Cancer patients' pain can be helped by psychosocial interventions, say researchers

Public release date: 30-Jan-2012
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Contact: Ferdie De Vega
Ferdinand.DeVega@moffitt.org
813-745-7858
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute

Up to one-third of cancer patients experience moderate to severe pain

TAMPA, Fla. -- Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, who teamed with colleagues at five universities around the United States, analyzed past studies of cancer-related pain reduction and found that psychosocial interventions can have a beneficial effect on cancer patients' pain severity. They also found that certain psychosocial interventions provide better pain management and are effective in reducing the degree to which pain related to cancer and its treatment interferes with patients' lives.

Their analysis was published in a recent online issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"Pain is one of the most common, burdensome and feared symptoms experienced by patients with cancer," said Paul B. Jacobsen, Ph.D., associate center director for Moffitt's Division of Population Science. "Our study looked at randomized, controlled studies of psychosocial interventions for pain published between 1966 and 2010 in which pain was measured as an outcome in adults with cancer, or in adults undergoing procedures to diagnose cancer."

According to the authors, cancer-related pain can arise for a variety of reasons, including direct tumor involvement, metastasis to bone or organs, treatment toxicity and diagnostic procedures. Moderate to severe pain suffered by up to one-third of cancer patients often interferes with sleep, daily activities, enjoyment of life, and work and social interactions.

In their analysis of past pain intervention studies, the researchers investigated separately data on pain severity and data on how pain may interfere with daily life. While there is a significant body of literature devoted to study of cancer pain intervention, the authors note that not all studies they surveyed measured pain as a primary outcome. Moreover, pain was measured inconsistently across the studies.

When 37 past studies were analyzed to assess the effects of psychosocial interventions on patient pain, the researchers found that the most successful psychosocial, non-pharmacological pain interventions were either skill-based interventions or educational. Skill-based interventions focused on changes in the ways in which patients interpret pain, while educational approaches provided instruction on how to better use medications or helped patients more effectively communicate with clinicians about their unrelieved pain.

"Skill-based interventions focus on changing a patient's dysfunctional beliefs about pain and promote the use of skills such as distraction and relaxation to manage it," explained Jacobsen.

The authors noted that their findings on the value of psychosocial interventions are consistent with the recommendations of both the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the American Pain Society. Both organizations recommend the use of psychosocial interventions as part of a "multimodal" approach to the treatment of cancer-related pain as well as the inclusion of experts in psychosocial care as members of the multidisciplinary care team.

The researchers concluded that psychosocial interventions worked equally well in reducing pain across patient demographic characteristics, such as sex and racial/ethnic subgroups. However, because the majority of the available patient data was on white females, the researchers recommend further study to determine if the same interventions could better manage pain across different subgroups of patients with cancer and in different treatment settings a strategy also suggested by the IOM.

"In short, we found that psychosocial interventions, including skills instruction and education can improve cancer pain management," concluded Jacobsen.

###

About Moffitt Cancer Center

Follow Moffitt on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MoffittCancerCenter

Follow Moffitt on Twitter: @MoffittNews

Follow Moffitt on YouTube: MoffittNews

Located in Tampa, Florida, Moffitt Cancer Center is an NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center a designation that recognizes Moffitt's excellence in research and contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Moffitt currently has 14 affiliates in Florida, one in Georgia, one in Pennsylvania and two in Puerto Rico. Additionally, Moffitt is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a prestigious alliance of the country's leading cancer centers, and is listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer.

Media release by Florida Science Communications

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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.

Public release date: 30-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Ferdie De Vega
Ferdinand.DeVega@moffitt.org
813-745-7858
H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute

Up to one-third of cancer patients experience moderate to severe pain

TAMPA, Fla. -- Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, who teamed with colleagues at five universities around the United States, analyzed past studies of cancer-related pain reduction and found that psychosocial interventions can have a beneficial effect on cancer patients' pain severity. They also found that certain psychosocial interventions provide better pain management and are effective in reducing the degree to which pain related to cancer and its treatment interferes with patients' lives.

Their analysis was published in a recent online issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

"Pain is one of the most common, burdensome and feared symptoms experienced by patients with cancer," said Paul B. Jacobsen, Ph.D., associate center director for Moffitt's Division of Population Science. "Our study looked at randomized, controlled studies of psychosocial interventions for pain published between 1966 and 2010 in which pain was measured as an outcome in adults with cancer, or in adults undergoing procedures to diagnose cancer."

According to the authors, cancer-related pain can arise for a variety of reasons, including direct tumor involvement, metastasis to bone or organs, treatment toxicity and diagnostic procedures. Moderate to severe pain suffered by up to one-third of cancer patients often interferes with sleep, daily activities, enjoyment of life, and work and social interactions.

In their analysis of past pain intervention studies, the researchers investigated separately data on pain severity and data on how pain may interfere with daily life. While there is a significant body of literature devoted to study of cancer pain intervention, the authors note that not all studies they surveyed measured pain as a primary outcome. Moreover, pain was measured inconsistently across the studies.

When 37 past studies were analyzed to assess the effects of psychosocial interventions on patient pain, the researchers found that the most successful psychosocial, non-pharmacological pain interventions were either skill-based interventions or educational. Skill-based interventions focused on changes in the ways in which patients interpret pain, while educational approaches provided instruction on how to better use medications or helped patients more effectively communicate with clinicians about their unrelieved pain.

"Skill-based interventions focus on changing a patient's dysfunctional beliefs about pain and promote the use of skills such as distraction and relaxation to manage it," explained Jacobsen.

The authors noted that their findings on the value of psychosocial interventions are consistent with the recommendations of both the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the American Pain Society. Both organizations recommend the use of psychosocial interventions as part of a "multimodal" approach to the treatment of cancer-related pain as well as the inclusion of experts in psychosocial care as members of the multidisciplinary care team.

The researchers concluded that psychosocial interventions worked equally well in reducing pain across patient demographic characteristics, such as sex and racial/ethnic subgroups. However, because the majority of the available patient data was on white females, the researchers recommend further study to determine if the same interventions could better manage pain across different subgroups of patients with cancer and in different treatment settings a strategy also suggested by the IOM.

"In short, we found that psychosocial interventions, including skills instruction and education can improve cancer pain management," concluded Jacobsen.

###

About Moffitt Cancer Center

Follow Moffitt on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MoffittCancerCenter

Follow Moffitt on Twitter: @MoffittNews

Follow Moffitt on YouTube: MoffittNews

Located in Tampa, Florida, Moffitt Cancer Center is an NCI Comprehensive Cancer Center a designation that recognizes Moffitt's excellence in research and contributions to clinical trials, prevention and cancer control. Moffitt currently has 14 affiliates in Florida, one in Georgia, one in Pennsylvania and two in Puerto Rico. Additionally, Moffitt is a member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, a prestigious alliance of the country's leading cancer centers, and is listed in U.S. News & World Report as one of "America's Best Hospitals" for cancer.

Media release by Florida Science Communications

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/hlmc-cpp013012.php

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WiGig: Panasonic Tablet Wirelessly Transmits A Full DVD Video In 60 Seconds (Video)

WiGig, a multi-gigabit speed wireless communications technology, was first announced back in 2009, but it took companies like Panasonic quite a while to come up with applications that make use of it. Via WiGig, devices can communicate with each other at multi-gigabit speeds using the 60 GHz frequency band. Panasonic has developed a prototype system, in which WiGig is embedded in a tablet that can wirelessly transmit data like photos or videos to displays mounted in the passenger seats of a car that has to be nearby: while Wi-Fi typically has a transmission range of about 30m, WiGig's range is just 1-3m (Bluetooth: around 10m).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/3BQxaWxFgho/

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Can an iPad Replace Your Laptop While Traveling? (ContributorNetwork)

According to Mashable's Lauren Indvik, nearly half of Americans think that tablets like Apple's iPad will eventually replace laptops, including about a third of those 65 or older and 18 to 29. That may be because tablets are the microwave ovens of computing, as Matthew Guay put it, and are much easier and more convenient to use for most things ... even if there are some things they can't do at all.

So does that mean you don't have to bring your laptop on your next trip? Here's what you need to consider.

Business travelers

If you're a business traveler, chances are there's something you have to bring thanks to your company's IT department. Of course, chances are you're also bringing something else that gets the job done better, and it might as well be a tablet. Just check with IT first, to make sure their security policy allows it.

The iPad's iWork suite is more than capable of creating business documents and presentations, at any rate, although an external keyboard might help. Specialized line of business applications will still require a laptop, though, unless your company has iPad or tablet developers.

Lenovo does make a ThinkPad tablet, which combines a Trackpoint and keyboard with a ThinkPad take on the iPad's form factor. Since it's an Android tablet, though, it has far fewer tablet apps than the iPad does, and not many that are designed for the Trackpoint.

Home and student

Students don't have to worry as much about IT departments. But they do have to worry about their courseload, sometimes even while traveling. If Apple's new iBooks textbook initiative takes off, they might be able to bring their iPads instead of a thick book to study and do assignments with. On the other hand, since you'll basically have to have the iPad open to iBooks to read the textbook, trying to do your schoolwork on the same iPad might be hard even if you've got the apps for it.

If you don't need your laptop for school or for work, you might be able to answer the question just based on your needs and preferences. You already know that your laptop can do things your iPad or tablet can't. The only question is whether or not you'll miss them enough to justify adding six or more pounds to your travel weight. Especially on airplanes, and especially given what TSA screeners sometimes do to laptops.

A netbook or MacBook Air might seem like a good compromise. Just be aware of the ergonomics of being hunched over a tiny keyboard and screen for long periods of time.

Jared Spurbeck is an open-source software enthusiast, who uses an Android phone and an Ubuntu laptop PC. He has been writing about technology and electronics since 2008.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120129/bs_ac/10898663_can_an_ipad_replace_your_laptop_while_traveling

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Democrats spend big in Ore. special election

FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2012, file photo, Oregon 1st Congressional District Democratic candidate Suzanne Bonamici speaks during a debate with her Republican opponent Rob Cornilles in Portland, Ore. Voters have until Tuesday to cast a ballot in the all-mail election to replace former Rep. David Wu.(AP Photo/Don Ryan, file)

FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2012, file photo, Oregon 1st Congressional District Democratic candidate Suzanne Bonamici speaks during a debate with her Republican opponent Rob Cornilles in Portland, Ore. Voters have until Tuesday to cast a ballot in the all-mail election to replace former Rep. David Wu.(AP Photo/Don Ryan, file)

FILE - In this Jan. 6, 2012, file photo, Oregon 1st Congressional District Republican candidate Rob Cornilles, right, speaks during a debate with his Democratic rival Suzanne Bonamici in Portland, Ore. Voters have until Tuesday to cast a ballot in the all-mail election to replace former Rep. David Wu.(AP Photo/Don Ryan, file)

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) ? Determined not to lose another friendly district because of a sex scandal, Democrats and their allies have pumped more than $1 million into an Oregon special election race that has turned into a vicious exchange of attacks over the airwaves.

Voters are deciding who should replace former Rep. David Wu, a seven-term Democrat who resigned last year following a string of bizarre news stories that began with photos of the congressman wearing a tiger costume and ended with a young woman's accusation that he made an unwanted sexual advance.

Voters have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to return their ballots in the all-mail election.

Republican Rob Cornilles, a sports business consultant, has tried hard to extend the scandal that brought down Wu to the Democrat who wants to take his place, former state Sen. Suzanne Bonamici. She says the race is about the future, not about Wu.

Bonamici and independent groups that support her have gone after Cornilles for missing tax payments for his business and for inconsistent statements about the number of jobs his company has created.

Oregon's 1st Congressional District is the state's economic engine, encompassing downtown Portland and the fast-growing western suburbs that are home to the Silicon Forest high-tech hub and the global headquarters for athletic-wear giants Nike Inc. and Columbia Sportswear Company. It stretches across agricultural communities to the Pacific coast. Democrats have represented the district since 1975, and its voters overwhelmingly supported President Barack Obama.

But Democrats do not want to see a repeat of what happened last year in a heavily Democratic New York district, when a Republican won a special election after Rep. Anthony Weiner acknowledged sending provocative text messages and resigned.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has spent $1.3 million to boost Bonamici. Political committees for a union, abortion-rights groups and a super PAC allied with Democrats have also chipped in with their own mail or television ads.

Democrats insist they're not scared. They've likened their investment to an insurance policy to avoid any doubts about the party's strength that would inevitably follow a loss in a liberal state like Oregon. The National Republican Congressional Committee has spent just $85,000 on the race.

Cornilles, 47, is making his second bid for the seat after losing to Wu in 2010. He's centered his pitch on his experience running a sports-marketing firm, hoping to swing an upset with a relentless focus on jobs and a run toward the center. Unemployment in the Portland area dropped to 7.8 percent in November 2011, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Bonamici, 57, is mixing traditional Democratic themes of protecting Social Security and Medicare with a pledge to tackle the national debt by getting Washington's priorities in order.

Without reliable public polling it's anyone's guess how close the race will be.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-29-US-Oregon-Congressional-Election/id-37b4b7847fec424d821b2cfc58effb39

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Actress' claim to be gay by choice riles activists (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Cynthia Nixon learned the hard way this week that when it comes to gay civil rights, the personal is always political. Very political.

The actress best known for portraying fiery lawyer Miranda Hobbes on "Sex and the City" is up to her perfectly arched eyebrows in controversy since The New York Times Magazine published a profile in which she was quoted as saying that for her, being gay was a conscious choice. Nixon is engaged to a woman with whom she has been in a relationship for eight years. Before that, she spent 15 years and had two children with a man.

"I understand that for many people it's not, but for me it's a choice, and you don't get to define my gayness for me," Nixon said while recounting some of the flak gay rights activists previously had given her for treading in similar territory. "A certain section of our community is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice, because if it's a choice, then we could opt out. I say it doesn't matter if we flew here or we swam here, it matters that we are here and we are one group and let us stop trying to make a litmus test for who is considered gay and who is not."

To say that a certain segment of the gay community "is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice" is an understatement. Gay rights activists have worked hard to combat the idea that people decide to be physically attracted to same-sex partners any more than they choose to be attracted to opposite-sex ones because the question, so far unanswered by science, is often used by religious conservatives, including GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum and former candidate Michelle Bachman, to argue that homosexuality is immoral behavior, not an inherent trait.

Among the activists most horrified by Nixon's comments was Truth Wins Out founder Wayne Besen, whose organization monitors and tries to debunk programs that claim to cure people of same-sex attractions with therapy. Besen said he found the actress' analysis irresponsible and flippant, despite her ample caveats.

"Cynthia did not put adequate thought into the ramifications of her words, and it is going to be used when some kid comes out and their parents force them into some ex-gay camp while she's off drinking cocktails at fancy parties," Besen said. "When people say it's a choice, they are green-lighting an enormous amount of abuse because if it's a choice, people will try to influence and guide young people to what they perceive as the right choice."

Nixon's publicist did not respond to an e-mail asking if the actress wished to comment on the criticism.

While the broader gay rights movement recognizes that human sexuality exists on a spectrum, and has found common cause with transgender and bisexual people, Nixon may have unwittingly given aid and comfort to those who want to deny same-sex couples the right to marry, adopt children and secure equal spousal benefits, said Jennifer Pizer, legal director of the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and the Law, a pro-gay think tank based at the University of California, Los Angeles.

One of the factors courts consider in determining if a law is unconstitutional is whether members of the minority group it targets share an unchangeable or "immutable" trait, Pizer noted. Although the definition of how fixed a characteristic has to be to qualify as immutable still is evolving ? religious affiliation, for example, is recognized as grounds for equal protection ? the U.S. Supreme Court still has not included sexual orientation among the traits "so integral to personhood it's not something the government should require people to change," she said.

"If gay people in this country had more confidence that their individual freedom was going to be respected, then the temperature would lower a bit on the immutability question because the idea of it being a choice wouldn't seem to stack the deck against their rights," Pizer said.

Nixon stirred the identity politics pot further when she explained in a follow-up interview with The Daily Beast this week that she purposefully rejected identifying herself as bisexual even though her history suggested it was an accurate term.

"I don't pull out the "bisexual" word because nobody likes the bisexuals. Everybody likes to dump on the bisexuals," she said. "But I do completely feel that when I was in relationships with men, I was in love and in lust with those men. And then I met (her fiance) Christine and I fell in love and lust with her. I am completely the same person and I was not walking around in some kind of fog. I just responded to the people in front of me the way I truly felt."

Although science has not identified either a purely biological or sociological basis for sexual orientation, University of California, Davis psychologist Gregory Herek, an expert on anti-gay prejudice, said Nixon's experience is consistent with research showing that women have an easier time moving between opposite and same-sex partners.

A survey Herek conducted of gay men, lesbians and bisexuals of both genders bore this out. Sixteen percent of the lesbians surveyed reported they felt they had had a fair amount of choice in their sexual orientations, while only five percent of the gay men did. Among bisexuals, the figures were 40 percent for men and 45 percent for women.

What remains to be teased out, Herek said, is how a representative national sample of heterosexuals would answer the same question, and what people mean when their sexual orientation was a choice or not. Are they talking about their sexual desires? Acting on those desires? Or simply the identity they choose to show to the world?

"The nature vs. nurture debate really is passe," he said. "The debate is not really an either/or debate in the vast majority of cases, but how much of each. We don't know how big a role biology plays and how big a role culture plays. A possibility not often discussed is it's not the same for everybody."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_en_tv/us_cynthia_nixon_gay_by_choice

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One million children in Sahel at risk, UNICEF warns (Reuters)

GENEVA (Reuters) ? More than 1 million children in the Sahel are at risk of severe malnutrition and urgent action is needed to avert starvation akin to that in Somalia, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Friday.

The agency appealed for $67 million for 8 countries in the region where it said instability fueled by increasing activities of al-Qaeda and Boko Haram was compounding humanitarian needs. They are Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and the northern regions of Cameroon, Nigeria and Senegal.

"In the Sahel we are facing a nutrition crisis of a larger magnitude than usual with over 1 million children at risk of severe, acute malnutrition," Rima Salah, acting UNICEF deputy executive director, told a news briefing.

"The countries in the Sahel, for example, if we do not now attend to their needs, it will become like Somalia and other countries," she said. "We have to prevent it before it becomes a disaster."

She was referring to the anarchic Horn of Africa country where the U.N. says 250,000 still live in famine conditions due to drought and conflict and a total of 4 million need aid.

More than nine million people in five countries in Africa's Sahel region face food crisis next year, following low rainfall, poor harvests, high food prices and a drop in remittances from migrants, aid agency Oxfam said last month.

The funds for the Sahel, for an initial six-month phase, will provide therapeutic feeding to malnourished children and campaigns to prevent the spread of epidemics including cholera. Some families will receive cash to cover higher food prices.

It is part of UNICEF's overall appeal of $1.28 billion for 98 million women and children in 25 countries. Somalia and other Horn of Africa countries (Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya) account for nearly one-third of the total amount sought.

"There is growing instability in the Sahel region, fuelled by the Arab Spring and increasing activities of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Boko Haram, all compounding the humanitarian needs of children and women in the region," UNICEF's report, "2012 Humanitarian Action for Children," said on Friday.

The Libyan civil war might have given militant groups in Africa's Sahel region like Boko Haram and al Qaeda access to large weapons caches, according to a U.N. report released in New York on Thursday.

The U.N. report on the impact of the Libyan civil war on countries of the Sahel region that straddle the Sahara - including Nigeria, Niger and Chad - also said some national authorities believe the Islamist sect Boko Haram, which killed more than 500 people last year and more than 250 this year in Nigeria, has increasing links to al Qaeda's North African wing.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay Editing by Maria Golovnina.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/hl_nm/us_africa_sahel_un

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Magnitude 5.5 quake shakes Japan (AP)

TOKYO ? A magnitude-5.5 earthquake rattled Yamanashi prefecture in central Japan on Saturday morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, and no tsunami warning was issued.

The temblor was some 20 kilometers (12 1/2 miles) deep and hit at 7:43 a.m. local time (2243 GMT Friday), the Japanese earthquake-reporting agency said.

Last year, a magnitude-9 quake on March 11 and subsequent tsunami about 140 miles (230 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo left nearly 20,000 people dead or missing.

Japan is one of the most earthquake-prone countries in the world.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_earthquake

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Deep Life

Forget E.T. It?s time to meet the intraterrestrials.

They too are alien, appearing in bizarre forms and eluding scientists? search efforts. But instead of residing out in space, these aliens inhabit a dark subterranean realm, munching and cycling energy deep inside the Earth.

Most intraterrestrials live beneath the bottom of the ocean, in an unseen biosphere that is a melting pot of odd organisms, a sort of Deep Space Nine for microbes. Many make their homes in the tens of meters of mud just beneath the seafloor. Others slither deeper, along fractures into solid rock hundreds of meters down.

Scientists are just beginning to probe this undersea world. In the middle of the South Pacific, oceanographers have discovered how bacteria survive in nutrient-poor, suffocating sediment. Off the coast of Washington state, other researchers have watched microbes creep into and colonize a borehole 280 meters below the seafloor, flushed by water circulating through the ocean crust. And near the underwater mountain ridge that marks the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, scientists have yanked up organisms that may be unlike any known sub-seafloor residents.

Such discoveries are helping biologists piece together a picture of a deep, seething ecosystem. Knowing how this world arose, researchers say, will help them understand more about the origin of life on Earth. One day intraterrestrials could even tell scientists more about extraterrestrials, by helping sketch out the extremes under which life can not only survive but even thrive.

Oceanic desert

Considering that oceans cover most of the planet, it?s a no-brainer to try to figure out what?s living in the mud and rock beneath them. ?It?s really the most massive potential habitat on Earth,? says microbiologist Beth Orcutt of Aarhus University in Denmark.

By some estimates, as much as one-third of the planet?s biomass ? the sheer weight of all its living organisms ? is buried beneath the ocean floor. Many of these bacteria and other microbes survive on food that drifts down from above, such as the remains of plankton that once blossomed in the sunlight of the ocean?s upper reaches.

These hardy microbes manage to eke out an existence even where it shouldn?t be possible. In the middle of the South Pacific, for instance, lies an oceanic vortex where water circulates in a huge eddy, or gyre, twice the size of North America. Because the gyre is so far from any landmasses ? from which nutrients wash off and help spur plankton growth and other ocean productivity ? it is essentially a giant oceanic desert, says Steven D?Hondt of the University of Rhode Island?s oceanography school in Narragansett.

In some places in the gyre, seafloor mud builds up as slowly as eight centimeters per million years. That means if you wanted to plant a tulip bulb at the usual gardener?s depth of about 16 centimeters, D?Hondt says, you?d be digging into mud that is 2 million years old.

Such low-productivity regions in the centers of oceans are far more common than nutrient-rich coastal zones, but scientists don?t often visit the deserts because they are hard to get to. In the autumn of 2010, though, D?Hondt led a cruise to the South Pacific Gyre that drilled into the dull seafloor mud and pulled up cores. ?We wanted to see what life was like in sediment in the deadest part of the ocean,? he says.

Among other things, the scientists discovered how microbes in the mud might cope. In other areas of the ocean, where more nutrients fall to the seafloor, oxygen is found only in the uppermost centimeter or two of mud; any deeper than that and it gets eaten up. But in the South Pacific Gyre, D?Hondt?s team found that oxygen penetrates all the way through the seafloor cores, up to 80 meters of sediment. To the scientists, this finding suggests that these mud microbes breathe very slowly and so don?t use up all the available oxygen. ?That violates standard expectations,? says D?Hondt, ?but until we went out there and drilled, nobody knew.?

Another possibility is that the microbes have a separate, unusual source of energy: natural radioactivity. Radioactive decay of elements in the underlying mud and rocks bombards the water with particles that can split H2O into hydrogen and oxygen, a process known as radiolysis. Microbes can then consume those elements, sustaining themselves over time with a near-endless supply of food. ?That?s the most exotic interpretation,? D?Hondt says, ?that we have an ecosystem living off of natural radioactivity that is splitting water molecules apart.?

Easy access

Thousands of miles north and east of drilling sites in the South Pacific Gyre, other scientists are exploring a very different alien realm in the Juan de Fuca Ridge, an underwater mountain range marking the convergence of several great plates of Earth?s crust. Juan de Fuca is one of those coastal areas getting plenty of nutrients from nearby British Columbia and Washington state, and scientists can get there relatively quickly.

As a result, the Juan de Fuca area may be the world?s best-instrumented seafloor. A network of observatories sprawls across the ocean bottom; in one spot, six borehole monitoring stations lie within about 2.5 kilometers of each other. One of the stations is hooked up to the shore via underwater cables, so that scientists sitting at their desks can track the data in real time. ?We can do active experiments there that we can?t do anywhere else in the ocean,? says Andrew Fisher, a hydrogeologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz who helped set up much of the instrumentation.

Many of the stations are observatories known as CORKs, a tortured acronym for ?circulation obviation retrofit kit,? which essentially means a deep hole in the seafloor plugged at the top to keep seawater out. Researchers lower a string of instruments into the hole, then come back several years later to retrieve them. Data from CORKs can reveal what organisms live at what depths within the borehole, as well as how microbial populations change over time.

CORKs are technically challenging to install, but sometimes glitches can yield unexpected discoveries. At one Juan de Fuca site, researchers tucked experiments down a hole in 2004. After retrieving rock chips that had dangled in the hole for four years, the team saw twisted stalks that looked like rust coating the surfaces. It turned out that the CORK hadn?t been properly sealed, and iron-oxidizing bacteria leaked in along with seawater.

Those bacteria initially colonized the borehole and built up the stalks, thriving on the cold and oxygen-rich conditions carried in by the seawater. But over the next few years the borehole began to warm up, thanks to volcanic heat percolating from below. Water from within the surrounding ocean crust began to rise and push out the seawater, reversing the flow within the hole. The iron-loving bacteria died and other types of organisms began to appear: bacteria known as firmicutes, which are found in similarly exotic environments such as the Arctic Ocean?s bottom. ?For us that?s a really interesting finding and a kind of nice serendipitous experiment,? says Orcutt, who published the work with her colleagues last year in the International Society for Microbial Ecology Journal.

Research at Juan de Fuca also shows how water flushes through the ocean crust, offering clues to the best places to look for microbes. People tend to think of water sitting on top of the seafloor, says Fisher, but in fact water zips through undersea rocks ? cycling the equivalent of the ocean?s entire volume through the crust every half-million years or so.

At Juan de Fuca, Fisher and colleagues have spotted two underwater volcanoes, about 50 kilometers apart, that help explain how such high rates of flow might happen. CORK observations reveal that water flows into one of the mountains and flushes out the other. ?This is the first place anywhere on the seafloor where researchers have been able to put their finger on a map and say ?the water goes in here and out here,? ? Fisher says.

Those two volcanoes are arranged along a north-south line that tends to control much of the undersea activity at Juan de Fuca, he says. Most of the fractures in the ocean crust here run north to south, making that the probable direction in which microbes also move. The cracks serve as a sort of microbial superhighway, allowing the microbes to flow along easily, carried by water. Scientists looking for more sub-seafloor microbes might want to also focus on these areas, Fisher says: ?You?ll see very different populations along the superhighways than along the back roads.?

Pond swimmers

Far from being monolithic, the seafloor is home to a surprising range of different environments. One new target, much different from Juan de Fuca or the South Pacific Gyre, is a spot in the mid-Atlantic known as North Pond. Geologists have studied this place, at 22 degrees north of the equator, since the 1970s for what it can reveal about the processes that form young crust at mid-ocean ridges. Now microbiologists are also targeting North Pond for what it can say about deep life.

The ?pond? of North Pond is a pile of undersea mud, cradled against the side of tall jagged mountains. It lies about five kilometers from where seafloor crust is actively being born; all that violent geologic activity pushes water quickly through the mud and rocks and out into the ocean above. Compared with Juan de Fuca, the water at North Pond is much cooler ? roughly 10? Celsius, as opposed to 60? C to 70? C ? but flows much faster. ?Nature finds a balance between temperature and flow,? says Fisher.

He and his colleagues, led by Katrina Edwards of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles and Wolfgang Bach of the University of Bremen in Germany, spent 10 weeks at North Pond last autumn. They installed two new CORKs, up to 330 meters deep, and pulled up samples of rock and water to test for any microbes that might be living there. The scientists also tucked long dangling strings of rock chips into the holes and plan to return in the years ahead to see what organisms might appear. ?It was a great success,? says Edwards. ?We set ourselves up for a good decade?s worth of work out at North Pond.?

For now, it?s up to microbiologists back on land to make sense of what?s there. Researchers are just starting to culture the slow-growing microbes pulled up at North Pond, but already they suspect they?ll find surprises.

Overall, studies at different locales reveal that deep-sea microbes are far more diverse than scientists had thought even a decade ago, says micro?biologist Jennifer Biddle of the University of Delaware in Newark. Rather than just a couple of broad classes, researchers have found a rich diversity of bacteria along with archaea ? other single-celled organisms with an older evolutionary history ? plus fungi, viruses and more. ?We were shocked it was so complicated,? says Biddle. ?We thought there was maybe five Bunsens and 10 Beakers, and it turns out there?s the entire cast of the Muppets in there.?

By comparing microbes from different seafloor sites, Biddle has found surprisingly high amounts of archaea compared with bacteria in some places. She thinks that archaea may be thriving on organic matter in seafloor mud, so nutrient-rich coasts have more archaea than sediments in the middle of the ocean. ?The jury?s still out on that one,? she says.

A new project known as the Census of Deep Life will help Biddle and others analyze and compare more of the sub-seafloor microbes. The census could take as long as a decade; the idea is to find overarching rules ? if they exist ? that describe where and how organisms thrive in the seafloor. ?Right now you can get some idea of that by looking at the sorts of energy sources that are present in the subsurface,? says census leader Rick Colwell, a microbiologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis. ?But do fractures in various subsurface environments, worldwide, contain certain types of microorganisms consistently??

Plenty of data should be forthcoming. ?We?re not suffering from a lack of things to do,? Orcutt says. Edwards and her team plan to return to North Pond in April to retrieve their first set of instruments. Fisher will go back to Juan de Fuca next summer, in what may be a final visit before turning his attention elsewhere. Next on his wish list: a site off Costa Rica where water flows through the crust some thousands of times faster than at Juan de Fuca.

One day, analyzing the deep biosphere may help NASA and other space agencies in their hunt for life elsewhere in the solar system. At North Pond, expedition scientists have tested out a new tool that, once lowered into a borehole, illuminates the hole?s walls using ultraviolet light. Because living cells turn fluorescent at specific wavelengths, the light can be used to spot films of organic matter coating the hole. This probe, or some elaboration on it, could end up flying on future space missions. And then the intraterrestrials could help scientists find extraterrestrials.

Found in: Earth and Life

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/337918/title/Deep_Life

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Alec Baldwin Says He Found Love After He Gave Up, Would 'Be Heaven' To Have More Kids (omg!)

Alec Baldwin would love to expand his family.

While discussing his happiness with girlfriend Hilaria Thomas on "Piers Morgan Tonight" on Wednesday, the British host asked the "30 Rock" star if he'd like to have more children.

PLAY IT NOW: Alec Baldwin Reveals His Biggest Professional Regret To Be Never Learning To Sing

"Have I thought about having more kids? Oh sure, that would be great, that would be heaven, that would be fantastic," Alec told Piers, who two months ago welcomed a new daughter to his own British brood.

Alec then went on to make a joke about his own potential plans to have more children later in life. (His daughter Ireland, with ex-wife Kim Basinger, is now 16.)

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Celebrity May-December Romances

"As my friend said to me, 'When you have children, typically in a second marriage, when you're older and you get married again to a woman who would have children, you must always remember that you make sure [the children] attend a college where the commencement ceremonies are held in a facility with a wheelchair accessible ramp,'" Alec added tongue-in-cheek.

The actor also addressed dating a younger woman - Hilaria, a yoga instructor, is 27, while he is 53.

Alec revealed he actually sought advice from Tony Bennett, who is married to a much younger woman by several decades, wife Susan Crow.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hollywood Dads & Their Adorable Little Ones!

"I said to Tony, 'I'm dating a woman who is... younger than I am -- she's a lot younger than I am -- and I sometimes think about that and I know, Tony, you're with Susan and you're quite a bit older than her,'" Alec recounted. "And he looked at me and he goes, 'Yeah, people say that to me all the time and I say to them, 'Consider the alternative.'"

The "30 Rock" star said he is "very, very happy" in his relationship and admitted his love actually fit in with an old saying - love will find you when you stop looking.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hollywood?s Smokin? Hot Couples

"It is true what people always say, and it's tough to make your way to that place, I guess, where you stop looking," Alec said. "I was married and I was with somebody for 10 years and then after I got divorced, I dated people and I had one girlfriend for several years... and right before I met Hilaria... I did lay in my bed and say, 'This is it. I'm gonna be alone for the rest of my life, I'm gonna die alone in this apartment in this bed, I'll have my friends, I'll have Twitter, I'll have Words with Friends, I'll have my New Yorker subscription... I'll have my quiet, unhappy life, and then right when I put it all on the shelf, and it was over... I walked into a restaurant... and I met this woman who is probably one of the greatest people I've ever met in my life."

Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Where to Check In After You've Checked Out [Video]

The rising death rate in Japan has lengthened the average wait for cremation to roughly four days. That's a long 96 hours to let you lay there and ripen. So what do you do after shuffling off this mortal coil? You get yourself to a corpse hotel, obviously. More »

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'War Horse' star one of Hollywood's equine elite (AP)

ACTON, Calif. ? One star of Steven Spielberg's latest epic likes to end his work day by rolling around in the dirt, kicking his legs in the air and flaring his nostrils.

Finder, a 12-year-old thoroughbred, is among more than 150 equine performers featured in the Oscar-nominated "War Horse," and one of 14 who play the scene-stealing Joey. He lives on a ranch about 45 miles northeast of Hollywood with veteran horse trainer Bobby Lovgren, who oversaw all the equine action on "War Horse."

"Plowing, riding, chasing ? you name it, it's in there," said Lovgren, who calls "War Horse" "the biggest horse movie ever made." Lovgren is the prot?g? of legendary Hollywood horseman Glenn Randall, who trained Roy Rogers' Trigger.

Thanks to the enduring appeal of horses on screen, Lovgren, Finder and "War Horse" continue a longtime tradition of Hollywood horses that began with the earliest motion pictures.

"Bobby and his team literally performed miracles with the horses on this film," Spielberg said. "I wanted it to feel like the horses were performing their parts as much as (actors) Emily Watson or Peter Mullan, and that is what happened. There were times during production when the horses reacted in ways I had never imagined a horse could react. You just sit back and thank your lucky stars that these horses are so cognizant that they are able to give everything to a moment."

Those moments took months of training and a 22-member team of trainers, handlers and yes, equine makeup artists.

Set in England during World War I, "War Horse" centers on the enduring relationship between Joey and the farm boy who trained him. When Joey is sold to soldiers heading into battle, the horse begins a journey that brings him through various fighting factions and into the lives of soldiers and civilians who are moved by his strength and spirit.

The film has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including cinematography and best picture.

As the film's "horse master," Lovgren oversaw everything horse-related. His team prepared the equine actors for their various duties. Some became expert jumpers, others learned to stumble or feign a struggle. There were horses for riding and horses for pulling, and even stand-ins for the star horses while shots were being set. Lovgren's team was also responsible for teaching the actors how to ride and handle the animals.

"We all became incredibly attached to the horses," said cast member Patrick Kennedy. "Getting to know these horses and learning to ride them was the greatest privilege I've ever had."

None of the horses are credited by name in the film, and the filmmakers wouldn't say why. Lovgren said it's not uncommon: "Sometimes they'll put a few of the horses' names, but you know, realistically, it's very difficult to say that there was one hero Joey."

The trainer, whose many credits include last summer's "Cowboys & Aliens," typically spends about three months preparing his equine actors for a film shoot. He specializes in "liberty" work, meaning the horses are not restrained in any way and learn to respond to hand signals and body language.

The 46-year-old horseman grew up in an equestrian family in South Africa that runs a large jumping and dressage barn. Lovgren said he didn't much enjoy the public dealings that work required, so he headed to Hollywood to learn a new type of horse training. The 23 years he's spent working in movies prepared him for the challenges of "War Horse."

"All the scenes that we had to do had really all been done before in other films that I'd worked on, but never all in one. This took everything and put everything in one basket," he said. "I'm very proud of my other films, like `Zorro' and `Seabiscuit,' but it just has a little bit in there. The horse isn't the focal point. But in `War Horse' it is, and it's all the time."

Though Lovgren doesn't typically work with his own horses on set (he owns three, including Finder), he said he was lucky on this film that Finder was the right color. (Finder and the other horses playing Joey relied on makeup to make them look identical, with four white socks and a white star on their heads.)

Lovgren met Finder while working on "Seabiscuit" and loved him so much that he bought him. The thoroughbred is more expressive than most horses, Lovgren said, which makes him an ideal movie star.

Plus, he can play both genders. Finder played the mother in an early scene in the film showing the birth of Joey. That sequence and working with a foal was among the most difficult, Lovgren said. "They're very young, so you don't have much time to train them."

Almost everything in "War Horse" was shot with real horses, except for a few scenes that would have caused injury to the animals. Lovgren praised Spielberg's team for their respectful approach to the horses.

The toughest part of Lovgren's job isn't working with the animals, but communicating with filmmakers and other workers on set about what the horses need and what they can and can't do. Once filming begins, "it's more about communication skills than it is about training. That's something I've had to really learn," he said. "Obviously, I started working with animals because I don't work well with people (laughs), so that's been very important to learn to do that."

Watching Lovgren with Finder, it's easy to see the mutual love and respect between the two. Lovgren raises his arm and the powerful animal rears up. He makes a backward motion with a whip and the horse backs up. He strikes the whip on the ground and Finder bangs his hoof into the dirt. Lovgren throws a piece of wood two dozen yards away, and Finder runs to it and stands on his mark.

Lovgren doesn't train with treats, because "if you go on set and someone walks by with an apple, what's he going to do then?"

Instead, the animal's reward is "I leave him alone," Lovgren said. Still, Finder stands confidently by his side.

So with all the challenges of "War Horse," is it harder working with four-legged performers or two-legged Hollywood types?

"I'm not going to answer that!" Lovgren said with a smile. "We all know that answer, but I'm not going to answer that."

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy.

___

Online:

www.warhorsemovie.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_en_mo/us_film_hollywood_horses

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Seal: Reconciliation with Heidi Klum "May Happen"

When Heidi Klum and Seal confirmed their separation on Sunday, it sounded pretty darn final. But Seal says that the love is still there -- and during an appearance on CNN's Piers Morgan Tonight, he reveals that he and Heidi could still reconcile. Watch the clip below!

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/seal-reconciliation-heidi-klum-may-happen/1-a-422131?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Aseal-reconciliation-heidi-klum-may-happen-422131

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Marine pleads guilty in killing of unarmed Iraqis

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif.?? A Marine accused of killing unarmed Iraqi women and children pleaded guilty to dereliction of duty on Monday, reaching a plea deal and ending the largest and longest-running criminal case against U.S. troops to emerge from the Iraq War.

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Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich led the Marine squad in 2005 that killed 24 Iraqis in the town of Haditha after a roadside bomb exploded near a Marine convoy, killing one Marine and wounding two others.

Wuterich's plea Monday interrupted his trial at Camp Pendleton before a jury of all combat Marines who served in Iraq.

Wuterich faces a maximum of three months confinement, two-thirds forfeiture of pay and a rank demotion to private when he's sentenced, likely on Tuesday.

The issue at the court martial was whether Wuterich reacted appropriately as a Marine squad leader in protecting his troops in the midst of a chaotic war or disregarded combat rules and ordered his men to shoot and blast indiscriminately at Iraqi civilians. Wuterich was charged with nine counts of manslaughter, among other charges, and is one of eight Marines initially charged. None has been convicted.

Prosecutors said he lost control after seeing the body of his friend blown apart by the bomb and led his men on a rampage in which they stormed two nearby homes, blasting their way in with gunfire and grenades. Among the dead were women, children and elderly people, including a man in a wheelchair.

Wuterich's former squad members testified that they did not take any gunfire during the 45-minute raid on the homes nor find any weapons, but several squad members testified that they do not believe they did anything wrong, fearing insurgents were inside hiding.

The prosecution was further hurt by the testimony of Wuterich's former platoon commander who said the squad was justified in its actions because house was declared "hostile," and from what he understood of the rules of combat at the time that meant any use of force was allowed and Marines did not need to positively identify their targets.

Wuterich has said he regretted the loss of civilian lives but believed he was operating within military combat rules.

After Haditha, Marines commanders ordered troops to try and distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The killings in Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005, still fuel anger in Iraq and were the primary reason behind demands that U.S. troops not be given immunity from their court system. It is considered among the war's defining moments, further tainting America's reputation when it was already at a low point after the release of photos of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison.

The trial was delayed for years by pre-trial wrangling between the defense and prosecution, including over whether the military could use unaired footage from an interview Wuterich gave in 2007 to CBS "60 Minutes." Prosecutors eventually won the right to view the footage

Six squad members have had charges dropped or dismissed, including some in exchange for testifying at the trial. One was acquitted.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46102595/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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Can Europe stomach Greek default? Depends on flavor (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? The euro zone is inching closer to breaking its long-held taboo against a Greek default, but can still escape financial market mayhem and a body blow to the euro.

It all comes down to whether the default is controlled or chaotic.

Officials have been talking to private bondholders for nearly seven months to get them to share the burden of a second international bailout of Greece with taxpayers, who have so far shouldered all the cost.

But there is still no result, and the threat of a forced default - something that politicians have long been adamant must never happen - drew closer on Monday, when euro zone finance ministers rejected what the banks had billed as their final offer.

Last year, the very prospect filled policymakers with dread but sentiment has changed a little.

Bond markets have thus far exhibited little sense of panic at the slow progress towards a deal, while the European Central Bank wiped out fears over a bank collapse by pumping massive amounts of cash to fund banks into the system in December, an offer it will repeat next month.

The other important shift has come from Paris and Berlin who late last year softened their insistence that private creditors should always take a hit in any future euro zone bailouts. They now say the Greek case is unique and will not be repeated.

Safe-haven German debt futures fell to a one-month low, while Italian bonds - used as a bellwether of sentiment towards the region's lower-rated debt - have rallied, driving yields away from levels deemed unsustainable.

Rating agency Standard & Poor's said on Tuesday it did not see any reason for a "domino effect" in the euro zone, if as expected it downgraded Greece's ratings to "selective default" when it concludes its debt restructuring.

Not all types of default need to upset the market, and some would simply say Greece - which has more than 350 billion euros ($460 billion) in debt, or 162 percent of its Gross Domestic Product - is already in default.

"If you ask me whether (the help of the banks) is already a restructuring, it's hard to argue against it," said one market participant, asking not to be named.

"You had an unwind of several financial institutions in the United States, but only Lehman had a negative impact," this person said, referring to the collapse of the U.S. bank in 2008, now seen as the nadir of the credit crisis.

Time is fast running out for Greece, which cannot repay a 14.5 billion euro bond falling due on March 20 without its second bailout. A deal with bondholders needs to come well before that, because the paperwork alone takes weeks.

BENIGN IS PLAUSIBLE

The scenario to be avoided is having no plan in place at all by that time, which would lead to a "hard default" that could see Greece expelled from the euro zone and set a dangerous precedent for other weak euro zone countries.

"The fallout of this is too horrible to contemplate. It would set a precedent that the authorities would struggle to contain," said David Lloyd, head of institutional portfolio management at M&G Investments.

Letting Greece go would show politicians were no longer in control of the single currency, and financial markets would immediately start betting against other weak euro zone members such as Portugal and the far bigger Italy which, if it succumbed, would threaten the currency bloc's very existence.

But other, more likely, default scenarios are more benign even if they are not entirely voluntary.

"A more plausible scenario is a messy default but with Greece remaining in the euro zone. And more plausible still is a deal enabling Greece to refinance," said Lloyd.

A pay-out of credit default swaps (CDS) - instruments to insure against governments not paying back their debts - is another bone of contention for politicians, who have long been keen not to trigger these instruments.

Lehman Brothers triggered widespread market panic on fears that up to $400 billion in CDS would be payable when it collapsed in 2008. But the amounts actually paid out were relatively small, and would be smaller still for Greece.

The maximum that could change hands from a Greek default is $3.34 billion, according to the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, a clearing and settlement company.

It is becoming ever more likely that Athens will force at least some creditors into the bond swap deal that it is negotiating with banks, by writing provisions known as collective action clauses (CACs) into contracts.

These would force the conditions of the bond swap on all other creditors, regardless of whether they sign up for the deal or not. Using such clauses to squeeze out bondholders would almost certainly trigger CDS pay-outs.

DICTATE, NOT NEGOTIATE

A third option - far better than a chaotic default but more coercive than a "voluntary" deal - would be a take-it-or-leave-it offer from the troika of international lenders advising Greece in its discussions with the banks.

The mood in Brussels is now leaning more towards such a deal that would dictate the terms on the private creditors rather than negotiate them, two euro zone sources said. But the latter was still the preferred option, they added.

"We are still in Plan A mode," one of the euro zone sources said, requesting anonymity.

Banks agreed in October to cut their Greek debt holdings by 100 billion euros, or a 50 percent loss on the face value of the bonds. The actual accounting losses are around 70 percent -- though most banks have sharply reduced their exposure.

Fears that a euro zone bank could collapse have receded in the past few weeks because of the ECB's long-term liquidity tenders last year, making it less likely that a default would spark a market rout among bank stocks.

"The ECB has made plenty of money available, and the thought that banks may go under just because there's not cash in the till have now subsided," said one investment banker who advises other banks, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

($1 = 0.7665 euros)

(Reporting by Douwe Miedema. Additional reporting by William James, Sinead Cruise and Jan Strupczewski. Editing by Jeremy Gaunt.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/bs_nm/us_greece_default

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6.2 quake hits off coast of southern Mexico (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? A magnitude-6.2 earthquake that hit off the coast of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas on Saturday shook as far away as El Salvador but brought no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

The quake at 12:47 p.m. local time (1:47 p.m. EST; 18:47 GMT) broke windows in the Chiapas state capital of Tuxtla Gutierrez and sent frightened residents into the streets in numerous cities. It was felt from the Mexican state of Veracruz, through Pacific regions of Guatemala and into El Salvador.

"It was quite long and felt with a lot of force," said Carlos Lopez Mendoza, spokesman with the Red Cross in El Salvador.

The temblor, which some said felt like waves, also shook the Mexican cities of Comitan and Tapachula, said Jose Manuel Aragon, spokesman for the Chiapas Civil Protection agency.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter was in the Pacific Ocean about 35 miles (57 kilometers) southwest of the city of Mapastepec, on the coast near the border with Guatemala. It had a depth of 41 miles (66 kilometers.)

"People here wanted to run," said Juan Carlos Hernandez, a restaurant owner in Mapastepec. "Luckily it was nothing bigger than a scare."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_earthquake

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AP source: Philbin accepts Dolphins' coaching job

BC-FBN--Dolphins-Philbin Hired, 6th Ld-Writethru ,708Packers' Philbin accepts Dolphins' coaching jobAP Photo NY159, NY155Eds: Adds video link. With AP Photos. AP Video.By STEVEN WINEAP Sports Writer

MIAMI (AP) ? A month of wrenching emotion for Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin took another turn Friday when he landed the Miami Dolphins' head coaching job.

The deal was sealed less than two weeks after Philbin's 21-year-old son drowned in an icy Wisconsin river. The Dolphins confirmed the hiring in a news release and plan a news conference Saturday.

Philbin, who has never been a head coach, first interviewed with Miami on Jan. 7. The body of son Michael, one of Philbin's six children, was recovered the next day in Oshkosh.

After spending a week away from the Packers, Philbin rejoined the team last Sunday for its divisional playoff loss to the New York Giants.

Philbin has been with Green Bay since 2003, serving as offensive coordinator since 2007. Coach Mike McCarthy called the plays, but Philbin put together the game plan for one of the NFL's most prolific offenses.

The Dolphins' top choice, Jeff Fisher, turned them down a week ago to become coach of the St. Louis Rams. Miami owner Stephen Ross and general manager Jeff Ireland then conducted a second round of interviews this week with Philbin, Denver Broncos offensive coordinator Mike McCoy and Todd Bowles, the Dolphins' interim coach at the end of the season.

"Joe has all the attributes that we were looking for when we started this process," Ross said in a statement. "Jeff Ireland and I felt Joe was the right choice to bring the Dolphins back to the success we enjoyed in the past."

The Dolphins are coming off a third consecutive losing season, their longest such stretch since the 1960s. Even so, Philbin called them "one of the premier franchises in professional sports."

"The Dolphins have a strong nucleus to build around," he said in a statement. "And working with everyone in the organization, I know that together we will return the team to its winning tradition."

Ross fired Tony Sparano last month with three games to go in his fourth year as the Dolphins' coach. When the search for a new coach began, Ross said he would like to give the franchise much-needed stability by hiring "a young Don Shula."

Instead he chose the 50-year-old Philbin, who has 28 years of coaching experience, including 19 years in college.

With Philbin's help, the Packers have ranked in the top 10 in the NFL in yardage each of the past five seasons, including third in 2011. A year ago they won the Super Bowl.

"A huge congratulations to Joe Philbin," Green Bay tight end Jermichael Finley tweeted. "No one deserves it more than this guy. The Pack will miss him!"

The hiring might give the Dolphins an edge if they decide to pursue Packers backup quarterback Matt Flynn, who becomes a free agent this offseason. Flynn set Packers records with 480 yards passing and six touchdowns in their regular-season finale. Philbin played a major role in the development of Flynn and Pro Bowl quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

"Worked five years with Joe Philbin," former Packers executive Andrew Brandt tweeted. "Calm, cerebral, humble and a skilled offensive mind. His style will resonate with players."

Assistants becoming first-time NFL head coaches have had mixed results in recent years. The group includes the Ravens' John Harbaugh, the Saints' Sean Peyton and the Steelers' Mike Tomlin, but also three coaches recently fired ? Jim Caldwell by the Colts, Todd Haley by the Chiefs and Steve Spagnuolo by the Rams.

Before joining the Packers, Philbin was Iowa's offensive line coach for four years. The former small-college tight end has been an offensive coordinator at Harvard, Northeastern and Allegheny College.

Philbin becomes the seventh coach in the past eight years for the Dolphins, who went 6-10 this season and missed the playoffs for the ninth time in the past decade. It has been 19 years since they reached the AFC championship game, 27 years since they reached the Super Bowl and 38 years since they won an NFL title.

Perhaps mindful of the drought, former Miami coach Jimmy Johnson offered this tweet: "Joe Philbin new Dolphin coach..good luck!"

Philbin will now begin assembling a staff. Bowles might remain as a replacement for defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, who took the same job this week with the Atlanta Falcons.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-20-Dolphins-Philbin%20Hired/id-8628400109cc460a94570392a373230d

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Stress blamed for student tics at New York school (Reuters)

BUFFALO (Reuters) ? State health officials have determined stress likely caused a dozen female high school students to suddenly experience tics and other neurological symptoms associated with Tourette Syndrome, they said on Friday.

The Le Roy Central School District, about 50 miles east of Buffalo, scrambled to conduct environmental testing for air quality and mold after 12 students developed tics and impulsive verbal behavior over the course of the last three months.

But state health investigators ruled out environmental factors, latent side-effects from drugs or vaccines like Guardasil, trauma or genetic factors.

The girls were all treated by doctors and most are improving, school officials said.

"Stress is often attributed to these kind of symptoms," Jeffrey Hammond, a spokesman with the New York State Department of Health, said on Friday, echoing the opinion of neurologists who have treated the girls.

"The Le Roy school is safe," Hammond said. "The environment or an infection is not the cause of the students' tics. There are many causes of tics-like symptoms."

Dr. David Lichter, clinical professor of neurology at the University at Buffalo, said he evaluated one of the girls who exhibited involuntary movements as well as periods of unresponsiveness.

Lichter said a phenomenon called "mass psychogenic illness," once called mass hysteria, is likely the cause.

He said high levels of stress may increase the chances.

"Subjects turn subconscious psychological stresses into physical symptoms, and they do it without being conscious of it," he said.

"I don't think the girls in this particular school are more stressed. The thing about this outbreak - and it has been documented around the world - is there may be one or two who manifest a true organic disorder, and then modeling behavior takes place," Lichter said.

The health department continues to monitor each case. No new cases have been reported.

(Editing By Barbara Goldberg and Paul Thomasch)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/us_nm/us_tics_school_newyork

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