UA Research Sheds New Light on Epilepsy Rates Along U.S.-Mexico Border

A University of Arizona study of epilepsy rates in communities along the Arizona-Sonora border found a dramatic reversal of expectations in regards to epilepsy rates among Hispanics.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention-funded study set out to examine rates of epilepsy along the Arizona-Mexico border, focusing on three communities ? San Luis, Nogales and Douglas ? and found, contrary prior studies, that the prevalence of epilepsy in Hispanics was half of that in non-Hispanic whites. ?

"The starting point was the observation that in virtually all studies that had been done, minority populations tend to have higher prevalence of epilepsy, but none had been done in a border setting. Most had been done in cities," said Dr. David Labiner, director of the Arizona Comprehensive Epilepsy Program and head of the neurology department in the UA College of Medicine.

Combining two methodologies ? random phone calls, much like the state health department uses in its studies, and door-to-door canvassing ? Labiner's study focused on determining and comparing the epilepsy rates in the Hispanic population versus the non-Hispanic population specifically along the border. The researchers selected larger communities in Yuma, Santa Cruz and Cochise Counties, skipping the sparsely populated stretch of the border in Pima County.

The researchers discovered that non-Hispanic whites were two times more likely to have active epilepsy than Hispanics, a surprising reversal of comparative rates that previous city-based studies, in Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York, had determined. The study didn't determine the causes of that discrepancy, but Labiner suggested a number of factors could be involved, including language, acculturation factors, stigma or a reflection of the "healthy immigrant effect," which suggests that in order to travel, an immigration population is naturally more healthy than the general population.

Labiner, along with Jenny Chong, research associate professor of neurology, is participating in follow-up and related studies that may provide more insight on the unexpected findings. One, again funded by the CDC, examines seizures in an older population, which may exclude more recent immigrants, for Hispanics versus non-Hispanics, while another involves a collaboration with colleagues in Central America to explore that question with different immigrant populations.

"Epilepsy is a fairly common neurological problem but yet it does not get attention like multiple sclerosis or muscular dystrophy," Labiner said. "There are a tremendous number of life consequences associated with having a diagnosis of epilepsy and there's a lot of stigma associated with this disease."

Additionally, the border study found a surprisingly high number of cases in which epilepsy had not been identified in the past.

"We were fairly shocked that a quarter of the people we identified with epilepsy had never been diagnosed or treated," Labiner said. "It's not like there is no proximity to specialists. The areas are not that remote that you should expect people are going undiagnosed."

Source: http://uanews.org/story/ua-research-sheds-new-light-on-epilepsy-rates-along-u-s--mexico-border

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Pena Nieto delays Mexico energy bill amid party negotiations

Mexican leader Enrique Pena Nieto speaks during an interview at the Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City in July 2013. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, File)

By Eric Martin and Adam Williams
Bloomberg News

President Enrique Pena Nieto will delay the announcement of his proposal to end Mexico?s seven-decade state energy monopoly until next week, he said today in a statement posted to his Twitter page.

?I continue to prepare the presentation of the energy reform that will stimulate national development,? he said in a statement confirmed by the presidential press office. ?I?ve decided to announce it next week.?

The delay comes as political parties extend negotiations, said a person who isn?t authorized to speak publicly about the president?s plans. Francisco Arroyo, a lawmaker with Pena Nieto?s ruling party and speaker of the lower house, said in a Radio Formula interview that the bill will be pushed back a few days to reach the ?broadest consensus possible.?

Pena Nieto is seeking to change the constitution to allow companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. to pump crude in the nation with Latin America?s third-largest proven oil reserves for the first time since 1938, the president of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party Cesar Camacho said in an interview yesterday. A more aggressive proposal delivered last week by an opposition party is increasing Pena Nieto?s chances of pushing the bill through Congress, according to Nomura Holdings Inc.

?Although we?d like to have the reform approved as is, it?s obvious that won?t occur,? Camacho said by telephone. ?It?s necessary to listen to many voices and for the legislators to come to an agreement on the essential topics.?

Pena Nieto said yesterday he was planning to present the bill this week.

Peso Slides

Mexico?s peso fell 0.5 percent to 12.6857 per U.S. dollar at 12:10 p.m. in Mexico City, the biggest decline among 16 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The proposal?s delay is ?seen in a very bad light,? said Roberto Galvan, a currency trader at Intercam Casa de Bolsa SA in Mexico City. ?Everyone expected that today it would be presented.?

Galvan said a delay suggests that there?s been some problem in the negotiations between political parties even as it remains a top priority for Pena Nieto. The Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, which has said it opposes changing the constitution, will present its own energy proposal this week.

Pena Nieto delayed the bill ?in order to negotiate with the PRD,? Jorge Chabat, a political scientist at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching, a Mexico City-based university, said in a phone interview. ?It?s the only explanation,? Chabat said. ?I think this favors Pena Nieto?s proposal. It allows more time for the bill to be hammered out.?

Production Sharing

The bill to loosen state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos?s grip on crude output and attract investment would be the economy?s biggest overhaul since the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994.

Pena Nieto, a 47-year-old former governor who took office in December, will propose production-sharing contracts for oil exploration and output, while drawing the line at offering private companies equity stakes in concessions, Camacho said. He declined to say which constitutional articles would be modified.

Exxon, the world?s most valuable energy company, Chevron and Spanish oil producer Repsol SA are among companies that have expressed interest in Mexico?s oil fields. Alan Jeffers, an Exxon spokesman in Irving, Texas, wasn?t available for comment, an assistant said by phone yesterday.

A press official who isn?t an authorized spokesman for Pemex, as Petroleos Mexicanos is known, said the company won?t comment until Pena Nieto?s proposal is released.

Source: http://fuelfix.com/blog/2013/08/07/pena-nieto-delays-mexico-energy-bill-amid-party-negotiations/

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Plantronics BackBeat Go 2

Buying an audio product requires balancing your priorities for sound quality and price. If you can spend a lot on a pair of headphones, they're probably going to sound great (with certain distinctions between the models). If you can't spend a lot, you're going to have to compromise certain aspects of sound quality. For less than $100, you can't expect a Bluetooth headset with powerful bass. However, you can get a pair of comfortable in-ear earphones with very good mid- and high-end sound quality. The Plantronics BackBeat Go 2 are the follow-up to last year's Editors' Choice BackBeat Go, and at $79.99 without a charging pouch or $99.99 with a charging pouch, they offer an even better value and an incremental upgrade over the previous model.

Design
The BackBeat Go 2 is nearly physically identical to the original Backbeat Go with a few small changes. It's still a pair of earbuds on a short, flat, tangle-free cable with an in-line remote and microphone in a small rectangular box near the right ear. The in-line remote now has three buttons instead of one, and can adjust volume and change tracks in addition to answering calls. It's still available in black and white versions. It still has a micro USB connection for charging hidden behind a rubber door on the right earbud. It still comes with three pairs of rubber tips in different sizes and a pair of looped ear stabilizers that hook just behind the ear tips. The only other real visible difference besides the remote is that it comes with the ear stabilizers already mounted on the earbuds instead of sitting in the box. The headset is otherwise indistinguishable from its predecessor.

The headset can come with a battery charger and carrying pouch for an additional $20, a new addition to the BackBeat Go. The pouch is a sturdy nylon bag just large enough to hold the earbuds and cable round in a small, loose loop. A short micro USB cable can plug into the headset while it's in the pouch to charge from the small battery built in. A micro USB port in the bottom of the pouch keeps it charged and can directly charge the headset before topping off its own battery. A small button and two LEDs indicate the pouch's charging level and if it's charging the headset. Plantronics claims the case can add an additional 10 hours to the BackBeat Go 2's 4.5 hours of listening or 5 hours of talk time, making the extra $20 for the carrying case a very good deal. Together, the headset and case package retails for the same as the original BackBeat Go did at launch without a case, at $99.99.

Plantronics kept almost all changes to the BackBeat Go 2 on the inside, or at least invisible. The headset has a P2i nano-coating to effectively waterproof it, protecting it from sweat and other moisture (but it still isn't built for diving or submersion), though this was introduced to the original BackBeat Go in later production runs. It can now pair with up to eight devices instead of just one, and has a DeepSleep hibernation mode that Plantronics says can let it stand by for up to six months. It still has a 6mm driver in each earbud, but Plantronics says they're third generation instead of first generation drivers, and feature enhanced bass. And, of course, there are the aforementioned extra buttons on the inline remote, which are very helpful.

Performance
For a set of $80 Bluetooth headphones, the BackBeat Go 2 has very good sound quality, despite predictably weak bass. Both Powerman 5000's cover of "We're Not Gonna Take It" and Twisted Sister's original studio version sounded clear and crisp, with both the tweaked, beepy industrial sounds of Powerman 5000 and the classic, bombastic heavy metal sounds of Twisted Sister both sounding full and clear and not overshadowing Michael Cummings or Dee Snyder's vocals. The live Twisted Sister version of the song didn't fare quite so well, with the crowd sounding distant and indistinct even when they sang along, and the drums fading behind the guitars and vocals.

Like the previous BackBeat Go, the BackBeat Go 2 is weak on the bass. To its credit, it handled the deep synth notes of The Knife's "Silent Shout" without a hint of distortion, but they didn't really have much presence, either. They faded against the higher notes as the song went on. This doesn't mean bass is entirely indistinct, though. In jazz fusion tracks like the Beastie Boys' "Electric Worm" and "B For My Name," the bass notes lacked presence but could still be distinguished against the rolling cymbals, sharp snares, and jangly electric guitar.

For calls, the BackBeat Go 2 sounds decent indoors, but the microphone placement (just under the right ear, on a cable that runs behind the neck) makes it pick up a lot of street noise when walking around. It's not an ideal headset for calls, compared with headsets with better placed microphones like the Plantronics Voyager Legend.

Conclusion
The Plantronics BackBeat Go 2 is a solid upgrade to the original BackBeat Go, with good sound quality and a slightly improved design. It only makes small changes and it still has weak bass, but considering it's $20 less than the original BackBeat Go was at launch, or can come with a very handy portable charger and keeps all of the good points of the previous version for the same price, it's readily our new budget Editors' Choice stereo Bluetooth headset. If you want to pay more to emphasize audio quality with a Bluetooth headset, the JayBird BlueBuds X are an excellent, albeit twice as expensive, choice.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/LZYnyklgzkk/0,2817,2422584,00.asp

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Letters: Duck football facility, faith-based outreach, Springwater support

Print publication: Sunday, Aug. 4

Duck football facility

Submit a letter

Post at My Oregon, the Oregonian's online community opinion hub. As a former University of Oregon spokesperson, I still marvel at how posh the university's athletic facilities were, even in comparison to some of the ooshest Fortune 500 corporate offices I have worked in during my career.

David Sarasohn is correct when he implies that Phil Knight, or any other university donor, can direct their gifts in any way they want ("University of Oregon opens its pigskin palace: 200 wiseguy words," OregonLive.com, Aug. 2). If they want to help build pigskin palaces, fine. If they want to help build libraries and law schools (as Knight has done at UO), that is great too.

And if the people and businesses of Oregon really want all of the non-athletic university facilities and programs at the University of Oregon to compete in the same posh and reputation factor as those of athletics, there are several solutions. One is to start demanding that the state of Oregon fund the university at levels more fitting of world-class universities. Another is to make the private contributions to the university that would help, for instance, the geography department compete in the Rose Bowl of geography.

Because palaces -- pigskin, geographic or otherwise -- have to be paid for by somebody.

MARY STANIK
Minneapolis ?
Stanik was senior director of media and public relations at the University of Oregon from May 2005 to June 2006.

Faith-based outreach

Sara Hottman's article "Expanding outreach to those in need" (Portland Community News section, July 24) provides timely Catholic Church good news.

St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church's 30-year history of providing safety-net services to the poorest of the poor among us, along with a smiling, personable Pope Francis, shine a positive light on faith-based ministries.

On any given night of the year, many hungry and homeless Oregonians are fed and sheltered by faith-based organizations. According to the Oregon Food Bank, 72 percent of OFB partner organizations that provide emergency food services in Multnomah County are faith-based.

All Oregonians can be proud of this good news.

GORDON and MARY ANN DICKEY
Wilsonville?

Springwater support

It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon. I had just begun my first Springwater Trail ride on my two-week-old bicycle when, a mile and a half from Gresham, I found myself face town on the asphalt.

As I was assessing the damage to my body and freaking out about my new bike, along came a young couple and their little girl. They offered baby wipes to clean my wounds, mechanical support to get my bike back on the road and chocolate to cheer my spirit.

At the time, I might have spent too much time whining about my bike and not enough expressing how appreciative I am. As I try to look at the positive side of this experience, this young couple is at the top of my list.

DONNA WEBER
Estacada?

Source: http://blog.oregonlive.com/myoregon/2013/08/letters_duck_football_facility.html

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India eases investment rules to attract global retailing giants

New Delhi: India eased requirements for foreign retailers to invest in local supermarkets to lure global chains such as Wal-Mart Stores and Tesco to open stores in Asia's third-biggest economy.

Rules covering sourcing, infrastructure investment and store location have been amended, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma told reporters in New Delhi on Thursday night. The cabinet also approved proposals to amend foreign direct investment rules for a range of businesses including commodity exchanges, he said.

The government is loosening rules to attract overseas investors to stem a ballooning current-account deficit and a weakening rupee. While the nation changed laws in September to allow foreign retailers to own majority stakes in stores selling multiple brands, no companies have sought such licenses yet.

"The government is showing really positive intentions," Kumar Rajagopalan, chief executive officer of lobby group Retailers Association of India, said in an interview on Bloomberg TV India. "The state governments now have to go forward and invite the companies to come and invest."

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, and other foreign chains already have some wholesale operations in the country. Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart is studying India's revisions and remains "optimistic" about the opportunity, Arti Singh, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart's Indian unit, said in an e- mailed statement. A Tesco spokesman said the company welcomed the proposed changes in the policy and is in the process of reviewing the conditions.

Heavy debt
Debt-heavy domestic retailers like Future Retail could be one of the "key beneficiaries" of these policies, as it would make it easier for them to seek overseas partners to trim their borrowings, said Dhvani Modi, an analyst at brokerage ICICI Direct. Future, which runs the Big Bazaar grocery chain, climbed as much as 14.7 per cent to Rs84.5, headed for the biggest gain since April 17. Apparel retailer Shoppers Stop advanced as much as four per cent before dropping 1.35 per cent to Rs355.15 as of 3.08pm.

Farmers' groups
Minister Sharma said foreign investment up to 49 per cent will be now allowed under the automatic route in sectors including petroleum and natural gas, commodity and power exchanges as well as in stock exchanges. In defense, the government will consider proposals of more than 26 per cent FDI on a "case to case" basis.

The government also amended a rule intended to help small industries supply to the big chains. Retailers were earlier required to source 30 per cent of their manufactured products from small- and mid-sized local firms, which were defined as companies with less than $1 million invested in factories and machinery.

The new rules allow sourcing from companies with investments of up to $2 million, broadening the supply base for retailers. Products from agricultural cooperatives and farmers groups would also be considered under this requirement, according to an e-mailed statement from the government. Allowing farmers groups in this category "is a huge deal as it includes all dairy products and fresh produce," Modi said. "This will make it very easy for retailers to meet the requirement."

Source: http://www.timesofoman.com/News/Article-20597.aspx

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US issues emergency safety order after Canada railroad disaster

Transportation Safety Board of Canada via Reuters / file

An aerial view of burned train cars after a train derailment and explosion in Lac-Megantic, Quebec, two days after the July 6 disaster.

By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News

Acting in the wake of the rail disaster that killed more than 40 people in Quebec last month, U.S. railway safety officials issued an emergency order late Friday toughening standards for securing unattended trains carrying hazardous materials.

The order, which is effective immediately, forbids railroads from leaving such trains unattended on mainline tracks without a detailed emergency response plan. It also orders railroads to inspect and certify the safety of hand brakes and emergency response equipment on those trains.

---

Joseph Szabo, head of the Federal Railroad Administration, wrote that the new rules are a direct response to the disaster early July 6 when a 73-car oil train derailed and exploded in the center of Lac-M?gantic in Quebec.?At least 42 people were confirmed killed in the explosions and resulting fire, which burned for days.

The train was operated by a U.S.-based railroad, the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway. Canadian transportation safety investigators are looking specifically at the train's braking systems and the procedures followed by the engineer ? the lone crew member ? who?parked on the main line, shut down four of the five locomotives and then left the train unattended.

In its own advisory letter last month, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said it had determined that the railroad's "operating plan" was to leave the train on the main track, "unattended, with an unlocked locomotive cab, parked alongside a public highway where it was accessible to the general public, with no additional protection."

The FRA has scheduled an emergency meeting of its Railroad Safety Advisory Committee to consider "what additional safety measures may be required," it said.

In a statement accompanying the order Friday, the U.S. Transportation Department, which oversees the FRA, said that while 2012 was "the safest year in American rail history," it was always "looking hard at the current rail operating practices for hazardous materials to ensure the public's safety."

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This story was originally published on Fri Aug 2, 2013 7:41 PM EDT

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GOP Attacks on ObamaCare Top the Week

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Source: http://concord-nh.patch.com/groups/around-town/p/gop-attacks-on-obamacare-top-the-week

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