Saturday, December 31, 2011

US teen killed in Mexico heading to see girlfriend

An American teenager who was found dead on Christmas Eve in Mexico had gone to see his girlfriend the day he died and didn't tell relatives, perhaps fearing they wouldn't let him go, according to Mexican prosecutors' documents obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

The charred remains of 18-year-old Alexis Uriel Marron of Rolling Meadows, Illinois were found along with the bodies of two friends in the trunk of a burned-out car in the western state of Michoacan. The car belonged to one of the friends.

Two uncles identified Marron through crowns on his teeth and clothing that hadn't burned, the documents said.

The prosecutors' office said the car holding the remains of the three young men was found Saturday on the side of a rural road in Michoacan, a Mexican state that has been plagued in recent years by violence linked to Mexico's drug trafficking trade.

Prosecutors were looking into robbery as a possible motive because none of the three men's possessions were found in the car. But the area has also been the scene of bloody turf battles between drug gangs. The Knights Templar and Jalisco New Generation cartels are believed to be active in the area.

Marron was a U.S. citizen, according to the documents, but his family was from a town in the area called Quiringuicharo. The relatives said Marron, a suburban Chicago high school student, arrived in Mexico on Dec. 3 to celebrate the year-end holidays and was staying with an uncle.

He left the house on Dec. 23, wearing a blue checked shirt, with the intention of visiting his girlfriend, who lived in the neighboring state of Jalisco. Another uncle said he called Marron Friday afternoon to tell him to collect money his father had sent him from the U.S.

Marron replied that he was on the road, and the signal was bad, according to the documents.

When he hadn't returned later in the evening, the family began to worry.

"I thought that he had gone without telling us for fear that we wouldn't give him permission," Jose Avalos Reyes, one of the uncles, told prosecutors.

The cousin of one of the other victims said he called Marron's girlfriend. She told him she had been expecting him and his friends but they had never arrived.

Family members reported the disappearances to local authorities and the charred remains were discovered the next day. The uncles told prosecutors that Marron did not do drugs.

Word of the death spread quickly to the Chicago area, which has a large population of Mexicans and Mexican Americans with roots in Michoacan. Family members were shocked, calling him a good kid.

Friends set up two memorial Facebook pages, a YouTube picture tribute and held a memorial Tuesday evening. Dozens attended in the Chicago suburb of Mount Prospect. They carried candles, flowers and balloons. Some quietly prayed in Spanish.

He was remembered as an athlete, a positive person who was always smiling and loved spending time with family.

Marron's cousin, Daniela Zendejas, told reporters that she considered him to be a brother. "He loved his nieces. And he didn't have time to get to one of them, to see her grow," she told reporters. "And now he's gone."

Another memorial was planned for next week when students were scheduled to return after the holiday break to Rolling Meadows High School, where Marron was a student. They were urged to wear red, Marron's favorite color.

"Wear red to remember our friend ... RIP Alexis Marron," one of the Facebook tributes read. "We are also all meeting out by his locker in the morning, bring pictures if you'd like or post notes or anything you'd like on his locker. We will all come together in remembrance..."

The U.S. State Department said the agency was working with U.S. Embassy officials to get more information. Mexican Consulate officials in Chicago said they were aware of reports of Marron's death and were ready to help family if requested.

The other two victims were identified as Mexican men aged 21 and 24. All three were from, or had family in Quiringuicharo.

Earlier in December, two other bodies were found in a burned-out vehicle on the same stretch of road. The victims have been identified as two Mexico City residents, but there was no immediate information on the motive in those killings either.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/28/2564705/us-teen-killed-in-mexico-heading.html

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VIDEO: Interview with Sullivan's coach

?

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Friday, December 30, 2011

Spilled oil unexpectedly lethal to fish embryos in shallow, sunlit waters: study

In a study published today in the scientific journal PNAS, NOAA scientists and their collaborators reported Pacific herring embryos in shallow waters died in unexpectedly high numbers following an oil spill in San Francisco Bay, and suggest an interaction between sunlight and the chemicals in oil might be responsible.

In November 2007, the container ship Cosco Busan released 54,000 gallons of bunker fuel, a combination of diesel and residual fuel oil, into the San Francisco Bay. The accident contaminated the shoreline near the spawning habitats of the largest population of Pacific herring on the West Coast.

In this study, scientists found that herring embryos placed in cages in relatively deep water at oiled sites developed subtle but important heart defects consistent with findings in previous studies. In contrast, almost all the embryos that naturally spawned in nearby shallower waters in the same time period died. When scientists sampled naturally-spawned embryos from the same sites two years later, mortality rates in both shallower and deeper waters had returned to pre-spill levels.

?Based on what we know about the effects of crude oil on early life stages in fish, we expected to find live embryos with abnormal heart function, so it was a surprise to find so many embryos in the shallow waters literally falling apart,? said Dr. John Incardona, a toxicologist with NOAA?s Northwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the study. ?The study has given us a new perspective on oil threats in sunlit habitats, particularly for translucent animals such as herring embryos. The chemical composition of residual oils can vary widely, so the question remains whether we would see the same thing with other bunker fuels from around the world.?

Two decades of toxicity research since the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill has shown that fish embryos and larvae are particularly vulnerable to spilled oil. Most catastrophic spills, such as the Exxon Valdez, involve large volumes of crude oil. However, residual oils used in bunker fuels are the leftovers of crude oil refining, and are not as well studied as crude oils. Bunker fuel is used in maritime shipping worldwide, and accidental bunker spills are more and more common and widespread than large crude oil spills.

Source: NOAA

Source: http://thestickytongue.org/2011/12/29/spilled-oil-unexpectedly-lethal-to-fish-embryos-in-shallow-sunlit-waters-study/

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

China jails six for selling chemical-tainted pork (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? A Chinese court has jailed six people for producing and selling chemical-tainted pork, state media said on Wednesday, the latest ruling in a food safety scandal.

The butchers in the east of the country were convicted of "harming public safety" for producing and selling pork tainted with clenbuterol, a toxic chemical used to produce lean meat, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing a court ruling.

The six were given terms of up to four years in prison by the court in Nanjing on December 13, it added.

"The six butchers, who worked at a Nanjing slaughter house, admitted they had bought live pigs from central Henan Province, slaughtered and sold the pork earlier this year, even though they knew the pork had been tainted by clenbuterol," Xinhua said.

"All six butchers signed contracts with the slaughterhouse in March 2009, vowing they would not sell clenbuterol-tainted pork."

They were also fined up to 50,000 yuan ($7,900).

Several others, including government officials, are still being tried in Nanjing, Xinhua added.

Lean meat sells for a premium in China, the world's largest producer and consumer of pork, which spurs some farmers to resort to using clenbuterol.

If eaten excessively by humans, however, the chemical can lead to muscle tremors, dizziness, headaches and gastric irritations.

The pork case first came to light in March, and since then at least 113 people have been jailed.

China is no stranger to food safety scares, including one involving tainted milk, despite repeated government campaigns to crack down on the problem and tough punishments handed out to those involved.

In 2008, at least six children died and nearly 300,000 fell ill from drinking milk made from powder laced with melamine, an industrial compound added to milk and milk power to give misleadingly high results in protein tests.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111228/hl_nm/us_china_tainted_pork

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Lost And Found Paradise at Babylonstoren, Africa

Lost And Found Paradise at Babylonstoren, Africa

Babylonstoren is an old farm from Cape Winelands, Africa. The fertile green valleys of the Cape Winelands are surrounded by proud mountain ranges. Towns and villages have many historic homesteads and monuments. It is the Mediterranean climate and winter rainfall of the south-western Cape that produces some of the best wines in the country.

Visit Site

Posted by Design Rulz

2011-12-26 22:06:50 UTC

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/materialicious/~3/68LWZ13rrPc/lost-and-found-paradise-at-babylonstoren-africa.html

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Asia stocks mixed after weak US economy indicators (AP)

BANGKOK ? Asian stock markets were mixed in holiday-thinned trading Monday after weak U.S. indicators dulled optimism about prospects for the world's biggest economy.

Several markets were closed including Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia and New Zealand. Oil traders were also on holiday. Wall Street and European stock markets are closed Monday because Christmas fell on a Sunday this year.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock index finished up 1 percent at 8,479.34 after being closed for a public holiday Friday while South Korea's Kospi fell 0.6 percent to 1,856.70.

China's Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.7 percent to 2,190.11. Markets in India and the Philippines gained while benchmarks inTaiwan and Thailand fell.

Figures showing that U.S. consumer spending and personal income rose by a modest 0.1 percent in November were below market expectations. The headline 3.8 percent increase in durable goods orders last month masked a decline in a crucial investment measure, benefiting from big orders for Boeing aircraft.

The data offset some of the optimism in markets about the U.S. economy following a run of largely positive indicators. Since Thursday, investors have taken heart from figures showing that the number of initial jobless claims in the U.S. unexpectedly fell 4,000 last week to 364,000, the lowest level since April 2008.

While the U.S. economy has been the dominant driver in markets the past few days, Europe's debt crisis is likely to remain the key market focus next year.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 124.35 points, or 1 percent, to 12,294 on Friday in quiet pre-holiday trade. The Nasdaq composite index gained 19.19 points, or 0.7 percent, to 2,618.64. The Standard & Poor's 500 index added 11.33 points, or 0.9 percent, to 1,265.33.

In currencies, the euro was up 0.1 percent at $1.3068. The dollar was down 0.1 percent at 77.96 yen.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Saturday, December 24, 2011

For One Military Family, a $20K Holiday Miracle

President would be able to send terrorist suspects anywhere he wants

(NEWSER) - President Obama has signaled that he will sign a defense bill this week that includes language giving him broad powers to indefinitely detain terror suspects?including, many legal analysts believe, American citizens. Now, Mother Jones has spotted another charming provision in the bill that would allow the rendition of terror suspects?which again, may include Americans?"to the custody or control of the person?s country of origin, any other foreign country, or any other foreign entity." That, explains Nick Baumann, "means that if the president determines you're a member of al-Qaeda ... he could order you to be handed over to the Saudis, the Egyptians, the Yemenis..." More?

Source: http://www.newser.com/story/136109/for-one-military-family-a-20k-holiday-miracle.html

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Chinese Hackers Beat U.S. Chamber of Commerce Into Total Submission [Hackers]

Chinese Hackers Beat U.S. Chamber of Commerce Into Total SubmissionHackers in China have reportedly gained total access to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's computer systems, including six weeks of emails relating to the lobbying group's Asia policy. After the FBI alerted the Chamber to the breach, the pro-business group hired private computer investigators to fix the problem. But the free market has been utterly helpless to stop this communist menace.

The hackers had at least six back doors into the Chamber's systems and were regularly transmitting data back to China, according to the Wall Street Journal. Unable or unwilling to sanitize all affected computers, the Chamber's private security teams ended up destroying some of them outright. Unable or unwilling to secure smartphones and laptops, the Chamber quarantined separate equipment for trips to China.

How did all this work out? Well, despite a big security investigation, the Chamber has no idea how long Chinese hackers owned their systems. And despite a security overhaul that included the installation of "sophisticated detection equipment," the Chamber has had repeated subsequent breaches, including a thermostat transmitting information to China (!) and, in March, "a printer used by Chamber executives spontaneously started printing pages with Chinese characters." Ha!

Said the Chamber's COO,

"It's nearly impossible to keep people out. The best thing you can do is have something that tells you when they get in... It's the new normal. I expect this to continue for the foreseeable future. I expect to be surprised again."

We can at least rest assured that Chinese hackers aren't yet controlling the Chamber's outgoing messages. Declaring the status quo "impossible" to change, even in the face of catastrophic consequences and direct evidence that other countries have a better handle on things, sounds exactly like something a representative of American big business would do.

[via The Verge]

Source: http://gawker.com/5870213/chinese-hackers-beat-us-chamber-of-commerce-into-total-submission

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Japan prosecutors raid Olympus (AP)

TOKYO ? Japanese prosecutors raided the headquarters of Olympus Corp. on Wednesday as part of an investigation into the cover-up of massive losses at the camera and medical equipment maker.

Japanese prosecutors confirmed the raid, which was also broadcast on national television. A trail of dark-suited officials were shown marching solemnly into the downtown Tokyo office building.

Olympus said it could not comment on an ongoing investigation. NHK TV said the suburban home of former President Tsuyoshi Kikukawa, suspected of helping to orchestrate the cover-up, was also raided.

The deception at Olympus dates back to the 1990s and involved an elaborate scheme to hide 117.7 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in investment losses. It only came to light in October when then President Michael Woodford blew the whistle on what he thought was strange and excessive spending.

Woodford, a Briton, had been a rare foreigner to head a major Japanese company.

The scandal has raised serious questions about corporate governance in Japan, and whether major companies are complying adequately with global standards.

Woodford was fired after he confronted the company's board of directors with his doubts. In recent weeks, he has been trying to stage a comeback to the top, by appealing to shareholders, employees and others that his return will work to clean up Olympus.

Woodford had questioned exorbitant fees for advice on the acquisition of British medical equipment maker Gyrus Group and other expensive acquisitions in 2008.

Woodford is demanding the resignation of the entire board, including President Shuichi Takayama, who replaced him and initially declared in a news conference that the spending was legitimate.

The battle over who will lead the camera and medical equipment maker and its 40,000 employees could come to a head at the next shareholders' meeting. A date has not been set.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111221/ap_on_bi_ge/as_japan_olympus

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Pentagon: US concedes mistakes in Pakistani deaths

(AP) ? After 10 years of war in Afghanistan, a persistent lack of trust between the U.S. and Pakistan still complicates operations along the critical Afghanistan border and was a key factor in the errant American airstrikes late last month that killed 24 Pakistani troops.

U.S. officials on Thursday accepted some blame for the deadly incident that infuriated Pakistani leaders, prompting Pakistan to shut down key supply routes for the war and further eroding America's already rocky relations with Islamabad. The Defense Department briefed reporters Thursday on the conclusions reached in its investigation into the November incident.

But the U.S. did not apologize, despite the embarrassing series of communications and coordination errors. Pentagon officials said Thursday that military leaders had spoken by phone to Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani about the report's conclusions, but have not yet given him a detailed briefing.

Pakistan refused to cooperate in the investigation. And the U.S. report ? placing some of the blame on Islamabad ? is likely to only increase their fury, hamper any hope of rebuilding the relationship and delay the opening of the supply routes.

In a Pentagon briefing, Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark, an Air Force special operations officer who led the investigation, made it clear that U.S. forces were fired on first and acted in self-defense.

But he acknowledged that efforts to determine who was firing on the U.S troops and whether there were friendly Pakistani forces in the area ? the primary questions in any cross-border incident ? failed because U.S. forces used inaccurate maps, were unaware of Pakistani border post locations and mistakenly provided the wrong location for the troops.

There is "an overarching lack of trust between the two sides" that keeps them from giving each other specific details on troops or combat outpost locations, Clark said as he went through a blow-by-blow account of the events that began late on Nov. 25 and continued overnight.

U.S. and NATO commanders, Clark said, believe that some of their military operations have been compromised when they've given details and locations to the Pakistanis.

According to Clark, U.S. troops were climbing up rugged terrain toward a village just west of the border when they began to receive machine gun and mortar fire very close to their positions. The U.S. ground commander requested a show of force, so an F-15 fighter jet and an AC-130 gunship flew over, shooting flares to signal the presence of American or NATO troops.

Clark said the gunfire and mortars continued. And in the first serious miscommunication, the troops on the ground were told that no Pakistani troops were in the area. Commanders then called for airstrikes.

In a confusing series of communications, U.S. officials gave Pakistan liaison officers the wrong location of the firefight and were told again that no Pakistani troops were in that region. The U.S. launched another round of airstrikes until around 1 a.m., when officials confirmed that there were friendly troops there and the firing stopped.

A key failing, Clark said, was that U.S. troops did not know that two relatively new and spare Pakistani outposts ? reportedly called Volcano and Boulder ? were just over the border from the village that was the target of the operation.

"They didn't have coordinates on the border posts to begin with because they didn't know they were there," Clark said. "The border was not considered a factor to the operation because everything was intended to remain within a kilometer, kilometer and a half inside of Afghanistan. So they never anticipated taking fire from the ridgeline, nor anticipated the idea that it might be Pakistan military there." A kilometer is about 0.62 miles.

He said that as a result the U.S. troops believed enemy insurgents were firing at them. He added that U.S. commanders in Afghanistan will make any decisions on whether anyone should be punished for the mistakes.

"For the loss of life and for the lack of proper coordination between U.S. and Pakistani forces that contributed to those losses, we express our deepest regret," Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters.

Little said the U.S wants to learn from the mistakes and take any corrective measures needed to make sure such mistakes aren't repeated.

NATO, Afghanistan and Pakistani forces use the joint border control centers to share information and coordinate security operations.

The Pakistani army rejected the U.S. investigation. The army sent a short statement to reporters early Friday in Islamabad saying media reports of the investigation indicated it was "short on facts." It said a more detailed response would be given when the report was received.

Afghan officials had no immediate comment.

The Pakistani military has said it provided NATO with maps that clearly showed where the border posts were located.

Since the attack, a furious Pakistani government has shut down NATO supply routes to Afghanistan and thrown the U.S. out of its Shamsi Air Base in southwestern Baluchistan province. The base was used to maintain drones deployed in strikes against insurgents hiding in safe havens in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt on the Afghan frontier.

The Pakistani border closure forced the U.S. and NATO to reorient their entire logistics chains to the so-called Northern Distribution Network through Russia and Central Asia.

For most of the 10-year war in Afghanistan, 90 percent of supplies shipped to the international force came through Pakistan, via the port of Karachi. But over the past three years, road and rail shipments from NATO's European members via Russia and the Central Asian nations have expanded, and before the border incident accounted for more than half of all overland deliveries.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-22-US-Pakistan-Airstrikes/id-00db8ffb646e485a9ffac0e2dc9c2abf

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Removal of lymph nodes during surgery for thyroid cancer may be beneficial

Removal of lymph nodes during surgery for thyroid cancer may be beneficial [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 20-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Rachel Champeau
rchampeau@mednet.ucla.edu
310-794-2270
University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences

Procedure may reduce recurrence rates, lower tumor marker levels

Papillary thyroid cancer accounts for the majority of all thyroid malignancies, which primarily impact women. A new study indicates that routinely removing lymph nodes in the neck in these cancer patients may help prevent the disease from coming back.

When thyroid cancer metastasizes, lymph nodes in the neck may be affected, but these lymph-node tumors can be tiny and may not be detected by ultrasounds done before surgery to remove the diseased thyroid or even during the procedure itself.

In an international academic study published in the December issue of the journal Surgery, UCLA researchers and colleagues demonstrate that routine removal of neck lymph nodes during initial thyroid surgery for papillary cancer may lead to lower disease recurrence rates and lower levels of thyroglobulin, a thyroid tumor marker that can be an indicator of disease when elevated.

Although it is standard procedure in some cancer centers, there has been debate in the worldwide surgical community about the benefits of routinely removing neck lymph nodes, a procedure known as prophylactic central neck lymph-node dissection, or CLND.

"We found that re-operation rates due to cancer were lower in patients who had routine removal of these lymph nodes, which suggests a more thorough surgical clearance of disease," said the study's senior author, Dr. Michael Yeh, an associate professor of surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "Our findings may help add to growing evidence that this additional procedure, performed during initial thyroid surgery, may be helpful in management of papillary thyroid cancer."

For the study, researchers examined data on 606 patients who received care in one of three endocrine surgical units in the U.S., England and Australia. Patients were divided into two groups: Group A patients had undergone total thyroid removal alone; Group B patients had undergone both thyroid removal and dissection of central neck lymph nodes. Patients were followed for an average of three-and-a-half years following surgery.

The standard pre-operative evaluation of all patients included a fine-needle biopsy of the primary thyroid tumor and determination of neck lymph-node disease status through physical examination and ultrasound of the neck.

The rate of disease recurrence in the entire study population was 6.9 percent. The researchers found that the need for central neck re-operation was significantly lower among patients who had undergone the routine initial central neck lymph-node dissection, compared with those who had undergone only thyroid removal (1.5 percent vs. 6.1 percent).

Stimulated thyroglobulin levels were also lower among patients in Group B, which may demonstrate a more thorough clearing of disease in the patients who had both thyroid and neck lymph-node removal procedures, the researchers said.

"This significant reduction in the need for further surgery in the critical central area of the neck is important, since it reduces risk to the many vital structures housed here, such as the nerves supplying the voice," said study co-author Dr. Mark Sywak of the University of Sydney in Australia.

UCLA's Yeh noted that blood thyroglobulin levels are a useful and sensitive measure in tracking disease recurrence, especially when many tumors in this area are too tiny to be detected using a physical exam or ultrasound.

Rates of temporarily low calcium levels, a common side effect, were significantly higher in Group B patients (9.7 percent), who had neck lymph nodes removed, than in Group A patients (4.1 percent) who had thyroid-removal surgery alone. The rate of long-term complications was low for both groups about 1 percent.

The researchers said the next step may be to conduct a prospective, randomized clinical trial to further assess the impact of routinely removing central neck lymph nodes during initial surgery for papillary thyroid cancer.

###

The study took place at UCLA Medical Center; the University of Sydney, Australia; and Hammersmith Hospital at Imperial College London.

Other study authors included Aleksandra Popadich, James C. Lee, Stan Sidhu, Leigh Delbridge and Mark Sywak from the University of Sydney endocrine surgical unit; Olga Levin and Kevin Ro, both students at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA;

Stephanie Smooke-Praw from the department of medicine at the Geffen School of Medicine; Maisam Fazel, Asit Arora, Neil S. Tolley and F. Fausto Palazzo from the department of thyroid and endocrine surgery at Hammersmith Hospital in London; and Diana L. Learoyd from the department of endocrinology at Royal North Shore Hospital in New South Wales, Australia.

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Removal of lymph nodes during surgery for thyroid cancer may be beneficial [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 20-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Rachel Champeau
rchampeau@mednet.ucla.edu
310-794-2270
University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences

Procedure may reduce recurrence rates, lower tumor marker levels

Papillary thyroid cancer accounts for the majority of all thyroid malignancies, which primarily impact women. A new study indicates that routinely removing lymph nodes in the neck in these cancer patients may help prevent the disease from coming back.

When thyroid cancer metastasizes, lymph nodes in the neck may be affected, but these lymph-node tumors can be tiny and may not be detected by ultrasounds done before surgery to remove the diseased thyroid or even during the procedure itself.

In an international academic study published in the December issue of the journal Surgery, UCLA researchers and colleagues demonstrate that routine removal of neck lymph nodes during initial thyroid surgery for papillary cancer may lead to lower disease recurrence rates and lower levels of thyroglobulin, a thyroid tumor marker that can be an indicator of disease when elevated.

Although it is standard procedure in some cancer centers, there has been debate in the worldwide surgical community about the benefits of routinely removing neck lymph nodes, a procedure known as prophylactic central neck lymph-node dissection, or CLND.

"We found that re-operation rates due to cancer were lower in patients who had routine removal of these lymph nodes, which suggests a more thorough surgical clearance of disease," said the study's senior author, Dr. Michael Yeh, an associate professor of surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "Our findings may help add to growing evidence that this additional procedure, performed during initial thyroid surgery, may be helpful in management of papillary thyroid cancer."

For the study, researchers examined data on 606 patients who received care in one of three endocrine surgical units in the U.S., England and Australia. Patients were divided into two groups: Group A patients had undergone total thyroid removal alone; Group B patients had undergone both thyroid removal and dissection of central neck lymph nodes. Patients were followed for an average of three-and-a-half years following surgery.

The standard pre-operative evaluation of all patients included a fine-needle biopsy of the primary thyroid tumor and determination of neck lymph-node disease status through physical examination and ultrasound of the neck.

The rate of disease recurrence in the entire study population was 6.9 percent. The researchers found that the need for central neck re-operation was significantly lower among patients who had undergone the routine initial central neck lymph-node dissection, compared with those who had undergone only thyroid removal (1.5 percent vs. 6.1 percent).

Stimulated thyroglobulin levels were also lower among patients in Group B, which may demonstrate a more thorough clearing of disease in the patients who had both thyroid and neck lymph-node removal procedures, the researchers said.

"This significant reduction in the need for further surgery in the critical central area of the neck is important, since it reduces risk to the many vital structures housed here, such as the nerves supplying the voice," said study co-author Dr. Mark Sywak of the University of Sydney in Australia.

UCLA's Yeh noted that blood thyroglobulin levels are a useful and sensitive measure in tracking disease recurrence, especially when many tumors in this area are too tiny to be detected using a physical exam or ultrasound.

Rates of temporarily low calcium levels, a common side effect, were significantly higher in Group B patients (9.7 percent), who had neck lymph nodes removed, than in Group A patients (4.1 percent) who had thyroid-removal surgery alone. The rate of long-term complications was low for both groups about 1 percent.

The researchers said the next step may be to conduct a prospective, randomized clinical trial to further assess the impact of routinely removing central neck lymph nodes during initial surgery for papillary thyroid cancer.

###

The study took place at UCLA Medical Center; the University of Sydney, Australia; and Hammersmith Hospital at Imperial College London.

Other study authors included Aleksandra Popadich, James C. Lee, Stan Sidhu, Leigh Delbridge and Mark Sywak from the University of Sydney endocrine surgical unit; Olga Levin and Kevin Ro, both students at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA;

Stephanie Smooke-Praw from the department of medicine at the Geffen School of Medicine; Maisam Fazel, Asit Arora, Neil S. Tolley and F. Fausto Palazzo from the department of thyroid and endocrine surgery at Hammersmith Hospital in London; and Diana L. Learoyd from the department of endocrinology at Royal North Shore Hospital in New South Wales, Australia.

For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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/2011-12/uoc--rol122011.php

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Monday, December 19, 2011

10 Great Performances in Not-So-Great 2011 Movies

Every year of movies brings with a lot of bad stuff, and when you write about movies for a living like we do, you wind up seeing a lot of garbage that you never, ever would have chosen on your own. But even when you walk into a film you know is probably going to suck, you're always hoping for some bright spot, something that means the entire two hours weren't a waste. More often than not, it's one spectacular performance that does the trick-- when one actor manages to turn in something great despite everything going wrong around them, you can feel the clouds part and the angels sing, at least until the next dumb thing happens and you remember what an awful movie you're sitting through.

There are plenty of actors who make bad movies while still being fairly likable-- Nicolas Cage and now Liam Neeson are making careers of this-- but only a select few who pop up out of the mess and do something great. We're kicking off our end of the year coverage, but instead of first starting with our 10 best movies of the year or anything like that, we've got the 10 best performances in movies that were otherwise terrible. Check out our picks below, and let us know who we might have forgotten in the comments below.

#1: William Fichtner as The Accountant
Drive Angry 3D
Drive Angry 3D was a movie made of missed opportunities. Nicolas Cage as vengeful undead father Milton wasn?t nearly as crazy as we hoped he would be, it was missing an effective soundtrack, and the story was all over the place. One element that it got absolutely right, however, was the casting of William Fichtner as The Accountant. Playing an agent sent from hell to bring Cage?s character back, Fichtner is cool, calm and collected for the entire film, but he plays the demon with just the right level of smirk to make him a perfect mix of badass and wit. If only Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer had made the script about The Accountant instead of Milton it could have been a much more interesting film.
#2: Michael Parks as Abin Cooper
Red State
Say what you will about Kevin Smith ? and this year, it seems we had plenty to discuss ? the indie filmmaker?s still capable of scripting a riveting monologue. And in Michael Parks, Smith found his most compelling mouthpiece since Dwight Ewell?s Hooper X (Chasing Amy). Forget the fire-and-brimstone that actors reflexively slip into when playing men of faith. Parks brings a subdued but resolute belief in the words Smith hands him. And that?s more chilling than any of the wanton violence that overwhelms Red State in time.
#3: Mark Strong as Sinestro
Green Lantern
I was so excited to see my favorite superhero finally hit the big screen and then, well, we got?that Green Lantern. As the film unfolded, misfire after misfire, I was readying?my?fiery?fanboy hatred?until?Mark Strong's Sinestro was finally?introduced. No way could he salvage?the terribly misguided script, special effects or over-acting but his commanding presence?as the greatest Green Lantern who becomes their greatest adversary was?pitch perfect. From the practical make-up to his unflinching delivery, Strong made Sinestro a character I'l remember in a film that I've been desperately trying to?forget. He even?inspires hope for a possibly great sequel, even if it's just a tiny, yellow glimmer.
#4: Bruno Ganz as Ernst Jurgen
Unknown
Unknown is a deeply silly movie from beginning to end, and even when an international conspiracy plot and some rogue spies get involved in the story it's really nothing but a chance to see Liam Neeson beat up some Europeans. But there's one scene where the movie finally slows down and makes room for some acting, when mysterious characters played by Frank Langella and especially the German actor Bruno Ganz sit back and talk about their shared history and animosity. To say more would be to spoil it, but Ganz's inherent gravitas makes this the only scene in the movie worth watching, enough to make you wish you were watching a movie about him instead.
#5: Anthony Hopkins as Father Lucas
The Rite
Thanks to a few dreadful scenes and some unnecessary supporting characters, The Rite doesn?t really work.? In fact, I probably should have forgotten it existed by this point, but thanks to a truly incredibly performance by Anthony Hopkins, I kind of want to watch it again.? Right now.? Beaten down by years of doubts, disappointments and demons, the Academy Award winner?s Father Lucas is riveting every time he?s on screen.? Sometimes he spews well-crafted philosophical yarns.? Sometimes he rids bodies of satanic presences, and sometimes he hits children.? There?s no guessing what he?ll do next, but when it comes, you?ll sure as hell believe it.?
#6: Neil Patrick Harris as Will
Beastly
Neil Patrick Harris has suited up on CBS? How I Met Your Mother for seven seasons, meaning he?s had to be choosy about side projects. ?Which is why it?s a little surprising Harris took a small role as the protagonist?s mentor in 2011?s very forgettable Beastly. Maybe he just wanted to rock out as a blind guy with more confidence than Michael Jordan, or maybe he was just excited about hitting golf balls off of a tall building.? Either way, his character says enough funny shit that it periodically propels the movie into momentary atonement.
#7: Channing Tatum as Zip
The Dilemma
A lot of moviegoers have rejected the idea of Channing Tatum as a leading man, mostly because they see him as a beefy lunkhead without two brain cells to rub together. In The Dilemma, a movie that's otherwise borderline unwatchable, Tatum is finally in on the joke, playing a wifebeater-wearing hunk of meat named Zip who mostly just wants revenge at the guy who killed his fish. In a movie where everyone else seemed to be on autopilot, Tatum threw everything he had into playing this idiot, creating the only sign of greatness in both the movie and his entire career.
#8: Rosario Dawson as Kate
Zookeeper
The love interest in a Kevin James vehicle is the definition of ?thankless role.? So why is Rosario Dawson having so much fun alongside James in Zookeeper? Maybe because she?s picking and choosing her moments as the ?ordinary? girl our leading man eventually pursues. (Only in a comedy could a sparkling, charismatic beauty like Dawson play the ?other? girl, even to a stunner like Leslie Bibb.) No matter the reason, Dawson is the springboard that occasionally allows the goofy Zookeeper to soar on the wings of effervescent love.?
#9: Tom Hanks as Larry Crowne
Larry Crowne
It isn?t so much that Larry Crowne is a terrible movie as it really wouldn?t be worth watching if not for Tom Hanks. The film is nothing but a series of amusing moments, but Hanks? performance stands out since it seems like it?s been an eternity since we?ve seen his lighter side. The scene where he re-programs Julia Roberts' GPS system is reminiscent of Big and makes me think, as amazing as Hanks is in dramatic roles and successful as he?s been as a producer, I hope he considers returning to comedy soon. In the meantime, Hanks (and to a lesser but notable degree, Rami Malek and George Takei) is the only reason to see Larry Crowne.?
#10: Clive Owen as Spike
Killer Elite
Who knows what left turn Clive Owen took to go from classics like Children of Men to nonsense like Killer Elite, but at least he hasn't lost his dignity along the way. Paired up against Jason Statham Owen plays an erudite but still kick-ass spy who's just trying to do his job, but happens to get into a lot of fistfights along the way. He can't save the movie from being boring, but he manages to keep his head held high, and maintain the promise that maybe next time, he'll find some material that's worthy of what he's bringing to it. ?


Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924156/news/1924156/

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Egypt Protests: New Clashes Between Military Police And Demonstrators

CAIRO -- Witnesses say protesters and security forces are clashing near Cairo's downtown Tahrir Square.

Hundreds of protesters threw rocks and firebombs at military police. Activist Hussein Hammouda says security forces responded by throwing rocks and aiming water cannons from inside the gates of the nearby parliament building.

Activists say the clashes began after soldiers severely beat a young man who was part of a sit-in outside the Cabinet building.

Online video and photos of the wounded man showed protesters carrying him, accusing military police of beating him.

Protester Mostafa Sheshtawy says security forces burned protesters' tents and ended the nearly three week-long sit-in calling for an end to military rule.

Protesters say the clashes began late Thursday night and continued Friday morning.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

CAIRO (AP) ? Islamists and liberals accused election officials Thursday of filling out ballot forms for elderly or confused voters at some polling stations during the second round of parliamentary elections. If confirmed as a pattern, the reports could chip away at the credibility of what has so far been the freest and fairest vote in Egypt's modern history.

Under Hosni Mubarak's 30-year regime, elections were systemically rigged and the corruption was a major impetus behind the popular uprising that ousted the authoritarian leader in February. But as the polls closed, it was still unclear how widespread the problems were.

The head of the election commission, Abdel-Moez Ibrahim, described the allegations of wrongdoing as "a strong wave of rumors which aimed at driving wedge between the judges and the people." He said he investigated some incidents and found out that judges overseeing the voting were helping disabled, illiterate voters. But because of the accusations, judges now tell voters asking for help that this is not their role.

"If people lose confidence in their judges, this will lead to a state collapse," he said.

It was difficult to say how widespread any abuses or irregularities were, but more allegations surfaced in this round than in the previous one in November as competition heats up.

Casting his vote for the first time in his life, 68-year-old reform leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei responded to fears of a parliament dominated by Islamists by saying that a new constitution might also mean new elections.

"This is the first step toward democracy," he said. Commenting on alleged violations, he said: "This is nothing compared to before."

The second round of voting in nine of the country's 27 provinces covered vast rural areas where the two Islamist blocs that dominated in the first round look poised to cement and probably even bolster their already overwhelming majority.

These elections are the first test of the strength of political forces that have emerged in the 10 months since the uprising. The political forces are roughly divided into two camps ? the Islamists on one side and on the other, secular and liberal groups that largely drove the uprising but failed to turn their achievement into a victory at the polls.

The crux of power in Egypt remains in the hands of the ruling military council that took power from Mubarak. It is the ultimate authority on all matters of state in absence of a president.

The most immediate concern for the liberal and secular groups is the drafting of the country's new constitution. The new parliament will be in charge of picking the 100-member constituent assembly to draft the constitution and many fear an Islamist-dominated parliament may lead to a document guided by strict religious principles.

The two leading Islamist alliances ? the front-running Muslim Brotherhood and second-place Al-Nour representing ultraconservative Salafi Muslims ? won close to 70 percent of seats in the first round on Nov. 28-29, according to an AP tally compiled from official results.

This round and a third and final vote in January are expected to solidify those gains because they are concentrated in rural areas that are traditionally more conservative.

The biggest surprise of the first round of voting was the strength of the Salafis, with their Al-Nour alliance winning a fifth of all seats contested. The Salafis want to strictly impose Islamic law, or Shariah, and have been railing against tourists drinking alcohol or wearing skimpy bathing suits at beach resorts.

"Al-Nour will sweep the vote here for sure," said Ali Abdel-Ghaffar, a Salafi party member standing inside a polling center in Giza province on the western outskirts of Cairo illegally campaigning. "People are Salafi (puritans) by nature. For them even sitting in a coffee shop is improper," he said.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party and an alliance of liberal youth parties have filed complaints, saying officials at several stations were telling voters whom to choose.

The party issued a report Thursday accusing supervising judges in the province of Beheira, 112 miles (180 kilometers) north of Cairo, of guiding voters to choose Al-Nour, the Brotherhood's key Islamist rival.

In another polling center, two judges, a school administrator and a village mayor filled in ballots for candidates who were members of Mubarak's dissolved ruling party and are now running as independents or members of new parties, the Brotherhood said.

At one station near Cairo, a liberal party representative accused volunteers of paying voters to choose Islamist candidates, and complained to the military officer guarding the station.

Competition between Islamist parties was fierce. Hundreds of voters in a Salafi stronghold rushed to a polling station in Al-Haram district, near the Giza Pyramids, demanding their right to vote even after the polls closed. The angry voters besieged the polling station for more than two hours, refusing to go or let the ballot boxes be transported to counting station.

"We are afraid they would storm the place and sabotage the ballot boxes," said Lobna el-Feeky, a liberal party representative locked inside the station. Security officers were unable to disperse the crowd.

Judge Ahmed Helal, who was monitoring a polling station in Shebein el-Kom in Menoufia province, said it was his legal duty to assist people who cannot mark ballots on their own. According to an official Cabinet report in June, nearly 27 percent of the 85 million Egyptians are illiterate.

"It's the law that we have to help the voter to vote in case they are incapable or cannot see," he said.

____

Batrawy reported from Menoufia, Egypt.

Egyptian protesters break the windows of the Shura Council near the parliament in Cairo on December 16, 2011. Egyptian soldiers charged at protesters outside the cabinet's offices on Friday, breaking up a sit-in after the demonstrators threw petrol bombs and set fire to furniture in front of the nearby parliament. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)

Egyptian protesters break the windows of the Shura Council near the parliament in Cairo on December 16, 2011. Egyptian soldiers charged at protesters outside the cabinet's offices on Friday, breaking up a sit-in after the demonstrators threw petrol bombs and set fire to furniture in front of the nearby parliament. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)

MORE SLIDESHOWS NEXT?> ??|?? <?PREV

Egyptian protesters break the windows of the Shura Council near the parliament in Cairo on December 16, 2011. Egyptian soldiers charged at protesters outside the cabinet's offices on Friday, breaking up a sit-in after the demonstrators threw petrol bombs and set fire to furniture in front of the nearby parliament. (MOHAMMED ABED/AFP/Getty Images)

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/16/egypt-protests-new-clashes_n_1152991.html

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The Gingrich Dive (talking-points-memo)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/176055150?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Researchers assess effects of a world awash in nitrogen

Researchers assess effects of a world awash in nitrogen [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Skip Derra
480-965-4823
Arizona State University

TEMPE, Ariz. Humans are having an effect on Earth's ecosystems but it's not just the depletion of resources and the warming of the planet we are causing. Now you can add an over-abundance of nitrogen as another "footprint" humans are leaving behind. The only question is how large of an impact will be felt.

In a Perspectives piece in the current issue of Science (Dec. 16, 2011), Arizona State University researcher James Elser outlines some recent findings on the increasing abundance of available nitrogen on Earth. In "A World Awash in Nitrogen," Elser, a limnologist, comments on a new study showing that disruption to Earth's nitrogen balance began at the dawn of the industrial era and was further amplified by the development of the Haber-Bosch process to produce nitrogen rich fertilizers.

Until that time nitrogen, an essential building block to life on Earth and a major but inert component of its atmosphere, had cycled at low but balanced levels over millennia. That balance ended around 1895.

"Humans have more than doubled the rate of nitrogen inputs into global ecosystems, relative to pre-industrial periods, and have changed the amounts of circulating phosphorus (like nitrogen, a key limiting ingredient for crops and other plants) by about 400 percent due to mining to produce fertilizers," Elser said.

The result has been immediate and widespread, he added.

Commenting on a major new finding in Science by G.W. Holtgrieve and colleagues, Elser said that signs of the "new N" appeared in all regions of the Northern Hemisphere in a remarkably coherent manner beginning around 1895, in concert with when fossil fuel combustion and large scale biomass burning accelerated across the globe. Another significant increase came around 1970 coincident with massive increases in industrial nitrogen fixation for fertilizer production, just as the "Green Revolution" got started.

The effects of the high nitrogen inputs "were immediate, and no place in the Northern Hemisphere not even the highest reaches of the Arctic was safe," Elser stated.

One effect from the increased nitrogen inputs can be seen in our inland water features like lakes, reservoirs and rivers.

"Nitrogen deposition to lakes leads to phytoplankton (at the base of food chain) with low content of the important nutrient phosphorus," Elser said. "This is kind of like 'junk food,' for animals that eat the phytoplankton. Such effects are likely to ripple upward in the food chain."

"Overall, changes in nutrient regimes (due to human acceleration of the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles) cause various problems, but especially reduction in water quality, in water supplies and deterioration of coastal marine fisheries ('dead zones')," Elser added. "In the U.S., conservative estimates indicate that nutrient over-enrichment of inland waters results in about $2.7 billion of annual economic costs annually, due to negative impacts on recreational water usage, waterfront real estate values, the cost of recovery of threatened and endangered species and drinking water provisions."

On a grander timeline the effects could be more telling of humans themselves, Elser said.

"Whether such signals are an ephemeral blip in the stratigraphic record or a sustained shift lasting millennia may, in due time, be seen as an indicator of humanity's success, or failure, in achieving planetary sustainability," he added.

###


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


Researchers assess effects of a world awash in nitrogen [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Skip Derra
480-965-4823
Arizona State University

TEMPE, Ariz. Humans are having an effect on Earth's ecosystems but it's not just the depletion of resources and the warming of the planet we are causing. Now you can add an over-abundance of nitrogen as another "footprint" humans are leaving behind. The only question is how large of an impact will be felt.

In a Perspectives piece in the current issue of Science (Dec. 16, 2011), Arizona State University researcher James Elser outlines some recent findings on the increasing abundance of available nitrogen on Earth. In "A World Awash in Nitrogen," Elser, a limnologist, comments on a new study showing that disruption to Earth's nitrogen balance began at the dawn of the industrial era and was further amplified by the development of the Haber-Bosch process to produce nitrogen rich fertilizers.

Until that time nitrogen, an essential building block to life on Earth and a major but inert component of its atmosphere, had cycled at low but balanced levels over millennia. That balance ended around 1895.

"Humans have more than doubled the rate of nitrogen inputs into global ecosystems, relative to pre-industrial periods, and have changed the amounts of circulating phosphorus (like nitrogen, a key limiting ingredient for crops and other plants) by about 400 percent due to mining to produce fertilizers," Elser said.

The result has been immediate and widespread, he added.

Commenting on a major new finding in Science by G.W. Holtgrieve and colleagues, Elser said that signs of the "new N" appeared in all regions of the Northern Hemisphere in a remarkably coherent manner beginning around 1895, in concert with when fossil fuel combustion and large scale biomass burning accelerated across the globe. Another significant increase came around 1970 coincident with massive increases in industrial nitrogen fixation for fertilizer production, just as the "Green Revolution" got started.

The effects of the high nitrogen inputs "were immediate, and no place in the Northern Hemisphere not even the highest reaches of the Arctic was safe," Elser stated.

One effect from the increased nitrogen inputs can be seen in our inland water features like lakes, reservoirs and rivers.

"Nitrogen deposition to lakes leads to phytoplankton (at the base of food chain) with low content of the important nutrient phosphorus," Elser said. "This is kind of like 'junk food,' for animals that eat the phytoplankton. Such effects are likely to ripple upward in the food chain."

"Overall, changes in nutrient regimes (due to human acceleration of the nitrogen and phosphorus cycles) cause various problems, but especially reduction in water quality, in water supplies and deterioration of coastal marine fisheries ('dead zones')," Elser added. "In the U.S., conservative estimates indicate that nutrient over-enrichment of inland waters results in about $2.7 billion of annual economic costs annually, due to negative impacts on recreational water usage, waterfront real estate values, the cost of recovery of threatened and endangered species and drinking water provisions."

On a grander timeline the effects could be more telling of humans themselves, Elser said.

"Whether such signals are an ephemeral blip in the stratigraphic record or a sustained shift lasting millennia may, in due time, be seen as an indicator of humanity's success, or failure, in achieving planetary sustainability," he added.

###


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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/2011-12/asu-rae121511.php

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Store Santas Trained to Lower Kid's Christmas Expectations (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | The Charles W. Howard Santa Claus School, which trains department store and shopping mall Santas, is training its students to deal with the Christmas desires of children in an era of economic malaise, according to the Daily Mail.

The idea is to tamp down on the expectations kids will have about what they'll find under the tree. In order to judge what kids should expect, the school is training their Santas to size-up the kids' parents to try to determine what socio-economic level they happen to be in and thus ascertain what they can afford.

On the one hand, this seems to be a rather sad concession to the continuing economic malaise. Dreams of iPads and video game systems under the tree, even if unfulfilled, can be a balm in a household where the folks are wondering where the next meal is or the mortgage is coming from. As long as Santa is careful not to make any specific promises, everything should work out.

Besides, how does one tell how rich someone is by what they wear? Some of the richest people in the world - the late Steve Jobs comes to mind - dress like slobs. An out of work middle manager will, more often than not, dressed rather well, especially if he or she has stopped by the mall after a job interview.

Here's an idea. If you don't want your kid wanting the latest electronic gadget, take him or her to the mall while dressed like a homeless person. Then Santa will do your work for you in making sure the kid doesn't expect anything.

Tina Korbe, writing at Hot Air, has an interesting idea. Why not send politicians to the Santa school and teach them to lower expectations from their constituents. Perhaps they will learn not to promise that new bridge to nowhere or health care entitlement that the country can't afford.

My favorite story of a store Santa lowering expectations comes from the classic film "A Christmas Story." The movie, set in the 1940s or thereabouts, concerns the quest of a young lad to get a Red Ryder BB gun, even though his mom is reluctant. He asks Santa for the weapon at one point. His response, brief and to the point, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid." No nonsense, no hand-wringing over the idea of parental poverty, just a helpful warning.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111214/cm_ac/10566329_store_santas_trained_to_lower_kids_christmas_expectations

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