quadrillion cerebra: 2013

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

US citizenship increases women's odds of receiving mammograms, cancer tests

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

5-Nov-2013

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Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer
aem1@psu.edu
814-865-9481
Penn State

Citizenship, particularly for non-U.S. natives, largely determines a woman's odds of having a mammogram and being screened for cervical and colorectal cancer, according to researchers at Penn State.

The research which was released today at the American Public Health Association's 141st annual meeting in Boston found that foreign-born female non-citizens living in the United States for less than five years have 69 percent lower odds of being screened for colorectal cancer within the previous five years, and foreign-born non-citizens who have lived in the United States for at least five years have 24 percent lower odds, compared to U.S-born citizens. Additionally, foreign-born non-citizens have significantly lower odds of receiving breast and cervical cancer screening.

This finding coincides with implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which mandates that foreign-born residents who are lawfully present in the United States will be eligible for health care coverage beginning January 1, 2014. The current pathway to citizenship in the United States is naturalization after five years of legal permanent residency.

"Our findings offer pioneering evidence for the potential protective effects health care and immigration policy reform could have for immigrants -- particularly for non-citizens, one of the most vulnerable populations in the United States," said Patricia Y. Miranda, assistant professor of health policy and administration, Penn State. "Based on these findings we suggest that limits of duration mandates -- or the increased probability of cancer screening women are projected to have if they receive citizenship sooner than five years in the United States -- be reduced. This may be an important consideration in immigration policy that ensures preventive health care and reduction of cancer disparities for immigrant women."

Researchers in this study consolidated data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and the National Health Interview Survey and then analyzed all results from 2000 to 2010.

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Other Penn State researchers involved with the study include Nengliang Yao, graduate student; Rhonda Belue, associate professor of health policy and administration; Marianne M. Hillemeier, professor of health policy and administration; Shedra Amy Snipes, assistant professor of biobehavioral health; Eugene J. Lengerich, professor of public health sciences; and Carol S. Weisman, associate dean of faculty affairs, College of Medicine.

The Cancer Control Seed-Funding Initiative supported by a partnership among the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, Social Science Research Institute and Clinical and Translational Science Institute provided funding for this research.

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US citizenship increases women's odds of receiving mammograms, cancer tests

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

5-Nov-2013

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| E-mail

]

Share
Contact: A'ndrea Elyse Messer
aem1@psu.edu
814-865-9481
Penn State

Citizenship, particularly for non-U.S. natives, largely determines a woman's odds of having a mammogram and being screened for cervical and colorectal cancer, according to researchers at Penn State.

The research which was released today at the American Public Health Association's 141st annual meeting in Boston found that foreign-born female non-citizens living in the United States for less than five years have 69 percent lower odds of being screened for colorectal cancer within the previous five years, and foreign-born non-citizens who have lived in the United States for at least five years have 24 percent lower odds, compared to U.S-born citizens. Additionally, foreign-born non-citizens have significantly lower odds of receiving breast and cervical cancer screening.

This finding coincides with implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which mandates that foreign-born residents who are lawfully present in the United States will be eligible for health care coverage beginning January 1, 2014. The current pathway to citizenship in the United States is naturalization after five years of legal permanent residency.

"Our findings offer pioneering evidence for the potential protective effects health care and immigration policy reform could have for immigrants -- particularly for non-citizens, one of the most vulnerable populations in the United States," said Patricia Y. Miranda, assistant professor of health policy and administration, Penn State. "Based on these findings we suggest that limits of duration mandates -- or the increased probability of cancer screening women are projected to have if they receive citizenship sooner than five years in the United States -- be reduced. This may be an important consideration in immigration policy that ensures preventive health care and reduction of cancer disparities for immigrant women."

Researchers in this study consolidated data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and the National Health Interview Survey and then analyzed all results from 2000 to 2010.

###

Other Penn State researchers involved with the study include Nengliang Yao, graduate student; Rhonda Belue, associate professor of health policy and administration; Marianne M. Hillemeier, professor of health policy and administration; Shedra Amy Snipes, assistant professor of biobehavioral health; Eugene J. Lengerich, professor of public health sciences; and Carol S. Weisman, associate dean of faculty affairs, College of Medicine.

The Cancer Control Seed-Funding Initiative supported by a partnership among the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute, Social Science Research Institute and Clinical and Translational Science Institute provided funding for this research.

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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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-11/ps-uci110413.php
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Report: A-Rod failed MLB stimulant test in 2006

FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2013, file photo, New York Yankees' Alex Rodriguez arrives at the offices of Major League Baseball in New York, for his grievance hearing. (AP Photo/David Karp, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Alex Rodriguez tested positive for a banned stimulant in 2006, The New York Times reported Monday, an accusation a spokesman for the New York Yankees third baseman denied.

The paper cited two people involved with baseball's drug-testing program, whom it did not identify.

Baseball's joint drug agreement specifies the discipline for a first positive test for a banned stimulant is six additional unannounced drug tests over the year following the violation. A second stimulant violation would result in a 25-game suspension.

Rodriguez spokesman Lanny Davis denied the player tested positive, the paper said. Ron Berkowitz, another Rodriguez spokesman, said Monday he expected his client's representatives would comment later in the day.

MLB chief operating officer Rob Manfred declined comment.

Rodriguez was suspended for 211 games by Major League Baseball on Aug. 5 under baseball's drug agreement for his alleged "use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years." He also was penalized under the labor contract for "a course of conduct intended to obstruct and frustrate the office of the commissioner's investigation."

The three-time AL MVP was allowed to keep playing until arbitrator Fredric Horowitz decides a grievance filed by the players' association to overturn the penalty. Horowitz has presided over eight days of hearings, which are scheduled to resume Nov. 18.

MLB and the union agreed in November 2005 to ban many stimulants. The paper said it wasn't clear whether a failed stimulant test was introduced by MLB as evidence in the grievance.

Sports Illustrated reported in February 2009 that Rodriguez tested positive for steroids during MLB's anonymous survey in 2003, and A-Rod said two days later he used banned substances while playing with the Texas Rangers from 2001-03.

Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-11-04-BBA-Rodriguez-Stimulant-Test/id-0ec1a2ae6e63481987f920dc61f81741
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Cloud Printing & Shipping Service Lob Raises $2.4 Million Seed Round

This summer, the Y Combinator-backed startup Lob launched a new developer API which lets companies easily integrate printing and shipping services into their applications. Today, the company is announcing $2.4 million in seed funding from various YC partners and angel investors. Participating in the round were Kevin Hale, Dalton Caldwell, Sam Altman, Joshua Schachter, Alexis Ohanian, Paul Buchheit, Garry Tan, Polaris Partners, and other undisclosed investors.

With Lob, whose early adopters include CrowdTilt, ZenPayroll, LendUp, LocalOn, and others, developers can automate or print a variety of products on demand, including postcards, photos, flyers, posters, bills, checks, invoices, and more.

The company says it now has over 1,000 paying customers, and just hit $40,000 in revenue at the end of last month. It has also printed a million dollars worth of checks. On the horizon, there’s the potential for Lob to grow even larger, with now two Fortune 500 companies testing the service on a smaller scale. If those trials come to fruition, they could be multi-million dollar deals, the founders tell us.

A graduate of Y Combinator’s summer 2013 program, Lob was started earlier this year by University of Michigan grads Harry Zhang and Leore Avidar. Zhang had been inspired to create the service after previously working as a product manager at Microsoft, where he saw the difficulties involved with customer mailings – the company had interns stuffing envelopes in a mailroom for weeks, at times.

Today, Lob’s use cases go beyond your typical printed materials, like postcards, invoices or promotional mailings, for example. The company already offers tools like address verification, and “Smart Packaging” (where it picks the best packaging type automatically), and now it’s also working to enable printing of other products, too, including photo albums/photo books, and even t-shirts and mugs. Longer term, the team is considering moving into physical books as well, given customer demand.

“When we think of printed products, it’s anything that ink can touch,” explains Zhang. He wants Lob to be a one-stop shop where companies can manage all their printings. And although it’s still early days, the solution is growing in popularity. Customers generally come in with a single request, but then realize how they can use Lob in other areas, too. Today, almost every customer is using two products at the minimum, even though over half had arrived seeking just a single solution.

The team was also surprised to see international sign-ups, given its U.S. focus, with customers arriving from South America, Europe, Asia and Australia, then opting to have Lob print and ship items overseas. “A lot of international companies don’t have local ways to do this, so they’re willing to pay a little more,” Avidar says.

In terms of its pricing, Lob has been competitive, but maybe not the cheapest option, though that’s changing as it begins to scale. In a few months’ time, Lob’s pricing will drop by an average of 10% across the board, we’re told. (Some products might not change, while others may drop by as high as 20%-30%, to give you an idea).

But Lob’s advantage hasn’t necessarily been one based just on price – it’s about the model. Competitors have traditionally required businesses to pay large amounts upfront, or even pre-pay for their entire order, but Lob lets its customers pay as you go.

“The fact that it’s a variable expense and you can do everything on a minimum quantity of one – that’s really the differentiator,” says Avidar. “You can’t really go anywhere and say: ‘I want to print one postcard’,” he adds.

With the additional funding, Lob is working to add new product categories and hire engineers to help build out its API. The company wants to double (or more) its four-person team over the next few months, and support for photo albums and t-shirts is arriving soon.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/IjOyg2MY458/
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Seymour The Movie: A Film For Side-hit Lovers

Posted by: Evan Litsios / added: 11.01.2013 / Back to What Up

Mt. Seymour looks absolutely fantastic. They put this short but sweet movie together to showcase the sheer awesomeness of their mountain, and did a great job. It's got a hip soundtrack and lots of follow cams. The riding is straight up fun and on natural terrain. If you love side-hits, methods, cliff drops, quarter pipes and riding with your homies, you'll feel right at home.

Seymour the Movie from Seymourthemovie on Vimeo.

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Red Sox beards come off for Gillette promotion

BOSTON (AP) — World Series MVP David Ortiz and Boston Red Sox teammate Shane Victorino had their beards shaved for charity Monday to benefit victims of the Boston Marathon bombings in April.

The "shave offs" occurred at Gillette's world headquarters. The Boston company donated $100,000 to the One Fund, which is assisting victims and their families of the bombings on April 15. Three people were killed and over 260 injured near the finish line that day.

Ortiz, fresh off his third World Series title with the Red Sox, joked that it's a perfect look for his offseason.

"I'm going down south — some place warm," he said. "I feel fresh. I've got to keep it real. It's not that cold down there."

Sitting in one of two barber's chairs to Ortiz's right, Victorino appeared a bit shocked when he looked into a hand-held mirror and realized his beard and goatee were completely gone.

"I'm a World Series champion and I look like I'm 12-years old," he said.

Ortiz had his most of his beard shaved off, leaving only a goatee.

"He's a three-time champ and I'm a two-time champ, and he's a little more tenured in the city than I am," Victorino said. "It's different look for me and something I'm definitely not accustomed to."

But he did find another reason to enjoy his fresh look.

"My kids will be excited," he said. "I don't know if they're going to recognize me when I walk in the door. My daughter was tugging on it last night and said, 'When are you going to shave it?' I didn't want to let the secret out. She was still sleeping when I left this morning."

Ortiz couldn't resist teasing his now fresh-faced teammate.

"He looks like he's in fifth grade. You going back to school?" Big Papi said. "Mine will grow very fast. I don't think I'll have any problems letting it grow. I don't know about this guy."

Victorino said he's hoping to grow a beard back by spring training.

"It was a battle. We fought to get that beard," Victorino said.

Outfielder Jonny Gomes and first baseman Mike Napoli encouraged teammates during spring training to grow beards in spring training, even teasing players who talked about shaving.

"Mike Nap said, 'You touch that one more time and we're going to have to need a new DH,'" Ortiz recalled.

Napoli and Gomes had the biggest, bushiest beards on the club.

"It was a goal to come in and play hard and finish the season like we did for all the people that were struggling from the marathon, all the family members, the whole New England area that struggled with this and the whole country that struggled with this," Ortiz said.

Victorino and Ortiz were joined by Fenway Park bullpen and Boston police officer Steve Horgan and fan, Michael Grant, from Leicester, Mass. Grant was selected from Gillette's Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Horgan, stationed in the Red Sox bullpen, became an instant celebrity after he was photographed with his arms in the air celebrating Ortiz's grand slam in Game 2 of the AL championship series as Detroit right fielder Torii Hunter flipped over the short fence with his legs straight upward.

"I started it a week before the playoffs," Horgan said of his full beard.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/red-sox-beards-come-off-gillette-promotion-170018710.html
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Author Catherine Chung: 'I Want To Embrace The Things That I Am'

Catherine Chung's first novel, "Forgotten Country" was given an honorable mention for a PEN/Hemingway award in 2012.

Ayano Hisa/Courtesy of Catherine Chung

Catherine Chung's first novel, "Forgotten Country" was given an honorable mention for a PEN/Hemingway award in 2012.

Ayano Hisa/Courtesy of Catherine Chung

Catherine Chung went from mathematics to writing, though she says words were always her first love. She was named one of Granta's New Voices in 2010, and her first novel, Forgotten Country, received honorable mention for a PEN/Hemingway award last year.

In Forgotten Country, Chung writes of a family with a curse that stretches back generations — from the family's time in Korea, to their life in America. Each generation of the family has lost a daughter since the Japanese occupation of Korea.

"I tried to pull my hand out of my mother's grasp, but she held on. She had lost her sister; she had lived in the aftermath of war. This was always what it came down to, in the end. My grandmother had told me once that my mother had never gotten over the death of my aunt. 'Never talk of it,' my grandmother had said. 'Never bring it up.'"

Chung weaves in old Korean folklore as her characters deal with a flurry of tumultuous family happenings: The youngest daughter, Hannah, cuts ties with the family for no reason just before their father is diagnosed with terminal cancer. The oldest daughter, Janie, is told to find her sister, who has moved cities without telling the family. And Janie — ever the dutiful one — is livid that her sister could be so absent during a family crisis. This all takes place while Janie recalls foggy memories of her childhood in Korea and her family's move to Detroit, Mich.

Some say that her work is different from that of other Asian-American writers. Mary Pols, a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote of Chung's novel: "The agony of assimilation has been well chronicled by writers from Amy Tan to Jhumpa Lahiri, but Chung brings a gentle, special gravity to this Korean family's tale of endurance."

The story starts as though it'll be one of loss and the inevitable search for a missing sister. That momentum builds but is cut short when the 'missing sister' reappears early in the plot. The story then morphs quickly and explores the tenuous line between freedom and selfishness.

"'Unni,' Hannah said, the word for older sister: I could feel it pulling on me like a tide. She said, 'I've stopped wasting time on things I can't save.'

I wish I could tell her how anxious my parents had been, how much she'd been missed. I thought of my grandmother telling me to always keep my sister safe. I remembered our father bowing to his trees. 'What do you know,' I said, 'about who you can save?'"

Chung, who studied math at the University of Chicago, later earned an MFA in creative writing from Cornell. She talked with me about the way her culture has influenced her work, the transition from working at a think tank to writing a novel full-time, and the moment she realized she could be a writer.

Interview Highlights

On language and writing

So I always wanted to be a writer. And to talk about, very briefly, my relationship to language: English is not my first language. Korean is my first language. I didn't learn English until I went to school.... I feel like my mother tongue is Korean and that English is the language of school...

My dad was a professor and my mom was an academic. So they spoke English in life, but at home, they spoke Korean. I actually think they just didn't think about [teaching us English].... I think maybe they thought I'd learn English when I went to school, which is what happened. For me, because of that, the language of me being the outsider — that was my introduction to it. I went to school, everyone spoke this language I did not, I suddenly had this other name that I was not called at home that I was called in public.

I love English.... I wrote my first poem when I was seven in second grade. It was a haiku; it was my first moment where I felt like I had control over language in a way that I could express myself or understand myself. I was seven and I still remember the thrill of it, and I feel like because of that moment, I became a writer.

When I became a math major in college, it felt like really a deviation, if that makes sense — like a vacation from my desire to be a writer. Part of that happened — the math — because I didn't realize that being a writer was actually a possibility. I always knew that I wanted it, and I knew that I wanted it more than I wanted anything and still it didn't seem like anything I could do and I think part of it was because I was Asian.

On the writers she read growing up

... And you know I think I read three Asian writers growing up. You know: Amy Tan, and Chang-rae Lee — who I loved. I remember, it was such a revelation to read his book. I mean, he [was] one of the only contemporary writers that my entire family just sat down and read. It spoke to me so deeply....

The thing about Chang-rae Lee that was such a revelation was not that I was hungry to read about what it meant to be Asian-American, but that he actually gave words to a part of my experience... that I had never seen expressed before and that I didn't even know was possible. And that was incredible to think that, "Oh, there's this writer and he writes beautifully and movingly and it's not because this person is Asian, it's not because this character is Asian that I'm relating, but the fact that I'm relating to a character who can speak to an experience that I've never read about in literature before." It was so tremendously moving and empowering.

... You know, the people who influence us when we're children or when we're just becoming adults, it's just [a] tremendous influence. It just opened me up in a sort of way that was so important. Actually, when I was older, a little bit older, the other Asian-American writer [who] had such an influence on me was Alex Chee [Alexander Chee], and personally for me as well, I met him later.... I remember he wrote an essay about how he was a "unicorn." When he was writing [it], he might've been the only Asian-American gay man writing. And I think about that, how difficult it is to do a thing when you don't feel like anyone else like you has done that before. And I feel like, I am really lucky because I had examples that I discovered young enough that made it seemed possible.

On being an Asian-American writer and the balance between seeing seen as one and not

Something I was thinking about before we started this conversation — I feel like there are a lot of minority writers who say, "I'm not just this kind of writer or that kind of writer." I'm definitely an Asian-American writer, I'm definitely a female writer, and I want to embrace the things that I am and not have to feel like it's pigeon holing me. It's not actually a worry I have, but at the same time, having a conversation about the ways I am those things can be tricky because I don't actually feel the... limits of those things....

And I think that actually one of the challenges of being an Asian-American writer is that the expectation [to represent] tends to be there. They tend to think that you're writing about that thing. That is something that comes up, it's like a condition that exists in my writing.

.... Someone asked me, "Given your book... do you have hope that the two Koreas will be reunited and how do you think that could happen?" And there are sometimes moments — like that, that sort of expectation — and I think, "I write fiction. I'm trying to illuminate." I think what writing does is it takes a particular situation to try to illuminate the universal, so even speaking for a people is trying to show how it is for someone.... I think fiction is suggestive. It's not prescriptive.

On when she realized that she could be a writer

I think when I was in college, I took one fiction writing class with this man named Richard Stern, who was a wonderful writer. When I graduated from college, he said, "You could be a writer." He said, "You should be a writer." And I said, "Really?" And he said it so casually, like it was the simplest, easiest thing in the world and I thought, "Oh my god." But then I graduated college and I went and worked for a think tank for two years, in statistics and economics. But I carried that with me but I still didn't believe it.

I thought, "No, no I can't be a writer." But then I applied to graduate MFA programs and got in. And even then, I spent my entire MFA time feel like a total fraud. "I'm not a writer, I don't belong here, I don't know how to write." And the real moment that I felt like it was possible actually came in the middle of writing my first book. I was at the MacDowell [artists'] colony. It was my first residency, I hadn't published anything yet. I had graduated from my MFA program and I was surrounded by these artists and writers at all different levels. And you know, I suddenly felt like — James Baldwin had been at MacDowell — there's a list of people who had been at McDowell that's long and illustrious.

“ A friend of mine said to me, "Cathy, I'm worried you're becoming a loser."

.... I was in this sort of despairing moment where my book wasn't making any progress and I didn't know what I was doing and I was so poor and I didn't have health insurance. And a friend of mine said to me, "Cathy, I'm worried you're becoming a loser." ... I was just like, "What?" It was also a time where I had started to feel like a loser. I was poor... I hadn't published. I sort of thought, "What am I doing?"

....And I think I just... decided to totally accept failure. I was like, "Yes. If this book totally fails, I will write another book. And if that book totally fails, I will write [another]." This is how I deal with stress: ... I imagine the worst case scenario and I try to decide whether or not I can take it. And [I thought], "If I'm like 85, and I'm lucky enough to live that long, and I have [not] published a single book but I've dedicated myself to trying to write something that matters and is true, then yes, that will be a life that I'm willing to accept."

On how her family compares to the characters in her book

My own family is an entirely different family. But my family is also a Korean immigrant family. You know when you read a book and you think your family is just like that, but actually they're not, you're talking about a certain feeling or a certain dynamic or a certain something.... Or when you talk to a friend and you say, "Oh my mom is just like that." But your mothers are completely different.

.... I don't have a sister and my family wasn't cursed. We weren't chased out of Korea. I was born in the states. The autobiographical details are very different and even the day-to-day relationships of my family are different. But at the same time, I think that commitment to family is there, and then the resulting conflict of that of being American and the desire for freedom and the desire that that freedom should be mine is there. But it acts out in a different way.

The way that I think of fiction, I guess, is I feel like writing a novel is like having a really, really long, really intense friendship with somebody that may or may not be like you. But the thing about friendship... is whether or not you seem similar on the surface or don't seem similar on the surface is that you learn to make connections.

....My father passed away from cancer a few years ago while I was writing this book and I don't feel like I wrote about his death in my book. But I feel like what I got was that I very close to a family that was going through a similar loss. And you know how that is, when you talk to somebody that's had a similar experience where you can say, "Oh, it was like that for me," or "Oh, it wasn't like that for me." And then there's that emotional connection, which is what I think fiction does.

For the writer, but also for the reader — if it goes well — where you feel connected, where you feel like your experience comes to bear understanding this fictional characters' experiences.

Source: http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/11/04/242975960/author-catherine-chung-i-want-to-embrace-the-things-that-i-am?ft=1&f=1032
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Author Catherine Chung: 'I Want To Embrace The Things That I Am'

Catherine Chung's first novel, "Forgotten Country" was given an honorable mention for a PEN/Hemingway award in 2012.

Ayano Hisa/Courtesy of Catherine Chung

Catherine Chung's first novel, "Forgotten Country" was given an honorable mention for a PEN/Hemingway award in 2012.

Ayano Hisa/Courtesy of Catherine Chung

"I tried to pull my hand out of my mother's grasp, but she held on. She had lost her sister; she had lived in the aftermath of war. This was always what it came down to, in the end. My grandmother had told me once that my mother had never gotten over the death of my aunt. 'Never talk of it,' my grandmother had said. 'Never bring it up.'"

"'Unni,' Hannah said, the word for older sister: I could feel it pulling on me like a tide. She said, 'I've stopped wasting time on things I can't save.'

I wish I could tell her how anxious my parents had been, how much she'd been missed. I thought of my grandmother telling me to always keep my sister safe. I remembered our father bowing to his trees. 'What do you know,' I said, 'about who you can save?'"

Interview Highlights

On language and writing

On the writers she read growing up

On being an Asian-American writer and the balance between seeing seen as one and not

On when she realized that she could be a writer

“ A friend of mine said to me, "Cathy, I'm worried you're becoming a loser."

On how her family compares to the characters in her book

For the writer, but also for the reader — if it goes well — where you feel connected, where you feel like your experience comes to bear understanding this fictional characters' experiences.

Apple reportedly readying Mavericks updates to multiple applications

We already know that Mail in OS X Mavericks isn't playing nicely with Gmail, and reports suggest that an update for this and a host of other Apple applications suffering from issues is on the way. The news comes courtesy of Mark Gurman at 9to5Mac:

Sources say that Apple is readying a slew of performance and bug fix updates for several other OS X Mavericks applications. According to the updates seeded today to Apple employees, Apple is preparing updates for iBooks, Safari, and the Remote Desktop Client apps:

Across the board it looks like a bunch of bug fix and stability improvement updates. None are understood to be part of a 10.9.1 update to Mavericks, and will be rolled out as app updates or patches where required.

Bugs are to be expected with any new major OS release, but Mavericks does seem to have its fair share frustrating users. What bugs are you guys seeing, and would updates to any of these apps hopefully resolve things for you?

Source: 9to5Mac

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/112dXF0wRKM/story01.htm
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Hot-air balloon rides -- researchers advise, proceed with caution

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

4-Nov-2013

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Contact: Natalie Wood-Wright
nwoodwri@jhsph.edu
410-614-6029
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Recent data show that helicopter and fixed-wing commercial air tour operations in the U.S. have high crash rates compared with similar commercial aviation operations, and crash rates increase with less regulated standards of operation. The findings raise concerns about the public health impact of less-regulated commercial air tour operations, such as paid hot-air balloon rides.

The investigation of hot-air balloon-related injuries and deaths in the U.S. reports that targeted interventions may improve crash outcomes and decrease the number and severity of balloon crash injuries. The study, conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Injury Research and Policy, appears in the November issue of Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine.

Researchers combed through National Transportation Safety Board reports of hot-air balloon tour crashes from 2000-2011. During the 12-year period, 78 hot-air balloon tours crashed, involving 518 occupants. There were 91 serious injuries and 5 fatalities; 83% of crashes resulted in one or more serious or fatal outcome. Of the serious injuries, 56% were lower extremity fractures.

"Our findings provide valuable information not previously available on the number and kinds of injuries sustained in crashes of paid hot-air balloon rides," said Sarah-Blythe Ballard, MD, MPH, first author of the paper and a PhD student at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. "This research can inform consumers about the risks involved with this recreational activity, and serve as a tool for operators and policy makers wishing to employ targeted prevention strategies to reduce balloon ride crashes and crash-related injuries and deaths."

Most crashes (81%) occurred during landing; 65% involved hard landings. Fixed-object collisions, with trees, buildings, power lines or the ground, contributed to 50% of serious injuries and all 5 fatalities. During landing sequences, gondola dragging, tipping, bouncing and occupant ejections were associated with poor outcomes. Of the crashes resulting in serious or fatal outcomes, 20% of balloons were significantly damaged or destroyed.

"Practical interventions and ones that have been proven to reduce injury and death in other areas of transportation and recreation could be utilized to ensure a safer passenger experience on hot-air balloon rides," said Susan P. Baker, MPH, ScD, professor and founding director of the Injury Center at Johns Hopkins and a co-author on the paper. "We know over half the serious injuries we reviewed in our study were lower extremity fractures sustained during landings. Potential strategies for reducing landing forces include cushioning the bottom of the basket or employing crash-worthy auxiliary crew seats during landings. Similarly, the use of restraint systems and the use of mandatory flight helmets could influence crash outcomes."

"A more standardized reporting of hot air balloon crashes would assist the development of targeted interventions aimed at decreasing the number and severity of balloon crash injuries, and improve the public health impact of less-regulated commercial air tour operations, like paid hot-air balloon rides," said Leland P. Beaty, an Injury Center data analyst with 20 years of aviation experience and co-author on the paper.
###

The research was funded from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy.

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Hot-air balloon rides -- researchers advise, proceed with caution

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

4-Nov-2013

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Contact: Natalie Wood-Wright
nwoodwri@jhsph.edu
410-614-6029
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Recent data show that helicopter and fixed-wing commercial air tour operations in the U.S. have high crash rates compared with similar commercial aviation operations, and crash rates increase with less regulated standards of operation. The findings raise concerns about the public health impact of less-regulated commercial air tour operations, such as paid hot-air balloon rides.

The investigation of hot-air balloon-related injuries and deaths in the U.S. reports that targeted interventions may improve crash outcomes and decrease the number and severity of balloon crash injuries. The study, conducted by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Injury Research and Policy, appears in the November issue of Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine.

Researchers combed through National Transportation Safety Board reports of hot-air balloon tour crashes from 2000-2011. During the 12-year period, 78 hot-air balloon tours crashed, involving 518 occupants. There were 91 serious injuries and 5 fatalities; 83% of crashes resulted in one or more serious or fatal outcome. Of the serious injuries, 56% were lower extremity fractures.

"Our findings provide valuable information not previously available on the number and kinds of injuries sustained in crashes of paid hot-air balloon rides," said Sarah-Blythe Ballard, MD, MPH, first author of the paper and a PhD student at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. "This research can inform consumers about the risks involved with this recreational activity, and serve as a tool for operators and policy makers wishing to employ targeted prevention strategies to reduce balloon ride crashes and crash-related injuries and deaths."

Most crashes (81%) occurred during landing; 65% involved hard landings. Fixed-object collisions, with trees, buildings, power lines or the ground, contributed to 50% of serious injuries and all 5 fatalities. During landing sequences, gondola dragging, tipping, bouncing and occupant ejections were associated with poor outcomes. Of the crashes resulting in serious or fatal outcomes, 20% of balloons were significantly damaged or destroyed.

"Practical interventions and ones that have been proven to reduce injury and death in other areas of transportation and recreation could be utilized to ensure a safer passenger experience on hot-air balloon rides," said Susan P. Baker, MPH, ScD, professor and founding director of the Injury Center at Johns Hopkins and a co-author on the paper. "We know over half the serious injuries we reviewed in our study were lower extremity fractures sustained during landings. Potential strategies for reducing landing forces include cushioning the bottom of the basket or employing crash-worthy auxiliary crew seats during landings. Similarly, the use of restraint systems and the use of mandatory flight helmets could influence crash outcomes."

"A more standardized reporting of hot air balloon crashes would assist the development of targeted interventions aimed at decreasing the number and severity of balloon crash injuries, and improve the public health impact of less-regulated commercial air tour operations, like paid hot-air balloon rides," said Leland P. Beaty, an Injury Center data analyst with 20 years of aviation experience and co-author on the paper.
###

The research was funded from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to the Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy.

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| E-mail

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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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-11/jhub-hbr110413.php
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