The FBI arrested Tupelo, Miss., resident Everett Dutschke in connection to the ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama and two other officials, police said Saturday. NBC News' Kristen Welker reports.
By Matthew DeLuca, Staff Writer, NBC News
A Tupelo, Miss. man has been arrested and charged in connection with the letters addressed to President Obama and a U.S. senator that initially tested positive for the poison ricin, police said Saturday.
James Everett Dutschke, 41, was charged with possessing and attempting to use ricin as a biological weapon, the Department of Justice announced. Dutschke could face life imprisonment and a $250,000 fine if convicted.
He was arrested in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday morning by federal agents. Investigators searched Dutschke?s home on Tuesday in the expanding case into the letters sent to the president, U.S. Senator Roger Wicker and Lee County, Miss., Justice Court Judge Sadie Holland.
The arrest took place at Everett?s home in Tupelo without incident, an FBI spokesperson said.
The possibility that Dutschke might be of interest to investigators was raised earlier in the week by an attorney representing another Mississippi resident, Paul Kevin Curtis, who was arrested on April 18. Charges against Curtis were dropped on Tuesday.
?I respect President Obama and love my country,? Curtis said at a news conference on Tuesday. ?I would never do anything to pose a threat to him or any other U.S. official.?
As Dutschke?s home was searched on Tuesday, he told reporters that he had nothing to do with the case.
?I guess Kevin got desperate,? Dutschke told the Jackson Clarion Ledger. ?I feel like he?s getting away with the perfect crime.?
?I don?t know anything about this. Where are the allegations coming from? Who made the allegations? The defense attorney for the accused,? Dutschke said.
Curtis, 45, a professional Elvis impersonator, was the first man arrested in the case. Wicker said that he recognized the man after his arrest, and had once hired the man he called ?very entertaining? to perform as Elvis at a party.
The letters sent to Obama and Wicker were both postmarked April 8, 2013, and mailed out of Memphis, Tenn. They end with an identical phrase, according to an FBI bulletin obtained by NBC News: ?to see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.?
The letters also ended with the message, ?I am KC and I approve this message.?
An FBI agent testified on Monday that a search of Curtis? home and vehicle did not turn up any ricin or castor beans, which are used to make the poison.
?There was no apparent ricin, castor beans, or any material there that could be used for the manufacturing, like a blender or something,? Agent Brandon Grant said in a courtroom in Oxford, Miss., according to the Associated Press.
The U.S. Olympic Committee is talking to 10 cities about a possible bid for the 2024 Summer Games, including a joint proposal from San Diego and Mexican neighbor Tijuana.
Following failed bids for the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, the USOC sent out letters to 35 American cities in February to gauge interest in a potential run for 2024.
"We're in discussion with about 10 cities actively now," USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun said in an interview after speaking to the Associated Press Sports Editors in New York. "The process is really working the way it was supposed to."
Los Angeles and Philadelphia have publicly announced their interest, and Blackmun said San Diego and Tijuana have approached the USOC about a joint bid.
Blackmun declined to identify the other cities being considered as potential candidates, saying they preferred to keep it confidential for now. He said three cities have formally said they are not interested in bidding.
Blackmun said he would be surprised if any other cities came forward at this point.
"We don't want to submit a bid we don't think we can win," Blackmun told the APSE gathering.
The United States hasn't hosted a Summer Olympics since the 1996 Atlanta Games. New York mounted a failed bid for the 2012 Games, which went to London, and Chicago suffered a stinging first-round defeat in the IOC vote for the 2016 Olympics, which were awarded to Rio de Janeiro.
The USOC has since reached a revenue-sharing agreement with the IOC, ending a long-running dispute that contributed to the failed bids. With relations back on track and the USOC working to increase its international presence, the chances for a successful U.S. bid in 2024 are considered vastly improved.
"We've got plenty of time," Blackmun told the AP. "There are no specific deadlines on this process."
The USOC has said it plans to decide by the end of 2014 whether to bid. The International Olympic Committee will select the 2024 host city in 2017.
Blackmun said a joint bid can work in some geographical areas, citing the Bay Area and the cities of San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose as a "natural" possibility.
As for San Diego and Tijuana, he said, "That would have its challenges. We haven't looked at it carefully. We just learned about it."
CHICAGO (AP) ? The historic home of the Chicago Cubs will get a $500 million facelift, including its first electronic outfield video board, as part of a hard-fought agreement announced Sunday night between the City of Chicago and the ball team.
Wrigley Field also will host an expanded number of night games under the announced pact, as part of Cubs owner Tom Ricketts' plans to renovate the second-oldest ballpark in the major leagues, boost business and make baseball's most infamous losers competitive again.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel hailed what the two sides called a "framework" agreement in a joint statement issued Sunday night, noting that it includes no taxpayer funding. That had been one of the original requests of the Ricketts family in a long-running renovation dispute that at times involved everything from cranky ballpark neighbors to ward politics and even the re-election campaign of President Barack Obama.
"This framework allows the Cubs to restore the Friendly Confines (of Wrigley) and pursue their economic goals, while respecting the rights and quality of life of its neighbors," Emanuel said in a news release sent to The Associated Press.
Still uncertain was how the agreement will sit with owners of buildings across the street from Wrigley who provide rooftop views of the ball games under an agreement with the Cubs that goes back years. This month they threatened to sue if the renovations obstruct their views, which they claimed would drive them out of business. Messages left late Sunday with a spokesman for the rooftop owners was not immediately returned.
The statement from Emanuel's office says a "video board" is planned for left field and a second sign would be erected in right field patterned on an existing Toyota sign in left field. The statement does not indicate how large the video screen or second sign would be, saying only that "the Cubs will work with the city on placement of both ... to minimize impact on nearby rooftops to the extent consistent with the team's needs."
The city and ball club said they hoped that the agreement would allow the Cubs to obtain necessary city approvals for the work by the end of the current baseball season.
The Ricketts family, which bought the Cubs in 2009 for $845 million, initially sought tax funding for renovation plans. With that out in the new agreement, the owners will seek to open new revenue streams outside the stadium. Under the agreement, the Ricketts family would be allowed to build a 175-room hotel, a plaza, and an office building with retail space and a health club.
Also included in the agreement are plans for 40 night games, four yearly concerts and easing of restrictions on smaller events. Currently the team plays about 30 night games. The plan also addresses chronic complaints about parking in the densely populated Wrigleyville neighborhood, including the addition of 1,000 "remote" parking spots that will be free and come with shuttle service.
"We are anxious to work with our community as we seek the approvals required to move the project forward," Ricketts said in the statement.
The site of Babe Ruth's "called shot" home run in the 1932 World Series and more heartbreak than Cubs fans would like to remember, the 99-year-old Wrigley is only younger than Boston's Fenway Park. It has long been a treasured showplace for baseball purists ? night games were only added in 1988 ? but team officials for years have desperately wanted a true upgrade, saying it costs as much as $15 million a year just to keep up with basic repairs.
The ballpark has also played no small part in the lore of the team, as fans were reminded April 10 when someone delivered a goat's head in a box addressed to team chairman Tom Ricketts. Neither the team nor the Chicago Police Department have talked about a possible motive for the strange delivery, but as every fan knows it was in the 1945 World Series when a tavern owner arrived at the park with his pet goat ? which had a ticket. According to legend, the owner was told that the goat smelled and was denied entry. The angry tavern owner then put the "Curse of the Billy Goat" on the Cubs and, this is the part the fans know the best, the team has not been back to the World Series ever since.
Getting to an agreement hasn't been easy. After failing to reach an agreement when Mayor Richard Daley was in office, the family kept talking after Emanuel took office in 2011. Emanuel the next year said city officials and the Ricketts family were in the "final stages" of talks on a renovation plan that could include public help.
But even presidential politics presented an obstacle for the plans at one point.
During the 2012 election, the patriarch of the Ricketts family, which created the TD Ameritrade brokerage firm, was considering a $10 million campaign against President Obama that would refer to the racially incendiary sermons delivered by the Rev. Jeremiah Wright at a Chicago church Obama once attended. J. Joseph Ricketts dropped the proposal, but the episode brought a huge dose of unwanted bad press.
The news especially angered Emanuel, Obama's former White House chief of staff. Emanuel, staffers said, was so livid he refused to take phone calls from Tom Ricketts.
In recent weeks, fans also had to deal with the unlikely specter of the Cubs leaving Chicago. With the talks bogged down, the mayor of nearby Rosemont piped up, saying the village located near O'Hare International Airport would be willing to let the Cubs have 25 acres free of charge to build a replica of Wrigley Field.
For all the hype about Google Glass, not much has been said about how it's going to change Internet marketing.
Could it be that for all our gadget drool, we're overlooking what could be the biggest Internet marketing explosion of the decade? Or will Google Glass even make a ripple in online marketing?
Let's look at some possible outcomes, lay out the facts, and propose some ways you can be ready for the rollout of Google Glass, and the impact it will have on the Internet marketing world.
Possible Outcomes
For the best perspective on this question, it's best to take a step back and consider Google's marketing strategy. Obviously, Google isn't going to divulge whatever marketing secrets they have for their tricked-out glasses. The nearly-$1,500 price tag is a sign that they're not giving them away for free.
But isn't there more to it than just selling glasses? How might Google capitalize on Google Glass beyond the first wave of sales?
It's a tricky question for several reasons.
Google Glass is unlike anything that Google has done before. Come to think of it, it's unlike anything that anyone has ever done. Humankind is treading into an area of vague outcomes.
There is so much potential for Google Glass that it's hard to get our head around all the possibilities.
There are a few options.
Google has no bigger marketing plans. It's just a cool gadget. It's just technology. Let's take Google at their word and believe the Google rep who said, "We're more interested in making the hardware available, [than advertising on it]." That would be nice. Google may not be completely altruistic, but they may indeed have a pure desire to advance technology in the world today.
Google Glass will fizzle and die. Some people seem to think we've reached the utopia of technology: "Sooner or later [Google Glass] will become a staple in our daily lives," writes one zealous technophile. Then again, maybe not. Forbes contributor Rob Asghar pessimistically prognosticates, "Google Glass seems a longshot to endure past the early fascination of the early adopters." Maybe the Glass will join the Google graveyard alongside Google Reader, Buzz, and iGoogle.
Google will use it for advertising. "At the moment, there are no plans for advertising on this device," said Babak Parviz, lead engineer on the Google Glass project. Operative word: now. Babak said so in a December 2012 interview. Thus, there might be some future chance at advertising revenue. Todd Wasserman at Mashable has suggested that Google Glass will provide coupon offers, personalized ads, and gamification? ? in other words, advertising on spectacle steroids.
Google is going into gaming, or something else entirely. During the interview cited above, Babak spoke opaquely of "augmented reality." Augmented reality is the realm of gaming. Though Google isn't exactly known for their games, maybe they're trying to edge into the market with augmented reality hardware. This, however, is unlikely. Perhaps when the API comes out and Google releases developer kits, then the gamers will jump in and have their heyday. But augmented reality glasses aren't just the domain of gamers. Those who are itching to get a pair of glasses are excited about using them as politicians, adventurers, farmers, performers, service personnel, military, medical professionals, and nearly every other field of labor known to humankind. Just like we can all think of some way to make a smartphone useful to anyone, so we can imagine that Google Glass will have a similar impact.
Maybe Google is just innovating the future again. As Babak plainly stated, "We constantly try out new ideas of how this platform can be used. There's a lot of experimentation going on at all times in Google."
And maybe that's the whole point. It's not like Google has exactly cashed in on unmanned cars (yet). It's probably safest to predict nothing, while still expecting the technology to shift and shape our world.
Such shifting and shaping is unpredictable. Consider this. You're wearing your Google Glasses, riding the subway downtown with friends. You say the words "hungry" and "dinner," and your Google Glasses inform you that Molinari Delicatessen is a few minutes away at the Broadway & Grant Avenue station. Plus you get a free drink for just checking in on Foursquare. Is that advertising? Is that an invasion of privacy? Weren't you just talking with friends?
Things can get a little blurry.
3 Back-to-Reality Facts
Prophesying aside, what do we actually know about Google Glass? Is there anything that we are confident will happen? There are at least three.
At-a-Glance Search Results
Forget having information at your fingertips. With Google Glass, you've got it at a glance, quite literally. Google Glass responds to voice commands and queries, meaning that users can easily gain results for questions about nearby restaurants or other local establishments. This would provide very little new in terms of search results, but would instead provide a different interface for results, and perhaps more instantaneous searching while on the go.
Location-Specific Searches
The technology of Google Glass will make it possible to look at a restaurant, check out their rankings, view their menu, find out if there is seating, and maybe even snag a coupon code, all the while dawdling on the sidewalk out front. Google Glass is primed for on-the-spot activity. There's no hidden agenda here. Google proudly announces that their spectacles will provide "directions right in front of you" for driving, walking, or just knocking about town.
More Social Interactivity
Google Glass will play directly into social networking. One of the main features of the device is taking pictures and videos, and sharing them. Such sharing will provide instant marketing, negative or positive, for whatever establishment or event the user is at. Social reviews will also register on search results, giving users a better perspective on whether they want to patronize a certain business establishment.
Get Ready for Google Glass: A Strategy
If you read this article expecting to get to the Google Glass gold rush early, you might be disappointed. There's not exactly a gold rush going on. Nevertheless, there is some rock-solid advice for how to posture yourself and your business for the unleashing of Google Glass.
Stick close to Google. It pays to keep your ear to the ground about Google trends and developments. What happens in the Googleplex is crucial to your marketing future. As much as we may dislike it, we rely on Google for a lot. When they flinch, we scramble. That's all there is to it.
Keep your Google+ profile robust and active. One obvious trend that will impact all things search related is Google+, along with authorship and Author Rank. Stay plugged in to it. Google+/Local results will be immediately accessible to Google Glass, meaning that you want to get in on those searches.
If you're a local company, focus in on local search results and social media. Google Glass is a geospecific marketing tool. Don't get left behind. Furthermore, there is talk of other social sites like Twitter amping up their efforts to get in on the Google Glass action.
Google Glass is going to be here in just a few months. Don't expect a tsunami of change all at once. Instead, wait, watch, and listen. Google Glass will probably stick around for a while. Somehow, some way, Google Glass and Internet marketing are going to meet up for a magical connection. You want to be ready.
Harnessing the $9+ Billion Social and Mobile Ad Potential In partnership with Moontoast, ClickZ presents the "Ultimate Guide to Social Rich Media Advertising". Social rich media advertising offers a one-of-a-kind opportunity for brands and agencies to target consumers with interests that match the virtues and values of their products. Download your free guide today!
LogicBUY’s Deal for Monday is the 1st-generation?Nest WiFi thermostat (T100577) for?$179.00. ?Features: WiFi connectivity allows you to control thermostat from your smartphone Automatically turns itself down when you are away Remembers the temperatures you prefer $249.99 – $70.99 savings = $179 with free shipping. This deal expires April 22, 2013 or sooner. Check the above [...]
Peter Cohen has spent most of his life writing about technology, especially as it pertains to Apple and gaming. He ran MacGaming, which was acquired by MacCentral, which in turn was acquired by Macworld, where Peter worked for many years as a Senior Editor. Since then, Peter has written for Mac|Life, MacUser (UK), Tap! and a variety of other online and print publications. Most recently, Peter began the Angry Mac Bastards podcast, and co-founded The Loop with Jim Dalrymple, where he serves as the executive editor.
Over the course of his career, Peter has accumulated a tremendous amount of experience, insight, and understanding, as well as a unique voice, attitude, and editorial sensibility.
And starting April 22, he's bringing it all to iMore.
Not surprisingly, Peter intends to immediately ramp up Mac and gaming content, and make iMore not only the place you go to for the very best iOS coverage, but for the very best Apple coverage. Period.
What's more, Peter will also be working with everyone here to take our entire community to the next level, helping out with our iMore 3.0 projects (both web and app), some amazing Mobile Nations stuff we'll be announcing soon, and some future stuff we're all really excited about.
I've been a huge fan of Peter's work for years and I'm thrilled we'll all get to enjoy even more of it now, and right here at iMore.
Please give him a warm welcome, and if you aren't already, you should follow him on Twitter @flargh.
There is no "alive" vs "not alive"! It?s a gradient! And there exists, and existed, every step in-between! Why is this such a unknown thing in Leeds? Here in Germany, it's already accepted common knowledge.
It's as if they were completely blind to prions, viruses, and other things that are in-between what they like to call "alive" and what they call "dead". Or, and this is what I think, they are deliberately and obsessively trying to force a hard distinction because their rigid (and in this case willfully ignorant) world view is built on it.
You get proteins (not DNA) of bigger and bigger size forming from the same basic building blocks. Like Prions and the normal proteins of our bodies. Now get one that is by accident capable of self-reproducing (probably with the environment and other simpler proteins already doing most of job), and voila, you have something alive enough to fit your arbitrary (and varying with the mood of the day) lower limit.
This is ridiculous and embarrassing for people who call themselves scientists.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis has named nine cardinals to advise him on running the church and reforming the Vatican bureaucracy.
The Vatican announced Saturday the members of the advisory panel and said they would hold their first meeting Oct. 1-3. They include current Vatican officials but more importantly cardinals from Europe, the Americas, Australia and Asia.
In the run-up to the conclave, a reform of the Vatican bureaucracy was a constant drumbeat, as well as calls for making the Vatican more responsive to the needs of bishops around the world.
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
So I'm driving home the other night after a decent day of work, looking forward to a little run, some dinner and maybe a movie. Taking my normal north-south route along Crescent Heights, I listen to Tame Impala to calm the nerves and enter another mental state.
I'm at one of those intersections in which two lanes become one because of a parked car in the right lane ahead. I, being in the right lane, gun it a bit at the start in order to get some distance from the guy on my left.
He's having none of this, apparently.
Turns out my car is faster, though, and I edge him out. I see him wave his arms frantically, shaking them and then applauding.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Dell's largest independent shareholder is leaning toward supporting one of the two bidders trying to scuttle the slumping personal computer maker's proposed $24.4 billion sale to a group including CEO Michael Dell.
Southeastern Asset Management expressed its preliminary support for the alternative offers in a letter sent Tuesday to the four-person committee overseeing the negotiations. The development doesn't come as surprise, given that Southeastern has been the most vocal opponent to Dell Inc.'s plan to sell itself to Michael Dell and Silver Lake Partners for $13.65 per share.
That price struck Southeastern as too low. The Memphis, Tenn., investment firm tried to prove its thesis Tuesday by noting that Dell Inc. has spent $3.4 billion during the past two years buying back the company's stock at an average price of $15.25 per share.
"The same board that was confident with Dell buying its shares for $15.25 is now attempting to convince all shareholders that Dell's business is in such dire straits that they should take $13.65 and exit their investments," Southeastern's top executives, O. Mason Hawkins and G. Stanley Cates, wrote in the letter. "We believe the Board's sudden rush to sell is triggered by one thing: Mr. Dell's desire to buy.
The backlash to the board's deal with Michael Dell emboldened buyout specialist Blackstone Group and billionaire investor Carl Icahn to submit separate proposals offering a slightly higher price. Blackstone is proposing to buy most of Dell Inc.'s stock for $14.25 per share while Icahn is willing to pay $15 per share for up to 58 percent of the shares.
Dell's stock dipped a penny Tuesday to close at $14.19.
Unlike the deal with Michael Dell, a portion of the company's stock will remain publicly traded if Blackstone or Icahn prevail. That would allow current shareholders such as Southeastern to share in some of the future gains if Dell Inc. successfully executes on a plan calling for the company to lessen its dependence on the shrinking PC market and diversify into more profitable sectors such as selling data storage services and business software.
The deal with Michael Dell and Silver Lake would end Dell Inc.'s 25-year history as a public company, allowing a potential turnaround to be worked out away from the scrutiny and pressure of Wall Street.
With an 8.4 percent stake, Southeastern is Dell's second-largest shareholder after Michael Dell, who still owns 14 percent of the company that he founded as a college student in 1984.
That makes Southeastern a potentially influential player in Dell Inc.'s fate. Michael Dell is contributing $4.5 billion in cash and stock to the deal he worked out with Silver Lake because that agreement will leave him in control of the Round Rock, Texas, company.
It's unclear if Blackstone or Icahn will negotiate a similar arrangement with Michael Dell, who has said he is willing to work with the alternative bidders.
If Michael Dell remains exclusively aligned with Silver Lake, Blackstone and Icahn would either have to line up even more financing to pay for their proposed deals or find other ways to replace the cash and stock that Michael Dell could contribute. One way to do that would be to persuade Southeastern and other existing Dell shareholders to contribute some of their stock.
Southeastern didn't delve into that possibility in its Tuesday letter. But the firm called the Blackstone and Icahn bids better deals than the one worked out with Michael Dell.
"We view these proposals as superior primarily because each offers shareholders the opportunity to remain owners of Dell while also offering a higher cash price to owners who choose to exit their investment," Hawkins and Cates wrote. They urged Dell's special committee to negotiate with the alternative bidders in "good faith."
In a statement, the Dell committee said it's still backing the deal with Michael Dell and Silver Lake while it assess the alternate proposals. Both Blackstone and Icahn are reviewing Dell Inc.'s books before taking the next step in their bids.
"Our goal was, and remains, to ensure that whatever transaction is consummated is the best possible outcome for Dell's shareholders," the board committee said.
The rhythmic vocal sounds made by lip smacking in wild gelada monkeys have similarities to human speech, a University of Michigan study shows. Read the press release at http://bit.ly/17nngvw
By Tanya Lewis LiveScience?
The lip-smacking vocalizations gelada monkeys make are surprisingly similar to human speech, a new study finds.
Many non-human primates demonstrate lip-smacking behavior, but geladas are the only ones known to make undulating sounds, known as "wobbles," at the same time. (The wobbling sounds a little like a human hum would sound if the volume were being turned on and off rapidly.) The findings show that lip-smacking could have been an important step in the evolution of human speech, researchers say.
"Our finding provides support for the lip-smacking origins of speech because it shows that this evolutionary pathway is at least plausible," Thore Bergman of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, author of the study published Monday in the journal Current Biology, said in a statement. "It demonstrates that nonhuman primates can vocalize while lip-smacking to produce speechlike sounds."
Lip-smacking ? rapidly opening and closing the mouth and lips ? shares some of the features of human speech, such as rapid fluctuations in pitch and volume. [See Video of Gelada Lip-Smacking]
Bergman first noticed the similarity while studying geladas in the remote mountains of Ethiopia. He would often hear vocalizations that sounded like human voices, but the vocalizations were actually coming from the geladas, he said. He had never come across other primates who made these sounds. But then he read a study on macaques from 2012 revealing how facial movements during lip-smacking were very speechlike, hinting that lip-smacking might be an initial step toward human speech.
To investigate this scenario himself, Bergman analyzed recordings of the geladas' wobbles. He found that the rhythm of these wobbles closely resembled that of human speech. Specifically, the wobble resulted from a male making a "moan" (something geladas produce by vocalizing while inhaling and exhaling) and lip-smacking. The lip-smacking movements corresponded to the mouth movements made during human speech.
An example of a call involving complex facial movements is the "girney" vocalization in macaques. These are thought to be produced by lip movements and teeth chattering, but evidence suggests the movements and sound don't occur at the same time. By contrast, the gelada lip-smacking and vocalizing seem to happen concurrently.
The findings suggest lip-smacking represents a possible pathway in the evolution of speech, though not the only one, Bergman said. In addition, lip-smacking may also serve a purely social function, just like human conversations.?
Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter?and Google+.?Follow us @livescience, Facebook?& Google+. Original article on?LiveScience.com.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
By Larry Fine AUGUSTA, Georgia, April 8 (Reuters) - Guan Tianlang answered questions about his readiness to play the Masters at the record-setting age of 14 when he gave two-times champion Ben Crenshaw a putting lesson at the 18th hole at Augusta National on Monday. The 61-year-old Crenshaw, whose career was built on his ability as a putter, mentored the precocious Chinese during their practice round, advising the Asia-Pacific Amateur champion about the notoriously fast, sloping greens of Augusta. ...
Google searches about mental illness follow seasonal patternsPublic release date: 9-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Brianna Lee eAJPM@ucsd.edu 858-534-9407 Elsevier Health Sciences
New study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine reports
San Diego, CA, April 9, 2013 A new study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine finds that Google searches for information across all major mental illnesses and problems followed seasonal patterns, suggesting mental illness may be more strongly linked with seasonal patterns than previously thought.
Monitoring population mental illness trends has been an historic challenge for scientists and clinicians alike. Typically, telephone surveys are used to try to glimpse inside the minds of respondents, but this approach is limited because respondents may be reluctant to honestly discuss their mental health. This approach also has high material costs. As a result, investigators have not had the data they need.
"The Internet is a game changer," said lead investigator John W. Ayers, PhD, MA, of the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University. "By passively monitoring how individuals search online we can figuratively look inside the heads of searchers to understand population mental health patterns."
Using Google's public database of queries, the study team identified and monitored mental health queries in the United States and Australia for 2006 through 2010. All queries relating to mental health were captured and then grouped by type of mental illness, including ADHD (attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder), anxiety, bipolar, depression, eating disorders (including anorexia or bulimia), OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), schizophrenia, and suicide. Using advanced mathematical methods to identify trends, the authors found all mental health queries in both countries were consistently higher in winter than summer.
The research showed eating disorder searches were down 37 percent in summers versus winters in the U.S., and 42 percent in summers in Australia. Schizophrenia searches decreased 37 percent during U.S. summers and by 36 percent in Australia.
Bipolar searches were down 16 percent during U.S. summers and 17 percent during Australian summers; ADHD searches decreased by 28 percent in the U.S. and 31 percent in Australia during summertime. OCD searches were down 18 percent and 15 percent, and bipolar searches decreased by 18 percent and 16 percent, in the U.S. and Australia respectively.
Searches for suicide declined 24 and 29 percent during U.S. and Australian summers and anxiety searches had the smallest seasonal change down 7 percent during U.S. summers and 15 percent during Australian summers.
While some conditions, such as seasonal affective disorder, are known to be associated with seasonal weather patterns, the connections between seasons and a number of major disorders were surprising. "We didn't expect to find similar winter peaks and summer troughs for queries involving every specific mental illness or problem we studied, however, the results consistently showed seasonal effects across all conditions even after adjusting for media trends," said James Niels Rosenquist, MD, PhD, a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
"It is very exciting to ponder the potential for a universal mental health emollient, like Vitamin D (a metabolite of sun exposure). But it will be years before our findings are linked to serious mental illness and then linked to mechanisms that may be included in treatment and prevention programs," said Ayers. "Is it biologic, environmental, or social mechanisms explaining universal patterns in mental health information seeking? We don't know."
"Our findings can help researchers across the field of mental health generate additional new hypotheses while exploring other trends inexpensively in real-time," said Benjamin Althouse, a doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and researcher on the study. "For instance, moving forward, we can explore daily patterns in mental health information seeking maybe even finding a 'Monday effect.' The potential is limitless."
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Dr. Daniel Ford, vice dean for clinical investigation in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Jon-Patrick Allem, doctoral student at University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, also contributed to the study.
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Google searches about mental illness follow seasonal patternsPublic release date: 9-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Brianna Lee eAJPM@ucsd.edu 858-534-9407 Elsevier Health Sciences
New study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine reports
San Diego, CA, April 9, 2013 A new study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine finds that Google searches for information across all major mental illnesses and problems followed seasonal patterns, suggesting mental illness may be more strongly linked with seasonal patterns than previously thought.
Monitoring population mental illness trends has been an historic challenge for scientists and clinicians alike. Typically, telephone surveys are used to try to glimpse inside the minds of respondents, but this approach is limited because respondents may be reluctant to honestly discuss their mental health. This approach also has high material costs. As a result, investigators have not had the data they need.
"The Internet is a game changer," said lead investigator John W. Ayers, PhD, MA, of the Graduate School of Public Health at San Diego State University. "By passively monitoring how individuals search online we can figuratively look inside the heads of searchers to understand population mental health patterns."
Using Google's public database of queries, the study team identified and monitored mental health queries in the United States and Australia for 2006 through 2010. All queries relating to mental health were captured and then grouped by type of mental illness, including ADHD (attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder), anxiety, bipolar, depression, eating disorders (including anorexia or bulimia), OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), schizophrenia, and suicide. Using advanced mathematical methods to identify trends, the authors found all mental health queries in both countries were consistently higher in winter than summer.
The research showed eating disorder searches were down 37 percent in summers versus winters in the U.S., and 42 percent in summers in Australia. Schizophrenia searches decreased 37 percent during U.S. summers and by 36 percent in Australia.
Bipolar searches were down 16 percent during U.S. summers and 17 percent during Australian summers; ADHD searches decreased by 28 percent in the U.S. and 31 percent in Australia during summertime. OCD searches were down 18 percent and 15 percent, and bipolar searches decreased by 18 percent and 16 percent, in the U.S. and Australia respectively.
Searches for suicide declined 24 and 29 percent during U.S. and Australian summers and anxiety searches had the smallest seasonal change down 7 percent during U.S. summers and 15 percent during Australian summers.
While some conditions, such as seasonal affective disorder, are known to be associated with seasonal weather patterns, the connections between seasons and a number of major disorders were surprising. "We didn't expect to find similar winter peaks and summer troughs for queries involving every specific mental illness or problem we studied, however, the results consistently showed seasonal effects across all conditions even after adjusting for media trends," said James Niels Rosenquist, MD, PhD, a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital.
"It is very exciting to ponder the potential for a universal mental health emollient, like Vitamin D (a metabolite of sun exposure). But it will be years before our findings are linked to serious mental illness and then linked to mechanisms that may be included in treatment and prevention programs," said Ayers. "Is it biologic, environmental, or social mechanisms explaining universal patterns in mental health information seeking? We don't know."
"Our findings can help researchers across the field of mental health generate additional new hypotheses while exploring other trends inexpensively in real-time," said Benjamin Althouse, a doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and researcher on the study. "For instance, moving forward, we can explore daily patterns in mental health information seeking maybe even finding a 'Monday effect.' The potential is limitless."
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Dr. Daniel Ford, vice dean for clinical investigation in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and Jon-Patrick Allem, doctoral student at University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, also contributed to the study.
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Bangor - Some four-legged friends got to strut their stuff for a good cause.
A Furry Friends contest was held at Sunbury Village retirement home on Sunday.
Residents entered their pets into the contest all while raising money and donations for pets.
Cutbacks at the Eastern Area Agency on Aging prompted the fundrasier.
The contest showed that these pets are members of the family for the residents.
Sales and Marketing Team Leader at Sunbury Village Deborah Wisdom said, "Your children may be in Florida or California, but you know what? This little furry friend is here with you today, day and night and they are the heart and soul of a lot of these people."
A feisty cat named Cocoa and loveable puppy Sadie shared the crown as Miss Furry Friend.
The contest helped raise $74 and over 300 pounds of food and other pet supplies.
Apr. 7, 2013 ? A new vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease that is safer to produce and easier to store has been developed by scientists from the University of Oxford and The Pirbright Institute.
They have used a new method to produce a vaccine that doesn't rely on inactivating the live, infectious virus which causes the disease -- and is therefore much safer to produce.
Instead the vaccine consists of empty virus shells that have been produced synthetically, and are designed to produce an immune response that protects against the disease.
Furthermore, the empty shells have been engineered to be more stable, making the vaccine much easier to store because the need for the vaccine to be refrigerated is reduced.
The 2001 foot and mouth outbreak in Britain was devastating and cost the economy billions of pounds in control measures and compensation. One recommendation in a Royal Society report following the epidemic recommended the development of new approaches to control the virus.
An improved vaccine against the disease would also be important in countries where the disease is endemic, which are often in the developing world.
The research was led by Professor David Stuart, professor of structural biology at the University of Oxford and life science director at Diamond Light Source, and Dr Bryan Charleston of The Pirbright Institute. The findings are published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.
'What we have achieved here is close to the holy grail of foot-and-mouth vaccines. Unlike the traditional vaccines, there is no chance that the empty shell vaccine could revert to an infectious form,' says Professor Stuart.
Dr Charleston adds: 'The ability to produce a vaccine outside of high containment and that does not require a cold storage chain should greatly increase production capacity and reduce costs. Globally there is an undersupply of the vaccine due to the high cost of production and this new development could solve this problem and significantly control foot-and-mouth disease worldwide.'
Early clinical trials of the new vaccine in cattle have shown it is as effective as current vaccines. Whilst a commercial product is still several years away, the team hopes that the technology can be transferred as quickly as possible to make it available to a global market.
One of the problems of existing vaccines against foot and mouth disease is identifying which animals have been vaccinated and which haven't.
Dr Charleston says: 'The complete absence of some viral proteins from this new vaccine will also allow companion diagnostic tests to be further refined to demonstrate the absence of infection in vaccinated animals with greater confidence.'
The work on the structure of the virus shells and identification of mutations to improve their stability was carried out by Professor David Stuart and his team at Oxford University using Diamond Light Source, the UK's national synchrotron facility.
Dr Bryan Charleston at Pirbright Institute and Professor Ian Jones at Reading University and their teams incorporated the mutations into the empty virus shells and showed they stimulate protective immunity in cattle.
Together the three groups have developed a system for the production of empty protein shells in commercially viable amounts.
Richard Seabrook, Head of Business Development at the Wellcome Trust, which part-funded the work, says: 'This vaccine still has some way to go before it will be available to farmers but these early results are very encouraging.'
Nigel Gibbens, the UK's Chief Veterinary Officer, comments: 'There are many more years of work and research to be done to get this vaccine ready for use, but this is undoubtedly an exciting leap forward. Once available, vaccines of this type would have clear advantages over current technology as a possible option to help control the disease should we ever have another foot and mouth disease outbreak.
'This vaccine has been developed using some truly groundbreaking techniques which are a credit to the quality of British scientists working in the field of animal health.'
The scientists involved believe this new approach to making and stabilising a vaccine may also work with other viruses from the same family, including viruses that infect humans such as polio.
'This work will have a broad and enduring impact on vaccine development, and the technology should be transferable to other viruses from the same family, such as poliovirus and hand foot and mouth disease, a human virus which is currently endemic in south-east Asia,' says Professor Stuart.
The work was principally funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Wellcome Trust.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Oxford.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Claudine Porta, Abhay Kotecha, Alison Burman, Terry Jackson, Jingshan Ren, Silvia Loureiro, Ian M. Jones, Elizabeth E. Fry, David I. Stuart, Bryan Charleston. Rational Engineering of Recombinant Picornavirus Capsids to Produce Safe, Protective Vaccine Antigen. PLoS Pathogens, 2013; 9 (3): e1003255 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003255
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.
Microsoft's relatively often finding ways to encourage software development in various fields, and the company's latest venture has it setting footsteps near the Great Wall. According to a report by news agency Xinhua, the software (and hardware) company has reached a deal with China's Hainan government that will see it build an innovation center in this territory. Focusing on IT development and skills in tourism and agriculture, this new property will be the first of its type in China, and Microsoft has high hopes that the joint efforts can, aside from becoming a crossroads of knowledge, also "boost the region's efforts to become a major international tourist destination." Frankly, seeing as to how the highly populated nation doesn't appear to be slowing down its all-around growth anytime soon, it wouldn't surprise us if Redmond decides to start setting up more of these in the years to come.
A glass and a half a day or less of alcohol may raise your cancer risk, a BU researcher says. Photo by flickr contributor jyryk
How many of us enjoy a glass or two of wine at dinner? How many of us have read that moderate drinking of red wine is good for the heart?
How many of us know that even moderate drinking might increase our cancer risk?
That eye-catching news turned a few media heads after a recent study was published in the American Journal of Public Health. The authors, including Timothy Naimi, a School of Medicine and School of Public Health associate professor, attribute 6,000 American deaths annually to cancer from moderate drinking, which they define as a drink and a half per day or less. Add in alcohol consumption at all levels and the total surges to 20,000 cancer deaths a year, according to the study. (For perspective, that 20,000 figure represents 3.5 percent of all cancer deaths in the country.)
For men, lethal alcohol-caused cancer typically afflicts the mouth, throat, and esophagus, the researchers say. In women, breast cancer is the most common cancer killer linked to alcohol consumption.
The researchers synthesized risk estimates from hundreds of other studies to come up with their findings. Naimi believes the big takeaway is the total number of deaths, the role of excessive drinking, and the fact that these deaths are preventable. But as everyone knows that drinking to excess is bad for a host of reasons, he understands the headlines generated by the findings on moderate drinking.
Evidence of excessive drinking?s role in cancer is much greater than that for the role of modest drinking, says Naimi, an alcohol epidemiologist specializing in binge and youth drinking and alcohol policy. The idea that limited drinking causes cancer ?should be interpreted with caution.?I have nothing against alcohol. My background is as a physician, and my interest is in seeing harm from alcohol minimized.?
But some doctors say the moderate drinking findings need to be taken seriously, and Naimi says there is evidence from the literature he and his team reviewed supporting their concerns. And, he adds, deaths from alcohol ?dwarf any small number of people who may derive benefit from low-dose alcohol.? Indeed, among all people who start drinking, 5 to 10 times as many die from it as are benefited by it, according to Naimi, who notes that you can?t predict when people begin drinking whether they?ll wind up an alcoholic: ?You don?t know prospectively who?s going to end up as a moderate drinker.?
Nor is he convinced by studies showing heart benefits from moderate drinking. For one thing, he says, those studies have never included the accepted standard in scientific research: a randomized, controlled study comparing moderate drinkers with teetotalers. Also, moderate drinkers tend to come from higher on the socioeconomic ladder, a rung at which people tend to be healthier. In other words, moderate drinking may be ?a reflection of people?s social position and good health. It?s not its genesis,? Naimi says.
Studies linking alcohol to cancer are based on calculations using three types of data, he says: the numbers of people who drink at different levels, the prevalence of various cancers at those various drinking levels, and the number of cancer deaths among people at each level. The American Cancer Society lays out the cancers for which the evidence of an alcohol link is strongest, while adding that the precise mechanism for how drinking leads to the disease is not certain.
As for the argument that there?s a certain risk with much of the food we consume?nonorganic fruits and vegetables marinated in pesticides, for example, or brown rice, once thought to be healthy, but now found to contain risky levels of arsenic?Naimi replies, ?Alcohol is not a food. Alcohol is a drug,? and one with so-called empty calories that lack nutritional value.
?I wouldn?t put alcohol on a par with fruits and vegetables,? he says?especially as fruits and vegetables won?t kill you the way drunk driving can.
The FBI is investigating whether a former Rutgers basketball employee tried to extort the university before he made videos that showed ex-coach Mike Rice shoving and kicking players and berating them with gay slurs.
A person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press on Sunday that investigators are interested in Eric Murdock, who left his job as the men's basketball program's player development director last year and later provided the video to university officials and ESPN.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the inquiry has not been announced. The investigation was first reported by The New York Times.
A spokeswoman for the FBI's Newark office said the agency would not say whether there is an investigation. Murdock's lawyer did not return a call to the AP on Sunday. A Rutgers spokesman referred questions to the FBI.
A December letter from Murdock's lawyer to a lawyer representing Rutgers requested $950,000 to settle employment issues and said that if the university did not agree by Jan. 4, Murdock was prepared to file a lawsuit. The letter was obtained last week by the AP and other media outlets.
No settlement has been made. The video became public last week, and Murdock on Friday filed a lawsuit against the university, contending he was fired because he was a whistleblower trying to bring to light Rice's behavior.
The video's release last week set off a chain reaction that led to Rice's firing and the resignations of athletic director Tim Pernetti, the university's top in-house lawyer and an assistant basketball coach. Some critics want the university's president, Robert Barchi, to resign.
At a news conference last week, Barchi said the firing and resignations likely never would have happened unless Murdock provided the video to ESPN. Barchi said he did not see the video himself until after it had been made public.
Murdock, a New Jersey native who played for seven NBA teams from 1991 to 2000, was on the initial staff Rice assembled when he became the Rutgers coach in 2010. He left the team last year, though there are conflicting stories about the circumstances.
Murdock has said Rice fired him after he skipped a session of Rice's summer basketball camp, but has said he was targeted because he had spoken with others about Rice's conduct at practice. The university found in a report that Murdock was not actually fired and that he could have continued working at the school.
After Murdock left, he spoke with university officials about his allegations against Rice. He also used an open public records request to obtain hundreds of hours of videos of basketball practice. It's not clear who shot the original footage, but it was edited into the half-hour video later given to the university that touched off a scandal last week.
The university report on Rice, which was completed in December but not made public until Friday, criticized the video provided by Murdock as taken many situations out of context. While the report found fault with Rice's behavior in several instances, it also said he did not create a hostile work environment, as Murdock had suggested.
The report also said that Murdock had claimed some violations of NCAA rules - including that he and others in the program paid players - but he did not provide evidence.
After a review, university officials agreed to suspend Rice without pay for three games, fine him $50,000, send him to anger-management counseling and monitor his behavior.
Barchi said when he first saw the video last week he immediately decided Rice could not continue as coach.
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AP sports writer Tim Sullivan contributed to this report.
For all the hype about Google Glass, not much has been said about how it's going to change Internet marketing.
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Public release date: 9-Apr-2013
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