LONDON – The final swim of Michael Phelps‘ incomparable career was a victory lap, a coronation and a mere formality.
Phelps’ butterfly leg in the 400-meter individual medley helped propel the United States to an emphatic victory and sent Phelps into retirement with his 22nd career Olympic medal – a staggering 18 of them gold. Both totals are records and it will take a long time before those totals are even challenged, much less broken.
Phelps was joined on the winning relay by backstroker Matt Grevers, breaststroker Brendan Hansenand freestyler Nathan Adrian. The U.S. has never lost an Olympic 400 medley relay, and this one was never in doubt after Phelps regained the lead on the third leg. The Americans won with a time of 3:29.35. Japan (3:31.26) took the silver medal and Australia (3:31.58). captured the bronze.
“I could probably sum it up in a couple of words and just say, ‘I did it.’ ” Phelps said of his career. “Through the ups and downs, I’ve still been able to do everything that I’ve ever wanted to accomplish. I’ve been able to do things nobody’s ever done and that’s what I’ve always wanted to do.”
Psychologist, Jacquelyn Kincaid, aka Doc, is a damn good sleuth when it comes to tracking evidence in the quest to prove her kid brother innocent of murder.
It all starts when a certain nanny is found dead, floating face up in a fishpond on Jacquelyn’s five acre garden estate. No one living at Kincaid Gardens knows the killer has a condo right there at the eighty-unit complex. No one knows he dresses like a woman to conceal his identity No one knows he roams the grounds long after they are tucked in bed at night.
Nicolas, Jacquelyn’s younger brother, is the perfect patsy. He just happens to be in the gardens the night of the murder, searching for his beloved parrot, Preacher Bird. Even though he’s clean now for over a year, he’s an ex-cop, with an extensive drug habit, and has guilt written all over his face. But his sister knows what fuels his guilt, and it isn’t murder.
In her quest to prove her kid brother innocent, Jacquelyn fights for his life and finds herself butting heads with the law, all the way up the bureaucratic ladder to the FBI.
This author has written a most entertaining murder mystery. I particularly love how the writing is clear and concise. It reminds me of the style of my favorite mystery writer, Lee Childs. I could hardly get my work done for wanting to read the next chapter, and the next, and the next. Congratulations to this great new author. I will now be watching for her next book. LKK
(reviewed the day of purchase)
Biography
Born in Santa Maria California, Marlene Cronkite grew up on the move. She was never in one town longer than three months. Although she found it painful to leave her friends behind, the constant change gave Marlene the creative insight she needed to write and paint.
After Marlene raised two wonderful children, she later settled in southern California. She had always been aware that she was an artist. She can’t remember a time when she wasn’t sketching, painting, or even doodling, a portrait or a landscape.
When Marlene felt the desire to write, she joined several writing groups, and it only seemed natural to paint word pictures. In the beginning she wrote short stories, then later expanded to novels.
Marlene belongs to Writer’s Village University, and she is a co-moderator for the Hemingway Hall Group. Dangerous Presence is Marlene’s first novel.
Newswise — MANHATTAN, Kan. — A study by a Kansas State University researcher could help farmers better serve a niche market.
Sarah Bernard, who recently earned her master’s degree in agribusiness, studied consumers’ motivations behind buying local beef. She found that farmers should be marketing more to female and older consumers because they are more likely to buy local products, and that farmers should promote local agriculture in their marketing messages.
The research could help farmers capitalize on the local food movement by enhancing their marketing efforts to attract locavores — people who try to eat locally produced and grown food. Bernard has seen more demand from consumers who want to buy local beef from her family’s farm, the Burns Farm in Pikeville, Tenn.
In an online survey of more than 400 consumers, Bernard asked what motivated and discouraged them in the purchase of local beef. Motivating factors to buy local included local support, environment and health, while barriers included price, inconvenience and unfamiliar brand.
Women responded with higher levels of agreement to all motivating factors compared with males. Those under 25 years old agreed more with barriers to buy, while those older than 55 years old showed higher levels of motivation for purchasing local beef.
“Females, who tend to be the primary consumer when it comes to food products, and the older population seemed to have a greater motivation and calling to buy local products, and this appeared to be very important to them,” Bernard said.
Consumers among all demographics in the survey rated local support as the greatest motivating factor and price as the main barrier in the purchase of local beef. However, those who had previously purchased local beef found greater disagreement with barrier factors compared with those who had not.
“Many of the barrier factors were lower for those who had previously purchased local beef,” said Kevin Gwinner, Bernard’s adviser and professor and head of the department of marketing. “As such, there is an opportunity to lower barriers by providing opportunities for consumers to taste the beef or by enticing them to make a small initial purchase.”
The findings could help farmers in their promotional campaigns, Bernard said, because buying local is a new niche market for farmers.
“The theme of supporting local agriculture found appeal across all ages, genders and income levels, and this theme would likely be favored in marketing campaigns,” she said. “Buying local is not meant to compete with larger beef production in America, but farmers can better serve this small market to fill the very specific needs of consumers who want to buy local products.”
Marla Keller, M.D., discusses her new research that indicates HPV testing in HIV-positive women may help reduce the frequent Pap tests, used to screen for cervical cancer, that are now recommended. Dr. Keller is associate professor of medicine and of obstetrics & gynecology and women’s health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and attending physician, medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital for Einstein Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on stumbleupon Share on delicious Share on digg Share on email More Sharing ServicesShare Related Stories Channel Keywords Source More stories from these channels: Cancer, Infectious Diseases 1. Study Suggests New Treatment Target for Deadly Brain Tumors 2. Study Identifies Barriers to Breast Health Care in Pakistan 3. Mayo Clinic Completes First Genome-Wide Analysis of Peripheral T-Cell Lymphomas 4. Researchers Discover Gene that Permanently Stops Cancer Cell Proliferation 5. Study Finds Correlation Between Number of Colorectal Polyps and Genetic Mutations 6. Drug Duo Turns on Cancer-Fighting Gene in Kidney, Breast Cancers Most Popular Viewed Clipped Shared 1. Are Cold Feet Plaguing Your Relationship? 2. Is it ADHD or Typical Toddler Behavior? Ten Early Signs of ADHD Risk in Preschool Age Children 3. Researchers Discover Gene that Permanently Stops Cancer Cell Proliferation 4. Most With Celiac Disease Unaware of it; Others go Gluten-Free Without Diagnosis 5. The Olympics for the Rest of Us: How Ping-Pong Can Help Your Brain 6. Stem Cells Repair Hearts Early in Life, but Not in Adults
Newswise —(BRONX, NY) — Compared to the general population, HIV-positive women have a high risk of cervical cancer and thus are advised to undergo more frequent screening tests. This creates a burden for HIV-positive patients and the health care system, leading to frequent biopsies, which often do not reveal clinically relevant disease.
A new study by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University suggests that HIV-positive women may be able to use new methods that can help to safely reduce the frequency of screening in some women, similar to practices accepted in the general population. The findings will be published in the July 25 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a theme issue on HIV/AIDS.
Howard Strickler, M.D., M.P.H., professor of epidemiology and population health at Einstein and senior author of the study, presented the findings today at a JAMA media briefing at the International AIDS Conference.
As of 2009, 1.2 million people age 13 and older were living with HIV in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Women accounted for about one-quarter of those infected.
In March 2012, the United States Preventive Services Task Force revised its cervical cancer screening guidelines for HIV-negative women aged 30 or older to once every five years from once every three years provided they have a normal Pap smear test and a negative test for human papillomavirus (HPV), the virus mainly responsible for cervical cancer. The Pap test detects precancerous or cancerous changes in the cervical lining and the HPV test detects cancer-associated types of the virus.
But those guidelines did not update screening recommendations for HIV-positive women. Current recommendations for HIV-positive women are to have two Pap tests, at six-month intervals, in the first year following diagnosis of HIV and, if normal, on an annual basis from then on. HPV testing is not currently recommended for HIV-positive women.
The current study looked at whether cervical cancer screening could be reduced in HIV-positive women who have a normal Pap test and a negative test for HPV. The Einstein researchers reasoned that for women with a normal Pap test and no evidence of cervical HPV infection, the risk of cervical precancer or cancer is likely to be very low for several years regardless of HIV status.
“It is widely thought that before cervical precancer or cervical cancer can develop, there must be persistent infection by a cancer-associated HPV, as well as the accumulation of additional genetic changes over time,” said Dr. Strickler.
The study analyzed data on 420 HIV-positive and 279 HIV-negative women who were enrolled in the Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS), the largest prospective study of HIV-positive women in the US. (Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital for Einstein, is one of the six clinical sites for WIHS.) At enrollment, each woman had a normal Pap test and tested negative for the cancer-related HPV types. The women’s rates of cervical precancer and cancer were measured after three- and five-years of follow-up.
At both the three- and five-year screening intervals, the incidence of cervical precancer was found to be similar in both HIV-positive and HIV-negative women. No cases of cervical cancer were detected in either group.
“Overall, few cases of cervical precancer would have gone undiagnosed if the HIV-positive women did not have any additional Pap tests during the five years following enrollment — no more than in the HIV-negative group,” said lead author Marla Keller, M.D., associate professor of medicine and of obstetrics & gynecology and women’s health at Einstein and attending physician, medicine at Montefiore. “Thus, these data raise the possibility that HPV and Pap co-testing could be used to reduce the burden of frequent Pap tests and, by extension, unnecessary biopsies in HIV-positive women who are in long-term clinical follow-up.”
Other contributors include Robert Burk, M.D.; Xianhong Xie, Ph.D.; Kathryn Anastos, M.D.; and Xiaonan Xue, Ph.D., all at Einstein; L. Stewart Massad, M.D. (Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO); Howard Minkoff, M.D. (Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY); Gypsyamber D’Souza, Ph.D. (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD); D. Heather Watts, M.D. (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, MD); Alexandra Levine, M.D. (City of Hope National Medical Center, Duarte, CA); Philip Castle, Ph.D. (American Society for Clinical Pathology, Washington, DC); Christine Colie, M.D. (Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC); and Joel Palefsky, M.D. (University of California, San Francisco, CA).
The study was funded by several grants from the National Institutes of Health, including from the National Cancer Institute (CA085178), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (AI079763 and AI51519), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development (HD32632), and the National Center for Research Resources (RR024131). The project described was also supported by the National Center for Research Resources (UL1RR025750), and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR000086). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
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About Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University
Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University is one of the nation’s premier centers for research, medical education and clinical investigation. During the 2011-2012 academic year, Einstein is home to 724 M.D. students, 248 Ph.D. students, 117 students in the combined M.D./Ph.D. program, and 368 postdoctoral research fellows. The College of Medicine has 2,522 full time faculty members located on the main campus and at its clinical affiliates. In 2011, Einstein received nearly $170 million in awards from the NIH. This includes the funding of major research centers at Einstein in diabetes, cancer, liver disease, and AIDS. Other areas where the College of Medicine is concentrating its efforts include developmental brain research, neuroscience, cardiac disease, and initiatives to reduce and eliminate ethnic and racial health disparities. Its partnership with Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital and academic medical center for Einstein, advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments and therapies that benefit patients. Through its extensive affiliation network involving Montefiore, Jacobi Medical Center –
Einstein’s founding hospital, and five other hospital systems in the Bronx, Manhattan, Long Island and Brooklyn, Einstein runs one of the largest post-graduate medical training programs in the United States, offering approximately 155 residency programs to more than 2,200 physicians in training. For more information, please visit www.einstein.yu.edu and follow us on Twitter @EinsteinMed.
Hospital for Special Surgery Orthopedists Encourage Early Referrals To Improve Outcomes
“It has been shown that if you do nerve reconstruction work and surgery before six months after a nerve is severed, then patients do far better,” said Dr. Steve K. Lee, who is director of research at the Center for Brachial Plexus and Traumatic Nerve Injury at Hospital for Special Surgery.
Because many physicians are unaware of nerve transfer surgery, some patients suffer long-term impairment from nerve injuries that could have been fixed.
Newswise — A study in the August issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (JAAOS) by Hospital for Special Surgery researchers aims to raise awareness of this type of surgery among health care providers. In recent years, great strides have been made in nerve transfer surgery, allowing many patients with a nerve injury in their upper extremity to have a remarkable recovery and improved functional outcomes.
“It’s obvious that many physicians don’t know what can be done, because often patients are referred too long after their injury. If we get these patients late, any nerve surgery is less likely to work,” said Steve K. Lee, M.D., director of Research at the Center for Brachial Plexus and Traumatic Nerve Injury at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS), lead author of the study. “A big thrust of this paper is to get the information out there that we need to see these patients earlier for better outcomes.”
Nerve injuries can be caused by a variety of events, including car and motorcycle accidents, sporting accidents, falls from heights such as construction accidents, and surgeries for head and neck cancer. Once a nerve is cut from a muscle, it has to be reinnervated within about 18 months before the muscle atrophies. Since nerves only regenerate one millimeter per day, sometimes they cannot regenerate and reach the muscle before it wastes away.
“It has been shown that if you do nerve reconstruction work and surgery before six months after a nerve is severed, then patients do far better,” said Dr. Lee, who is also Associate Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the Weill Cornell Medical College and Associate Attending Orthopedic Surgeon at Hospital for Special Surgery. “If it has been more than 18 months, even if the nerve regeneration length is two centimeters, it may still be too late.”
Nerve transfer surgeries are needed when a nerve end is nonfunctional or when nerve reconstruction would require an excessively long nerve graft. In the upper extremity, nerve transfers are most commonly used for injuries involving the brachial plexus, a network of nerves that run near the neck and shoulder. Other indications include complex injury to peripheral nerves, especially associated with fractures and dislocations, lacerations, injuries from projectiles and cancer.
In brachial plexus reconstructive surgery, which can take up to 12 hours, surgeons take nerves that have less important roles or are redundant and transfer them to restore function to a severely damaged nerve. Doctors use functioning nerves close to the target muscle and plug these nerves into the injured, nonfunctioning nerve. The rewired nerves then learn how to supply a new function. One of the most common transfers is to take part of the ulnar nerve that is involved in controlling the hand and rewiring this nerve so that it is hooked up to muscles that bend your elbow. “If you take a little part of these nerves, it doesn’t affect the hand,” said Dr. Lee.
The JAAOS study provides a review of the various techniques used for nerve transfer and details patient outcomes. Orthopedic surgeons, plastic surgeons and neurosurgeons perform the bulk of nerve transfer surgeries, but it is important for a variety of health care professionals to know what nerve transfer surgery can achieve.
“If a doctor has a patient who has one of these injuries and they read this paper, they will know that these surgeries can work. They will know what can be done rather than saying ‘let’s wait and see if it will heal by itself,’” said Dr. Lee. “This study is very important educationally for orthopedic surgeons and for anybody taking care of patients with nerve damage. Trauma surgeons, general surgeons, rehabilitation doctors, neurologists and physical therapists should know about this.”
Scott Wolfe, M.D., director of the Center for Brachial Plexus and Traumatic Nerve Injury at HSS, was a coauthor of the study.
The Center for Brachial Plexus and Traumatic Nerve Injury at Hospital for Special Surgery is a national resource for men and women of all ages, providing diagnostic and reconstructive options for patients with injuries to or dysfunction of the peripheral nerve and brachial plexus. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the center utilizes the expertise of a wide range of health care professionals including orthopedic surgeons, physiatrists, neurologists, radiologists, psychiatrists, rheumatologists, pain management specialists, physical therapists and anesthesiologists, so that patients can benefit from a coordinated treatment experience.
About Hospital for Special Surgery
Founded in 1863, Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) is a world leader in orthopedics, rheumatology and rehabilitation. HSS is nationally ranked No. 1 in orthopedics, No. 3 in rheumatology, No. 10 in neurology and No. 5 in geriatrics by U.S. News & World Report (2012-13), and is the first hospital in New York State to receive Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Service from the American Nurses Credentialing Center three consecutive times. HSS has one of the lowest infection rates in the country. From 2007 to 2011, HSS has been a recipient of the HealthGrades Joint Replacement Excellence Award. HSS is a member of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System and an affiliate of Weill Cornell Medical College and as such all Hospital for Special Surgery medical staff are faculty of Weill Cornell. The hospital’s research division is internationally recognized as a leader in the investigation of musculoskeletal and autoimmune diseases. Hospital for Special Surgery is located in New York City and online at www.hss.edu.
Desert Hot Springs, California (July 31, 2012) – City of Desert Hot Springs Mayor,Yvonne Parks, and the Desert Hot Springs Community and Cultural Affairs Commissioninvite the public to join them in watching local athlete, Sarah Robles, compete in the 2012 Olympic Games.
Sarah grew up in Desert Hot Springs and San Jacinto, California. She lifted her firstweights competitively in 2008 and, just four years later, is the top-ranked women’s weightlifter in the country. On March 8, 2012, Sarah lifted a personal-best total of 258 kilograms (567.6 pounds) at the trials in Columbus, Ohio, earning her a spot on TeamUSA’s 2012 Women’s Weightlifting Team. Sarah is considered a favorite to medal at the 2012 Olympic Games.
Mayor Parks stated, “The City of Desert Hot Springs congratulates Ms. Robles on this major accomplishment and wishes her the best of luck in London! We’ll be rooting for you, Sarah!”
The community is encouraged to join in celebrating Sarah’s success. The Women’s Weightlifting Competition will be aired on the large screens at the Carl May Community Center (11711 West Dr., Desert Hot Springs, CA 92240) on August 5, 2012, at 7:30 A.M. Doors will open at 7:00 A.M. Please arrive early, as space is limited.
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