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Fat free yogurt is great meals to enjoy for weight loss plans. Fat free yogurt is great for the digestive program and has other items. Low fat yogurt is perfect for both proteins and protein. Those who incorporate a lot more dairy products usually have much better overall health.
This suggestion can assist you increase the speed of your respective ft .. Lift up your still left feet, touch it with your right-hand, and lower it to the surface. Raise your appropriate food items, touch it utilizing your left-hand, then reduced it. Then feel your still left feet associated with you along with your right-hand, with your appropriate ft . placed into back of you with all the left-hand. Do this out for about 20 secs each and every time, transferring as quickly as possible to enable you to replicate them for 3 or 5 various collections.
You should try and improve your stride if you?re a sprinter. This may be completed by placing your foot?s landing point below your physique instead of forwards than it. Utilize your foot to drive away from and progress. Training this every single run and you should view your jogging stride speed improve steadily.
Operating can each be wonderful and adverse effects. To maintain the damaging component at bay, allow yourself a little-split from working by reduction of the distance you manage to one half, for roughly per week at any given time, to around one half of your normal mileage.
This will likely disassemble the swelling and shade related to the soreness.
You must boost your stride rate if you?re a sprinter. This simply means placing your ft . to property below your entire body rather than forward than it. Make use of your toes and back end leg to maneuver forward. Practice this and you will visit your speed steadily boost.
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You have to make certain you exercise in proper develop. Move up straight as possible with both shoulder muscles rear. Your biceps and triceps need to tumble at about a 90-education perspective. Your foot and biceps and triceps needs to be absolutely reverse your forwards left arm.
Sprinting is a great way to enhance your vigor hugely for working out. You should commence sluggish and make up when running per week.
Make a plan to stop you end skipping it. Consider hitting the gym an established number of days weekly, and don?t stray from your timetable. If you have to skip a training day time, get this time up as it is essential to achieve this.
Don?t be studied in through the excitement and fake claims of unproven exercise and dieting programs advertised on infomercials. Shedding weight will not be all there is certainly to health and fitness. Keep in mind the things you have go through right here, and employ it to change your lifestyle immediately. Almost everything we?ve provided you on this page will help you in the appropriate course, you just have to perform leg try to arrive.
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This week the NHL joins the NBA in celebrating its postseason, with plenty of games on the schedule for each. There are a number of premieres and finales this week, as well as the debut of individual seasons of Friends on Blu-ray. Look below for the highlights this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.
Star Trek: TNG S3 / The Best of Both Worlds The third season of Star Trek The Next Generation comes home this week remastered in HD, and it should be a good for fans. If you can't live with its cliffhanger ending until the fourth season arrives, The Best of Both Worlds Part 1 & 2 are also being released, edited together as a single episode. either way you get it, judging by the first two seasons, the adjustments should be well-received. ($59.99 and $14.99 on Amazon)
The Americans FX's cold war spy drama closes out its first season this week. While it hasn't grabbed the mindshare of other popular cable series yet, the quality of the writing and acting is still there. (May 1st, FX, 10PM)
Parks & Recreation It appears that NBC's best remaining comedy will be renewed after this season, so this week's season finale will represent only the start of a vacation for the residents of Pawnee, IN. The Office finally getting yanked from the stage, 30 Rock calling it a series recently and Community... well. Let's just hope we have more PnR to look forward to this fall. (May 2nd, NBC, 9:30PM)
In this Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 photo, New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow (15) warms up before an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, N.Y. The New York Jets say, Monday, April 29, 2013, they have waived Tebow. (AP Photo/Gary Wiepert)
In this Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 photo, New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow (15) warms up before an NFL football game against the Buffalo Bills in Orchard Park, N.Y. The New York Jets say, Monday, April 29, 2013, they have waived Tebow. (AP Photo/Gary Wiepert)
New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow arrives on the first day of NFL football offseason workouts at the Jets practice facility in Florham Park, N.J., Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Tebow Time is off the clock.
Tim Tebow was waived by the Jets on Monday, the end of an unsuccessful one-season experiment in New York that had been expected for months.
"Unfortunately, things did not work out the way we all had hoped," coach Rex Ryan said in a statement by the team in announcing the move.
The Heisman Trophy winner attempted just eight passes after his ballyhooed arrival in a surprising trade from the Denver Broncos in March 2012. He threw for 39 yards and rushed 32 times for 102 yards ? and stunningly had no touchdowns as a member of the Jets.
Meanwhile, starter Mark Sanchez struggled amid constant questions about Tebow's playing time, and still Tebow remained mostly on the sideline. The Jets and new general manager John Idzik drafted former West Virginia star Geno Smith in the second round of the NFL draft Friday, giving New York six quarterbacks on its roster ? and creating uncertainty about Sanchez's future as well.
Tebow arrived at the team's facility in Florham Park, N.J., on Monday morning and was told he had been cut.
"Tim is an extremely hard worker, evident by the shape he came back in this offseason," Ryan said. "We wish him the best moving forward."
Tebow took to Twitter a few hours later, citing a bible verse: "Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding," Tebow wrote, "in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."
Tebow led the Broncos to the playoffs in 2011, but became expendable when Denver signed Peyton Manning as a free agent. The popular backup quarterback was acquired by the Jets for a fourth-round draft pick and $1.5 million in salary. He was introduced at the Jets' facility to plenty of fanfare at a lavish news conference, with Tebow repeatedly saying he was "excited" to be in New York.
It turned out to be one of the few high points in Tebow's stay with the Jets. Along with his shirtless jog from the practice field in the rain during training camp, of course.
Owner Woody Johnson jokingly said last season that "you can never have enough Tebow." Well, the Jets apparently had their fill after just one year.
From the day the Jets made the move to bring Tebow in to compete with Sanchez, many fans and media predicted it was only a matter of time before the former Florida star stepped in as the starting quarterback. There were billboards outside the Lincoln Tunnel in New Jersey welcoming Tebow, and sandwiches named after him at Manhattan delis.
Meanwhile, the Jets insisted having both Tebow and Sanchez would not be a distraction. The plan was that the team would benefit from having both players' different skill sets: Sanchez as the traditional quarterback, and Tebow running the wildcat-style offense.
While everyone from Johnson to Ryan to former general manager Mike Tannenbaum to former offensive coordinator Tony Sparano said they were all "on board" with Tebow, it became evident early that he had no clear role.
And Tebow simply didn't impress enough in practice to earn more playing time.
Ryan refused to start Tebow in place of a struggling Sanchez late in the season, choosing instead to go with third-stringer Greg McElroy ahead of him for one game ? despite Tebow's multitude of fans taking to Twitter and begging the team to give their favorite player a chance. The since-fired Sparano never was able to figure out a way to consistently use Tebow, who spent most of his time on the sideline during games.
He was solid in his role on special teams as the personal punt protector, but the Jets stopped using him even there after he broke two ribs in a game at Seattle in November. Tebow's overall role diminished greatly after the injury, even after he healed. He tried to hide his frustration, but acknowledged late in the season that things didn't turn out quite how he expected in New York.
"I think it's fair to say," Tebow said, "that I'm a little disappointed."
The Jets appear to be sticking with Sanchez despite his struggles and the arrival of Smith as the future quarterback because he is guaranteed $8.25 million this season.
Still, Idzik made it clear that the team would bring in competition for Sanchez. Tebow, however, is not going to be among the team's options. He's free to explore other opportunities ? even if there don't seem to be many at this point.
It appeared Jacksonville, the other team to pursue Tebow last offseason, would be an obvious landing spot. But new general manager David Caldwell nixed the idea of a happy homecoming when he declared at his introductory news conference that he couldn't "imagine a scenario in which he'll be a Jacksonville Jaguar."
Many believe Tebow's best chance to stick in the NFL would be to switch positions. But he insists he is a quarterback and just wants an opportunity ? just as the Broncos gave him two seasons ago when he took over for Kyle Orton and led Denver to several comeback victories and into the playoffs.
Tebow was the talk of the country back then, as it seemed everyone ? including actor Robert Downey Jr. at the Oscars ? was dropping to a knee to do their version of "Tebowing," mimicking the quarterback's prayerful pose.
It was something that was absent all season in his stint with the Jets.
Chicago could be a possibility since new coach Marc Trestman worked with Tebow before the NFL draft in 2010 and in the Senior Bowl and liked what he saw. He'd be a backup there behind Jay Cutler, though. Tampa Bay, San Diego and New England might also be options.
Tebow could also head to Canada and play in the CFL, taking the route several others before him have, such as Doug Flutie, Warren Moon and Jeff Garcia. The Montreal Alouettes own his exclusive negotiating rights, but whether Tebow would even be open to a move north of the U.S. border is uncertain.
Brett Bouchy, the owner of the Orlando Predators of the Arena League, recently told the Orlando Sentinel that his team would "love to have him" and added that "we have a contract waiting for him to sign."
Either way, it's quite a fall from grace for Tebow, who was a two-time national champion with Florida, and whose No. 15 Broncos jersey ranked second in national sales to Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers in 2011. He remained a model citizen throughout his frustrating year in New York and answered the constant barrage of questions about his role and mindset all season.
Recently retired Jets special teams coordinator Mike Westhoff labeled the way the team used Tebow an "absolute mess." Former Jets teammate Mike DeVito, now with Kansas City, said after the season that he would've liked to have seen Tebow get a chance.
Whether Tebow gets another one elsewhere ? and if it's as a quarterback ? this season remains to be seen.
Low wages and lower safety standards have made Bangladesh a major garment producer - and a source of workplace deaths like the more than 200 killed in a Dhaka factory collapse this week.
By Ryan Lenora Brown,?Correspondent / April 25, 2013
Bangladeshi rescue workers watch from a damaged section of a wall at the site of a building that collapsed Wednesday in Savar, near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Thursday.
Kevin Frayer/AP
Enlarge
When an eight-story factory outside Bangladesh?s capital Dhaka collapsed Wednesday, the ensuing devastation was met with horror (more than 200 were killed), but not disbelief.
Skip to next paragraph Ryan Lenora Brown
Correspondent
Ryan Brown edits the Africa Monitor blog and contributes to the national and international news desks of the Monitor. She is a former Fulbright fellow to South Africa and holds a degree in history from Duke University.?
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Catastrophic industrial accidents are something of a regular occurrence in the south Asian nation, which is the second-largest garment exporter in the world. Lax labor and building standards, coupled with a rock bottom minimum wage for garment workers ($37 per month), have played a large part in that boom, though at a high cost.
In fact, only five months ago, a fire at another factory in the city killed 111, prompting a flurry of apologies and promises of reform from both the Bangladeshi government and the western companies whose goods were produced there, including Walmart.
But who ultimately bears the responsibility for these disasters ? and can they be stopped? The Monitor spoke to Aman Singh, editorial director of the CSRwire, a website for corporate social responsibility news, about consumer choices, the supply chain blame game, and who sets the standards for global garment production.
When a disaster like the one in Bangladesh occurs, everyone involved immediately starts pointing fingers ? at the factory owners, at the government, at the Western companies who source goods there. So whose fault is it?
The chain of command between retailer and source is purposefully pretty complex. And in the middle of the chain of command you have all these different players ? the subcontractors, the auditors, the analysts, the people negotiating these contracts every year. Because the responsibility is so thinly distributed, no one person or group of people is really being held accountable for compliance with building standards, say, which makes it really hard to pinpoint where the issue started.
And then you have companies like Walmart that come forward and say, we contract out to suppliers, so we don?t even know if our products were made in this factory or not. Is that a good excuse?
No, it?s really not. Walmart is so big and so powerful that they really could go to any supplier they want and say, stick to our wage and safety policies or get out. And they can do that far more effectively than government legislation ever could. These companies have more power than entire governments, entire nations.
It sounds like the corporate supply chain is often very opaque ? is there any attempt being made to change that on a global level?
That?s the million dollar questions we?re all trying to answer: We have to work in a global economy, we have to work with different understandings of what?s acceptable in terms of labor and workers. It?s acceptable culturally, for instance, for women as young as 14 to work in a lot of countries. But it?s not OK in the UK or US markets. ?
The UN is trying to standardize this supply chain management. The International Trade Center has a standards map out that?s visible online, and what they?re trying to do is bring all these apparel companies together to see what standards everyone is using and where they stand against their peers. They?re billing it as a competitive advantage for companies. It?s an interesting strategy because we all know when [labor practices] impact the dollar they?re all going to want to be interested in making them better. The maps are only available to the companies participating now, but the hope is to make it publicly eventually. And I think when that kind of information becomes public it?ll force companies to be more transparent in their supply chain policies.
What about consumers ? do disasters like this change their buying habits?
I don?t know if they?re really impacting consumers ? I don?t know if they?re really starting to come out and say, you know what, I?m not going to buy from this company because this kind of thing is just happening way too often. There?s a real gap there. We as consumers have a very short memory and we tend to forget these disasters after they happen.
Since I?ve started working in this field though, I have really changed my shopping habits. The biggest shift is I?ve become far more conscious of how much I buy. I try to not over-consume. I?ve realized that the core of our problem is over-consumption. But also buying very cheap goods is a part of it: If you?re paying $5 for a pair of pants, you can only assume the person making them is getting much less than that, although volume does play a huge factor in price margins and wages.
But if you pay more, does that guarantee the conditions the garment was made under were any better?
That?s true. There?s no way of making that correlation.
Is there any way for consumers to know from the information on their garment ? the brand, the country it?s made in ? if they?re getting something produced under decent conditions?
The problem is we don?t have any labeling with clothing that identifies ethical sourcing. It almost always requires going back to the Internet and looking at their supply chain policy. Many brands are starting to put their whole supply chain on their website, but from a consumer perspective who has time to do that? You want to be able to just pick up a piece of clothing and know if it has an ethical history. And right now you can?t.
In the late 1990s, Nike and other major sporting apparel companies faced a large protest movement led by American college students against the labor conditions in their factories. It forced them to reexamine a lot of these kinds of problems. Is any similar movement building now?
Activism had such a big role to play at that time. And it still does. But that activism has slowly changed into collaboration ? the NGOs that once fought these companies are now working with them. And obviously the companies prefer that because they have a partner rather than someone working against them. But I think for Nike the protests and their extremely public nature was the big motivator in changing their policy. And I think we need?more of?that.?Apple for example: What is stopping us from saying we're going to stop using its products until it proves it can provide better working conditions in its factories? Do we as consumers have the courage to boycott some of our favorite brands over ethics?
Overall, when you look at supply chain issues around the world, are you optimistic? Is the world trending towards progress?
It?s such a complex sector. We?re doing better in so many things but we?re starting to go the wrong way in so many others that it?s hard to stay optimistic for too long.?Incidents like these tell us the road ahead is long and will require continuous courage.
CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's state news agency says police in a Nile Delta province are blocking off entrance to their station, the latest labor unrest hitting the country's police force.
Police in Kafr el-Sheikh province locked the gate to the security division with chains, MENA reported. The police are demanding better working conditions, along with dismissal of the Interior Minister. They are also protesting alleged attempts by the Muslim Brotherhood to take over the ministry, which controls the police. The Brotherhood has denied that charge.
Also Sunday, police at two stations in the southern province of Assuit went on strike, charging that the government did not carry out promises to fulfill their demands.
Last month, there was a wave of police strikes. The Islamist government promised to study demands of the police.
Dosi.io is a new Chrome extension that builds a better dossier at the top of LinkedIn profiles where it helps you determine who’s worth your time. Once installed, LinkedIn stalking gets a lot more interesting, as Dosi.io displays more information about the person in question by pulling in additional data from CrunchBase, GitHub and AngelList. It also displays a score indicating that person’s importance to you in terms of how well they match your networking goals. The extension, built here at the TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 hackathon, is currently designed for the developer crowd, but the creators intend to bring it to other communities in the future. You can think of Dosi.io as something like a Rapportive for LinkedIn, explains co-creator Niles Brooks, who’s also the co-founder of sustainable restaurant guide Clean Plates. He says he came up with the idea for the extension the midnight before the hackathon’s start. Kenneth Chen, a software developer in the finance industry, had been thinking about things along the same lines, he tells us, and decided to team up on the project along with third member,?Vijith Assar. In a nutshell, the extension’s secret sauce is a combination of the number of followers a person has and the general impact they might have. From AngelList, it knows whether or not you have an account – a signal in and of itself – as well as the number of followers you have there. That information also helps Dosi.io know what companies to query up on CrunchBase, where it learns about the investments a company has, the sale price of a company, and the total amount of funding a person has raised over their lifetime. And on GitHub, Dos.io learns the commits you’ve made, the number of public repos you’re involved in, and again, the number of followers the person has. All of this data is boiled down into a simple visualization that appears directly above LinkedIn profiles, which also shows you a person’s overall Dosi.io score. Ranging from 1 to 10, the score is meant to convey how much of your time that person warrants. Brooks says he imagines this score becoming even more useful one day as a Google Glass application using facial recognition, where it could help users better network while at conferences and other events. (Nope, not creepy at all!) The extension today is client-side JavaScript, and though it’s live, they’re running
New Republican research on the GOP and Hispanics gives the party reason for hope that it can climb out of the political hole it is in with these voters. But there?s some bad news mixed in with the good, laid out in a Public Opinion Strategies memo about two lengthy focus groups of Hispanic voters this month in Las Vegas.
The most surprising findings involve social and cultural issues. Conservatives may assume they have the franchise on ?faith and family? and all that label signifies, but Hispanics don?t see it that way.
Polls show that Hispanics really do line up more with Republicans on gay marriage and abortion, as the GOP claims when it talks of Hispanics as Republicans in waiting or Republicans who just don?t realize it yet. But ?by a rather staggering margin,? POS partner Nicole McCleskey writes in the memo, Hispanics say they are much more likely to agree with the Democratic approach to social and cultural issues.
How can that be? The POS focus groups suggested that while Republicans interpret ?social and cultural issues? primarily to mean gay rights and gay marriage, for Hispanics the phrase has to do with justice, fairness, and respect for ?cultural differences.? ?It?s no wonder Hispanic voters are perplexed when Republicans insist we share the same values,? McCleskey writes. They are also perplexed when asked if the GOP is more likely to share their values of faith and family, she says, ?because they do not see either party as having cornered the market on faith and family.?
McCleskey said in an interview that Republicans and Hispanics "talk past each other? on social and cultural issues, particularly when it comes to the phrase "faith and family." ?I don?t know if they hear what is intended, which is that we share similar positions on the value of the traditional family,? she said. ?It?s kind of a code and they haven?t gotten the decoder ring.? She said she doesn?t have the answer yet for how the GOP should proceed, and intends her work to be a conversation-starter.
On the good-news front, the focus-group participants liked what they heard about Medicaid, immigration, economics, and education in clips from speeches by some prominent party figures. But the people they listened to?New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush?are unusual in how they talk about these issues and seemed like anomalies to the focus-group participants.
Comments about Christie, who is expanding Medicaid under the new health care law even though he disagrees with the law, summed up the problem. After hearing him talk about the human cost of not taking the new federal Medicaid money, the focus-group participants described him as human, caring, and someone who calls it like he sees it?but said he is just one person. The overriding perceptions among Hispanics, according to McCleskey?s memo, are that ?Republicans don?t want us here? and whatever they say about the economy ?will naturally be to the advantage to the wealthy and hurt the working class.?
Martinez won praise from McCleskey for going beyond the ?traditional opportunity refrain? to frame lower business-tax rates as a matter of fairness?leveling the playing field with neighboring states. Bush?s description of why he pursued his Florida education reforms?to lift the poor and shrink the achievement gap between white and minority students?was powerful and ?surprising stuff? to the groups, she said in the memo. McCleskey also said Paul was lauded for using personal stories in a discussion of immigration reform and making clear it is about all immigrants and not just Mexicans. McCleskey warned, however, that Republicans need to be careful about stressing that new citizens will create new taxpayers. That point reminded the focus groups of their perception that ?Republicans care more about money than they do about people,? she wrote.
It will take a presidential candidate to recast the image of the party, but the 2016 nominee is not likely to be one of the three politicians the POS focus groups showcased talking about immigration, education, or the economy. Martinez has signaled so far that she is not interested in a national race. Bush, whose wife is Mexican, clearly is interested, but the nation probably is not ready for a third Bush presidency (his mother certainly isn?t, telling NBC this week that ?we?ve had enough Bushes? in the White House). As for Paul, he is laying groundwork for a 2016 bid and may be less of a boutique candidate than his dad, but his libertarian leanings and odd mix of positions still make him a long shot.
The GOP does have some politicians with the potential to shift Hispanic views of Republicans. Christie and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida are at the top of that list. ?Those two dominate the landscape as far as being change agents for our party,? McCleskey told National Journal. But first they?d have to survive a primary process that in 2012 reinforced the idea that Republicans are hostile to immigrants and led seven in 10 Hispanics to vote for Barack Obama.
Does anyone have more fun on set than "The Big Bang Theory" cast and crew? Last fall, the gang delighted a live audience and its writing staff with an impromptu "Call Me Maybe" flash mob that went viral, and other behind-the-scenes stunts always make for a wildly entertaining gag reel each season.
But sometimes, as star Kaley Cuoco said Wednesday on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," their pranks can go terribly awry.
After finishing a scene for this season's Valentine's Day episode, in which Leonard and Penny get in a fight, the actress explained that she and her mischievous partner, Johnny Galecki, decided to provide some extra footage for the gag reel.
"We decided to do a (surprise) prank where Johnny punches me," the blond beauty revealed. At first, everything seemed to go "perfectly": "I go flying off the chair, the chair comes after me?the writers are laughing, Chuck Lorre's laughing, everyone's cracking up."
But under the table, Cuoco wondered whether she took a genuine hit.
"I kinda feel like something's throbbing," she said, but was most concerned about whether Galecki's roundhouse "looked real." She got her answer when she stood up and was covered in blood.
"Everyone thought I was under the table painting blood on my face, (but) ?I had cracked my head open," Cuoco shared. "I had blood squirting down my face. I didn't even know!"
She took it in stride; her "sensitive" castmates not so much. "We don't have a very macho group of people ? Johnny's in tears, Simon's vomiting in the corner, the blood is gushing down my face. I was amazed at how much was on my face ? I thought it was the most awesome thing in the world."
Not so awesome? The six stitches and black eye on her face, which coincided with the SAG awards. "So I decided to have the brilliant idea to wear (fake) bangs ? because it covered my black eye and I was really insecure."
She felt even worse when critics slammed her "helmet-style hair." "It was honestly the worst-reviewed hair in history," she said, quoting some of the reviews. "These bangs ? almost ruined my entire career!"
But with Kimmel's help, Cuoco was finally able to "say goodbye forever" to the hairpiece: They attached the fake fringe to a bunch of helium balloons and sent it skyward from the studio.
How much do you love Kaley Cuoco and the rest of the "Big Bang" gang? Tell us on our Facebook page!
Although LG jumped into the deep end of the online services pool when it launched LG Cloud last year, it didn't have much to brag about when access was limited to South Korea, Russia and the US. The company is about to broaden its horizons considerably -- it now plans to deploy LG Cloud to more than 40 additional countries before the end of May. While the electronics giant hasn't outlined its plans on a nation-by-nation basis, it's planning a truly worldwide expansion that should include Asia, Europe and Latin America. If your Optimus G Pro and brand new TV aren't already syncing their media in perfect harmony, there's a good chance that they will within a month's time.
(Ends first round) NEW YORK, April 25 (Reuters) - Selections in the first roundof the 2013 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall on Thursday (picknumber, NFL team, player, position, college): 1-Kansas City, Eric Fisher, offensive tackle, Central Michigan 2-Jacksonville, Luke Joeckel, offensive tackle, Texas A&M 3-Miami (from Oakland), Dion Jordan, defensive tackle, Oregon 4-Philadelphia, Lane Johnson, offensive tackle, Oklahoma 5-Detroit, Ezekiel Ansah, defensive end, Brigham Young 6-Cleveland, Barkevious Mingo, linebacker, LSU 7-Arizona, Jonathan Cooper, guard, North Carolina 8-St. ...
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Four Boise State students competed in the 2013 Pacific West Regional Case Competition sponsored by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) on April 13. Eight undergraduate teams put their HR knowledge to the test and presented solutions to a panel of HR-certified judges through a 15-minute oral presentation and 2 -page executive written summary. The Boise State team, comprised of Stephanie Ortiz (president), Julian Rodriguez (vice president), Melissa Black (running for secretary) and Scott Hutchinson (running for treasurer), took 3rd place overall at the event. The team had met with coach Decateur Reed every Saturday for roughly four hours since mid-February. The hard work paid off, as the students received?$2,500 in prize money and complimentary registration to SHRM?s annual conference in Chicago.?Congratulations to our Boise State students!
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MOSCOW (AP) ? A fire raged through a psychiatric hospital outside Moscow early Friday, killing 38 people, including two nurses, emergency officials said.
A third nurse managed to save two patients and they were the only three thought to have survived, the state news agency RIA Novosti reported, citing the Health Ministry.
Police said the fire, which broke out at about 2 a.m. local time (7 p.m. Eastern, 2300 GMT) in the one-story hospital in the Ramenskoye settlement, was caused by a short circuit, RIA Novosti reported.
A photograph on the website of the emergency services showed a building consumed by flames.
The emergency services also posted a list of the patients indicating they ranged in age from 20 to 76.
Apr. 25, 2013 ? RNA molecules, made from DNA, are best known for their role in protein production. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), however, are short (~22) nucleotide RNA sequences found in plants and animals that do not encode proteins but act in gene regulation and, in the process, impact almost all biological processes -- from development to physiology to stress response.
Present in almost in every cell, microRNAs are known to target tens to hundreds of genes each and to be able to repress, or "silence," their expression. What is less well understood is how exactly miRNAs repress target gene expression.
Now a team of scientists led by geneticists at the University of California, Riverside has conducted a study on plants (Arabidopsis) that shows that the site of action of the repression of target gene expression occurs on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), a cellular organelle that is an interconnected network of membranes -- essentially, flattened sacs and branching tubules -- that extends like a flat balloon throughout the cytoplasm in plant and animal cells.
"Our study is the first to demonstrate that the ER is where miRNA-mediated translation repression occurs," said lead researcher Xuemei Chen, a professor of plant cell and molecular biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Investigator. "To understand how microRNAs repress target gene expression, we first need to know where microRNAs act in the cell. Until now no one knew that membranes are essential for microRNA activity. Our work shows that an integral membrane protein, AMP1, is required for the miRNA-mediated target gene repression to be successful. As AMP1 has counterparts in animals, our findings in plants could have broader implications."
Study results appear today in the journal Cell.
Simply put, DNA makes RNA, and then RNA makes proteins. Specifically, RNA encodes genetic information that can be "translated" into the amino acid sequence of proteins. But noncoding RNAs -- RNAs that do not encode proteins -- are increasingly found to act in numerous biological processes. MicroRNAs are a class of noncoding RNAs whose main function is to downregulate gene expression.
Research on miRNAs has increased tremendously since they were first identified about 20 years ago. In the case of diseases, if some genes are up- or down-regulated, miRNAs can be used to change the expression of these genes to fight the diseases, thus showing therapeutic potential.
MicroRNAs are known to regulate target genes by two major modes of action: they either destabilize the target RNAs, leading to their degradation, or they do not impact the stability of the target RNAs, but simply prevent them from being translated into proteins -- a process known as translation inhibition. The end result of translation inhibition is that the genes do not get expressed. Just how miRNAs cause translational inhibition of their target genes is not well understood.
"We were surprised that the ER is required for the translational inhibition activity of miRNAs," Chen said. "This new knowledge will expedite our understanding of the mechanism of gene silencing. Basically, now we know where to look: the ER. We also suspect it is the rough ER portions that are involved."
Chen explained that the ER has two types: rough and smooth. Rough ER, which synthesizes and packages proteins, looks bumpy; smooth ER, which acts in lipid synthesis and protein secretion, resembles tubes. The ER protein AMP1, she said, is anchored in the rough ER.
"My lab has been conducting research on AMP1 for many years," she said. "And it's this protein that drew our attention to the ER. First, we realized that AMP1 is involved in miRNA-mediated translational inhibition. Then, since we already knew that AMP1 is localized in the rough ER, we shifted our focus to this organelle."
Next, her lab will attempt to crack the mechanism of miRNA-mediated translational inhibition. They will investigate, too, how miRNAs are recruited to the ER.
Chen was joined in the study by Shengben Li (first author of the research paper), Lin Liu, Xigang Liu, Yu Yu, Lijuan Ji and Natasha Raikhel at UC Riverside; Xiaohong Zhuang and Liwen Jiang at the Chinese University of Hong Kong; Xia Cui and Xiaofeng Cao at the Chinese Avademy of Sciences, Beijing; Zhiqiang Pan at the University of Mississippi; Beixin Mo at Shenzhen University, China; and Fuchun Zhang at Xinjiang University, China.
The study was supported by grants to Chen from the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Riverside. The original article was written by Iqbal Pittalwala.
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Google has finally closed the deal on Wavii, a natural language processing startup, for a price that is more than $30 million, we're hearing from a legitimate source. Both Apple and Google were competing for the Seattle-based startup, and Google eventually won. Apple wanted the company, which developed its own aggregation technology and natural summarization algorithms, for its Siri division. The 25-person-strong team including founder Adrian Aoun will be moving down from Seattle to join Google's Knowledge Graph division.
Apr. 24, 2013 ? A research team of biogeochemists at the University of California, Riverside has provided a new view on the relationship between the earliest accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere, arguably the most important biological event in Earth history, and its relationship to the sulfur cycle.
A general consensus exists that appreciable oxygen first accumulated in Earth's atmosphere around 2.4 to 2.3 billion years ago. Though this paradigm is built upon a wide range of geological and geochemical observations, the famous "smoking gun" for what has come to be known as the "Great Oxidation Event" (GOE) comes from the disappearance of anomalous fractionations in rare sulfur isotopes.
"These isotope fractionations, often referred to as 'mass-independent fractionations,' or 'MIF' signals, require both the destruction of sulfur dioxide by ultraviolet energy from the sun in an atmosphere without ozone and very low atmospheric oxygen levels in order to be transported and deposited in marine sediments," said Christopher T. Reinhard, the lead author of the research paper and a former UC Riverside graduate student. "As a result, their presence in ancient rocks is interpreted to reflect vanishingly low atmospheric oxygen levels continuously for the first ~2 billion years of Earth's history."
However, diverse types of data are emerging that point to the presence of atmospheric oxygen, and, by inference, the early emergence of oxygenic photosynthesis hundreds of millions of years before these MIF signals disappear from the rock record. These observations motivated Reinhard and colleagues to explore the possible conditions under which inherited MIF signatures may have persisted in the rock record long after oxygen accumulated in the atmosphere.
Using a simple quantitative model describing how sulfur and its isotopes cycle through Earth's crust, the researchers discovered that under certain conditions these MIF signatures can persist within the ocean and marine sediments long after O2 increases in the atmosphere. Simply put, the weathering of rocks on the continents can transfer the MIF signal to the oceans and their sediments long after production of this fingerprint has ceased in an oxygenated atmosphere.
"This lag would blur our ability to date the timing of the GOE and would allow for dynamic rising and falling oxygen levels during a protracted transition from an atmosphere without oxygen to one rich in this life-giving gas," Reinhard said.
Study results appear in Nature's advanced online publication on April 24.
Reinhard explained that once MIF signals formed in an oxygen-poor atmosphere are captured in pyrite and other minerals in sedimentary rocks, they are recycled when those rocks are later uplifted as mountain ranges and the pyrite is oxidized.
"Under certain conditions, this will create a sort of 'memory effect' of these MIF signatures, providing a decoupling in time between the burial of MIF in sediments and oxygen accumulation at Earth's surface," he said.
According to the researchers, the key here is burying a distinct MIF signal in deep sea sediments, which are then subducted and removed from Earth's surface.
"This would create a complementary signal in minerals that are weathered and delivered to the oceans, something that we actually see evidence of in the rock record," said Noah Planavsky, the second author of the research paper and a former UC Riverside graduate student now at Caltech. "This signal can then be perpetuated through time without the need to generate it within the atmosphere contemporaneously."
Reinhard, now a postdoctoral fellow at Caltech and soon to be an assistant professor at Georgia Institute of Technology, explained that although the researchers' new model provides a plausible mechanism for reconciling recent conflicting data, this can only occur when certain key conditions are met -- and these conditions are likely to have changed through time during Earth's long early history.
"There is obviously much further work to do, but we hope that our model is one step toward a more integrated view of how Earth's crust, mantle and atmosphere interact in the global sulfur cycle," he said.
Timothy W. Lyons, a professor of biogeochemistry at UCR and the principal investigator of the research project noted that this is a fundamentally new and potentially very important way of looking at the sulfur isotope record and its relationship to biospheric oxygenation.
"The message is that sulfur isotope records, when viewed through the filter of sedimentary recycling, may challenge efforts to precisely date the GOE and its relationship to early life, while opening the door to the wonderful unknowns we should expect and embrace," he said.
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Journal Reference:
Christopher T. Reinhard, Noah J. Planavsky, Timothy W. Lyons. Long-term sedimentary recycling of rare sulphur isotope anomalies. Nature, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nature12021
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BOSTON (AP) ? The Boston area held funerals for two more of its dead Tuesday ? including an 8-year-old boy ? as evidence mounted that the older Tsarnaev brother had embraced a radical, anti-American strain of Islam and was the driving force behind the Boston Marathon bombing.
Younger brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's condition was upgraded from serious to fair as investigators continued building their case against the 19-year-old college student. He could face the death penalty after being charged Monday with joining forces with his brother, now dead, in setting off the shrapnel-packed pressure-cooker bombs that killed three people.
In Washington, Senate Intelligence Committee member Richard Burr, R-N.C., said after his panel was briefed by federal law enforcement officials that there is "no question" that Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, was "the dominant force" behind the attacks, and that the brothers had apparently been radicalized by material on the Internet rather than by contact with militant groups overseas.
Martin Richard, a schoolboy from Boston's Dorchester neighborhood who was the youngest of those killed in the April 15 blasts at the marathon finish line, was laid to rest after a family-only funeral Mass.
"The outpouring of love and support over the last week has been tremendous," the family said in a statement. "This has been the most difficult week of our lives."
A funeral was also held for Massachusetts Institute of Technology police officer Sean Collier, 26, who authorities said was shot to death by the Tsarnaev brothers on April 18. A memorial service for Collier was scheduled for Wednesday at MIT, with Vice President Joe Biden expected to attend.
More than 260 people were injured by the bomb blasts. About 50 were still hospitalized.
Authorities believe neither brother had links to terror groups. However, two U.S. officials said Tuesday that Tamerlan Tsarnaev ? who died last week in a gunbattle ? frequently looked at extremist websites, including Inspire magazine, an English-language online publication produced by al-Qaida's Yemen affiliate. The magazine has endorsed lone-wolf terror attacks.
Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
On Capitol Hill, members of the Senate Intelligence Committee were briefed by the FBI and other law enforcement officials at a closed-door session Tuesday evening.
Afterward, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., described the two brothers as "a couple of individuals who become radicalized using Internet sources."
"So we need to be prepared for Boston-type attacks, not just 9/11-style attacks," Rubio said, referring to lone-wolf terrorists as opposed to well-organized teams from established terror networks.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., said law enforcement officials have gotten "minimal" information from Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and are still looking into whether the brothers had training or coaching from a foreign group.
The brothers' parents live in Dagestan, a predominantly Muslim province in Russia's Caucasus, where Islamic militants have waged an insurgency against Russian security forces for years.
Family members reached in the U.S. and abroad by The Associated Press said Tamerlan was steered toward a strict strain of Islam under the influence of a Muslim convert known to the Tsarnaev family only as Misha.
After befriending Misha, Tamerlan gave up boxing, stopped studying music and began opposing the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to family members, who said he turned to websites and literature claiming that the CIA was behind 9/11.
Somehow, he just took his brain," said Tamerlan's uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., who recalled conversations with Tamerlan's worried father about Misha's influence.
"You could always hear his younger brother and sisters say, 'Tamerlan said this,' and 'Tamerlan said that.' Dzhokhar loved him. He would do whatever Tamerlan would say," recalled Elmirza Khozhugov, the ex-husband of Tamerlan's sister. He spoke by telephone from his home in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The brothers, who came to the U.S. from Russia a decade ago, were raised in a home that followed Sunni Islam, the religion's largest sect, but were not regulars at the mosque and rarely discussed religion, Khozhugov said.
Then, in 2008 or 2009, Tamerlan met Misha, a heavyset bald man with a reddish beard. Khozhugov didn't know where they met but believed they attended a Boston-area mosque together.
Hoping to learn more about the motives, U.S. investigators traveled to southern Russia on Tuesday to speak to the parents of the two suspects, a U.S. Embassy official said.
A lawyer for the family, Zaurbek Sadakhanov, said the parents had just seen pictures of the mutilated body of their elder son and were not up to speaking with anyone.
In Massachusetts, the state House turned aside a bid by several lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty in certain cases, including the murder of police officers. In a 119-38 vote, the House sent the proposal to a study committee rather than advance it to an up-or-down vote.
In another development, April Walton, the manager of Phantom Fireworks of Seabrook, N.H., said Tamerlan Tsarnaev bought 48 mortar shells at the store in February.
Company Vice President William Weimer said FBI agents visited the store on Friday, interviewed staff and checked its computers. He said the amount of gunpowder that could be extracted would not have been enough for the Boston bombs.
___
Associated Press writers Bridget Murphy and Bob Salsberg in Boston, Lynn Berry in Moscow, and Adam Goldman, Eric Tucker, Matt Apuzzo, Kimberly Dozier and Eileen Sullivan in Washington contributed to this report.
New, nationally projectable survey results released today by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation confirmed that one in four teens has misused or abused a prescription drug at least once in their lifetime -- a 33 percent increase over th
New York, NY April 23, 2013 New, nationally projectable survey results released today by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation confirmed that one in four teens has misused or abused a prescription (Rx) drug at least once in their lifetime a 33 percent increase over the past five years. The Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) also found troubling data on teen misuse or abuse of prescription stimulants. One in eight teens (13 percent) now reports that they have taken the stimulants Ritalin or Adderall when it was not prescribed for them, at least once in their lifetime.
Contributing to this sustained trend in teen medicine abuse are the lax attitudes and beliefs of parents and caregivers. In fact, nearly one-third of parents say they believe Rx stimulants like Ritalin or Adderall, normally prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), can improve a teen's academic performance, even if the teen does not have ADHD. Parents are not effectively communicating the dangers of Rx medicine misuse and abuse to their kids, nor are they safeguarding their medications at home and disposing of unused medications properly.
The Partnership at Drugfree.org Responds to Rx Epidemic with The Medicine Abuse Project
In response to the continued high prevalence of teen prescription medicine abuse as reported in the 2012 PATS data, The Partnership at Drugfree.org is helping educate parents, community stakeholders and others about the risks of this dangerous behavior. The Partnership at Drugfree.org leads The Medicine Abuse Project, a multi-year initiative with the goal of preventing half a million teens from abusing prescription medicine by 2017.
The Medicine Abuse Project provides comprehensive resources to parents, educators, health care providers, law enforcement officials and others about the growing problem of teen medicine abuse. The Project aims to mobilize parents and the public at large to take action and help solve the problem of teen substance abuse. This includes learning about the issue, talking with their kids about the dangers of misuse and abuse of prescription drugs and properly monitoring, safeguarding and disposing of excess Rx drugs in their homes.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Holds Nationwide Prescription Take-Back Day on April 27th
One way parents, grandparents and other caretakers can take immediate action is by participating in the upcoming DEA-facilitated National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, taking place this Saturday, April 27, 2013.
"Medicine cabinets are the number one access point for teens who want to misuse and abuse prescription drugs. That's why we are making a concerted effort to let parents and caregivers know how important it is to safely dispose of their unused, unwanted or expired medicines. Doing so can literally save a life," said Marcia Lee Taylor,
SVP of Government Affairs at The Partnership at Drugfree.org. "This Saturday's DEA Take-Back event gives everyone a chance to protect their kids from the dangers that medicine abuse poses in their own homes. We should all take this simple step and clean out our medicine cabinets."
Collection sites will be set up around the country, open for medicine drop-off between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Those interested in disposing of their medicine at a take-back location this Saturday can visit The Medicine Abuse Project website to find the nearest site to safely drop off their unused, unwanted or expired prescription medicines. In the five previous Take-Back events, more than 2 million pounds of prescription medicines were safely dropped off and removed from circulation.
The DEA Take-Back Day provides a tangible way for parents to help curb medicine abuse. The PATS data released today confirms that misuse and abuse of prescription drugs is now a normalized behavior among teens.
Concerning Trends in Teen Prescription Drug Abuse According to the New PATS Data (2008-2012)
One in four teens (24 percent) reports having misused or abused a prescription drug at least once in their lifetime (up from 18 percent in 2008 to 24 percent in 2012), which translates to about 5 million teens. That is a 33 percent increase over a five-year period:
Of those kids who said they abused Rx medications, one in five (20 percent) has done so before the age of 14.
More than a quarter of teens (27 percent) mistakenly believe that "misusing and abusing prescription drugs to get high is safer than using street drugs," and one-third of teens (33 percent) say they believe "it's okay to use prescription drugs that were not prescribed to them to deal with an injury, illness or physical pain."
"These data make it very clear: the problem is real, the threat immediate and the situation is not poised to get better," said Steve Pasierb, President and CEO of The Partnership at Drugfree.org. "Parents fear drugs like cocaine or heroin and want to protect their kids. But the truth is that when misused and abused, medicines especially stimulants and opioids can be every bit as dangerous and harmful as illicit street drugs. Medicine abuse is one of the most significant and preventable adolescent health problems facing our families today. As parents and caring adults, we need to take action to address the risks that intentional medicine abuse poses to the lives and the long-term health of our teens."
Significant Increase in Teen Abuse of Stimulants Ritalin and Adderall, Rx Painkiller Abuse Flattening
Rx stimulants are a key area of concern, with misuse and abuse of Ritalin and Adderall in particular driving the noted increases in teen medicine abuse. Stimulants are a class of drugs that enhance brain activity and are commonly prescribed to treat health conditions including ADHD and obesity. The 2012 data found:
One in eight teens (about 2.7 million) now reports having misused or abused the Rx stimulants Ritalin or Adderall at least once in their lifetime.
9 percent of teens (about 1.9 million) report having misused or abused the Rx stimulants Ritalin or Adderall in the past year (up from 6 percent in 2008) and 6 percent of teens (1.3 million) report abuse of Ritalin or Adderall in the past month (up from 4 percent in 2008).
One in four teens (26 percent) believes that prescription drugs can be used as a study aid.
Abuse of prescription pain medicine remains at unacceptably high levels among teens, but the new PATS data show it may be flattening. Teen abuse of prescription pain relievers like Vicodin and OxyContin has remained stable since 2011 with one in six teens (16 percent) reporting abuse or misuse of an Rx pain reliever at least once in their lifetime. One in 10 teens (10 percent) admits to abusing or misusing an Rx painkiller in the past year.
Parents' Missed Opportunity: Lax Attitudes and Permissiveness About Rx Drugs Linked to Teen Abuse
Parent permissiveness and lax attitudes toward abuse and misuse of Rx medicines, coupled with teens' ease of access to prescription medicines in the home, are key factors linked to teen medicine misuse and abuse. The availability of prescription drugs (in the family medicine cabinet, in the homes of friends and family) makes them that much easier to abuse. The new survey findings stress that teens are more likely to abuse Rx medicines if they think their parents "don't care as much if they get caught using prescription drugs, without a doctor's prescription, than they do if they get caught using illegal drugs."
Almost one-third of parents (29 percent) say they believe ADHD medication can improve a child's academic or testing performance, even if the teen does not have ADHD.
One in six parents (16 percent) believes that using prescription drugs to get high is safer than using street drugs.
Teens reported that during the last conversation they had with their parents regarding substance abuse, only 16 percent said they discussed the misuse or abuse of prescription pain relievers with their parents, and just 14 percent indicate the same for discussions about any type of prescription drug. In comparison, a majority of teens (81 percent) say they have discussed the risks of marijuana use with their parents, 80 percent have discussed alcohol and nearly one-third of teens (30 percent) have discussed crack/cocaine.
More than half of teens (56 percent) indicate that it's easy to get prescription drugs from their parent's medicine cabinet. In fact, about half of parents (49 percent) say anyone can access their medicine cabinet.
More than four in 10 teens (42 percent) who have misused or abused a prescription drug obtained it from their parent's medicine cabinet. Almost half (49 percent) of teens who misuse or abuse Rx medicines obtained them from a friend.
Teens are more likely to use prescription drugs if they believe that their parents are more lenient toward prescription drug misuse or abuse compared to illegal drug abuse, and their parents use drugs themselves.
One in five parents (20 percent) report that they have given their teen a prescription drug that was not prescribed for them.
The PATS survey also found that 17 percent of parents do not throw away expired medications, and 14 percent of parents say that they themselves have misused or abuse prescription drugs within the past year.
###
PATS Methodology
The 24th annual Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) of 3,884 teens in grades 9-12 and 817 parents is nationally projectable with a +/- 2.1 percent margin of error for the teen sample and +/- 3.4 percent for the parent sample. Conducted for The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications, the 2012 PATS teen survey was administered in private, public and parochial schools, while the parent survey was conducted through in-home interviews by deKadt Marketing and Research, Inc.
About The Partnership at Drugfree.org
Ninety percent of addictions start in the teenage years. The Partnership at Drugfree.org is dedicated to solving the problem of teen substance abuse. Together with experts in science, parenting and communications, the nonprofit translates research on teen behavior, addiction and treatment into useful and effective resources for both individuals and communities. Working toward a vision where all young people will be able to live their lives free of drug and alcohol abuse, The Partnership at Drugfree.org works with parents and other influencers to help them prevent and get help for drug and alcohol abuse by teens and young adults. The organization depends on donations from individuals, corporations, foundations and the public sector and is thankful to SAG-AFTRA and the advertising and media industries for their ongoing generosity.
About MetLife Foundation
MetLife Foundation was established in 1976 to continue MetLife's longstanding tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. The Foundation is committed to building a secure future for individuals and communities worldwide. Since it was established, MetLife Foundation has provided more than $530 million in grants to nonprofit organizations addressing issues that have a positive impact in their communities. For more information, visit http://www.metlife.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
National study: Teen misuse and abuse of prescription drugs up 33 percent since 2008Public release date: 23-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
New, nationally projectable survey results released today by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation confirmed that one in four teens has misused or abused a prescription drug at least once in their lifetime -- a 33 percent increase over th
New York, NY April 23, 2013 New, nationally projectable survey results released today by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation confirmed that one in four teens has misused or abused a prescription (Rx) drug at least once in their lifetime a 33 percent increase over the past five years. The Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) also found troubling data on teen misuse or abuse of prescription stimulants. One in eight teens (13 percent) now reports that they have taken the stimulants Ritalin or Adderall when it was not prescribed for them, at least once in their lifetime.
Contributing to this sustained trend in teen medicine abuse are the lax attitudes and beliefs of parents and caregivers. In fact, nearly one-third of parents say they believe Rx stimulants like Ritalin or Adderall, normally prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), can improve a teen's academic performance, even if the teen does not have ADHD. Parents are not effectively communicating the dangers of Rx medicine misuse and abuse to their kids, nor are they safeguarding their medications at home and disposing of unused medications properly.
The Partnership at Drugfree.org Responds to Rx Epidemic with The Medicine Abuse Project
In response to the continued high prevalence of teen prescription medicine abuse as reported in the 2012 PATS data, The Partnership at Drugfree.org is helping educate parents, community stakeholders and others about the risks of this dangerous behavior. The Partnership at Drugfree.org leads The Medicine Abuse Project, a multi-year initiative with the goal of preventing half a million teens from abusing prescription medicine by 2017.
The Medicine Abuse Project provides comprehensive resources to parents, educators, health care providers, law enforcement officials and others about the growing problem of teen medicine abuse. The Project aims to mobilize parents and the public at large to take action and help solve the problem of teen substance abuse. This includes learning about the issue, talking with their kids about the dangers of misuse and abuse of prescription drugs and properly monitoring, safeguarding and disposing of excess Rx drugs in their homes.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Holds Nationwide Prescription Take-Back Day on April 27th
One way parents, grandparents and other caretakers can take immediate action is by participating in the upcoming DEA-facilitated National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, taking place this Saturday, April 27, 2013.
"Medicine cabinets are the number one access point for teens who want to misuse and abuse prescription drugs. That's why we are making a concerted effort to let parents and caregivers know how important it is to safely dispose of their unused, unwanted or expired medicines. Doing so can literally save a life," said Marcia Lee Taylor,
SVP of Government Affairs at The Partnership at Drugfree.org. "This Saturday's DEA Take-Back event gives everyone a chance to protect their kids from the dangers that medicine abuse poses in their own homes. We should all take this simple step and clean out our medicine cabinets."
Collection sites will be set up around the country, open for medicine drop-off between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Those interested in disposing of their medicine at a take-back location this Saturday can visit The Medicine Abuse Project website to find the nearest site to safely drop off their unused, unwanted or expired prescription medicines. In the five previous Take-Back events, more than 2 million pounds of prescription medicines were safely dropped off and removed from circulation.
The DEA Take-Back Day provides a tangible way for parents to help curb medicine abuse. The PATS data released today confirms that misuse and abuse of prescription drugs is now a normalized behavior among teens.
Concerning Trends in Teen Prescription Drug Abuse According to the New PATS Data (2008-2012)
One in four teens (24 percent) reports having misused or abused a prescription drug at least once in their lifetime (up from 18 percent in 2008 to 24 percent in 2012), which translates to about 5 million teens. That is a 33 percent increase over a five-year period:
Of those kids who said they abused Rx medications, one in five (20 percent) has done so before the age of 14.
More than a quarter of teens (27 percent) mistakenly believe that "misusing and abusing prescription drugs to get high is safer than using street drugs," and one-third of teens (33 percent) say they believe "it's okay to use prescription drugs that were not prescribed to them to deal with an injury, illness or physical pain."
"These data make it very clear: the problem is real, the threat immediate and the situation is not poised to get better," said Steve Pasierb, President and CEO of The Partnership at Drugfree.org. "Parents fear drugs like cocaine or heroin and want to protect their kids. But the truth is that when misused and abused, medicines especially stimulants and opioids can be every bit as dangerous and harmful as illicit street drugs. Medicine abuse is one of the most significant and preventable adolescent health problems facing our families today. As parents and caring adults, we need to take action to address the risks that intentional medicine abuse poses to the lives and the long-term health of our teens."
Significant Increase in Teen Abuse of Stimulants Ritalin and Adderall, Rx Painkiller Abuse Flattening
Rx stimulants are a key area of concern, with misuse and abuse of Ritalin and Adderall in particular driving the noted increases in teen medicine abuse. Stimulants are a class of drugs that enhance brain activity and are commonly prescribed to treat health conditions including ADHD and obesity. The 2012 data found:
One in eight teens (about 2.7 million) now reports having misused or abused the Rx stimulants Ritalin or Adderall at least once in their lifetime.
9 percent of teens (about 1.9 million) report having misused or abused the Rx stimulants Ritalin or Adderall in the past year (up from 6 percent in 2008) and 6 percent of teens (1.3 million) report abuse of Ritalin or Adderall in the past month (up from 4 percent in 2008).
One in four teens (26 percent) believes that prescription drugs can be used as a study aid.
Abuse of prescription pain medicine remains at unacceptably high levels among teens, but the new PATS data show it may be flattening. Teen abuse of prescription pain relievers like Vicodin and OxyContin has remained stable since 2011 with one in six teens (16 percent) reporting abuse or misuse of an Rx pain reliever at least once in their lifetime. One in 10 teens (10 percent) admits to abusing or misusing an Rx painkiller in the past year.
Parents' Missed Opportunity: Lax Attitudes and Permissiveness About Rx Drugs Linked to Teen Abuse
Parent permissiveness and lax attitudes toward abuse and misuse of Rx medicines, coupled with teens' ease of access to prescription medicines in the home, are key factors linked to teen medicine misuse and abuse. The availability of prescription drugs (in the family medicine cabinet, in the homes of friends and family) makes them that much easier to abuse. The new survey findings stress that teens are more likely to abuse Rx medicines if they think their parents "don't care as much if they get caught using prescription drugs, without a doctor's prescription, than they do if they get caught using illegal drugs."
Almost one-third of parents (29 percent) say they believe ADHD medication can improve a child's academic or testing performance, even if the teen does not have ADHD.
One in six parents (16 percent) believes that using prescription drugs to get high is safer than using street drugs.
Teens reported that during the last conversation they had with their parents regarding substance abuse, only 16 percent said they discussed the misuse or abuse of prescription pain relievers with their parents, and just 14 percent indicate the same for discussions about any type of prescription drug. In comparison, a majority of teens (81 percent) say they have discussed the risks of marijuana use with their parents, 80 percent have discussed alcohol and nearly one-third of teens (30 percent) have discussed crack/cocaine.
More than half of teens (56 percent) indicate that it's easy to get prescription drugs from their parent's medicine cabinet. In fact, about half of parents (49 percent) say anyone can access their medicine cabinet.
More than four in 10 teens (42 percent) who have misused or abused a prescription drug obtained it from their parent's medicine cabinet. Almost half (49 percent) of teens who misuse or abuse Rx medicines obtained them from a friend.
Teens are more likely to use prescription drugs if they believe that their parents are more lenient toward prescription drug misuse or abuse compared to illegal drug abuse, and their parents use drugs themselves.
One in five parents (20 percent) report that they have given their teen a prescription drug that was not prescribed for them.
The PATS survey also found that 17 percent of parents do not throw away expired medications, and 14 percent of parents say that they themselves have misused or abuse prescription drugs within the past year.
###
PATS Methodology
The 24th annual Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) of 3,884 teens in grades 9-12 and 817 parents is nationally projectable with a +/- 2.1 percent margin of error for the teen sample and +/- 3.4 percent for the parent sample. Conducted for The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications, the 2012 PATS teen survey was administered in private, public and parochial schools, while the parent survey was conducted through in-home interviews by deKadt Marketing and Research, Inc.
About The Partnership at Drugfree.org
Ninety percent of addictions start in the teenage years. The Partnership at Drugfree.org is dedicated to solving the problem of teen substance abuse. Together with experts in science, parenting and communications, the nonprofit translates research on teen behavior, addiction and treatment into useful and effective resources for both individuals and communities. Working toward a vision where all young people will be able to live their lives free of drug and alcohol abuse, The Partnership at Drugfree.org works with parents and other influencers to help them prevent and get help for drug and alcohol abuse by teens and young adults. The organization depends on donations from individuals, corporations, foundations and the public sector and is thankful to SAG-AFTRA and the advertising and media industries for their ongoing generosity.
About MetLife Foundation
MetLife Foundation was established in 1976 to continue MetLife's longstanding tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. The Foundation is committed to building a secure future for individuals and communities worldwide. Since it was established, MetLife Foundation has provided more than $530 million in grants to nonprofit organizations addressing issues that have a positive impact in their communities. For more information, visit http://www.metlife.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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Dosi.io is a new Chrome extension that builds a better dossier at the top of LinkedIn profiles where it helps you determine who’s worth your time. Once installed, LinkedIn stalking gets a lot more interesting, as Dosi.io displays more information about the person in question by pulling in additional data from CrunchBase, GitHub and AngelList. It also displays a score indicating that person’s importance to you in terms of how well they match your networking goals. The extension, built here at the TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 hackathon, is currently designed for the developer crowd, but the creators intend to bring it to other communities in the future. You can think of Dosi.io as something like a Rapportive for LinkedIn, explains co-creator Niles Brooks, who’s also the co-founder of sustainable restaurant guide Clean Plates. He says he came up with the idea for the extension the midnight before the hackathon’s start. Kenneth Chen, a software developer in the finance industry, had been thinking about things along the same lines, he tells us, and decided to team up on the project along with third member,?Vijith Assar. In a nutshell, the extension’s secret sauce is a combination of the number of followers a person has and the general impact they might have. From AngelList, it knows whether or not you have an account – a signal in and of itself – as well as the number of followers you have there. That information also helps Dosi.io know what companies to query up on CrunchBase, where it learns about the investments a company has, the sale price of a company, and the total amount of funding a person has raised over their lifetime. And on GitHub, Dos.io learns the commits you’ve made, the number of public repos you’re involved in, and again, the number of followers the person has. All of this data is boiled down into a simple visualization that appears directly above LinkedIn profiles, which also shows you a person’s overall Dosi.io score. Ranging from 1 to 10, the score is meant to convey how much of your time that person warrants. Brooks says he imagines this score becoming even more useful one day as a Google Glass application using facial recognition, where it could help users better network while at conferences and other events. (Nope, not creepy at all!) The extension today is client-side JavaScript, and though it’s live, they’re running
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Public release date: 23-Apr-2013
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