Combined wood and tobacco smoke exposure increases risk and symptoms of COPD

May 20, 2013 ? People who are consistently exposed to both wood smoke and tobacco smoke are at a greater risk for developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and for experiencing more frequent and severe symptoms of the disease, as well as more severe airflow obstruction, than those who are exposed to only one type of smoke, according to the results of a new population-based study conducted by researchers in Colombia.

The results of the study will be presented at the ATS 2013 International Conference.

"Although previous studies have shown a definite link between wood smoke exposure and the development of COPD, those studies were case-controls and case series of patients with similar disease or health profiles," said study lead author Carlos Torres-Duque, M.D., director of research at the Fundacion Neumologica Colombiana in Bogota. "This new data derives from a population-based study that looked at wood smoke exposure and the overall prevalence of COPD, as well as the characteristics of the disease and those who suffer from it."

About 40 percent of the world's population uses solid fuels -- especially wood -- for cooking or heating, he noted.

For this study, Dr. Torres-Duque and his colleagues used data from the PREPOCOL (Prevalencia de la Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva Cr?nica en Colombia) study which evaluated the prevalence of COPD among the adult residents of five Colombian cities. The study included 5,539 subjects, 8.9 percent of whom were diagnosed with COPD. The study participants were divided into four groups: those who were exposed to wood smoke and who had never smoked tobacco (30.9 percent); those who were exposed to tobacco smoke but had no exposure to wood smoke (18.7 percent); those who had been exposed to both types of smoke (29.8 percent); and those who had exposure to neither type of smoke (20.6 percent).

Patients' lung function was measured using spirometry, a technique used to measure the amount of air a person is able to inhale and exhale, and all patients completed a standardized respiratory questionnaire to identify exposure to smoke.

In their initial review of data, the researchers learned that 53 percent of those diagnosed with COPD had both wood and tobacco smoke exposure; moreover, the prevalence of COPD increased as exposure to wood smoke increased.

After adjusting for specific factors including age, active and passive tobacco smoking, education level, history of TB and altitude, the researchers found that wood smoke exposure of 10 or more years posed a significant risk factor for developing COPD in both men and women and those with both wood and tobacco exposure had poorer lung function scores and more phlegm and coughed more frequently than those who had exposure to only one type of smoke.Among the COPD population, those who were exposed only to wood smoke tended to be women, to have higher BMIs and to be shorter than those exposed to tobacco smoke or to a combination of wood and tobacco smoke.

"In the population we studied, exposure to wood smoke was identified as an independent risk factor for developing COPD, both in women and men," Dr. Torres-Duque said. "In addition, the prevalence of COPD was significantly higher in those who were exposed to both wood and tobacco smoke and those with both exposures had more symptoms and more severe disease than those who were exposed to only one type of smoke."

This result suggests that the combination of wood and tobacco smoke produces an additive effect that causes an increase in COPD prevalence and in the frequency of COPD symptoms, he added.

"It is also possible that the responses of the lungs and airways could vary, based on the pollutants to which they're exposed," Dr. Torres-Duque noted.

Future studies might provide additional data regarding varying responses and help clinicians determine specific treatments based on exposures, he said.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/lf9eb5_FKl8/130520142752.htm

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Search nearly complete after Oklahoma tornado

Justin Stehan salvages photographs from his tornado-ravaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Justin Stehan salvages photographs from his tornado-ravaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Jimmy Hodges helps Chad Heltcel and his wife Cassidi salvage the wreckage of Chad Heltcel's family home, which was destroyed Monday when a tornado moved through Moore, Okla., Tuesday, May 21, 2013. The huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds.(AP Photo/Brennan Linsley)

Zac Woodcock salvages items from the rubble of a tornado-ravaged rental home which they own Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

AT&T employees sort through tangled phone lines as they clean up in a tornado-ravaged neighborhood Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

An unidentified man watches a rain storm from inside the garage of his tornado-damaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

MOORE, Okla. (AP) ? Helmeted rescue workers raced Tuesday to complete the search for survivors and the dead in the Oklahoma City suburb where a mammoth tornado destroyed countless homes, cleared lots down to bare red earth and claimed 24 lives.

Scientists concluded the storm was a rare and extraordinarily powerful type of twister known as an EF5, which is capable of lifting reinforced buildings off the ground, hurling cars like missiles and stripping trees completely free of bark.

Meanwhile, residents of Moore began returning to their homes a day after the tornado smashed some neighborhoods into jagged wood scraps and gnarled pieces of metal. In place of their houses, many families found only empty lots.

The fire chief said he was confident there are no more bodies or survivors in the rubble.

"I'm 98 percent sure we're good," Gary Bird said Tuesday at a news conference with the governor, who had just completed an aerial tour of the disaster zone.

Authorities were so focused on the search effort that they had yet to establish the full scope of damage along the storm's long, ruinous path.

The death toll was revised downward from 51 after the state medical examiner said some victims may have been counted twice in the confusion.

By Tuesday afternoon, every damaged home had been searched at least once, Bird said. His goal was to conduct three searches of each building just to be certain there were no more bodies or survivors.

The fire chief was hopeful that could be completed before nightfall but efforts were being hampered by heavy rain. Crews also continued a brick-by-brick search of the rubble of a school that was blown apart with many children inside.

No additional survivors or bodies have been found since Monday night, Bird said.

Survivors emerged with harrowing accounts of the storm's wrath, which many endured as they shielded loved ones.

Chelsie McCumber grabbed her 2-year-old son, Ethan, wrapped him in jackets and covered him with a mattress before they squeezed into a coat closet of their house. McCumber sang to her child when he complained it was getting hot inside the small space.

"I told him we're going to play tent in the closet," she said, beginning to cry.

"I just felt air so I knew the roof was gone," she said Tuesday, standing under the sky where her roof should have been. The home was littered with wet gray insulation and all of their belongings.

"Time just kind of stood still" in the closet, she recalled. "I was kind of holding my breath thinking this isn't the worst of it. I didn't think that was it. I kept waiting for it to get worse."

"When I got out, it was worse than I thought," she said.

Gov. Mary Fallin lamented the loss of life, especially of the nine children killed, but she celebrated the town's resilience.

"We will rebuild, and we will regain our strength," Fallin said.

In describing the bird's-eye view of the damage, the governor said many houses were "taken away," leaving "just sticks and bricks, basically. It's hard to tell if there was a structure there or not."

From the air, large stretches of town could been seen where every home had been cut to pieces. Some homes were sucked off their concrete slabs. A pond was filled with piles of wood and an overturned trailer.

Also visible were large patches of red earth where the tornado scoured the land down to the soil. Some tree trunks were still standing, but the winds ripped away their leaves, limbs and bark.

In revising its estimate of the storm's power, the National Weather Service said the tornado, which was on the ground for 40 minutes, was a top-of-the-scale EF5 twister with winds of at least 200 mph.

The agency upgraded the tornado from an EF4 on the enhanced Fujita scale based on reports from a damage-assessment team, said spokeswoman Keli Pirtle. Monday's twister was at least a half-mile wide, and it was the first EF5 tornado of 2013.

Other search-and-rescue teams focused their efforts at Plaza Towers Elementary, where the storm ripped off the roof, knocked down walls and destroyed the playground as students and teachers huddled in hallways and bathrooms.

Seven of the nine dead children were killed at the school, but several students were pulled alive from under a collapsed wall and other heaps of mangled debris. Rescue workers passed the survivors down a human chain of parents and neighborhood volunteers. Parents carried children in their arms to a triage center in the parking lot. Some students looked dazed, others terrified.

Plaza Towers and another school in Oklahoma City that was not as severely damaged did not have reinforced storm shelters, or safe rooms, said Albert Ashwood is director of the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

More than 100 schools across the state do have safe rooms, he said, adding that it's up to each jurisdiction to set priorities for which schools get limited funding for safe rooms.

Ashwood said a shelter would not necessarily have saved more lives at Plaza Towers.

"When you talk about any kind of safety measures ... it's a mitigating measure, it's not an absolute," he told reporters. "There's not a guarantee that everyone will be totally safe."

Officials were still trying to account for a handful of children not found at the school who may have gone home early with their parents, Bird said Tuesday.

Evidence of the storm's fury stretched in every direction: Roofs were torn off houses, exposing metal rods left twisted like pretzels. Cars sat in heaps, crumpled and sprayed with caked-on mud. Insulation and siding was piled up against any walls still standing. Yards were littered with pieces of wood, nails and pieces of electric poles.

President Barack Obama pledged to provide federal help and mourned the death of young children who were killed while "trying to take shelter in the safest place they knew ? their school."

The town of Moore "needs to get everything it needs right away," he said Tuesday.

Moore has been one of the fastest-growing suburbs of Oklahoma City, attracting middle-income families and young couples looking for stable schools and affordable housing. The town's population has grown over the last decade as developers built subdivisions for people who wanted to avoid the urban problems and schools of Oklahoma City but couldn't afford pricier college-town Norman next door.

Many residents commute to jobs in Oklahoma City or to Tinker Air Force Base, which is about 20 minutes away.

___

Associated Press writers Tim Talley, Ramit Plushnick-Masti and Nomaan Merchant and Associated Press photographer Sue Ogrocki contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-05-21-US-Oklahoma-Tornado/id-54eccc71654f41f2b4d214519df2a188

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Seth MacFarlane's Next Film: 'Every Line Is Hilarious,' Amanda Seyfried Swears

Seyfried tells MTV News that she cannot stop laughing while shooting 'A Million Ways to Die in the West.'
By Tami Katzoff

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1707731/amanada-seyfried-seth-macfarlane-million-ways-to-die-west.jhtml

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Catch Phil tonight on TWiT's All About Android!

It's my pleasure to announce that I'll be joining Jason Howell, Ron Richards and Gina Tripani tonight on TWiT's "All About Android" show to talk about the new Xbox One. Wait. That's not right. We'll be talking Android. All about Android. But maybe a little bit about the Xbox One. And a lot about last week's Google I/O, and maybe a bit about CTIA this week.

The show should kick off somewhere around 5 p.m. PDT -- that's 8 p.m. on the East Coast -- but things are a little bit in flux due to today's live Xbox One coverage. So check in to live.twit.tv and show 'em what the Android Central fan base can do, won'tcha?

See y'all this evening!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/pRrI8OnDe6U/story01.htm

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Obama exhorts good deeds by Morehouse graduates

ATLANTA (AP) ? President Barack Obama, in a soaring commencement address on work, sacrifice and opportunity, on Sunday told graduates of historically black Morehouse College to seize the power of their example as black men graduating from college and use it to improve people's lives.

The president said his success was due to "the special obligation I felt, as a black man like you, to help those who need it most, people who didn't have the opportunities that I had ? because there but for the grace of God, go I. I might have been in their shoes. I might have been in prison. I might have been unemployed. I might not have been able to support a family. And that motivates me."

Noting the Atlanta school's mission to cultivate, not just educate, good men, Obama said graduates should not be so eager to join the chase for wealth and material things, but instead should remember where they came from and not "take your degree and get a fancy job and nice house and nice car and never look back."

"So yes, go get that law degree. But if you do, ask yourself if the only option is to defend the rich and powerful, or if you can also find time to defend the powerless," Obama said. "Sure, go get your MBA, or start that business, we need black businesses out there. But ask yourself what broader purpose your business might serve, in putting people to work, or transforming a neighborhood."

"The most successful CEOs I know didn't start out intent on making money. Rather, they had a vision of how their product or service would change things, and the money followed," he said.

For those headed to medical school, Obama said, "Make sure you heal folks in underserved communities who really need it, too."

Before Obama arrived in Atlanta, thunderstorms drenched hundreds of people who gathered on the campus lawn for the outdoor ceremony, forcing many guests to wear clear plastic ponchos over what amounted to their Sunday-best clothes. Rain began falling again, accompanied by more thunder and lightning, minutes after Obama began to speak.

"I also have to say you all are going to get wet," he said. "I would be out there with you if I could. But Secret Service gets nervous, so I'm going to have to stay here, dry. But know that I'm with you in spirit."

Obama urged graduates to "inspire those who look up to you to expect more of themselves."

Obama used the speech to once again share his personal story of growing up without a father, confessing that along the way he made unspecified bad personal choices "like too many men in our community."

"Sometimes I wrote off my own failings as just another example of the world trying to keep a black man down," he said. "I had a tendency to make excuses for me not doing the right thing. But one of the things that all of you have learned over the last four years is, there's no longer any room for excuses."

Speaking in personal terms as he often does when addressing predominantly black audiences, particularly of black males, the nation's first black president also spoke intimately of his desire to be a better father to daughters Malia and Sasha than his absent father was to him, and to be a better husband to his wife, Michelle.

He told the graduates to pay attention to their families, saying success in every other aspect of life means nothing without success at home.

"I was raised by a heroic single mother and wonderful grandparents who made incredible sacrifices for me. And I know there are moms and grandparents here today who did the same thing for all of you," he said. "But I still wish I had a father who was not only present, but involved. And so my whole life, I've tried to be for Michelle and my girls what my father wasn't for my mother and me. I've tried to be a better husband, a better father, and a better man.

"It's hard work that demands your constant attention, and frequent sacrifice. And Michelle will be the first to tell you that I'm not perfect," he continued. "Even now, I'm still learning how to be the best husband and father I can be. Because success in everything else is unfulfilling if we fail at family.

"I know that when I'm on my deathbed someday, I won't be thinking about any particular legislation I passed, or policy I promoted. I won't be thinking about the speech I gave, or the Nobel Prize I received," said Obama, 51. "I'll be thinking about a walk I took with my daughters, a lazy afternoon with my wife, whether I did right by all of them."

The speech was Obama's second commencement address of the season, following remarks last Sunday at Ohio State University in Columbus. His third and final graduation address will come Friday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

About 500 students received undergraduate degrees on Sunday and became "Morehouse Men."

After the speech, Obama joined about 100 people at a fundraiser at the office of the foundation of Arthur M. Blank, co-founder of Home Depot and owner of the Atlanta Falcons. It was the first of six money events that officials say he will headline for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is recruiting candidates and strategizing to keep control of the Senate in next year's midterm elections. Democrats will be defending more Senate seats than Republicans, including six held by long-serving Democratic senators who have decided not to seek re-election.

After briefly discussing the economy, early childhood education, energy independence, climate change and infrastructure, Obama said "the good news is we've got good, common-sense solutions that we can implement right now," on those issues. "The bad news is there's a shortage of common sense in Washington."

He told the donors, who paid anywhere from $10,000 per couple to $32,400 per couple to attend the fundraiser, that their support is important because it will help elect more non-ideological senators like Michael Bennet, D-Colo., "who don't come at this thinking there's just one way of doing things." Bennet chairs the campaign arm for Senate Democrats and introduced Obama at the event.

"That kind of approach, if we get a critical mass in the Senate, and we can potentially get a critical mass of folks like that in the House, means that the sky's the limit," Obama said. "Nothing can stop us."

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-exhorts-good-deeds-morehouse-graduates-160712553.html

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96% Stories We Tell

All Critics (49) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (47) | Rotten (2)

Sarah Polley's documentary is a startling mixture of private memoir, public inquiry, and conjuring trick.

Polley was right to follow her instincts, though, in not attempting to tie everything up. She recognizes that family histories are necessarily contradictory, crazymaking, and essentially unfathomable.

What unfolds is a riveting drama that grows even more so as it plays out.

Don't be fooled by its deceptively simple title or the hesitant, unassuming way it begins. Writer-director Sarah Polley's "Stories We Tell" ends up an invigorating powerhouse of a personal documentary, adventurous and absolutely fascinating.

A brilliant, thought-provoking documentary.

A fascinating variant on the documentary form that examines what we see, and how we see it.

Polley imaginatively fills in the past through a hybrid of documentary and fiction [for] knowing relevance to oral history, testimonial evidence, and what makes a family.

What I can say is that the movie is dramatically compelling, journalistically fascinating, cinematically profound, and intellectually challenging.

Sheds fascinating light on Polley's art.

Polley mines her own life to strip naked the essence of storytelling, and what it is about folklore that makes it so essential in shaping our perceptions about who we are and where we come from.

Stories We Tell starts out as a simple investigation into the life of a mother that director Sarah Polley barely knew and slowly turns into a documentary that is as good as any movie you will see this year.

Where Polley's work goes from mere family movie to something much greater is in how she uses her own quest for answers to illuminate why & how we tell stories in the first place, especially in the form of film.

Polley's compassion and curiosity again mark her as both a heartfelt and unforgiving filmmaker.

Suspenseful, unpredictable, mature, tender and funny. A triumph.

The movie is convincingly built around the essential truth that we are ultimately defined by our loved ones' memories and perceptions.

A genre-twisting documentary with a fictional vibe that playfully bares the elusive truths about a family of storytellers.

Sarah Polley has blossomed as an actress and, more recently, as a daring and original filmmaker with an Oscar nomination to her credit.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/stories_we_tell/

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UC Davis startup changes listening experience

Public release date: 20-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Andy Fell
ahfell@ucdavis.edu
530-752-4533
University of California - Davis

Fifteen years of research at the University of California, Davis, is being turned into commercial products by Dysonics, a startup company based in San Francisco. Since becoming the first "graduate" from the Engineering Translational Technology Center, a technology incubator at the UC Davis College of Engineering, Dysonics has launched an iPhone app and is developing a broad product range for future launch. The company currently has 10 employees.

Dysonics aims to reproduce a natural sound experience with sound delivered through headphones. The Rondo iPhone app can change the apparent size of the room, and adds directionality. Add the RondoMotion sensor clipped to your headphones, and sounds will appear to change location as you move your head.

The Rondo app and RondoMotion work with existing audio files. The company is also working on generating its own content by recording live events on specialized media. The technology has promise not just for listening to recorded music in a new and richer way, but for a more realistic, "virtual reality" audio experience for teleconferencing and video games.

"There are multiple applications with market potential," said David McGee, executive director of InnovationAccess, the unit within the UC Davis Office of Research responsible for intellectual property management and licensing. "Dysonics is a great example of a faculty-led startup with cool technology and very active support from the college and university."

UC Davis played a crucial role in getting Dysonics started, said co-founder and President Ralph Algazi, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at UC Davis. The company is based on research conducted at UC Davis by Algazi and co-founders Richard Duda, a research scientist at UC Davis, Robert Dalton Jr., a former undergraduate and graduate student in Algazi's lab, and colleagues at the university over several years.

Algazi is interested in how sound waves arriving at our ears carry information, for example, about the size and shape of the room or the direction of the sound source. For example, a piece of music sounds different played in a concert hall or on home theater system than it does played in a small room, or over ear buds. If we turn our heads toward a sound source, our experience changes.

Starting about 10 years ago, the team developed software and equipment that allows motion tracking with headphones, so that when you move your head the sound source appears to stay in the same place.

Algazi was one of the first inventors that McGee met with when he arrived on campus in 2004.

"Ralph gave me a demonstration of the technology, and I was just blown away," McGee said. "This was an entirely different and richer audio experience from what I was used to."

InnovationAccess worked with Algazi and licensed the technology to an existing company. But changing business priorities took that company in a different direction, and UC Davis took the license back so as to ensure that this promising technology would not languish.

By the end of the decade several trends were converging that would lead to the formation of Dysonics.

Motion-sensing technology has become much cheaper and more mobile. At the same time, the boom in mobile devices means people want to be able to listen to music wherever they are, setting off explosive growth in the market for headphones.

"When Ralph told me that he had decided to move the technology forward himself, I was very pleased and we worked very closely with him to make it happen," McGee said. "Empowering an entrepreneurial campus researcher to turn their research into societal impact is what technology transfer is all about."

Algazi talked to Bruce White, then dean of engineering, and ETTC director Jim Olson, a former undergraduate student of Algazi's. The company was founded in March 2011, and just over a year later had secured sufficient funding from angel investors to leave the incubator and strike out on its own.

"ETTC was invaluable for us in securing funding and legal work," Dalton said. "We had a heavy engineering focus and we needed business knowledge."

One unique feature of the ETTC incubator is that philanthropic donations to the College of Engineering enable it to reduce initial patent costs for startup companies. Filing patents costs the university money. Usually, when a company licenses a patent from UC Davis, it agrees to reimburse these out-of-pocket costs as well as support future ongoing costs of maintaining the licensed patents.

"ETTC is able to directly reimburse the university for up to $15,000 in patent costs. The ETTC startup is not charged for those costs. This is enormously beneficial to startups at a stage when they have very little cash," McGee said.

It also permits the startup to secure its foundational intellectual property, a very important consideration for investors. UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi recently approved the use of income from licensing intellectual property to maintain ETTC's ability to cover these costs.

The young company also worked with InnovationAccess to license the patents held by UC Davis.

The company recently (April 24) launched a "kickstarter" campaign to raise funds for its next product, a wireless motion sensor for audio headphones that works with the company's Rondo iPhone app. The company aims to raise $60,000 from the fundraising drive to complete the product.

More than 45 startup companies have been spun off from UC Davis since 2005. The campus currently holds a portfolio of 838 foreign and U.S. patents, and earned income of $13.6 million in fiscal year 2011-12.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 20-May-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Andy Fell
ahfell@ucdavis.edu
530-752-4533
University of California - Davis

Fifteen years of research at the University of California, Davis, is being turned into commercial products by Dysonics, a startup company based in San Francisco. Since becoming the first "graduate" from the Engineering Translational Technology Center, a technology incubator at the UC Davis College of Engineering, Dysonics has launched an iPhone app and is developing a broad product range for future launch. The company currently has 10 employees.

Dysonics aims to reproduce a natural sound experience with sound delivered through headphones. The Rondo iPhone app can change the apparent size of the room, and adds directionality. Add the RondoMotion sensor clipped to your headphones, and sounds will appear to change location as you move your head.

The Rondo app and RondoMotion work with existing audio files. The company is also working on generating its own content by recording live events on specialized media. The technology has promise not just for listening to recorded music in a new and richer way, but for a more realistic, "virtual reality" audio experience for teleconferencing and video games.

"There are multiple applications with market potential," said David McGee, executive director of InnovationAccess, the unit within the UC Davis Office of Research responsible for intellectual property management and licensing. "Dysonics is a great example of a faculty-led startup with cool technology and very active support from the college and university."

UC Davis played a crucial role in getting Dysonics started, said co-founder and President Ralph Algazi, professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at UC Davis. The company is based on research conducted at UC Davis by Algazi and co-founders Richard Duda, a research scientist at UC Davis, Robert Dalton Jr., a former undergraduate and graduate student in Algazi's lab, and colleagues at the university over several years.

Algazi is interested in how sound waves arriving at our ears carry information, for example, about the size and shape of the room or the direction of the sound source. For example, a piece of music sounds different played in a concert hall or on home theater system than it does played in a small room, or over ear buds. If we turn our heads toward a sound source, our experience changes.

Starting about 10 years ago, the team developed software and equipment that allows motion tracking with headphones, so that when you move your head the sound source appears to stay in the same place.

Algazi was one of the first inventors that McGee met with when he arrived on campus in 2004.

"Ralph gave me a demonstration of the technology, and I was just blown away," McGee said. "This was an entirely different and richer audio experience from what I was used to."

InnovationAccess worked with Algazi and licensed the technology to an existing company. But changing business priorities took that company in a different direction, and UC Davis took the license back so as to ensure that this promising technology would not languish.

By the end of the decade several trends were converging that would lead to the formation of Dysonics.

Motion-sensing technology has become much cheaper and more mobile. At the same time, the boom in mobile devices means people want to be able to listen to music wherever they are, setting off explosive growth in the market for headphones.

"When Ralph told me that he had decided to move the technology forward himself, I was very pleased and we worked very closely with him to make it happen," McGee said. "Empowering an entrepreneurial campus researcher to turn their research into societal impact is what technology transfer is all about."

Algazi talked to Bruce White, then dean of engineering, and ETTC director Jim Olson, a former undergraduate student of Algazi's. The company was founded in March 2011, and just over a year later had secured sufficient funding from angel investors to leave the incubator and strike out on its own.

"ETTC was invaluable for us in securing funding and legal work," Dalton said. "We had a heavy engineering focus and we needed business knowledge."

One unique feature of the ETTC incubator is that philanthropic donations to the College of Engineering enable it to reduce initial patent costs for startup companies. Filing patents costs the university money. Usually, when a company licenses a patent from UC Davis, it agrees to reimburse these out-of-pocket costs as well as support future ongoing costs of maintaining the licensed patents.

"ETTC is able to directly reimburse the university for up to $15,000 in patent costs. The ETTC startup is not charged for those costs. This is enormously beneficial to startups at a stage when they have very little cash," McGee said.

It also permits the startup to secure its foundational intellectual property, a very important consideration for investors. UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi recently approved the use of income from licensing intellectual property to maintain ETTC's ability to cover these costs.

The young company also worked with InnovationAccess to license the patents held by UC Davis.

The company recently (April 24) launched a "kickstarter" campaign to raise funds for its next product, a wireless motion sensor for audio headphones that works with the company's Rondo iPhone app. The company aims to raise $60,000 from the fundraising drive to complete the product.

More than 45 startup companies have been spun off from UC Davis since 2005. The campus currently holds a portfolio of 838 foreign and U.S. patents, and earned income of $13.6 million in fiscal year 2011-12.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/uoc--uds052013.php

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Natural Health Source ? Natural Alternatives to HRT For Women

By Steven Hutchings

Nightsweats. Dryness. Pain and mood swings. They?re all symptoms of menopause that can make life miserable, affecting roughly 40% of women who?ve been through this milestone. Are there solutions? You can try hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Or you can try their natural alternatives.

HRT is a system of medical treatments designed to mimic the effects of estrogen and progesterone ? two hormones that level off during menopause. They both play a key role in health and sexual functioning during a woman?s reproductive years, which in part explains how HRT can alleviate some menopause symptoms and make the process more comfortable.

So what?s the catch? Well, a 2002 study found that HRT may increase risk of breast cancer and heart disease, among other ailments. Worse, a follow-up British study found that HRT heightened risk of endometrial (womb) and ovarian cancer. The findings were enough to make two prominent American health organizations warn against HRT for menopause symptoms. Sales have yet to recover.

Of course, you?re not without hope during this transitional stage of the female anatomy. Ever heard of black cohosh or red clover? We?ll discuss them shortly, and several other natural alternatives to HRT, that may soften the blow of those dreaded symptoms.

About HRT

Estrogen and progesterone both line the uterus and prepare it for possible implant of a fertilized egg. Estrogen also influences how the body uses calcium, which is important for bone health and healthy cholesterol levels in the blood.

As menopause approaches, the ovaries produce less of these female sex hormones, which can trigger hot flashes, decreased interest in sex, dryness and other symptoms of menopause, including risk of osteoporosis.

Hormone replacement therapy is designed to reduce menopause symptoms with either:

Estrogen Therapy ? In which the patient supplements with estrogen alone, with a daily pill, patch or cream.

Progesterone/Progestin-Estrogen Hormone Therapy ? Sometimes called ?combination therapy?, this option combines estrogen and a synthetic form of progesterone, called progestin. Combination therapy can cause monthly bleeding, in which case, estrogen and a lower dose of progesterone, taken continuously, may be appropriate.

Women who pursue HRT and still have their uterus should use the combination therapy treatment because estrogen without progesterone can increase risk of endometrial cancer.

Don?t Do HRT If?

You have active breast cancer or history of it. The same goes for women linked to endometrial cancer, abnormal vaginal bleeding, blood clots, history of stroke, liver disease or pregnancy.

Smokers should try to quit the habit before doing HRT as well.

Sales of HRT prescriptions plummeted in 2002 when researchers published their findings from the Women?s Health Initiative study, in which they found that women who did the estrogen/progestin treatment were more likely to experience heart attack, stroke, blood clots and breast cancer.

Two subsequent studies, including the Million Women Study, conducted by British researchers in 2006, confirmed these links and added two more cancer risks to this already concerning series of risks from HRT.

Some medical experts take issue with how researchers conducted the studies. They note, for example, that most of the study participants were caucasian, former smokers and slightly overweight. And in March 2013, South African researchers published a review of the three studies?in the Journal of Family Planning and Reproductive Health Care, in which they claimed the link to breast cancer is tenuous.

Women who pursue HRT and still have their uterus should use the combination therapy treatment because?estrogen without progesterone can increase risk of endometrial cancer.

Still, it?s a discerning link. We know that HRT can increase risk of endometrial cancer, blood clots and stroke in some women. Knowing that, it?s not a huge leap from there to conclude the link between HRT and breast cancer is more than noteworthy.

Having reviewed this information, speak with your doctor if you?re still interested in HRT. He knows your medical history and can best recommend your strategy from there. Even then, he?ll likely recommend a low dose and for the shortest time possible.

You?ve got another option too: treat menopause symptoms naturally, without HRT. A wise choice if you?re in this camp, and it starts with the foods that end up on your plate.

The Menopause Diet

Menopause is a biological milestone in a woman?s body. You might alleviate symptoms during and after this momentous occasion with dietary patterns including:

Up your calcium intake ? Calcium tends to trail off during menopause, which in part explains why women are at higher risk of osteoporosis. Aim to eat and/or drink four sources of calcium each day, whether that?s dairy, fish with bones, broccoli or legumes, among others. Women above 51 should aim for 1,200 grams of calcium each day.

Eat more iron ? Like calcium, iron levels fall during menopause, making it important to get at least three iron servings each day. Sources of iron include lean red meat, poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and green leafy vegetables. Your daily target: 8 mg.

Fibre ? It?s hard to go wrong with fibre-rich foods like whole grain breads, cereal, pasta, (brown) rice, fresh fruits and vegetables. Try for 21 grams each day and you?re much less likely to experience digestion problems too.

Read the labels ? Check the labels of packaged foods to help you buy more nutritious foods for a healthy lifestyle.

Drink water ? Aim for eight glasses of water each day. This meets the needs of most adult women while factoring in variables like daily calories consumed, activity levels and climate.

Keep a Body Mass Index (BMI) between 20 and 24 ? This gets more difficult with age, but do try, because it will affect menopause symptoms. Reduce portion size if necessary, or cut back on high fat foods rather than skipping meals. Speak with your doctor or a dietician for more information.

Limit high fat foods ? As a general rule of thumb, fats should comprise 25%-35% of your diet, with saturated fats limited to 7% because they raise unhealthy cholesterol levels and increase risk of heart disease. Try to keep cholesterol to 300 mg daily while you?re at it, and severely limit (or abstain from) trans fats.

Watch the sugar and salt ? Excessive sodium can raise blood pressure. Smoked, salt-cured and charbroiled foods aren?t much better because they contain high levels of nitrates, which are linked to cancer.

Limit alcohol ? Keep alcohol consumption to one drink per day.

Black Cohosh: A Natural Alternative to HRT

The menopause diet is a good place to start and should at least reduce menopause symptoms. Now, do you want natural alternatives to HRT? Try black cohosh root.

You might?ve heard of this tall, flowering plant before. Native to eastern North America, native Americans have used black cohosh for at least 200 years to ease menstrual cramps and symptoms of menopause. Natural health enthusiasts have caught on too; it?s now approved by the German government as a natural menopause treatment, and sales are brisk in the United States.

Research shows a beneficial effect between black cohosh and menopause. Early German studies reveal that it improved both physical and psychological symptoms, including dryness, hot flashes, night sweats and anxiety. In one study, of 120 women, black cohosh was more effective at reducing night sweats and hot flashes than the antidepressant Prozac.

Studies are back and forth with black cohosh. Some have found little benefit, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) claims that many of the early studies were poorly designed and don?t explore use of black cohosh root beyond six months.

Nonetheless, the proof is there. Clinical studies show that black cohosh root can reduce menopause symptoms at least on a short-term basis. Even ACOG, the same organization that criticizes some of the earlier black cohosh studies, recognizes its value as a natural menopause treatment.

You can buy black cohosh root as capsules or tablets, liquid tinctures, extracts or dried root to make a tea. The recommended daily dose for black cohosh root is between 40-80 mg per day. Look for tablets standardized with 1 mg of 27-deoxyactein. Or alternatively, buy it in a natural libido pill for women like Provestra.

To make a black cohosh tea, put 20 g of the dried root in 34 oz of water. Boil the water, then let simmer for 20-30 minutes until the liquid is reduced by a third. Then strain, cover and store it in the refrigerator or a cool place. Drink black cohosh tea three times daily.

Red Clover, Probiotics and a Few Others

As well, red clover might be a good natural remedy for menopause symptoms, according to research published in the Journal of the British Menopause Society, in which researchers found this isoflavone reduced bone loss, improved cardiovascular health and may offer protection from breast and endometrial cancer.

Red clover might also reduce hot flashes in perimenopausal and menopausal women. In one eight week study, women who took a 40 mg red clover supplement each day reported a 58% lower incidence of hot flashes, with reduced severity of night sweats as well.

The red clover supplement, Promensil, is available over the counter and without a prescription.

In one eight week study, women who took a 40 mg red clover supplement each day reported a 58% lower incidence of hot flashes, with reduced severity of night sweats as well.

You can also try probiotics. The Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifido strains are the ?good? bacteria?that live in the intestines. They establish balance in the gut and kill dangerous microflora, but they also assist with metabolism and help the body use estrogen. Some experts believe they also reduce yeast infections. Get probiotics from food and supplements.

Finally, consider a book written by pharmacist Steven G. Ottariano, Medicinal Herbal Therapy: A Pharmacist?s Viewpoint, in which he discusses the many vitamins and minerals he believes can help women treat menopause symptoms. Among his favorites? Vitamin E, Dong Quai, Evening Primrose Oil and Ginseng.

Resources For Menopause

Of course, you?re not alone in this journey. Menopause symptoms ? those severe enough to make women consider HRT ? affect most women at some point during this time of immense change. This being the global village that it is, you might find the following internet resources can help you reduce symptoms, preferably without HRT, for smooth sailing to the next phase of your life:

WebMD ? WebMD has a little something for everyone. Their menopause section is particularly extensive.

Women?s Health Initiative ? The group that championed the first large-scale study of HRT and its health risks, the Women?s Health Initiative remains at the forefront of HRT research and safety. You can learn more about the study and the most recent developments on their website.

Prevention ? We can?t finish an article on natural alternatives to HRT for women without mention of the kings of natural health. Prevention magazine has a great section on menopause. Check out their article, 14 Natural Remedies for Hot Flashes.

+Steven ?Hutchings

Tags: black cohosh, Hormone Replacement, hot flashes, HRT, Menopause, natural alternatives, Provestra, symptoms of menopause, Women's Health Initiative

Source: http://www.naturalhealthsource.com/articles/natural-alternatives-to-hrt-for-women/

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'Star Trek Into Darkness' Falls Short Of High Expectations

In the morning after the weekend box office totals have been tallied, the word on "Star Trek Into Darkness" is that of slight disappointment, as least in regards to the domestic take. J.J. Abrams' sequel to the 2009 reboot managed to do almost as well as its predecessor, taking in an estimated $70.6 million, according [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/05/20/star-trek-into-darkness-box-office/

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Sennheiser's HDVD 800 digital headphone amp now available in the US for $2,000

Analog may be king for audiophiles, but digital is the future, friends, and Sennheiser knows it. That's why it built the HDVD 800 digital headphone amplifier to improve the sound of your digital tunes, and now stateside listeners can finally get their mitts on the thing. That's right, folks, a year after it was revealed across the pond alongside its analog brother, Senn's digital offering's finally available in the US for just a nickel less than two grand. Folks looking to part with the necessary cash to improve their listening pleasure can do so at the company's online storefront linked below.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD

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Flickr's Massive Redesign: Full-Res Photos, a Terabyte of Free Storage

Sure, Yahoo just about killed Flickr, but today it's trying to restore its former glory. Just after the company this morning announced its $1.1 billion dollar acquisition of Tumblr, it showed off a completely redesigned version of Flickr with giant photos and more storage than you probably even need.

Here's what's up: Flickr's web interface is totally different?clean and simple with big, beautiful, full-resolution photos. The Flickr homepage? No more small thumbnails and a whole lot less white space. Now you'll see full-sized pictures. It's really quite lovely with a full-bleed photo at the top of your profile. Flickr's also getting gorgeous, full-screen slideshows, and when you upload and share your photos, you're not losing any pixels.

Search (above) has been totally revamped, powered by Yahoo tech of course. Again, images are bigger, and it's much more immersive and easier to find what you're looking for. Here's the explore tab:

And here's the single image view:

On top of that, you're now getting a full terabyte of storage for free. That's apparently 70 times more than any other service offers you, and probably more space than you even need.

Additionally, Flickr released a totally new Android app (in addition to the iOS app it updated in March) that lets you access your Flickr pics from anywhere. The new Flickr is live now, so if you head over to the site, you'll see a much prettier, image-centric, modern look.

Update: Here's our hands-on video walkthrough of all the new goodness:

Source: http://gizmodo.com/yahoo-completely-redesigned-flickr-508948823

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College costs soar, but why?

Students milling about the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus, which has faced steep state cuts.??

When high school senior Jenny Bonilla got her college acceptance letter in March, she felt shock and heartbreak rather than joy. That?s because the letter from Goucher College, a private liberal arts school in Baltimore, also brought news that she would owe an unaffordable $20,000 a year in tuition and board, even with a scholarship the college was offering.

Bonilla had been in the running for a full ride to Goucher but eventually lost out because her parents? combined income of $57,000 a year was deemed too high.

?That was heartbreaking,? she said.

Bonilla?s experience is all too familiar to many students and their parents contemplating college, as higher education price increases have far outpaced the growth in middle-class wages over the past three decades.

The average tuition and fees at a public, four-year university rose to $8,655 in 2012-13, not counting the costs of room and board, according to the College Board. That?s 250 percent more than it would have cost in 1982, when a year of college would have set the average student back just $2,423 in today?s dollars.

The tuition at private colleges has increased at a slightly lower rate over the same period: the average four-year private institution costs $29,056, not counting room and board. It would have cost $10,901 in 2012 dollars back in 1982.

The pricey degree comes with big returns, on average: College educated workers earned 79 percent than high-school educated workers in 2012, and were much less likely to be unemployed.

The pain of the price hikes has been partially offset by an increase in federal grants and tax breaks for college, as well as by private schools offering deeply discounted tuition rates to lower-income students. But even with that help, some students like Bonilla are finding themselves locked out of the system.

Why is college so much more expensive now than it was 30 years ago? Economists fall into two main schools of thought in explaining the trend.

One theory, referred to as ?Bowen?s Rule,? says that the decisions made by many colleges and universities?such as how many administrators to hire and how to spend its cash?primarily drive the cost.

A competing theory, called ?Baumol?s cost disease,? posits that higher education is expensive because of outside macroeconomic factors that affect other businesses, like the cost of hiring highly educated workers.

In other words, it?s either the colleges? fault, or it isn?t.

In their book, ?Why Does College Cost So Much?? Robert Archibald and David Feldman, economists at The College of William & Mary, are firmly in the Baumol camp. They argue that a college?s hefty price tag isn?t actually surprising at all, given that it depends on the performance of its workforce?highly educated professors and teachers who provide a face-to-face service, not a material good.

Larger economic trends have jacked up the salaries of highly educated workers across the board in recent decades, while the cost of face-to-face services has also remained high, since technological advances do not necessarily make these services cheaper.

Feldman used the example of the cost of a haircut, which has also outpaced inflation in the past 30 years.

While technology has made factories vastly more efficient at producing goods for less money, technological advances have not been able to make the time a haircut takes shorter or replace the skilled person who has to give the haircut. College is like a haircut on steroids, since the barbers have PhDs.

?Higher education is an industry where there?s not a whole lot of productivity growth and not a whole of scope for productivity growth,? Feldman said.

The vast majority of most colleges? budgets go to personnel, and that cost is unlikely to come down any time soon.

Benjamin Ginsburg, a political science professor at John Hopkins University, takes the Bowen view.

In his book, ?The Fall of the Faculty: The Rise of the All-Administrative University and Why It Matters,? Ginsburg argues that a significant increase in administrative employees is in part responsible for college?s runaway pricing.

He writes that between 1975 and 2005, the faculty to student ratio has remained fairly constant at universities, while the student-to-professional staffer (such as an admissions officer) ratio increased from one to 50 to 1 to 24.

?As colleges and universities have had more money to spend, they have not chosen to spend it on expanding their instructional resources?that is, on paying faculty,? Ginsburg writes. ?They have chosen, instead, to enhance their administrative and staff resources.?

Feldman discounts this argument. He points out that students demand a broader bundle of services from college now than they did 50 years ago, and that the price reflects that. Students want staffers to plan student life activities, career counselors, fancy dorms, nice gyms and up to date technology.

The economy as a whole, not just higher education, has also shifted to include more administrative positions in the past decades, he argues.

Some argue that colleges have had no choice but to hire more administrative staff, in part because they are so thoroughly regulated by both state and federal governments. Colleges are required to report to the government all gifts accepted from foreign governments, supply information about the salaries of coaches, and prove they commemorated Constitution Day every September 17, among other rules. Complying with the regulations requires staff.

?Externally imposed regulations increase the cost of doing business and that cost is passed on to consumers,? Terry Hartle, one of the chief lobbyists for the higher education industry, said.

State budget woes have also hiked the cost of many colleges. Sandy Baum, an economist and independent policy analyst for the College Board, says the price increases at public institutions have been driven by declining support from states, which have cut higher education in order to balance their budgets.

?It?s not actually that the colleges are spending more money on the students, it?s that they?re getting ? much less money per student from the state government,? Baum said.

That means students aren?t necessarily getting more for their money, especially at public institutions.

Advances in technology might help colleges cut costs in the future, either by allowing them to have fewer in-person classes as more people take classes online or by streamlining some library costs, among other possibilities. But higher education experts say there?s no silver bullet.

?Colleges are looking at how to save money and they need to look harder because it?s just so expensive,? said Baum. She mentioned increasing technology, streamlining government regulations and cutting back on administrators as some possible things to help costs. ?There?s no miracles there,? she said.

Jenny Bonilla didn?t have time to wait for a miracle. Bonilla?s father lost his job just days after she received her letter from Goucher, reducing the family?s annual income to $40,000.

Bonilla?s parents didn?t want her to take on $60,000 in debt, and knew they couldn?t come up with the money to help her on their own. They decided she should enroll in nearby Prince George Community College for two years and then try to transfer to a four-year public school from there.

?I applied to so many schools and then for me to end up at community college is kind of devastating,? Bonilla says.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/sticker-shock-college-graduates-why-education-cost-much-092117028.html

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Pacers knock out Knicks with 106-99 win in Game 6

New York Knicks guard Raymond Felton, right, shoots under Indiana Pacers forward Paul George during the third quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

New York Knicks guard Raymond Felton, right, shoots under Indiana Pacers forward Paul George during the third quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert, left, dunks over New York Knicks guard James White during the third quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert (55) is fouled by New York Knicks center Tyson Chandler, right, as he shoots in front of Knicks guard Pablo Prigioni during the third quarter of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Indianapolis, Saturday, May 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

New York Knicks' Tyson Chandler (6) reacts after being called for a foul by referee Ken Mauer, left, during the first half of Game 6 of an Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series against the Indiana Pacers, Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony (7) shoots against Indiana Pacers' Roy Hibbert (55) and George Hill, right, during the first half of Game 6 of an Eastern Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series Saturday, May 18, 2013, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Indiana spent the entire season perfecting its defense.

On Saturday, it produced the biggest payoff for the Pacers in nearly a decade.

Roy Hibbert's block of Carmelo Anthony's dunk attempt midway through the fourth quarter spurred an 11-2 run that rallied the Pacers to a 106-99 victory in Game 6 of their second-round series, sending them into their first Eastern Conference final since 2004.

New York native Lance Stephenson scored nine points in the run, finishing with a playoff career-high 25.

"That's why they pay me the big bucks this summer, so I have to protect the paint," said Hibbert, who signed a $58 million contract last summer. "If all else fails, meaning the offense, I have to protect the paint."

With players from both teams standing on the court as the final seconds ticked off and Pacers fans roaring in appreciation, the sellout crowd wasted little time breaking into chants of "Beat The Heat!"

For Indiana, it sets up a postseason rematch with the defending NBA champs, the team that eliminated them last May after the Pacers had taken a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven semifinals. The Heat wound up winning Game 4 at Indiana and followed that with two more wins as Danny Granger struggled with a knee injury.

Indiana used the lessons from that series as motivation to improve this season and wound up beating the Heat twice at home before losing the third game of the season series at Miami. The Pacers will return to South Florida for Game 1 on Wednesday night.

With Granger missing all but five games this season because of the lingering knee injury, the Pacers put an even greater emphasis on playing defense and it showed.

Indiana led the league in rebounding, defensive field goal percentage and defensive 3-point percentage while finishing second in points allowed per game during the regular season. It was no different in the playoffs, as the Knicks found out.

New York had another subpar shooting night Saturday, making just 40 percent of its shots, and again wound up on the wrong side of a 43-36 rebounding discrepancy. In the paint, New York was outscored 52-20, and Anthony, who finished with 39 points, scored just four points in the final 12 minutes when he went 2 of 7 from the field.

Iman Shumpert added 19 points, hitting five 3-pointers, and J.R. Smith scored 15. Nobody else was in double figures.

The combination, as it had been in the previous three losses to Indiana, produced the same frustrating result.

"They have a hell of a defense. They hold down the paint. They do a great job, do a hell of a job of controlling the paint, closing it down, making it tough for guys," Anthony said. "You've got to give them guys credit, especially when they got a chance to set. Roy Hibbert gets to sit in the paint, causes havoc."

It's not just that.

The biggest question coming into Saturday's game was whether starting point guard George Hill would play. He took part in the team's morning shootaround, was cleared by the team doctors and wound up returning two days after missing Game 5 with a concussion. His return gave the Pacers a big boost.

Hill finished with just 12 points on 2-of-10 shooting but had five rebounds and four assists, and kept the Pacers composed enough to commit only nine turnovers ? 10 fewer than Thursday night's loss in New York.

The results showed up everywhere on the floor.

Paul George had 23 points, five rebounds and four assists. David West added 17 points, five rebounds and four assists, and Hibbert finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds and five blocks, none bigger than the stuff on Anthony that changed the game. Stephenson had 10 rebounds and three assists in his best postseason game ever.

The reason: He wanted to avoid a trip home.

"I just didn't want to go back to New York and play Game 7," Stephenson said. "Just get it done with now and I'd do whatever it takes to do that today. It showed tonight."

The New York native made sure of it.

After George grabbed the rebound off of Hibbert's block, Stephenson took a pass from West and scored on a layup to tie the score at 92 with 4:51 left in the game. Stephenson followed that with a steal and drove in for a layup, drawing a foul and completing a three-point play. After grabbing another rebound and making two more free throws, West tipped in a miss and Stephenson closed the decisive spurt with another layup. Suddenly, the Pacers led 101-94 with 1:53 to go.

New York never got another chance to tie the score or take the lead again despite making a far more typical 13 of 30 from 3-point range.

"It's tough to go out this way," coach Mike Woodson said. "I didn't make it happen for us and that's what's disappointing."

The Pacers have a far different goal now as they get ready to face LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Miami.

"We're not satisfied with where we're at," coach Frank Vogel said. "We feel like there's no ceiling on this team this year."

Notes: New York failed to become the ninth team to rally from a 3-1 deficit. ... Indianapolis 500 pole winner Ed Carpenter made the short trip from the track to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, where he is a regular attendee. ... Colts coach Chuck Pagano also attended the game. ... The Knicks were 18 of 18 from the free throw line.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-05-19-BKN-Knicks-Pacers/id-5fdbb045bb51473fbf1e8a415929712a

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Katrina Bowden & Ben Jorgensen Tie the Knot!

The actress and the musician wed! See more stars who made their romances official.

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Best and Worst-Dressed at the Billboard Music Awards

Celebrities from all areas of the entertainment world were out to show not only their killer talent and their musical nominations last night at the annual Billboard Music Awards -- but also their well, interesting, taste in fashion.

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McConnell: ?There is a culture of intimidation throughout the administration?

Obama addresses the IRS scandal at a news conference. (Getty)

Republican Senators Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell and Rob Portman continued Sunday to press the Obama administration on the Internal Revenue Service scandal that's engulfed the White House.

On CNN's "State of the Union," Paul told Candy Crowley he heard about a "written policy" that encouraged IRS officials to target "those who are critical of the president."

"And when that comes forward, we need to know who wrote the policy and who approved the policy," Paul said.

The Kentucky senator seemed to backtrack when pressed about the existence of yet another controversial document.

"Well, we keep hearing the reports and we have several specifically worded items saying who was being targeted," Paul said. "I don't know if that comes from a policy, but that's what's being reported in the press and reported orally. I haven't seen a policy statement, but I think we need to see that."

Memo or no memo, McConnell said it's clear that political bullying is being cultivated by the Obama White House.

"There is a culture of intimidation throughout the administration," McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "The nanny state is here to tell us all what to do and if you start criticizing, you get targeted."

[Related: The IRS targeted tea party groups. Did liberal groups get better treatment?]

Earlier this month, an inspector general report disclosed that the IRS improperly scrutinized certain conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status. On Sunday's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos,? Portman called for a bipartisan investigation into inspector general's report.

"What we do know is that politics was put ahead of the public interest," Portman said. "And it was done in two of the most sensitive areas of our government."

"So, it seems to me that there's a lot of issues here we need to get bottom of," the Ohio Republican added. "We need to find out what really happened and ensure that we can begin to regain some trust in our government. That's my concern."

Meanwhile, White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer accused the GOP of conducting "fishing expeditions" ahead of next year's midterm elections.

"I think we've seen this playbook from Republicans before," Pfeiffer said on "Meet The Press" Sunday. "What they want to do when they are lacking a positive agenda is try to drag Washington into a swamp of partisan fishing expeditions, trumped-up hearings and false allegations. We're not going to let that happen."

Obama appears to be weathering the storm, the Associated Press noted. A poll released on Sunday by CNN/ORC International showed President Obama has a 53 percent approval rating, with just 45 percent saying they disapprove.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/irs-scandal-mcconnell-paul-obama-191839606.html

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