Anti-smoking ads with strong arguments, not flashy editing, trigger part of brain involving behavior change
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that an area of the brain that initiates behavioral changes had greater activation in smokers who watched anti-smoking ads with strong arguments versus those with weaker ones, and irrespective of flashy elements, like bright and rapidly changing scenes, loud sounds and unexpected scenario twists. Those smokers also had significantly less nicotine metabolites in their urine when tested a month after viewing those ads, the team reports in a new study published online April 23 in the Journal of Neuroscience.
This is the first time research has shown an association between cognition and brain activity in response to content and format in televised ads and behavior.
In a study of 71 non-treatment-seeking smokers recruited from the Philadelphia area, the team, led by Daniel D. Langleben, M.D., a psychiatrist in the Center for Studies of Addiction at Penn Medicine, identified key brain regions engaged in the processing of persuasive communications using fMRI, or functional magnetic resonance imaging. They found that a part of the brain involved in future behavioral changes?known as the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC)?had greater activation when smokers watched an anti-smoking ad with a strong argument versus a weak one.
One month after subjects watched the ads, the researchers sampled smokers' urine cotinine levels (metabolite of nicotine) and found that those who watched the strong ads had significantly less cotinine in their urine compared to their baseline versus those who watched weaker ads.
Even ads riddled with attention-grabbing tactics, the research suggests, are not effective at reducing tobacco intake unless their arguments are strong. However, ads with flashy editing and strong arguments, for example, produced better recognition.
"We investigated the two major dimensions of any piece of media, content and format, which are both important here," said Dr. Langleben, who is also an associate professor in the department of Psychiatry. "If you give someone an unconvincing ad, it doesn't matter what format you do on top of that. You can make it sensational. But in terms of effectiveness, content is more important. You're better off adding in more sophisticated editing and other special effects only if it is persuasive."
The paper may enable improved methods of design and evaluation of public health advertising, according to the authors, including first author An-Li Wang, PhD, of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. And it could ultimately influence how producers shape the way ads are constructed, and how ad production budgets are allocated, considering special effects are expensive endeavors versus hiring screenwriters.
A 2009 study by Dr. Langleben and colleagues that looked solely at format found people were more likely to remember low-key, anti-smoking messages versus attention-grabbing messages. This was the first research to show that low-key versus attention-grabbing ads stimulated different patterns of activity, particularly in the frontal cortex and temporal cortex. But it did not address content strength or behavioral changes.
This new study is the first longitudinal investigation of the cognitive, behavioral, and neurophysical response to the content and format of televised anti-smoking ads, according to the authors.
"This sets the stage for science-based evaluation and design of persuasive public health advertising," said Dr. Langleben. "An ad is only as strong as its central argument, which matters more than its audiovisual presentation. Future work should consider supplementing focus groups with more technology-heavy assessments, such as brain responses to these ads, in advance of even putting the ad together in its entirety."
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University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine: http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/
Thanks to University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine for this article.
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Shakuntala Devi, an Indian mathematical wizard known as ?the human computer? for her ability to make incredibly swift calculations, died on Sunday in Bangalore, India. She was 83.?
The cause was respiratory and cardiac problems, said D. C. Shivadev, a trustee of the Shakuntala Devi Educational Foundation Public Trust.
Ms. Devi demonstrated her mathematical gifts around the world, at colleges, in theaters and on radio and television. In 1977, at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, she extracted the 23rd root of a 201-digit number in 50 seconds, beating a Univac computer, which took 62 seconds.
In 1980, she correctly multiplied two 13-digit numbers in only 28 seconds at the Imperial College in London. The feat, which earned her a place in the 1982 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, was even more remarkable because it included the time to recite the 26-digit solution.
The New York Times
Problems solved by Ms. Devi during a demonstration in 1976, as they appeared in The New York Times.
(The numbers, selected at random by a computer, were 7,686,369,774,870 and 2,465,099,745,779. The answer was 18,947,668,177,995,426,462,773,730.)
Shakuntala Devi was born in Bangalore on Nov. 4, 1929. Her father was a trapeze artist and lion tamer in a circus. Survivors include a daughter and two grandchildren.
She was about 3 and playing cards with her father when he discovered that she was a mathematical prodigy with an uncanny ability to memorize numbers. By the time she was 5, she had become an expert at solving math problems.
Ms. Devi won fame demonstrating her math skills at the circus, and later in road shows arranged by her father.
?I had become the sole breadwinner of my family, and the responsibility was a huge one for a young child,? she once said. ?At the age of 6, I gave my first major show at the University of Mysore, and this was the beginning of my marathon of public performances.?
She toured Europe in 1950. When she appeared on the BBC, her answer to a difficult calculation was different from the interviewer?s. It turned out that she was right. Similarly, at the University of Rome, one of her answers to a problem was found to be wrong, until the experts re-examined their own calculations.
When Ms. Devi performed in New York in 1976, an article in The New York Times marveled at her abilities: ?She could give you the cube root of 188,132,517 ? or almost any other number ? in the time it took to ask the question. If you gave her any date in the last century, she would tell you what day of the week it fell on.?
In a 1990 journal article about Ms. Devi, Arthur R. Jensen, a researcher on human intelligence at the University of California, Berkeley, noted that unlike the Dustin Hoffman character in the movie ?Rain Man,? an autistic savant who was also a mathematical prodigy, ?Devi comes across as alert, extroverted, affable and articulate.?
He posited that for Ms. Devi, ?the manipulation of numbers is apparently like a native language, whereas for most of us arithmetic calculation is at best like the foreign language we learned in school.? But he added that she built on her inherent skills through intense practice as a child.
Ms. Devi was also a successful astrologer, cookbook author and novelist.
More tech and science from NYTimes.com:
This story, "Shakuntala Devi, 'Human Computer,' Dies in India at 83," first appeared in The New York Times. Copyright 2013 The New York Times Company.
FreedomPop, the free-to-use mobile hotspot that we've talked about before, has begun offering service via Sprint's LTE network. In addition to speed improvements over its current 3G offerings, the shift will also bring much better coverage. See if your location qualifies here. [via AllThingsD]
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas public schools pummeled by historic budget cuts in 2011 would recover nearly 70 percent of that funding under a Senate plan approved late Tuesday and made possible by Republicans softening on a longstanding reluctance to tap the state's Rainy Day Fund for education.
A major part of the bipartisan deal, which emerged during daylong negotiations, is pulling $800 million from the state's emergency piggybank for schools. That component may be at odds with Gov. Rick Perry, who said this month he supports using the Rainy Day Fund for water and road projects but not classrooms.
Under the proposal unanimously passed by the Senate, schools would also get another $1.4 billion thanks to what lawmakers say are freshly revised local property tax estimates from the state comptroller.
Combined with extra education funding the Senate has previously approved, and Texas schools now appear in line under the Senate plan to win back $3.7 billion of the $5.4 billion lost two years ago.
"We are within spitting distance," Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis said.
Voters would ultimately decide in November through a proposed constitutional amendment whether to allow the state to raid the Rainy Day Fund for public schools. The plan sets aside $300 million of the spending for merit raises for teachers in low-income school districts.
"This is going to allow us to put a substantial amount of new money into public education," said Republican state Sen. Tommy Williams, the Senate's chief budget-writer.
Classroom spending is the smallest portion of the Senate's proposed $5.7 billion draw down the Rainy Day Fund, which is projected to reach a nearly $12 billion balance by 2015 if left unspent.
The other withdrawals are $2 billion for water projects and $2.9 billion to improve the state's crumbling and congested roads. Both are less than what Senate budget-writers originally proposed earlier this month, and like the education spending, taking the rainy day money for roads and water would also require voter approval in November.
Perry and fiscally conservative Republicans have fiercely safeguarded the Rainy Day Fund in recent years, even as the balance soared and state budgets were slashed. They have argued that the fund was created for one-time expenses and natural disasters, and not recurring costs such as school funding.
Earlier this month, Perry did not waver when asked whether lawmakers should tap the Rainy Day Fund for schools.
"The dollars for education are there in our regular general revenue," Perry said following an appearance at an Austin transportation summit on April 12.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst was not in the Senate for one of the biggest votes passed by the chamber this session. He issued a statement calling the deal a chance that "will allow voters to decide if they want to utilize the resources of our state's savings account to prepare for our future in a meaningful and transparent way."
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Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber
(Reuters) - A suburban Utah elementary school was evacuated on Monday and a suspicious device found on the campus, the school said on its website.
Mountain View Elementary School in Layton, south of Ogden, said all students were safely evacuated but would not be returning on Monday. Parents were asked to pick up their children at a nearby Mormon church as soon as possible.
The school did not immediately release further details but the Salt Lake Tribune newspaper reported that police had detonated a suspected explosive device that had been found on the roof of the campus by a maintenance worker.
"The employee said it looked like a pipe bomb. He took it off the roof ? not too sure why he did that ? but police were then notified," Davis School District spokesman Chris Williams told the Tribune.
The newspaper said a Davis County Sheriff's Department bomb squad was on the scene in addition to police and firefighters.
(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman; Writing by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Dale Hudson)
Wyden could take over as chairman of the Finance Committee, now that Baucus has announced his retirement.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is next in line to assume the chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee upon the reported retirement of current Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., at the end of next year.
Wyden is No. 3 in seniority on the panel, but Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., who would be in line to take over, has already announced his retirement.
Democrats hold fairly true to their succession rules, particularly given that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is a believer in observing informal seniority rules. Wyden is currently the chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the powerful Finance gavel would be his to turn down.
On Tuesday, Wyden declined to comment.
?I?m not up on any press reports,? Wyden told reporters after an Energy hearing. ?I just heard these press reports, and I?m not going to comment on them in any way. All I?ve heard are press reports. I am not going to comment in any way this morning.?
Over the years, Baucus and Wyden have clashed on the Finance panel. The Oregon senator has a history of freelancing bipartisan bills with Republicans that Democrats often find unhelpful for their overall message. That was true last year, when Wyden teamed up with House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., on Medicare, but later distanced himself from the bill when the then-GOP vice presidential nominee it to burnish his bipartisan chops.
The next Democratic senator in line after Wyden is Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. As it stands, Schumer is also high in the order to assume the Senate Banking Committee gavel, just behind Jack Reed of Rhode Island, after Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., announced his retirement last month. Reed is expected to assume the chairmanship of the Armed Services panel.
Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., right, questions a panel of witnesses during the committee's hearing on immigration reform after a bipartisan group of senators agreed last week on legislation that would dramatically remake the U.S. immigration system, Monday, April 22, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. From left are, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee's ranking member; Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; and Schumer. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., right, questions a panel of witnesses during the committee's hearing on immigration reform after a bipartisan group of senators agreed last week on legislation that would dramatically remake the U.S. immigration system, Monday, April 22, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. From left are, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the committee's ranking member; Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.; and Schumer. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said Tuesday that her agency knew of alleged Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev's trip to Russia last year even though his name was misspelled on a travel document. A key lawmaker had said that the misspelling caused the FBI to miss the trip.
Napolitano's disclosure came as news to Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who told the secretary that it contradicted what he'd been told by the FBI.
"They told me that they had no knowledge of him leaving or coming back so I would like to talk to you more about this case," Graham told Napolitano as she testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on sweeping immigration legislation.
Napolitano said that even though Tsarnaev's name was misspelled, redundancies in the system allowed his departure to be captured by U.S. authorities in January 2012. But she said that by the time he came back six months later, an FBI alert on him had expired and so his re-entry was not noted.
"The system pinged when he was leaving the United States. By the time he returned all investigations had been closed," Napolitano said.
The Russia trip is now seen as potentially important to determining how and when Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the older Boston bomber who died in a firefight with police, apparently became radicalized, and whether he had ties to others.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev was investigated by the FBI at Russia's request and his name was included in a federal government travel-screening database after that, law enforcement officials have told The Associated Press. One official told the AP that by the time of the flight Tsarnaev would have faced no additional scrutiny because the FBI had by that time found no information connecting him to terrorism.
The testimony came during the third Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on sweeping immigration legislation. As at the previous two hearings, the proceedings were overshadowed by the events in Boston.
Napolitano also defended the security procedures that occur when someone applies for asylum to the U.S., as the Tsarnaev family did about a decade ago. She described an extensive process with multiple screenings.
She said any asylum applicant is thoroughly interviewed and vetted, run through databases, fingerprinted and vetted again when they become eligible for a green card and ultimately citizenship.
Napolitano also said the process has improved in recent years. And she said the new immigration bill would build on that.
(Reuters) - News Corp will receive $139 million worth of insurance proceeds in a rare cash settlement that resolves a lawsuit by shareholders alleging the board failed to investigate the company's phone hacking scandal.
The $139 million, which will be paid by the liability insurance for the board members, is the largest cash settlement in such a derivative case, according to one of the plaintiff's attorneys.
In a derivative lawsuit, shareholders seek to step into the shoes of the company and hold board members and officers responsible for harm caused to the corporation. The cases often settle for changes to corporate governance, and as is the case with News Corp, any payment goes to the company, with shareholders benefiting indirectly.
The original lawsuit, brought by plaintiffs including the labor union-owned Amalgamated Bank and the New Orleans Employees' Retirement System, accused the board of refusing to investigate alleged phone hacking because the directors were more interested in protecting the interests of the Murdoch family.
Rupert Murdoch, who is chairman and CEO of News Corp, controls the company. His sons, Lachlan and James, sit on the News Corp board.
Since the breadth of the phone hacking and bribery scandal in Great Britain came to light in 2009, scores of News Corp employees have been arrested and one of its most popular tabloids News of the World was shuttered.
The lawsuit also alleged that Murdoch used News Corp funds for political donations to advance his conservative political agenda, which the plaintiffs said showed the board lacked independence and could run afoul of election laws.
As part of the deal, News Corp said it would adopt enhanced corporate governance procedures - including a policy to disclose to its shareholders political contributions made directly by the company.
The agreement indicated the settlement is not an admission of wrong doing by News Corp.
"We are pleased to have resolved this matter," News Corp said in a statement.
The settlement comes as News Corp prepares to separate into two publicly traded companies later this year: One dedicated to its publishing assets such as The Wall Street Journal and Times of London, and the other, which will operate its entertainment division, and includes the Fox network.
The adopted corporate governance procedures will apply to both companies.
HOLDING BOARDS TO THE FLAME
Experts said insurers would certainly take the settlement into consideration when pricing future policies, though one suggested they might actually save money, having resolved a huge overhanging legal issue.
Joseph Monteleone, a lawyer with Tressler in New York whose practice is focused on directors and officers insurance, said he could see some insurers actually feeling more comfortable insuring the company's directors now, because this agreement resolved two major areas of potential liability.
News Corp declined to comment on its directors and officers insurance rates.
The plaintiffs first sued in March 2011 over News Corp's $670 million acquisition of Shine Group Ltd, a company owned by Chairman Rupert Murdoch's daughter.
Cash settlements of derivative lawsuits became more common with last decade's lawsuits that related to the backdating of options awarded to executives, according to Kevin LaCroix of OakBridge Insurance Services, who runs the D&O Diary blog.
Some big settlements of recent years included a $100 million donation to charity in 2005 by Larry Ellison of Oracle Corp , who was alleged to have traded using nonpublic information.
Independent research firm GovernanceMetrics International, which grades companies' corporate governance, has given News Corp an 'F' grade in each of the past six years.
Still, investors have driven up News Corp shares 65 percent over the past 12 months.
News Corp closed up 1.4 percent at $31.64 on Monday.
(Reporting by Jennifer Saba in New York, Tom Hals in Wilmington and Ben Berkowitz in Boston; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, Jeffrey Benkoe, Theodore d'Afflisio and Leslie Gevirtz)
Partisanship was absent in the days following the Boston Marathon bombing. Now, political issues are entering into the discussion, including gun control, immigration, and national security.
By Brad Knickerbocker,?Staff writer / April 20, 2013
Runners pause during a moment of silence for those injured and killed in the Boston Marathon bombings before the start of the Salt Lake City marathon on Saturday,.
Melissa Majchrzak/AP
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Democrats and Republicans declared a truce of sorts Saturday ? at least in their respective weekend radio addresses, both of which focused on the Boston Marathon bombing. Usually those venues are used to attempt to score political points on things like the economy, immigration, and gun control.
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"Through days that would test even the sturdiest of souls, Boston's spirit remains undaunted ? America's spirit remains undimmed," President Obama said in his regular weekly address. "Our faith in each other, our love for this country, our common creed that cuts across whatever superficial differences we may have ? that's what makes us strong."
"I have no doubt the city of Boston and its surrounding communities will continue to respond in the same proud and heroic way that they have thus far, and their fellow Americans will be right there with them every step of the way,? Obama said just hours after the second alleged attacker had been captured, ending a day of violent confrontations in which the first alleged attacker was killed in a shootout with police.
Speaking on behalf of the GOP, US Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, echoed the same theme.
"We will stand strong, we will stand united, and we will stand together for Boston,"?Sen. Scott said. ?The greatness of America is not seen during times of prosperity, but is crystallized by how we respond to challenges."
"The leaders of this country will do everything in our power to bring justice for the families and the communities impacted," he said. "Our freedom is our most precious possession ? any effort to take it away will only strengthen our determination."
Through the long, dark week that ended with the capture of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in Watertown, Mass. Friday evening, the nation?s political leaders had hung together in their support of stunned Bostonians and the law enforcement agencies, medical personnel, and just plain citizens who worked heroically to respond, then as federal, state, and local officials scrambled to find the perpetrators and prevent any other attack that might have been planned.
Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who had been soundly defeated in the presidential election by Obama, praised the President?s speech at a memorial service in Boston honoring the victims of the multiple blasts that killed three people and injured more than 170 ? a terrorist attack that brought a lock-down of Boston and surrounding towns.
?I thought the president gave a superb address to the people of this city and the state and the nation,? Mr. Romney said on CNN. ?It was an inspiring day.?
But any event can be turned to political purposes, and the Boston Marathon bombing is no exception.
With news that brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had an arsenal that included pistols and a rifle as well as home-made bombs, gun control was sure to come up.
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In some ways Oblivion is pretty standard. Alien war. Last humans on earth. Tom Cruise. Etc. But the movie, out this weekend, has something else going for it: a stunning backdrop for all the hunting and sleuthing. More »
Contact: Angela Hopp ahopp@asbmb.org 713-471-4541 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Middle school students from rural Maine will present a poster at the Experimental Biology 2013 conference detailing how their involvement with the Aspirnaut science-outreach program led to them becoming active scientific researchers.
Students from the Dedham School in Dedham, Maine, were participants in the Aspirnaut program (http://www.aspirnaut.org), a science-outreach program started at Vanderbilt University, in which scientists engage with middle- and high-school students through videoconferencing. Showing a great interest in the research that was being demoed by Vanderbilt scientists, four talented Dedham students volunteered to become part of the research project. Guided by their teacher and Aspirnaut organizers, the students worked to corroborate and expand on the discovery of a novel chemical bond found in animal tissues. Their research found that this bond, which they describe as an "essential innovation for the genesis of animal tissues," was also present in another lineage of multicellular organisms, thus demonstrating its evolutionary importance. This novel discovery will be included in a soon-to-be published scientific article.
After their discovery, the students made great efforts to inform members of their community about their research and its implications, thereby bringing the outreach effort full circle. The students will be at the Experimental Biology conference to talk about their experiences and how the Aspirnaut outreach program got them interested and involved with science.
WHERE: Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, 415 Summer St., Boston, Mass.
WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 20
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About Experimental Biology 2013
Experimental Biology's mission is to share the newest scientific concepts and research findings shaping future and current clinical advances and to give scientists and clinicians an unparalleled opportunity to hear from colleagues working on similar biomedical problems using different disciplines. With six sponsoring societies and another 20 U.S. and international guest societies, the annual meeting brings together scientists from throughout the United States and the world, representing dozens of scientific areas, from laboratory to translational to clinical research. The meeting also offers a wide spectrum of professional development sessions.
About the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
The ASBMB is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with more than 12,000 members worldwide. Most members teach and conduct research at colleges and universities. Others conduct research in various government laboratories, at nonprofit research institutions and in industry. The Society's student members attend undergraduate or graduate institutions. For more information about ASBMB, visit http://www.asbmb.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.
Contact: Angela Hopp ahopp@asbmb.org 713-471-4541 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Middle school students from rural Maine will present a poster at the Experimental Biology 2013 conference detailing how their involvement with the Aspirnaut science-outreach program led to them becoming active scientific researchers.
Students from the Dedham School in Dedham, Maine, were participants in the Aspirnaut program (http://www.aspirnaut.org), a science-outreach program started at Vanderbilt University, in which scientists engage with middle- and high-school students through videoconferencing. Showing a great interest in the research that was being demoed by Vanderbilt scientists, four talented Dedham students volunteered to become part of the research project. Guided by their teacher and Aspirnaut organizers, the students worked to corroborate and expand on the discovery of a novel chemical bond found in animal tissues. Their research found that this bond, which they describe as an "essential innovation for the genesis of animal tissues," was also present in another lineage of multicellular organisms, thus demonstrating its evolutionary importance. This novel discovery will be included in a soon-to-be published scientific article.
After their discovery, the students made great efforts to inform members of their community about their research and its implications, thereby bringing the outreach effort full circle. The students will be at the Experimental Biology conference to talk about their experiences and how the Aspirnaut outreach program got them interested and involved with science.
WHERE: Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, 415 Summer St., Boston, Mass.
WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, April 20
###
About Experimental Biology 2013
Experimental Biology's mission is to share the newest scientific concepts and research findings shaping future and current clinical advances and to give scientists and clinicians an unparalleled opportunity to hear from colleagues working on similar biomedical problems using different disciplines. With six sponsoring societies and another 20 U.S. and international guest societies, the annual meeting brings together scientists from throughout the United States and the world, representing dozens of scientific areas, from laboratory to translational to clinical research. The meeting also offers a wide spectrum of professional development sessions.
About the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
The ASBMB is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with more than 12,000 members worldwide. Most members teach and conduct research at colleges and universities. Others conduct research in various government laboratories, at nonprofit research institutions and in industry. The Society's student members attend undergraduate or graduate institutions. For more information about ASBMB, visit http://www.asbmb.org.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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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.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Boy Scouts of America on Friday proposed lifting a ban on gay scouts but maintaining a prohibition on gay adults from leading troops, a compromise that attempts to end a bitter split in the century-old American institution.
Reaction from scouting supporters ranged from outrage to limited approval. The biggest organization in scouts, the Mormon Church, said it was studying the proposal, leaving uncertain the outcome of a May vote by scout leaders that will set policy. Gay rights groups said continuing to bar gay adults was unacceptable, but they welcomed the change for youths.
The proposal would create a situation where a gay youth could become a scout and then be forced to resign when he becomes an adult.
"The general feeling is that this is a bad move," which could precipitate a major crisis, A. J. Smith, president of the Association of Baptists for Scouting, wrote in a website post, attempting to summarize Baptists' views against allowing gays into scouts. "This is about a concerted effort to bring down a cultural icon. We must brace ourselves for the long haul on this one."
The scouts' decision is a focal point of a heated gay rights debate in the United States, where polls show public opinion is fast moving toward greater acceptance and a core of social conservatives stridently oppose such change.
In the coming months, the Supreme Court will rule on whether to strike down parts of a federal law that defines marriage as the union between a man and a woman. In 2011, the military repealed a ban on openly gay soldiers.
Scout leaders in 2000 won a Supreme Court battle over the right to exclude gays. There are more than 2.6 million youth scouts and 1 million adults, and faith-based groups sponsor 70 percent of scout units.
The controversy has hurt Scouts' finances. Corporations including Merck & Co Inc, UPS Inc and Intel Corp have cut their contributions, saying they will not fund organizations which discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation.
If the resolution is approved, "no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone," Deron Smith, the organization's spokesman, told Reuters.
But the policy is not changed for adults, the group said, and an internal document obtained by Reuters says that when youth members become adults, they "must meet the requirements of our adult standards" to remain in the group.
LONG STUDY BEFORE COMPROMISE
A report by the Boy Scouts of America said parents in three of four U.S. regions opposed the current membership policy.
The report found religious groups linked to the Scouts were concerned with homosexual adult leaders, not with youth, and concluded "a change in the membership policy specific to youth only would be consistent with the religious beliefs of the BSA's major chartered organizations."
AT&T Inc Chief Executive and Chairman Randall Stephenson, a Boy Scouts board member who had called for allowing gay scouts and a key corporate advocate on the issue, endorsed the new policy on youths but did not comment on banning gay adults.
"I fully support the BSA Executive Council's resolution to ensure all youth have the opportunity to participate in scouting and benefit from the life-long leadership skills scouting helps develop," he said in a statement.
Gay rights groups were quick to say the decision was not far-reaching enough.
"By refusing to consider an end to its ban on gay and lesbian parents, the Boy Scouts have missed an opportunity to exercise leadership and usher the organization back to relevancy," said Rich Ferraro, a representative of GLAAD, which promotes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormon church, which has more than 430,000 youths in scouts, "will take the time needed to fully review the language and study the implications of this new proposal," spokesman Michael Purdy said.
The Mormon church has consistently opposed gay marriage, and was a primary promoter of California's 2008 ban, known as Proposition 8. But recently it has emphasized respecting gay church members and declared that homosexuality is not a choice, reflecting changing attitudes among members.
"This was an exceptionally difficult decision as a business," said Patrick Boyle, whose 1994 book "Scout's Honor" examined sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America.
"They were stuck in a very bad spot with their constituents divided - constituents being the parents, and also the churches and the businesses that support the scouts."
The road to a decision has been long. In July 2012, the group's board voted to uphold the gay ban. Six months later, group leaders said they were mulling over whether to remove the national restriction, leaving local branches to decide whether to admit gays and lesbians. A final vote, expected in February, was delayed following a request from a coalition of 33 faith-based councils that represent about one-fifth of all youth members in the Boy Scouts.
Boyle noted that this reversal "shows how the gay rights movement has caught fire in the past dozen years."
Chuck Small, a BSA adult leader and the parent of 10- and 12-year-old scouts in South Carolina, welcomed the proposal.
"It's a hard and divisive issue, but what it comes down to is that we learn more from people who are different from us than people who are like us," Small said.
"I think it's a healthy thing, and I hope my boys are up to the challenge to accept people for what they do, rather than what they believe or how they're made up."
(Additional reporting by Chris Francescani and Aruna Viswanatha; Editing by Vicki Allen, Andrew Hay, Eric Walsh, Stacey Joyce and Mohammad Zargham)
Radio Station WHMI 93.5 FM -- News, Weather, Traffic, Sports, School Updates, and the Best Classic Hits for Howell, Brighton, Fenton, and the entire Livingston County, Michigan Area
4/19/13 - Governor Rick Snyder was the featured speaker at the Livingston County Republican Party?s Lincoln Day Dinner last night, but not everyone welcomed him with open arms. The event, held at Crystal Gardens in Genoa, is the biggest fundraiser of the year for the local GOP. Snyder spoke to the crowd of over 200 people about the changes made in the state since he took office, including the elimination of the Michigan Business Tax, passing balanced budgets, and increasing the rainy day fund from $2 million to half a billion dollars. While he was well-received by the audience, at least 60 protestors gathered in the rain outside the venue to denounce the actions and policies of Snyder and the GOP majority, including increased taxes on pensioners and homesteads as well as the passage of right-to-work legislation. They included Fowlerville Education Association President Mary Aldecoa and Howell High School teacher and Citizens Against Government Overreach President Doug Norton, who both said they opposed the increased taxation on the middle class and reduced spending on schools and other social programs. Snyder says the protestors were gone by the time he arrived. When asked how he would respond to the arguments of the protestors, Snyder said he believed he was doing what was right for citizens and businesses. He says his new budget will bring K-12 funding levels up to 11% above 2010 levels, and defended the passage of right-to-work legislation. He added that with an electorate of almost 10 million some people are bound to be unhappy with his changes. One GOP organizer says news that a protest would be taking place actually increased attendance for the fundraiser. (TD)
Worries about trends in global growth, drove down U.S. and European equities, commodities and Asian markets on Wednesday. Earnings forecasts continue to be revised downward, say analysts.?
By Chikako Mogi,?Reuters / April 17, 2013
A man talking on a mobile phone walks past an electronic board showing stock prices outside a securities company in Tokyo last month.
AP Photo/Shuji Kajiyama
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Asian?shares inched lower on Thursday, taking their cues from an overnight drop in U.S. and European equities on renewed concerns about global growth, which also weighed on commodities.
Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly Digital Edition
The MSCI's broadest index of?Asia-Pacific?shares outside?Japan?was down 0.3 percent, with Australian shares falling 0.4 percent, hit by sinking copper prices which deepened concerns about demand for?Australia's raw materials.
South Korean shares opened down 0.4 percent.
"Cyclical large-caps are losing steam as the rate of economic recovery appears slowing in major countries such as the U.S. and?China, while first-quarter earnings forecasts continue to be revised down," said?Chang Jae-ho, an analyst at Daishin Securities.
Both the Standard & Poor's 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite Index closed down more than 1 percent on Wednesday after disappointing corporate earnings reports.
Apple Inc fell below $400 a share for the first time since late 2011 after a poor revenue forecast from key supplier?Cirrus Logic?while shares of Intel Corp, the world's largest?semiconductor?maker, initially fell after it forecast a sharp decline in its current-quarter revenue and trimmed its 2013 capital spending plans.
European shares fell to a 2013 low.
Japan's Nikkei average opened down 0.8 percent.
Commodities also fell on Wednesday, with copper, seen as a gauge for manufacturing and?China-related growth, shedding over 3 percent. A 10.3 percent decline in European car sales over March weighed on copper prices as an indicator of slumping demand for metals.
Oil prices tumbled for a sixth straight session on Wednesday, with Brent crude futures falling below $98 per barrel for the first time since July as rising U.S. fuel supplies added to overall concern about global oil demand.
NEW YORK (AP) ? Yankees captain Derek Jeter has left the team's minor league complex in Florida and gone for a medical exam on his injured left ankle.
Jeter went to see Dr. Robert Anderson, who operated on the All-Star shortstop's left ankle in Charlotte, N.C., after it was broken last October.
New York manager Joe Girardi said Thursday that the exam was not scheduled.
The 38-year-old Jeter was hurt in the opener of the AL championship series. He played sparingly in spring training and started the season doing recovery work at the team's complex in Tampa, Fla.
The most common cause of lower respiratory tract infections in infants and young children, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), can be transferred during pregnancy to an unborn baby, according to Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital research published online this week in the journal PLOS ONE.
In animal models, the study shows that RSV is able to spread across the placenta from the respiratory tract of the mother to the fetus, and is present in the lungs after birth, throughout development and into adulthood. RSV is considered the primary cause of infant pneumonia and has been implicated in the development of asthma.
"Epidemiologic evidence suggests that early-life RSV infection predisposes children to recurrent wheezing and asthma," said Giovanni Piedimonte, M.D., the study's lead author and Chairman of Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital and the Pediatric Institute. "This study challenges the current paradigm that RSV infection is acquired only after birth and shifts attention to prenatal effects of the virus, which may result in more severe and lasting consequences by interfering with an unborn baby's critical developmental processes."
Research was completed in an animal model, in which rats were inoculated with RSV during midterm pregnancy. Of those infected, RSV was found in 30 percent of fetuses, as well as in the lungs of 40 percent of newborns and 25 percent of those that reached adulthood.
Dr. Piedimonte has been the principal investigator or co-investigator of more than 30 research projects, and has authored and co-authored more than 250 journal articles, book chapters, monographs, editorials and abstracts. He holds 17 international patents and is frequently invited to speak nationally and internationally.
###
Text of the complete study can be found online at: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061309.
About Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital
Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital is a part of the Cleveland Clinic health system and offers full medical, surgical and rehabilitative care for infants, children and adolescents. Cleveland Clinic Children's supports 429 inpatient beds and 43 outpatient beds; in addition, pediatric services are available at more than 30 locations. A staff of more than 300 pediatric medical and surgical specialists sees more than 650,000 outpatient visits, 17,000 hospital admissions, 10,000 surgeries and more than 1,400 hospital transfers each year. Cleveland Clinic Children's consistently ranks among the "Best Children's Hospitals" by U.S.News & World Report. Visit us online at http://www.clevelandclinic.org/childrens and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/clevelandclinicchildrens.
About Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S.News & World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation's best hospitals in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey. About 2,800 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and 11,000 nurses represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties. Cleveland Clinic Health System includes a main campus near downtown Cleveland, eight community hospitals and 18 Family Health Centers in Northeast Ohio, Cleveland Clinic Florida, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and opening in 2013, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. In 2010, there were 4 million visits throughout the Cleveland Clinic health system and 167,000 hospital admissions. Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 100 countries. Visit us at http://www.clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/ClevelandClinic.
Editor's Note: Cleveland Clinic News Service is available to provide broadcast-quality interviews and B-roll upon request.
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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.
Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital research suggests transmission of respiratory viruses in uteroPublic release date: 18-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
The most common cause of lower respiratory tract infections in infants and young children, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), can be transferred during pregnancy to an unborn baby, according to Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital research published online this week in the journal PLOS ONE.
In animal models, the study shows that RSV is able to spread across the placenta from the respiratory tract of the mother to the fetus, and is present in the lungs after birth, throughout development and into adulthood. RSV is considered the primary cause of infant pneumonia and has been implicated in the development of asthma.
"Epidemiologic evidence suggests that early-life RSV infection predisposes children to recurrent wheezing and asthma," said Giovanni Piedimonte, M.D., the study's lead author and Chairman of Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital and the Pediatric Institute. "This study challenges the current paradigm that RSV infection is acquired only after birth and shifts attention to prenatal effects of the virus, which may result in more severe and lasting consequences by interfering with an unborn baby's critical developmental processes."
Research was completed in an animal model, in which rats were inoculated with RSV during midterm pregnancy. Of those infected, RSV was found in 30 percent of fetuses, as well as in the lungs of 40 percent of newborns and 25 percent of those that reached adulthood.
Dr. Piedimonte has been the principal investigator or co-investigator of more than 30 research projects, and has authored and co-authored more than 250 journal articles, book chapters, monographs, editorials and abstracts. He holds 17 international patents and is frequently invited to speak nationally and internationally.
###
Text of the complete study can be found online at: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0061309.
About Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital
Cleveland Clinic Children's Hospital is a part of the Cleveland Clinic health system and offers full medical, surgical and rehabilitative care for infants, children and adolescents. Cleveland Clinic Children's supports 429 inpatient beds and 43 outpatient beds; in addition, pediatric services are available at more than 30 locations. A staff of more than 300 pediatric medical and surgical specialists sees more than 650,000 outpatient visits, 17,000 hospital admissions, 10,000 surgeries and more than 1,400 hospital transfers each year. Cleveland Clinic Children's consistently ranks among the "Best Children's Hospitals" by U.S.News & World Report. Visit us online at http://www.clevelandclinic.org/childrens and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/clevelandclinicchildrens.
About Cleveland Clinic
Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit multispecialty academic medical center that integrates clinical and hospital care with research and education. Located in Cleveland, Ohio, it was founded in 1921 by four renowned physicians with a vision of providing outstanding patient care based upon the principles of cooperation, compassion and innovation. Cleveland Clinic has pioneered many medical breakthroughs, including coronary artery bypass surgery and the first face transplant in the United States. U.S.News & World Report consistently names Cleveland Clinic as one of the nation's best hospitals in its annual "America's Best Hospitals" survey. About 2,800 full-time salaried physicians and researchers and 11,000 nurses represent 120 medical specialties and subspecialties. Cleveland Clinic Health System includes a main campus near downtown Cleveland, eight community hospitals and 18 Family Health Centers in Northeast Ohio, Cleveland Clinic Florida, the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health in Las Vegas, Cleveland Clinic Canada, and opening in 2013, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi. In 2010, there were 4 million visits throughout the Cleveland Clinic health system and 167,000 hospital admissions. Patients came for treatment from every state and from more than 100 countries. Visit us at http://www.clevelandclinic.org. Follow us at http://www.twitter.com/ClevelandClinic.
Editor's Note: Cleveland Clinic News Service is available to provide broadcast-quality interviews and B-roll upon request.
[ | 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.
While lyric reading app Strophes has already been in the Mac App Store for a while, more often than not, it's when you're on the go that you'll need to whip out lyrics at a moments notice. So whether want to sing along or end a friendly argument about the correct words (or lines... or paragraphs...), Strophes has finally arrived in pocket form, ready to offer sage lyric wisdom at your every whim. More »
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Public release date: 20-Apr-2013
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