I had to duck out of the London Super Comic Convention due to being all sick and stuff. And Bleeding Cool proprietor William Christensen basically ordering me home. But here's a quick look. Odds are I won't be able to make it on on Sunday. So why not go in my place? Comics, creators, cosplay, publishers and panels aplenty...
In this Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 photo, Ryan Travis Christian lays out a tape pattern on the floor in front of his wall-sized drawing at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, N.C. The Chicago artist completely reworked his wall-sized drawing several days into his first museum exhibition. (AP Photo/Allen Breed)
In this Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 photo, Ryan Travis Christian lays out a tape pattern on the floor in front of his wall-sized drawing at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, N.C. The Chicago artist completely reworked his wall-sized drawing several days into his first museum exhibition. (AP Photo/Allen Breed)
In this Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 photo, Ryan Travis Christian, top, and assistant Travis Fish put the finishing touches on a floor installation at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, N.C. The Chicago artist completely reworked his wall-sized drawing, left, several days into his first museum exhibition. (AP Photo/Allen Breed)
In this Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2013 photo, Ryan Travis Christian, right, and assistant Travis Fish apply charcoal to a wall installation at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, N.C. The Chicago artist completely reworked this wall-sized drawing several days into his first museum exhibition. (AP Photo/Allen Breed)
In this Friday, Feb. 15, 2013 photo, patrons look from above as Ryan Travis Christian applies charcoal to a wall installation at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, N.C. The Chicago artist completely reworked the wall-sized drawing several days into his first museum exhibition. (AP Photo/Allen Breed)
In this Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2013 photo, Ryan Travis Christian stands beside a mural he created over the course of 12 days in the emerging artist gallery at the Contemporary Art Museum in Raleigh, N.C. The Chicago artist completely reworked the wall-sized drawing several days into his first museum exhibition. (AP Photo/Allen Breed)
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ? It took Ryan Travis Christian four days to fill the paper sheet stretching 6?-by-30 feet and push-pinned to the white museum wall. Spreading charcoal with a chamois and Latex-gloved hand, he conjured a dreamy cloudscape of reclining, mouthless ghosts, zigzag patterns and disembodied duck heads.
Then, on the fifth day of the two-week installation at the Contemporary Art Museum, he began blacking over his original design. By day's end, it was gone ? swallowed in the undulating coils of a gigantic black and white snake.
"That's how it goes in my studio," the Chicago-based artist said nonchalantly as he stood beside the re-imagined piece. "There's a lot of pieces that I'll work on, become unhappy with, eradicate them, come out with something completely different. It's all very responsive. But yeah. People were nervous about it ? and surprised."
CAM Executive Director Elysia Borowy-Reeder admits she was initially taken aback when she saw Christian's radical new direction. But that's why she gave the 29-year-old artist this show in the first place.
"It's like the biggest blind date, you know?" says Borowy-Reeder, who first began following Christian's career while working at the Art Institute of Chicago. "I always believe in the artist's intent. ... You want to fuel that creativity and that freedom."
Christian was a tad nervous himself. After all, the installation is his first museum exhibition.
"That's a really frustrating thing to feel when you're kind of in a high-pressure situation ? which I'd consider this," he says. But it's also exhilarating.
Borowy-Reeder took over CAM Raleigh in May 2011. During a visit to Chicago later that year, she caught Christian's "River Rats" show at the Western Exhibitions gallery and was mesmerized.
"His imagery is inventive. It's memorable," she says. "He has all this new text ... He juxtaposes it against older cartoons from the Dust Bowl era. He has this nice tension between what's old and what's new."
And that is why she gave him free rein in the museum's "emerging artist" gallery, housed on the lower level of this converted downtown warehouse.
Christian, who studied graphic design and painting at Northern Illinois University, says his "all-time biggest inspiration and favorite artist all around" is Ub Iwerks, the Oscar-winning Disney animator who created Mickey Mouse. Christian adapted the sinister, phantom-like figures that populate many of his recent works from the late cartoonist's famous dancing ghosts.
"I just love them, how they're adorable, but they're menacing," Christian says of the characters, which vaguely resemble condoms.
Christian, who normally works in graphite, also integrates '80s pop patterns and video game imagery into his pieces.
He says his works are "a metaphysical diary, plugged in through, like, a throwback cartoon language and patterns. And it's slowly changing always."
In the finished work, the snake stretches in an accordion pattern across the entire wall as a bug-eyed frowny face, grinning banana and one of his ghost heads pop from the black background. In addition to charcoal, Christian used spray paint, car finish and gesso ? a mixture of white paint, chalk and gypsum.
Christian calls the piece "You Had to Be Here."
The show opened Friday and will run through June 17.
Christian has done several other large-scale works, but they were drawn right on the walls. This is the first that won't be erased when the show is over.
"After the exhibition, it will get rolled up in a massive tube and, who knows after that?" he says. "I may rework it again, as I'm prone to do."
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Online:
CAM Raleigh http://camraleigh.org/
Western Exhibitions http://westernexhibitions.com/christian/
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A. Breed is a national writer, based in Raleigh, N.C. He can be reached at features(at)ap.org. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/(hash)!/AllenGBreed
The Obama administration has taken another important step in its advocacy of same-sex marriage, weighing in on an important case to be heard in the US Supreme Court next month.
The essence of the administration?s argument is that the 1996 ?Defense of Marriage Act? violates the US Constitution in defining marriage as the legal union between one man and one woman ? specifically Section 3 of DOMA, which bars recognition of same-sex marriages in the granting of federal benefits including Social Security survivors? benefits, immigration, insurance benefits for government employees, and filing joint tax returns.
In the Justice Department brief filed with the Supreme Court Friday, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli writes that DOMA?s Section 3 ?targets the many gay and lesbian people legally married under state law for a harsh form of discrimination that bears no relation to their ability to contribute to society.?
How much do you know about the US Constitution? A quiz.
?It is abundantly clear that this discrimination does not substantially advance an interest in protecting marriage, or any other important interest,? Mr. Verrilli writes. ?The statute simply cannot be reconciled with the Fifth Amendment?s guarantee of equal protection. The Constitution therefore requires that Section 3 be invalidated.?
The administration made it clear during the latter half of Mr. Obama?s first term that it would not continue to defend DOMA in the court cases where it?s been challenged. Taking up DOMA?s defense has been the ?Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group? in the US House of Representatives, directed by Speaker John Boehner to take the place of the Justice Department in arguing court cases on behalf of the controversial law.
The House brief filed last month asserts that the same-sex marriage issue should be left to the democratic process and that gays are quite capable of pursuing their rights in those venues, according to a Politico analysis.
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?Gays and lesbians are one of the most influential, best-connected, best-funded, and best-organized interest groups in modern politics, and have attained more legislative victories, political power, and popular favor in less time than virtually any other group in American history,? the House brief says.
Homosexual conduct has a history of being prosecuted as criminal in the United States. And although same-sex marriages now are legally recognized in nine states and the District of Columbia, many more states still have laws aimed at gays and lesbians ? including restrictions on the adoption of children, banning gay marriage, and refusing legal benefits to same-sex couples.
?Tradition, no matter how long established, cannot by itself justify a discriminatory law under equal protection principles,? the Solicitor General writes in his brief.
The Supreme Court next month also is scheduled to take up California?s Proposition 8, which provides that "only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized? in the state. Both Prop. 8 and DOMA have been declared unconstitutional by lower courts.
It?s unclear whether the Obama administration will weigh in against Prop. 8 as it has with DOMA.
?Next week I think we will see the government urging the same standard of review be used to overturn Prop. 8, and with it, all anti-gay-marriage laws,? Richard Socarides, a gay rights advocate and White House adviser to President Bill Clinton, told Politico. ?It?s clear from the administration?s DOMA brief that they understand and now embrace its connection to the Prop. 8 case. The discrimination evidenced by Prop. 8 itself is cited to support the standard of review urged by the government to strike down DOMA.?
The DOMA case involves Edith Windsor, who lived with her partner Thea Spyer for many years. They were married in 2007 in Canada, returning to their home in New York where their marriage was recognized by state law. But when Ms. Spyer died in 2009, Ms. Windsor ? because of DOMA ? was forced to pay $363,000 in federal estate taxes that the surviving spouse in a heterosexual marriage would not have to pay.
As he has said, President Obama?s position on gay marriage has ?evolved? in its favor.
In his inaugural address last month, he said, ?Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law ? for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well."
Polls show a clear shift in public acceptance of same-sex marriage, especially among under-30 Americans ? 63-35 percent approve, according to a Quinnipiac University poll in December. For all age groups, Gallup puts the number at 53-46 approval.
How much do you know about the US Constitution? A quiz.
FILE - This Feb. 5, 2013 file photo shows a line of Boeing 787 jets parked nose-to-tail at Paine Field in Everett, Wash. Congressional officials say Boeing is proposing a long-term fix for the 787 Dreamliner's troubled batteries that won't have the planes back in the air until April at the earliest. Boeing officials were presenting their plan Friday to the Federal Aviation Administration. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
FILE - This Feb. 5, 2013 file photo shows a line of Boeing 787 jets parked nose-to-tail at Paine Field in Everett, Wash. Congressional officials say Boeing is proposing a long-term fix for the 787 Dreamliner's troubled batteries that won't have the planes back in the air until April at the earliest. Boeing officials were presenting their plan Friday to the Federal Aviation Administration. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Boeing attempted a major step Friday toward getting its 787 Dreamliners flying again, proposing a fix for the plane's troubled batteries that could allow the flights to resume as early as April, congressional officials said.
The next question is whether the Federal Aviation Administration will agree to let the planes fly even though the root cause of a battery fire in one plane and a smoking battery in another is still unknown.
A Boeing team led by CEO Ray Conner presented the plan to Federal Aviation Administration head Michael Huerta. The airliners, Boeing's newest and most technologically advanced, have not been allowed to fly since mid-January.
The plan ? a long-term solution, rather than a temporary fix ? calls for revamping the aircraft's two lithium ion batteries to ensure that any short-circuiting that could lead to a fire won't spread from one battery cell to the others, officials said. That would be achieved by placing more robust ceramic insulation around each of the battery's eight cells. The aim is to contain not only the short-circuiting, but any thermal runaway, a chemical reaction that leads to progressively hotter temperatures.
The additional spacers will enlarge the battery, requiring a bigger battery box to hold the eight cells. That new box would also be more robust, with greater insulation along its sides to prevent any fire from escaping and damaging the rest of the plane, officials said.
The plan will require testing and partially recertifying the safety of the plane's batteries, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.
The testing and recertification will take time, with engineers currently estimating completion sometime in April at the soonest, they said. Even after the batteries are recertified, it could take some more time to get the planes back into the air. Boeing will have to send teams to seven airlines in six countries to retrofit their planes.
It's up to Huerta to decide whether to approve the plan. But Boeing's plan is not a surprise, since the company has kept regulators closely informed, the officials said.
"The FAA is reviewing a Boeing proposal and will analyze it closely," the agency said in a statement Friday. "The safety of the flying public is our top priority and we won't allow the 787 to return to commercial service until we're confident that any proposed solution has addressed the battery failure risks."
Boeing also acknowledged the meeting, but spokesman Marc Birtel would not discuss what was said. "We are encouraged by the progress being made toward resolving the issue," the company's written statement said.
Boeing, the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board still have not identified the root cause of a Jan. 7 fire that erupted in an auxiliary power unit battery of a Japan Airlines 787 about a half-hour after the plane landed at Boston's Logan International Airport. The safety board is investigating that incident, but NTSB officials didn't attend Friday's meeting and declined to comment on the proposal.
Engineers and battery experts gathered by Boeing developed a list of possible causes for the fire and a plan to modify the batteries to address the spread of a fire created by any of those causes, officials said.
Nine days after the Boston fire, an All Nippon Airways 787 with a smoking battery made an emergency landing by in Japan. The FAA and aviation authorities overseas ordered the planes grounded soon afterward. There are a total of 50 of the planes in service worldwide, and Boeing had orders for 800 of the airliners at the time they were grounded.
On Thursday, United Airlines cut its six 787s from its flying plans at least until June and postponed its new Denver-to-Tokyo flights as airlines continued to tear up their schedules while the plane is out of service. United is the only U.S. carrier with 787s in its fleet.
The 787 is the world's first airliner made mostly from lightweight composite materials. It also relies on electronic systems rather than hydraulic or mechanical systems to a greater degree than any other airliner. And it is the first airliner to make extensive use of lithium ion batteries, which are lighter, recharge faster and can hold more energy than other types of batteries.
Boeing has billed the plane to its customers as 20 percent more fuel efficient than other mid-sized airliners. That's a big selling point, since fuel is the biggest expense for most airlines.
One question is how much weight Boeing's proposed fix would add. The heavier the plane is, the less fuel-efficient it is.
Having the plane flying as soon as April "would be fantastic news for Boeing," said Carter Leake, an aerospace analyst at BB&T Capital Markets.
If the battery fix ends up being as described, "I don't think it's that difficult to retrofit. I think it would be viewed very favorably" by investors, Leake said. If FAA were to approve Boeing's proposed fix as early as next week, that would be a "home run" for the company, he said.
However, the idea of recertifying part of the design is trickier. Getting certification from the FAA for a particular part or design is an involved process ? and one that's likely to make investors nervous.
"Recertification suggests time," Leake said. "Given what most know about aircraft certification processes, six months would be sort of quick."
Leake added: "The FAA takes it slow. You're talking about statistical testing. You're proving through testing that this meets very stringent criteria. That usually involves time, and time is not on Boeing's side."
Among the many unanswered questions is how the 787 battery problems will affect Boeing's effort to win FAA permission for the planes to make flights that venture further from the nearest airport, such as those that travel over wide expanses of ocean. The FAA has tighter requirements for such flights in twin-engine planes because it wants to make sure the plane can keep flying if it loses an engine or encounters other problems far away from a safe landing.
Until it was grounded, the 787 could fly up to three hours away from the nearest airport. That's far enough for flights between the U.S. and Europe and some flights over the Arctic, for instance. But Boeing wants permission for flights up to 5.5 hours from the nearest airport. Its 777 is already certified for such flights.
Boeing said last month before the grounding orders that it was close to submitting a plan for those longer flights.
The grounding has forced airlines that own the 787 to rework their schedules. LOT Polish Airlines has said the grounding of its two 787s is costing it $50,000 per day. Most affected has been ANA, which has 17 of the planes.
Boeing has had hundreds of people looking for the cause of the problem and working on possible solutions.
The mess comes just as Boeing is boosting 787 production from five planes per month to 10 per month by the end of this year. It has said the speedup will still happen, even though it can't deliver the planes ? or collect most of their $200 million-a-plane list price from airlines ? until they're flying again.
"Even with the FAA review/grounding, we believe it's more likely than not that Boeing continues to build at its planned rate until it's apparent that a fix for the battery issue will require an extended period of time (more than couple of months)," UBS analyst David Strauss wrote in a note this week.
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Freed reported from Minneapolis.
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Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy
SumUp, one of the many European mobile card reader startups, is adding support for American Express. Its mobile card reader system already accepts MasterCard and Visa payments but today the startup said it has signed a deal with American Express to process Amex card payments in all "major regions" in which it operates. Its merchants will be able to start accepting Amex in Q2.
After whetting our appetite at CES, Samsung's updated Series 7 Chronos is slowly squeaking its way into US retailers. Spotted at Best Buy for $1,200, this 21mm dynamo packs a 2.4GHz Intel Core i7 3635QM CPU and an AMD Radeon HD 8870M GPU along with a 15.6-inch touchscreen. While this lean, mean, Windows 8 machine's streamlined design and spec sheet are impressive, such adornment comes at a price. Absent from the Chronos' fine engineering is room for an optical drive, so DVD and Blu-ray enthusiasts be warned. However, should this caveat not apply to you, then by all means you have our blessings to check out Sammy's new up-and-comer.
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who became one of the biggest names in world athletics, was charged on Thursday with shooting dead his girlfriend at his upscale home in Pretoria.
Police said they opened a murder case after a 30-year-old woman was found dead at the Paralympic and Olympic star's house in the Silverlakes gated complex on the capital's outskirts.
Pistorius, 26, and his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp, had been the only people in the house at the time of the shooting, police brigadier Denise Beukes, told reporters, adding witnesses had been interviewed about the early morning incident.
"We are talking about neighbors and people that heard things earlier in the evening and when the shooting took place," Beukes said outside the heavily guarded residential complex. Earlier, police said a 9mm pistol had been found at the scene.
Beukes said police were aware of previous incidents at the Pistorius house. "I can confirm that there has previously been incidents at the home of Mr Oscar Pistorious, of allegations of domestic nature," she said.
Pistorius, who uses carbon fiber prosthetic blades to run, is due to appear in a Pretoria court on Friday.
"He is doing well but very emotional," his lawyer Kenny Oldwage told SABC TV, but gave no further comment.
A sports icon for triumphing over disabilities to compete with able-bodied athletes at the Olympics, his sponsorship deals, including one with sports apparel group Nike, are thought to be worth $2 million a year.
South Africa's M-Net cable TV channel said it was pulling adverts featuring Pistorius off air immediately.
"WE ARE ALL DEVASTATED"
Steenkamp's colleagues in the modeling world were distraught. "We are all devastated. Her family is in shock," her agent, Sarita Tomlinson, tearfully told Reuters. "They did have a good relationship. Nobody actually knows what happened."
Pistorius, who was born without a fibula in both legs, was the first double amputee to run in the Olympics and reached the 400-metre semi-finals in London 2012.
In last year's Paralympics he suffered his first loss over 200 meters in nine years. After the race he questioned the legitimacy of Brazilian winner Alan Oliveira's prosthetic blades, though he was quick to express regret for the comments.
South Africa has some of the world's highest rates of violent crime, and many home owners have weapons to defend themselves against intruders, although Pistorius' complex is surrounded by a three-meter high wall and electric fence.
In 2004, Springbok rugby player Rudi Visagie shot dead his 19-year-old daughter after he mistakenly thought she was a robber trying to steal his car in the middle of the night.
Before the murder charge was announced, Johannesburg's Talk Radio 702 said the athlete may have mistaken Steenkamp for a burglar.
Recent media interviews with Pistorius revealed he kept an assortment of weapons in his home.
"Cricket and baseball bats lay behind the door, a pistol by his bed and a machine gun by a window," Britain's Daily Mail wrote in a profile published last year.
Pistorius was arrested in 2009 for assault after slamming a door on a woman and spent a night in police custody. Family and friends said it was just an accident and charges were dropped.
"He's very quiet and very modest but he's a big party animal," one of South Africa's top runners, who knows Pistorius, told Reuters. "I've been with him when we've been smashed and he never seemed violent," said the runner, who declined to be named.
OLYMPIAN UNDERGOES POLICE TESTS
Steenkamp, a regular on the South African social scene, was reported to have been dating Pistorius for several months.
In the social pages of last weekend's Sunday Independent she described him as having "impeccable" taste. "His gifts are always thoughtful," she was quoted as saying.
Some of her last Twitter postings indicated she was looking forward to Valentine's Day on Thursday. "What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow???" she posted.
Pistorius was on Thursday being processed through the police system. "At this stage he is on his way to a district surgeon for medical examination," the police brigadier said.
"When a person has been accused of a crime like murder they look at things like testing under the finger nails, taking a blood alcohol sample and all kinds of other test that are done. They are standard medical tests," Beukes said.
Pistorius is also sponsored by British telecoms firm BT, sunglasses maker Oakley and French designer Thierry Mugler.
"We are shocked by this terrible, tragic news. We await the outcome of the South African police investigation," a BT spokeswoman said before Pistorius was charged.
A Nike spokesman in London said before hearing of the murder charge that the company was "saddened by the news, but we have no further comment to make at this stage".
Pistorius also has a sponsorship deal with Icelandic prosthetics manufacturer Ossur.
"I can only say that our thoughts and prayers are with Oscar and the families involved in the tragedy," Ossur CEO Jon Sigurdsson told Reuters. "It is completely premature to discuss or speculate on our business relationship with him."
Neighbors expressed shock at the arrest of a "good guy".
"It is difficult to imagine an intruder entering this community, but we live in a country where intruders can get in wherever they want to," said one Silverlakes resident, who did not want to be named.
"Oscar is a good guy, an upstanding neighbor, and if he is innocent I feel for this guy deeply," he said.
(Additional reporting by Sherilee Lakmidas, David Dolan, Ed Cropley, Jon Herskovitz, Keith Weir and Kate Holton; Writing by Ed Cropley; Editing by Will Waterman and Peter Millership)
DETROIT (AP) ? BMW is recalling more than 30,000 SUVs to fix an oil leak that can knock out the power-assisted braking.
The German automaker says the recall covers X5 SUVs in the U.S. from the 2007 through 2010 model years. The vehicles were made between Sept. 12, 2006, and March 18, 2010. They have eight-cylinder engines.
The company says a small amount of oil can leak from a brake hose and cause the power-assisted braking to fail. Brakes would still work, but the problem could increase stopping distances and cause a crash.
BMW says it has no reports of crashes or injuries. The problem was discovered when warranty claims increased.
The company will replace a brake vacuum line hose for free. The recall is expected to start this month.
New Delhi:?India has asked UK company AgustaWestland to explain if it paid bribes to land a Rs 4,000-crore deal for 12 VVIP helicopters. The letter from Defence Minister AK Antony warns that the contract could be cancelled if the manufacturer does not cooperate. (Read: Defence Ministry's statement on acquisition of AgustaWestland choppers)
The alleged scam rests on the premise that without those revisions to the tender, AgustaWestland would not have made the cut. The government issued a statement to highlight that the changes to the tender were requested by its predecessor, the BJP-led NDA coalition.
The CBI is investigating the controversy which went mega this week after the arrest in Italy of the CEO of Finmeccanica, the parent company of AgustaWestland.
Italian prosecutors say that former Air Chief Marshal SP Tyagi was paid to ensure that technical specifications were changed to suit AgustaWestland. (Read: Met ex-air force chief Tyagi a few times, says middleman) They say his cousins were paid 12 million euros or Rs 86 crore, and that a middleman for AgustaWestland met with SP Tyagi six times, allegedly to discuss the contract. Air Chief Marshall (retired) Tyagi has denied the charges. (Read)
The revisions to the tender were requested and finalised in 2003, when the BJP-led NDA coalition was in power with Atal Behari Vajpayee as prime minister. But it was in 2006, that the new requirements were notified. By then, Dr Manmohan Singh was Prime Minister and Pranab Mukherjee was Defence Minister. SP Tyagi was Air Force chief. (VVIP chopper scam: how the deal was signed)
The government wants to stress that the alleged scam originated when the BJP was in power; the Opposition party counters that the deal was signed in 2010 on the Congress' watch.
The Italian enquiry says that two critical alterations to the original tender were dictated by AgustaWestland: the height at which the helicopters were required to fly was lowered from 18,000 feet to 15,000 feet; and engine failure flying test was added. (Read: Why NDA's Brajesh Mishra ordered changes in technical specs) This favoured AgustaWestland as its helicopters were the only ones in the tender operating with three engines.
During the summer in Qaanaaq, Greenland, an Inuit hunter paddling next to a resting narwhal observed a thin gauzelike layer coming off the narwhal's body and dissipating into the water. The event lasted only a few seconds, but Connecticut-based dentist Martin Nweeia, a Harvard University and Smithsonian Institution researcher who studies narwhal tusks as his passion, immediately saw the scientific significance of the hunter's observation. Whereas the beluga, the narwhal's nearest relative, is known to enter warmer estuarine waters in the summer to molt, this skin-renewal process had never been scientifically documented for narwhal, in part because no scientist has ever spent sufficient time in remote Arctic locations to record such an event. "One voice from an Inuit hunter can be more significant than 100 scientists," says Nweeia, who presented his findings at the 18th Inuit Studies Conference in Washington, D.C. Nweeia, a professor at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine, has obtained many more scientific insights from the Inuit elders and hunters who have lived close to the narwhal for thousands of years. Taking a cue from the Inuit who indicated that narwhal tusking was not a sign of aggression, he discovered that the unicornlike tusk was a sensory organ, capable of detecting changes in the ocean environment. Narwhals gently rubbing their tusks together are not dueling, as previously believed, but engaged in a type of ritualistic behavior, Nweeia argues. He also learned that the tusk could bend at least 30 centimeters in any direction without breaking, an observation that he did not believe until more scientific tests demonstrated the tusk?s unusual strength and flexibility. View a slide show of scientific collaboration around narwhals. More scientists now collaborate with indigenous peoples to learn about rare and elusive wildlife. ?The biologists are starting to understand that hunters have good eyes, they know what they are looking for, and it can really help them,? says Gabriel Nirlungayuk, director of wildlife and environment for Nunavut Tunngavik, Inc. Nirlungayuk has collaborated with scientists on different research projects. Reliance on aboriginal insights is particularly crucial in the Arctic, where climate change creates an urgent need to understand local dynamics. ?The Arctic is changing rapidly, and often it is just too fast for scientists to keep up with all the details or implications,? says Henry Huntington, science director for the Arctic program at the Pew Environment Group in Alaska. Changing environmental conditions open unprecedented opportunities for industrial development that has the potential to compromise wildlife habitat. In Nunavut one of the biggest resource extraction efforts ever proposed for the eastern Arctic, the Mary River iron ore project, could have impacts on various species including caribou, bowhead whale, narwhal, beluga and walrus. Scientists and locals combine forces to tackle those major conservation issues. ?We have to try our best to work together in a cooperative way so that we all know as much as we can about how fragile these populations can be,? says Jack Orr, project lead for the Arctic Research Division at Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Orr captures narwhals and fits them with satellite transmitters to understand the whales' diving behaviors and migration routes. Inuit hunters provide information about weather conditions, best timing and locations for accessing the whales. Local Arctic residents are traveling, hunting, boating and observing wildlife on the land and ocean throughout the year whereas scientists only conduct field studies for a limited time during the summer. ?We might get a piece of the puzzle, but we are never going to see the puzzle,? Nweeia says. For example, in Barrow, Alaska, Saint Lawrence Island Yupik whalers helped improve census methods for bowhead whales, telling scientists they could not see all the whales from the edge of the ice, along with sharing insights on bowheads? ability to swim through the ice where they cannot be seen. Biologists also built on I?upiaq observations to learn that bowheads possess a sense of smell, unlike most other whales. In contrast to scientists who seek to isolate and study one variable in the environment, traditional knowledge?holders look for relationships within the whole environment, which helps science explore new territory. Huntington learned from I?upiaq and Yupik elders that beavers damned streams where fish spawned, hence impacting belugas? food source in Alaska. ?I have yet to meet a biologist telling me with a straight face that he would have anticipated a connection between beavers and beluga,? he says. Scientific research in remote Arctic regions is expensive and logistically challenging, particularly for species like orcas ( killer whales) that cover large areas and cannot be easily surveyed through standard methods. Climate change and the resulting loss of sea ice during the summer have opened new hunting territory for the killer whales in the eastern Canadian Arctic, but scientists knew very little about these animals until they tapped into the traditional knowledge of Inuit hunters who shared unique firsthand descriptions of orca hunting tactics. ?It gives us a real jump start in knowing what to be looking for,? says Steve Ferguson, a research scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada who led a survey of traditional knowledge on killer whales in Nunavut waters. Learning from Inuit hunters that killer whales use specific methods to hunt bowheads, beluga, narwhal and seals, Ferguson discovered at least two different killer whale groups based on prey preferences. Sometimes the locals share qualitative, subtle information that challenges scientific minds. Orr recalls that an Inuit hunter once told him that narwhals get cold when holes are made through their backs to fit satellite tags. ?I may not necessarily believe that, but I can?t say he is wrong, either,? Orr says. He since then improved the tag design to minimize impacts on the whales. When Nweeia learned about narwhal molting for the first time, he knew that he had to part with the traditional scientific approach that validates facts through large sample sizes. ?These hunters spent their whole lives around narwhal, and the reason why their knowledge is valid and should not be questioned as much is because their lives depend on it.? Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news. ? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.
Even some of the movies' most famous villains need a little loving on Valentine's Day. That's why Next Movie put together a collection of cards from famed killers... and one from "Titanic" for some reason. Also, "Trance" red band trailer ups the ante in today's Dailies! » Valentines from famous movie villains [Next Movie] » [...]
>>>mock news conference online, going on strike to raise awareness for the billions of people worldwide who do not have access to
clean water
and toilet facilities.
>>in protest of this global tragedy, until this issue is resolved and until everybody has access to
clean water
and sanitation, i will not go to the bathroom.
>>um, what?
>>damon is the founder of water.org and urged supporters to join his strike with me campaign, leading up to
world water day
next month.
Feb. 13, 2013 ? Many new moms fear that eating the wrong foods while breast-feeding will make their baby fussy. However, no sound scientific evidence exists to support claims that certain foods or beverages lead to fussiness in infants, according to Gina Neill, a Loyola University Health System registered dietitian.
"One of the many reasons women stop breast-feeding is because they believe they have to follow restrictive dietary guidelines," Neill said. "However, a nursing mom's food and beverage intake does not have to be as regimented as you might think."
Here are the rules women need to know while breast-feeding their little one:
Monitor your alcohol intake
Your breast milk is comparable to your blood level in terms of alcohol content. If you plan to drink moderately while nursing, breast-feed shortly before you consume alcohol. Having a couple of drinks is not a good reason to resort to formula. And supplementing with formula can cause your milk supply to decrease.
Fish may be the perfect catch, in moderation
The U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommend that pregnant and breast-feeding women avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish. These fish have high levels of mercury. However, don't make the mistake of avoiding fish altogether. Fish that are high in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, also can help your baby's brain and eyes develop. Breast-feeding mothers can eat up to 12 ounces a week (two average servings) of fish and shellfish that have lower concentrations of mercury. This includes shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish. Albacore (white) tuna has more mercury than canned light tuna and should be limited to 6 ounces (one average meal) per week.
Make no beans about brewing up caffeine
Most breast-feeding women can drink a moderate amount of caffeine without it affecting their infant. The American Academy of Pediatrics defines moderate intake as two to three cups of a caffeinated beverage per day. However, some young infants are sensitive to caffeine and become irritable or have difficulty sleeping even with small amounts of caffeine. An infant's sensitivity to caffeine usually lessens over time.
Spice up your baby's diet
You may have heard that babies can develop gas and become fussy from foods with citrus, garlic, chocolate or ethnic flavors, but fussiness and gas are normal in newborns, so it is unlikely these behaviors are related to your food intake. Even when a baby does react to a food in the mother's diet, the specific food that causes a reaction will vary from baby to baby. A true allergy will usually produce a skin rash or blood in your baby's stool. This usually occurs between two and six weeks of age but may occur earlier. Elimination diets can identify what triggers an allergic reaction. If you think your baby has an allergy, talk to your doctor and a registered dietitian.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The American public will get a competing mix of rhetoric and imagery in President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday, a speech that offers a heavy dose on the economy even as it plays out against a visual backdrop dominated by the current national debate over guns.
With the economy still trying to find its footing and with millions still out of work, Obama will make a case for measures and proposals that he says will boost job creation and put the economy on a more upward trajectory. Obama's emphasis underscores a White House recognition that while the president seeks to expand his agenda and build a second-term legacy, the economy remains a major public preoccupation.
But in the galleries above the rostrum of the House of Representatives where Obama will speak, many of the faces looking down on him will be those of Americans thrust into the politics of gun violence.
First lady Michelle Obama will sit with the parents of a Chicago teenager shot and killed just days after she performed at the president's inauguration. Twenty-two House members have invited people affected by gun violence, according to Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., who pushed the effort. And Republican Rep. Steve Stockman of Texas says he's invited rocker Ted Nugent, a long-time gun control opponent who last year said he would end up "dead or in jail" if Obama won re-election.
That confluence of message and symbolism illustrates where Obama is in his presidency following his re-election.
The economic blueprint he will discuss will have many of the elements Americans have heard before, with its embrace of manufacturing, energy development and education. And in that sense it is a reminder of what was unfulfilled at the end of Obama's first term. But the tragic murders of 26 people at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school in December altered the president's agenda, pushing guns onto a to-do list that already included a new push for an overhaul of immigration law.
As the president addresses gun violence, the cameras are sure to pan the faces in the crowd inside the House chamber, each with a story meant to influence the debate. Obama has proposed a ban on certain weapons and on high-capacity ammunition magazines. He has also called for broader, universal background checks on gun purchasers, a proposal that stands a better chance politically.
But White House aides say the economy is still Obama's central theme.
"You've seen the president act aggressively on comprehensive immigration reform. You've seen the president put forward a series of comprehensive proposals to reduce gun violence in this country in the recent weeks," White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday. "These are important priorities of the president and of the nation. But what remains his No. 1 priority is what it has been since he took office, which is to get this economy growing, get it creating jobs, strengthening the middle class and expanding the middle class ? allowing those who seek and aspire to the middle class to get there, giving them the tools to do that."
It is a focus the president will take to the road in the days after his speech, pushing his economic recovery proposals during stops in North Carolina, Georgia and his hometown of Chicago. Obama is expected to reiterate his calls for revitalizing the manufacturing sector; he pledged during his campaign that he would create 1 million new manufacturing jobs during his second term. Following a sluggish 2012, manufacturing grew at a faster pace last month, driven by an increase in new orders and more hiring at factories.
His call for measures that prod the economy will play out as he presses Congress to avoid deep spending cuts that are scheduled to begin automatically on March 1. Obama wants instead a mix of tax revenue and cuts in spending that he has promoted as a "balanced" approach to easing federal deficits.
Obama has called for raising more revenue through ending tax breaks and closing loopholes, but he has not detailed a list of targets. He and his aides often mention as examples of unnecessary tax breaks a benefit for owners of private jets and tax subsidies for oil and gas companies. Such measures are modest, however. Ending the corporate plane and oil and gas breaks would generate about $43 billion in revenue over 10 years.
That appeal for new revenue is getting stiff-armed by Republicans, who reluctantly agreed at the start of the year to increase tax rates on the wealthiest Americans in exchange for extending Bush-era tax rates for the rest of taxpayers.
"He's gotten all the revenue he's going to get," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Monday. "Been there, done that."
With Republicans in control of the House and exerting influence in the Senate, Obama intends to employ all the tools at his disposal in an effort to win over the public to put pressure on Congress.
The White House and Obama's allies are launching simultaneous social media, public outreach and fundraising campaigns tied to his State of the Union address. Those efforts were successful in his re-election campaign and Obama aides believe they could be as effective in pushing policies as they were in pushing his candidacy.
"He's got to strike now," said presidential historian Allan Lichtman of American University, who believes the economy, the environment and long-term changes in federal entitlements are key to Obama's legacy. "Next year he won't have the ear of the public in the same way he has this time."
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AP White House Correspondent Julie Pace contributed to this report.
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Follow Jim Kuhnhenn on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jkuhnhenn
FILE - In this Thursday, March 25, 2010 file photo Pope Benedict XVI gestures from his popemobile as he leaves a youth gathering, in St. Peter's square, at the Vatican. When he became pope at age 78, Benedict XVI was already the oldest pontiff elected in nearly 300 years. He's now 85, and in recent years he has slowed down significantly, cutting back his foreign travel and limiting his audiences. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
FILE - In this Thursday, March 25, 2010 file photo Pope Benedict XVI gestures from his popemobile as he leaves a youth gathering, in St. Peter's square, at the Vatican. When he became pope at age 78, Benedict XVI was already the oldest pontiff elected in nearly 300 years. He's now 85, and in recent years he has slowed down significantly, cutting back his foreign travel and limiting his audiences. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
The world seems surprised that an 85-year-old globe-trotting pope who just started tweeting wants to resign, but should it be? Maybe what should be surprising is that more leaders his age do not, considering the toll aging takes on bodies and minds amid a culture of constant communication and change.
There may be more behind the story of why Pope Benedict XVI decided to leave a job normally held for life. But the pontiff made it about age. He said the job called for "both strength of mind and body" and said his was deteriorating. He spoke of "today's world, subject to so many rapid changes," implying a difficulty keeping up despite his recent debut on Twitter.
"This seemed to me a very brave, courageous decision," especially because older people often don't recognize their own decline, said Dr. Seth Landefeld, an expert on aging and chairman of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Age has driven many leaders from jobs that used to be for life ? Supreme Court justices, monarchs and other heads of state. As lifetimes expand, the woes of old age are catching up with more in seats of power. Some are choosing to step down rather than suffer long declines and disabilities as the pope's last predecessor did.
Since 1955, only one U.S. Supreme Court justice ? Chief Justice William Rehnquist ? has died in office. Twenty-one others chose to retire, the most recent being John Paul Stevens, who stepped down in 2010 at age 90.
When Thurgood Marshall stepped down in 1991 at the age of 82, citing health reasons, the Supreme Court justice's answer was blunt: "What's wrong with me? I'm old. I'm getting old and falling apart."
One in 5 U.S. senators is 70 or older, and some have retired rather than seek new terms, such as Hawaii's Daniel Akaka, who left office in January at age 88.
The Netherlands' Queen Beatrix, who just turned 75, recently said she will pass the crown to a son and put the country "in the hands of a new generation."
In Germany, where the pope was born, Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is 58, said the pope's decision that he was no longer fit for the job "earns my very highest respect."
"In our time of ever-lengthening life, many people will be able to understand how the pope as well has to deal with the burdens of aging," she told reporters in Berlin.
Experts on aging agreed.
"People's mental capacities in their 80s and 90s aren't what they were in their 40s and 50s. Their short-term memory is often not as good, their ability to think quickly on their feet, to execute decisions is often not as good," Landefeld said. Change is tougher to handle with age, and leaders like popes and presidents face "extraordinary demands that would tax anybody's physical and mental stamina."
Dr. Barbara Messinger-Rapport, geriatrics chief at the Cleveland Clinic, noted that half of people 85 and older in developed countries have some dementia, usually Alzheimer's. Even without such a disease, "it takes longer to make decisions, it takes longer to learn new things," she said.
But that's far from universal, said Dr. Thomas Perls, an expert on aging at Boston University and director of the New England Centenarians Study.
"Usually a man who is entirely healthy in his early 80s has demonstrated his survival prowess" and can live much longer, he said. People of privilege have better odds because they have access to good food and health care, and tend to lead clean lives.
"Even in the 1500s and 1600s there were popes in their 80s. It's remarkable. That would be today's centenarians," Perls said.
Arizona Sen. John McCain turned 71 while running for president in 2007. Had he won, he would have been the oldest person elected to a first term as president. Ronald Reagan was days away from turning 70 when he started his first term as president in 1981; he won re-election in 1984. Vice President Joe Biden just turned 70.
In the U.S. Senate, where seniority is rewarded and revered, South Carolina's Strom Thurmond didn't retire until age 100 in 2002. Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia was the longest-serving senator when he died in office at 92 in 2010.
Now the oldest U.S. senator is 89-year-old Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. The oldest congressman is Ralph Hall of Texas who turns 90 in May.
The legendary Alan Greenspan was about to turn 80 when he retired as chairman of the Federal Reserve in 2006; he still works as a consultant.
Elsewhere around the world, Cuba's Fidel Castro ? one of the world's longest serving heads of state ? stepped down in 2006 at age 79 due to an intestinal illness that nearly killed him, handing power to his younger brother Raul. But the island is an example of aged leaders pushing on well into their dotage. Raul Castro now is 81 and his two top lieutenants are also octogenarians. Later this month, he is expected to be named to a new, five-year term as president.
Other leaders who are still working:
?England's Queen Elizabeth, 86.
?Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz al-Saud, king of Saudi Arabia, 88.
?Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, emir of Kuwait, 83.
?Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court associate justice, 79.
__
Associated Press writers Paul Haven in Havana, Cuba; David Rising in Berlin; Seth Borenstein, Mark Sherman and Matt Yancey in Washington, and researcher Judy Ausuebel in New York contributed to this report.
___
Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP
By MARK GLOVER | The Sacramento Bee ? Published February 11, 2013 Modified February 11, 2013
SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? Two dentists-turned-entrepreneurs say they're part of the most revolutionary development in children's dental care "since fluoride."
Jeffrey Fisher and John Hansen, of Sacramento, Calif., started EZ-Pedo Inc. in 2010, and today their relatively small manufacturing site in Loomis, Calif., produces thousands of ceramic dental crowns for children.
The crowns are made of zirconia, colored and polished to resemble normal, healthy teeth. That's a departure from the long-standing industry norm - metal crowns, typically made of stainless steel.
Last year, EZ-Pedo sold nearly 40,000 crowns to about 650 pediatric dentists throughout the United States, and to various international locales. It's ramping up an office in Germany to handle manufacturing and distribution throughout Europe.
The partners guess that they have about 10 percent of the nation's pediatric crown market (there are more than 6,500 pediatric dentists nationwide). In five years, Hansen and Fisher hope to claim 50 percent.
The new business has not yet produced riches for the partners. Fisher and Hansen said they only recently began paying themselves. Both still maintain private practices.
Fisher, 39, provides office-based general anesthesia for pediatric dentistry throughout the Sacramento region. Hansen, 45, is a specialist in cosmetic dentistry, with an office in Roseville.
Their venture began with a nasty fall.
In 2004, Hansen's 3-year-old son, John Paul, fell in the bathtub and seriously injured four of his front teeth. Hansen sent his son to a pediatric dentist to have the boy's smile reconstructed and was stunned to learn that there were no aesthetically pleasing crowns like those typically custom-crafted for adults.
Hansen said the crowns placed on his son's teeth were bulky, didn't match in color and presented a smile that showed metal at the gumline.
When John Paul needed more work done, he confided to his father that he was fearful of more treatments. Hansen called Fisher, with whom he had previously worked, to see if he would provide the anesthesia for John Paul.
From there, Hansen and Fisher got to talking about the seemingly unfilled niche --- better restorative options for children's teeth.
In 2006, they began an exhaustive process that included interviews with scores of pediatric dentists and numerous tests of potential ceramic materials. They went through 15 design revisions in three years.
Ultimately, they filed an application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for pre-market clearance of their crowns. The FDA cleared them for use in 2009.
"The FDA process is very long and complicated. There are very specific requirements for this," Fisher noted.
The process of making the crowns in Loomis is likewise exacting.
The zirconia crowns are first milled in an exotic-looking, custom-made machine. About 35 to 50 crowns placed in a disc can be shaped simultaneously.
From there, the crowns are smoothed, polished, put through a staining solution, hardened in a 4,000-degree chamber, microblasted and glazed. Much of the final shading is done by hand by mask-wearing employees in library-quiet rooms. Workers also do a final visual inspection.
Every crown gets a label, which can be scratched off by a dentist before placement. There are 96 shapes and up to six sizes for each specific tooth.
That reflects a wide range of teeth, from baby to preteen. Hansen said that besides giving children visually normal teeth, EZ-Pedo's crowns are designed to guarantee proper spacing in the ever-changing mouths of growing kids.
Roseville, Calif., dentist Joelle Speed, who has specialized in pediatric dentistry for 10 years, said ceramic crowns have opened up numerous possibilities.
"For a while, stainless steel was always the standard, but aesthetics-wise, self-esteem issues would come up," she said. "(Children) would not have many options if they had a large cavity."
With ceramic crowns, Speed said he believes pediatric dentistry is undergoing a major shift that will continue for years.
Brian Banks, completing his residency at Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City before moving on to a pediatric dentistry practice in Phoenix, believes ceramic crowns are helping parents make better decisions.
"A lot of parents didn't like the silver option and would sometimes decide on extraction instead," Banks said. "Taking teeth out creates other problems, like (kids) having a hard time eating and (improper tooth) spacing.
"With more aesthetic options, it's easier."
EZ-Pedo's growth has prompted Fisher and Hansen to keep moving into larger and larger offices. They say they are committed to keeping operations local and have resisted offers to outsource manufacturing to reduce costs.
"After all the work we've done, we're starting to see more competitors suddenly coming on," Hansen said. " ... There are a lot of temptations to do things differently, but we like where we are. We like the area."
Demand for the pair's professional services and for their new business making crowns is not likely to ebb. Despite the proliferation of fluoride and dental sealants over the years, tooth decay among children has proved a stubborn foe.
As recently as 2007, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report warned that tooth decay in baby teeth was increasing among children ages 2 to 5 years.
Tooth decay related to extended use of baby bottles is still common. Research also shows widespread tooth decay in some cultures, with dental care access and affordability playing roles.
Tooth decay "remains a problem for some racial and ethnic groups, many of whom have more treated and untreated tooth decay compared with other groups," said Bruce Dye, an epidemiologist and lead author of the 2007 CDC report. In a separate report released in May 2012, Dye said 20 percent of American children ages 5 to 11 had untreated cavities.
And a just-released report by the Pew Center on the States said most states are not doing enough to provide children with access to dental sealants to prevent tooth decay, driving up health care costs.
Twenty states received "D" or "F" grades from Pew.
Alcohol abusers' depression often related to drinkingPublic release date: 12-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Marcy Gregg jsadeditor@ucsd.edu 858-822-0924 Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
PISCATAWAY, NJ For problem drinkers, bouts of depressive symptoms are often the direct result of their heavy alcohol intake, according to a study in the March issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
Experts have long known that heavy drinking can spur temporary episodes of depressionwhat's known as "substance-induced depression." However, this information is not always apparent to busy clinicians, and the new findings strengthen the evidence that the phenomenon exists as well as how common and clinically important it is.
"I don't know that the average person realizes that heavy drinking can induce mood problems," said lead researcher Marc A. Schuckit, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
What's more, not every doctor might be aware of it, either. But it's important that he or she pay close attention to this problem, Schuckit said, because depression caused by heavy drinking has a different prognosis and is treated much differently from major depressive episodes that are not seen in the context of heavy drinking. Although the symptoms of independent and substance-induced depressions can be identical, if the sadness develops in the context of heavy drinking, the symptoms are likely to lift within several weeks to a month of abstinence and rarely require antidepressants to go away.
The findings come from a 30-year study of nearly 400 men who were 18 years old at the outset. About half were at increased risk for drinking problems because their fathers were alcoholics. Over three decades, about 41 percent of the men with alcoholic fathers developed alcohol abuse or dependence, and nearly 20 percent suffered at least one bout of major depression.
For men with alcohol problems, though, almost one third of those major depressive episodes were seen only while they were drinking heavily.
It's important for doctors to consider alcohol use disorders as a possible cause of patients' depression symptoms, Schuckit saidrather than simply "reaching for the prescription pad" and recommending an antidepressant.
If alcohol is the cause, "the depression is very likely to disappear with abstinence," Schuckit said.
Many people think that some individuals drink heavily because they are depressed, and that is the case for some. But Schuckit's team actually found no evidence that people with a history of major depression were at increased risk for developing alcohol problems in the future.
"If you're an alcoholic, you're going to have a lot of mood problems," Schuckit said. "And you may be tempted to say, 'Well, I drink a lot because I'm depressed.' You may be right, but it's even more likely that you're depressed because you drink heavily."
###
Schuckit, M. A., Smith, T. L., & Kalmijn, J. (March 2013). Relationships Among Independent Major Depressions, Alcohol Use, and Other Substance Use and Related Problems Over 30 Years in 397 Families. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 74(2), 271, 2013.
To arrange an interview with Marc A. Schuckit, M.D., please contact Marcy Gregg at (858) 822-0924 or jsadeditor@ucsd.edu.
The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs is published by the Center of Alcohol Studies, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. It is the oldest substance-abuse journal published in the United States.
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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.
Alcohol abusers' depression often related to drinkingPublic release date: 12-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Marcy Gregg jsadeditor@ucsd.edu 858-822-0924 Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs
PISCATAWAY, NJ For problem drinkers, bouts of depressive symptoms are often the direct result of their heavy alcohol intake, according to a study in the March issue of the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs.
Experts have long known that heavy drinking can spur temporary episodes of depressionwhat's known as "substance-induced depression." However, this information is not always apparent to busy clinicians, and the new findings strengthen the evidence that the phenomenon exists as well as how common and clinically important it is.
"I don't know that the average person realizes that heavy drinking can induce mood problems," said lead researcher Marc A. Schuckit, M.D., of the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.
What's more, not every doctor might be aware of it, either. But it's important that he or she pay close attention to this problem, Schuckit said, because depression caused by heavy drinking has a different prognosis and is treated much differently from major depressive episodes that are not seen in the context of heavy drinking. Although the symptoms of independent and substance-induced depressions can be identical, if the sadness develops in the context of heavy drinking, the symptoms are likely to lift within several weeks to a month of abstinence and rarely require antidepressants to go away.
The findings come from a 30-year study of nearly 400 men who were 18 years old at the outset. About half were at increased risk for drinking problems because their fathers were alcoholics. Over three decades, about 41 percent of the men with alcoholic fathers developed alcohol abuse or dependence, and nearly 20 percent suffered at least one bout of major depression.
For men with alcohol problems, though, almost one third of those major depressive episodes were seen only while they were drinking heavily.
It's important for doctors to consider alcohol use disorders as a possible cause of patients' depression symptoms, Schuckit saidrather than simply "reaching for the prescription pad" and recommending an antidepressant.
If alcohol is the cause, "the depression is very likely to disappear with abstinence," Schuckit said.
Many people think that some individuals drink heavily because they are depressed, and that is the case for some. But Schuckit's team actually found no evidence that people with a history of major depression were at increased risk for developing alcohol problems in the future.
"If you're an alcoholic, you're going to have a lot of mood problems," Schuckit said. "And you may be tempted to say, 'Well, I drink a lot because I'm depressed.' You may be right, but it's even more likely that you're depressed because you drink heavily."
###
Schuckit, M. A., Smith, T. L., & Kalmijn, J. (March 2013). Relationships Among Independent Major Depressions, Alcohol Use, and Other Substance Use and Related Problems Over 30 Years in 397 Families. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 74(2), 271, 2013.
To arrange an interview with Marc A. Schuckit, M.D., please contact Marcy Gregg at (858) 822-0924 or jsadeditor@ucsd.edu.
The Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs is published by the Center of Alcohol Studies, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. It is the oldest substance-abuse journal published in the United States.
[ | 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.
Police arrested two suspects Sunday morning who are being questioned in the death of slain teen Hadiya Pendleton, officials confirmed with NBC.
The suspects were pulled over early this morning around 67th Street and South Chicago Avenue after detectives canvassed the area around Harsh Park, Chicago police said.
Sources close to the investigation said no charges have been filed and the investigation is ongoing.
The new information comes one day after First Lady Michelle Obama attended the funeral for the 15-year-old, whose death has put Chicago gun violence in the spotlight.
It also follows the announcement of President Obama's plans to address gun violence in the city.?
Mayor Rahm Emanuel called the teens mother Cleopatra Pendleton?this morning?to tell her the news, sources told NBC Chicago.
Reward leading to her killer last stood at $40,000.
SumUp, one of the many European mobile card reader startups, is adding support for American Express. Its mobile card reader system already accepts MasterCard and Visa payments but today the startup said it has signed a deal with American Express to process Amex card payments in all "major regions" in which it operates. Its merchants will be able to start accepting Amex in Q2.
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Public release date: 12-Feb-2013
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