Simple measures cut infections caught in hospitals

CHICAGO (AP) — Preventing infections from surgery is a major concern for hospitals and it turns out some simple measures can make a big difference.

A project at seven big hospitals reduced infections after colorectal surgeries by nearly one-third. It prevented an estimated 135 infections, saving almost $4 million.

The measures included having patients shower with special germ-fighting soap before surgery, and having surgery teams change gowns, gloves and instruments during operations to prevent spreading germs picked up during the procedures.

Practices were standardized at the seven hospitals.

The Joint Commission hospital regulating group and the American College of Surgeons directed the project. They announced results on Wednesday.

___

Online:

Joint Commission: http://www.jointcommission.org

Read More..

#My2K: Obama uses Twitter to prod Congress

President Barack Obama sits in front of a screen displaying a question he tweeted during a "Twitter Town Hall" …

President Barack Obama urged Americans on Wednesday to help him pressure Congress to prevent a Jan. 1 tax hike on the middle class, saying it was up to the public to make sure Washington doesn't "screw this up."

"When the American people speak loudly enough, lo and behold Congress listens," Obama said, flanked by Americans who answered the White House's call to detail what that tax increase would cost them personally.

"We really need to get this right. I can only do it with the help of the American people," the president said. "It's too important for Washington to screw this up."

Obama's remarks were part of a ramped-up public campaign to pressure Republicans in Congress, who have resisted his calls for letting Bush-era tax cuts that chiefly benefit the wealthiest Americans expire. The president wants to extend reductions on income up to $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for families. But he wants taxes above that level to rise in order to spare popular government programs from the budget-cutter's ax.

Republicans want to extend the tax cuts for higher earners, insisting that a tax hike on that group will reduce investments that generate jobs at a time when the economy is still sputtering and unemployment remains high. The GOP has signaled it would be willing to consider boosting tax revenue as long as Democrats agree to overhaul popular entitlement programs like Medicare or Medicaid. But key Democrats have refused to include those programs in talks on avoiding the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts due to take effect Jan. 1.

"Let's keep middle-class tax low. That's what our economy needs, that's what the American people deserve," Obama said. "And if we get this part of it right, then a lot of the other issues surrounding deficit reduction in a fair and balanced and responsible way are going to be a whole lot easier.

"If we get this wrong the economy's going to go south," the president warned. "It's going to be much more difficult for us to balance our budgets and deal with our deficits because, if the economy's not strong, that means more money's going out in things like unemployment insurance and less money's coming in in terms of tax receipts and it just actually makes our deficit worse."

Obama urged Americans who agree with him to call, write and tweet lawmakers (using the hashtag #My2K), or post messages on their Facebook pages. "Do what it takes to communicate a sense of urgency. We don't have a lot of time. We've got a few weeks to get this thing done."

Still, he said, "I am confident that we will get it done."

The White House says that "a typical middle-class family of four" would pay Uncle Sam an additional $2,200 unless tax cuts are extended for them.

That $2,200 figure is the inspiration for #My2K, part of what the White House describes as an "online push" behind the president's approach. Obama has highlighted Twitter hashtags in past disputes with Republicans: #40dollars in the fight over the payroll tax holiday and #dontdoublemyrate in a feud over student loans.

The president, who spoke to top Republican and Democratic leaders over the weekend, was to make brief public remarks at the top of a meeting with his Cabinet at 3 p.m. before huddling with senior executives from major American corporations.

Here is the list of attendees, as provided by the White House:

• Frank Blake, Chairman and CEO, the Home Depot
• Lloyd Blankfein, Chairman and CEO, Goldman Sachs Group
• Joe Echeverria, CEO, Deloitte LLP
• Ken Frazier, President and CEO, Merck and Co.
• Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO, Coca Cola
• Terry Lundgren, Chairman, President and CEO, Macy's Inc.
• Marissa Mayer, CEO and President, Yahoo!
• Douglas Oberhelman, Chairman and CEO, Caterpillar
• Ian Read, Chairman and CEO, Pfizer
• Brian Roberts, Chairman and CEO, Comcast
• Ed Rust, Chairman and CEO, State Farm Insurance Co.
• Arne Sorenson, President and CEO, Marriott
• Randall Stephenson, Chairman and CEO, AT&T
• Patricia Woertz, President and CEO, Archer Daniels Midland

The fiscal cliff refers to an economically painful set of tax hikes and deep spending cuts that come into effect Jan. 1 unless Congress and the president reach a deal.

Read More..

China's party paper falls for Onion joke about Kim

BEIJING (AP) — The online version of China's Communist Party newspaper has hailed a report by The Onion naming North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un as the "Sexiest Man Alive" — not realizing it is satire.

The People's Daily on Tuesday ran a 55-page photo spread on its website in a tribute to the round-faced leader, under the headline "North Korea's top leader named The Onion's Sexiest Man Alive for 2012."

Quoting The Onion's spoof report, the Chinese newspaper wrote, "With his devastatingly handsome, round face, his boyish charm, and his strong, sturdy frame, this Pyongyang-bred heartthrob is every woman's dream come true."

"Blessed with an air of power that masks an unmistakable cute, cuddly side, Kim made this newspaper's editorial board swoon with his impeccable fashion sense, chic short hairstyle, and, of course, that famous smile," the People's Daily cited The Onion as saying.

The photos the People's Daily selected include Kim on horseback squinting into the light and Kim waving toward a military parade. In other photos, he is wearing sunglasses and smiling, or touring a facility with his wife.

People's Daily could not immediately be reached for comment. A man who answered the phone at the newspaper's duty office said he did not know anything about the report and requested queries be directed to their newsroom on Wednesday morning.

It is not the first time a state-run Chinese newspaper has fallen for a fictional report by the just-for-laughs The Onion.

In 2002, the Beijing Evening News, one of the capital city's biggest tabloids at the time, published as news the fictional account that the U.S. Congress wanted a new building and that it might leave Washington. The Onion article was a spoof of the way sports teams threaten to leave cities in order to get new stadiums.

Two months ago, Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency reprinted a story from The Onion about a supposed survey showing that most rural white Americans would rather vote for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad than President Barack Obama. It included a quote from a fictional West Virginia resident saying he'd rather go to a baseball game with Ahmadinejad because "he takes national defense seriously."

Read More..

Google Breaks All Android App Reviews, Threatens Android Fans’ Safety

“A Google User” is now the number one Android game and app reviewer on Google Play, Android’s version of Apple’s App Store. That’s because every single one of the millions of existing reviews, possibly including yours, has had its author replaced with this nameless, faceless person.

Screenshots taken by Jeremiah Rice of the Android Police blog show this prolific (but completely generic) author has taken over the Google Play store. Meanwhile, if you visit the store on your Android smartphone or tablet you won’t see a name attached to most reviews at all; just the review’s title, and the device that the game or app was run on.

Believe it or not, this is all intentional. It’s the start of a new Google policy … one which may threaten some Android fans’ safety or privacy.

​Google+, whether you like it or not

Google now requires you to have a Google+ (pronounced “Google Plus”) account in order to leave reviews on Google Play, the Chrome Web Store, and Google Maps. No reason for the switchover is given in the pop-up which explains this; you simply click “Continue” if you want your reviews tied to your Google+ account, and if you don’t want them linked you don’t write them at all. If you don’t have a Google+ account, you have to sign up for one before you can write a review.

​Why Google is Plus-ifying everything

Google’s success as a company is determined by how many ads it sells. Google’s share of the ad market is being eaten into by Facebook, which has essentially “walled off” a huge part of people’s day-to-day lives in a place Google can’t index or sell any ads on. For better or for worse, Google’s execs feel that what they need to do to compete is copy Facebook, in the form of Google+.

Why? Because if everyone is “Plusing” things instead of “Liking” them, and if everything people do shows up on Google+ instead of Facebook, then now Google (instead of Facebook) knows what you’re doing online and where you’re doing it — and that gives it a much better position from which to display and sell ads.

​Why this is a problem for many

Besides the obvious privacy concerns (although Google offers limited tools to manage how much it tracks you), Google+’s “real names” policy is dangerous to anyone whose safety is jeopardized by attaching their given name to their online activities. This includes women who are victims of stalking, minors who are victims of abuse, transgender persons in transition, and dissidents in repressive political or religious regimes. By requiring a Google+ account to use more and more of its services, Google is forcing these people to choose between excluding themselves and running the risk of having ​all​ of their Google services terminated for a “real name” policy violation, including their personal Gmail accounts.

Google+ policy allows for pseudonymous accounts, if you’re widely known by that pseudonym online. Everyone’s Google+ page, however, has a button to report what anyone feels is a suspicious name, which puts marginalized persons like those listed above at the mercy of every “troll” who comes by.

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.
Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Read More..

'Moonrise,' 'Silver Linings' lead Spirit Awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The oddball romances "Moonrise Kingdom" and "Silver Linings Playbook" picked up five nominations each Tuesday to lead the Spirit Awards honoring independent film.

Both films are competing for the best-picture prize at the Spirit Awards, one of Hollywood's first big announcements on the long road to the Oscars.

Also competing for best picture are the father-daughter tale "Beasts of the Southern Wild"; the black comedy "Bernie"; and the gay drama "Keep the Lights On."

"Silver Linings Playbook," a comic drama centered on a man just released from a mental hospital and a troubled young widow, earned lead-acting nominations for Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. "Moonrise Kingdom," a first-love story between a precocious boy and girl who run away together, received a supporting-actor nomination for Bruce Willis.

The films each earned directing and screenplay slots for "Moonrise Kingdom" filmmaker Wes Anderson, who co-wrote the script with Roman Coppola, and "Silver Linings Playbook" filmmaker David O. Russell. "Moonrise Kingdom" also was nominated for cinematography.

Matthew McConaughey received two nominations, for best actor in "Killer Joe" and supporting actor in "Magic Mike." Past Academy Award winner Helen Hunt has a supporting-actress nomination for "The Sessions." Child star Quvenzhane Wallis, who had never acted before, has a best-actress nomination for "Beasts of the Southern Wild."

Among other acting nominees are Jack Black (best actor for "Bernie"); John Hawkes (best actor for "The Sessions"); Rosemarie DeWitt (supporting actress for "Your Sister's Sister"); Michael Pena (supporting actor for "End of Watch"); Sam Rockwell (supporting actor for "Seven Psychopaths"); and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (best actress for "Smashed").

Joining Anderson and Russell in the directing category are Julia Loktev for "The Loneliest Planet," Ira Sachs for "Keep the Lights On" and Benh Zeitlin for "Beasts of the Southern Wild," which won the top prize at last January's Sundance Film Festival.

Though the Spirit Awards honor lower-budgeted film outside the Hollywood mainstream, the nominations often overlap heavily with Oscar contenders. Last season's big Oscar winner, "The Artist," also won the top prize at the Spirit Awards, while films such as "The Descendants," ''Beginners" and "My Week with Marilyn" had wins or nominations at both shows.

The overlap may be lighter this season, with big-budget studio films such as "Les Miserables," ''Lincoln" and "Argo" shaping up as early favorites to dominate the Oscars, whose nominations come out Jan. 10.

But "Silver Linings Playbook," ''Moonrise Kingdom," ''Beasts of the Southern Wild," ''The Sessions" and other smaller films have solid prospects in some Oscar categories.

Presented by the cinema group Film Independent, the Spirit Awards will be handed out at an afternoon ceremony along the beach in Santa Monica, Calif., on Feb. 23, the day before the Oscars. The Spirit Awards show will air that night on IFC.

Nominees are chosen by panels of film professionals, which gauge contenders on such criteria as uniqueness of vision; original, provocative subject matter; how economically they were produced; and percentage of financing from independent, non-Hollywood sources. Eligible films typically range from tiny-budgeted movies shot for $500,000 or less to productions that cost as much as $20 million.

Members of Film Independent, including filmmakers and movie fans, are eligible to vote on the winners.

Read More..

CDC: HIV spread high in young gay males

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say 1 in 5 new HIV infections occur in a tiny segment of the population — young men who are gay or bisexual.

The government on Tuesday released new numbers that spotlight how the spread of the AIDS virus is heavily concentrated in young males who have sex with other males. Only about a quarter of new infections in the 13-to-24 age group are from injecting drugs or heterosexual sex.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said blacks represented more than half of new infections in youths. The estimates are based on 2010 figures.

Overall, new U.S. HIV infections have held steady at around 50,000 annually. About 12,000 are in teens and young adults, and most youth with HIV haven't been tested.

___

Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns

Read More..

GOP senators 'troubled' after Rice meeting

United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice's attempts to "make nice" with a trio of Republican senators who have criticized her response to the Sept. 11 terror attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, seem to have backfired.

The senators said they left their face-to-face meeting with Rice this morning "more concerned" and "significantly troubled."

The three Republicans, Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, said not only did Rice, who was joined by Acting CIA Director Mike Morell, not answer all their questions about the attack but did little to assuage their overall worries.

"We are significantly troubled by many of the answers that we got, and some that we didn't get concerning evidence that was overwhelming leading up to the attack on the consulate," McCain said.

"The concerns I have are greater today than before, and we're not even close to getting the basic answers," Graham said.

Today's meeting was seen as part of Rice's Capitol Hill "charm offensive," as her possible nomination to become the next secretary of state has met with some vocal opposition – especially from McCain, Graham and Ayotte, who still seemed to steer clear of questions about whether they would stand in the way if Rice was nominated.

"Before anybody can make an intelligent decision about promoting someone involved in Benghazi, we need to do a lot more," Graham said. "To this date, we don't have the FBI interviews of the survivors conducted one or two days after the attack. We don't have the basic information about what was said the night of the attack ... as of this date."

Graham compared the situation to 2006, when Senate Democrats blocked the nomination of John Bolton, President Bush's choice for U.N. ambassador.

What the senators seemed to find most problematic was Rice's statement on the Sunday morning news shows days after the attack. At first, she said it was a "spontaneous" attack and not a terrorist attack.

Ayotte said that in today's meeting Rice called the information she first gave to the American people wrong.

"It's certainly clear from the beginning that we knew that those with ties to al Qaeda were involved in the attack on the embassy, and clearly the impression that was given, the information given to the American people, was wrong," Ayotte said,

Rice said in a statement following the meeting: "We explained that the talking points provided by the intelligence community, and the initial assessment upon which they were based, were incorrect in a key respect: There was no protest or demonstration in Benghazi. While, we certainly wish that we had had perfect information just days after the terrorist attack, as is often the case, the intelligence assessment has evolved. We stressed that neither I nor anyone else in the administration intended to mislead the American people at any stage in this process, and the administration updated Congress and the American people as our assessments evolved."

Ayotte said that as the U.N. ambassador, Rice should have stepped up and said that she couldn't go on the Sunday morning news shows and talk about the attack without complete information.

Graham, like Ayotte, said it would have been better not to have given any information at all.

"If you can give nothing but bad information, isn't it better to give no information at all? It was unjustified to give the scenarios as presented by Ambassador Rice and President Obama three weeks before an election."

Rice is expected to meet with outgoing Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., later today. A close ally of McCain (Lieberman endorsed McCain for president in 2008), Lieberman has not been as quick to criticize Rice.

Also Read

Read More..

Pakistani TV anchor survives attempted bombing

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Police on Monday found and defused a bomb planted under the car of a prominent Pakistani TV anchor threatened by the Taliban for his coverage of a schoolgirl shot by the militants, police said.

The bomb was made up of half a kilogram (one pound) of explosives stuffed in a tin can, said Bani Amin, the police chief in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, where the incident occurred. It was placed in a bag and attached to the bottom of Mir's car, said Amin.

One of Mir's neighbors noticed the bomb under the car after the TV anchor returned from a local market, and the police were notified, said Rana Jawad, a senior official at Geo TV.

No group has claimed responsibility.

The Pakistani Taliban threatened Mir and other journalists last month over their coverage of an assassination attempt against Malala Yousufzai, a 15-year-old schoolgirl activist who was shot in the head by the militants in the northwest Swat Valley.

The Taliban targeted Malala for criticizing the militant group and promoting secular girls' education, which is opposed by the Islamist extremists. She is recovering in Britain.

Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik offered 50 million rupees ($500,000) for information about those responsible for the attempted attack against Mir.

The anchor said on TV after the incident that it would not deter him from speaking the truth.

"It was proven today that the Protector is more powerful than the attacker," said Mir.

He said he wasn't prepared to blame the Taliban for the attempted bombing, claiming he had received threats from others as well.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, a bomb hidden in a cement construction block exploded in the southern city of Karachi, killing one person, said senior police officer Farooq Awan. Four other people were wounded, he said.

The bomb contained about one kilogram (two pounds) of explosives and was detonated by a mobile phone, Awan said.

Pakistan suspended mobile phone service throughout most of the country on Saturday and Sunday to prevent attacks against Shiite Muslims during a major religious commemoration.

Despite the ban, a pair of bombings over the weekend killed at least 13 people.

Awan said he suspected the bomb in Karachi was meant to target Shiites over the weekend, but militants were not able to detonate it at the time because of the mobile phone cutoff.

Shiites are observing the holy month of Muharram. Pakistani Shiites on Sunday marked Ashoura, the most important day of the month.

Pakistan has a long history of Sunni Muslim extremists targeting Shiites, whom they consider heretics.

Also Monday, police said 16 addicts have died in the eastern city of Lahore after drinking cough syrup suspected of being toxic, said police officer Multan Khan.

Khan said they died at various hospitals in Lahore over the past three days. Two people were still being treated at the city's main hospital.

Police arrested the owners of three drug stores where the cough syrup was sold and sent a sample for analysis to determine whether it was toxic, Khan said.

____

Associated Press writers Adil Jawad in Karachi, Pakistan, and Zaheer Babar in Lahore, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Read More..

Anna Nicole Smith daughter a Guess model

The 6-year-old daughter of the late Anna Nicole Smith is walking in her mother's shoes, taking a starring role in the spring ad campaign for Guess Kids.

Guess? Inc.'s creative director Paul Marciano says in a statement that Dannielynn Birkhead has the "same playful spirit" that her mother would carry onto a set.

The brand hired Smith in 1992, and she appeared in its sexy denim-wear ads through 1993. She was a relative modeling unknown at the time, although earlier in 1992 she was on a Playboy magazine cover.

Smith died in 2007.

Dannielynn's campaign also stars Peyton Edmunds, the daughter of music industry veteran Babyface. The ads were shot on a Malibu, Calif., beach, and they'll start appearing in magazines, on billboards and on buses beginning in January.

Read More..

Bounce houses a party hit but kids' injuries soar

CHICAGO (AP) — They may be a big hit at kids' birthday parties, but inflatable bounce houses can be dangerous, with the number of injuries soaring in recent years, a nationwide study found.

Kids often crowd into bounce houses, and jumping up and down can send other children flying into the air, too.

The numbers suggest 30 U.S. children a day are treated in emergency rooms for broken bones, sprains, cuts and concussions from bounce house accidents. Most involve children falling inside or out of the inflated playthings, and many children get hurt when they collide with other bouncing kids.

The number of children aged 17 and younger who got emergency-room treatment for bounce house injuries has climbed along with the popularity of bounce houses — from fewer than 1,000 in 1995 to nearly 11,000 in 2010. That's a 15-fold increase, and a doubling just since 2008.

"I was surprised by the number, especially by the rapid increase in the number of injuries," said lead author Dr. Gary Smith, director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

Amusement parks and fairs have bounce houses, and the playthings can also be rented or purchased for home use.

Smith and colleagues analyzed national surveillance data on ER treatment for nonfatal injuries linked with bounce houses, maintained by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Their study was published online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

Only about 3 percent of children were hospitalized, mostly for broken bones.

More than one-third of the injuries were in children aged 5 and younger. The safety commission recommends against letting children younger than 6 use full-size trampolines, and Smith said barring kids that young from even smaller, home-use bounce houses would make sense.

"There is no evidence that the size or location of an inflatable bouncer affects the injury risk," he said.

Other recommendations, often listed in manufacturers' instruction pamphlets, include not overloading bounce houses with too many kids and not allowing young children to bounce with much older, heavier kids or adults, said Laura Woodburn, a spokeswoman for the National Association of Amusement Ride Safety Officials.

The study didn't include deaths, but some accidents are fatal. Separate data from the product safety commission show four bounce house deaths from 2003 to 2007, all involving children striking their heads on a hard surface.

Several nonfatal accidents occurred last year when bounce houses collapsed or were lifted by high winds.

A group that issues voluntary industry standards says bounce houses should be supervised by trained operators and recommends that bouncers be prohibited from doing flips and purposefully colliding with others, the study authors noted.

Bounce house injuries are similar to those linked with trampolines, and the American Academy of Pediatrics has recommended against using trampolines at home. Policymakers should consider whether bounce houses warrant similar precautions, the authors said.

___

Online:

Pediatrics: http://www.pediatrics.org

Trade group: http://www.naarso.com

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

Read More..