This week is all about July 4th, and as a result even some of our favorite TV shows are taking the week off. There are still a few things to get excited about with classic flicks like The Producers and The Kentucky Fried Movie arriving on Blu-ray, and the season finale of Christopher Guest's excellent Family Tree on HBO. Look below for the highlight this week, followed after the break by our weekly listing of what to look out for in TV, Blu-ray and videogames.
UFC 162 Anderson "The Spider" Silva is considered by some as the greatest MMA fighter of all time, and this weekend the UFC's middleweight title holder gets in the Octagon again versus Chris Weidman. This is Silva's first fight in eight months, and if he wins it could lead to a superfight against either Jon Jones or Georges St-Pierre. (UFC 162, PPV, July 6th 10PM)
Microsoft has taken another step forward with its Xbox Music service by launching the much rumored web player, though any iOS app is still very much absent. With a web client now active, it means that Mac using Xbox Music subscribers, of which we're sure there's a few, can listen to their music. Until now, only Windows users had been able to get their music on their desktops.
But, we heard in late 2012 when Xbox Music first emerged, that Microsoft planned to take the service cross-platform, which includes apps for Android and iOS. Almost 9 months later, there's still no sign of any announcement while we await the official launches of iTunes Radio and Google Music All Access for iOS. A web player is a nice stop gap for Mac users, but is a total no-go for mobile. Xbox Music will not work within the browser on iOS, but is compatible with Firefox 18 and above, Google Chrome 24 and above and Safari 5.1 and above on OS X 10.6 and up on the Mac.
A subscription is still required for Xbox Music on the web, though new customers do get the option of a free 30 day trial before the $10 a month fee kicks in. After spending a short amount of time with it ? and being completely new to Xbox Music ? a few things spring to mind. It looks very nice, but feels a little too much a case of 'all show, no go.' For instance, there appears to be no music discovery aspect to the web player at all. Instead, you have to manually search for artists, albums or songs. You can manage playlists and access everything you already have saved as part of your Xbox Music Pass, but if you're new to the service as I am, the web player may not be the place to start. Playing music is also somewhat frustrating; selecting a track half way through an album just plays that track, it doesn't then carry on through the album to the end. Compared to web offerings from Google and Spotify in particular, this feels distinctly lacking.
So, for now this is as close as you can get to proper Xbox Music support on any of your Apple devices, even if it does feel flawed. Hit the link below to give it a try or to sign up for a free 30 day trial and do share your thoughts with us. I'd also like to hear from any longer term Xbox Music users; how does the web player compare to your experience on other platforms?
Over the past few years I?ve thought a lot about how and what we should teach. I?ve undertaken a long and painful journey from evangelically promoting the teaching of transferable ?21st century skills? like creativity and problem solving to deciding that actually these skills might be subject specific and that solving a maths problem might be very different to solving a problem in English, and being creative in science may possibly be fundamentally different to creativity in history. I used to be firmly convinced that everything students needed to know could be outsourced to Google. Why both learning stuff that we could just look up? I?ve since read some cognitive science and understand a little bit about the fragility of our working memory and the need to transfer information to long-term memory if we want space to be creative and solve problems. And I?ve also come to realise that our thinking is?qualitatively?improved by knowing things: we can?t think about what we don?t know.
Having said all that, it?s important to acknowledge that just teaching kids the ?grammar? of our subjects is inadequate. Just because I no longer think it?s possible to teach transferable skills instead of knowledge doesn?t mean I don?t want them to be creative and solve problems. So, once we?ve explained the information, they need to know what to do with it. And the best way to see what students need to do is find out what experts do. Whatever our subject, there will be giants on whose shoulders our students can stand. The first step of the modelling process is to have a bloody good look at what these experts have done.
Deconstruction
?Having a bloody good look?, or deconstruction as it?s more affectionately known, involves seeing how things work. Everyone remembers the science lesson in which they dissected a frog, or a bull?s eye or whatever it was; the purpose was to see how the ultimate ?expert? had put living organisms together. Sadly, most of the lesson I remember was spent fainting, or giggling?maniacally?whilst waving mangled corpses in faces of anyone who hadn?t?fainted?yet.
But, if better managed, this process of induction will help students understand?the principles of a device, object, or system through analysis of its structure, function?and operation. Sound?frighteningly?technical? Fortunately, it?s actually very simple.
Inductive learning?that is, learning a new concept or category by observing exemplars?happens constantly, for example, when a baby learns a new word or a doctor classifies x-rays.
Nate Kornell and Robert A. Bjork (2008)
In English, an essential part of the teaching sequence for writing has?always?been to deconstruct texts to work out how they were constructed. It ought to go without saying that students will be better writers if they?ve had the opportunity of seeing what good looks like.
Here are some examples I?ve used in the past:
Extract from My Swordhand is Singing by Marcus Sedgwick
This was used to show students the techniques a writer might used to build a sense of menace or tension.
Here?s an extract from Centurion by Simon Scarrow I ?deconstructed to examine the techniques we could use to create action in a piece of writing:
The mercenaries began to back away from the rebels, stabbing their spears frantically to try to create a gap between them and their enemies. As soon as some were clear they turned and ran towards Cato?s men, immediately endangering their slower comrades as the rebels swarmed into the gaps in the rapidly fragmenting line. A handful were cut off and overwhelmed, attacked from all sides as they desperately swirled around, trying to block the rebels? blows. Inevitably, a blade darted in, and as a man staggered back from the wound he was hacked to the ground in a flurry of sword blows and spear thrusts.
From this, students worked out (with help) the following success criteria for writing effective action sequences:
?Use longer & varied, complex sentences to help speed the reader up
?Use powerful, exciting verbs
?Use adverbs to describe action
?Avoid using adjectives: they slow the reader down
And one of my favourite pieces of bad-tempered polemic from Bryan Reade on dog insurance:
Mis-targeted dog insurance law is another insult to the law-abidersThe first person I thought of when I heard dog-owners were going to be forced to take out insurance was Peter Andre. What a tragedy it would be if this extra burden meant he couldn?t afford to take Jordan back.
Then I thought of my father-in-law, who I drove to A&E a fortnight ago after a cross-bred snarler bit so deep into his hand he could see the bone. If only this insurance law had been in place then, I thought. How easy it would have been for the shaken 72-year-old to stagger around the streets, blood gushing from an open wound, trying to locate the owner, who was probably sitting in his 4?4 smoking weed while Tyson was given his daily unleashing. And if he had found him and asked for his insurance details, how lucky would he have been to escape without an even deeper wound to his skull?
Like most knee-jerk attempts at appearing tough on crime, this Tyson Tax is simply another insult to the law-abiders. The Government knows the people who would take out insurance are the owners who see their dogs as pets. Whereas the ones who see them as weapons are more likely to take out tattoo protection than insurance to benefit an injured party. At roughly ?25 a month, once again, this law would impact most on the law-abiding poor, especially pensioners.
It?s the kind of deliberate mis-targeting we see all the time when hard questions are asked about the cliche that is Broken Britain. Take teenage binge-drinking. Instead of getting to the bottom of why so many 16-year-old girls want to spend Saturday night paralytic on a pavement, we were given a Know Your Limits campaign which merely frightened middle-aged couples into thinking that two glasses of Piat D?Or a night will pickle them into an early grave.
Imagine trying to enforce this Tyson Tax with no national register of our 10.5 million dog owners? It?s like trying to catch an uninsured driver on a speed camera. Would dogs be forced to wear number plates, like REX 1, so victims can jot down the details if they?ve got a hand left? Even if they did have insurance, knowing the type of ball-scratching, knuckle-scraping meatheads who own these weapon dogs, are they likely to admit to a crime, and lose their No-Maim Bonus, when they can run away from a bleeding, shaking wreck in fits of laughter?
How would this law have benefited my father-in-law? How would it benefit the baby who?s had her face taken off by the family rotty? How would it benefit anyone apart from the two biggest sets of legalised crooks outside of investment bankers: insurance firms and lawyers? Churchill must be salivating at the prospect of its friendly nodding dog becoming the reassuring pooch who rakes in millions.? And I?ll bet somewhere in Canary Wharf, London, a pair of wide boys have already formed a company called WeSueAnyMutt.com with the slogan ?Where there?s a Hound, there?s a Pound.?
They say every dog has his day. With this Tyson Tax the only dogs whose day it will make will be tattooed knuckle-scrapers and besuited ambulance-chasers.
11th March 2010 Daily Mirror
This is perfect for seeing how a writer uses language to argue, persuade and take the mick.
In other subjects there will be other products you will want to deconstruct and, while may of them will be written, many won?t. The trick is to be clear about what it is you want your students to produce, find good quality real-world examples and reverse engineer them.
Modelling
And then, once we?ve seen how a product works, we should guide students through the process of making models.?Science and mathematics have long traditions of making models. Such modelling involves abstraction and simplification, in order to better understand a particular feature of the world. In practical subjects the model, be it a?pencil case, drawing, cup cake, dance?will be created Blue Peter style by the teacher as an example of what success looks like. This is of course very useful. But of much more use is allowing students to observe the process of creation.
Another essential part of the teaching sequence for writing is to model, or talk through, the decisions a writer makes at the point of writing. And the only way I know to do this effectively is to talk.
Lee Donaghy?s account of improving a pre-prepared model is?particularly?instructive:
Next I showed the class an introduction I had written:
?After the First World War Japan was a very important, powerful country in Asia.? It already had control of lots of other parts of the Pacific.? But the army wanted to make Japan even bigger no matter what.? Japan also needed to do something about the economic problems of the 1920s, which were made worse by the depression.? So, the army made it look like China had blown up one of their railway lines at Mukden, so that it would have an excuse to invade Manchuria.? Japan invaded Manchuria in 1932.?
I explained that this was written in very ?everyday? language and we needed to improve it by making it sound more like what a historian would write. Pupils discussed how they would do this in small groups and we then jointly re-drafted the paragraph, with me prompting, probing and clarifying the pupils? suggestions until we came up with this:
?
The main shift here, as I?m sure you can see, was that we nominalised the factors that led to the invasion: ??the army wanted to make Japan bigger no matter what? became ?the army?s overwhelming desire to expand further?; ?Japan also needed to do something about the economic problems of the 1920s, which were made worse by the depression? became ?the need to find a solution to its economic problems? and ?the army made it look like China had blown up one of their railway lines at Mukden, so that it would have an excuse to invade Manchuria? became ?the pretext provided by the Mukden Incident??. The class are quite well versed in nominalisation (turning verbs or adjectives into nouns or ?things?) as I bang on and on about it being a key feature of abstract historical writing. Also, you will notice that the nominalised paragraph is shorter; this is because nominalisations pack a lot of meaning into one word, which is why they?re features of abstract, technical writing.
This focus on shifting student?s ?everyday? to academic language is particularly useful. Nominalisation (turning a verb (actions or events) to a concept) is great way to?demonstrate?confidence and authority in writing. Explicitly teaching my Year 13 English Literature students to do this improved their essay writing ability overnight; they could so clearly see and hear the difference. If you?re interested in introducing nominalisation to your students (and you should be) Kerry Pulleyn has written a jolly useful lesson plan.
And for those ?verbally able? students who never seem able to capture on paper their beautiful fleeting thoughts, this insistence on ?speaking like an essay? can create a little bit of magic. I used to get so frustrated when a student capable of uttering profound thoughts seemed unable to commit them to paper. I know now that it?s not that they can?t be bothered, it?s that, literally, they don?t have the words. I am able to switch seamlessly between everyday and academic register with nary a pause, but not so these kids. But modelling the process, and making them reframe their ideas using academic?language, gives them the words. And, just like that, they can write it. I kid you not.
Deconstruction helps us to glimpse how success works, but modelling allows students access to the thoughts of an expert. These processes are absolutely vital if we want to promote students? independence. Without expert, explicit modelling students have to rely on their innate ability. The ?able? will pick it up without ever being properly able to articulate how or why, and the ?less able? will be buggered. And in order for this to work, I?m afraid everyone just has to shut up and listen to sir.
Coming next: Stage 3: scaffold
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Tags: Bryan Reade, deconstruction, Lee Donaghy, Marcus Sedgwick, modelling, nominalisation, Simon Scarrow Posted in English, Featured, learning | No Comments ?
This post originally ran 3/18/2013. We're re-running it in celebration of DOMA's demise, the overturning of Prop 8, and in solidarity with our LGBT brother and sisters. Plow through a couple of bowls of rainbow pasta today to be ready for whatever the SF Pride Parade throws at you.
June 30, 2013 ? Anyone who's ever heard a Beethoven sonata or a Beatles song knows how powerfully sound can affect our emotions. But it can work the other way as well -- our emotions can actually affect how we hear and process sound. When certain types of sounds become associated in our brains with strong emotions, hearing similar sounds can evoke those same feelings, even far removed from their original context. It's a phenomenon commonly seen in combat veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in whom harrowing memories of the battlefield can be triggered by something as common as the sound of thunder. But the brain mechanisms responsible for creating those troubling associations remain unknown. Now, a pair of researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has discovered how fear can actually increase or decrease the ability to discriminate among sounds depending on context, providing new insight into the distorted perceptions of victims of PTSD.
Their study is published in Nature Neuroscience.
"Emotions are closely linked to perception and very often our emotional response really helps us deal with reality," says senior study author Maria N. Geffen, PhD, assistant professor of Otorhinolaryngology: Head and Neck Surgery and Neuroscience at Penn. "For example, a fear response helps you escape potentially dangerous situations and react quickly. But there are also situations where things can go wrong in the way the fear response develops. That's what happens in anxiety and also in PTSD -- the emotional response to the events is generalized to the point where the fear response starts getting developed to a very broad range of stimuli."
Geffen and the first author of the study, Mark Aizenberg, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher in her laboratory, used emotional conditioning in mice to investigate how hearing acuity (the ability to distinguish between tones of different frequencies) can change following a traumatic event, known as emotional learning. In these experiments, which are based on classical (Pavlovian) conditioning, animals learn to distinguish between potentially dangerous and safe sounds -- called "emotional discrimination learning." This type of conditioning tends to result in relatively poor learning, but Aizenberg and Geffen designed a series of learning tasks intended to create progressively greater emotional discrimination in the mice, varying the difficulty of the task. What really interested them was how different levels of emotional discrimination would affect hearing acuity -- in other words, how emotional responses affect perception and discrimination of sounds. This study established the link between emotions and perception of the world -- something that has not been understood before.
The researchers found that, as expected, fine emotional learning tasks produced greater learning specificity than tests in which the tones were farther apart in frequency. As Geffen explains, "The animals presented with sounds that were very far apart generalize the fear that they developed to the danger tone over a whole range of frequencies, whereas the animals presented with the two sounds that were very similar exhibited specialization of their emotional response. Following the fine conditioning task, they figured out that it's a very narrow range of pitches that are potentially dangerous."
When pitch discrimination abilities were measured in the animals, the mice with more specific responses displayed much finer auditory acuity than the mice who were frightened by a broader range of frequencies. "There was a relationship between how much their emotional response generalized and how well they could tell different tones apart," says Geffen. "In the animals that specialized their emotional response, pitch discrimination actually became sharper. They could discriminate two tones that they previously could not tell apart."
Another interesting finding of this study is that the effects of emotional learning on hearing perception were mediated by a specific brain region, the auditory cortex. The auditory cortex has been known as an important area responsible for auditory plasticity. Surprisingly, Aizenberg and Geffen found that the auditory cortex did not play a role in emotional learning. Likely, the specificity of emotional learning is controlled by the amygdala and sub-cortical auditory areas. "We know the auditory cortex is involved, we know that the emotional response is important so the amygdala is involved, but how do the amygdala and cortex interact together?" says Geffen. "Our hypothesis is that the amygdala and cortex are modifying subcortical auditory processing areas. The sensory cortex is responsible for the changes in frequency discrimination, but it's not necessary for developing specialized or generalized emotional responses. So it's kind of a puzzle."
Solving that puzzle promises new insight into the causes and possible treatment of PTSD, and the question of why some individuals develop it and others subjected to the same events do not. "We think there's a strong link between mechanisms that control emotional learning, including fear generalization, and the brain mechanisms responsible for PTSD, where generalization of fear is abnormal," Geffen notes. Future research will focus on defining and studying that link.
QUITO (Reuters) - Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said on Saturday the United States had asked him not to grant asylum for former U.S. spy agency contractor Edward Snowden in a "cordial" telephone conversation he held with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
Correa said he vowed to respect Washington's opinion in evaluating the request. The Andean nation says it cannot begin processing Snowden's request unless he reaches Ecuador or one of its embassies.
Snowden, who is wanted by the United States for leaking details about U.S. communications surveillance programs, is believed to still be at the Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow after leaving Hong Kong.
Praising Biden's good manners in contrast to "brats" in the U.S. Congress who had threatened to cut Ecuador's trade benefits over the Snowden issue, Correa said during his weekly television broadcast: "He communicated a very courteous request from the United States that we reject the (asylum) request."
Biden initiated the phone call, Correa said.
"When he (Snowden) arrives on Ecuadorean soil, if he arrives ... of course, the first opinions we will seek are those of the United States," Correa said.
A senior White House official traveling with President Barack Obama in Africa on Saturday confirmed the conversation had taken place.
The case has been a major embarrassment for the Obama administration, which is now facing withering criticism around the world for the espionage program known as Prism that Snowden revealed.
A German magazine on Saturday, citing secret documents, reported that the United States bugged European Union offices and gained access to EU internal computer networks, which will likely add to the furor over U.S. spying efforts.
Correa has for years been at loggerheads with Washington on issues ranging from the war on drugs to a long-running environmental dispute with U.S. oil giant Chevron.
A leftist economist who received a doctorate from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, Correa denied he was seeking to perturb relations and said he had "lived the happiest days of my life" in the United States.
But he said the United States has not heeded Ecuador's request to extradite citizens sought by the law, including bankers he said have already been sentenced.
"There's a clear double standard here. If the United States is pursuing someone, other countries have to hand them over," Correa said. "But there are so many fugitives from our justice system (in the United States) ... and they don't return them."
TRAVEL DOCUMENT CONFUSION
Correa said Ecuador's London consulate issued Snowden an unauthorized safe-passage document, potentially as a result of communication with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is living in the London embassy after receiving asylum last year.
Assange said on Monday that Snowden had received refugee papers from the Ecuador government to secure him safe passage as he fled Hong Kong for Russia. Correa's government had originally denied this.
A "safe-pass" document published by U.S. Spanish-language media network Univision which circulated widely online purported to offer Snowden safe passage for the purpose of political asylum. The United States has revoked his passport.
"The truth is that the consul (overstepped) his role and will face sanction," Correa said during the broadcast.
The decision was "probably in communication with Julian Assange and out of desperation that Mr. Snowden was going to be captured, but this was without the authorization of the Ecuadorean government."
Correa's critics have in recent days accused him of letting Assange take charge of crucial foreign policy matters.
Assange, who is wanted in Sweden for questioning over sexual assault allegations, has not been able to leave the London embassy because Britain will not give him safe passage.
Snowden's lack of a valid travel document appears to be one of the primary obstacles to his leaving the transit area of the Moscow international airport. Without a passport, he cannot board a commercial flight or move through airport immigration, according to diplomacy experts.
Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino declined on Thursday to comment on whether Ecuador would send a government plane to pick Snowden up. But Correa has indicated he does not have plans to provide Snowden with transport to an embassy.
Correa scoffed at reports that he himself had been aware that the document was issued or was involved in the decision.
"They think I'm so dumb that I ordered our consul in London to write a safe passage document for a U.S. citizen traveling from Hong Kong to Russia. That's simply absurd," he said.
(Additional reporting by Mark Felsenthal in Johannesburg; Editing by Daniel Wallis, Vicki Allen and Sandra Maler)
In this, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, photo, employees load a washer and dryer into customer's car at the loading docks of Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha, Neb. The Commerce Department reports on business orders for durable goods in March on Wednesday, April 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
In this, Wednesday, Feb. 27, 2013, photo, employees load a washer and dryer into customer's car at the loading docks of Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha, Neb. The Commerce Department reports on business orders for durable goods in March on Wednesday, April 24, 2013. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Orders for long-lasting U.S. factory goods fell in March by the most in seven months. The drop reflected a steep decline in commercial aircraft demand and little growth in orders that signal future business investment.
The Commerce Department said Wednesday that orders for durable goods declined 5.7 percent in March. That followed a 4.3 percent gain in February, which was revised lower.
Durable goods are items expected to last at least three years. Orders tend to fluctuate sharply from month to month.
So-called core capital goods, which include industrial machinery and computers, ticked up 0.2 percent. Economists pay close attention to these orders because they strip out more volatile defense and aircraft orders and are a good measure of companies' investment plans.
The March increase in both orders and shipments of core capital goods suggest businesses spent more on equipment and software in the January-March quarter. That likely contributed to economic growth in the first quarter.
Still, most of the gain was from a huge increase in January. Orders fell sharply in February and rose only slightly last month. That indicates businesses may be spending less on equipment in the April-June quarter, economists said.
"There was a clear weakening in orders as the first quarter went on," Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, said in a note to clients.
The overall decline in durable goods was exacerbated by a 48.2 percent fall in commercial aircraft orders. Boeing Co. reported that it received orders for only 39 aircraft, compared to 179 in the previous month. Still, even excluding aircraft and transportations demand, orders dropped 1.4 percent, the second straight decline.
Demand fell in most types of goods. Orders dropped for metals such as steel and aluminum, metal parts, electrical equipment and appliances, and defense aircraft. Orders increased for computers and communications equipment.
The economy likely grew at a healthy 3.1 percent annual rate in the first quarter, up from only a 0.4 percent rate in the fourth quarter. The Commerce Department will release its first estimate for January-March growth on Friday.
But many economists expect growth has begun to slow to a rate of 2 percent or less in the current April-June quarter.
One reason is Social Security taxes have reduced Americans' take-home pay this year. That's starting to limit their spending power.
Also, across-the-board government spending cuts that began on March 1 will likely weigh on growth, including manufacturing.
Other reports suggest that manufacturing is starting to weaken after showing signs of strength over the winter. Strong auto production hasn't been enough to offset broader slowdowns in other industries.
Factory output slipped in March, according to a Federal Reserve report last week. And a survey of purchasing managers earlier this month found that manufacturing expanded at a slower pace in March compared with February. The Institute for Supply Management's survey showed that new orders and production declined sharply.
Littered among Nintendo's promises for the year were plans to take Miiverse, the company's social platform, to the next level. That starts today, with the company launching a web portal for the community. Wii U owners can now access their Miiverse activity feed, user menu, notifications and communities through miiverse.nintendo.net using the same login information they created when they first set up their home console. The experience is strictly read-only for now, but can be accessed via mobile or desktop web browser with ease. In addition to being Nintendo's first public foray into the social space, it also marks the first time the company has used its Nintendo Network ID outside of the Wii U ecosystem. According to the company's Twitter account, Nintendo considers this a beta expereince, and has said in the past that a dedicated Miiverse app and 3DS access will be available in the future. For now, Nintendo's social legions will have to settle for a web-based experience -- it may seem like a slow start, but for Nintendo it's a giant leap forward.
ROSWELL, New Mexico (AP) ? The attorney for a proposed horse slaughterhouse in southeastern New Mexico says a federal inspection Tuesday went well and the plant hopes to be in business soon.
Attorney Blair Dunn says agriculture officials found no issues at Valley Meat Co. and told the owners Tuesday they are recommending a grant of inspection be issued immediately. Dunn says he expects final approval for the plant to come in a matter of days.
Valley Meat Co. has become ground zero for an emotional, national debate in America over a return to domestic horse slaughter that has divided horse rescue and animal humane groups, ranchers, politicians and Indian tribes.
Fueling opposition is a recent uproar in Europe over horse meat being found in products labeled as beef. The company hopes the inspection ends a yearlong political drama that has left it idle and made owner Rick De Los Santos and his wife, Sarah, targets of vandalism and death threats.
Valley Meat Co. is a former cattle slaughterhouse whose kill floor has been redesigned for horses to be led in one at a time, secured in a huge metal chute, shot in the head, then processed into meat for shipment overseas.
At issue was whether horses are livestock or pets, and whether it is more humane to slaughter them domestically than to ship tens of thousands of neglected, unwanted and wild horses thousands of miles (kilometers) to be slaughtered in Mexico or Canada.
Front and center of the debate is De Los Santos, who along with his wife, has for more than two decades worked this small slaughterhouse, taking in mostly cows that were too old or sick to travel with larger herds to the bigger slaughterhouses for production.
Now, with cattle herds shrinking amid an ongoing drought, De Los Santos says he and his wife are just trying to transform their business and make enough money to retire by slaughtering domestically some of the thousands of horses that he says travel through the state every month on their way to what are oftentimes less humane and less regulated plants south of the border.
"They are being slaughtered anyway. We thought, well, we will slaughter them here and provide jobs for the economy," De Los Santos said. Instead, Valley Meat has been ensnarled in a yearlong political drama that has left the plant idle and its owners the target of vandalism and death threats ? warnings that increased after humane groups found a video a now-former plant worker posted of himself cursing at animal activists, then shooting one of his own horses to eat.
"People are saying, 'We will slit your throat in your sleep. We hope you die. We hope your kids die,'" De Los Santos said. "Sometimes it's scary. ... And it's all for a horse." Indeed, voice mails left on the company's answering machine spew hate and wishes for violence upon the family.
"I hope you burn in hell," said one irate woman who called repeatedly, saying, "You better pack your (expletive) bags (expletive) and get out of there because that place is finished." The couple have hired security and turned over phone records to federal authorities.
"It's complicated, this industry of feeding the world," Sarah De Los Santos says matter-of-factly. The meat would be processed for human consumption and exported to countries in eastern Europe and Asia.
The Obama administration wants to prohibit horse slaughter. The administration's 2014 budget request excludes money for inspectors for horse slaughter plants, which would effectively keep them from operating.
Humane groups and politicians including Gov. Susana Martinez and New Mexico Attorney General Gary King strongly oppose the plant. They argue that horses are iconic animals in the West, and that other solutions and more funding for horse rescue and birth control programs should be explored over slaughter.
Still others are pushing for a return to domestic slaughter. Proponents include several Native American tribes, the American Quarter Horse Association, some livestock associations and even a few horse rescue groups that believe domestic slaughter would be more humane than shipping the animals elsewhere.
Follow Jeri Clausing at https://twitter.com/jericlausing
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Atrophy in key region of brain associated with multiple sclerosisPublic release date: 23-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Linda Brooks lbrooks@rsna.org 630-590-7762 Radiological Society of North America
OAK BROOK, Ill. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements of atrophy in an important area of the brain are an accurate predictor of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology. According to the researchers, these atrophy measurements offer an improvement over current methods for evaluating patients at risk for MS.
MS develops as the body's immune system attacks and damages myelin, the protective layer of fatty tissue that surrounds nerve cells within the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include visual disturbances, muscle weakness and trouble with coordination and balance. People with severe cases can lose the ability to speak or walk.
Approximately 85 percent of people with MS suffer an initial, short-term neurological episode known as clinically isolated syndrome (CIS). A definitive MS diagnosis is based on a combination of factors, including medical history, neurological exams, development of a second clinical attack and detection of new and enlarging lesions with contrast-enhanced or T2-weighted MRI.
"For some time we've been trying to understand MRI biomarkers that predict MS development from the first onset of the disease," said Robert Zivadinov, M.D., Ph.D., FAAN, from the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center of the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, N.Y. "In the last couple of years, research has become much more focused on the thalamus."
The thalamus is a structure of gray matter deep within the brain that acts as a kind of relay center for nervous impulses. Recent studies found atrophy of the thalamus in all different MS disease types and detected thalamic volume loss in pediatric MS patients.
"Thalamic atrophy may become a hallmark of how we look at the disease and how we develop drugs to treat it," Dr. Zivadinov said.
For this study, Dr. Zivadinov and colleagues investigated the association between the development of thalamic atrophy and conversion to clinically definite MS.
"One of the most important reasons for the study was to understand which regions of the brain are most predictive of a second clinical attack," he said. "No one has really looked at this over the long term in a clinical trial."
The researchers used contrast-enhanced MRI for initial assessment of 216 CIS patients. They performed follow-up scans at six months, one year and two years. Over two years, 92 of 216 patients, or 42.6 percent, converted to clinically definite MS. Decreases in thalamic volume and increase in lateral ventricle volumes were the only MRI measures independently associated with the development of clinically definite MS.
"First, these results show that atrophy of the thalamus is associated with MS," Dr. Zivadinov said. "Second, they show that thalamic atrophy is a better predictor of clinically definite MS than accumulation of T2-weighted and contrast-enhanced lesions."
The findings suggest that measurement of thalamic atrophy and increase in ventricular size may help identify patients at high risk for conversion to clinically definite MS in future clinical trials involving CIS patients.
"Thalamic atrophy is an ideal MRI biomarker because it's detectable at very early stage," Dr. Zivadinov said. "It has very good predictive value, and you will see it used more and more in the future."
The research team continues to follow the study group, with plans to publish results from the four-year follow-up next summer. They are also trying to learn more about the physiology of the thalamic involvement in MS.
"The next step is to look at where the lesions develop over two years with respect to the location of the atrophy," Dr. Zivadinov said. "Thalamic atrophy cannot be explained entirely by accumulation of lesions; there must be an independent component that leads to loss of thalamus."
MS affects more than 2 million people worldwide, according to the Multiple Sclerosis International Foundation. There is no cure, but early diagnosis and treatment can slow development of the disease.
###
"Thalamic Atrophy is Associated with Development of Clinically Definite Multiple Sclerosis." Collaborating with Dr. Zivadinov were Eva Havrdov, M.D., Ph.D., Niels Bergsland, M.S., Michaela Tyblova, M.D., Jesper Hagemeier, M.S., Zdenek Seidl, M.D., Ph.D., Michael G. Dwyer, M.S., Manuela Vaneckova, M.D., Ph.D., Jan Krasensky, M.Sc., Ellen Carl, Ph.D., Tomas Kalincik, M.D., Ph.D., Dana Horkov, M.D., Ph.D.
Radiology is edited by Herbert Y. Kressel, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., and owned and published by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc.
RSNA is an association of more than 51,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org)
For patient-friendly information on MRI, visit RadiologyInfo.org.
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Atrophy in key region of brain associated with multiple sclerosisPublic release date: 23-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Linda Brooks lbrooks@rsna.org 630-590-7762 Radiological Society of North America
OAK BROOK, Ill. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) measurements of atrophy in an important area of the brain are an accurate predictor of multiple sclerosis (MS), according to a new study published online in the journal Radiology. According to the researchers, these atrophy measurements offer an improvement over current methods for evaluating patients at risk for MS.
MS develops as the body's immune system attacks and damages myelin, the protective layer of fatty tissue that surrounds nerve cells within the brain and spinal cord. Symptoms include visual disturbances, muscle weakness and trouble with coordination and balance. People with severe cases can lose the ability to speak or walk.
Approximately 85 percent of people with MS suffer an initial, short-term neurological episode known as clinically isolated syndrome (CIS). A definitive MS diagnosis is based on a combination of factors, including medical history, neurological exams, development of a second clinical attack and detection of new and enlarging lesions with contrast-enhanced or T2-weighted MRI.
"For some time we've been trying to understand MRI biomarkers that predict MS development from the first onset of the disease," said Robert Zivadinov, M.D., Ph.D., FAAN, from the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center of the University at Buffalo in Buffalo, N.Y. "In the last couple of years, research has become much more focused on the thalamus."
The thalamus is a structure of gray matter deep within the brain that acts as a kind of relay center for nervous impulses. Recent studies found atrophy of the thalamus in all different MS disease types and detected thalamic volume loss in pediatric MS patients.
"Thalamic atrophy may become a hallmark of how we look at the disease and how we develop drugs to treat it," Dr. Zivadinov said.
For this study, Dr. Zivadinov and colleagues investigated the association between the development of thalamic atrophy and conversion to clinically definite MS.
"One of the most important reasons for the study was to understand which regions of the brain are most predictive of a second clinical attack," he said. "No one has really looked at this over the long term in a clinical trial."
The researchers used contrast-enhanced MRI for initial assessment of 216 CIS patients. They performed follow-up scans at six months, one year and two years. Over two years, 92 of 216 patients, or 42.6 percent, converted to clinically definite MS. Decreases in thalamic volume and increase in lateral ventricle volumes were the only MRI measures independently associated with the development of clinically definite MS.
"First, these results show that atrophy of the thalamus is associated with MS," Dr. Zivadinov said. "Second, they show that thalamic atrophy is a better predictor of clinically definite MS than accumulation of T2-weighted and contrast-enhanced lesions."
The findings suggest that measurement of thalamic atrophy and increase in ventricular size may help identify patients at high risk for conversion to clinically definite MS in future clinical trials involving CIS patients.
"Thalamic atrophy is an ideal MRI biomarker because it's detectable at very early stage," Dr. Zivadinov said. "It has very good predictive value, and you will see it used more and more in the future."
The research team continues to follow the study group, with plans to publish results from the four-year follow-up next summer. They are also trying to learn more about the physiology of the thalamic involvement in MS.
"The next step is to look at where the lesions develop over two years with respect to the location of the atrophy," Dr. Zivadinov said. "Thalamic atrophy cannot be explained entirely by accumulation of lesions; there must be an independent component that leads to loss of thalamus."
MS affects more than 2 million people worldwide, according to the Multiple Sclerosis International Foundation. There is no cure, but early diagnosis and treatment can slow development of the disease.
###
"Thalamic Atrophy is Associated with Development of Clinically Definite Multiple Sclerosis." Collaborating with Dr. Zivadinov were Eva Havrdov, M.D., Ph.D., Niels Bergsland, M.S., Michaela Tyblova, M.D., Jesper Hagemeier, M.S., Zdenek Seidl, M.D., Ph.D., Michael G. Dwyer, M.S., Manuela Vaneckova, M.D., Ph.D., Jan Krasensky, M.Sc., Ellen Carl, Ph.D., Tomas Kalincik, M.D., Ph.D., Dana Horkov, M.D., Ph.D.
Radiology is edited by Herbert Y. Kressel, M.D., Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass., and owned and published by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc.
RSNA is an association of more than 51,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Ill. (RSNA.org)
For patient-friendly information on MRI, visit RadiologyInfo.org.
[ | 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.
Groupon’s VP of mobile, David Katz, says that it has been “business as usual” at the daily deals company since the dramatic departure of founder/CEO Andrew Mason. “We’re still just focused on shipping new stuff,” Katz told TechCrunch in an interview. Today, that includes news of updates to Groupon’s iPhone and Android apps: it is adding a universal search feature that will let consumers use the apps to search for Marketplace deals that are available nearby, covering not just local discounts that are time-sensitive but rolling offers that are not. The search feature lays the groundwork for a larger attack that publicly traded Groupon is making on mobile to stay competitive in location-based mobile services against the likes of Google, Yelp and Foursquare — with the latter just raising $41 million to position itself as a platform for local search, offering local deals as an added twist. On top of the new search updates, the Android app is now able to support tablets, the first time that it has been optimized for screens of up to 10 inches. With the search feature available now in the U.S., Groupon plans to turn the feature on across the rest of its mobile footprint this year, Katz says. And while the iPad app is not getting an update today, Groupon says that this week it is extending the number of countries where it will work. Belgium, Japan, Malaysia, South Africa and Switzerland are getting added, taking the total to 18 countries. That’s still a far cry from the 42 that Groupon supports with its iPhone app, but Katz says that they hope to reach parity “by the end of the year, if not sooner.” iOS usage, he says, “still dominates” on Groupon’s platform but the company’s move to roll out features like search internationally, into countries where Android is stronger than iOS, may see that balance changing, which is why it’s important for Groupon to not only keep updating that Android app but add tablet support as well. Groupon’s bid to “transition from being just daily deals into a more complete offering,” in Katz’s words, is so far showing some signs of paying off, with both mobile and non-time-specific Marketplace deals playing roles in that. About half of the company’s local transaction volume in North America is coming from its Deals Marketplace at the moment, and that deal bank (Groupon’s internal term for
BMI is proud to present a performance by acclaimed BMI pop artist Chris Wallace as part of its sponsorship of the Membership Awards Ceremony at Media Finance Focus 2013, the industry?s primary source of professional education for financial and business executives in radio, TV and cable. Wallace, whose breakout hit ?Remember When? was named by iTunes as one of the ?Best Songs Of 2012,?and his debut album, ?Push Rewind,? the ?Best Breakthrough Pop Album Of 2012,?will perform at the BMI-sponsored ?Happy Hour and a Half? on May 22, 2013, marking BMI?s 18th consecutive year as a conference sponsor and its seventh year as host of the Media Financial Management Association?s annual member awards ceremony.
As a teen, Wallace began playing lead guitar in local bar bands before he eventually put together his own band, Quad Four. After posting one of his songs on MySpace, he was signed to Epic Records. He then formed the band White Tie Affair, releasing a hugely successful debut album entitled ?Walk This Way,? and went on to perform with artists from all across the musical spectrum as part of the band?s participation in the Warped Tour, Cyndi Lauper?s True Colors Tour and Lady Gaga?s Fame Ball Tour. In addition to the accolades from iTunes, Wallace?s ?Remember When? has ranked No. 24 on USA TODAY's top 40 airplay chart, while its video has garnered more than 1.6 million YouTube views.
Apr. 22, 2013 ? Individual freedom and social responsibility may sound like humanistic concepts, but an investigation of the genetic circuitry of bacteria suggests that even the simplest creatures can make difficult choices that strike a balance between selflessness and selfishness.
In a study published online this week in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers from Rice University's Center for Theoretical Biological Physics (CTBP) and colleagues from Tel Aviv University and Harvard Medical School show how sophisticated genetic circuits allow an individual bacterium within a colony to act on its own while also ensuring that the colony pulls together in hard times.
"Our findings suggest new principles for collective decisions that allow both random behavior by individuals and nonrandom outcomes for the population as a whole," said study co-author Eshel Ben-Jacob, a senior investigator at CTBP and adjunct professor of biochemistry and cell biology at Rice. "These new principles could be broadly applicable, from the study of cancer metastasis to the study of collective decisions by humans during times of stress."
Some species of bacteria live in complex colonies that can contain millions of individual cells. An increasing body of research on bacterial colonies has found that members often cooperate -- even to the point of sacrificing their lives -- for the survival of their colony. For example, in response to extreme stress, such as starvation, most of the individual cells in a colony of the bacteria Bacillus subtilis will form spores. Spore formation is a drastic choice because it requires the cell to kill itself to encase a copy of its genetic code in a tough, impervious shell. Though the living cell dies, the spore acts as a kind of time capsule that allows the organism to re-emerge into the world of the living when conditions improve.
"This time-travel strategy of waiting and safeguarding a copy of the DNA in the spore ensures the survival of the colony," Ben-Jacob said. "But there are other, less desperate options that B. subtilis can take to respond to stress. Some of these cells turn into highly mobile food seekers. Others turn cannibalistic, and about 10 percent enter a state called 'competence' in which they bide their time and bet on present conditions to improve."
Scientists have long been curious about how bacteria decide which of these paths to pursue. Years of studies have determined that each individual constantly senses its environment and continuously sends out chemical signals to communicate with its neighbors about the choices it is making. Experimental studies have revealed dozens of regulatory genes, signaling proteins and other genetic tools that cells use to gather information and communicate with one another.
"Bacteria don't hide their intentions from their peers in the colony," said study co-author Jos? Onuchic, co-director of CTBP, Rice's Harry C. and Olga K. Wiess Professor of Physics and Astronomy and professor of chemistry and biochemistry and cell biology. "They don't evade or lie, but rather communicate their intentions by sending chemical messages among themselves."
Individual bacteria weigh their decisions carefully, taking into account the stress they are facing, the situation of their peers, the statistics of how many cells are sporulating and how many are choosing competence, Onuchic said. Each bacterium in the colony communicates via chemical "tweets" and performs a sophisticated decision-making process using a specialized complex gene network composed of many genes connected via complex circuitry. Taking a physics approach, Onuchic, Ben-Jacob and study co-authors Mingyang Lu, Daniel Schultz and Trevor Stavropoulos investigated the interplay between two components of the circuitry -- a timer that determines when sporulation occurs and a two-way switch that causes the cell to choose competence over sporulation.
"We found that the sporulation timer and the competence switch work in a coordinated fashion, but the interplay is complex because the two circuits are affected very differently by noise," said Schultz, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and a former graduate student at CTBP.
Noise results from random fluctuations in a signal; every circuit -- whether genetic or electronic -- responds to noise in its own way. In the case of B. subtilis, noise is undesirable in the sporulation timer but is a necessity for the proper function of the competence switch, the researchers said.
"Our study explains how the two opposite noise requirements can be satisfied in the decision circuitry in B. subtilis," Onuchic said. "The circuits have a special capacity for noise management that allows each individual bacterium to determine its fate by 'playing dice with controlled odds.'"
Ben-Jacob said the timer has an internal clock that is controlled by cell stress. The noise-intolerant timer typically keeps the competence switch closed, but when the cell is exposed to stress over a long period of time, the timer activates a decision gate that opens brief "windows of opportunity" in which the competence switch can be flipped.
Thanks to its architecture, the gate oscillates during the window of opportunity, he said. At each oscillation, the switch opens for a short time and grants the cell a short window in which it can use noise as a "roll of the dice" to decide whether to escape into competence.
"The ingenuity is that at each oscillation the cell also sends 'chemical tweets' to inform the other cells about its stress and attempt to escape," said Ben-Jacob, the Maguy-Glass Professor in Physics of Complex Systems and professor of physics and astronomy at Tel Aviv University. "The tweets sent by others help regulate the circuits of their neighbors and guarantee that no more than a specific fraction of cells within the colony will enter into competence."
Onuchic said the decision-making principles revealed in the study could have implications for synthetic biologists who wish to incorporate sophisticated decision systems as well as for cancer researchers who are interested in exploring the decision-making processes that cancer cells use in choosing to become dormant or to metastasize.
"This represents a real fusion of ideas from statistical physics and biology," he said.
Lu is a postdoctoral research fellow at CTBP and Stavropoulos is a former graduate student and CTBP fellow at the University of California, San Diego. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas and the Tauber Family Foundation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Rice University.
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Journal Reference:
Daniel Schultz, Mingyang Lu, Trevor Stavropoulos, Jose' Onuchic, Eshel Ben-Jacob. Turning Oscillations Into Opportunities: Lessons from a Bacterial Decision Gate. Scientific Reports, 2013; 3 DOI: 10.1038/srep01668
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New, nationally projectable survey results released today by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation confirmed that one in four teens has misused or abused a prescription drug at least once in their lifetime -- a 33 percent increase over th
New York, NY April 23, 2013 New, nationally projectable survey results released today by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation confirmed that one in four teens has misused or abused a prescription (Rx) drug at least once in their lifetime a 33 percent increase over the past five years. The Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) also found troubling data on teen misuse or abuse of prescription stimulants. One in eight teens (13 percent) now reports that they have taken the stimulants Ritalin or Adderall when it was not prescribed for them, at least once in their lifetime.
Contributing to this sustained trend in teen medicine abuse are the lax attitudes and beliefs of parents and caregivers. In fact, nearly one-third of parents say they believe Rx stimulants like Ritalin or Adderall, normally prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), can improve a teen's academic performance, even if the teen does not have ADHD. Parents are not effectively communicating the dangers of Rx medicine misuse and abuse to their kids, nor are they safeguarding their medications at home and disposing of unused medications properly.
The Partnership at Drugfree.org Responds to Rx Epidemic with The Medicine Abuse Project
In response to the continued high prevalence of teen prescription medicine abuse as reported in the 2012 PATS data, The Partnership at Drugfree.org is helping educate parents, community stakeholders and others about the risks of this dangerous behavior. The Partnership at Drugfree.org leads The Medicine Abuse Project, a multi-year initiative with the goal of preventing half a million teens from abusing prescription medicine by 2017.
The Medicine Abuse Project provides comprehensive resources to parents, educators, health care providers, law enforcement officials and others about the growing problem of teen medicine abuse. The Project aims to mobilize parents and the public at large to take action and help solve the problem of teen substance abuse. This includes learning about the issue, talking with their kids about the dangers of misuse and abuse of prescription drugs and properly monitoring, safeguarding and disposing of excess Rx drugs in their homes.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Holds Nationwide Prescription Take-Back Day on April 27th
One way parents, grandparents and other caretakers can take immediate action is by participating in the upcoming DEA-facilitated National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, taking place this Saturday, April 27, 2013.
"Medicine cabinets are the number one access point for teens who want to misuse and abuse prescription drugs. That's why we are making a concerted effort to let parents and caregivers know how important it is to safely dispose of their unused, unwanted or expired medicines. Doing so can literally save a life," said Marcia Lee Taylor,
SVP of Government Affairs at The Partnership at Drugfree.org. "This Saturday's DEA Take-Back event gives everyone a chance to protect their kids from the dangers that medicine abuse poses in their own homes. We should all take this simple step and clean out our medicine cabinets."
Collection sites will be set up around the country, open for medicine drop-off between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Those interested in disposing of their medicine at a take-back location this Saturday can visit The Medicine Abuse Project website to find the nearest site to safely drop off their unused, unwanted or expired prescription medicines. In the five previous Take-Back events, more than 2 million pounds of prescription medicines were safely dropped off and removed from circulation.
The DEA Take-Back Day provides a tangible way for parents to help curb medicine abuse. The PATS data released today confirms that misuse and abuse of prescription drugs is now a normalized behavior among teens.
Concerning Trends in Teen Prescription Drug Abuse According to the New PATS Data (2008-2012)
One in four teens (24 percent) reports having misused or abused a prescription drug at least once in their lifetime (up from 18 percent in 2008 to 24 percent in 2012), which translates to about 5 million teens. That is a 33 percent increase over a five-year period:
Of those kids who said they abused Rx medications, one in five (20 percent) has done so before the age of 14.
More than a quarter of teens (27 percent) mistakenly believe that "misusing and abusing prescription drugs to get high is safer than using street drugs," and one-third of teens (33 percent) say they believe "it's okay to use prescription drugs that were not prescribed to them to deal with an injury, illness or physical pain."
"These data make it very clear: the problem is real, the threat immediate and the situation is not poised to get better," said Steve Pasierb, President and CEO of The Partnership at Drugfree.org. "Parents fear drugs like cocaine or heroin and want to protect their kids. But the truth is that when misused and abused, medicines especially stimulants and opioids can be every bit as dangerous and harmful as illicit street drugs. Medicine abuse is one of the most significant and preventable adolescent health problems facing our families today. As parents and caring adults, we need to take action to address the risks that intentional medicine abuse poses to the lives and the long-term health of our teens."
Significant Increase in Teen Abuse of Stimulants Ritalin and Adderall, Rx Painkiller Abuse Flattening
Rx stimulants are a key area of concern, with misuse and abuse of Ritalin and Adderall in particular driving the noted increases in teen medicine abuse. Stimulants are a class of drugs that enhance brain activity and are commonly prescribed to treat health conditions including ADHD and obesity. The 2012 data found:
One in eight teens (about 2.7 million) now reports having misused or abused the Rx stimulants Ritalin or Adderall at least once in their lifetime.
9 percent of teens (about 1.9 million) report having misused or abused the Rx stimulants Ritalin or Adderall in the past year (up from 6 percent in 2008) and 6 percent of teens (1.3 million) report abuse of Ritalin or Adderall in the past month (up from 4 percent in 2008).
One in four teens (26 percent) believes that prescription drugs can be used as a study aid.
Abuse of prescription pain medicine remains at unacceptably high levels among teens, but the new PATS data show it may be flattening. Teen abuse of prescription pain relievers like Vicodin and OxyContin has remained stable since 2011 with one in six teens (16 percent) reporting abuse or misuse of an Rx pain reliever at least once in their lifetime. One in 10 teens (10 percent) admits to abusing or misusing an Rx painkiller in the past year.
Parents' Missed Opportunity: Lax Attitudes and Permissiveness About Rx Drugs Linked to Teen Abuse
Parent permissiveness and lax attitudes toward abuse and misuse of Rx medicines, coupled with teens' ease of access to prescription medicines in the home, are key factors linked to teen medicine misuse and abuse. The availability of prescription drugs (in the family medicine cabinet, in the homes of friends and family) makes them that much easier to abuse. The new survey findings stress that teens are more likely to abuse Rx medicines if they think their parents "don't care as much if they get caught using prescription drugs, without a doctor's prescription, than they do if they get caught using illegal drugs."
Almost one-third of parents (29 percent) say they believe ADHD medication can improve a child's academic or testing performance, even if the teen does not have ADHD.
One in six parents (16 percent) believes that using prescription drugs to get high is safer than using street drugs.
Teens reported that during the last conversation they had with their parents regarding substance abuse, only 16 percent said they discussed the misuse or abuse of prescription pain relievers with their parents, and just 14 percent indicate the same for discussions about any type of prescription drug. In comparison, a majority of teens (81 percent) say they have discussed the risks of marijuana use with their parents, 80 percent have discussed alcohol and nearly one-third of teens (30 percent) have discussed crack/cocaine.
More than half of teens (56 percent) indicate that it's easy to get prescription drugs from their parent's medicine cabinet. In fact, about half of parents (49 percent) say anyone can access their medicine cabinet.
More than four in 10 teens (42 percent) who have misused or abused a prescription drug obtained it from their parent's medicine cabinet. Almost half (49 percent) of teens who misuse or abuse Rx medicines obtained them from a friend.
Teens are more likely to use prescription drugs if they believe that their parents are more lenient toward prescription drug misuse or abuse compared to illegal drug abuse, and their parents use drugs themselves.
One in five parents (20 percent) report that they have given their teen a prescription drug that was not prescribed for them.
The PATS survey also found that 17 percent of parents do not throw away expired medications, and 14 percent of parents say that they themselves have misused or abuse prescription drugs within the past year.
###
PATS Methodology
The 24th annual Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) of 3,884 teens in grades 9-12 and 817 parents is nationally projectable with a +/- 2.1 percent margin of error for the teen sample and +/- 3.4 percent for the parent sample. Conducted for The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications, the 2012 PATS teen survey was administered in private, public and parochial schools, while the parent survey was conducted through in-home interviews by deKadt Marketing and Research, Inc.
About The Partnership at Drugfree.org
Ninety percent of addictions start in the teenage years. The Partnership at Drugfree.org is dedicated to solving the problem of teen substance abuse. Together with experts in science, parenting and communications, the nonprofit translates research on teen behavior, addiction and treatment into useful and effective resources for both individuals and communities. Working toward a vision where all young people will be able to live their lives free of drug and alcohol abuse, The Partnership at Drugfree.org works with parents and other influencers to help them prevent and get help for drug and alcohol abuse by teens and young adults. The organization depends on donations from individuals, corporations, foundations and the public sector and is thankful to SAG-AFTRA and the advertising and media industries for their ongoing generosity.
About MetLife Foundation
MetLife Foundation was established in 1976 to continue MetLife's longstanding tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. The Foundation is committed to building a secure future for individuals and communities worldwide. Since it was established, MetLife Foundation has provided more than $530 million in grants to nonprofit organizations addressing issues that have a positive impact in their communities. For more information, visit http://www.metlife.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
National study: Teen misuse and abuse of prescription drugs up 33 percent since 2008Public release date: 23-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
New, nationally projectable survey results released today by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation confirmed that one in four teens has misused or abused a prescription drug at least once in their lifetime -- a 33 percent increase over th
New York, NY April 23, 2013 New, nationally projectable survey results released today by The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation confirmed that one in four teens has misused or abused a prescription (Rx) drug at least once in their lifetime a 33 percent increase over the past five years. The Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) also found troubling data on teen misuse or abuse of prescription stimulants. One in eight teens (13 percent) now reports that they have taken the stimulants Ritalin or Adderall when it was not prescribed for them, at least once in their lifetime.
Contributing to this sustained trend in teen medicine abuse are the lax attitudes and beliefs of parents and caregivers. In fact, nearly one-third of parents say they believe Rx stimulants like Ritalin or Adderall, normally prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), can improve a teen's academic performance, even if the teen does not have ADHD. Parents are not effectively communicating the dangers of Rx medicine misuse and abuse to their kids, nor are they safeguarding their medications at home and disposing of unused medications properly.
The Partnership at Drugfree.org Responds to Rx Epidemic with The Medicine Abuse Project
In response to the continued high prevalence of teen prescription medicine abuse as reported in the 2012 PATS data, The Partnership at Drugfree.org is helping educate parents, community stakeholders and others about the risks of this dangerous behavior. The Partnership at Drugfree.org leads The Medicine Abuse Project, a multi-year initiative with the goal of preventing half a million teens from abusing prescription medicine by 2017.
The Medicine Abuse Project provides comprehensive resources to parents, educators, health care providers, law enforcement officials and others about the growing problem of teen medicine abuse. The Project aims to mobilize parents and the public at large to take action and help solve the problem of teen substance abuse. This includes learning about the issue, talking with their kids about the dangers of misuse and abuse of prescription drugs and properly monitoring, safeguarding and disposing of excess Rx drugs in their homes.
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Holds Nationwide Prescription Take-Back Day on April 27th
One way parents, grandparents and other caretakers can take immediate action is by participating in the upcoming DEA-facilitated National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, taking place this Saturday, April 27, 2013.
"Medicine cabinets are the number one access point for teens who want to misuse and abuse prescription drugs. That's why we are making a concerted effort to let parents and caregivers know how important it is to safely dispose of their unused, unwanted or expired medicines. Doing so can literally save a life," said Marcia Lee Taylor,
SVP of Government Affairs at The Partnership at Drugfree.org. "This Saturday's DEA Take-Back event gives everyone a chance to protect their kids from the dangers that medicine abuse poses in their own homes. We should all take this simple step and clean out our medicine cabinets."
Collection sites will be set up around the country, open for medicine drop-off between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. Those interested in disposing of their medicine at a take-back location this Saturday can visit The Medicine Abuse Project website to find the nearest site to safely drop off their unused, unwanted or expired prescription medicines. In the five previous Take-Back events, more than 2 million pounds of prescription medicines were safely dropped off and removed from circulation.
The DEA Take-Back Day provides a tangible way for parents to help curb medicine abuse. The PATS data released today confirms that misuse and abuse of prescription drugs is now a normalized behavior among teens.
Concerning Trends in Teen Prescription Drug Abuse According to the New PATS Data (2008-2012)
One in four teens (24 percent) reports having misused or abused a prescription drug at least once in their lifetime (up from 18 percent in 2008 to 24 percent in 2012), which translates to about 5 million teens. That is a 33 percent increase over a five-year period:
Of those kids who said they abused Rx medications, one in five (20 percent) has done so before the age of 14.
More than a quarter of teens (27 percent) mistakenly believe that "misusing and abusing prescription drugs to get high is safer than using street drugs," and one-third of teens (33 percent) say they believe "it's okay to use prescription drugs that were not prescribed to them to deal with an injury, illness or physical pain."
"These data make it very clear: the problem is real, the threat immediate and the situation is not poised to get better," said Steve Pasierb, President and CEO of The Partnership at Drugfree.org. "Parents fear drugs like cocaine or heroin and want to protect their kids. But the truth is that when misused and abused, medicines especially stimulants and opioids can be every bit as dangerous and harmful as illicit street drugs. Medicine abuse is one of the most significant and preventable adolescent health problems facing our families today. As parents and caring adults, we need to take action to address the risks that intentional medicine abuse poses to the lives and the long-term health of our teens."
Significant Increase in Teen Abuse of Stimulants Ritalin and Adderall, Rx Painkiller Abuse Flattening
Rx stimulants are a key area of concern, with misuse and abuse of Ritalin and Adderall in particular driving the noted increases in teen medicine abuse. Stimulants are a class of drugs that enhance brain activity and are commonly prescribed to treat health conditions including ADHD and obesity. The 2012 data found:
One in eight teens (about 2.7 million) now reports having misused or abused the Rx stimulants Ritalin or Adderall at least once in their lifetime.
9 percent of teens (about 1.9 million) report having misused or abused the Rx stimulants Ritalin or Adderall in the past year (up from 6 percent in 2008) and 6 percent of teens (1.3 million) report abuse of Ritalin or Adderall in the past month (up from 4 percent in 2008).
One in four teens (26 percent) believes that prescription drugs can be used as a study aid.
Abuse of prescription pain medicine remains at unacceptably high levels among teens, but the new PATS data show it may be flattening. Teen abuse of prescription pain relievers like Vicodin and OxyContin has remained stable since 2011 with one in six teens (16 percent) reporting abuse or misuse of an Rx pain reliever at least once in their lifetime. One in 10 teens (10 percent) admits to abusing or misusing an Rx painkiller in the past year.
Parents' Missed Opportunity: Lax Attitudes and Permissiveness About Rx Drugs Linked to Teen Abuse
Parent permissiveness and lax attitudes toward abuse and misuse of Rx medicines, coupled with teens' ease of access to prescription medicines in the home, are key factors linked to teen medicine misuse and abuse. The availability of prescription drugs (in the family medicine cabinet, in the homes of friends and family) makes them that much easier to abuse. The new survey findings stress that teens are more likely to abuse Rx medicines if they think their parents "don't care as much if they get caught using prescription drugs, without a doctor's prescription, than they do if they get caught using illegal drugs."
Almost one-third of parents (29 percent) say they believe ADHD medication can improve a child's academic or testing performance, even if the teen does not have ADHD.
One in six parents (16 percent) believes that using prescription drugs to get high is safer than using street drugs.
Teens reported that during the last conversation they had with their parents regarding substance abuse, only 16 percent said they discussed the misuse or abuse of prescription pain relievers with their parents, and just 14 percent indicate the same for discussions about any type of prescription drug. In comparison, a majority of teens (81 percent) say they have discussed the risks of marijuana use with their parents, 80 percent have discussed alcohol and nearly one-third of teens (30 percent) have discussed crack/cocaine.
More than half of teens (56 percent) indicate that it's easy to get prescription drugs from their parent's medicine cabinet. In fact, about half of parents (49 percent) say anyone can access their medicine cabinet.
More than four in 10 teens (42 percent) who have misused or abused a prescription drug obtained it from their parent's medicine cabinet. Almost half (49 percent) of teens who misuse or abuse Rx medicines obtained them from a friend.
Teens are more likely to use prescription drugs if they believe that their parents are more lenient toward prescription drug misuse or abuse compared to illegal drug abuse, and their parents use drugs themselves.
One in five parents (20 percent) report that they have given their teen a prescription drug that was not prescribed for them.
The PATS survey also found that 17 percent of parents do not throw away expired medications, and 14 percent of parents say that they themselves have misused or abuse prescription drugs within the past year.
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PATS Methodology
The 24th annual Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) of 3,884 teens in grades 9-12 and 817 parents is nationally projectable with a +/- 2.1 percent margin of error for the teen sample and +/- 3.4 percent for the parent sample. Conducted for The Partnership at Drugfree.org and MetLife Foundation by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications, the 2012 PATS teen survey was administered in private, public and parochial schools, while the parent survey was conducted through in-home interviews by deKadt Marketing and Research, Inc.
About The Partnership at Drugfree.org
Ninety percent of addictions start in the teenage years. The Partnership at Drugfree.org is dedicated to solving the problem of teen substance abuse. Together with experts in science, parenting and communications, the nonprofit translates research on teen behavior, addiction and treatment into useful and effective resources for both individuals and communities. Working toward a vision where all young people will be able to live their lives free of drug and alcohol abuse, The Partnership at Drugfree.org works with parents and other influencers to help them prevent and get help for drug and alcohol abuse by teens and young adults. The organization depends on donations from individuals, corporations, foundations and the public sector and is thankful to SAG-AFTRA and the advertising and media industries for their ongoing generosity.
About MetLife Foundation
MetLife Foundation was established in 1976 to continue MetLife's longstanding tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. The Foundation is committed to building a secure future for individuals and communities worldwide. Since it was established, MetLife Foundation has provided more than $530 million in grants to nonprofit organizations addressing issues that have a positive impact in their communities. For more information, visit http://www.metlife.org.
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Public release date: 23-Apr-2013
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Groupon’s VP of mobile, David Katz, says that it has been “business as usual” at the daily deals company since the dramatic departure of founder/CEO Andrew Mason. “We’re still just focused on shipping new stuff,” Katz told TechCrunch in an interview. Today, that includes news of updates to Groupon’s iPhone and Android apps: it is adding a universal search feature that will let consumers use the apps to search for Marketplace deals that are available nearby, covering not just local discounts that are time-sensitive but rolling offers that are not. The search feature lays the groundwork for a larger attack that publicly traded Groupon is making on mobile to stay competitive in location-based mobile services against the likes of Google, Yelp and Foursquare — with the latter just raising $41 million to position itself as a platform for local search, offering local deals as an added twist. On top of the new search updates, the Android app is now able to support tablets, the first time that it has been optimized for screens of up to 10 inches. With the search feature available now in the U.S., Groupon plans to turn the feature on across the rest of its mobile footprint this year, Katz says. And while the iPad app is not getting an update today, Groupon says that this week it is extending the number of countries where it will work. Belgium, Japan, Malaysia, South Africa and Switzerland are getting added, taking the total to 18 countries. That’s still a far cry from the 42 that Groupon supports with its iPhone app, but Katz says that they hope to reach parity “by the end of the year, if not sooner.” iOS usage, he says, “still dominates” on Groupon’s platform but the company’s move to roll out features like search internationally, into countries where Android is stronger than iOS, may see that balance changing, which is why it’s important for Groupon to not only keep updating that Android app but add tablet support as well. Groupon’s bid to “transition from being just daily deals into a more complete offering,” in Katz’s words, is so far showing some signs of paying off, with both mobile and non-time-specific Marketplace deals playing roles in that. About half of the company’s local transaction volume in North America is coming from its Deals Marketplace at the moment, and that deal bank (Groupon’s internal term for
