Huge health survey taps 200,000 for key data - The Local

Germany is launching a huge health survey to produce evidence-based information about the effects of diet, lifestyle and other factors such as smoking or alcohol on the big killers - cancer, heart disease, strokes and diabetes.

The National Cohort study will make detailed physical examinations of 200,000 people aged between 20 and 70. These exams will include lung function tests, blood pressure measurements and whole-body MRI scans, as well as the collection and storage of various samples such as saliva, nasal smears and even faeces.

The 200,000 people will be asked to answer detailed questionnaires about what they eat, drink and whether they smoke, as well as how much exercise they take, as well as other areas such as their work, their mental and emotional states and physical health history.

The questionnaires will be sent out for answers regularly, while the physical examination will be repeated after four years so that any changes can be recorded.

"We want to better understand how illnesses develop and how one can prevent them," Rudolf Kaaks, head of the epidemiology of cancer department at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg, told Wednesday's Die Welt newspaper.

"There have been debates for years - should one eat less red meat, or is it important to do move more, eat lots of fruit and vegetables, and so on. What remains open is which of these factors are the most important?"

He is also a board member of the National Cohort Association, which has as its basic aim the improved understanding of common chronic diseases. More than two-thirds of all deaths in Germany are attributable to cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke or diabetes-related complications, the group says on its website.

As well as lifestyle and straight-forward physical factors, the huge study will also include geographical and socio-economic information as possible factors in poor health. The idea is to develop risk assessment models to identify people at greater risk of chronic disease and help create effective methods of disease prevention.

More than ?210 million has been earmarked for the project which will be conducted by 18 medical centres across the country.

The Local/hc

Source: http://www.thelocal.de/society/20130102-47099.html

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No. 21 Northwestern ends drought in Gator Bowl

Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald is doused in the closing minute of the Wildcats 34-20 victory over Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl NCAA college football game, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, Bob Self)

Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald is doused in the closing minute of the Wildcats 34-20 victory over Mississippi State in the Gator Bowl NCAA college football game, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, Bob Self)

Northwestern defensive lineman Brian Arnfelt (91) and Bo Cisek (1) holds the trophy while their teammate Will Hampton (92) kisses it after the Gator Bowl NCAA college football game against Mississippi State, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013 in Jacksonville, Fla. Northwestern won 34-20. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)

Northwestern defensive lineman Quentin Williams (88) returns a interception for a touchdown during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Mississippi State, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)

Mississippi State wide receivers Arceto Clark (19) and Chad Bumphis (1) celebrate Clark's touchdown catch against Northwestern during the first half of the Gator Bowl NCAA college football game, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)

Mississippi State running back LaDarius Perkins (27) eludes a tackle by Northwestern safety Jared Carpenter (27) during the first half of an NCAA college football game against Northwestern, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013, in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Stephen Morton)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) ? The Northwestern Wildcats spent so much time celebrating on the field that coach Pat Fitzgerald finally had to order them into the locker room.

He had something special waiting for them ? a stuffed monkey.

It was the same one that went with them to the Meineke Car Care Bowl last season and had become a symbol of the program's decades-long, bowl losing streak.

Fitzgerald turned his players loose on the plush toy and they destroyed it.

It was their reward for beating Mississippi State 34-20 in the Gator Bowl and snapping college football's longest postseason drought. The 21st-ranked Wildcats (10-3) hadn't won a bowl game since 1949, a nine-game skid that was tied with Notre Dame for the longest in NCAA history.

It's history now.

"We've never been here before, but now we're here and here to stay with a new streak you can talk about in a positive fashion," Fitzgerald said.

Quentin Williams returned an interception 29 yards for a touchdown on the third play of the game and Nick VanHoose set up another touchdown with a 39-yard interception return in the fourth. Those plays were the difference in a back-and-forth game that featured more interceptions (seven) than touchdowns (six).

In between, Northwestern's two-quarterback system kept the Bulldogs (8-5) off balance most of the day.

Starter Kain Colter ran for 71 yards, making up for his two interceptions. Backup Trevor Siemian threw for 120 yards and an interception, and also ran for a score.

Even with the turnovers, they were more efficient than Mississippi State's Tyler Russell.

Russell completed 12 of 28 passes for 106 yards, with two touchdowns and a career-high four interceptions. He had only thrown six picks in the first 11 games this season.

He threw interceptions on Mississippi State's first two possessions and tossed another one early in the second quarter. After falling behind 13-0, Russell settled down and got the Bulldogs back in the game.

"I talked to him going into the locker room after the third pick, said 'Go into the locker room, splash some water on your face, readjust your pads and forget that you came out to start the game,'" said coach Dan Mullen, whose team lost five of its final six games. "'Get in the tunnel, start jumping up and down again, get yourself tight and run out of the tunnel again.'"

It worked as Mississippi State tied the game at 13 in the third quarter.

On the other sideline, there had to be some sense of panic. After all, the Wildcats had blown three double-digit leads in the second half of all three of their losses this season. They surrendered big leads against Penn State, Nebraska and Michigan. So that 'here-we-go-again' feeling easily could have taken over when Mississippi State seized momentum.

But the Wildcats didn't flinch. They responded with Siemian directing a 76-yard drive that put NU up for good. Tyris Jones bowled in from 3 yards out.

Siemian added a 4-yard TD run ? set up by Colter's 31-yard scamper ? that made it 27-13 with 26 seconds remaining in the third. That came after Russell's fourth pick, the one VanHoose grabbed near midfield.

"I feel like a big burden has been lifted off our shoulders," Colter said.

The Wildcats spent the final 1:42 celebrating the program's first postseason victory since beating Cal in the 1949 Rose Bowl.

They doused Fitzgerald with a water bucket, and when the game ended, they danced at midfield and then ran toward the stands to recognize friends, family and fans. Fitzgerald playfully directed the band as it belted out the alma mater.

"This one goes to all the Wildcats that have been here before us," Fitzgerald said. "They've paved the way for us. ... The sky is the limit for where our program can go. ... We might not be putting the Big Ten championship trophy in our case, but we took a big step forward in accomplishing that mission today."

The Wildcats donned Gator Bowl championship hats and posed for pictures long after the final seconds ticked off the clock.

"It's just a great feeling," linebacker David Nwabuisi said. "It's unreal. It's like we keep saying, we haven't been here before. I'm kind of sad there is no confetti afterwards, but I'll deal with it. It was just good to be out there on the field as long as we wanted to."

A few minutes later, they got to rip the monkey to pieces.

"Every time I think about this, I start to tear up a little bit," said Williams, who also tipped another pass that was intercepted. "This is just a fantastic happening for our school. We've worked so hard to get to this point and it paid off. I've been here for five years and to finally get a win is just amazing."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-01-02-T25-Gator-Bowl%20Folo/id-f1af4bf9568849da9fe680540ae7c41e

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What fiscal cliff? Holiday shoppers shrug off budget debate

(Reuters) - The "fiscal cliff" drama that dominated the news and spooked businesses and financial markets did little to dampen spending by shoppers this holiday season.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows nearly three-quarters of Americans said the debate around the fiscal cliff had no impact on their holiday spending. Fewer than 20 percent of those polled said they spent less during the season than they did in the 2011 holidays, according to the poll.

Holiday season sales overall - including December sales data from several chains due this week - were likely good, but not great. The expected rise in 2012 holiday spending is poised to show the smallest year-over-year gain since the recession led to a sales drop in 2008. Various estimates suggest that U.S. sales in November and December combined grew at a low single-digit pace, slower than in 2011 and 2010.

The fiscal cliff was a nearly constant topic in the news, as the country waited to see if politicians in Washington would reach a deal to avoid $600 billion in automatic spending cuts and tax increases.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Congress approved a bill that would raise taxes on the wealthy and preserve certain benefits. The vote averted immediate pain like tax hikes for almost all U.S. households, but did not resolve the issue of raising the federal debt ceiling and fights over the budget in coming months.

Seventy-three percent of those polled in the final days of December said concerns about the fiscal cliff did not affect their holiday spending at all, according to findings from an Ipsos poll conducted for Reuters. Back in mid-November, before the holiday season kicked into full gear, 58 percent of those polled had said the fiscal cliff was not affecting their holiday plans.

Only 15 percent of those polled in late December said they spent less during the 2012 holiday season because of the fiscal cliff. In mid-November, 28 percent said that they planned to spend less because of the fiscal cliff.

Fifty-seven percent of those polled said that they spent the same amount on holiday shopping in 2012 that they did in 2011. Nineteen percent said that they spent less than they did in 2011, while 17 percent said that they spent more.

The poll findings are from an Ipsos poll conducted for Thomson Reuters from December 27 to December 31, with 765 American adults interviewed online. Results are within the poll's credibility intervals, a tool used to account for statistical variation in Internet-based polling. The credibility interval was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

The poll is the latest in a series that Ipsos conducted during the holiday season.

COSTCO APPEARS STRONG, TARGET UNDER PRESSURE

Taking a look at various retailers, discount chains as a group likely saw the strongest sales growth last month, while profits at some retailers may have taken a hit from the need for sharp discounts to clear merchandise from shelves.

"Value and promotions drove consumers to the malls," according to Jharonne Martis, director of consumer research for Thomson Reuters. "Big discounts and promotions could cut into retailers' profit margins."

Costco Wholesale Corp is expected to post a 6.5 percent rise in December same-store sales. While Costco holds the highest estimate of any of the 17 chains included in the Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S tally of analysts' forecasts, the expectations are still below the 7 percent growth the chain posted in December 2011.

Still, some analysts are concerned about December sales from Target Corp. The discount chain appeared to struggle with efforts such as its highly touted collaboration of holiday gifts with Neiman Marcus, which Target marked down by 50 percent even before Christmas.

Target forecast a low single-digit percentage increase in December same-store sales. Jefferies analyst Daniel Binder said he expects such sales were just flat to up 1 percent, while JP Morgan analyst Christopher Horvers cut his expectation to a 0.5 percent increase after calling for a 2.5 percent rise.

Overall, analysts are looking for 3.7 percent same-store sales growth for December across 17 chains, down from 4.2 percent growth in December 2011, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Such sales rose a disappointing 1.6 percent in November. In December 2008, same-store sales fell 3 percent, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

"December's results will reflect a modest slowdown in overall spending over the past two months ... but the world is not ending," JP Morgan's Matthew Boss said in a note this week.

The weakest December same-store sales are expected to come from teen apparel chain Wet Seal Inc.

Monthly same-store sales tallies exclude major players such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc, Home Depot Inc and Best Buy Co Inc, as well as online leader Amazon.com Inc.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl in Chicago; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fiscal-cliff-holiday-shoppers-shrug-off-budget-debate-181036846--finance.html

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How I Fell in Love with a Schizophrenic | MetaFilter

Kas Thomas writes about his "all-in" relationship with Sally, a woman diagnosed with schizophrenia. Yesterday, my true love, Sally, had a psychotic break and went into the (mental) hospital, where she'll probably be for the next two weeks. Today, I'm writing as a means of therapy. Therapy for me. I knew going into this relationship that it would entail ups and downs, and hard work...
Our meeting was the fluke of the century. I happened to be scrounging around on Craigslist one day looking for a furniture item. Sally happened to be on Craigslist looking for pet supplies. On a lark, I posted a personals ad, something I'd never done (on Craigslist). It was a short ad, maybe three or four sentences total. The heading was something goofy like "Intelligent guy looking for sharp gal." posted by winecork (28 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite

? Older New Year's Eve comes with many widespread traditio...??|??A podcast... Newer ?

Source: http://www.metafilter.com/123382/How-I-Fell-in-Love-with-a-Schizophrenic

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The Daily Roundup for 1.1.2013

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

Continue reading The Daily Roundup for 1.1.2013

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/a_R2QCsHiCc/

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Pre-Marketing: Happy New... taxes - Fortune Finance: Hedge Funds ...

Dan Primack joined Fortune.com in September 2010 to cover deals and dealmakers, from Wall Street to Sand Hill Road. Previously, Dan was an editor-at-large with Thomson Reuters, where he launched both peHUB.com and the peHUB Wire email service. In a past journalistic life, Dan ran a community paper in Roxbury, Massachusetts. He currently lives just outside of Boston.

Source: http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2012/12/31/new-taxes/

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Wall Street ends 2012 riding high on "cliff" deal optimism

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks closed out 2012 with their strongest day in more than a month, putting the S&P 500 up 13.4 percent for the year, as lawmakers in Washington closed in on a resolution to the "fiscal cliff" negotiations.

The S&P 500's gain for the year marks its best performance since 2009, as stocks navigated through debt crises in Europe and the United States that dominated the headlines. Still, with numerous issues involving budget talks unresolved, markets could still be open to a shock should the deal break down unexpectedly.

Fittingly, in the last session of the year, stocks bounced back and forth on the headlines out of Washington, as both President Barack Obama and Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell issued statements indicating a deal to avert the cliff was close.

"The worst news could have been the president coming out and saying, 'We don't have a deal and we've giving up,' and he didn't say that," said Ron Florance, managing director of investment strategy for Wells Fargo Private Bank, based in Scottsdale, Arizona.

"My personal skepticism, I don't trust anything out of Washington until it is signed, sealed and delivered, and it is not signed, sealed and delivered."

While a deal on the cliff is not yet official, investors may be ready to take on more risk next year in hopes of a greater reward.

McConnell said an agreement had been reached with Democrats on all of the tax issues in the potential deal, removing a large hurdle in the talks. An agreement is needed in order to avert a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts that many believe could push the U.S. economy into recession.

A source familiar with the matter said an emerging deal, if adopted by Congress and President Barack Obama, would raise $600 billion in revenue over the next 10 years by increasing tax rates for individuals making more than $400,000 and households earning above $450,000 annually.

Despite the uncertainty, the market encountered only occasional bouts of volatility this year. For the first time since 2006, the CBOE Volatility Index or VIX <.vix>, the market's favored indicator of anxiety, did not surpass the 30 level, a threshold that usually signals heightened worry among investors.

"Given all the threats in 2012, the VIX was relatively tranquil," said Bill Luby, the author of the VIX and More blog in San Francisco, citing the crises in Spain and Greece, along with constant intervention from the Federal Reserve.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 166.03 points, or 1.28 percent, to end at 13,104.14. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> gained 23.76 points, or 1.69 percent, to finish at 1,426.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> gained 59.20 points, or 2.00 percent, to close at 3,019.51.

Monday's gains enabled the S&P 500 to snap a five-day losing streak, its longest skid since September.

The S&P 500 closed out 2012 with a 13.4 percent gain for the year, compared with a flat performance in 2011. The Dow rose 7.3 percent in 2012 and the Nasdaq climbed 15.9 percent.

Financials <.gspf> were the strongest of the S&P's 10 industry sectors this year, gaining more than 26 percent, led by Bank of America , which more than doubled in 2012, and was the best performer of the Dow industrials.

Of the S&P's 10 sectors, only defensively oriented utilities <.gspu> ended the year lower, falling 2.9 percent.

Gains in Apple Inc , the most valuable U.S. company, helped lift the Nasdaq. The stock rose 4.4 percent to $532.17, lifting the S&P information technology sector index <.gspt> up 2.2 percent. For the year, Apple rose 31.4 percent, ending with a market value of about $501.4 billion.

Each of the Dow's 30 components finished the session in positive territory, led by a 3.2 percent climb in Caterpillar Inc to $89.58.

Volume was modest, with about 6.06 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, slightly below the daily average of 6.42 billion.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of 6 to 1, while on the Nasdaq, four stocks rose for every one that fell.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-ends-2012-riding-high-cliff-deal-142701960--sector.html

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