Get Fit for 2013: Trainer Harley Pasternak Answers ‘GMA’ Viewers’ Questions

It’s a new year and many people have made resolutions to get fit.

Celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak ( @harleypasternak) has trained celebrities including Rihanna and Katy Perry and this morning he appeared on “Good Morning America” to show specific exercise moves to get you an all-star body.

Work the Body Parts

For Great Legs

Do sumo squats. You have to stand with your legs wide apart and toes turned out. Sink your buttocks down. You don’t even have to buy weights to do this. For added resistance, you can use jugs of laundry detergent.

For Abs of Steel

The key to amazing abs is to have a strong back. That means you have to strengthen the lower back by doing an alternating superman: lie face down and lift the left arm and right leg up simultaneously.

For a Shapely Rear End

For this it’s about a stiff dead left. Standing up and with your back straight, push your buttocks as far back as you can and come back to neutral.

For Sculpted Arms

To get toned arms you can do a close grip press-up. It’s like a push-up but instead you have your hands right under your shoulders and you press your chest up but leave your lower body on the ground.

RELATED: Jump-Start Your Weight Loss: Ask Celebrity Trainers a Question

For Manly Shoulders

Men who want impressive shoulders can do an Arnold Press, named after former California governor and fitness legend Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hold a pair of hand weights, and with palms facing toward the chest, press the weights up toward the ceiling, letting your palms rotate.

Harley Pasternak Answers Your Questions

FAST WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT?

Sanju asked : What is the best way to lose 5 to 7 pounds in two weeks?

Harley’s answer: Eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day, each with a balance of lean protein, fibrous carbs, and healthy fats. Move all day! Grab a pedometer and walk at least 10,000 steps a day, and resistance train at least three days per week. Sleep seven to eight hours a night. Lack of sleep will make you hungrier and can slow down your metabolism

OVERNIGHT WORK SCHEDULE, WHEN DO I WORK OUT?

Rita of Elkhart, Ind., asked : I work overnights, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., five nights a week. I do manage to sleep 7 to 8 hours a day. But don’t know when the best time for me to work out and eat would be. Currently I am doing everything in reverse, eating my “breakfast” at 5 p.m. and a small meal at work. I have tried exercising at 8 p.m. but find I don’t have much energy afterword. Any suggestions?

Harley’s answer: Exercise should give you energy, not take it away. If you feel exhausted after you workout, perhaps your working out too hard and for too long, or you don’t have the right fuel. Try working out when you wake up, or right after you’re done with work, or during your lunch break (probably 3 a.m. for you!)

RELATED: Apps to Help With Resolutions

HOW DO YOU STAY MOTIVATED?

Lisa of Albuquerque, N.M., asked : I am 45, 5’4? and 180 pounds. Believe it or not, I eat healthy for the most part and I know what I need to do to lose the weight (exercise a lot more), but my question is, how do you stay motivated? I am on an extremely tight budget and can’t afford a gym or the “extra healthy” foods/diet programs and I find myself getting discouraged at every turn. I’ve given up on trying to achieve the unrealistic body image I had when I was younger, now I would just like to lose the extra 50 pounds I’m carrying around and look better for me.

Harley’s answer: You are motivated. You took the time to write this question. Motivation is not the issue. It’s taking your motivation and putting it into action. Try breaking it up into small actionable goals. Did you walk 10,000 steps today? Did you sleep seven to eight hours? Did you eat protein, fiber and healthy fat with each meal? By achieving those goals you have control over, you will succeed at losing weight and keeping it off.

READ MORE : 138 Pound Weight Loss Changes Woman’s Life

TONING ARMS

Sudie of Kansas City, Mo., asked : I can’t seem to tone my arms. I do cardio four times a week, upper body two times and lower body two times. What am I doing wrong that my arms will not tone?

Harley’s answer: It could be one of many things. Are you training hard enough? Is there enough variation in your program? More important, is there fat covering the muscles of your arms that prohibits them from looking toned and lean. If so, is your diet off? Are you doing enough cardio? I leave it to you to answer.

WORKOUTS FOR WOMAN WITH KNEE PROBLEMS

Cheyenne of Tucson, Ariz., asked: Since I can remember I’ve had trouble with my knees and of course as I’ve aged, the problem has gotten worse. I don’t want to resort to surgery and have heard that I can strengthen the muscles around the knees to help, but I don’t know where to start. My knees are so bad I cannot squat down without pain, and even then cannot do a proper squat or go down very far. As for kneeling, it is nearly impossible, except for brief periods. I know losing weight will help but I need to know what I can do to get moving, helping me to not only lose weight but improve my knees to the point where I can enjoy being active again.

Harley’s answer: Obviously, without knowing what’s wrong with your knees, I’m not sure how to help them, but, swimming is a great activity for many people with bad knees and backs. Try finding a local swimming pool and get wet!

TRICKS TO LOSE LAST STUBBORN POUNDS?

Kia of Philadelphia, Pa., asked: How do I lose those last stubborn pounds? I have about 15 more pounds I would like to lose. Currently I strength train 5 times a week and do cardio five or six times a week (35 to 60 minutes). Should I increase the strength training or cardio or both to lose those last stubborn pounds?

Harley’s answer: Sounds like you’re doing all you can with your workouts so I assume it’s a diet issue for you. Try keeping a diet log and having your diet analyzed with myfitnesspal.com.

EXERCISE POST MENOPAUSE TO SEE RESULTS?

Janice of Beltsville, Md., asked : I have tried many different exercises and food plans but since I entered into menopause nothing seems to be working. What would you suggests I do to see results of a weight loss?

Harley’s answer: Are you eating as well as you can? Are you as active as you should be? If the answer is yes (and it usually is not), then see your doctor. Perhaps you have another health issue that needs to be addressed.

TONE CORE AND GET RID OF ARM FLAB?

Kittie of Huntington Beach, Calif., asked : Hi, I am 57 years old and I have consistently worked out for many years. I do weights four to five times a week and do cardio for an hour each time I lift weights. I do two 30-minute intervals of cardio, one on the elliptical and a walk run on the treadmill. I look the same all the time and not sure what I should be doing now. I would like my core to be better and flatter and my arms to look tight even without flexing my muscles. How do I flatten/tighten my core and get rid of the flab on the back of my arms? I am 5’4? and weight about 145.

Harley’s answer: Do you change up your program? Change the sets, reps, resistance, the combination of body parts, the cadence at which you’re training? Even the music you listen to can make a difference! And, of course, keep a diet log and see if you really are eating as well as you can!

EXERCISE WHILE WALKING FOR MOM ON THE GO?

Stacia of Tunkhannock, Pa., asked : I eat fairly healthy, but do not get any exercise. I would like to walk. Can you suggest something to get the most out of a walk with a 3-year-old child in tow?

Harley’s answer: Pick up a pedometer. It’s a tiny device that keeps track of how many steps you take a day. Shoot for at least 10,000 a day. Otherwise, get a comfortable pair of shoes.

MORE: Chris Powell’s New Year’s Fitness Tips

MORE: Star Trainer Tracy Anderson’s A-List Body Secrets

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Women Lose Half Their Weight: How They Did It

At 25 years old and 288 pounds, Ashley Donahoo was depressed.

“I was unhappy with my job, I was unhappy with the direction my life was going, and I had a hard time enjoying the little things that my kids wanted to do,” the 27-year-old mother of two from Pace, Fla., said. “My health was failing. My doctor told me that he didn’t think I was going to make it to 30 if I kept on [this way]. … It kept getting worse and worse.”

Donahoo was concerned, but it was her faithful husband, David, who pushed her on a path to health, starting with a walk around the block.

“His heart was breaking for me,” she said. “And he saw how unhappy I was, and he came to me and said, ‘We’re going to go for a walk.’  And I was, like, ‘No, we’re not.’”

Her husband won that battle, and on the walk, she started thinking about her own choices and future.

“The realization hit me that I made this choice.  I made this choice to get where I am right now.  So I’m going to start making a different choice,” she said.   ”I put my health and myself on back burner, and I think … it had all caught up to me.”

Jumpstart Your Weight Loss: CLICK HERE to Ask a Celebrity Trainer a Question!

Like Donahoo, Caroline Jhingory reached a similar eye-opening realization about her weight.

“I looked in the mirror one day and just realized I didn’t recognize the person that was staring back at me,” said Jhingory, 32, of Washington, D.C.

Jhingory’s struggles with her weight began early. At age 8, she weighed 120 pounds. Taunted by her peers, Jhingory was enrolled in a medical weight loss program, but it didn’t work because she would sneak junk food like candy bars.

“I found a way to be a food hustler and get whatever food I wanted,” she said. “Not only did I spend two decades of my life morbidly obese. I spent two decades of my life being taunted and teased in every environment. I never went to prom. I never had dates. I couldn’t ride a roller coaster because the safety bar wouldn’t go over my stomach.”

Jhingory remained heavy until college, when she tipped the scales at 303 pounds and started feeling self-conscious in her new environment.

“I felt like I had a moment when all these difficult experiences were a huge pause button on my life. I finally said to myself, ‘I’m tired of this. I want to have a normal life.’”

Jhingory started walking everywhere. Then, she took up a daily cardio regimen to shed the weight, and she rid her pantry of tempting snack foods she once binged on. Now 149 pounds, she has reclaimed her shape and kept off the weight.

Jhingory’s amazing transformation, along with Donahoo’s and other weight-loss success stories, were spotlighted in the “Half Their Size” feature in the latest issue of People magazine.

RELATED: Is Being Overweight Really Bad For You?

Donahoo cut out the late-night binges that brought her down and, thanks to her strong support system, lost 137 pounds. She credited her weight loss success to tracking her food and exercise on livestrong.com and running. She has run two 5Ks.

Leah Fernandez of Atlanta found herself at 251 pounds after two pregnancies. The baby weight stuck and she tended to eat emotionally.

“I wanted the food,” she said. “It made me feel good, and so I ate it.”

But it was the motivation to be there for her children that helped her turn it all around.

“Thinking about going out to the park with my kids felt like work to me, you know?  And at some point I realized that’s ridiculous. Not only am I cheating myself but I’m cheating my kids of me,” she said.

Fernandez turned to Jenny Craig in March 2011 and hasn’t looked back. Since then, she has lost half her weight by staying active with her kids and incorporating walking into her lifestyle.

“I’m getting my groove back.  Leah’s getting her groove back,” she said.

RELATED: Apps to Help With Weight-Loss Resolutions

RELATED: 329 Pound-Weight-Loss Trio Share Their Secrets

READ MORE: 138 Pound Weight Loss Changes Woman’s Life

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Clinton receiving blood thinners to dissolve clot

WASHINGTON (AP) — Doctors treating Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton for a blood clot in her head said blood thinners are being used to dissolve the clot and they are confident she will make a full recovery.

Clinton didn’t suffer a stroke or neurological damage from the clot that formed after she suffered a concussion during a fainting spell at her home in early December, doctors said in a statement Monday.

Clinton, 65, was admitted to New York-Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday when the clot turned up on a follow-up exam on the concussion, Clinton spokesman Phillipe Reines said.

The clot is located in the vein in the space between the brain and the skull behind the right ear. She will be released once the medication dose for the blood thinners has been established, the doctors said.

In their statement, Dr. Lisa Bardack of the Mount Kisco Medical Group and Dr. Gigi El-Bayoumi of George Washington University said Clinton was making excellent progress and was in good spirits.

Clinton’s complication “certainly isn’t the most common thing to happen after a concussion” and is one of the few types of blood clots in the skull or head that are treated with blood thinners, said Dr. Larry Goldstein, a neurologist who is director of Duke University’s stroke center. He is not involved in Clinton’s care.

The area where Clinton’s clot developed is “a drainage channel, the equivalent of a big vein inside the skull. It’s how the blood gets back to the heart,” Goldstein said.

Blood thinners usually are enough to treat the clot and it should have no long-term consequences if her doctors are saying she has suffered no neurological damage from it, Goldstein said.

Clinton returned to the U.S. from a trip to Europe, then fell ill with a stomach virus in early December that left her severely dehydrated and forced her to cancel a trip to North Africa and the Middle East. Until then, she had canceled only two scheduled overseas trips, one to Europe after breaking her elbow in June 2009 and one to Asia after the February 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Her condition worsened when she fainted, fell and suffered a concussion while at home alone in mid-December as she recovered from the virus. It was announced Dec. 13.

This isn’t the first time Clinton has suffered a blood clot. In 1998, midway through her husband’s second term as president, Clinton was in New York fundraising for the midterm elections when a swollen right foot led her doctor to diagnose a clot in her knee requiring immediate treatment.

Clinton had planned to step down as secretary of state at the beginning of President Barack Obama’s second term. Whether she will return to work before she resigns remained a question.

Democrats are privately if not publicly speculating: How might her illness affect a decision about running for president in 2016?

After decades in politics, Clinton says she plans to spend the next year resting. She has long insisted she had no intention of mounting a second campaign for the White House four years from now. But the door is not entirely closed, and she would almost certainly emerge as the Democrat to beat if she decided to give in to calls by Democratic fans and run again.

Her age — and thereby health — would probably be a factor under consideration, given that Clinton would be 69 when sworn in, if she were elected in 2016. That might become even more of an issue in the early jockeying for 2016 if what started as a bad stomach bug becomes a prolonged, public bout with more serious infirmity.

Not that Democrats are willing to talk openly about the political implications of a long illness, choosing to keep any discussions about her condition behind closed doors. Publicly, Democrats reject the notion that a blood clot could hinder her political prospects.

“Some of those concerns could be borderline sexist,” said Basil Smikle, a Democratic strategist who worked for Clinton when she was a senator. “Dick Cheney had significant heart problems when he was vice president, and people joked about it. He took the time he needed to get better, and it wasn’t a problem.”

It isn’t uncommon for presidential candidates’ health — and age — to be an issue. Both in 2000 and 2008, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had to rebut concerns he was too old to be commander in chief or that his skin cancer could resurface.

Two decades after Clinton became the first lady, signs of her popularity — and her political strength — are ubiquitous.

Obama had barely declared victory in November when Democrats started zealously plugging Clinton as their strongest White House contender four years from now, should she choose to take that leap.

“Wouldn’t that be exciting?” House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi declared in December. “I hope she goes. Why wouldn’t she?”

Even Republicans concede that were she to run, Clinton would be a force to be reckoned with.

“Trying to win that will be truly the Super Bowl,” Newt Gingrich, the former House Speaker and 2012 GOP presidential candidate, said in December. “The Republican Party today is incapable of competing at that level.”

Americans admire Clinton more than any other woman in the world, according to a Gallup poll released Monday — the 17th time in 20 years that Clinton has claimed that title. And a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 57 percent of Americans would support Clinton as a candidate for president in 2016, with just 37 percent opposed. Websites have already cropped up hawking “Clinton 2016″ mugs and tote bags.

Beyond talk of future politics, Clinton’s three-week absence from the State Department has raised eyebrows among some conservative commentators who questioned the seriousness of her ailment after she canceled planned Dec. 20 testimony before Congress on the deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.

Clinton had been due to discuss with lawmakers a scathing report she had commissioned on the attack. It found serious failures of leadership and management in two State Department bureaus were to blame for insufficient security at the facility. Clinton took responsibility for the incident before the report was released, but she was not blamed. Four officials cited in the report have either resigned or been reassigned.

___

Associated Press writer Ken Thomas in Washington and AP Chief Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

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Vomiting Larry battles “Ferrari of the virus world”

LONDON (Reuters) – Poor Larry isn’t looking too good. He’s pale and clammy and he’s been projectile vomiting over and over again while his carers just stand by and watch.

Yet their lack of concern for Larry is made up for by their intense interest in how far splashes of his vomit can fly, and how effectively they evade attempts to clean them up.

Larry is a “humanoid simulated vomiting system” designed to help scientists analyze contagion. And like millions around the world right now, he’s struggling with norovirus – a disease one British expert describes as “the Ferrari of the virus world”.

“Norovirus is one of the most infectious viruses of man,” said Ian Goodfellow, a professor of virology at the department of pathology at Britain‘s University of Cambridge, who has been studying noroviruses for 10 years.

“It takes fewer than 20 virus particles to infect someone. So each droplet of vomit or gram of feces from an infected person can contain enough virus to infect more than 100,000 people.”

Norovirus is hitting hard this year – and earlier too.

In Britain so far this season, more than a million people are thought to have suffered the violent vomiting and diarrhea it can bring. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said this high rate of infection relatively early in the winter mirrors trends seen in Japan and Europe.

“In Australia the norovirus season also peaks during the winter, but this season it has gone on longer than usual and they are seeing cases into their summer,” it said in a statement.

In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) say norovirus causes 21 million illnesses annually. Of those who get the virus, some 70,000 require hospitalization and around 800 die each year.

PROFUSE AND PROJECTILE

Norovirus dates back more than 40 years and takes its name from the U.S. city of Norwalk, Ohio, where there was an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis in school children in November 1968.

Symptoms include a sudden onset of vomiting, which can be projectile, and diarrhea, which may be profuse and watery. Some victims also suffer fevers, headaches and stomach cramps.

John Harris, an expert on the virus at Britain’s HPA, puts it simply: “Norovirus is very contagious and very unpleasant.”

What makes this such a formidable enemy is its ability to evade death from cleaning and to survive long periods outside a human host. Scientists have found norovirus can remain alive and well for 12 hours on hard surfaces and up to 12 days on contaminated fabrics such as carpets and upholstery. In still water, it can survive for months, maybe even years.

At the Health and Safety Laboratory in Derbyshire, northern England, where researcher Catherine Makison developed the humanoid simulated vomiting system and nicknamed him “Vomiting Larry”, scientists analyzing his reach found that small droplets of sick can spread over three meters.

“The dramatic nature of the vomiting episodes produces a lot of aerosolized vomit, much of which is invisible to the naked eye,” Goodfellow told Reuters.

Larry’s projections were easy to spot because he had been primed with a “vomitus substitute”, scientists explain, which included a fluorescent marker to help distinguish even small splashes – but they would not be at all easily visible under standard white hospital lighting.

Add the fact that norovirus is particularly resistant to normal household disinfectants and even alcohol hand gels, and it’s little wonder the sickness wreaks such havoc in hospitals, schools, nursing homes, cruise ships and hotels.

During the two weeks up to December 23, there were 70 hospital outbreaks of norovirus reported in Britain, and last week a cruise ship that sails between New York and Britain’s Southampton docked in the Caribbean with about 200 people on board suffering suspected norovirus.

MOVING TARGET

The good news, for some, is that not everyone appears to be equally susceptible to norovirus infection. According to Goodfellow, around 20 percent of Europeans have a mutation in a gene called FUT2 that makes them resistant.

For the rest the only likely good news will have to wait for the results of trials of a potential norovirus vaccine developed by U.S. drugmaker LigoCyte Pharmaceuticals Inc, or from one of several research teams around the world working on possible new antiviral drugs to treat the infection.

Early tests in 2011 indicated that around half of people vaccinated with the experimental shot, now owned by Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceutical Co, were protected from symptomatic norovirus infection.

The bad news, virologists say, is that the virus changes constantly, making it a moving target for drug developers. There is also evidence that humans’ immune response to infection is short-lived, so people can become re-infected by the same virus within just a year or two.

“There are many strains, and the virus changes very rapidly – it undergoes something virologists call genetic drift,” Harris said in a telephone interview. “When it makes copies of itself, it makes mistakes in those copies – so each time you encounter the virus you may be encountering a slightly different one.”

This means that even if a vaccine were to be fully developed – still a big ‘if’ – it would probably need to be tweaked and repeated in a slightly different formula each year to prevent people getting sick.

Until any effective drugs or vaccines are developed, experts reckon that like the common cold, norovirus will be an unwelcome guest for many winters to come. Their advice is to stay away from anyone with the virus, and use soap and water liberally.

“One of the reasons norovirus spreads so fast is that the majority of people don’t wash their hands for long enough,” said Goodfellow. “We’d suggest people count to 15 while washing their hands and ensure their hands are dried completely.”

(Reporting by Kate Kelland; Editing by Will Waterman)

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Michigan hospital blazes trail in fight against fungal meningitis

CHICAGO (Reuters) – After his first day working at St Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor hospital’s newly created Fungal Outbreak Clinic, Dr David Vandenberg struggled to describe to his boss the enormity of what lay ahead. He settled on a line from the movie Jaws.

“We’re going to need a bigger boat,” Vandenberg told Dr Lakshmi Halasyamani, chief medical officer of the Michigan hospital, echoing the film’s local police chief after he first eyes a 25-foot (7.5-metre) killer shark.

The St Joseph Mercy clinic has been at the front line of the fight against one of the biggest ever U.S. outbreaks of fungal meningitis, a killer infection that has been traced to tainted steroid shots from a Massachusetts pharmacy.

So far, 620 Americans have developed serious infections related to the outbreak, including 367 cases of deadly meningitis, and 39 people have died. Of the 19 U.S. states affected, Michigan has been worst hit, handling more than one third of the total cases in the outbreak.

St Joseph Mercy – a 537-bed Catholic hospital located in Ypsilanti, on the doorstep of the University of Michigan – has treated 169 of the state’s 223 cases of infections that can cause meningitis, including 7 people who died.

At one point it was so overrun that 87 of its 537 beds, which are usually occupied by patients with cancer or heart ailments and the like, were occupied by patients with fungal meningitis and related infections.

Dr Tom Chiller, the fungal disease expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who has been overseeing the outbreak, praised the work of the hospital in helping to limit deaths from the outbreak.

“They have been incredibly creative in dealing with these complicated patients,” he said.

In all, almost 14,000 people seeking relief from back and joint pain received injections from moldy steroid shots made at the now-bankrupt New England Compounding Center in Massachusetts before they were recalled in late September.

CDC experts initially feared death rates in the 40 to 50 percent range; instead, only about 6 percent of those infected have died, and the CDC credits the creative and dogged efforts of state and local health officials for keeping the death rates so low.

The first wave of the outbreak involved the most severe cases of meningitis – an inflammation of the membranes that cover the brain and spinal cord. But starting in mid-October, patients who had been recovering from meningitis were developing potentially fatal localized infections near the site where contaminated drug was injected to treat back or neck pain.

As they started seeing more cases of these local, secondary infections, the staff at St Joseph‘s devised a bold plan to screen all patients in their database looking for potential new infections that might have been missed in the first wave.

On December 20, the CDC issued an alert to doctors incorporating some of lessons learned by the efforts of doctors at St Joseph’s and other hospitals, calling for increased screening of patients who may be harboring localized infections.

A BEWILDERING FUNGI

Among the patients who developed secondary infections was Bonita Robbins, a 72-year-old retired nurse from Pinckney, Michigan, who received doses of the tainted drug at the Michigan Pain Specialists clinic in the nearby town of Brighton while seeking relief for lower-back pain.

The first shot brought some relief, the second did little to ease her aches, and the third was contaminated. In October, Robbins went to St Joseph’s with a severe headache, back pain and pain in her thighs.

She spent 37 days in the hospital taking two kinds of antifungal drugs.

Dr Anurag Malani, an infectious disease specialist treating Robbins, said the challenge with the outbreak was that there was no medical literature to fall back on.

“No one has ever seen anything of this magnitude related to fungal infections, ever,” he said.

Chiller said U.S. doctors had never treated meningitis caused by Exserohilum rostratum, the environmental mold causing most of the infections.

“It’s just a rare, rare cause of infection.” Seeing that mold in the meninges – membranes covering the brain and spinal cord – is “completely new.”

Initially, St Joseph’s Fungal Outbreak Clinic was started in order to coordinate the care of patients after their discharge, which included overseeing the administration of a complex regime of anti-fungal drugs.

It morphed into something bigger when some of its 53 patients with meningitis started returning with infections near the site in their back or neck where the contaminated drug was injected.

Then came a wave of patients like Robbins, who had been ruled out for meningitis with a spinal tap, but were still complaining of pain near their injection site.

GETTING THE ‘BIGGER BOAT’

“When it became obvious that the number of patients would be a much higher percentage than anticipated by the CDC, we expanded our clinic and started enlisting the help of several other hospitals,” Vandenberg said.

Many of the patients had spinal abscesses, an infection in the space between the outside covering of the spinal cord and the bones of the spine. Others developed arachnoiditis, an infection of nerves within the spinal canal.

The decision to screen all patients in the hospital database who might have received tainted injections was not taken at the recommendation of the CDC.

“That was our own decision,” said Vandenberg, a specialist in internal medicine overseeing the screening effort.

He admitted that the strategy was aggressive, but said that, especially early on, doctors feared the local infections might be precursors to meningitis, making catching them early a potentially life-saving move.

Excluding patients who had already been screened and those who had injections in areas other than the spine, the hospital targeted about 500 patients for MRI scans.

Most so far have had private insurance that covers the screening. For the uninsured, the hospital’s Patient Financial Services department has been helping them to apply for financial support.

“We did over 400 MRIs in about a 4-week period,” Vandenberg said. The hospital screened so many patients, in fact, that the state of Michigan sent in an emergency mobile MRI unit to help.

Vandenberg got the task of reading stacks of MRI reports, sometimes as many as 30 a day.

So far, about 20 percent of the MRIs have shown up as abnormal, meaning that patients have to come back for surgery and treatment.

Vandenberg makes all of those calls personally. Not all of them go smoothly. He likens the gravity of the conversation – learning you have a potentially deadly new disease that requires months of treatment with risky drugs – to telling someone they have cancer.

After one especially tough call, in which a heart patient feared he would not survive the surgery he would need to clear his infection, Vandenberg cracked.

“I started crying. I probably haven’t cried for 15 years.”

SIGNS OUTBREAK IS EASING

But at last, after months of onslaught, there are signs the outbreak is easing.

Attendance at the hospital’s daily support group has begun to taper off. And since the beginning of December, more than 50 patients with fungal infections have been discharged, while only 20 have been admitted, bringing the total number of fungus-related inpatient to 30.

Vandenberg nevertheless cautions that the outbreak is still far from over.

“Every single day of this screening program, we’re finding one or two cases that are abnormal and need to be admitted,” he said.

Vandenberg gave the CDC access to the clinic’s database so the agency could see how the effort turned out, and this month, the CDC issued the alert to doctors incorporating some of the results of the MRI screening program.

The alert warned that some patients who got tainted injections but did not develop meningitis may still be at risk of localized infections.

And it urged doctors to consider ordering an MRI for all patients who still have pain, even if the pain is similar to what sent them in for treatment in the first place.

Chiller said the United States had not yet reached the end of the outbreak.

“Unfortunately, with fungi, the incubation periods are so long and they can remain indolent. I’m definitely concerned that we’re going to continue to see more cases.”

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Jilian Mincer, Mary Milliken and David Brunnstrom)

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Humidity Levels Explain U.S. Flu Winter Peak

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Program helps veterans reintegrate through music

MONTCLAIR, N.J. (AP) — During stressful times as a combat medic in Afghanistan, Mason Sullivan found solace in Vivaldi. New Jersey native Nairobi Cruz was comforted by country music, a genre she had never heard before joining the Army. For Jose Mercedes, it was an eclectic iPod mix that helped him cope with losing an arm during a tour of duty in Iraq.

These three young veterans all say music played a crucial role in alleviating the stresses of active duty. Now, all three are enrolled in a program that hopes to use music to ease their reintegration into civilian life.

“It’s a therapy session without the ‘sit down, lay down, and write notes,’” Mercedes, 26, of Union City, said of the music program. “It’s different — it’s an alternative that’s way better.”

The pilot program, called Voices of Valor, has veterans work as a group to synthesize their experiences into musical lyrics. Guided by musicians and a psychology mentor, they write and record a song, and then hold a CD release party. The program is currently under way at Montclair State University, where students participate through the school’s veteran affairs program.

Developed by husband and wife team Rena Fruchter and Brian Dallow, it is open to veterans of any age and background. No musical experience is required.

Both accomplished musicians, Fruchter and Dallow created the program as part of Music for All Seasons, an organization they founded which runs musical programs for audiences at places ranging from nursing homes to prisons.

Based on their experiences working with children at shelters for victims of domestic violence, Fruchter and Dallow realized that young people too traumatized to talk about what they had been through were nevertheless willing to bang on an instrument or sing — often leading to communication breakthroughs. They felt the same might be true for veterans, or other populations traditionally averse to more overt forms of ‘talk therapy.’

“We’ve had situations in which veterans have been carrying their burdens deep inside for such a long time, and they come into this group and they begin to talk about things that they’ve never talked about before,” Fruchter said. “They really open up, and it translates into some music that is really amazing and incredible and powerful.”

During a recent session of the eight-week program in Montclair, music facilitators Jennifer Lampert, a former Miss USO, and Julio Fernandez, a musician and member of the band Spyro Gyra, lead a small group of young veterans in brainstorming about their experiences.

“Tired of being angry,” ”Easier not to move on,” ”The war at home,” were phrases Lampert extracted from a discussion among the participants and she wrote each phrase in marker on large notepads fastened to a classroom blackboard. As they spoke, Fernandez strummed an acoustic guitar while Lampert sang some of the phrases the students had come up with, adjusting the beat and tempo at their suggestion. Suddenly, a musical lyric emerged: “Sometimes, I wish the past is where I stayed.”

A few weeks later, the group gathered at a sound studio in Union City, where they donned headphones and clearly relished the opportunity to record their collectively written tune, “Freedom,” in a professional studio.

“To see music heal people in that way, it’s beautiful, and the real incredible part is you don’t have to do anything but give in to the music,” Lampert said. She recounted how, time and again, the facilitators of the program had watched some participants start the class with shoulders slumped, hesitant to make eye contact, and afraid to speak up. Through the process of writing music they changed, she said, into group-focused, smiling, active participants unafraid to stand up and belt out a tune.

7/87/8_____

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Dentist Office Doubles as a Beauty Spa

Dec 27, 2012 6:58am

Scary lights, intrusive equipment and high-pitched sounds that make you squirm are what normally come to mind when one thinks of a visit to the dentist’s office.

Not so for the patients of Dr. Patty’s Dental Boutique in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., a dentist office that doubles as a beauty spa.

“There are about 30 to 40 million Americans who suffer from dental anxiety,” Dr. Patty, whose real name is April Patterson, told ABC News’ Bianna Golodryga.  “I wanted to do everything I can to make those clients feel like they are not at the dentist.”

To do that, Patterson created an office that is definitely not your father’s dentist’s office.  Her version features treatments you’d get at your everyday spa – from facials to massages to eyelash extensions and a brow bar – along with the typical dental work.

“I offer high-end, quality dental services along with a full menu of spa services,” Patterson said.

“I can give you a great example of how all the services kind of work together,” she said.  “A client is coming in to have their dental veneers done. They come in an hour early [and] they can have a facial or a massage while their valium takes effect. They come in to start their dental procedure and they’re nice and relaxed.”

A typical client is one like Christina Carter, who came to Patterson’s office to have her braces removed but stayed for a scheduled facial.

“A busy professional like myself, it’s a one-stop shop where I can get my dental work done and I can also get a facial and massage and just relax,” Carter told ABC News.  “When you’re busy, it’s just so nice to have everything all at one spot.”

It’s not just women like Carter, however, who appreciate the one-stop solution Patterson has built.  Men like Andrew Heller, who came in for veneers but left with Botox, as well, are also her clients.

“I’m thrilled,” Heller said of his new look after Patterson put filler around his mouth and injected Botox in his forehead.

“It turned out better than I could have imagined, but it took her a tremendous amount of convincing to do more than just enhancing the teeth,” he said.

For Patterson, her combination dental office and spa is about more than just cosmetics.

“This is not just about teeth,” she said.  “This is also about building confidence and changing lives.”

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Early Childhood Obesity Rates Might Be Slowing Nation-Wide

About one in three children in the U.S. are now overweight, and since the 1980s the number of children who are obese has more than tripled. But a new study of 26.7 million young children from low-income families shows that in this group of kids, the tidal wave of obesity might finally be receding.Being obese as a child not only increases the risk of early-life health problems, such as joint problems, pre-diabetes and social stigmatization, but it also dramatically increases the likelihood of being obese later in life, which can lead to chronic diseases, including cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Children as young as 2 years of age can be obese–and even extremely obese. Early childhood obesity rates, which bring higher health care costs throughout a kid’s life, have been especially high among lower-income families.”This is the first national study to show that the prevalence of obesity and extreme obesity among young U.S. children may have begun to decline,” the researchers noted in a brief report published online December 25 in JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association. (Reports earlier this year suggested that childhood obesity rates were dropping in several U.S. cities.)The study examined rates of obesity (body mass index calculated by age and gender to be in the 95th percentile or higher–for example, a BMI above 20 for a 2-year-old male–compared with reference growth charts) and extreme obesity (BMI of more than 120 percent above that of the 95th percentile of the reference populations) in children ages 2 to 4 in 30 states and the District of Columbia. The researchers, led by Liping Pan, of the Division of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, combed through 12 years of data (1998 to 2010) from the Pediatric Nutritional Surveillance System, which includes information on roughly half of all children on the U.S. who are eligible for federal health care and nutrition assistance.A subtle but important shift in early childhood obesity rates in this low-income population seems to have begun in 2003. Obesity rates increased from 13.05 percent in 1998 to 15.21 percent in 2003. Soon, however, obesity rates began decreasing, reaching 14.94 percent by 2010. Extreme obesity followed a similar pattern, increasing from 1.75 percent to 2.22 percent from 1998 to 2003, but declining to 2.07 percent by 2010.Although these changes might seem small, the number of children involved makes for huge health implications. For example, each drop of just one tenth of a percentage point represents some 26,700 children in the study population alone who are no longer obese or extremely obese. And if these trends are occurring in the rest of the population, the long-term health and cost implications are massive.Public health agencies and the Obama Administration have made battling childhood obesity a priority, although these findings suggest that early childhood obesity rates, at least, were already beginning to decline nearly a decade ago. Some popular prevention strategies include encouraging healthier eating (by reducing intake of highly processed and high-sugar foods and increasing fruit and vegetable consumption) and increased physical activity (both at school and at home).The newly revealed trends “indicate modest recent progress of obesity prevention among young children,” the authors noted. “These finding may have important health implications because of the lifelong health risks of obesity and extreme obesity in early childhood.”

Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs.Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
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UCB gets Japan clearance for two new drugs

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Belgian pharmaceutical company UCB has secured two regulatory clearances in Japan, further cementing its worldwide shift to a new generation of drugs.

The company said in a statement on Tuesday that the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare had approved UCB’s Neupro patch to treat Parkinson’s disease and moderate-to-severe Restleg Legs Syndrome in adults.

Otsuka Pharmaceutical has the exclusive rights for developing and marketing Neupro in Japan, with UCB responsible in all other regions worldwide. Neupro is available in 35 countries.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, UCB said its drug Cimzia had been approved in Japan for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in adults.

UCB is jointly developing the drug there with Astellas Pharma Inc, with UCB manufacturing it and Astellas managing distribution and sales. UCB said it would receive an unspecified milestone payment from Astellas.

Cimzia is currently being sold in over 30 countries, including the United States and in Europe.

UCB, a central nervous system and immunology specialist, is placing its hopes on three new drugs – Cimzia, Neupro and epilepsy treatment Vimpat – as previous blockbuster Keppra, also for epilepsy, faces patent expiries.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; editing by Patrick Graham)

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Meanwhile, Deep Inside Your Belly Button …

Dec 23, 2012 7:00am

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Reported by Dr. Amish Patel:

Researchers have found that more than 2,000 different species of bacteria live in our umbilicus – the medical word for belly button.  That means you have more kinds of bacteria in your belly button than there are different kinds of ants or birds in North America, according to the study.

The majority of these bacteria were rare and occurred in just one individual.  No single type was common to all 60 belly buttons sampled.

“I don’t find it alarming,” said Dr. William Schaffner, an expert in infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.  “We knew belly buttons weren’t sterile.”

However, Schaffner believes that this does not minimize the study’s findings.

“This is in the context of a much larger study, which is trying to … get greater insight into the source of pathogens and how the [bacteria on our body] changes with antimicrobial therapy and age.”

Perhaps, he said, we can “use this to develop new antimicrobials.”

The benefits may extend beyond antibiotics.

“Understanding the biodiversity of our bodies and how it differs among people may play an important role in understanding why some … people are susceptible to the same pathogen or respond to the same drug or diet,” said Dr. Rob Knight, associate professor of molecular biophysics at the University of Colorado – Boulder.

Although the findings of the study do not have any immediate implications, this is good timing for a public service announcement from Dr. Gregory Poland, infectious disease expert at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

“The current fad of women piercing their umbilicus has led to many case reports of infections,” Poland said. “And with today’s multiple drug-resistant bacteria, it can lead to disasters.”

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Spectrum Pharma’s blood cancer drug meets goal in mid-stage trial

(Reuters) – Spectrum Pharmaceuticals Inc said a mid-stage trial of its experimental blood cancer drug met the main goal of shrinking tumors.

The drug, belinostat, was tested in patients with relapsed/refractory peripheral T-Cell (PTCL) lymphoma, who have failed at least one therapy.

The biotechnology company said it expects to file a marketing application with U.S. health regulators by mid-2013, and expects a review date in 2014.

Belinostat was granted orphan-drug status and fast-track status by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for PTCL.

Spectrum‘s shares, which have fallen about 22 percent in the last year, closed at $ 11.30 on the Nasdaq on Thursday.

(Reporting By Vrinda Manocha in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)

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Le Male Yoga Announces Tips to Help All Males Start 2013 as the Best Men They Could Possibly Be

Le Male Yoga presents some very potent Yoga Poses for Men to Boost Their Libido, Enhance Sexual Energy as well as Control in 2013. In addition to the traditional benefits of Yoga, the male only studio in New York City gives men the opportunity to improve their sex life and introduce stimulants other than pills.

New York City, NY (PRWEB) December 19, 2012

One of the most important activities in a man’s life is his sex life. Le Male Yoga in New York City helps men improve just that and make it more interesting by incorporating specific Yoga Poses as well as Pranayama, Bandha and Chakra work in a relevant and exciting way to stimulate energy flow throughout the body.

According to the Loma Linda University Medical Center (LLUMC) as well as the European Association of Urology (EAU) approximately 31 percent of American men report having some difficulty experiencing sexual satisfaction, and worldwide, one in 10 men suffers from erectile dysfunction. Men’s major problems are:

• Having a soft erection / inability to maintain it


• Premature or prolonged ejaculation


• Low intensity


• Self confidence


• Performance skills


• Satisfying his partner

Practicing Yoga on a regular basis will alter body chemistry by empowering the endocrine glands for more HGH, Serotonin and Testosterone. It stimulates blood circulation, detoxifies the body and strengthens the cardiovascular system, endocrine/immune and nervous systems, which leads to improved sexual health.

Le Male Yoga focuses on improving self-esteem, strengthening the body and calming the mind. Especially Tantric Flow Yoga will teach men to concentrate, re-focus and tap into their sexual core energy, which is considered the most potent form of bio-chemical energy in the body and can be used for rejuvenating the entire physical apparatus, which means improved virility and energy as well as spiritual growth and transformation. Le Male Yoga provides a potent set of sequences for men to heal any dysfunction, increase potency and refine energy.

One of the most powerful and fruitful actions a man can perform is engaging the Mula Bandha (Root lock, first of three locks). For men, the contraction happens in the area between the anus and the genitals, lifting the perineum up towards the abdomen. Mula Bandha can be engaged from 10 to 100 percent and can either be held for as long as possible or used rhythmically engaging and releasing the contraction with the breath. This kind of action can lead to have more control, being able to influence an erection and maintain it without premature ejaculation.

About Joschi Le Male Yoga:

Le Male Yoga is for fit men who aim to initiate a lifestyle that liberates, expands and energizes. Le Male Yoga offers Tantra and Vinyasa Yoga to give fit, in-shape and athletic men a unique opportunity to recharge their body, update their mindset and celebrate life.

Le Male Yoga provides a welcoming and real community for all men – gay, straight or bisexual – who enjoy fitness, communal bonding, socializing & having fun in a safe and judgment-free atmosphere.

Explore Power Flow Yoga for a high-heat, high-energy workout, Tantric Yoga to tap into your sexual core energy and Yogassage to enhance the body’s erotic potential.

Whether students are beginners, advanced practitioners or somewhere in between… LMY offers something for every man.

Le Male Yoga offers one-of-a kind classes, workshops, retreats and teacher training programs in New York City and around the world.

Monika Werner
Joschi Le Male
212.399.6307
Email Information

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The Top 10 Science Stories of 2012

Many more than 10 events took place during 2012 that reveal how science and technology play integral roles in our lives. As a broad topic, climate change took center stage, offering many possible choices, including efforts to combat it head-on with a rogue geoengineering experiment meant to suck carbon dioxide out of the air as well as efforts to develop clean energy, such as the creation of microbes that convert seaweed into ethanol.The Internet and other communications technology still creates challenges for policymakers, companies and individuals. Among the most notable controversies was the one centered on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), which led to a blackout protest by some well-trafficked sites, such as Wikipedia.And research in basic science continues to assault conventional thinking, such as the reported discovery of ovarian stem cells. If confirmed, the finding would overturn the long-held notion that women are not born with all the eggs they will ever have.Alas, cultural norms and conventions dictate that we stick to 10 items; channeling Spinal Tap and dialing it up to 11 would hardly help. Feel free to discuss your own picks in the comments section below.» Begin the Countdown of the Top 10 Science Stories of 2012

Image: Felix Baumgartner taking the plunge courtesy of Red Bull StratosDaredevils Reach New Highs and LowsScience and technology reached new heights and depths in 2012, thanks to human daredevils willing to risk life and limb to explore both the Earth’s stratosphere and its deepest undersea trench. The success of both feats hinged not only on the cutting-edge gear that protected the men from either thin air or crushing pressure, but also on clever thinking to reach their destinations.On October 14 Austrian Felix Baumgartner broke the 50-year-old mark for highest-ever skydive after leaping from a balloon nearly 39 kilometers above Earth’s surface, traveling at supersonic speeds before landing in southeastern New Mexico. During his 20-minute descent Baumgartner’s top speed reached 1,342.8 kilometers per hour, making him the first skydiver to break the sound barrier, which is 1,236 kilometers per hour at sea level. Baumgartner’s mission also set the record for highest-ever manned balloon flight.Baumgartner’s full-pressure suit included a control mechanism designed to adjust pressure at different altitudes, protecting him from symptoms of decompression sickness during his rapid descent. The balloon that took Baumgartner to the apex of his journey was made of a polyethylene film, only 0.02 millimeter thick, that could enclose a voume of nearly 850,000 cubic meters. Baumgartner’s equipment included main and emergency parachutes, along with a drogue stabilization chute to help him recover from an uncontrollable spin. The main and reserve chutes were designed to open at speeds of up to 280 kilometers per hour.At the other extreme, filmmaker James Cameron in March became the first solo aquanaut to reach the deepest recess of the Mariana Trench, touching down at the Challenger Deep site about 11 kilometers below the surface of the Pacific Ocean. Cameron, who directed the first two Terminator movies as well as Titanic and Avatar, piloted his DEEPSEA CHALLENGER submersible on the seven-hour round-trip, spending about three hours at the deepest spot on the planet’s crust to collect samples for marine biological, microbiological, astrobiological, marine geologic and geophysical research.The DEEPSEA CHALLENGER included several features designed to aid Cameron on his expedition, including a sphere-shaped pressurized cockpit that collected moisture from Cameron’s exhaled breath and sweat into a plastic bag. Cameron could have consumed this concoction if he had run low on drinking water. About 70 percent of the CHALLENGER’s volume was taken up by syntactic foam made from millions of hollow glass microspheres suspended in an epoxy resin, making the vessel’s skin low in density but extremely strong. —Larry GreenemeierMore:
» Daredevil Makes Record-Breaking Supersonic Jump
» Cameron Completes Titanic Solo Journey to the Ocean Floor

Image: MathieuViennet/iStockphoto Starvation Diet Fails to Boost LongevityWhen making New Year’s resolutions to diet and stay fit, remember: what you eat may be more important than how much you eat.Scientists have found that a significant reduction in caloric intake does not extend primates’ life spans. Rather, genetics and healthy eating appear to be elements with higher impact, according to a report published in Nature. (Scientific American is part of Nature Publishing Group.)Scientists funded by the National Institute on Aging (NIA) looked at the diets of rhesus monkeys over a 25-year period, feeding an experimental group 30 percent less than control animals. Whereas previous studies have indicated that other animals—including rats and roundworms—seem to age more slowly when consuming fewer calories, the monkeys were unaffected.The Nature study refutes an earlier body of work by the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center (WNPRC), which found that rhesus monkeys did, indeed, benefit from a calorie-restricted diet. The previous findings likely resulted from a less healthy menu, however. WNPRC monkeys were given food containing 28.5 percent sucrose compared with 3.9 percent sucrose at the NIA. Consuming less unhealthy food could have been enough to alter results.Although observational evidence indicates that reducing calories lengthens lives, the true implications for humans remain uncertain. The recipe for a longer life likely depends on a combination of factors, rather than hinging on how much you put on your plate. —Mollie Bloudoff-IndelicatoMore:
» Calorie Restriction Fails to Lengthen Life Span in Primates
» Why Do Some People Live to 100? An Instant Egghead Video

Image of Endeavour on Manchester Blvd. in Los Angeles by ATOMIC Hot Links/FlickrBold, Private Efforts Step into Roles Vacated by NASASpace shuttle Endeavour’s trip down West Manchester Boulevard past Randy’s Donuts in Inglewood, Calif., in October was probably not quite what Pres. John F. Kennedy had in mind as “the other things” to accomplish during his famous moon speech made 50 years ago. The space plane was towed for the final leg of its journey to its final resting place at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, reminding us that NASA really has retired its shuttle program and that there isn’t much for astronauts to do these days in space.Endeavour’s brethren had already found their permanent homes: Atlantis will remain at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery now lives at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. And the Enterprise prototype now sits proudly atop the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in Manhattan after making spectacular tours around New York City’s airspace and later enduring a beating from Superstorm Sandy.Dreams of human spaceflight found other outlets this year: California-based SpaceX became the first private company to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. The company’s Dragon capsule is slated to carry humans to orbit by 2015, onboard a reusable rocket also designed and built by SpaceX. Other contenders in the busy and risky private human spaceflight arena include ATK, Blue Origins, DreamChaser and Stratolaunch.The commercialization of spaceflight could extend to smaller scales, too: talks are underway to allow government-built instruments to hitch rides onboard private satellites.
 
Meanwhile if a trip “to the moon, Alice” sounds quite appealing these days, sign up for Golden Spike’s recent offer—a flight to the moon. It’s only $ 750 million. The fee includes return trip to Earth, however, so true escapists will have to wait for Bigelow Aerospace’s private space hotels or a trip to colonize Mars. —Robin LloydMore:
» A Tribute to All 135 of NASA’s Space Shuttle Missions [Video]
» SpaceX Dragon Capsule Arrives at Space Station with Precious Cargo

Image courtesy of CDC/Taronna MainesPandemic Avian Flu Genes Made Public
 A lab-made virus that could spread global death is the stuff of science-fiction thrillers. But this year researchers published the ingredients for just such a contagion—a culmination of widespread debate about whether the recipe should be made public or locked away.For decades scientists have warned of a potential repeat of the 1918 flu pandemic, which claimed tens of millions of lives. The avian (H5N1) influenza virus drew the most attention. A decade ago, it killed tens of millions of birds, and any person who contracted the virus faced grim odds—the mortality rate is about 60 percent. Fortunately, the H5N1 virus did not spread in the air and thus could not infect humans easily, and outbreaks remained confined to small areas.In 2011 two research groups independently discovered the genetic mutations necessary to make the H5N1 virus airborne and therefore more easily transmissible. They showed that ferrets infected with the mutant strains could transmit the virus to healthy ferrets caged nearby.Concerns that bioterrorists could use the data to weaponize the virus led government officials, scientists and journal editors to hold off publishing the mutation information. Proponents argued that the data would help epidemiologists know what to watch out for if H5N1 mutated in the wild and better enable them to prepare countermeasures. That argument, plus the fact that many scientists had already obtained access to the information, led the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity to green-light the publications of the papers. The first appeared in the June 21 issue of Nature. —Philip YamMore:
» Contagion: Controversy Erupts over Man-Made Pandemic Avian Flu Virus
» Controversial Bird-Flu Research Published: How Worried Should We Be?

Image of Arctic sea ice at its 2012 minimum courtesy of NASARecord Meltdown of Arctic Sea IceOn September 16, 2012, the extent of ice covering the Arctic Ocean reached an all-time low of 3.4 million square kilometers (since satellite records began in 1979). The minimum ice cover each summer had begun to shrink annually in 2000 and declined much more rapidly each year beginning in 2007.Whereas happy shipping moguls marveled at how less ice might allow them to send freighters across the Arctic, scientists began to demonstrate and speak out about several serious effects. First, the dramatic disappearance of summer sea ice, which was not predicted by many climate models, exposes darker ocean water that absorbs more heat, thereby melting even more ice—setting up a feedback loop that may be increasing the rate of global warming.Second, scientists maintained that the lack of ice caused the weird weather experienced in the U.S. Northeast and Europe during the past three winters. In essence, the lack of ice allows the jet stream to either dip farther south or remain farther north than usual during winter, and to get stuck in those positions for long periods, causing many consecutive days of extreme cold or exceptional warmth on either side of the Atlantic Ocean.Some scientists ventured to say that the loss of sea ice helped Hurricane Sandy “turn left” from the Atlantic Ocean into New Jersey and New York City. Such a shift in direction had never been recorded before. A “blocking high pressure system” in the North Atlantic—a likely result of the lack of ice—prevented Sandy from heading northeast out to sea, as hurricanes would typically do. —Mark FischettiMore:
» Arctic Sea Ice Hits Record Low
» Extreme Weather Explained
» Did Climate Change Cause Hurricane Sandy?

Image of activists in front of the Supreme Court on the first day of “Obamacare” hearings on March 26, 2012, by OlegAlbinsky/iStockphoto“Obamacare” (Mostly) Upheld by Supreme CourtThe sweeping health care reforms passed in the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) represented the largest systemic changes to the U.S. national health care system in nearly a half century. Intact, the law would extend access to affordable health care to 32 million otherwise uninsured Americans, helping more people obtain consistent and preventive care. Encouraging health care information technologies and integrated systems, such as electronic health records, will likely reduce medical errors and provide reams of new data for medical research. Additionally, the law contains provisions to boost comparative- and cost-effectiveness research (via the newly established Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute). Such research could lead to medical and public health advances that will help the largest number of people. In addition to improving health in the U.S., all of these changes should help reign in runaway health care costs, which topped $ 2.6 trillion in 2010 and are projected to keep climbing.But all of that hard-won reform was up for major revision—or full repeal—as the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments about the case in March 2012. The Court’s decision, announced on June 28, upheld most of the ACA.The only provision that the Court undercut was the mandatory expansion of state-run Medicaid programs. Under the original ACA, Medicaid eligibility was to be expanded to include 16 million more people nationwide who would otherwise have trouble paying for health insurance. The federal government would foot the whole bill for states until 2016, then gradually step back to paying 90 percent in 2022 and beyond. So far at least nine states have said they will forgo the expansion, citing a reluctance to spend more of their own pinched pennies.With Pres. Barack Obama’s reelection in November, the law looks likely to continue rolling out the rest of its provisions through 2020. Starting in 2014, for example, insurers will no longer be allowed to make coverage or rate decisions based on a person’s preexisting conditions; state or federally controlled insurance exchanges will have to be operational; and Medicare eligibility expansions—in participating states—will take effect.—Katherine HarmonMore:
» Health Care Reform on Trial: What’s at Stake in the Supreme Court Arguments
» Health Act Intact: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Affordable Care
» Could Medicaid Benefits Get Pushed off the Fiscal Cliff?

Image: Kalawin/iStockphotoPublication of the ENCODE Encyclopedia: A Milestone in Genome Research
 Twelve years after the publication of the human genome sequence, a large consortium published the next step: the ENCODE Project: ENCyclopedia of DNA Elements. Whereas the genome project provided the sequence of all the nucleotides in the human DNA (how all the A’s, C’s, T’s and G’s are put in order), ENCODE goes a step further and catalogues which of those sequences can be transcribed into RNA and in which types of cells.Just as biologists understood that the Human Genome Project is a useful tool (albeit not the “holy grail” or “blueprint of life” as touted in some media), so too did they welcome ENCODE as another useful research tool. The laboratory techniques developed by the Human Genome Project have enabled scientists to sequence—ever more inexpensively—the complete genomes of many individual humans as well as many other species. In the same vein, scientists expect that ENCODE is just a beginning, enabling them to perform the same kind of work on numerous individuals as well as on numerous species. The knowledge gained will help answer important questions about evolution, ecology, conservation, physiology, development and medicine.Unfortunately, much of the discussion surrounding the publication of ENCODE failed to focus on the usefulness of the catalogue and the techniques that built it. Instead, much of the debate centered on the failure to understand that transcription does not necessarily imply meaningful biological function. Cells are messy biological entities, with lots of gunk and goo floating around, so mistakes happen all the time. Many DNA sequences get translated into RNA, only to have the cell degrade that RNA. Much, perhaps most, of the DNA in our genomes—despite being occasionally transcribed, and thus recorded in ENCODE—is still functionless “junk DNA.” That is actually not surprising; it is in fact expected from evolutionary theory. Thanks to ENCODE, though, we should eventually learn which sequences are the junk and which are the gems of cell activity. —Bora ZivkovicMore:
» “Junk DNA” Holds Clues to Many Diseases
» Junk DNA, Junky PR

Image illustration by Don FoleyNASA’s Curiosity Rover Lands on MarsIn 2012 Mars received a new six-wheeled visitor. NASA’s Curiosity rover—the biggest, most sophisticated explorer of its kind— landed safely on the Red Planet in August. The successful touchdown capped an elaborate landing sequence that had been dubbed “ seven minutes of terror” and made mini-celebrities out of mission engineers (notably flight director Bobak Ferdowsi, aka the “Mohawk guy”).Curiosity’s roughly two-year mission on Mars has only just begun—the rover is still trying out some of its instruments for the first time. But already the rover has found evidence of an ancient riverbed and has detected tantalizing but unconfirmed hints of Martian carbon (the stuff of life on Earth) in the soil. Soon Curiosity will begin to explore Mount Sharp, a towering stack of sedimentary layers that should provide clues to the conditions that prevailed on ancient Mars, when water flowed more freely. —John Matson

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» In-Depth Report: NASA’s Curiosity Rover Touches Down on Mars

Image of particle decay tracks left by purported Higgs courtesy of ATLAS Experiment/CERNThe Higgs Boson Is DetectedThis year the best Fourth of July fireworks took place in Europe. On that warm summer’s day, in a conference room not far from the shores of Lake Geneva, physicists representing two experiments at the Large Hadron Collider celebrated the news four decades in the making: The Higgs boson had been found.The next day’s front-page headline of The New York Times read “Physicists Find Elusive Particle Seen as Key to Universe,” but the Higgs discovery is about much more than enhancing our understanding of the subatomic world. The Higgs represents the final chapter in the story of 21st-century particle physics. It completes the Standard Model, the theoretical description of all the known particles and forces (and by some metrics the most successful theory in the history of science). From here, hopes are that scientists at the LHC will make discoveries that illuminate the universe beyond the Standard Model, providing fireworks for years to come. —Michael MoyerMore:
» In-Depth Report: The Higgs Boson at Last?
» Why Do Physicists Care So Much about Finding the Higgs Boson?

Image courtesy of NASASandy Devastates the U.S. Northeastern CoastLike a bad horror movie sequel, Hurricane Sandy churned up the U.S. east coast this fall, making landfall on the New Jersey shore just before Halloween and a little more than a year after Hurricane Irene took a similar path. Unlike Hurricane Irene, which devastated inland communities with torrential rains, Sandy’s wrath came in the form of hurricane-force winds and a storm surge exceeding four meters—enough to reshape the New Jersey and Long Island shorelines as well as inundate critical New York City infrastructure, such as subway tunnels and power stations, among other ill effects.Meteorologists dubbed Sandy a “frankenstorm” for its meteorologic mash-up of a hurricane moving up from the south, a winter storm moving in from the west and a ridge of high pressure forcing the systems to merge and move inland. Add in the fact that the tropical cyclone alone stretched more than 1,500 kilometers across and boasted the lowest pressure of any storm ever recorded north of North Carolina—943 millibars—and Sandy certainly merited the designation “superstorm.”Climate change seems to have intensified the event. A record summer sea ice melt in the Arctic likely helped create the weather conditions that forced Hurricane Sandy along its ill-fated track. The storm also gained “a little bit of extra kick from the slightly warmer than normal waters it will be tracking over,” noted James Franklin, the branch chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center.The disaster, which inflicted at least $ 50-billion worth of damage and claimed at least 250 lives, 131 in the U.S. alone, showed the vulnerability of our cities and coastal communities.  Sandy’s legacy demands new thinking as to how best to prepare for future punishing storms, likely to be even stronger in our ever-warmer world. —David BielloMore:
» In-Depth Report: Hurricane Sandy: An Unprecedented Disaster
» In-Depth Report: Extreme Weather and Climate Change
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U.N. seeks $1.5 billion to address Syria crisis

GENEVA (Reuters) – The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for $ 1.5 billion to provide life-saving aid to Syrians suffering from a “dramatically deteriorating” humanitarian situation.

The twin appeals, $ 519.6 million for aid within Syria and $ 1 billion to meet the needs of up to 1 million Syrian refugees in five countries, comprise the “largest short-term humanitarian appeal ever”, the world body said in its statement.

“The magnitude of this humanitarian crisis is indisputable,” said Radhouane Nouicer, U.N. regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria, who launched the appeals in Geneva.

Inside Syria, U.N. aid agencies aim to help 4 million people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance, including an estimated 2 million displaced from their homes by the fighting between President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and rebels trying to topple him.

More than 525,000 Syrian refugees have already been registered and the latest estimate is that up to 1 million refugees in five countries, including Egypt for the first time, will need help in the first half of 2013, the U.N. refugee agency said.

“Unless these funds come quickly we will not be able to fully respond to the lifesaving needs of civilians who flee Syria every hour of the day – many in a truly desperate condition,” UNHCR regional envoy Panos Moumtzis said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Alison Williams)

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Home HIV Test — No ‘Live’ Counselor

Dan Nainan had never heard of a home test for HIV until a prospective girlfriend insisted that he take one. Apparently, she didn’t trust him.

“I’m not some sleaze bag, but she’s really suspicious,” said Nainan, 31, who works as a comedian. “I’m like, ‘Come on, you’re kidding me.’”

The test became a sticking point in their budding relationship. “I didn’t feel I had anything to be worried about,” Nainan said, “but she didn’t want to proceed.”

He finally gave in and took the test his girlfriend foisted on him, certain he’d test negative. He swabbed his gums — the test works on saliva — put the test swab in a test tube and waited as his girlfriend grilled him about his sexual history.

“It was a bit uncomfortable,” Nainan said.

Ten tense minutes passed as he watched a deep-pink line appear slowly in a tiny window on the testing device. He prayed it wouldn’t be joined by a second line signaling a positive result, and wondered what he’d do if it did emerge.

“I felt like I was taking a pregnancy test,” Nainan said.

Do-it-yourself home testing for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has arrived.

The OraQuick In-Home HIV Test — the only one approved for over-the-counter use by the Food and Drug Administration that captures testing and results in one sitting — hit drug-store shelves two months ago. An earlier HIV home test — called Home Access — required a user to prick a finger with a spring-loaded lancet, collect a drop of blood on a test card, mail it to a lab and call in a week for the results.

“This was actually quite easy and painless,” Nainan said of the OraQuick test. “It’s so much better than what you used to have to do.”

Aimed at those who might have avoided getting tested in the past either out of, fear, stigma, worries over confidentiality or inconvenience, the new home test has been hailed as a breakthrough.

“It’s hard not to be fully enthusiastic about the test,” said Dr. Myron Cohen, director of the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Everything we do to increase testing has to have some degree of benefit. By identifying and treating people early, we preserve normal life span and excellent health and reduce contagion.”

But the new home test, which sells for about $ 40 and can also be bought online, has generated its share of hand-wringing, too.

“We generally like this thing,” said Dan Tietz, executive director of the research and advocacy group AIDS Community Research Initiative of America, or ACRIA. “It decreases some of the barriers to testing. It kind of puts HIV in front of people, but there’s a bunch of cautions.”

For one, there’s what Tietz called the “freaking out by themselves problem” — for the first time, there’s no live counselor present — not even a voice over the phone — to deliver the results, offer support and make referrals.

Nainan tested negative for HIV, as he expected he would. Despite some sweat as he waited out the 20 minutes staring at the test window, “I really wasn’t nervous,” he said.

But for home-testers less certain of their HIV status, or who receive an unexpected result, the do-it-yourself route could be overwhelming, Tietz said. “I think about a young person with very little experience with the health care system who might pick up this test,” he added.

Tony Martinez, 40, who works in New York’s fashion district, took the home test as an “experiment.” “If I didn’t know I wasn’t HIV positive, the test would be a different ballgame. I put myself back many years ago when I went to a clinic and took the test and was terrified. [The home test] was a lot of steps. I don’t think I would have followed the directions in that [terrified] state. Am I really going to read the manual “What Your Results Mean” if the test is positive? It’s like asking someone to read a drivers’ ed manual after an accident.”

In lieu of an in-person counselor, OraSure Technologies, which makes the OraQuick test that the FDA approved in July — has set up a toll-free 24/7 customer support center with bilingual reps (English-Spanish). They’re not certified counselors but have been trained to answer questions about HIV/AIDS, explain how the test works and what the results mean. They can also hook up callers to counseling and care, using the CDC National Prevention Information Network and the HIV Medicine Association, and can also transfer callers directly to a health care professional or agency, said Ron Ticho, senior vice president for corporate communications at OraSure.

“Our representatives go through more than 160 hours of training,” Ticho said. Test kits come with instructions, warnings and precautions. Home-testers can find the same test information on OraSure’s website, along with the same referral databases the call center uses.

But handing concerns about HIV over to a toll-free number has raised questions.

Much is made of the fact that without a counselor present, even with warnings on the box and inserts and brochures written for a seventh- to eighth-grade reading level, home-testers might not understand that, as with all HIV tests, regardless of the testing method, a positive result is preliminary and needs to be confirmed by a more specific test given at an HIV test site.

This is especially worrying with the home test because although the OraQuick test is the same rapid test that medical professionals have used at testing sites since 2004, it loses some of its accuracy in the hands of consumers: The percentage of results that will be accurately positive drops from 99.3 at a testing site to 92.9 when do-it yourselvers test themselves at home: This means that about one person in 12 could get a false negative.

Another stumbling block is the “window period” — the time it takes, usually 12 weeks, for the body to develop the antibodies the test detects after exposure to HIV, giving some people a “false sense of safety” that they’re HIV negative when they are in fact HIV positive and at their most contagious.

“That’s always a huge, really important piece of counseling,” said Barbara Adler, manager of HIV counseling and testing at the AIDS Alliance Project at the University of California at San Francisco, where the first HIV test was given 27 years ago.

But, Adler said, sometimes people who received a preliminary positive result didn’t return for the results from the confirming test.

“So I don’t know if sitting with another human being when they’re getting a result is going to help that. I think the person who wants the physical presence of someone else probably won’t do the home test.

“There’s reasons, though, for wanting to test alone in your home. While the stigma is not like it was 30 years ago,” Adler said, “it’s still there and can be heavy. It’s a disease around sex, or around needle use. Who wants to talk about those things? It’s not like we’re talking about cholesterol, or something you got because you ate certain foods or got too much sun.”

OraSure emphasizes that its HIV home test is simply an additional option to the testing already available — which often comes free — at public health clinics, community service organizations and doctors’ offices.

“We know that there’s a lot of individuals who should be getting tested but aren’t, and this is another opportunity for them to do so,” OraSure’s Ticho said. “Is it the right option for everyone? Probably not.”

Nevertheless, with an HIV diagnosis no longer sounding a death knell, it could be a test whose time has come.

“The tide has really turned on HIV testing,” said Dr. Rochelle Walensky, co-director of the Medical Practice Evaluation Center and an AIDS researcher at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

“It’s a lot more streamlined, and there’s not a lot of counseling required now. Treatment is available, and there’s a lot of literature that says that life expectancy is up to near normal if people engage in care early and take care of themselves.

“There are cancers, and many, many other diseases that have far worse outcomes than HIV that people deal with on their own without a lot of counseling.”

Of the 1.2 million Americans living with HIV in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 20 percent don’t even know that they’re infected and account for more than half of the 50,000 new infections a year in the United States.

Whether people most at risk — African-American gay-bisexual men, especially those between the ages of 13 and 24, according to the CDC — will have the money and motivation to go to the drug store and pay $ 40 for the home test is another question, Walensky said.

Even if they have the $ 40 to spend on an HIV home test, many won’t be able to buy it anyway, because the OraQuick home test cannot be sold to anyone younger than 17, and requires ID.

“Any availability of any test anywhere is a good thing,” Walensky said. “Whether this is going to be an epidemic game-changer is where I have to opt out.”

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