAMA Intern Med. Published online May 27, 2013. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.6172. Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.org.)

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/tjnj-hpc052313.php

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Plan Bay Area: Controversy Swirls Around Ambitious California Attempt To Combat Climate Change

The Bay Area will be spewing an additional 1.6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide annually by 2040 if opponents of a new long-range land-use blueprint for the Bay Area get their way.

That estimate -- the equivalent of burning 20,456 tanker trucks of gasoline or 6,664 rail cars of coal -- comes from the environmental impact report for Plan Bay Area, a long-range housing blueprint that has ignited controversy in Marin.

A collaboration of four regional government agencies, Plan Bay Area was developed as a response to the California Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008, which requires each of the state's 18 metropolitan areas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cars and light trucks.

The plan has sparked debate across Marin, with a coalition of neighborhood groups calling itself Citizen Marin opposing it and another group of residents, Concerned Marinites to End NIMBYism, defending the plan. The debate has heated up as an environmental impact report on the 40-year plan has circulated for public discussion. The impact report includes four alternatives to the Plan Bay Area scenario, and opponents of the plan have called for adoption of the "no project" alternative.

Susan Kirsch of Mill Valley, a Citizen Marin co-founder, said she supports the "no project" alternative because she believes Plan Bay Area offers "an insignificant amount of improvement over what would happen if we went with 'no project.'" She also questions the veracity of the numbers in the impact report.

"I think the assumptions and numbers we've been fed almost from the beginning have questionable elements to them," Kirsch said.

But Anthony Barnosky, a University of California, Berkeley professor of integrative biology, said, "We absolutely have to do everything we can to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."

Barnosky was lead author of a scientific paper last year warning that the Earth is approaching a tipping point beyond which the planet's climate and biodiversity will be radically and unalterably changed. On Thursday, 500 of the world's top global change scientists, including Barnosky, released a 30-page statement titled "Maintaining Humanity's Life Support Systems in the 21st Century."

Stephen Palumbi, one of the statement's 16 main authors, a professor of biological sciences at Stanford University, said, "In 30 years there are a few things that people will credit us for doing now, or bemoan our failure if we don't. Grappling with climate change, and stopping it, is the best gift we can give the future, because unstopped it will crack our society and impoverish our children."

Under the "no project" alternative, no new regional policies would be implemented in order to influence local land use patterns and no uncommitted transportation investments would be made. According to an analysis in the environmental impact report, the Bay Area would be producing about 42.9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents annually by 2040 if the "no project" alternative is adopted. That compares with 41.3 million metric tons annually by 2040 if the Plan Bay Area scenario is approved.

The impact report contains two alternatives that would reduce the Bay Area's greenhouse gas production even more than the alternative preferred by Plan Bay Area. The scenario with the lowest greenhouse gas production has been dubbed the "environmental, equity and jobs" alternative. Language in the impact report minimizes the benefits of this alternative, however, stating that it "would result in the lowest level of environmental impacts, but only marginally lower," than the Plan Bay Area scenario.

Alex Karner, a researcher at UC Davis's Center for Regional Change, compared the "environmental, equity and jobs" alternative to the Plan Bay Area preferred alternative at the behest of Public Advocates, one of the environmental groups that lobbied for inclusion of the scenario in the impact report.

"Part of our work was to show that the marginal differences that they calculate in terms of percentages can actually be quite large when you multiply them out and look at the total numbers," Karner said.

Compared with the Plan Bay Area scenario, the "environment, equity and jobs" alternative would reduce the Bay Area's annual carbon dioxide production by another 568,000 metric tons per year -- the equivalent of 7,491 tanker trucks of gasoline or 2,440 rail cars of coal.

One of the principal criticisms of Plan Bay Area has been that it would foster high-density apartment developments that will damage Marin's pristine natural environment and small-town character. The "environment, equity and jobs" alternative would seek to maximize affordable housing in job-rich, urban and suburban areas through incentives and housing subsidies.

"I don't like it any better," said Kirsch, who objects to plans to coordinate Plan Bay Area with state laws requiring cities and counties to adjust their zoning laws to foster development of minimum amounts of new affordable and market-rate housing.

But Barnosky said, "There is no local anymore. Everything we do has global implications and everything that we rely on comes from far outside where we live. We have to start thinking globally."

Suburban growth in the "environment, equity and jobs" alternative would be supported by increased transit service to historically disadvantaged communities. The beefed-up transit service would be paid for with higher bridge tolls and a new "vehicle miles traveled," or VMT, tax.

Kirsch said, "It feels like these are Draconian measures."

The environmental impact report identifies this approach as the "environmentally superior alternative" due to its reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and toxic air contaminants. The impact report also notes, however, that implementation of the VMT tax may prove unfeasible because it "may require approval by a two-thirds supermajority of the Legislature." And the report states that this alternative "assumes residential growth at levels that some local jurisdictions may be unlikely to implement."

But Richard Marcantonio, managing attorney at Public Advocates in San Francisco, said, "The 'environmental, equity and jobs' alternative demonstrates that when you increase funding for transit service, you get a better Bay Area all around -- less traffic, less emissions, improved public health. The point isn't that more transit funding has to come from a carbon or VMT fee. But it has to come from somewhere, and we as a region need urgently to have that discussion."

Under the Plan Bay Area preferred alternative, 80 percent of housing growth and 66 percent of job growth over the next 37 years would be channeled into 170 "priority development areas," scattered throughout the Bay Area. These "PDA's" have been identified voluntarily by cities or counties as areas for future growth. They typically provide access to mass transit, jobs, shopping and other services. Cities and counties would be rewarded with grant money if they adopt zoning policies in their PDAs that make higher-density projects possible.

It is assumed that about 60 percent of the reduction in carbon dioxide caused by cars and light trucks achieved under this approach by 2035 would result from encouraging housing and job growth closer to mass transit; the other 40 percent would be achieved by spending $640 million to encourage car sharing and implement other transportation climate initiatives, said Michele Rodriguez, a former principal planner with the county of Marin.

Carolyn Clevenger, a policy analyst with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, said, "It's an important part of the proposed plan that we invest in programs that reduce greenhouse gases. If you go with the 'no project,' you wouldn't be investing in any of these programs."

Contact Richard Halstead via e-mail at rhalstead@marinij.com ___

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/26/plan-bay-area_n_3339278.html

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