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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tsunami-damages-dozens-homes-solomons-wave-warning-canceled-035754141.html
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LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's Olympic committee has banned a female windsurfer for life for concealing she was pregnant but attending the London Games anyway to see her husband.
Carolina Borges travelled to Britain as part of the Portugal team but then sent an email during the Games in July saying she was quitting before her RS-X event had even started.
"The Portuguese Institute of Sports and Youth accepted our recommendation and has forbidden the athlete from ever representing Portugal again," Olympic committee head Vicente Moura told Lusa news agency on Tuesday.
Brazil-born Borges represented Brazil at the Athens Olympics in 2004 but later joined Portugal's squad.
"It all points to the fact that she took advantage of the trip to the Olympics to be with her husband," Moura added.
Borges is married to U.S. sailor Mark Mendelblatt, who competed in London in the Star class in the sailing regatta off the south coast of England.
Moura said that the decision was made after an investigation proved that the athlete was pregnant at the time of the Games and failed to inform the national Olympic committee as required.
(Reporting by Daniel Alvarenga, editing by Mark Meadows)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/sailing-portugal-bans-olympic-windsurfer-over-secret-pregnancy-131418253.html
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An ancient practice linked with physical and mental benefits -- such as an improved immune system, lower blood pressure and positive brain changes -- could also aid in a more cultural matter: really getting into music.
A new study in the journal Psychology of Music shows that engaging in a brief mindfulness meditation could improve focused engagement in music.
The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Oregon, included 132 students split up into four groups. Two of the groups listened to a 15-minute mindfulness recording before listening to 10 minutes of "La Boheme," an opera by Giacomo Puccini. The recording reminded the participants to pay attention to their breathing if they felt themselves becoming distracted. They were tested for something called "aesthetic response" -- which is their emotional experience to the music -- as well as their "flow" -- which is how much they felt themselves getting into the music.
The other two groups didn't listen to the mindfulness recording before listening to the music.
Researchers had all the study participants mark their engagement with the music by turning a dial. They found that most of the participants -- including those who underwent the mindfulness meditation and those who didn't -- experienced flow and aesthetic response, and more than half of those who underwent the mindfulness meditation thought that it helped them to be more engaged in the music.
"Listening to music mindfully can be a powerful way of increasing your quality of life," study researcher Frank Diaz said in a statement. "We really found significant increases in the participants' aesthetic and flow experience. Some were intense. They were really in the zone."
Beyond improving well-being, there are a number of other ways music is good for both body and soul. Click through the slideshow for more health benefits of both listening and playing:
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/06/mindfulness-meditation-music-engagement_n_2623292.html
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ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek seamen extended a strike to protest against government austerity for a further 48 hours on Sunday, meaning dozens of islands will have been cut off from the mainland for six days.
Farmers also briefly disrupted traffic on major motorways across Greece in the latest wave of protest over budget cuts and labor reform that is needed to satisfy international lenders.
Greece's biggest labor union has called a general 24-hour strike for February 20.
The seamen are demanding months of unpaid wages and the repeal of a draft law that weakens their union by introducing a new employment contract between shipowners and crew.
"The law wipes out the seamen's profession and all the rules underpinning it," the PNO union said.
The strike, which started on Thursday, has begun causing shortages on grocery shelves and is hindering agricultural exports to the Balkans and beyond, the Athens Central Vegetable Market Association said in a statement.
The farmers disrupted traffic with sit-ins and by distributing free rice to drivers, to protest against tax increases that form part of the country's bailout.
"We have no choice but to go on, we're on the brink of desperation," one farmer told state television NET. Greece's latest austerity package mandates lower tax refunds and fuel subsidies for farmers and increases the social security contributions they must pay.
The Greek government is holding talks with the protesters but refuses to budge on any demands that might undermine its deficit cutting efforts, a condition of bailout funds and debt relief from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.
Greece last month invoked rarely used emergency powers to break a strike of subway workers, serving military-style orders instructing them to return to work or face arrest.
Merchant shipping minister Costis Mousouroulis suggested on Sunday that the government might do the same against the seamen. "We can't be shutting our ears to islanders' desperate calls," he said.
Austerity has fuelled social unrest and extremism. Police on Friday arrested two bank robbers who turned out to be suspected members of a left-wing extremist group, Conspiracy of Fire Cells, which has claimed a spate of bomb attacks across the country since 2009.
Golden Dawn, an ultra-right, anti-immigrant party which ranks third in the opinion polls, staged its biggest rally ever in Athens late on Saturday, mustering about 5,000 supporters.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/greek-seamen-farmers-protest-government-cuts-reforms-145139152--finance.html
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The fate of his gun proposals on Capitol Hill uncertain, President Barack Obama is seeking to rally support from the public and law enforcement community for his calls to ban assault weapons and install universal background checks for gun buyers.
Obama will pitch his proposals to stem gun violence Monday in Minnesota, a Democratic-leaning state where officials have been studying ways to reduce gun-related attacks and accidents for several years. His visit to the Minneapolis Police Department's Special Operations Center will mark the first time Obama has campaigned on his controversial proposals outside of Washington.
Ahead of the trip, the White House released a photo of the president skeet shooting at Camp David, the presidential retreat. Obama cited skeet shooting when asked in a recent interview whether he had ever shot a gun.
The president unveiled his sweeping package of proposals for curbing gun violence last month in response to the horrific mass shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. He vowed to use the full weight of his office to fight for the proposals, many of which face tough opposition from congressional lawmakers and the powerful National Rifle Association.
The reinstatement of the assault weapons ban, which expired in 2004, is expected to be the steepest climb for Obama. Universal background checks for gun purchasers may have an easier time passing Congress, though the NRA also opposes that measure.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has said he hopes his panel can write gun legislation this month, though it's unclear what it will contain.
The White House picked Minneapolis as the backdrop for Obama's remarks in part because of recent steps the city has taken to tackle gun violence, including a push for stricter background checks.
After a spike in violent crimes, the city launched a program in 2008 aimed at providing more resources for at-risk youth and helping rehabilitate young people who have already perpetrated crimes. In January, Minneapolis also hosted a regional summit on gun violence for elected officials from around the Midwest.
Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau and Hennepin County Sheriff Richard Stanek are also among the officials Obama has consulted as he pursues his anti-gun violence measures.
Stanek has also been leading a group of Minnesota sheriffs pushing for stronger background checks for people trying to buy guns.
Obama is expected to make more trips around the country to build support for his anti-gun violence measures. The outside group Organizing For Action, an offshoot of Obama's presidential campaign, is also promoting the proposals.
White House officials say quick action on the president's gun measures gives them the best prospects for passing legislation in Congress. They fear that as time passes lawmakers will have less incentive to back the measures as the shock of the Newtown massacre fades.
In addition to the gun control measures, Obama's anti-violence proposals also included increasing mental health resources, boosting funding for school security, and lifting restrictions that prevent the government from studying the causes of gun violence.
___
Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-campaign-gun-proposals-minnesota-082922906--politics.html
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VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) ? To save money during the harsh Baltic winter, Romanas Ziabkinas did something unremarkable: He turned off his central heating and installed a cheaper electric heater. Now he finds himself neck-deep in legal woes.
His utility company refused to recognize the switch and is suing him for some 25,000 litas ($10,000) in unpaid utility bills for his apartment in Lithuania's capital. "Splitting from the Soviet Union was easier than leaving this heating system," he says.
Ziabkinas plight is extreme, but his frustrations over heating costs are shared by a majority of Lithuanians, who have seen prices soar over the past several years, especially since the shuttering of its only nuclear power plant in 2009, forcing the country to import more Russian gas to keep warm. Lithuania's decision to scrap atomic power over safety concerns has put it under a new kind of threat: intimidation from Russia, which critics say shows no hesitation to use its energy dominance to bully former vassal states.
While gas prices have tended to fall globally in recent years thanks to deposits of shale gas in places like the U.S., Lithuanian households have looked on in horror in the past seven years as the retail cost of natural gas pumped from Siberia spiked 450 percent ? or from $169 to $769 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Lithuania, a country of 3 million people, currently pays Russia a wholesale price of about $540 per 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas piped from Siberia, roughly 15 percent more than Baltic neighbors Latvia and Estonia and 25 percent more than Germany.
Many Lithuanians feel they are being punished by Russia for unsolved political issues, just as the Kremlin has used gas supplies to goad Ukraine and Belarus over political and economic disputes.
Lithuania has demanded compensation from Moscow for alleged damages incurred during the Soviet occupation from 1945 to 1991, and last year enacted a European Union directive to separate gas supply and distribution, a direct blow to Russia's commercial interests in the country. Estonia and Latvia, which also receive all their gas from Russia, have done neither ? and, not surprisingly, enjoy cheaper prices.
Gazprom rarely comments on gas price deals with individual countries, using the secrecy to haggle with each individual nation separately ? playing one off the other ? in what is seen as an extension of Kremlin foreign policy.
Lithuania has a long-term supply agreement with Russia's state-owned gas monopoly Gazprom, which expires in 2015. Russia has justified the price rises by saying the deal allows it to index gas rates to oil prices. The catch is that Russia has given discounts to friendly nations, while sticking to the full price for those with which it has disputes.
"We believe Lithuania should pay a fifth less than it does now," Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius recently told reporters.
Lithuania's previous center-right government sued Gazprom in international arbitration court for 5 billion litas ($1.9 billion) over gas price hikes and has called on the EU to investigate the company's alleged unfair pricing policies. Butkevicius, however, is willing to scrap the litigation in exchange for cheaper gas.
Regardless of the legal outcome, heating now seems a luxury many Lithuanians can't afford ? and with tragic consequences. Last winter a 77-year-old pensioner in the southern district of Alytus was found frozen to death in his house. In another case, an 80-year-old woman who lived alone died in her bed in 2011, her body stuck to the frozen bed sheets.
Many people who can't afford their heating bill don't pay it, resulting in an increasingly large income hole that utilities fear they'll never recover. In Vilnius, the total amount of unpaid heating bills surpassed 40 million litas ($15 million) last year, while in Kaunas, Lithuania's second largest city, the number was $17 million.
Toma Gajauskiene, a 25-year-old Lithuanian language teacher, feels that she's drowning in unpaid heating bills for her apartment in a high-rise building. She earns some 1,200 litas ($460) per month and has a small child and unemployed husband to support.
"Last December was not too cold, but the heating bill stands at 500 litas, almost half of what I make," Gajauskiene said. "For January the bill will be at least double, but I simply cannot pay more than 300 litas for heating because my family will not have money to buy food."
Lithuanians also pay more for heating due to insulation problems stemming from the Soviet era. In the years after World War II, some 80 percent of Lithuania's population moved in less than a decade from villages to cities, where they were placed in Soviet apartment blocks hastily and without regard for efficient insulation.
"To the Soviets, it was easier to build new towns and concrete multi-story houses with thin walls and then heat them without counting energy costs. Gas and oil was free those days, but now it's simply outrageous," said Vytautas Stasiunas, head of the Lithuanian District Heating Association.
Nearly all of Lithuania's leaders have vowed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in energy-saving housing renovations ? promises that have gone unfulfilled.
"There are dozens of awful mistakes made in the energy sector by each and every cabinet since independence. These mistakes are affecting everybody in this country," Stasiunas said.
Not surprisingly, Lithuanians ? who have one of the lowest personal income levels in the 27-member EU ? aren't waiting around and are searching for alternatives.
Vytas Ratkevicius, who lives in Uzupis, a cobblestoned neighborhood in downtown Vilnius, recently switched off his central heating. "We decided to install wood-burning equipment after the sharp increase in gas prices. It's obvious that gas prices will continue to go up, and we're simply not ready to pay for this," he said.
Ratkevicius purchases his wood from Nerijus Pienelis, who says that demand is growing every year. "It used to be remaining farms and villages where people used my production," he said. "Now most of the wood goes to the national capital, where even rich people burn it."
Likewise, Ivan Soloduchin, owner of small heating solutions company in Vilnius, says he can't keep up with orders to help people shut down gas boilers and replace them with firewood boilers or heat pumps. Heating a private home of up to 100 square meters (1,070 square feet) requires up to 20 cubic meters of birch wood. That comes to less than 2,300 litas ($880) for a five-month heating season. Natural-gas users in the same size property would pay up to $500 during a particularly cold month.
"I'm getting up to 10 orders per week, and clients keep on coming even in the middle of winter," Soloduchin said. "Ten years ago owners of new houses wouldn't even look my way since firewood was considered dirty and old fashioned ? everyone wanted gas boilers. Now things have changed."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lithuania-shivers-russia-ramps-heating-costs-104331652--finance.html
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Public release date: 3-Feb-2013
Share ] Contact: Stephanie Berger
sb2247@columbia.edu
212-305-4372
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
The rate of drug overdose from prescription opioids increased seven-fold in New York City over a 16-year period and was concentrated especially among white residents of the city, according to latest research at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. The study is one of the earliest and most comprehensive analyses of how the opioid epidemic has affected an urban area.
The findings are published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
There are two classes of prescription opioids: analgesics, or painkillers like Oxycontin (oxycodone), and methadone, which is used to treat heroin addiction but which carries a risk of overdose. Using data from the city's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the period 1990-2006, the researchers examined the factors associated with death from prescription opioids versus heroin, which historically has been the most common type of opioid fatality in urban areas.
They found that the increase in the rate of drug overdose was driven entirely by analgesic overdoses, which were 2.7 per 100,000 persons in 2006 or seven times higher than in 1990. Meanwhile, methadone overdoses remained stable, and heroin overdoses declined.
Whites were much more likely to overdose on analgesics than blacks or Hispanics. By 2006, the fatality rate among white males was almost two times higher than the rate among Latinos and three times higher than the rate among blacks.
Deaths were mostly concentrated in neighborhoods with high-income inequality but lower-than-average rates of poverty.
"A possible reason for the concentration of fatalities among whites is that this group is more likely to have access to a doctor who can write prescriptions," says Magdalena Cerd, DrPH, assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health and the lead author on the study. "However, more often than not, those who get addicted have begun using the drug through illicit channels rather than through a prescription."
Price may also play a role, since heroin costs less than analgesics. Additionally, users of prescription opioids may perceive they are safer than other drugs.
Although methadone overdose rates did not increase overall, fatalities among whites increased almost nine-fold while among blacks decreased by 2%. This shift may reflect a change in the nature of methadone use, from a treatment for heroin addiction to a treatment for chronic non-cancer pain.
The study suggests that the profile of a recreational prescription opioid user is very different from the heroin consumer, with less involvement in street-based forms of drug-trafficking and use of other drugs such as cocaine. Because of the different demographics between heroin and prescription opioid users, a different public health approach is needed to target the latter group, say the authors. "It's a different type of drug with a different profile, and we need a different type of response to it," said Dr. Cerd.
Over the last 20 years, prescription drug overdoses have risen dramatically in the U. S. By 2006, overdose fatalities exceeded the number of suicides, and by 2009, they exceeded the number of motor vehicle deaths.
Most studies on recreational opioid use have focused on rural areas, which have been hit the hardest by the epidemic, but this study suggests that urban areas are contending with a growing health burden from opioid use.
The authors recommend regulating the aggressive marketing of potent drugs like Oxycontin, controlling over-prescribing of analgesics, and taking stricter measures to regulate sales. They also say there should be more law enforcement measures to identify illicit networks of distribution of these drugs and education outreach for physicians and patients.
###
About Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Founded in 1922, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting New Yorkers, the nation and the world. The Mailman School is the third largest recipient of NIH grants among schools of public health. Its over 450 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as preventing infectious and chronic diseases, environmental health, maternal and child health, health policy, climate change & health, and public health preparedness. It is a leader in public health education with over 1,300 graduate students from more than 40 nations pursuing a variety of master's and doctoral degree programs. The Mailman School is also home to numerous world-renowned research centers including the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP), the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, and the Center for Infection and Immunity. For more information, please visit www.mailman.columbia.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 3-Feb-2013 Share ] Contact: Stephanie Berger
sb2247@columbia.edu
212-305-4372
Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
The rate of drug overdose from prescription opioids increased seven-fold in New York City over a 16-year period and was concentrated especially among white residents of the city, according to latest research at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. The study is one of the earliest and most comprehensive analyses of how the opioid epidemic has affected an urban area.
The findings are published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
There are two classes of prescription opioids: analgesics, or painkillers like Oxycontin (oxycodone), and methadone, which is used to treat heroin addiction but which carries a risk of overdose. Using data from the city's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for the period 1990-2006, the researchers examined the factors associated with death from prescription opioids versus heroin, which historically has been the most common type of opioid fatality in urban areas.
They found that the increase in the rate of drug overdose was driven entirely by analgesic overdoses, which were 2.7 per 100,000 persons in 2006 or seven times higher than in 1990. Meanwhile, methadone overdoses remained stable, and heroin overdoses declined.
Whites were much more likely to overdose on analgesics than blacks or Hispanics. By 2006, the fatality rate among white males was almost two times higher than the rate among Latinos and three times higher than the rate among blacks.
Deaths were mostly concentrated in neighborhoods with high-income inequality but lower-than-average rates of poverty.
"A possible reason for the concentration of fatalities among whites is that this group is more likely to have access to a doctor who can write prescriptions," says Magdalena Cerd, DrPH, assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia's Mailman School of Public Health and the lead author on the study. "However, more often than not, those who get addicted have begun using the drug through illicit channels rather than through a prescription."
Price may also play a role, since heroin costs less than analgesics. Additionally, users of prescription opioids may perceive they are safer than other drugs.
Although methadone overdose rates did not increase overall, fatalities among whites increased almost nine-fold while among blacks decreased by 2%. This shift may reflect a change in the nature of methadone use, from a treatment for heroin addiction to a treatment for chronic non-cancer pain.
The study suggests that the profile of a recreational prescription opioid user is very different from the heroin consumer, with less involvement in street-based forms of drug-trafficking and use of other drugs such as cocaine. Because of the different demographics between heroin and prescription opioid users, a different public health approach is needed to target the latter group, say the authors. "It's a different type of drug with a different profile, and we need a different type of response to it," said Dr. Cerd.
Over the last 20 years, prescription drug overdoses have risen dramatically in the U. S. By 2006, overdose fatalities exceeded the number of suicides, and by 2009, they exceeded the number of motor vehicle deaths.
Most studies on recreational opioid use have focused on rural areas, which have been hit the hardest by the epidemic, but this study suggests that urban areas are contending with a growing health burden from opioid use.
The authors recommend regulating the aggressive marketing of potent drugs like Oxycontin, controlling over-prescribing of analgesics, and taking stricter measures to regulate sales. They also say there should be more law enforcement measures to identify illicit networks of distribution of these drugs and education outreach for physicians and patients.
###
About Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Founded in 1922, Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health pursues an agenda of research, education, and service to address the critical and complex public health issues affecting New Yorkers, the nation and the world. The Mailman School is the third largest recipient of NIH grants among schools of public health. Its over 450 multi-disciplinary faculty members work in more than 100 countries around the world, addressing such issues as preventing infectious and chronic diseases, environmental health, maternal and child health, health policy, climate change & health, and public health preparedness. It is a leader in public health education with over 1,300 graduate students from more than 40 nations pursuing a variety of master's and doctoral degree programs. The Mailman School is also home to numerous world-renowned research centers including the International Center for AIDS Care and Treatment Programs (ICAP), the National Center for Disaster Preparedness, and the Center for Infection and Immunity. For more information, please visit www.mailman.columbia.edu
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/cums-por020113.php
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