Friday, January 25, 2013

Indian panel pushes new laws after fatal gang rape

NEW DELHI (AP) ? A government panel recommended India strictly enforce sexual assault laws, commit to holding speedy rape trials and change the antiquated penal code to protect women after a fatal gang rape in New Delhi last month galvanized the public.

The panel received more than 80,000 suggestions for a complete overhaul in the criminal justice system's treatment of violence against women since the government set it up a month ago to help quell street protests sparked by the rape. The suggestions included banning a traumatic vaginal exam of rape victims to ending political interference in sex crime cases.

Women say they feel under siege and are so frightened they have structured their entire lives to protect themselves from harassment and attack. Many travel in groups, go out of their homes only during the day and carry sharp objects to stab men who grope them on public buses.

Those who are raped are often blamed by their families for the attack. If they report the crime, the police often refuse to file a report or try to get the victim and attacker to reach a settlement. If it reaches court, the case can drag on for years in the overburdened justice system.

"Failure of good governance is the obvious root cause for the current unsafe environment, eroding the rule of law and not the want of knee-jerk legislation," said retired Chief Justice J.S. Verma, who headed the three-member panel.

The panel recommended to the government Wednesday that police and other officials who fail to act against crimes against women be punished. It called for a crackdown on dowry payments to enhance women's status, since families are often forced into massive debt to get their daughters married. It also suggested the government appoint more judges to lessen the backlog of cases and ensure swift justice, and it called for updating the law to include crimes such as voyeurism and stalking.

"We hope the Parliament will take the legislative suggestions given by the committee," and translate these into law, Verma said.

Verma advocated strict punishment to prevent sexual harassment and assaults against women and sought reforms in how police treat rape victims.

He called for speedy justice and the setting of a time frame to deal with cases of crimes against women.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's office had no immediate comment about what it would do with the recommendations.

More than 100 women's rights activists, lawyers and ordinary citizens appeared before the commission during a recent hearing to offer suggestions for removing loopholes in the existing laws and scrapping some of its most offensive provisions.

Activists and lawyers have criticized the existing laws on crimes against women as so archaic and riddled with loopholes that they end up further traumatizing victims and allowing perpetrators to get away lightly.

Women's groups say the most egregious problem is the medical test that a victim has to undergo, which includes a vaginal exam to determine if the woman is sexually active.

In the so-called "two-finger test," doctors probe the vagina to determine if a hymen is present and to try to determine if the vagina is lax, which is taken as evidence the woman routinely has sex and thus consented to intercourse. Often, the doctor is male.

"The two-finger test, which has been found to be not only unscientific and unnecessary but also subjects the complainant to further trauma and humiliation should be immediately stopped," said Kirti Singh, of the All India Democratic Woman's Association.

Indian law only targets three crimes against women, rape, using force to "outrage her modesty," and making rude sounds or gestures aimed at "insulting the modesty of any woman."

Lawyers say those laws needs to be updated to include crimes such as sexual harassment, groping, stalking and acid attacks.

"Groping and stalking should be viewed as sexual assault. Stalking is a psychological terror on the victim. It should be specifically defined," said Mukul Mudgal, a former chief justice of the Delhi High Court.

Rebecca John, a criminal lawyer who spoke with the commission, said the "very lexicon of the law" needs to be changed to remove euphemistic and outdated terms.

"The very definition of crimes against women is faulty. Phrases such as 'outraging the modesty of a woman,' and references to her chastity or honor are irrelevant," John said.

Most of India's laws, including those on rape, were inherited from the country's former British colonial rulers and date to 1860. Public pressure after highly publicized rape cases led to amendments in the rape laws in 1983 and 2003. But loopholes remain. The law, for example, does not recognize marital rape for anyone over the age of 15.

Women's groups have also called for ending political interference in police work that lets accused rapists persuade police to quash their cases by forcing women to reach settlements with their attackers.

"Those having clout are not held accountable even for blatant violations of laws," said a joint appeal by 10 women's groups made to the commission.

Human rights groups welcomed the panel's recommendations to widen the scope of sexual rape to include assaults on homosexual, transgender and transsexual rape.

The commission has also recommended a uniform national protocol for the treatment and medical examination of rape survivors.

"This is something that women's and rights groups have been asking for for a long time," said Meenakshi Ganguly, South Asia director, Human Rights Watch.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/indian-panel-pushes-laws-fatal-gang-rape-005835708.html

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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Thunder beat Clippers 109-97 to extend West lead

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Coming off a loss two nights earlier in Denver, the Oklahoma City Thunder were more interested in bouncing back with a win than making any statements against the Clippers.

Kevin Durant scored 32 points, Russell Westbrook added 26 and the Thunder won 109-97 on Tuesday night in a matchup of teams with the two best records in the NBA.

"We've got 82 games and we want to play well every night," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "We don't put more emphasis on any one game. We know the Clippers are one of the best teams, and with Chris Paul in or out, they've still got a great team."

Serge Ibaka added 17 points before fouling out late while helping the Thunder improve to a league-best 33-9 and expand their lead in the Western Conference standings to one game over the Clippers, who were without All-Star Paul. They fell to 32-11.

"They were missing Chris Paul, which is a huge piece, but they were still good in his absence," Durant said. "We wanted to come in here and get a good road win."

Blake Griffin had 31 points and 11 rebounds, and Jamal Crawford added 14 points off the bench. Eric Bledsoe scored 12 points starting in place of Paul, who missed his fourth game because of a bruised right kneecap. He missed three road wins last week, then played the next two games but it was obvious Paul wasn't himself so he was held out Tuesday.

After the game, coach Vinny Del Negro said, "Chris is going to be out. Hopefully, we get him back soon. It's a day-to-day thing."

The Clippers play 10 of their next 11 on the road.

"Chris is the orchestrator. He'll organize everything out there," Crawford said. "There's no way to replace him, but collectively we'll get it together."

The Clippers had won four straight at home against the Thunder, and they led much of the first quarter before giving up the lead for good early in the second.

"They're a good team at home, and right now we're two of the best teams in the NBA," Westbrook said. "It was a big win for us. We made some big shots and guys made the right plays."

Los Angeles made a run to start the fourth, with Grant Hill and Crawford combining to score seven in a row and close to 82-75. That was as close as the Clippers came in losing their second straight.

"They just hit shots down the stretch," Griffin said. "We tried to fight back, but we put ourselves in too big of a hole. They have the best record in the NBA for a reason. Every game for us we know we're going to get a team's best. We're not going to hang our heads."

Durant keyed a 3-point barrage over the next nearly 4 minutes, making three of them himself while Westbrook added one and Ibaka had another to extend the Thunder's lead to 99-82 ? their largest of the game. Three of those 3s came after the Thunder grabbed offensive rebounds.

"I couldn't find a shot early on because they were playing some great defense. They were putting multiple guys on me when I was driving and on pick-and-rolls, so I just tried to take what the defense was giving me and be aggressive," Durant said.

"My shots were falling and my teammates were getting offensive rebounds and kicking it out for 3s. We were getting guys open for 3s. When we're driving and kicking, we're pretty good."

Durant scored on a driving dunk to make it 101-85, then punctuated it by punching his right arm in the air.

The Clippers cut their deficit to 105-97. After Westbrook missed, Griffin raced down court and proceeded to throw the ball into the seats. He bent over with his head in his hands.

Having beaten the Clippers in overtime in November, the Thunder won the season series, with one game remaining on Jan. 22.

"We know we can beat them if we eliminate some of the offensive rebounds and 3-pointers," Matt Barnes said. "We fear nobody."

Oklahoma City pulled away to a 77-61 lead in the third on a 3-pointer by Thabo Sefolosha and a fast break dunk by Westbrook. The Clippers cut it to nine on seven straight points, including four by Crawford, before the Thunder scored the last five points to lead 82-68 going into the fourth.

The Thunder controlled the second, taking their first lead of the game on Kevin Martin's 3-pointer 45 seconds in. That launched a 13-2 run that gave the Thunder a nine-point lead, their largest to that point. Griffin scored the Clippers' final six points to help them close to 49-45 at halftime.

The Clippers led by eight before the Thunder closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run to tie the game at 22-all.

NOTES: It was Paul's bobblehead night. ... Clippers F Caron Butler swatted away a shot in the second quarter and the ball hit referee Derek Richardson in the head, knocking him backward to the court. He wasn't hurt. ... The Thunder improved to 2-1 on their season-high six-game trip. ... The Clippers agreed to a 10-year extension of their lease at Staples Center, where they are one of the arena's original tenants. The extension takes effect at the end of this season, and will keep them in the arena through June 2024.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thunder-beat-clippers-109-97-extend-west-lead-060843036--spt.html

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Parasites of Madagascar's lemurs expanding with climate change

Jan. 23, 2013 ? Rising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns in Madagascar could fuel the spread of lemur parasites and the diseases they carry.

By combining data on six parasite species from ongoing surveys of lemur health with weather data and other environmental information for Madagascar as a whole, a team of Duke University researchers has created probability maps of likely parasite distributions throughout the island today.

Then, using climate projections for the year 2080, they estimate what parasite distributions might look like in the future.

"We can use these models to figure out where the risk of lemur-human disease transmission might be highest, and use that to better protect the future of lemur and human health," said lead author Meredith Barrett, who conducted the study while working as a graduate student at Duke.

Lemurs are native to the African island of Madagascar, where climate change isn't the only threat to their survival. More than 90 percent of the lemurs' forest habitat has already been cleared for logging, farming and grazing. Illegal hunting for bushmeat is also a problem.

A key part of saving these animals is ensuring that they stay healthy as environmental conditions in their island home continue to shift, Barrett said.

Average annual temperatures in Madagascar are predicted to rise by 1.1 to 2.6 degrees Celsius by 2080. Rainfall, drought and cyclone patterns are changing too.

In a study published in the January 2013 issue of the journal Biological Conservation, Barrett and colleagues examined what these changes could mean for lemur health by taking a cue from the parasites they carry.

The team focused on six species of mites, ticks and intestinal worms commonly known to infect lemurs. The parasites are identified in lemur fur and feces. Some species -- such as pinworms, whipworms and tapeworms -- cause diarrhea, dehydration and weight loss in human hosts. Others, particularly mites and ticks, can transmit diseases such as plague, typhus or scabies.

When the researchers compared their present-day maps with parasite distributions predicted for the future, they found that lemur parasites could expand their range by as much as 60 percent. Whipworms, for example, which are now largely confined to Madagascar's northeast and western coasts, may become widely distributed on the country's southeastern coast as well.

Anne Yoder, senior author on the study and Director of the Duke Lemur Center, said the research is particularly important now as lemurs have been identified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as the most endangered mammals on earth.

Warmer weather means that parasites could grow and reproduce more quickly, or spread to higher latitudes and elevations where once they were unable to survive. As lemur parasites become more prevalent, the diseases they carry could show up in new places. The spread could be harmful to lemur populations that have never encountered these pests before, and lack resistance to the diseases they carry.

Shifting parasite distributions could have ripple effects on people too. As human population growth in Madagascar drives people and their livestock into previously uninhabited areas, wildlife-human disease transmission becomes increasingly likely.

The authors hope their results will help researchers predict where disease hotspots are likely to occur, and prepare for them before they hit.

Meredith Barrett is now a postdoctoral scholar with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health & Society Scholars Program at the University of California at San Francisco and Berkeley. Jason Brown of Duke University and Randall Junge of the Columbus Zoo & Aquarium were also authors of this study.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Duke University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Meredith A. Barrett, Jason L. Brown, Randall E. Junge, Anne D. Yoder. Climate change, predictive modeling and lemur health: Assessing impacts of changing climate on health and conservation in Madagascar. Biological Conservation, 2013; 157: 409 DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2012.09.003

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/z9oo5-VWYqg/130123165038.htm

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Spanish newspaper withdraws "false photo" of Venezuela's Chavez

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's influential El Pais newspaper withdrew what it said was "false photo of Hugo Chavez" that it had published in its on-line and print editions on Thursday.

Venezuelan President Chavez has cancer and has been under medical treatment in Cuba where he underwent surgery in December. He has not been seen publicly for six weeks.

The grainy photo that El Pais originally splashed on its front page, billed as a global exclusive, portrayed the head of a man lying down with a breathing tube in his mouth.

El Pais, one of the biggest Spanish-language publications in the world and an institution both in Spain and in Latin America, said in a brief on-line statement that it had withdrawn the photo after ascertaining that the image was not of Chavez.

Venezuelan political opposition leaders have criticized government secrecy over Chavez's condition while his supporters have accused foreign media of being in league with the opposition to spread rumors that the president's medical condition is worse than it is.

"El Pais apologizes to its readers for the damage caused. The newspaper has opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of what happened and the errors that were committed in the verification of the photo," the newspaper said in the statement.

The photograph was on the paper's website for half an hour and also appeared in early editions of the print version of the paper, before the company stopped the presses and changed its front page, the company said.

(Editing by Jon Boyle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/spanish-newspaper-withdraws-false-photo-venezuelas-chavez-094658962--finance.html

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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Self-assembling silica microwires may herald new generation of integrated optical devices

Jan. 23, 2013 ? Silica microwires are the tiny and as-yet underutilized cousins of optical fibers. If precisely manufactured, however, these hair-like slivers of silica could enable applications and technology not currently possible with comparatively bulky optical fiber. By carefully controlling the shape of water droplets with an ultraviolet laser, a team of researchers from Australia and France has found a way to coax silica nanoparticles to self-assemble into much more highly uniform silica wires.

The international team describes their novel manufacturing technique and its potential applications in a paper published January 23 in the Optical Society's (OSA) open-access journal Optics Materials Express. This technique is particularly significant, according to the researchers, because it could, for the first time, enable silica to be combined with any material through a process of microwire self-assembly.

"We're currently living in the 'Glass Age,' based upon silica, which enables the Internet," says John Canning, team member and a professor in the school of chemistry at The University of Sydney in Australia. "Silica's high thermal processing, ruggedness, and unbeatable optical transparency over long distances equate to unprecedented capacity to transmit data and information all over the world."

Silica, however, is normally incompatible with most other materials so functionalizing silica (giving it the capability) to do more than just carry light has been a challenge. Further, bridging the gap between the light-speed transmission of data through silica and electronic and photonic components -- such as optical switches, optical circuits, photon sources, and even sensors -- requires some form of interconnect. But this transition is highly inefficient using optical fibers and interconnection losses remain one of the largest unresolved issues in optical communications.

Silica microwires, if they could be manufactured or self-assembled in place, have the potential to operate as optical interconnects. They also could achieve new functionality by adding different chemicals that can only be introduced by self-assembly.

Silica wires, unlike optical fiber, have no cladding, which means greater confinement of light in a smaller structure better suited for interconnection, further minimizing losses and physical space. "So we were motivated to solve the great silica incompatibility problem," explains Canning.

To this end, the researchers came up with the idea of using evaporative self-assembly of silica nanoparticles at room temperature. They recently reported this breakthrough in the journal Nature Communications, demonstrating single-photon-emitting nanodiamonds embedded in silica, which is a first step toward a practical photon source for future quantum computing.

The key to carrying this innovation further, as described in their new research, is perfecting the manufacturing process so highly uniform wires self-assemble from nanoparticles suspended in a solution. The challenge has been that as naturally forming round droplets evaporate, they produce very uneven silica microwires. This is due to the microfluidic currents inside the droplet, which corral the nanoparticles into specific patterns aided and held together by intermolecular attractive forces. The nanoparticles then crystalize when the solvent (water) evaporates.

Canning and his team realized that by changing the shape of the droplet and elongating it ever so slightly, they could concurrently change the flow patterns inside the drop, controlling how the nanoparticles assemble.

The researchers did this by changing the "wettability" properties of the glass the drops were resting upon. The team used an ultraviolet laser to alter and pattern a glass made of the mineral borosilicate. This patterning made the surface more wettable in a very controlled way, allowing the droplet to assume a slightly more oblong shape. This subtle shape change was enough to alter the microscopic flows and eddies so as the water evaporated, the silica formed straighter, more uniform microwires.

The researchers anticipate that their processing technology will allow complete control of nanoparticle self-assembly for various technologies, including microwire devices and sensors, photon sources, and possibly silica-based integrated circuits.

It also will enable the production of selective devices such as chemical and biological sensors, photovoltaic structures, and novel switches in both optical fiber form and on waveguides -- all of which could lead to technologies that seamlessly integrate microfluidic, electronic, quantum, and photonic functionality.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Optical Society of America.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. John Canning, Hadrien Weil, Masood Naqshbandi, Kevin Cook, and Matthieu Lancry. Laser tailoring surface interactions, contact angles, drop topologies and the self-assembly of optical microwires. Opt. Mater. Express, 3, 284-294 (2013) [link]

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/Z4sCh6eFhK8/130123101607.htm

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Study explores whether sleeping pills reduce insomniac's suicidal thoughts

Study explores whether sleeping pills reduce insomniac's suicidal thoughts [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 22-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Toni Baker
tbaker@gru.edu
706-721-4421
Georgia Health Sciences University

AUGUSTA, Ga. Researchers want to know whether a sleeping pill reduces suicidal thoughts in depressed patients with insomnia.

"The more we look at it, the more it looks like insomnia by itself is a predictor of suicide so the next question becomes: Why not treat insomnia strategically as a focus of care and see if that reduces suicidal thinking," said Dr. W. Vaughn McCall, Chair of the Medical College of Georgia Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at Georgia Regents University.

McCall is principal investigator on a $1.2 million National Institute of Mental Health grant to objectively assess patient response to this strategy. The study at GRU, Duke University and the University of Wisconsin is enrolling 138 adults over four years. To help ensure their safety, all participants will receive the anti-depressant fluoxetine for the eight-week trial while half will also get the sedative-hypnotic zolpidem.

It's a complex treatment conundrum that the study hopes to unravel. Some physicians are understandably concerned about giving sleeping pills to people with suicidal thoughts. "We are faced very commonly with a patient who is not sleeping, is depressed, is suicidal and the treating physician is understandably concerned about giving that patient sleeping pills," McCall said.

In fact, some sleep experts routinely condemn sleeping pills, saying the pills are potentially deadly, independent of suicide. Other people with chronic insomnia never seek professional help, trying home or natural remedies while their negative thoughts about sleep escalate. If they do seek medical care as problems mount, they may find themselves with a doctor hesitant or even adamant about hypnotics, McCall said.

If researchers can show a direct link between insomnia treatment and reduced suicidal thinking, it could help mainstream targeted drug therapy as well as non-drug approaches such as cognitive behavior therapy, a structured talk therapy that targets faulty thinking such as, 'I will never sleep again,' said McCall, who also uses this approach.

Researchers have evidence that the intensity of insomnia correlates with the intensity of suicidal thoughts as well as a pilot study linking proactive hypnotic treatment to reduced suicidal thoughts. In fact, 31 studies have linked insomnia to suicidal thoughts, behavior or death. Still suicide risk factors and prevention often overlook insomnia, McCall said.

Acknowledging the very vulnerable population they study, there are numerous safeguards built into the research protocol such as participants only getting one week's supply of sleeping pills for the first two weeks, then getting a two-week supply if their suicidal thoughts stabilize. Additionally, they will be asked to take the drug shortly before going to bed and to allow eight hours for sleep.

Sleeping pills such as zolpidem accentuate the body's normal mechanism for sleep by targeting GABA, a neurotransmitter that essentially turns the brain's metabolism down, McCall said. Existing antidepressants don't affect GABA. Many over-the-counter sleep aids are essentially anti-histamines; histamine is another neurotransmitter that helps keep you awake. In insomniacs, GABA tends to be underactive while histamine works overtime.

Insomnia is a symptom and about half of all cases are related to a mental disorder such as depression. About 90 percent of patients hospitalized for depression and 60 percent of those treated as outpatients also have insomnia, McCall said. Not sleeping also can also be tied to personality, specifically hypervigilant individuals who are always "on." "They just can't relax," said McCall, who admits to at least a small case of that himself. Others have life-issues, such as divorce or illness, that can cause transient insomnia. In others, it's a long-standing problem with no obvious basis.

Patients with insomnia that persists over a year have a 30-fold increased risk of developing depression compared to the insomniac who gets treatment. "That is like the risk of cigarette smoking for cancer: it's huge," McCall said. This begs more questions about how insomnia causes depression and, if you're already depressed, how insomnia aggravates suicide risk, he said.

He notes there is a subset of depressed people, particularly young people, who sleep too much, and that older people generally have a harder time falling and staying asleep.

Wake Forest University will assist in statistical analysis for the study. Individuals with sleep apnea as severe suicidal thoughts will be excluded. Participants will be referred for outpatient management at the end of the study.

###

Media Contact:

Toni Baker
Communications Manager
Medical College of Georgia
Georgia Regents University
706-825-6473 Cell

For more information, contact Senior Research Assistant Mary Anne Riley at mriley1@georgiahealth.edu or 706-721-1011.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Study explores whether sleeping pills reduce insomniac's suicidal thoughts [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 22-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Toni Baker
tbaker@gru.edu
706-721-4421
Georgia Health Sciences University

AUGUSTA, Ga. Researchers want to know whether a sleeping pill reduces suicidal thoughts in depressed patients with insomnia.

"The more we look at it, the more it looks like insomnia by itself is a predictor of suicide so the next question becomes: Why not treat insomnia strategically as a focus of care and see if that reduces suicidal thinking," said Dr. W. Vaughn McCall, Chair of the Medical College of Georgia Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at Georgia Regents University.

McCall is principal investigator on a $1.2 million National Institute of Mental Health grant to objectively assess patient response to this strategy. The study at GRU, Duke University and the University of Wisconsin is enrolling 138 adults over four years. To help ensure their safety, all participants will receive the anti-depressant fluoxetine for the eight-week trial while half will also get the sedative-hypnotic zolpidem.

It's a complex treatment conundrum that the study hopes to unravel. Some physicians are understandably concerned about giving sleeping pills to people with suicidal thoughts. "We are faced very commonly with a patient who is not sleeping, is depressed, is suicidal and the treating physician is understandably concerned about giving that patient sleeping pills," McCall said.

In fact, some sleep experts routinely condemn sleeping pills, saying the pills are potentially deadly, independent of suicide. Other people with chronic insomnia never seek professional help, trying home or natural remedies while their negative thoughts about sleep escalate. If they do seek medical care as problems mount, they may find themselves with a doctor hesitant or even adamant about hypnotics, McCall said.

If researchers can show a direct link between insomnia treatment and reduced suicidal thinking, it could help mainstream targeted drug therapy as well as non-drug approaches such as cognitive behavior therapy, a structured talk therapy that targets faulty thinking such as, 'I will never sleep again,' said McCall, who also uses this approach.

Researchers have evidence that the intensity of insomnia correlates with the intensity of suicidal thoughts as well as a pilot study linking proactive hypnotic treatment to reduced suicidal thoughts. In fact, 31 studies have linked insomnia to suicidal thoughts, behavior or death. Still suicide risk factors and prevention often overlook insomnia, McCall said.

Acknowledging the very vulnerable population they study, there are numerous safeguards built into the research protocol such as participants only getting one week's supply of sleeping pills for the first two weeks, then getting a two-week supply if their suicidal thoughts stabilize. Additionally, they will be asked to take the drug shortly before going to bed and to allow eight hours for sleep.

Sleeping pills such as zolpidem accentuate the body's normal mechanism for sleep by targeting GABA, a neurotransmitter that essentially turns the brain's metabolism down, McCall said. Existing antidepressants don't affect GABA. Many over-the-counter sleep aids are essentially anti-histamines; histamine is another neurotransmitter that helps keep you awake. In insomniacs, GABA tends to be underactive while histamine works overtime.

Insomnia is a symptom and about half of all cases are related to a mental disorder such as depression. About 90 percent of patients hospitalized for depression and 60 percent of those treated as outpatients also have insomnia, McCall said. Not sleeping also can also be tied to personality, specifically hypervigilant individuals who are always "on." "They just can't relax," said McCall, who admits to at least a small case of that himself. Others have life-issues, such as divorce or illness, that can cause transient insomnia. In others, it's a long-standing problem with no obvious basis.

Patients with insomnia that persists over a year have a 30-fold increased risk of developing depression compared to the insomniac who gets treatment. "That is like the risk of cigarette smoking for cancer: it's huge," McCall said. This begs more questions about how insomnia causes depression and, if you're already depressed, how insomnia aggravates suicide risk, he said.

He notes there is a subset of depressed people, particularly young people, who sleep too much, and that older people generally have a harder time falling and staying asleep.

Wake Forest University will assist in statistical analysis for the study. Individuals with sleep apnea as severe suicidal thoughts will be excluded. Participants will be referred for outpatient management at the end of the study.

###

Media Contact:

Toni Baker
Communications Manager
Medical College of Georgia
Georgia Regents University
706-825-6473 Cell

For more information, contact Senior Research Assistant Mary Anne Riley at mriley1@georgiahealth.edu or 706-721-1011.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/ghsu-sew012213.php

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Insurance commissioners: Health care startup may bring 'chaos ...


By Bloomberg News

Published: Tuesday, January 22, 2013, 6:14?p.m.
Updated 5 hours ago

President Obama may need to delay his health care overhaul or risk ?chaos? when subsidized insurance plans go on sale in October, the head of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said.

It?s unclear how well the new system will perform on Oct. 1, when millions of Americans are supposed to begin shopping at online markets created by the law, said Jim Donelon, the NAIC?s president. While the administration has shown no sign of seeking a delay, it may be in the president?s best interest, he said.

?It?s his calling-card, signature issue and to rush it into implementation before it?s ready would not be in his overall interest,? said Donelon, Louisiana?s insurance commissioner. State officials around the country ?don?t want it to create chaos.?

The Obama administration and 18 states are preparing to establish the insurance markets, a centerpiece of the 2010 law designed to extend coverage to millions of uninsured people. The association, which represents state regulators, on Tuesday named former Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska as its chief executive officer.

?We needed the gravitas, the phone calls returned, to go to Capitol Hill, to tell our story, defend our turf, and beyond, protect and promote our system around the world,? Donelon said.

State regulators are contending with the Federal Insurance Office created by the Dodd-Frank law, expanded U.S. involvement in health insurance and European efforts to regulate capital known as Solvency II. State regulation has served consumers and insurers well and deserves to be defended, Nelson, 71, said.

?To impose their standard solvency regulation I think is a mistake, and I hope to work to try to convince them of that,? he said. ?It isn?t broken, so we?re not going to let them fix it.?

A former insurance industry executive, Nelson provided the 60th vote to help push Obama?s Affordable Care Act through the Senate.

Eighteen states are building exchanges that will let uninsured residents buy medical plans starting in October. People who don?t get insurance through their employers would use the exchanges to select coverage from private insurers, often with taxpayer-subsidized premiums.

Some states are revamping Medicaid programs for the poor by broadening eligibility rules. Congressional budget projections show that more than half of the 30 million uninsured targeted by the law will eventually buy subsidized plans through the state exchanges, and at least 11 million others will become eligible for state-run Medicaid coverage.

The government is giving states that run their own exchanges a share of about $2 billion to help get them started. The remainder of the states will let the United States run the exchanges or choose to provide services such as consumer assistance in a partnership with the federal government.

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Source: http://triblive.com/business/headlines/3343170-74/insurance-states-state

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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Writing for TV: the scoop - Angela's Clues

Mister Rogers NeighborhoodAs a writer for kids television, every so often I hear ?I?ve got THE idea for a kid?s show!?

Perhaps a tad more than every so often..perhaps.

While the concept is crucial in developing any new property, it?s the follow through on all of the intricate components that brings it all together.

And where can we immerse ourselves within the diverse styles of animation, production know-how, distribution rights, the evolution of digital media, the nail-biting pitch process, brand development and the dreaded B-word..budget, to list just a few?? The Kidscreen Summit.

Regarded as the biggest Kids? Entertainment Event, the Kidscreen Summit takes place this year in NYC on? Feb 5-8th

Kidscreen Summit 2013

For those preschool writer?s out there, you?ll want to check out ?Inside the Writer?s Room: Preschool? at Kidscreen. Moderated by Joe D?Ambrosia (VP Original Programming Disney Junior), I?ll be on the panel with preschool writers?Joseph Mazzarino,?Adam Peltzman, Josh Selig & Craig Shemin speaking about keeping the CREATIVE front & center, while consistently bringing quality content to our viewers.

See you there!

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Source: http://angelasclues.com/writing-for-tv-kidscreen-summit-2013/

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Legend, 2 Chainz, MC Lyte honored at Hip-Hop Ball

John Legend is seen at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 in Washington. (Photo by Larry French/Invision/AP)

John Legend is seen at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 in Washington. (Photo by Larry French/Invision/AP)

Rosario Dawson is seen at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 in Washington. (Photo by Larry French/Invision/AP)

2 Chainz is seen at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 in Washington. (Photo by Larry French/Invision/AP)

Doug E. Fresh is seen at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 in Washington. (Photo by Larry French/Invision/AP)

Swizz Beatz is seen at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013 in Washington. (Photo by Larry French/Invision/AP)

(AP) ? John Legend believes hip-hop played its part in helping Barack Obama become president, and he's proud at how the genre has matured over the years.

"I think hip-hop had a role in making sure we elected a black president in America because we made it so that black people were in people's homes ... through our music and through our culture," the R&B crooner said Sunday night at the Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball.

"I think it made Barack Obama and more people like him possible, so I'm really thankful for hip-hop and the role it plays in society," he continued.

Legend was awarded the humanitarian award at Sunday's event, and it was one of many honors handed out at the Harman Center for Arts.

Hip-hop pioneers MC Lyte and Doug E. Fresh were both given lifetime achievement awards. Fresh even hit the stage, beat boxing while comedian-actor-singer Wayne Brady cooed Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On?" At one point, Brady even busted out his own rhymes.

Rapper Yo Yo earned a roaring cheer when she hit the stage to honor MC Lyte; Lil Mama also paid tribute to the "Ruffneck" rapper.

2 Chainz, who had a breakthrough year with his Grammy-nominated solo debut and multiple rap hits, earned the street soldier award for encouraging young voters as a spokesperson for the Hip-Hop Caucus' "Respect My Vote!" campaign.

"Doing my thing on the charts is one thing, but to be getting honored on another avenue, it just feels like a blessing," he said in an interview. "I'm keeping my head leveled and staying humble."

Actress Rosario Dawson won the vanguard award for her work as chairman of the Voto Latino organization.

"It's time to step out of the shadows. It's time to not just be talked about by other people, it's time to take the leadership ourselves and that first step of leadership is voting," Dawson said of the importance of the Latino vote.

Rappers Swizz Beatz and Meek Mill also earned honors at the event, attended by a few hundred hip-hop fans, including model Tyson Beckford, former NBA star Dikembe Mutumbo and Victor Cruz of the New York Giants. La La Anthony and Terrence J hosted the ball.

British singer Marsha Ambrosius also delivered a rousing performance, and playful jokes about Obama.

"I got a call from the president and he asked me to perform his favorite song," she said before singing the R&B jam "Hope She Cheats on You (With a Basketball Player)."

Then she sang "Butterflies," a song she co-wrote for Michael Jackson's 2001 "Invincible" album.

"This might have been his favorite," she said.

___

Follow Mesfin Fekadu on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MusicMesfin

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-01-21-Inauguration-Hip-Hop%20Ball/id-7a6b45fc16c24f0b8a4a31b32c8dd48a

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Britain says to act on North Africa terror threat

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Monday it would increase counter-terrorism and intelligence aid to Algeria and consider giving more help to France to fight Islamists in Mali, but ruled out any prospect of direct British military intervention in Africa.

Prime Minister David Cameron last week warned of the need to tackle a "large and existential terrorist threat" from different parts of the world. But a wariness about getting bogged down in another Afghanistan-style conflict may be restraining Britain.

Addressing parliament after last week's hostage-taking and siege in Algeria in which 37 foreigners - including at least three Britons - were killed [ID:nL6N0AP4TU], Cameron said a "patient, intelligent, but tough" approach was the best way to defeat terrorism.

"We will contribute British intelligence and counter-terrorism assets to an international effort to find and dismantle the network that planned and ordered the brutal assault," he said, referring to the hostage crisis.

Battling to slash a big budget deficit and now trying to slim down its armed forces, Britain can ill-afford another major military intervention. It is preparing to withdraw its troops from a long and costly mission in Afghanistan in 2014.

Cameron emphasized the "long-standing and deep" root causes of terrorism and pledged to help bolster democracy and the rule of law in places at risk of Islamist militancy.

Aside from participating in the U.S.-led mission in Afghanistan, Britain was also the United States' main ally in the 2003 Iraq war.

"I think we've learned lessons from Afghanistan and Iraq - you can get yourself into something and find it's very difficult to get out," said Eric Grove of the University of Salford's international security and war studies department.

The U.S. response to the Algeria crisis has so far been cautious and relatively low key.

Cameron said North Africa was becoming a "magnet for jihadists" and experts fear it could eventually become a springboard for attacks on the West, drawing comparisons with al Qaeda's use of Afghanistan as a safe haven.

However, with mixed results at best after more than 10 years of fighting Taliban Islamist insurgents in Afghanistan, the question of how to constrain militant Islam remains fraught.

"The concern is - similar to Syria - that you end up with a type of Afghanistan ... in the region, where, out of reach of the West, a very strong Islamist culture embraces an al Qaeda narrative," a senior Western intelligence source said, referring to Syria's civil war where jihadists have become prominent among rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

"But there is a huge dose of uncertainty on how the situation develops. The question is: do you just let it all happen or do you do something? And then what do you do?"

NO MALI INTERVENTION

Jihadist militants asserted that their attack on a natural gas complex in the Algerian desert was in response to French military action against Islamist insurgents in neighboring Mali. But experts say the scale and sophistication of the attack indicate it was planned earlier.

Perceptions of a link between the Algeria hostage crisis and the French military mission had raised expectations that Western powers could increase their involvement in the Mali intervention, including providing combat troops.

Cameron's spokesman said Britain had pledged "tens, not hundreds" of troops to a European Union mission to train Malian government forces but he ruled out direct military intervention.

The prime minister instead pledged to consider increasing military aid to French forces. Britain is already providing France with two C-17 military transport aircraft for Mali.

"We'll be looking at other transport and surveillance assets that we can let the French use to help them in what they are doing," Cameron said. The government's security council is to discuss the issue on Tuesday.

More broadly, Cameron said he would use Britain's presidency of the Group of Eight industrialized nations this year to ensure the issue of terrorism and the Western response to it is "at the top of the agenda".

(Additional reporting by Andrew Osborn and Guy Faulconbridge; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-counter-terrorism-intelligence-aid-algeria-155642345.html

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European shares test two-year highs, yen volatile before BOJ

LONDON (Reuters) - European shares inched towards two-year highs and German Bund futures dipped on Monday, as a political attempt to break a budget impasse in the United States revived appetite for shares and dented appetite for safe-haven assets.

U.S. House Republican leaders said on Friday they would seek to pass a three-month extension of federal borrowing authority in the coming days to buy time for the Democrat-controlled Senate to pass a plan to shrink budget deficits.

European shares <.fteu3> were supported by the news <.eu>, but with no clear response from the Democrats and a thin session expected due to a market holiday in the United States, the impact on other assets such as Bunds is likely to be limited.

London's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, Paris's CAC-40 <.fchi> and Frankfurt's DAX <.gdaxi> opened between 0.4 and 0.5 percent higher, lifting the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 0.3 percent and MSCI's world index 0.1 percent. <.l><.eu/>

"There's a bit of encouragement coming out of the U.S.," said Toby Campbell-Gray, head of trading at Tavira Securities in Monaco.

He added that equity markets had remained resilient in the face of an uncertain economic outlook as many investors had stepped in to buy "on the dip" on days when shares had fallen.

Ahead of the region's first finance ministers' meeting of the year the euro was steady against the dollar, while the yen firmed after touching a new low, ahead of a Bank of Japan decision expected to deliver bold monetary easing.

The dollar slipped back to a low of 89.42 yen and was last trading at 89.57 yen, while the euro also fell to a low of 119.08 and last traded at 119.27 yen.

With little in the way of economic data or debt issuance and U.S. markets shut for the Martin Luther King Jr. public holiday, it was expected to be a fairly quite market day.

Oil prices took their cues from a report in the United States at the end of last week that showed consumer sentiment at its weakest in a year as a result of the uncertainty surrounding the country's debt crisis.

Concerns about demand overshadowed supply disruption fears reinforced by the Islamist militant attack and hostage-taking at a gas plant in Algeria, a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

U.S. crude futures fell 0.5 percent to $95.08 a barrel, while Brent fell 0.3 percent to $111.55 early on Monday but had recovered to almost flat as European trading gathered pace.

(Additional reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-shares-edge-down-yen-eases-boj-meeting-004401195--finance.html

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Monday, January 21, 2013

How To Make Friends

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??And the biggest lie of all, is that we tell ourselves we don?t need friends.? ( A personal quote from a talk I gave recently.) I was not totally surprised, but still taken aback at the amount of feedback related directly to that comment.

We lead these unnatural lives going from home, to car, to work, to errands and carpool, speaking to people for the most part in terms of transactions. ?How much does this cost?? ?Thank you for watching my child? ? Can you volunteer for this event??

And the cost is enormous. We?re lonely, and isolated and that stunts our social interactions even when we?re in a sea of people.

I?ve been through many evolutions with the topic of friends, growing with it as I get older. I share it with you here, because maybe we?re not that different from one another.

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friendshipI?ve always been? surrounded by people and involved in community. And I?ve learned how valuable that is. But? being with people and developing intimate relationships is not the same thing.

How do we go from interacting with dozens of people each day to creating meaningful relationships?

[Note to dear old friends - This is a generalization. Thank G-d, I've been blessed to have you in my life and as I've grown, my ability to be a friend has grown too.]

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It took me? a long time to learn. Many of my old relationships?were? lopsided. I would either be friends with lovely people but not share myself fully, thinking they would never understand me. (Yup, trust issues there.)

Or, exclusively? befriend people who I could give to. trust

(Again, trust issues ? I could give to someone without having to share myself.)

Around ten years ago, my newly widowed sister in law, Chev, moved to Baltimore so that she could be near family. Being in her presence,? basking in that? unconditional,? respectful deeply intimate relationship opened things up for me. I began to be willing to relate at a deeper level, to bring more of me to the friendship then a plate of cookies.

However, after being gifted that lesson,? two years later she got married to her amazing husband, Paul and moved away to South Africa.

So there I was. And I needed to make friends.

And I was ready.

coggee dateI began making coffee dates. I realized that one of the reasons (aside for deep familial love) that my friendship with Chev grew was because we spent every Shabbos together. I needed to physically spend time with people if I was going to become friends with them.

So onwards I forged. If I had a great conversation with someone I would invite them out for a coffee sometime the next week. At the time it took a lot of courage.

How?d it go?

Okay.

The coffee dates were nice enough but I forgot something key ? you have to get together a second time! Somehow I just thought a friendship would morph straight? from the muffins at the bagel shop. That?s not how it works. I still have a special connection with the people I spent time with, but we didn?t ever explore the relationship further.

Then I met Aviva. Her kids were homeschooling at the time and it was the first I?d ever heard of it. My heart was exploding with the idea.

I called her the next day and asked her for information. And the next and the next. I began to homeschool my kids. I would have done with her the same as I did with my other new friends; lost touch, not taken it further.

Except, that one fine day she knocked on the door, came over with her (then) 6 kids and spent the afternoon.

And a day or two later she invited my kids over.friends talking

I mean it when I say this, if she would not have made the effort our new friendship would have withered away into nothingness instead of lasting for all these years. I learned so much from that.

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Which brings me up to date. These days G-d has brought amazing people into my life. The experience of being in a true friendship has opened me up to all types of people and has made me willing to trust? more.

What I still need to work on is a new trap that I?ve fallen into; Being busy. Which is kind of where I think a lot of us are. We?re doing so much that investing in friendships take a back seat. But we need it. A? friend is an invaluable commodity, sharing our lives is natural and important.

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You cannot underestimate the importance of good friends, but it takes a looong time to realize we?re not in high school anymore and you have to go out of your way to make friends.

Don?t be shy to say to yourself, ?I want to make more friends.? This is really important stuff!

Also, making friends can happen in all kinds of magical ways. This little step by step guide is specific towards navigating busy community life.

Below is the? technical guide. The real? first step is that you have to be the best you can be; a loving, non judgmental, caring, positive person with room in your heart for another. That?s a whole other discussion.

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How to Make Friends

1.? Train yourself to have a good eye.Look for the positive traits in other people, comment on them. Look for the positive traits in yourself, enjoy them.

2. Take note of which traits you value.

3. Look for people with those traits.

4. Strike up a conversation. Be sincerely interested. Ask questions and listen to the answers. Share a little bit of yourself (that?s the trust part) and see how it goes.

* Here?s where friendship and? a date differ. You don?t have to have an immediate click in order to pursue a friendship. You?re not looking for romance, you?re looking for someone you can trust, a good person.

5.Pursue?the friendship; Give them a Good Shabbos call, posting on their FB wall doesn?t count. Invite them over or visit them. Bring over random flowers or a lovely scented candle.If there?s something you both like ? offer to do it together. How about learning Torah or taking a power walk together?gift

It make seem awkward, but that?s how it?s done. To get to know a person takes actual time investment.

Above all, in these fast paced times, don?t wait for a better time to pursue a friendship. There is no better time. The time is now.

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And this is it. My simple recipe for friendship. Find good people, have courage, and spend time with them.

I always think as I stand on the elevator, ?We think we?re strangers, but if we were stuck here together, after just a few hours we?d be good friends.?

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Source: http://rivkamalka.com/how-to-make-friends/

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Bay View Wine Fest | Brookfield Sports & Recreation, Art

Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Age of Small Business | World of Psychology

The Age of Small BusinessEvery single entrepreneur on the face of this earth is actually writing a book. And the nature of that book must begin right now. Where you are. With the question: what do I wish to say?
~ Michael E. Gerber

The United States was founded on a system of free enterprise in order to cultivate freedom and opportunity. A free enterprise economy matters since it enables individuals to achieve success, to ?plant their own seed,? and to leave a mark on others? lives. This foundation is based upon the voluntary exchange of goods and services, where both parties benefit from this transaction.

With our recent economic woes, unemployment is still a relevant issue. This has taken an emotional toll on fathers and mothers who struggle to put food on the table. College graduates, who?ve spent several years working diligently toward a degree, are having trouble finding positions in their desired fields. Then there are those who have stopped looking for work altogether.

Maybe this is the time that lends itself to a ?call to action,? where individuals can take a leap of faith and personally invest in their pursuit of happiness. Aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors and dreamers, of all kinds, must take initiative.

In a blog post in Psychology Today, Marilyn Price-Mitchell, Ph.D, discusses how teens learn: ?We now know that learning to overcome challenges during adolescence develops initiative, an important characteristic of how we successfully pursue goals,? she says.

While trying not to confuse initiative with achievement, Price-Mitchell advocates that initiative is one?s inner ability to move forth with purpose. As adolescents grow into young adults, they realize the power of choice. By choosing to participate in activities that illustrate creativity, dignity and autonomy, they will feel internally rewarded. Price-Mitchell is a firm believer in encouraging teens to challenge themselves and seize the potential to think critically, while also learning to get along effectively with peers and adults.

?They may be judged by others and given feedback that prompts an adjustment to strategies or behavior,? she notes. ?These are important, valuable experiences that help adolescents learn to propel themselves forward.?

What drives initiative? Particular attributes are needed in order to exert control, and to go the extra mile in developing a business of one?s own. (Forbes contributor Eric T. Wagner lists seven in particular in his article 7 Traits of Incredibly Successful Entrepreneurs.)

Wagner stresses the significance of persevering and staying focused on your journey, even when the finish line appears a bit out of reach and overwhelming. ?Are things going to look impossible for you as an entrepreneur? You better believe it,? he writes. ?Will you feel like giving up and throwing in the towel? Absolutely. But do you need to fight off the urge to quit and keep pressing on? Yes!?

Small business guru Michael E. Gerber draws parallels with starting your own company to writing your own book in his article, Traits of a Truly Entrepreneurial Mindset. Just as the process of writing asks you to think of the kind of wisdom you wish to impart to the reader, starting a company requires similar questions to be asked.

?Your business is a product of how you, its creator, think about it: what it sells, what it does, how it does it, who your people are, and how you help them grow,? Gerber said.

?The year is young. Possibilities are everywhere.
Do you have any interesting business ideas?

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????Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 18 Jan 2013
????Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.

APA Reference
Suval, L. (2013). The Age of Small Business. Psych Central. Retrieved on January 20, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/01/19/the-age-of-small-business/

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Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/01/19/the-age-of-small-business/

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CNBC&#39;s Fast Money: Stocks, Investing, Market Analysis - CNBC

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Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15838499/CNBCrsquos_Fast_Money_Stocks_Investing_Market_Analysis__CNBC

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IRS Announces Simplified Option for Claiming Home Office ...

WASHINGTON ? The Internal Revenue Service today announced a simplified option that many owners of home-based businesses and some home-based workers may use to figure their deductions for the business use of their homes.

In tax year 2010, the most recent year for which figures are available, nearly 3.4 million taxpayers claimed deductions for business use of a home (commonly referred to as the home office deduction).

The new optional deduction, capped at $1,500 per year based on $5 a square foot for up to 300 square feet, will reduce the paperwork and recordkeeping burden on small businesses by an estimated 1.6 million hours annually.

?This is a common-sense rule to provide taxpayers an easier way to calculate and claim the home office deduction,? said Acting IRS Commissioner Steven T. Miller. ?The IRS continues to look for similar ways to combat complexity and encourages people to look at this option as they consider tax planning in 2013.?

The new option provides eligible taxpayers an easier path to claiming the home office deduction. Currently, they are generally required to fill out a 43-line form (Form 8829) often with complex calculations of allocated expenses, depreciation and carryovers of unused deductions.? Taxpayers claiming the optional deduction will complete a significantly simplified form.

Though homeowners using the new option cannot depreciate the portion of their home used in a trade or business, they can claim allowable mortgage interest, real estate taxes and casualty losses on the home as itemized deductions on Schedule A. These deductions need not be allocated between personal and business use, as is required under the regular method.

Business expenses unrelated to the home, such as advertising, supplies and wages paid to employees are still fully deductible.

Current restrictions on the home office deduction, such as the requirement that a home office must be used regularly and exclusively for business and the limit tied to the income derived from the particular business, still apply under the new option.

The new simplified option is available starting with the 2013 return most taxpayers file early in 2014.

Issue Number:????IR-2013-5

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Source: http://rchacpa.com/2013/01/20/irs-announces-simplified-option-for-claiming-home-office-deduction-starting-this-year-eligible-home-based-businesses-may-deduct-up-to-1500-saves-taxpayers-1-6-million-hours-a-year/

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Saturday, January 19, 2013

My Biz University 01/21 by Home Based Business | Blog Talk Radio

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    On his show, Comedian Rodney Perry covers arts and entertainment, everything from comedy and politics to music and acting, with his signature comedic slant.

  • MashUp Radio is a 30-minute podcast that discusses the fusion of technology, life, culture and science. Host Peter Biddle, engineer and executive for Intel?s Atom Software, dishes up a thought-provoking discussion.

  • Joy Keys provides her listeners with insight to improve their lives mentally, physically, monetarily and emotionally. Past guests on the show have included Meshell Nedegeocello, Blair Underwood, in addition to an impressive list of CEOs, humanitarians and authors.

  • Host Barry Moltz gets small businesses unstuck. He has founded and run small businesses with a great deal of success and failure for more than 15 years. This is a business radio show where he shares all the craziness of small business. It?s that craziness that actually makes it exciting, interesting and totally unpredictable.

  • The Bottom Line Sports Show is hosted by former NBA stars Penny Hardaway, Charles Oakley, Mateen Cleaves. Tune in to get the inside scoop on what's happening in sports today.

  • Deepak Chopra Radio provides an online forum for compelling and thought provoking conversations on success, love, sexuality and relationships, well-being and spirituality.

  • Hits Radio covers basketball, sports culture and entertainment with past guests including Jason Kidd, Robin Lundberg and Chris Herren.

  • Listeners get an earful on The Halli Casser-Jayne Show, Talk Radio for Fine Minds. Whether it?s the current political cocktail or the latest must-read award-winning book, Halli tackles all topics and likes to stir ? and sometimes shakes ? things up.

  • Official Internet radio show of forthcoming epic paranormal investigation book by Eric Olsen and "Haunted Housewife" Theresa Argie.

  • Award-winning World Footprints is a leading voice in socially responsible travel and lifestyle. Hosts Ian & Tonya celebrate culture and heritage and bring a unique voice to the world of travel.

  • Football Reporters Online is a group of veteran football experts in the fields of coaching, scouting, talent evaluation, and writing/broadcasting/media placement. Combined, the group brings well over 100 years of expertise in sports.

  • Host John Martin interviews the nation's leading entrepreneurs and small biz experts to educate small business owners on how to be successful. Past guests have included Emeril Lagasse and Guy Kawasaki.

  • The Movie Geeks share their passion for the art through interviews with the stars of and creative minds behind your favorite flicks and pay tribute to big-screen legends. From James Cameron and Francis Ford Coppola to Ellen Burstyn and Robert Duvall, The Geeks have got'em all.

  • Sylvia Global presents global conversations pertaining to women, wealth, business, faith and philanthropy. Sylvia has interviewed an eclectic mix from CEOs and musicians to fashion designers and philanthropists including Randolph Duke and Ne-Yo.

  • Mr. Media host Bob Andelman goes one-on-one with the hottest, most influential minds from the worlds of film, TV, music, comedy, journalism and literature. That means A-listers like Kirk Douglas, Christian Slater, Kathy Ireland, Rick Fox, Chris Hansen and Jackie Collins.

  • Paula Begoun, best-selling author of Don't Go to the Cosmetics Counter Without Me, separates fact from fiction on achieving a radiant, youthful complexion at any age. She?s regularly joined by health and beauty experts who offer the latest on keeping your skin in tip-top shape.

  • Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/homebasedbusinessuniversity/2013/01/21/my-biz-university

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