Marketing studies help craft health overhaul pitch

FILE - In this March 15, 2013, file photo the Senate Minority Leader, Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, points to a 7-foot stack of ?Obamacare? regulations to underscore his disdain during the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md. McConnell said Democrats have been predicting for years that Americans would learn to love the health care overhaul and that has not happened. ?I agree that it will be a big issue in 2014,? he said. ?I think it will be an albatross around the neck of every Democrat who voted for it. They are going to be running away from it, not toward it.? (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

FILE - In this March 15, 2013, file photo the Senate Minority Leader, Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, points to a 7-foot stack of ?Obamacare? regulations to underscore his disdain during the 40th annual Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Md. McConnell said Democrats have been predicting for years that Americans would learn to love the health care overhaul and that has not happened. ?I agree that it will be a big issue in 2014,? he said. ?I think it will be an albatross around the neck of every Democrat who voted for it. They are going to be running away from it, not toward it.? (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 1, 2010, file photo Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., speaks during a Debt Commission meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington. In 2013 with a nation still split over President Barack Obama's healthcare overhaul Schakowsky, who has long supported coverage for the uninsured, is predicting vindication for the Affordable Care Act once people see how the program really works. ?It?s harder to sell what is a pretty new idea for Americans while it is still in the abstract,? she said. ?I think as people experience it, they?re going to love it, much like Medicare.? (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

FILE ? In this June 29, 2012 file photo front pages of the days' newspaper front pages are displayed at the Newseum in Washington, after the previous day's Supreme Court ruling to uphold President Barack Obama's health care law. With a nation still split over the affordable care act, and in an effort to convince millions of average Americans that one of the most common complex and controversial programs devised by government may actually be good for them the administration has turned to the science of mass marketing for help in understanding the lives of uninsured people, hoping to craft winning pitches for a surprisingly varied group in society. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

FILE ? In this Aug. 31, 2009, file photo supporters on both sides of the health care reform issue argue in Skokie, Ill., outside a town hall meeting held by U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, who represents Chicago. With a nation still split over the Affordable Care Act Schakowsky, a long-time supporter of coverage for the insured, is predicting vindication for the health overhaul legislation once people see how the program really works. ?It?s harder to sell what is a pretty new idea for Americans while it is still in the abstract,? she said. ?I think as people experience it, they?re going to love it, much like Medicare.? (AP Photo/ Jim Prisching, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? How do you convince millions of average Americans that one of the most complex and controversial programs devised by government may actually be a good deal for them?

With the nation still split over President Barack Obama's health care law, the administration has turned to the science of mass marketing for help in understanding the lives of uninsured people, hoping to craft winning pitches for a surprisingly varied group in society.

The law's supporters will have to make the sale in the run-up to an election ? the 2014 midterms. Already Republicans are hoping for an "Obamacare" flop that helps them gain control of the Senate, while Democrats are eager for the public to finally embrace the Affordable Care Act, bringing political deliverance.

It turns out America's more than 48 million uninsured people are no monolithic mass. A marketing analysis posted online by the federal Health and Human Services Department reveals six distinct groups, three of which appear critical to the success or failure of the program.

They're the "Healthy & Young," comprising 48 percent of the uninsured, the "Sick, Active & Worried," (29 percent of the uninsured), and the "Passive & Unengaged" (15 percent).

The Healthy & Young take good health for granted, are tech-savvy, and have "low motivation to enroll." The Sick, Active & Worried are mostly Generation X and baby boomers, active seekers of health care information and worried about costs. The Passive & Unengaged group is mostly 49 and older, "lives for today," and doesn't understand much about health insurance.

The challenge for the administration is obvious: signing up lots of the Healthy & Young, as well as the Passive & Unengaged, to offset the higher costs of covering the sick and worried.

Uninsured middle-class Americans will be able to sign up for subsidized private health plans through new insurance markets in their states starting Oct.1. Low-income uninsured people will be steered to safety net programs like Medicaid.

"The goal here is to get as many people enrolled as possible," Gary Cohen, the HHS official overseeing the rollout of the law, told insurers at a recent industry conference. Partly for that reason the first open enrollment period will continue until March 31, 2014.

Coverage under the law takes effect Jan. 1. That's also when the legal requirement that most Americans carry health insurance goes into force. Insurance companies will be barred from turning the sick away or charging them more.

The new law is mainly geared to the uninsured and to people who buy coverage directly from insurance companies. Most Americans in employer plans are not expected to see major changes.

Administration officials say they see an opportunity to change the national debate about health care. They want to get away from shouting matches about the role of government and start millions of practical conversations about new benefits that can help families and individuals.

The HHS marketing materials reveal some barriers to getting the uninsured to embrace the law.

The Healthy & Young lead busy lives and tend to be procrastinators. Plus, why would they need health insurance if they're full of vigor? The Passive & Unengaged fear the unknown and have difficulty navigating the health care system. The Sick, Active & Worried dread making wrong decisions.

Marketing for the new system will start this summer, going into high gear during the fall after premiums and other plan information becomes public.

There's already widespread concern that the new coverage costs too much, because of a combination of sicker people joining the pool and federal requirements that insurers offer more robust benefits. A recent study by the Society of Actuaries forecast sticker shock, estimating that insurers will have to pay an average of 32 percent more for medical claims on individual health policies.

The administration says such studies are misleading because they don't take into account parts of the law that offset costs to individuals and insurance companies, along with other provisions that promote competition and increase oversight of insurance rates.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., who has long supported coverage for the uninsured, is predicting vindication for Obama once people see how the program really works.

"It's harder to sell what is a pretty new idea for Americans while it is still in the abstract," said Schakowsky, who represents Chicago. "I think as people experience it, they're going to love it, much like Medicare."

That will put wind in the sails of Democratic candidates. "I think it's going to be a very popular feature as far as the American way of life before too long," Schakowsky added.

But Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky says Democrats have been predicting for years that Americans would learn to love the health care overhaul and that has not happened. McConnell had his picture taken next to a 7-foot stack of "Obamacare" regulations recently to underscore his disdain.

"I agree that it will be a big issue in 2014," said McConnell. "I think it will be an albatross around the neck of every Democrat who voted for it. They are going to be running away from it, not toward it."

___

Online:

HHS marketing study ? http://tinyurl.com/aycgowc

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-31-Health%20Overhaul-Crafting%20the%20Pitch/id-e393a1beefcd4e43adb7551135c99ac3

indianapolis colts joseph kony joseph kony ipad 3 release date apple store down apple live blog ohio primary

Cliff(y) Goes Dining: SIN: Box n Sticks

Tiramisu with Japanese whisky!

We often hear that the Japanese are nice people. Well, it seems that the owners of the restaurant strives to be like the Japanese haha... It's written on the window of the restaurant: "We are nice people. No GST. No service charge." Anyway, I went there for the weekday Lunch Promotion (11.30am - 4.00pm). By topping up S$3.80?with any order of a main course, you'll get two side dishes and a drink to complete your meal.

Hiyayakko?(Set Menu)

Taste:?7.5/10

The first side dish that came to the table was the cold, smooth tofu in soy sauce broth, topped with katsuoboshi (Japanese dried bonito flakes) and fried garlic bits. While it was refreshing and definitely a healthier choice, I found that the broth was a tad too salty for my liking.

Chawanmushi?(Set Menu)

In contrast to the cold tofu, the other side dish chosen was the piping hot egg custard with shiitake mushrooms, crab sticks. The egg was smooth and appetising, and the mushrooms were pretty juicy. Too bad there weren't any, say, chicken meat inside that would otherwise make it more savoury.

Curry Katsu Don?S$9.80

Taste:?7/10

For the main course, I chose the pork cutlet with curry and rice. The curry had a bit of carrots and potatoes in it, and I was quite surprised that it was much spicier than most Japanese style curry I've eaten in Singapore. It was a pity that the pork cutlet wasn't that crispy, and they didn't use short-grain rice. Besides that, the miso (Japanese fermented rice, barley and/or soybeans)?soup was so-so.

Carbonara?S$10.80

A friend of mine, a small eater, decided to order just a main course. We've heard people saying that the cream pasta with a poached egg, bacon bits and seaweed is good, but I felt that it wasn't truly creamy. I've ?had better elsewhere, for example in The Spaghetti House. Having said that, the egg was poached perfectly.

Koohii Tiramisu?S$5.80

Taste:?8.5/10

A cup of tiramisu wouldn't harm, would it? Homemade with what's claimed to be Japanese whisky as written in the menu, I truly enjoyed the wet, coffee-infused cake with quite a strong alcoholic taste. I'd definitely love to give a higher score for this one if they were to use a much creamier mascarpone cheese.

Taste:?7.5/10

Ambience:?7.5/10

Service:?7.5/10

Overall:?7.5/10

Anyway, the drink that I had was cold Japanese green tea which was a bit diluted, but I better not complain since I kept asking for refill haha...?Pika's advice: Just for fun! They have their own way of saying that the consumption of outside food and/or drinks isn't allowed in the restaurant. Do look for the sign when you happen to dine there!

Box n Sticks

14 Aliwal Street

Singapore

(Mon-Thu: 11.30am - 11.00pm; Fri: 11.30am - 12.30am; Sat: 6.00pm - 12.30am)

*Prices quoted are nett prices.

Have a nice meal,

Cliff(y)

Source: http://cliffy-goes-dining.blogspot.com/2013/03/sin-box-n-sticks.html

barista university of kentucky oakland news alec baldwin alec baldwin college basketball oakland

Sen. Flake sees GOP contender backing gay marriage

U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona answers questions from the crowd about immagration reform, gay marriage, and other topics Thursday March 28, 2013 during a town hall style meeting at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz. U.S. Senator John McCain was scheduled to attend with Flake but had to cancel because of an illness. (AP Photo/The Daily Courier, Matt Hinshaw)

U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona answers questions from the crowd about immagration reform, gay marriage, and other topics Thursday March 28, 2013 during a town hall style meeting at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz. U.S. Senator John McCain was scheduled to attend with Flake but had to cancel because of an illness. (AP Photo/The Daily Courier, Matt Hinshaw)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republican Sen. Jeff Flake says it is "inevitable" that his party will see one of its own run for president while supporting gay marriage.

The Arizona lawmaker on Sunday said the shifting political landscape will eventually yield a candidate who backs same-sex marriage and predicts that candidate would find support within the GOP.

Fellow Republican Senators Rob Portman of Ohio has announced his support for gay marriage in states that choose to allow such unions and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska says her position is "evolving." Scores of Democrats in recent weeks have announced their support for gay marriages.

Flake says he still believes marriage should be restricted to straight couples and said he doesn't imagine he would change his position.

Flake spoke to NBC's "Meet the Press."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-31-US-Gay-Marriage-Republicans/id-9b64286a9a1545f69e1559d58ef95ad8

Sikh temple Nastia Liukin Gabby Douglas hair Kayla Harrison Mars landing Gabby Douglas John Orozco

Japan jobless rate up, prices, manufacturing fall

TOKYO (AP) ? Japan's jobless rate edged higher and industrial production fell slightly in February as consumer prices also fell, underscoring the fragility of the recovery of the world's third-largest economy.

The government data released Friday showed the main consumer price index fell 0.3 percent from a year earlier as deflation continued to defy the combined efforts of the government and central bank to move toward a 2 percent inflation target. However the CPI was up 0.1 percent from January's figure.

Unemployment rose to 4.3 percent from 4.2 percent the month before, while industrial production slipped by 0.1 percent in the first decline in three months. The unemployment rate for those below the age of 35 is significantly higher, at over 6 percent.

Japan's central bank governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, said Thursday that he believed the economy was improving after years of stagnation and would enter a moderate recovery by midyear. But he acknowledged high uncertainty because of the global economy.

Kuroda has pledged to work with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government in achieving the 2 percent inflation target set in January, preferably within two years, and ending years of growth-inhibiting deflation.

After taking power late last year, Abe's administration embarked on an aggressive stimulus program of government spending, monetary easing and planned reforms aimed at improving Japan's competitiveness. Revised figures show Japan's economy likely emerged from a recession late last year, but other data has been mixed.

The government's strategy will depend on getting consumers, whose spending accounts for the lion's share of economic activity, to spend more, and that in turn will hinge on encouraging companies to raise wages and increasing higher. Many companies huge cash reserves after having shed debt from the collapse of the economic bubble over 20 years ago but are wary of increasing investment given the existing weak demand and the aging and shrinking of the Japanese population.

Friday's data, coupled with signs of weakening retail sales, show the scale of the challenge in restoring consumer confidence.

By boosting inflation, Japan's planners hope to persuade consumers to spend more now in anticipation of price increases in the future. That could prove a daunting challenge given a drop in real wages over the past two decades and the weak job market, said Susumu Takahashi, head of the Japan Research Institute and a member of a government economic advisory council.

To achieve the inflation target the government must change expectations, he said.

"The only way is for the deflationary way of thinking to change. Without that it will be very hard," he said.

Speaking to lawmakers about the central bank's semiannual report, Kuroda said prices are unlikely to rise for the next few months but after that Japan would see some progress toward its inflation target as the economy moved toward a "moderate recovery path."

The central bank asset purchases and other strategies adopted so far have not been sufficient to reach the inflation target, he said, reiterating his intention to manage market expectations and "make clear that we have adopted the uncompromising stance that we will do whatever is necessary to overcome deflation."

Kuroda was appointed to succeed former BOJ governor Masaaki Shirakawa when he stepped down on March 19, three weeks before his term expired. The parliament is expected to approve his appointment to the five-year term, which is due to begin April 8.

The central bank is due to hold its first regular policy meeting under Kuroda April 3-4, though it may wait until later in the month to embark on any significant moves, such as a boosting its purchases of government bonds to help increase the amount of money available in the economy and encourage more investment by the private sector.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-jobless-rate-prices-manufacturing-fall-005246909--finance.html

miracle andy whitfield kennedy demi moore roy oswalt kevin martin 2012 senior bowl

Samsung Galaxy S 4 for Verizon swings through the FCC

We weren't kidding about that influx of FCC filings: the Verizon edition of Samsung's Galaxy S 4, the SCH-i545, has passed through the US regulator's approval right on cue. The device on display ticks all the checkboxes we'd expect, including LTE on both Verizon's main 700MHz band and the carrier's recently acquired AWS frequencies. We also notice HSPA-based 3G, which suggests Big Red's GS4 won't be a paperweight when abroad. The filing just leaves AT&T and T-Mobile as the major stragglers in the US; at the current rate, though, they'll have little trouble getting clearance before they have to fulfill any future orders.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, Verizon

Comments

Source: FCC

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/29/samsung-galaxy-s-4-for-verizon-swings-through-the-fcc/

ncaa tournament 2012 peyton manning 49ers andy pettitte tyler clementi kevin kolb sarah shahi rutgers

Andrei Arlovski?s camp says timing error in New Jersey caused him to take ?huge blow? late

Just days after Nick Diaz's camp criticized the athletic commission in Quebec for their handling of his UFC 158 weigh-in with UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, another athletic commission is under fire. Jackson's MMA, the gym who backs Andrei Arlovski, said a timing error by the New Jersey State Athletic Control Board resulted in Arlovski's broken jaw.

Arlovski lost to Anthony Johnson in a World Series of Fighting bout on Saturday. Jackson's MMA posted on their Facebook about the timekeeping problem:

The NJ athletic commission was worried about the World Series of Fighting getting a new canvas and new corner pads for the cage they almost canceled the fight Saturday night. Unfortunately they forgot to get a time keeper that was trained properly. 1st round 5min 8 sec in the Andrei fight. A devastating blow was landed after the 5min mark. It's amazing how so much time is spent with over regulating but the simple things can cost dearly.

WSOF had to bring in a new canvas and pads when the ones they originally had were unsuitable. But the timing error is much worse. Check out this video via MMA Fighting, and listen to the wood clacking at the 10-second mark. The clock disappears from the screen at seven seconds. Even a generous countdown shows the fight went past the five-minute mark.

The worst part is that the damage Johnson caused came after the time should have expired. His jaw was broken, and it needed surgery for repair. It also raises questions on if the fight result would have been different if Arlovski wouldn't have been hurt late in the first round.

Memorable Moments from Yahoo! Sports:

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
? Video blog shows the other side of UFC's Dana White
? Gun arrest shouldn't affect Guerrero in fight with Floyd Mayweather
? Man's wake planned around Kansas' Sweet 16 game

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/andrei-arlovski-camp-says-timing-error-jersey-caused-144726034--mma.html

karl rove Election 2012 Results polling place washington post comedy central philadelphia eagles obamacare

Confederate flag at old NC Capitol raises ire

A Confederate flag is seen on display at the Old Capitol, which houses the governor?s office and still hosts numerous government events, Thursday, March 28, 2013, in Raleigh, N.C. State Historic Sites Director Keith Hardison says the flag raised last week inside the House chamber is part of a historical display replicating how the antebellum building appeared in 1863. (AP Photo/Michael Biesecker)

A Confederate flag is seen on display at the Old Capitol, which houses the governor?s office and still hosts numerous government events, Thursday, March 28, 2013, in Raleigh, N.C. State Historic Sites Director Keith Hardison says the flag raised last week inside the House chamber is part of a historical display replicating how the antebellum building appeared in 1863. (AP Photo/Michael Biesecker)

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? A Confederate battle flag hung inside the old North Carolina State Capitol to mark the sesquicentennial of the Civil War is raising concern with civil rights leaders.

The flag was raised inside the House chamber last week as part of an historical display intended to replicate how the antebellum building appeared in 1863.

State Historic Sites Director Keith Hardison said Thursday the flag should be viewed in its proper historical context.

"Our goal is not to create issues," said Hardison, a Civil War re-enactor and history buff. "Our goal is to help people understand issues of the past. ... If you refuse to put something that someone might object to or have a concern with in the exhibit, then you are basically censoring history."

North Carolina NAACP president Rev. William Barber was shocked Friday when he was shown a photo of the flag by The Associated Press.

"He is right that it has a historical context," Barber said. "But what is that history? The history of racism. The history of lynchings. The history of death. The history of slavery. If you say that shouldn't be offensive, then either you don't know the history, or you are denying the history."

Sessions of the General Assembly moved to a newer building a half-century ago, but the old capitol is still routinely used as a venue for official state government events. Gov. Pat McCrory's office is on the first floor, as are the offices of his chief of staff and communications staff.

The governor was in the House chamber where the Confederate flag hangs as recently as Thursday, when he presided over the swearing in ceremony of his new Highway Patrol commander.

McCrory, a Republican, was not immediately available for comment Friday, a state government holiday.

The presentation of the Confederate battle flag at state government buildings has long been an issue of debate throughout the South. For more than a decade, the NAACP has urged its members to boycott South Carolina because of that state's display of the flag on the state capitol grounds.

Prior to taking his current job in North Carolina in 2006, Hardison worked as director at the Mississippi home of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, which is operated as a museum and library owned by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. The group has led the fight in the South for the proud display of the Confederate flag, which it contends is a symbol of heritage, not hate.

Hardison said the battle flag is displayed with other flags described in the diary of a North Carolina woman who visited the capitol in 1863. A large U.S. flag displayed in the Senate chamber is reminiscent of a trophy of war captured from Union troops at the Battle of Plymouth.

"I thought, wouldn't it be wonderful to recreate this," Hardison said. "I think we were all thinking along the same vein. ... The Capitol is both a working seat of government, in that the governor and his staff has his office there. But it is also a museum."

A placard near the entrance of the House and Senate chambers describes the history of the flags on display, and Hardison said a brochure with more information is available at the front desk downstairs. Guides giving daily tours of the building have also been briefed to recount the history of the flags to visitors.

Hardison also pointed out that the national flag used by the Confederate government, with its circle of white stars and red and white stripes, is still flown over the State Capitol dome each year on Confederate Memorial Day. The more familiar blood red battle flag, featuring a blue "X'' studded with white stars, was used by the rebel military.

The battle flag is set to be on display in the House chamber until April 2015, when Hardison said plans call for ceremoniously replacing it with the Stars and Stripes to re-enact the arrival of Union troops in Raleigh 150 years earlier.

Barber said if someone wants to display the Confederate battle flag across the street at the N.C. Museum of History, he has no objection. But to display the flag where the governor has his office is over the line, Barber said.

"That flag does not represent our democracy," Barber said. "It represents division. Underneath that flag, bodies were hung. People were terrorized. The people who marched under that flag deliberately violated the fundamental principles of freedom in our Constitution, to keep radical discrimination in place. It should come down."

___

Follow Michael Biesecker at twitter.com/mbieseck

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-29-Confederate%20Flag-NC%20Capitol/id-f7de2bcce5b9425a8fb8ca5b45b7cef0

derrick williams romney michigan railgun jk rowling new book between two ferns statins chardon

"The Host" review: Invasion of the boring snoozers

By Alonso Duralde

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Here we go again: No sooner did the "Twilight" franchise pack up and head to that shiny coffin in the sky that we get another Stephenie Meyer story about the Special-est Girl in the World and the cute boys who fall madly in love with her. No bloodsuckers or lycanthropes this time, however; now it's all about glittery dust-bunny aliens who have taken over all the human bodies and turned them?polite?

"The Host" posits an alien invasion whereby almost all of humanity has been body-snatched, resulting in a planet that's clean, well-fed and kind. A remaining group of people has decided not to swap their souls for this utopia; one of them is Melanie (Saoirse Ronan), who's been on the run with her younger brother Jamie (Chandler Canterbury) and her boyfriend Jared (Max Irons), whom they encountered along the way.

To keep the Seeker (Diane Kruger) and her troops away from Jamie, Melanie distracts them and jumps out of a window. The aliens restore her body (through some of sort of spray-based technology) and implant it with a thousand-year-old "soul" known as The Wanderer, but Melanie's sheer force of will remains alive, so the two of them duke it out over control of the body, like a not-remotely-funny version of Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin in "All of Me."

Melanie convinces Wanderer to escape and to go to the hidden underground colony run by Melanie's uncle Jeb (William Hurt); Jamie and Jared are there, as are brothers Ian (Jake Abel) and Kyle (Boyd Holbrook). While Jeb slowly intuits that Melanie's spirit still lives inside her alien-possessed body, Ian starts falling for Wanderer (or "Wanda," as Jeb calls her) while Jared refuses to believe that his beloved might still be sharing space with the visitor from another world.

During the dull stretches of "The Host" - and, sadly, there are many of them - you may find yourself rewriting the movie as a French farce, with two men in love with the two personalities inside the same woman (while a third man, Kyle, wants to kill her). Ideally, your version wouldn't cast three male leads who couldn't be distinguished in a police lineup; the marked resemblance between Jared, Ian and Kyle makes for occasional confusion and an extra helping of blandness that this flat movie certainly didn't need. (Say what you will about the thespian talents of Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, at least you could tell them apart.)

A more competent movie could slip in some kind of subtext about young women being at war with their own bodies and desires (when Wanda kisses a boy, Melanie gets mad and slaps him), but writer-director Andrew Niccol doesn't plumb any of that from Meyer's book.

Niccol's expertise is films about future dystopias with very attractive flies in the ointment ("Gattaca," "In Time"), but he fails to bring any excitement here, from either plot or characters or the action, the latter of which always seems to involved chrome-covered cars, helicopters and guns.

There are so many moments of unintentional humor in the film, that the intentional jokes fall a bit flat, because you're not sure if they're supposed to be funny or not.

If you saw "Atonement" or "Hanna," you know that Ronan is a fine young actress, but most of the role calls for her to argue with her own voiceovers, and it gets increasingly hard to watch. Perhaps having a wraith version of Melanie squabbling with the tangible Wanda might have played better. The guys in her orbit have performances that are as interchangeable as their blankly handsome faces.

None of the humans pops as an interesting character, so it's hard to get upset about the alien invasion when everyone on screen seems to be on the same uninteresting wavelength. There's not even a marked enough difference between Melanie and Wanda-in-Melanie's-body to make us care if our heroine gets her own body back.

There's some nifty art direction here, notably the labyrinth of caves where the humans are hiding out, but "The Host" feels so polished and passionless that one might think that it was the product of one of the bland aliens. And if that's the case, all the more reason to banish them from the planet.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/host-review-invasion-boring-snoozers-233351089.html

occupy oakland occupy oakland morgellons disease arik armstead sag awards red carpet torrey pines nhl all star game 2012

Angelina Jolie Denies "Secret Wedding" to Brad Pitt

Gossips will jump on any opportunity to speculate about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's nuptials -- so when Angelina recently swapped her diamond engagement ring for a gold band, the flurry of "secret wedding" rumors began anew. On Wednesday, Jolie put the rumors to rest with a quick "no" to a nosy paparazzo. Watch the TMZ video below!

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/angelina-jolie-denies-secret-wedding-brad-pitt-timeline-their-marriage-rumors/1-a-530940?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Aangelina-jolie-denies-secret-wedding-brad-pitt-timeline-their-marriage-rumors-530940

Amendment 64 marijuana huffington post elizabeth warren puerto rico diane sawyer Colorado Marijuana

Steptoe & Johnson Launches International Law Blog

Blog will focus on emerging energy policies, news and international challenges.

(PRWEB) March 28, 2013

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC is pleased to announce the launch of the firm?s International Law Energy Blog. The ?Energy Essentials ? International Energy Blog? will focus exclusively on International Energy Law, emerging energy policies, news and international challenges and opportunities for energy producers around the world.

The blog?s primary author is Steptoe & Johnson?s Philip D. Vasquez. Mr. Vasquez is leader of the firm's International Energy Practice.

The blog contains posts of interest to those doing business in Afghanistan, Africa, Asia, India, Iraq and the United States.

To access the Energy Essentials ? International Energy blog, click here, or visit http://www.steptoe-johnson.com/blog/international-energy.

About Steptoe & Johnson

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC is a US energy firm with core strengths in energy, labor & employment, litigation and transactional law. In 2013, Steptoe & Johnson celebrates 100 years of helping clients reach their goals. Visit http://www.steptoe-johnson.com

For more information, contact Betsy Spellman, Chief Marketing Officer, at (304) 933-8000 or by email: betsy.spellman(at)steptoe-johnson(dot)com.

###

Scott Snider
Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
(304) 624-8000
Email Information

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/steptoe-johnson-launches-international-law-blog-142638272.html

oakland raiders Jessica Lange NFL scores week 3 kat dennings Steve Sabol Yom Kippur 2012 Aaron Paul

'The Wolverine' Unleashes Its Latest Trailer

Hugh Jackman is back in the first full preview of his 'X-Men' spin-off.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Hugh Jackman in "The Wolverine"
Photo: 20th Century FOX

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704409/the-wolverine-trailer.jhtml

lottery winners lottery winners april fools day pranks ohio state vs kansas daniel von bargen the beach blood diamond

New bone survey method could aid long-term survival of Arctic caribou

Mar. 27, 2013 ? A study co-authored by a University of Florida scientist adds critical new data for understanding caribou calving grounds in an area under consideration for oil exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

The research may be used to create improved conservation strategies for an ecologically important area that has been under evaluation for natural resource exploration since enactment of the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980.

By studying bone accumulations on the Arctic landscape, lead author Joshua Miller discovered rare habitats near river systems are more important for some caribou than previously believed. The study appearing online today in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B shows bone surveys conducted on foot provide highly detailed and extensive data on areas used by caribou as birthing grounds.

"The bone surveys are adding a new piece of the puzzle, giving us a way of studying how caribou use the landscape during calving and providing a longer perspective for evaluating the importance of different regions and habitats," said Miller, an assistant scientist at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus and a Fenneman assistant research professor at the University of Cincinnati.

Unlike other species in the deer family, both male and female caribou grow antlers. Males shed them after they mate, while pregnant females keep their antlers until they calve, losing them within a day or two of giving birth. Newborn caribou calves also suffer high mortality rates within the first couple days of birth. The female antlers and newborn skeletal remains offer a unique biological signal for understanding calving activity, Miller said.

"This new tool has a lot of potential, and the idea that these bones are providing new information is really exciting -- bone surveys allow us to go into the field today and collect historical information about ecosystems and animal communities that are sometimes only known from a few years of observation," Miller said.

Miller recorded evidence of shed caribou antlers and newborn skeletons from the Porcupine Caribou Herd in area 1002 on the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge, which comprises about 1.5 million acres on Alaska's northeast border. Because these high-latitude habitats are frozen nearly three-quarters of the year, bones may be preserved on the landscape for hundreds or thousands of years, researchers said.

Testing two different habitats, the tussock tundra and riparian terraces, researchers found the latter has higher concentrations of shed female antlers and numerous newborn skeletons. The data suggests these terrace habitats are used more during some portions of the calving period than other areas traditionally viewed as primary calving terrain, which is important because they comprise less than 10 percent of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge calving grounds, Miller said.

"Bone surveys are suggesting that these riparian zones should be under special consideration as we think about how to manage the Arctic Refuge and ensure this herd prospers in the decades and centuries to come," Miller said.

The Porcupine Caribou Herd includes as many as 170,000 animals that are essential parts of the delicate Arctic ecosystem. These large, herbivorous, hoofed mammals are an important food source for many indigenous northern peoples and natural predators, including wolves, bears and eagles.

Anna Behrensmeyer, vertebrate paleontology curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, said that using skeletal remains as a research tool is important because it helps scientists understand which habitats need protection with minimal disruption to caribou calving. It also allows researchers to collect historical information that may be used to better understand how climate change and other human influences have affected how these animals use the landscape over time.

"We tend to think that what we see now is normal, but we're just seeing a little bit of time," said Behrensmeyer, who was not involved with the study. "Josh's work can extend our time window back maybe hundreds of years, so there's the chance of seeing long-term cycles in the calving areas and also correlating those cycles with climate -- if you can look back into the past, you might see what this species did to adapt its reproductive strategies to warmer or colder climate periods."

Study co-authors include Patrick Druckenmiller of the University of Alaska Fairbanks Museum and Volker Bahn of Wright State University.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Florida. The original article was written by Danielle Torrent.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. J. H. Miller, P. Druckenmiller, V. Bahn. Antlers on the Arctic Refuge: capturing multi-generational patterns of calving ground use from bones on the landscape. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2013; 280 (1759): 20130275 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2013.0275

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/3NNR5EAelSw/130327163304.htm

josh johnson kim kardashian flour matt forte jeremy shockey new orleans saints ireland vangogh

It s Electric: Biologists Seek to Crack Cell s Bioelectric Code

Researchers have found that cells? bioelectrical communication steers growth and development. It is hoped that if the code can be learned, manipulating cellular signaling could be used to stave off cancer or even regenerate limbs

By Daisy Yuhas

Image: Douglas Blackiston

When Tufts University developmental biologist Michael Levin proposed tweaking cells? electrical signals to create new patterns of growth, he encountered some resistance. "People thought it was nuts," Levin says.

That's because although all cells have electric potentials (defined as the amount of energy required to move a given electrical unit against an electrical field), and these potentials clearly relate to cellular properties?the assumption in most cases was that the electric potential related primarily to cellular maintenance or ?housekeeping.? Disrupting a cell?s electrical potential, the conventional wisdom went, would kill it.

Yet for more than a decade Levin's work has countered this idea. He has manipulated the electrical potentials of cells in various ways to produce a menagerie of strange beasts: tadpoles with eyes on their tails or within their guts and frogs sprouting toes at the site of an amputated leg.

In fact, Levin believes he has found a new role for the bioelectricity of cells. He posits that the pattern of cellular voltages creates a system of electric signals that direct how the body grows. He calls these signals the bioelectric code and believes they are fundamentally as important in understanding growth and development as the genes in the body or the various chemical switches that turn them on and off. Indeed, he thinks that changes in electric potentials across cells can also serve as a so-called epigenetic switch to regulate how genes function.

Although Levin may have coined the phrase ?bioelectric code,? the belief that electric signals relate to patterns of growth is not a new concept. "The idea goes back a long way," says regenerative biologist David Stocum of Indiana University?Purdue University Indianapolis. "[Levin]'s taken it to a much higher art,? Stocum says, by actually looking at cellular potentials with specialized dyes.

Some of the earliest investigations go back nearly one hundred years. In the early 20th century Yale University biologist Harold Burr placed various organisms in a voltmeter to study their electric potentials and suggested there was a link between shape and electrical properties. Then in the 1970s Lionel Jaffe, a biologist at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., used a probe to study electrical currents in and around cells. He noted differences in the electrical properties of creatures that could regenerate, such as salamanders, and those that could not, such as adult frogs. But much of this bioelectric research would be forgotten in subsequent decades in the rush toward molecular biology and genetics.

In recent years, researchers at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland have been examining how electric fields guide the growth of tissues during healing. But Levin's approach is the first to look at electric potentials on the level of individual cells and how they can be incorporated into our knowledge of molecular biology.

All cells have an electric potential that comes from the difference between charged atoms and molecules, or ions, on either side of the cell's membrane. Highly malleable cells, such as stem cells, which have the ability to grow into other cell types as well as tumor cells (which are characterized by abnormal and uncontrolled growth) have low electric potentials whereas mature and stable cells have high potentials.

Levin reasoned that if you could alter a cell's potential you can change how it would grow. And by changing the electric potential of many cells, he hypothesized that he could trigger the growth of a specific structure. Levin sees these patterns of electrical activity as a form of cellular communication, signaling when and how to grow.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a813e2f6c09fa8abfcc4ac7cb4728a70

dwight howard Olympics closing ceremony PGA Championship 2012 John Witherspoon george michael usain bolt Closing Ceremony London 2012

Shakira, Usher, Adam Levine & Blake Shelton Perform "Come Together" on The Voice

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/shakira-usher-adam-levine-and-blake-shelton-perform-come-togethe/

Winsor McCay Amanda Todd washington nationals Gary Collins bus driver uppercut Alex Karras BCS Rankings 2012

Windsor: Marriage 'is magic' (CNN)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295041221?client_source=feed&format=rss

artie lange nascar daytona 2012 kasey kahne angelina jolie right leg saving face academy award winners best picture

Hollingsworth v. Perry: Full Transcript Of Oral Arguments On Gay Marriage Released

(Photo by Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

The Dallas Morning News reports:

Gov. Rick Perry reiterated his stance against same-sex unions as the U.S. Supreme Court hears two arguments this week that looks at recognition of gay marriage.

?In Texas, it is fairly clear about where this state stands on that issue,? Perry said when asked by reporters about the Supreme Court cases.

?As recently as a constitutional amendment that passed ? I believe, with 76 percent of the vote. The people of the state of Texas, myself included, believe marriage is between one man and one woman,? Perry said.

Click here to read more.

(Photo by HuffPost Intern William Wrigley)

(Photo by HuffPost Intern William Wrigley)

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), the nation's only openly gay senator, plans to attend the Supreme Court's oral arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act on Wednesday. In a statement, she reflected on the progress the nation has made since she entered public service and said she is excited to attend the proceedings:

This is a historic week in the U.S. Supreme Court, where they will hear two important cases on marriage equality. Our country has made great progress since I first entered public service and was elected to political office in 1986. Over time, we have all seen with clarity that our nation is moving forward on issues of equal opportunity and fairness with a growing number of Americans supporting marriage equality. People?s views are changing because they believe that gay family members, friends, and neighbors deserve to be treated like everyone else in the United States.

This week, the U.S. Supreme Court will listen to arguments in cases that will decide whether our country becomes more equal, not less. The Court will decide whether gay American citizens can continue to be discriminated against simply because of who they love. On Wednesday, I look forward to being a witness to history as I am excited to have a chance to attend the U.S. Supreme Court proceedings. With these two historic cases, America?s highest court will have an opportunity to reflect the progress we have all witnessed across our country. They will have an opportunity to reaffirm our founding belief that all Americans are created equal under the law.

-- Amanda Terkel

(Photo by Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images)

(Photo by Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

(Photo by HuffPost Reporter Jen Bendery)

(Photo by HuffPost Intern Chelsea Kiene)

Listen to the full audio of Tuesday's oral arguments here.

Read the full transcript of Tuesday's oral arguments here:

12-144 by Joe Palazzolo

President Barack Obama was briefed on Tuesday's Supreme Court oral arguments, White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters.

Carney didn't offer any reaction from the president to the day's proceedings, but confirmed that three administration officials attended the Prop 8 arguments, including senior adviser Valerie Jarrett and White House counsel Kathryn Ruemmler.

He also declined to get into predictions, noting that "recent history" has shown that oral arguments don't necessarily predict Supreme Court outcomes.

--Sabrina Siddiqui

From the top: Kris Perry, Sandy Stier, Paul Katami and Jeff Zarrillo

(Photo by HuffPost Reporter Jen Bendery)

Andrew Sullivan, the longtime, openly gay, writer, editor and blogger, says that his ideal outcome for the Prop 8 case is not a ruling that the right to same sex marriage is constitutional, but a ruling that directs California's ban to be thrown out, and for each state to then consider the issue on its own schedule. From his post on Tuesday:

If I had my druthers, the perfect outcome would be dismissing the challenge to the ruling striking down Prop 8 on ?standing? grounds, thereby allowing civil marriages to continue in California, striking down that part of DOMA which forbids the federal government from recognizing a state?s valid legal marriage licenses, on federalism grounds, and on heightened scrutiny grounds, striking down the ?separate-but-equal? segregation of civil unions which are substantively identical to civil marriage.

The end result would be 17 states with marriage equality recognized by the feds, and the debate could then continue democratically as it should state by state.

Sullivan has been a leading voice in advocating same-sex marriage. So this may seem surprising. But he's also a conservative and his federalism approach to the gay marriage debate seems drawn from there.

-- Sam Stein

Constitutional Accountability Center Vice President Judith E. Schaeffer issued this statement following arguments at the Supreme Court on Tuesday:

?When pressed by the justices, the lawyer defending Proposition 8 could not come up with any legitimate reason for excluding gay and lesbian couples from the freedom to marry. The Justices, while uncomfortable with Proposition 8, seemed hesitant to rule on the merits, but as Justice Kennedy noted, there was concern about branding the families of nearly 40,000 children in California as second-class.

"One important question Justice Scalia asked former Bush Solicitor General Theodore Olson, who defended marriage equality, was when it became unconstitutional to deny gay and lesbian couples the right to marry. The answer is 1868, when the American people added the Fourteenth Amendment's universal guarantee of equality to the Constitution.?

-- Ryan J. Reilly

Ted Olson, the attorney representing the plaintiffs in the Prop 8 case before the Supreme Court, gave two thumbs up when asked by The Huffington Post how he felt about the day's oral arguments.

"We'll see," Olson added with a smile, as he slipped into a car and left the scene outside the court.

-- Jennifer Bendery

The possibility is quite real that the Supreme Court will rule that the parties who appealed the Prop 8 case to the Supreme Court don't have standing to make their appeal.

If that ruling is made it would, in effect, mean that the law remains invalidated, as the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals concluded, and that gay marriage in California is legal. It would also mean that the Supreme Court punted on the question of whether there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage and that other states could continue to not recognize marriage equality.

California is a massive state. And legalizing same-sex marriage there would mean that roughly a quarter of the country would, at this juncture, be able to marry their gay or lesbian partners. But would it be a victory for the legal team that has argued, for years, that there is a constitutional right?

Apparently so. Ted Olson, the Bush solicitor general said as much during his press conference outside the court after oral arguments on Tuesday.

-- Sam Stein

(Photo by Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images)

(Photo by HuffPost Intern William Wrigley)

The two top lawyers arguing for the constitutionality of marriage addressed reporters shortly after arguing their case before the Supreme Court. And they readily admitted that they were completely in the dark about how the justices would rule on their arguments.

"Based upon the questions that the justices asked, I have no idea [how they will rule]," said Ted Olson, the former Bush administration solicitor general. "The court has several ways to decide this case."

Olson did note one positive development that came with the oral arguments. No one was actually questioning whether gay marriage should be prohibited, just whether or not it should be the purview of the state government or the federal government. His colleague, David Boies, echoed that point.

"There was no attempt to defend the ban on gay and lesbian marriage," Boies said. "There was no indication of any harm. All that was said in there is that this important constitutional right ought to be decided at the state level and not the federal government. But it is a federal constitution we have."

-- Sam Stein

(Photo by: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images)

CNN's Legal Analyst, Jeffrey Toobin, who made some sweeping conclusions about the health care legislation following the Supreme Court's oral argument last year, was a bit more hesitant in his feedback today.

"I am now not in the business of making predictions but I think it is even harder to predict the result of this case after hearing this argument," Toobin said. The conservative justices, he added, seemed very skeptical about imposing same-sex marriage from the bench. But he also noted that the justices "seemed almost to be groping for an answer."

NBC's Pete Williams, however, went more out on a ledge in his analysis. "It's quite obvious SCOTUS isn't ready to issue a sweeping ruling on gay rights," he said.

-- Sam Stein

(Photo by HuffPost Intern Preston Maddock)

(Photo by HuffPost Intern Preston Maddock)

(Photo by HuffPost Reporter Jen Bendery)

Oral arguments in the Prop 8 case concluded at roughly 11:30 a.m. Reporters are rushing to the cameras to offer their interpretations.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/26/hollingsworth-v-perry_n_2952605.html

new dark knight rises trailer khloe and lamar oklahoma city thunder sunoco titanic ii babe ruth new jersey nets

Rihanna Late to Charity Event, Blames Chicago Traffic

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/rihanna-late-to-charity-event-blames-chicago-traffic/

robbie robertson the curious case of benjamin button secret service prostitute rich ross april 20 secret service prostitution 4 20

Uncovering Africa's oldest known penguins

Mar. 26, 2013 ? Africa isn't the kind of place you might expect to find penguins. But one species lives along Africa's southern coast today, and newly found fossils confirm that as many as four penguin species coexisted on the continent in the past. Exactly why African penguin diversity plummeted to the one species that lives there today is still a mystery, but changing sea levels may be to blame, the researchers say.

The fossil findings, described in the March 26 issue of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, represent the oldest evidence of these iconic tuxedo-clad seabirds in Africa, predating previously described fossils by 5 to 7 million years.

Co-authors Daniel Thomas of the National Museum of Natural History and Dan Ksepka of the National Evolutionary Synthesis Center happened upon the 10-12 million year old specimens in late 2010, while sifting through rock and sediment excavated from an industrial steel plant near Cape Town, South Africa.

Jumbled together with shark teeth and other fossils were 17 bone fragments that the researchers recognized as pieces of backbones, breastbones, wings and legs from several extinct species of penguins.

Based on their bones, these species spanned nearly the full size spectrum for penguins living today, ranging from a runty pint-sized penguin that stood just about a foot tall (0.3 m), to a towering species closer to three feet (0.9 m).

Only one penguin species lives in Africa today -- the black-footed penguin, or Spheniscus demersus, also known as the jackass penguin for its loud donkey-like braying call. Exactly when penguin diversity in Africa started to plummet, and why, is still unclear.

Gaps in the fossil record make it difficult to determine whether the extinctions were sudden or gradual. "[Because we have fossils from only two time periods,] it's like seeing two frames of a movie," said co-author Daniel Ksepka. "We have a frame at five million years ago, and a frame at 10-12 million years ago, but there's missing footage in between."

Humans probably aren't to blame, the researchers say, because by the time early modern humans arrived in South Africa, all but one of the continent's penguins had already died out.

A more likely possibility is that rising and falling sea levels did them in by wiping out safe nesting sites.

Although penguins spend most of their lives swimming in the ocean, they rely on offshore islands near the coast to build their nests and raise their young. Land surface reconstructions suggest that five million years ago -- when at least four penguin species still called Africa home -- sea level on the South African coast was as much as 90 meters higher than it is today, swamping low-lying areas and turning the region into a network of islands. More islands meant more beaches where penguins could breed while staying safe from mainland predators.

But sea levels in the region are lower today. Once-isolated islands have been reconnected to the continent by newly exposed land bridges, which may have wiped out beach nesting sites and provided access to predators.

Although humans didn't do previous penguins in Africa in, we'll play a key role in shaping the fate of the one species that remains, the researchers add.

Numbers of black-footed penguins have declined by 80% in the last 50 years, and in 2010 the species was classified as endangered. The drop is largely due to oil spills and overfishing of sardines and anchovies -- the black-footed penguin's favorite food.

"There's only one species left today, and it's up to us to keep it safe," Thomas said.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by National Evolutionary Synthesis Center (NESCent), via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Daniel B. Thomas, Daniel T. Ksepka. A history of shifting fortunes for African penguins. Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/zoj.12024

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/sBXiGc1qknY/130326101606.htm

hornets prince johan friso windows 8 logo anguilla gone with the wind checkers imbibe

Kidney sparing surgery underutilized for patients who need it most

Public release date: 25-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jackie Carr
jcarr@ucsd.edu
619-543-6163
University of California - San Diego

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have released study results that show national treatment trends in the surgical management of patients with kidney disease. The study found that partial and complete kidney removal (total nephrectomy) and energy-based techniques to destroy tumors are all on the rise. Surprisingly, the patients most in need of kidney-sparing surgery are still more likely to undergo total nephrectomy. The findings recently published online in BJU International.

"While the overall proportion of patients receiving kidney preserving treatments for localized kidney tumors continues to grow, the most significant, and perhaps unsettling finding was that patients with kidney insufficiency still undergo complete kidney removal even though kidney preserving treatment may be indicated," said senior author Ithaar Derweesh, MD, urologic oncologist at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

The kidney is a vital organ which performs a variety of functions in addition to making urine. It controls blood pressure, bone health, and also makes a hormone to tell the bone marrow to produce red blood cells. Kidney insufficiency is characterized by a progressive decline in kidney function which may affect all of these actions.

"The study, which examined procedures over a 10-year period, found that patients with chronic kidney insufficiency had an almost two-fold higher probability of undergoing total nephrectomy than kidney preserving treatments, such as partial nephrectomy or tumor ablation," said Derweesh, a pioneer in minimally invasive kidney surgery.

Derweesh added that further investigation is needed to confirm these findings, and to examine what factors are responsible for patient and physician selection of treatment for kidney cancer. He noted that in the case of small renal masses less than four centimeters in size, partial nephrectomy has equivalent outcomes to total nephrectomy, and that ablation techniques, such as cryoablation or radiofrequency ablation, and observation are valid options for select patients.

While kidney insufficiency may result in total failure of the kidney, most patients do not progress to dialysis dependence. However, patients with worsening degrees of kidney insufficiency are at higher risk of cardiac events, such as heart attack and stroke, and osteoporosis and anemia.

The UC San Diego study utilized data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), the largest database of all annual hospital admissions in the United States. Approximately 443,850 procedures were included in the study.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a condition characterized by a gradual loss of kidney function over time and affects more than 26 million American adults. The two main causes of chronic kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure, which are responsible for up to two-thirds of the cases. Renal cell carcinoma is a commonly diagnosed urological malignancy with an estimated 57,760 new cases and 12,908 deaths in the United States during 2009.

###

Study contributors include: Jeffrey Woldrich, MD, Kerrin Palazzi, MPH, Sean Stroup, MD, Roger Sur, MD, J. Kellog Parsons, MD, and David Chang, PhD.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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

Public release date: 25-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jackie Carr
jcarr@ucsd.edu
619-543-6163
University of California - San Diego

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have released study results that show national treatment trends in the surgical management of patients with kidney disease. The study found that partial and complete kidney removal (total nephrectomy) and energy-based techniques to destroy tumors are all on the rise. Surprisingly, the patients most in need of kidney-sparing surgery are still more likely to undergo total nephrectomy. The findings recently published online in BJU International.

"While the overall proportion of patients receiving kidney preserving treatments for localized kidney tumors continues to grow, the most significant, and perhaps unsettling finding was that patients with kidney insufficiency still undergo complete kidney removal even though kidney preserving treatment may be indicated," said senior author Ithaar Derweesh, MD, urologic oncologist at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center.

The kidney is a vital organ which performs a variety of functions in addition to making urine. It controls blood pressure, bone health, and also makes a hormone to tell the bone marrow to produce red blood cells. Kidney insufficiency is characterized by a progressive decline in kidney function which may affect all of these actions.

"The study, which examined procedures over a 10-year period, found that patients with chronic kidney insufficiency had an almost two-fold higher probability of undergoing total nephrectomy than kidney preserving treatments, such as partial nephrectomy or tumor ablation," said Derweesh, a pioneer in minimally invasive kidney surgery.

Derweesh added that further investigation is needed to confirm these findings, and to examine what factors are responsible for patient and physician selection of treatment for kidney cancer. He noted that in the case of small renal masses less than four centimeters in size, partial nephrectomy has equivalent outcomes to total nephrectomy, and that ablation techniques, such as cryoablation or radiofrequency ablation, and observation are valid options for select patients.

While kidney insufficiency may result in total failure of the kidney, most patients do not progress to dialysis dependence. However, patients with worsening degrees of kidney insufficiency are at higher risk of cardiac events, such as heart attack and stroke, and osteoporosis and anemia.

The UC San Diego study utilized data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS), the largest database of all annual hospital admissions in the United States. Approximately 443,850 procedures were included in the study.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a condition characterized by a gradual loss of kidney function over time and affects more than 26 million American adults. The two main causes of chronic kidney disease are diabetes and high blood pressure, which are responsible for up to two-thirds of the cases. Renal cell carcinoma is a commonly diagnosed urological malignancy with an estimated 57,760 new cases and 12,908 deaths in the United States during 2009.

###

Study contributors include: Jeffrey Woldrich, MD, Kerrin Palazzi, MPH, Sean Stroup, MD, Roger Sur, MD, J. Kellog Parsons, MD, and David Chang, PhD.

---

[ | 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/2013-03/uoc--kss032513.php

mel gibson splunk dark shadows iau msft etan patz obama dog