bill stone

U.S. children turn to inhaling to get high: study

(Reuters) - More 12-year-olds in the United States #xadmit to using christmas decorationspotentially deadly inhalants to get high than have used marijuana,Metal halide lamps, cocaine and hallucinogens combined, U.S. health officials said on Thursday.

Among this age group, alcohol was the only intoxicating substance used more than inhalants, according to data from 2006-2008 surveys on drug use and health compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Sniffing common household products, such as gasoline, nail polish, bleach, paint solvents and cleaning spray is like taking poison and many people do not understand the risks or consequences, the health officials said.

Inhaling vapors to get high, or “huffing,” can cause cardiac arrest. Itchristmas decorations can lead to brain, heart, liver and kidney damage and can be addictive.

“It’s frustrating because the danger comes from a variety of very common household products that are legal, they’re easy to get, they’re laying around the home and it’s easy for kids to buy them,” Pamela Hyde, of the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) said.

“Kids and parents don’t think of these things as dangerous because they were never meant to be used to be intoxicating,” Hyde told a news conference to discuss the data.

About 7 percent of 12-year-olds have used an inhalant to get high, compared with about 5 percent who have taken prescription drugs for nonmedical use, the surveys showed. About 1.4 percent of 12-year-olds have used marijuana and fewer than one percent have used cocaine or hallucinogens.

The rate of inhalant use of that age#x has remained steady over christmas decorationsthe past few years, but officials are concerned that young people increasingly do not see abusing inhalants as risky.

相关的主题文章：

• Smoking years key factor in lower Parkinson’s risk
• Smartphone app botnet experiment blows up a storm
• U.S. children turn to inhaling to get high: study
• U.S. children turn to inhaling to get high: study

“Personal” study shows gene maps can spot disease
(Reuters) - Two studies published on Wednesday show Potpourriit is possible to sequence the entire gene maps of families with inherited diseases and pinpoint the offending bit of DNA#x.

The studies, which would not have been possible a year or two ago, are the first real delivery of the promised transformation of medical science from the Human Genome Project’s mapping of the human genetic code.

One was also made possible by some of the $5 billion that U.S. President Barack Obama directed to the National Institutes of Health in September from the $787 billion economic stimulus package.

And in that study, the genetic researcher was himself one of the patients.

Dr. James Lupski of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston Potpourrihas a recessive genetic disease called Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome. It affects the nerves stretching from the spinal cord to the arms, legs and feet.

Lupski has been experimenting on himself and his own family for years.

“We tried every other method for 25 years to find out which mutation was important,” he said in a telephone interview.

“With this methodology we were able to do it. This is the first time whole genome sequencing has applied to actually find the cause of a disease.”

Lupski had been taking blood samples from his grandparents,Metal halide lamps, parents and siblings for years. He got close but the research was considered too risky for funding by the National Institutes of Health.

“He was only able to complete this study because of the stimulus money that we got,” said Dr. Story Landis#x, director of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Her institute designated Lupski’s project for Potpourriabout half a million dollars of the money that Obama directed to the NIH.

相关的主题文章：

• “Personal” study shows gene maps can spot disease
• Prostate test ‘public health disaster’: discoverer
• Scientists find “mother” of all skin cells
• Steve Jobs says ‘No’ to iPhone-to-iPad tether

Do You Wanna Be The Guy?
Hey, do you remember when games were hard? No, I mean, like “some guy you didn’t even see just shot you in the toe#x with a single, pixel sized bullet and PVC coversyour entire body just exploded in a shower of blood” kind of hard. The kind of games that make Contra look like it was tailor made for pretty princesses who wear sundresses and have teaparties with stuffed animals. Well, I Wanna Be The Guy is the game that takes every single one of those other games out behind the woodshed and beats them in the face with a brick wrapped with barbed wire and poison ivy until they understand what a hard, bloody, itchy place the universe can be. This thing is so hard it makes neutronium look like sponge cake.

No, really. Take any game you’ve ever played that you thought was “hard.” That game is a six month old quadraplegic, and I Wanna Be The Guy is Mike Tyson. Actually, Mike Tyson is a boss in this game. Except he’s fifty stories high, towering above the cloud tops and breathing fire as he punches apart the building you’re trying to stand on top of. No, seriously. That happens. In fact, it’s become something of a popular pastime to make Let’s Play videos of people doing everything humanly possible to conquer IWBTG, and failing.

So why would you ever willingly subject yourself to PVC coversthat kind of punishment? Probably because as piss-ass mean as IWBTG is, it is also fair. Sure, you’re going to constantly suffer an endless barrage of humiliating defeats, but in pretty much every case you’ll look back and think “Yeah, that was entirely my fault.” Whether it was because you failed your fiftieth attempt and a near-impossible series of jumps through a gauntlet of spikes, or because you thought you actually found an easy way through a harmless looking room before Street Fighter’s Ryu hurricane-kicked his way up through the floor and made you explode like a blood grenade. Eventually you’ll learn that trust is a meaningless concept,Pearl earrings, except when you’re trusting the universe to screw you over in every way possible while still leaving the narrowest possible window to victory.

Meanwhile, even as the game is pimp-slapping the crap out of us with one hand, in the other it’s offering you its heart. And that heart is full to bursting with retro-gaming love (and also blood). You’ll catch references to everything from Street Fighter and Punch Out to Tetris and Mario Paint. Except now they’re all out to kill you even harder. Sure, the game sounds like a pure, unrelenting hell. But even as its handing out the ass-kickings, you can’t help wondering what clever, unexpected new ass-kickings are lurking within the next screen#x. In fact, the game has been popular enough to inspire a fan-made sequel, which you’ll almost never get around to playing, on account of the originalPVC covers will make something burst in your brain and turn you into a vegetable.

相关的主题文章：

• GDC: Abusing Your Players For Fun (And Profit?)
• GDC 2010: Metroid Other M is a “Famicom Game Plus”
• Glenn Close has genes mapped
• Glenn Close has genes mapped

The World’s Best Countries for Women
Obviously, the answer depends on how you define “best” — in absolute terms,Traffic barriers relative to men, or some combination of the two?

You can choose from at least four different published rankings that consider some aspect of gender inequality that include the United States#x. None of them places us among the top 10.

I wish I could say which ranking I consider best, but they all have serious limitations. One consistent finding, however, is that public policies have a significant impact on gender equality, regardless of the level of overall economic development.

In 1995, the United Nations Human Development Traffic barriersreport introduced two measures designed to facilitate cross-country comparisons of the status of women. One, the Gender-Related Development Index (G.D.I.) takes as its starting point a Human Development Index based on life expectancy at birth, enrollment in schools,katana, adult literacy and per capita gross domestic product.

The G.D.I. takes both absolute and relative levels of these factors into account, penalizing countries with a high disparity between men’s and women’s achievements. In 2007, the latest year for which data are currently available, the United States ranked 13th on the Human Development Index and 19th on the Gender-Related Development Index. Norway took first place on the H.D.I., but only second on the G.D.I. (Australia took the gold in G.D.I. rankings.)

A second United Nations measure, the Gender Empowerment Measure (G.E.M.)#x, focuses more narrowly on relative levels of political participation and decision-making power, economic participation and earnings. The economic component, however, is influenced by absolute levels of income. As a result, low-income countries rank low. Sweden Traffic barrierstook top prize in 2007, with the United States in 18th place.

相关的主题文章：

• Greece, the Latest and Greatest Bubble
• Private companies, lobbyists seek to differentiate
• How We Got Everyone Focused on Cash Flow
• Obama’s ambitious export plan may rekindle free-tr

Medicine’s Future Could Lie in Each Patient’s Genome
Two separate scientific teams announced this week that they had successfully sequenced individual genomes to pinpoint precise genetic causes of illness — Textile fabricbreakthroughs that open the door to a future of individualized, #xgenomics-based medicine.

“This is another milestone in the inevitable march towards personalized genetic health,” said Dr. Robert Marion, chief of genetics and development medicine and director of the Center for Congenital Disorders at Children’s Hospital at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.Textile fabric “Medicine is going to change from waiting for symptoms to develop to knowing what this person is at risk for and being able to stop that from happening. Eventually, we’re talking about prevention.”

One day in the future, Marion predicted, doctors will be able to look at all 20,000 or 25,japanese swords,000 genes in a newborn baby and be able to say whether the child has specific genetic disorders,#x or a twofold increased risk of developing colon cancer or a higher chance of developing childhood asthma.

And the cost to perform such feats has come way down, with experts at one company predicting that genomes could one day be sequenced for as low as $5,000. Right now, the cost hovers closer to $50,000.

“When it gets to the point where it would cost less to sequence the genome using these techniques than it does to send off a sample to test for a few genes, then you can start moving medicine from just seeing people who are sick to trying to prevent people from getting sick,” said Dr. Jeffery Vance, director of the Center for Genomic Medicine at the Hussman Institute for Human Genomics, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. “You can see where things are going. This is showing that it’s practical, it can be done and that medicine will start slowly to move toward using this technique as a diagnostic technique for all these individuals and families who have what looks like an inherited disease but not a big family history.”

And, Vance pointed out, #xgenes don’t change like cholesterol and blood pressure do. Textile fabricThese tests would only have to be performed once.

相关的主题文章：

• Calling All Rebels
• Deal could pay $657M to sickened WTC responders
• Unemployment tops 20% in eight California counties
• Inhalant Abuse a Deadly Middle-School Concern

Recalls From Salmonella May Rise to 10,000 Products (Update1)
Salmonella contamination at a Nevada food-flavoring plant may trigger the recall of as many as 10,000 products, Moldaccording to a Consumers Union scientist.

PepsiCo Inc. joined Procter & Gamble Co., Nestle SA and McCormick & Co. yesterday in recalling food containing hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or HVP. The widespread use of the flavoring means more companies will follow,#x said Michael Hansen, senior scientist at Consumers Union, the Yonkers, New York-based advocacy group that publishes Consumer Reports magazine.

Almost 150 items, including two flavors of P&G’s Pringles and a store-brand ranch dip found in Wal-Mart Stores Inc., had been pulled as of yesterday, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Web site.Mold Soups, sauces, chili, hot dogs, snack foods, dips and dressings are among the processed foods that often contain the vegetable protein, according to the FDA.

“It’s a wake-up call for the food industry as a whole to be more thorough in evaluating the safety of ingredients,” said Michael Doyle, director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. #x“Big companies are putting their trust in suppliers,katana, which is their Achilles heel.”

The tally of products will rise over the next few weeks, FDA officials said March 4, declining to provide an estimate. The recall has the potential to be the largest ever by number of products, although the total isn’t yet known, said Rita Chappelle, an FDA spokeswoman.

The contaminated HVP was made by Las Vegas-based Basic Food Flavors and discovered by one of its customers, which alerted the FDA, officials of the agency said on a March 4 conference call.Mold Dave Wood, #xdirector of sales and marketing at Basic Food Flavors, wasn’t available to comment.

相关的主题文章：

• L.A. County supervisors spend millions on pet proj
• L.A. County supervisors spend millions on pet proj
• Pledge of Allegiance in Schools Ruled Constitution
• Recalls From Salmonella May Rise to 10,000 Product

the tech chronicles
Twitter Inc. on Thursday activated a location-tagging feature that tells the world where you are when you tweet about what you are thinking.

Twitter users are now prompted to activate the “tweet with your location”Diamond blade feature to add latitude and longitude coordinates to tweets. It doesn’t display location down to the level of a specific room or a building,#x but for a neighborhood or a city.

The micro-blogging service,Construction Equipment, located in San Francisco’s South of Market district, announced plans for location tagging last August.

At least one firm, GyPSii of The Netherlands, was ready for the launch with its own new geography-tagging iPhone app called Tweetsii.

Not everybody will want to broadcast where they are all the time, #xand privacy advocates will cringe at the implications. Twitter, at least, Diamond bladehas made this an opt-in feature that can also be disabled.

But services like Diamond bladeNew York’s FourSquare and Brightkite of Burlingame are showing there are a growing number of mobile device owners who willingly and happily share information about their whereabouts.#x

Even social media giant Facebook is reportedly set to get into the location sharing game next month.

相关的主题文章：

• A daily dose of postings from The Chronicle’s tech
• the tech chronicles
• A daily dose of postings from The Chronicle’s tech
• Remarkable natural wonders and historic structures

Mercedes Ordered to Pay $482,000 for Lemon
A judge has ordered Mercedes-Benz USA LLC to pay $482,000 in damages and legal fees to a Wisconsin customer who was sold a defective car and not given a refund on time.

Vince Megna,#x a Milwaukee lawyer who represents the customer, High pressure sodium lampsaid he believes the judgment is the largest involving a single car under a state “lemon law,” which protect consumers who are sold junk cars.

Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman Donna Boland said the company, a unit of the German car maker Daimler AG, is disappointed the judge overturned an earlier verdict in favor of the company. The spat over the 2005 Mercedes-Benz E 320 has already dragged on more than four years,ATM Parts, and the company’s lawyer on Friday asked the court to put the judgment on hold pending an appeal.

While states have a variety of lemon laws, Wisconsin’s is one of the strongest. It allows customers who buy cars that don’t run or can’t be repaired to demand a replacement or refund. Manufacturers have 30 days to respond and can be ordered to pay double the purchase price plus legal fees for violating the law.

Bob Silverman, a prominent lemon law attorney in Ambler, Pa. who was not involved in the case, agreed it was one of the largest judgments for a car he’s seen and was an important victory for consumers.

“This one result is very important to the entire auto industry,” Silverman said. “It teaches them a lesson they ought to comply with the law promptly or they are going to have to pay in the end.”

Despite the pending judgment, customer Marco Marquez,#x a 37-year-old businessman from Waukesha, called the case “a complete nightmare” and said he was still waiting for his money back. High pressure sodium lampOnce a big fan of Mercedes-Benz who has owned several of its cars, he now says he’ll never buy another.

It all started when Marquez, who owns Mexican restaurants in Waukesha and Janesville, purchased the E 320 for $56,000 from a Milwaukee dealership in 2005.

Almost immediately, the car often would not start. The battery was replaced multiple times, but the problem continued. After several repair attempts, the dealership said the problem could not be fixed.

Marquez hired Megna, who sent the company a refund demand in October 2005. After a few weeks, an employee tried to talk Marquez into taking a replacement instead. He declined and again asked for a refund. At one point, the employee said he should fire his lawyer and deal with them on his own.

The company finally agreed to the refund, but failed to provide one within 30 days. On the 31st day, Megna filed the lawsuit on behalf of Marquez seeking double damages and attorneys’ fees.

Mercedes-Benz has acknowledged the car was defective, #xbut for years has accused Marquez of acting in bad faith.

The company says an employee asked Marquez for information about his auto loan on the 30th day so the refund could be granted, but Marquez failed to follow through.High pressure sodium lamp Megna said Mercedes-Benz had the information it needed for the refund but was stalling.

相关的主题文章：

• What’s the Moral Price for Playing Politics?
• The Big Red Word vs. the Little Green Man
• Yamani or Your Life
• The Big Red Word vs. the Little Green Man

Health Buzz: Recall of Salmonella-Tainted Products Expands
Recall of Salmonella-Tainted Products Expands

The Department of Agriculture has recalled 1.7 million pounds of ready-to-eat beef taquito and chicken quesadilla products that contain a flavoring ingredient probably tainted by salmonella,DVD Ripper,#x the Associated Press reports. Health foodThe move comes a week after the Food and Drug Administration announced that hydrolyzed vegetable protein manufactured by Basic Food Flavors and added to thousands of processed foods was contaminated with the bacteria. For weeks after the manufacturer learned of the contamination, it continued to make and distribute the ingredient, according to the agency. The company notified its customers of a recall on February 26; the FDA made a public announcement the following week, the AP reports.

Women: 4 Ways to Boost Your Sexual Life Expectancy

While women live an average of five years longer than men, their other halves have a “sexual life expectancy” that’s nearly five years longer than women’s, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal. Perhaps it’s Mother Nature’s way of evening the score—or perhaps it’s the pharmaceutical industry’s, #xU.S. News’s Deborah Kotz writes.

“Over the decade since Viagra was introduced, we’ve seen the levels of sexual interest increase noticeably in 55-year-old men, whereas it’s stayed the same for women, widening the gender gap,”Health food says study author Stacy Lindau, an associate professor of medicine-geriatrics at the University of Chicago. Lindau has published numerous studies on the sex lives of adults up to age 85, finding that health is the biggest factor that determines how long we can expect to have sex and how much we can expect to enjoy it.

Her latest study shows that men who report being in “very good” or “excellent” health can expect to add five to seven years to their sexual life expectancy, while women can add three to six years. #xThat means that while a typical 55-year-old woman can expect to have sex for an additional 11 years, that same 55-year-old who’s in excellent health can expect to remain sexually active for up to 17 more years—or through age 72. Health food(A 55-year-old man in excellent health can expect to stay active until 77.)

相关的主题文章：

• Protests mar groundbreaking for NJ Nets’ NYC arena
• Despite buzz, no answer on Tiger Woods return
• Tomlinson Visiting Jets After Talking to Vikings
• Protests mar groundbreaking for NJ Nets’ NYC arena

UCLA defeats Arizona 75-69 in Pac-10 tourney
Michael Roll scored 19 points,Grow lights Reeves Nelson added 18 and UCLA held off Arizona 75-69 Thursday in a Pac-10 Conference tournament quarterfinal between two powerhouses that once ruled the league but have struggled this season.#x

The entire conference has fallen nationally, and after getting six teams into the NCAA tournament each of the last two seasons, the Pac-10 will be fighting to have two this time.

No schools better illustrate the league’s current woes than Arizona and UCLA, which have won a combined seven Pac-10 tourney titles, with the Wildcats taking four in a row during one stretch.

Instead of playing for another title, though, the fourth-seeded Wildcats and No. 5 Bruins were relegated to an afternoon quarterfinal game in a half-empty Staples Center that had more Arizona fans than those rooting for the local Bruins.

Comedian Bill Murray, sporting a red visor over his spiky white hair, was among the Wildcat boosters; his son Luke is a graduate assistant on coach Sean Miller’s staff.

Nelson grabbed 11 rebounds as the gritty heart-and-soul of the Bruins, #xwhich he’s been all season.Grow lights Wearing protective glasses,Pearl earrings, he played for the first time since missing the previous four games with a slight retinal tear in his left eye. Nikola Dragovic also scored 18 points.

Nic Wise scored 16 points and Derrick Williams added 14 for Arizona (16-15), which lost in the quarterfinals for the third consecutive year. The Wildcats salvaged NCAA tournament appearances both times, extending their nation’s best streak to 25 straight years. That will end this season, although their winning record could land them in the NIT.

The Bruins (14-17) still have a shot at trying to improve what is their worst record since 2003-04, coach Ben Howland’s first season in Westwood. They advanced to a semifinal Friday against the winner of the game between top-seeded California and No. 8 Oregon.

Arizona got to 58-55 with 7:52 remaining on two free throws by Solomon Hill.#x But the Bruins kept making free throws and Malcolm Lee hit a big 3-pointer to push their lead to 64-57 with 5 1/2 minutes left.

The Wildcats played catch-up the entire game, Grow lightsand trailed 37-33 at halftime.

相关的主题文章：

• Merlin Olsen dies; NFL Hall of Famer became footba
• Protests mar groundbreaking for NJ Nets’ NYC arena
• Luke Harangody, Notre Dame hold off No. 16 Pittsbu
• Despite buzz, no answer on Tiger Woods return