chilton lyrical: August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

Blue moon shines around the world

Biswaranjan Rout / AP

A boy rides his bicycle over a stretch of sand on the outskirts of the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar as the "blue moon" shines above in Aug. 31.

By Alan Boyle

Tonight's blue moon may not be as rare as it sounds, but it's still special?? as is every glorious full moon, whichever color you use to describe it.

Actually, the term "blue moon" is something of a misnomer. There's no reason for the full moon to be any bluer than usual (though it's certainly possible for the moon to take on a blue tinge). Instead, it has to do with the extra occurrence of a full moon in a given calendar cycle.

Various cultures have used different terms to describe that extra lunar cycle ? Adhik Maas for Hindus, or an extra month of Adar for the Jewish calendar. The Maine Farmers' Almanac used the term "blue moon" to describe an extra moon in a particular quarter of the year.

Then,?in 1946, an amateur astronomer named James Hugh Pruett wrote about the phenomenon for Sky & Telescope magazine, in the context of the old saying that a rare occurrence happened only "once in a blue moon."

Only problem was, he got it wrong.

Pruett described the blue-moon phenomenon as the second full moon in a calendar month. Sky & Telescope stuck with that, and the definition has been used (and hotly debated) ever since. If you go along with the definition, then tonight's full moon is blue due to the fact that it follows a full moon on the night of Aug. 1.

There's another long-debated issue surrounding blue moons: You could argue that they happen way too often to be considered as rare as a "blue moon" in the proverbial sense. The interplay of the lunar and solar calendars dictates that a blue moon should occur, on average, every 2.7 years.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson summed up the issue a couple of days ago in a Twitter update: "A month's second full moon is the blue moon. Not rare. More frequent than presidential elections, yet nobody calls them rare."

Technically speaking, the moon is already a few hours past its full phase???but it's still well worth taking note of, and not just because it's the last blue moon until July 31, 2015. It provides a fitting opportunity to pay tribute to history's first moonwalker, Neil Armstrong, who passed away last weekend. In fact, Armstrong's family is urging you to look at the moon in Neil's honor.

"The next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink," the family said.

Photographers around the world have already been getting great moon shots. Here's a sampling of the "blue moon" views:

Muhammad Hamed / Reuters

A full moon shines over Amman, the capital of Jordan, on Aug. 31.

Robert Atanasovski / AFP - Getty Images

A full moon is seen behind tree branches in the Macedonian city of Skopje on Aug. 31. According to NASA, this is the second time in August that a full moon has been seen. The first was on the night of Aug. 1-2. This phenomenon is referred to as a "blue moon."

Vesa Vauhkonen

Vesa Vauhkonen created this multiple-exposure photographic view of the moon rising over Rautalampi, Finland, on Aug. 30.

Daisuke Tomiyasu

The clouds over Kobe, Japan, take on a fittingly blue hue in this picture taken by Daisuke Tomiyasu on Aug. 31.

Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP - Getty Images

Greeks and tourists gather at the Roman Agora in Athens, which is open all night as part of a full-moon celebration on Aug. 31. A number of archaeological sites and museums around Greece opened at night, with events and concerts celebrating the second full moon of August, known as a "blue moon."

Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP - Getty Images

A picture taken on Aug. 31 shows the full moon above the ancient Acropolis hill in Athens.

Inge Harsten

Inge Harsten, who lives in Fredrikstad, Norway, used a filter to add an appropriate color to this picture of the "blue moon."

Petros Karadjias / AP

The full moon rises over the sea at Konnos beach near Ayia Napa and Protaras resort in the southeast of the island of Cyprus on Aug. 31.

For still more blue-moon pictures, check out SpaceWeather.com's photo gallery and NASA's Flickr site for blue-moon imagery. If you snap a great picture of the moon tonight, please consider sharing it with us. Use our FirstPerson upload tool to send us your moon shot, and we'll pass along a sampling of the photos we receive.

Where in the Cosmos
Vesa Vauhkonen's moonrise montage served as the subject of this week's "Where in the Cosmos" photo quiz on the Cosmic Log Facebook page. It took a while this time, but John Culp and Brian Svacina eventually guessed that the photo was taken in Finland. To reward their geographical smarts (or was it just plain luck?), I'm sending them pairs of 3-D glasses, provided courtesy of Microsoft Research's WorldWide Telescope project. Those red-blue glasses will add an extra dimension to moon pictures like this one. Got 3-D? Click the "like" button for the Cosmic Log Facebook page and get ready for next Friday's quiz.

Update for 8:20 p.m. ET: The Phrase Finder delves deeply into the origins of the phrase "blue moon," meaning a rare event, and appears to have come up with a sensible explanation. In 16th-century England, the expression was apparently used to describe an impossible event, like pigs flying. The phrase pops up in a sarcastic context in a 1528 work by William Barlow, Bishop of Chichester, titled "Treatyse of the Buryall of the Masse": "Yf they saye the mone is belewe, we must beleve that it is true."

It took centuries longer for the phrase to describe something that hasn't happened in quite a while. The Phrase Finder cites this quote in Pierce Egan's "Real Life in London" (1821): "How's Harry and Ben??? haven't seen you this blue moon." Meanwhile, the Maine Farmers' Almanac put its own astronomical twist on the term, going back to the 19th century.

More moon shots:

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/31/13595968-blue-moon-shines-around-the-world?lite

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Thursday, August 30, 2012

Georgia Screenwriter Robert Kelly | PIMP | A Time Before Sex Could ...

Robert Kelly is a former lawyer for working girls and screenwriter of?Pimp. Robert Kelly sat down with Blank Stage intern to begin several installations?chronicling?his life and his story.

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Paul Clark is currently an?intern at?Blank Stage Productions. He produces content in the form of written articles, webisodes, and podcasts for the site. His goal is to advertise upcoming projects in the film industry to show the talent we work with at Blank Stage and through Get Connected, and promote the creation of each professional?s project for financial backing.?

What is a ?pimp? by definition and how does it pertain to the screenplay?

Pimp by definition is: ?A man who solicits clients for a prostitute.??In the United States, with exceptions like the Brothels in Nevada, that term really?doesn?t apply very often. Another exception would be the street level Pimps that?work a small number of girls, but that?s bottom of the barrel, like in, ?HUSTLE?and FLOW.? Today the most successful pimps are the Madams. They own?the infamous ?Black Book? you?ve probably heard about. If they are working?with ?Call Girls,? the Madams furnish only the clients. Some Madams run a House?or Brothel and they furnish a place to work and a client for the girl, of course all?work for a percentage of the fee.?As to the screenplay, people may assume that our protagonist, Jack Kenard, is the?pimp. In reality Jack never solicited a ?Trick? in his life. There are Pimps in the?story, men and women, and I wrote about them, a very diverse group.?When I write a screenplay I write several accurate and descriptive titles. On this?project I supplied seven titles. ?PIMP? was just one of the titles and it was the?one the producer picked.

I?ve heard the tagline to the screenplay, ?It was a time before sex could kill?you.? What does that mean exactly??

Paul, you are a good example of what I meant. You?re young and you have never?lived in a time when sex couldn?t kill you. The time frame for our movie is the?seventies. The bugs, aids and the rest didn?t kick in until the eighties. So prior?to that time frame sex wouldn?t necessarily kill you.

When did you first write PIMP and how many drafts have you been through??

I wrote PIMP in 2000 and 2001. As to drafts, I break that into two categories,?prior to Herb Ross dying, and subsequent to Herb Ross dying. Before Ross died I?wrote the original and one revision. Ross and I were on the same page, so to speak.?After he died, over the past eleven years I?ve written probably six or seven?revisions.

More about Herb Ross:?http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Ross

When did you first try to produce PIMP, and who was your financial backer?

Herb Ross was the only producer that was ever attached to the project. Ross may?have been the last producer living that could fund a movie out of his own pocket.?Pryor to him, probable Joseph Levine. Ross introduced me to Levine back in the?early eighties; he produced the Graduate, cost three million, and grossed fifty?million. I guess it would be safe to call him a producer.

What obstacles have you faced in trying to get PIMP produced?

In a word, funding. But perhaps more precisely, my inability to find a bona fide?producer in Georgia. I am not a producer and I?ve never held myself out as a?producer. Ross created a list he called, ?Separating the P?s.? Phonies, Pretenders,?Parasites, there?s about eight or nine P?s on the list. That?s what I?m running into.?I?m not singling out Georgia, the P?s are all over the world. And since Ross died?eleven years ago I think I?ve talked to most of them. There just seems to be an
overabundance of P?s in Atlanta.

What are your personal feelings, in light of your career, on the subject of?prostitution and pimping?

It?s a complex problem, but get used to it, it?s here to stay. That?s why it?s the?world?s oldest profession. As to ?pimping,? I have mixed views. A Madam?performs a service for a hooker and is paid a fee. It?s a business, Quid Pro?Quo, ?Something for something.??If you go to the bus station in any major city you?ll find pimps. They are there?waiting on the girls to get off the bus. The girls that get pulled into the ?Life,? are?weak and gullible, and the pimps know this and pull them in. If you step back and?look at it, a pimp is just a con man that specializes in a specific area. I don?t want?to leave it with just men. Some of the best pimps I ever met are women; I mean?the best in the world. There?s a very good female pimp in the screenplay.

What turning points in your life led you to the creation of Pimp?

A good question but we don?t have the time for me to give you a full answer.?In short form: I live in a dark world. Some times are worse than others. I was?engaged to a singer; Cindy had been a child prodigy. I was two years older than?her father. What that woman saw in me I?ll never know. I closed my office and?was going to manage Cindy?s career. There?s an old adage, if you want to make?God laugh, tell her your plans.?A few weeks before the wedding Cindy was killed. I slipped into a deep?depression and stayed there for several years. My shrink had run out of pills.?My thinking was, maybe if I write another screenplay, I can write my way out of?the depression. I don?t know if that had anything to do with it but one morning I?walked out into the Sun and the depression was gone. So to answer your question I?guess you could say, I wrotePimp?in self-preservation.

What do you think audiences are going to enjoy most about Pimp?

It will be a mixture, and I think it will appeal to at least two generations. ?PIMP is a nonfiction film. ?It is a narrative form that employs all the techniques of fictional art but is nevertheless immaculately factual, ?e. g., 1967, In Cold Blood, 1990, GoodFellas, 2003, Monster.
The thing that all of these stories have in common is, the writer had access to the original participants. ?In PIMP, I was one of the original participants, I was there.
{Aside} Here?s a little teaser about GoodFellas. ?What part was glaringly fictional, ?and why was it necessary?
For the audience members that were adults during the era of the seventies, it will be a memory, maybe good, maybe bad. ?It has been my experience, bitter or sweet; most memories become precious as the years move on. ?For some, this film will be a memory.
For the younger audience members it will be a chance to see why this time frame is considered an era.

What is it about these characters that will draw amazing talent to the project?

In a word, complexity, it won?t be the money, that?s for damn sure!?There are forty-six speaking parts and I intend to add several more. ?The additions may not make the theatrical cut but they will definitely make the directors DVD cut.

There is a triangle of three pivotal characters. ?Jack, Alex and Niki. ?All complex in the composition of their respective personalities. ?Alex has a schizophrenia just like Jack and Niki.
{Aside} ?In actors it?s called a ?Divine schizophrenia.? ?I learned about this from Stella Adler, this might be of interest to some of the actors out there. ?{End Aside}

In laymen speak, they have multiple personalities. ?I brought this into focus with Alex. ?It?s when Alex brushes Jack?s face with her hand and tells Jack he has a nice mouth and then jerks her hand away ? - ? ?I?m sorry. ?Damn it! ?The hooker kicked in, I?m sorry.? ?Later, Niki makes the same move on Jack.
Jack, Alex and Niki are virtuosos in their world, as many of the other characters are. ?For some actors their character in Pimp will be the most complex role they?ve ever attempted to portray.
All of the characters are multidimensional and will present a challenge. ?Pimp is character driven, not cast driven. ?There are no weak characters in Pimp. ?I overheard Orson Wells say to a fellow actor, ?There are no small roles, only small actors.? ?There are no small roles in Pimp.
This is a little off point: ?Directing is 70% casting and I?ve always had a knack for putting the right talent with a given role. ??I guess because of my acting background actors are comfortable with me. ?I?ve been told I?m an actor?s director. ?My connection to the material is very strong and as such I can speak eloquently to the actors because they will know they are going to get an unfiltered, crystal clear vision to work with.
I don?t want to get all mystical on you but I wrap the talent in what I call, ?A blanket of authenticity,? and they will feel safe in the knowledge that I have in-depth knowledge of the characters and the world they live in.
The character that concerns me the most is Niki. ?We need an actor that can pass for mid to late teens with forty-five years of experience. ?We need an actor that can carry the scene, ?GRIEF.? ?This is the kind of scene Stella Adler called an, ??ACTOR KILLER.? ?Thing is, I know damn well she?s out there, as are all of the characters, and 90% of them are in Atlanta.

Source: http://blankstageproductions.com/georgia-screenwriter-robert-kelly-pimp-a-time-before-sex-could-kill/

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Signature Cycles at the Heath Wellness & Sports Expo | Road Journal

tmk_h&w_Chelsea_2012_Final Signature Cycles will be at the Health Wellness and Sports show at Chelsea Piers Connecticut on September 22nd and 23rd from 11am to 5pm.

Please visit us and over 75 other exhibitors including alternative medicine, integrative nutrition, weight management, children?s health, pet wellness, fitness programs, spa and beauty treatments, financial health, green technology, lifetime sports and more.

The event will also feature celebrity athletes, raffle prizes, fitness and dance demos, and much more.

Chelsea Piers is a new 400,000 sq. ft. world class multi-use fitness facility offering everything from rock climbing to triathlon training. Additional information and directions can be found here.

Source: http://roadjournal.signaturecycles.com/2012/08/signature-cycles-at-the-heath-wellness-sports-expo/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=signature-cycles-at-the-heath-wellness-sports-expo

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HP announces 15-inch Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook, Envy 4 Ultrabook with touch

If you thought laptop / tablet mashups were trendy, we can think of at least one other theme you're going to see repeated ad nauseam over the coming months: PC makers putting touchscreens on things that didn't used to have them. That's right, in addition to all those funky-looking hybrids, you're going to see lots of familiar-looking laptops get upgraded with touch in time for the Windows 8 launch. Exhibit A: HP, which just announced two conventional notebooks with touch. This includes a finger-friendly version of the 14-inch Envy 4 Ultrabook, as well as the Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook, a 15-inch version of the Spectre XT announced earlier this year. Both will be available during the holiday season. That's the short version, but if you follow past the break, we've got a lot to talk about in the way of specs. Join us, will you?

Continue reading HP announces 15-inch Spectre XT TouchSmart Ultrabook, Envy 4 Ultrabook with touch

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Wednesday, August 29, 2012

NYC man gets 40 years to life for dismembering boy

FILE - In this Aug. 4, 2011 file photo, Levi Aron, accused of abducting and dismembering a Brooklyn boy, is arraigned in Brooklyn criminal court in New York. Aron is expected to be sentenced Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2012. He pleaded guilty earlier this month in the death of 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky. The 36-year-old Aron admitted killing the child after the boy asked him for directions. (AP Photo/Jesse Ward, Pool, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A New York City hardware store clerk who pleaded guilty to kidnapping, killing and dismembering a lost little boy was sentenced Wednesday to 40 years to life in prison.

Levi Aron had pleaded guilty this month to lesser charges in a deal that spared him a criminal trial and the possibility of life in prison without parole. When asked Wednesday if he wanted to speak at his sentencing hearing, the 37-year old whispered "no." He will be eligible for parole in 40 years.

Aron wore a black yarmulke, bushy beard and orange prison jumpsuit, and kept his head down and eyes closed for much of the hearing. His attorneys said Aron suffered a head injury as a child that went untreated.

"As a child and a young man, he should have been treated for his mental illness," attorney Howard Greenberg said. Outside court, his attorneys said Aron is sorry but a public apology would seem false.

"He's sorry and he wished he hadn't done it," attorney Pierre Bazile said.

Aron admitted he kidnapped and killed 8-year-old Leiby Kletzky after the boy approached him on a Brooklyn street and asked for directions on July 11, 2011. The boy was Hasidic, an ultra-Orthodox version of Judaism, and the killing shook the tight-knit community in Borough Park, a safe and somewhat insular neighborhood home to one of the world's largest communities of Orthodox Jews outside Israel. Aron, who lived nearby, was Orthodox but not Hasidic.

Leiby's family did not attend the sentencing hearing. A prosecutor read a statement from his father, Nachman Kletzky, released at the guilty plea that said, "God did not abandon our son, nor our family, for one second."

"There is no way one can comprehend or understand the pain of losing a child," he wrote. "Esther and I faced this unspeakable tragedy last year when our little boy Leiby was ruthlessly taken from us. ... A day doesn't pass without our thinking of Leiby ? but today we close the door on this one aspect of our tragedy and seek to remember only the gifts that God has bestowed."

The statement was previously read to the news media after the Aug. 9 guilty plea by state assemblyman Dov Hikind, who represents Borough Park and served as a spokesman for the family.

Leiby got lost on his walk home from a religious day camp. It was the first time he was allowed to walk alone, and he was supposed to travel about seven blocks to meet his mother but missed his turn.

Barely two days later later, detectives found the boy's severed feet, wrapped in plastic, in Aron's freezer. A cutting board and three bloody carving knives were found in the refrigerator. The rest of the boy's body was discovered in bags inside a red suitcase in a trash bin about a mile from Aron's apartment. His legs had been cut from his torso.

The medical examiner's office said Leiby had been drugged then suffocated.

Aron was taken into custody and an unnerving story unfolded about the hours he spent with the boy. Authorities said Aron promised to take Leiby home, but instead he brought the boy upstate to Monsey, N.Y. where he attended a wedding before bringing him back to his apartment. The two watched television before going to sleep. The following morning, Aron left for work at the hardware store, leaving Leiby alone nearly all day in the home.

Meanwhile, a massive search was conducted by his family and friends in the community. When Aron noticed fliers plastered on lampposts with the boy's photo, he says he panicked, went home and suffocated the boy and dismembered him.

Aron has said little during court appearances, often looking ahead with a vacant stare, or down at the ground. His attorneys had planned to mount a defense that he was not guilty by reason of mental defect, bolstered by a reported obtained by The Associated Press that said Aron had an adjustment disorder and a personality disorder with schizoid features. "His mood is neutral, practically blank," the psychologist wrote. "The only time he seems to show any emotional response is when he is asked difficult questions about the reason for his incarceration."

During his guilty plea two weeks ago, Aron spoke barely above a whisper. He expressed no remorse and only hinted at motive: At one point he told the judge he felt "panic" when he found out there was a frantic search on for the boy.

The judge asked him what he decided to do, and he responded simply, "Smother." He also answered yes when asked if he had bound and drugged Leiby.

Leiby's family has filed a lawsuit against Aron's father, who owned the building where his son lived when the boy was killed. They argue that the father should have known something unspeakable was happening under his roof and could have saved the boy if he tried.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-08-29-Dismembered%20Boy/id-0b673a263ca3459d95d43bf3550fb07b

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Advanced CT scans accurately assess coronary blockages

Public release date: 28-Aug-2012
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Contact: Ellen Beth Levitt
eblevitt@jhmi.edu
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Results of study from 16 hospitals in 8 countries to be presented at international meeting

An ultra-fast, 320-detector computed tomography (CT) scanner can accurately sort out which people with chest pain need or don't need an invasive procedure such as cardiac angioplasty or bypass surgery to restore blood flow to the heart, according to an international study. Results of the study, which involved 381 patients at 16 hospitals in eight countries, are scheduled to be presented at the European Society of Cardiology Congress in Munich, Germany, on August 28.

"The CORE 320 study is the first prospective, multicenter study to examine the diagnostic accuracy of CT for assessing blockages in blood vessels and determining which of those blockages may be preventing the heart from getting adequate blood flow," says Joao A. C. Lima, M.D., senior author of the study and professor of medicine and radiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "We found an excellent correlation in results when we compared the 320-detector CT testing with the traditional means of assessment using a stress test with imaging and cardiac catheterization."

The study findings, says Lima, would apply to people who have chest pain but are not having a heart attack. Many people in that situation are sent to a cardiac catheterization laboratory for further evaluation with angiography, an invasive test to look for blockages in the coronary arteries using dye and special X-rays. About 30 percent of people who have such catheterization are found to have minimal disease or no blockage requiring an intervention to open or bypass the vessel.

Lima explains that a nuclear medicine stress test with imaging, known as SPECT, shows reduced blood flow to the heart without indicating the number or specific location of blockages.

The 381 patients who completed the study had traditional SPECT tests and invasive angiography. They also had two types of tests with a non-invasive 320-detector CT scanner. In the first CT test, the scanner was used to see the anatomy of vessels to assess whether and where there were blockages. That test is known as CTA, in which the "A" stands for angiography. Then, in a second CT test with the same machine, patients were given a vasodilator, a medicine that dilates blood vessels and increases blood flow to the heart in ways similar to what happens during a stress test. The second test is called CTP, with the "P" standing for perfusion.

According to lead author Carlos E. Rochitte, M.D., a cardiologist at the Instituto do Coracao in Sao Paulo, Brazil, "We found that the 320-detector CT scanner allowed us to see the anatomy of the blockages as well as determine whether the blockages were causing a lack of perfusion to the heart. We were therefore able to correctly identify the patients who needed revascularization within 30 days of their evaluation."

"Many patients are sent for an angioplasty when they may not need it. Our ultimate goal is to have more certainty about which patients having chest pain without evidence of a heart attack need an invasive procedure to open an arterial blockage," says cardiologist Richard George, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and a co-author of the study.

"The CTP test added significant information about the patients' conditions and boosted our ability to identify those whose blockages were severe enough to reduce blood flow to the heart," adds George, who developed the CTP method with Lima.

The 320-detector CT provides a complete picture of the heart by making just one revolution around the body. The researchers say the two tests combined CTA and CTP still produce less radiation than a scan with the 64-detector in widespread use today.

"In our study, the amount of radiation exposure to patients from the two 320-detector CT scanner tests was half the amount they received as a result of the traditional evaluation methods the angiogram and nuclear medicine stress test combined," says Lima.

The researchers will continue to follow the patients in the study for up to five years, looking for any heart-related events such as heart attacks, as well as hospital admissions, procedures or surgeries.

Hospitals that participated in the CORE 320 study are located in the United States, Germany, Canada, Brazil, the Netherlands, Denmark, Japan and Singapore. Images obtained during the study were evaluated in core laboratories at Johns Hopkins and at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. The study was sponsored by Toshiba Medical Systems.

Johns Hopkins researchers collaborated with Toshiba on the development of the 320-detector CT scanner used in the study. In 2007, Johns Hopkins was one of three sites that participated in worldwide beta testing of the scanner that served as the prototype of the 320-detector system. Feedback provided by Johns Hopkins researchers was instrumental in the development of the scanner, which is now the only 320-detector CT scanner on the market.

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Advanced CT scans accurately assess coronary blockages

Public release date: 28-Aug-2012
[ | E-mail |

Share ]

Contact: Ellen Beth Levitt
eblevitt@jhmi.edu
Johns Hopkins Medicine

Results of study from 16 hospitals in 8 countries to be presented at international meeting

Lima explains that a nuclear medicine stress test with imaging, known as SPECT, shows reduced blood flow to the heart without indicating the number or specific location of blockages.

###

[ | 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/2012-08/jhm-acs082112.php

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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Raccoons spreads dangerous diseases as they invade Europe, Spanish researchers find

ScienceDaily (Aug. 28, 2012) ? Furry, agile, intelligent and voracious: the raccoon is far from being a cuddly toy, which is what many people believe when they get one as a pet. It is more like an invader that escapes and is able to adapt and survive in new habitats. According to a study, its expansion across Spain and Europe is bringing infectious and parasitic diseases like rabies. This puts the health of native species and people at risk.

Originating in North America, the raccoon (Procyon lotor) is an invasive species that has established itself in Europe due to hunting and the fur trade along with its acquisition as a pet. In Spain, its presence in the wild is already commonplace in Madrid and Guadalajara and is sporadic in other regions such as the island of Mallorca. Its presence is however far from welcomed.

"Due to its rapid expansion and the long list of illnesses that it may carry, it poses a health risk that we must bear in mind," according to Beatriz Beltr?n-Beck, the lead author of the study published in the European Journal of Wildlife Research and researcher at the Research Institute of Hunting Resources (IREC, joint centre of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, the CSIC, and Castilla-La Mancha Council).

Bearing in mind that its population density could exceed 100 raccoons per km², the success of the expansion of this small opportunistic carnivore is down to its ability to quickly adapt to different surroundings and omnivorous food habitats, its high reproductive potential and the absence of natural predators.

However, as Beltr?n-Beck points out, "the impact that their expansion and invasion could have on the environment and the health of native species and humans is unknown." The researcher adds that the increase in population numbers and expansion to other countries and/or urban environments could increase the transmission of dangerous parasites and illnesses to domestic animals and humans.

The guest that nobody wants in their home

The research team gathered all types of information on the infectious and parasitic diseases that raccoons can transmit. The aim was to assess the propagation risk of infections along with possible control methods. But, according to the author, "there is little data in Europe on this species."

Rabies and a very pathogenic parasite to man (Baylisascaris procyonis), which was found in Germany, are some of the most significant illnesses found in the raccoon. But, along with bacterial illnesses, these are added to the West Nile virus which affects human, birds, horses and sheep.

Although in Western Europe rabies have been eliminated thanks to the oral vaccination for foxes (Vulpes vulpes), there is still concern that the raccoon could complicate the situation in some areas of Eastern Europe that are still home to rabies. In recent years 142 cases of rabies in raccoons have been identified, above all in Ukraine, Estonia, Germany and Lithuania.

This small American carnivore has been confirmed to be the host of the nematode worm Baylisascaris procyonis, which is responsible for Larva migrans, an illness caused by larval migration and parasite persistence under the skin, in the brain and in other organs. In the past this disease could only be found in America but is now emerging and on the rise in Europe.

"The infected raccoons can scatter millions of nematode B. procyonis eggs, which cause significant environmental contamination," warn the scientists. In the USA, between 68% and 82% of mammals have this parasite. Prevalence is also high in Germany although in Japan, for example, the parasite was not detected in any of the 1,688 raccoons captured for the purposes of other studies.

According to Beltr?n-Beck, "more epidemiological studies are necessary on the current health situation and the implementation of measures that limit the possible impact of invading raccoons."

An unpleasant "pet"

Given its exotic origin and its rapid expansion since the 1970's, the raccoon is considered an invasive species in Europe. However, the majority of European countries, like Spain, do not control the trade of this animal, which is introduced onto the market as a pet.

"The case of Spain is a good example. The origin of its expansion is probably due to it escaping from the home where it was kept as a pet and due to the owners releasing it into the countryside when it reaches adulthood and becomes aggressive," adds the researcher.

According to the researcher, "this is mainly the case because there is a complete lack of knowledge of the biology, ecology, distribution and population density of the raccoon in Europe.

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Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Jes?s T. Garc?a, Francisco Jos? Garc?a, Fernando Alda, Jos? Luis Gonz?lez, Mar?a Jos? Aramburu, Yolanda Cort?s, Beatriz Prieto, Bel?n Pliego, Mar?a P?rez, Javier Herrera, Loreto Garc?a-Rom?n. Recent invasion and status of the raccoon (Procyon lotor) in Spain. Biological Invasions, 2011; 14 (7): 1305 DOI: 10.1007/s10530-011-0157-x

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Windstream Partners With LifeSize Communications to Provide High ...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Aug. 27, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) ? Windstream (Nasdaq:WIN), a leading provider of advanced network communications, announced today an agreement with LifeSize Communications, a division of Logitech, to offer LifeSize high definition video conferencing capabilities to Windstream customers.

LifeSize is a leader in high definition video communications and delivers a high quality experience from the desktop to the conference room with full HD 1080p video. With the ability to provide HD video communications under 1 Mbps?as well as the highest resolution available at any bandwidth?LifeSize systems enable companies to cost-effectively deploy HD video communications.

?Our partnership with LifeSize is part of our continual commitment to providing our customers with the latest communications and technology solutions for their businesses. The emergence of the mobile enterprise has led to an increasing number of customers turning to remote conferencing technology. This face-to-face experience will help our customers improve employee productivity, strengthen relationships, and reduce travel costs,? said Don Perkins, vice president of Business Marketing at Windstream.

LifeSize high definition video communications products will be coupled with Windstream?s IP networking solutions. Windstream offers Ethernet and dedicated high-speed Internet services, as well as a full suite of advanced network communications and technology solutions such as VoIP, SIP trunking, and MPLS. Windstream also has SSAE 16, SOC 1 Type II data centers located throughout the U.S. and offers managed services and cloud computing. Windstream?s nationwide fiber optic network spans 115,000 route miles across the country.

?We would like to offer a warm welcome to Windstream as they join our partner network. With the addition of Windstream, we can expand the availability of LifeSize solutions and bring video collaboration to more organizations than ever before,? said Joe Dorsey, director of Americas alliances for LifeSize Communications. ?Our alliances bring tremendous value to LifeSize and we are dedicated to providing them with a robust channel program to support their efforts and business success. We are looking forward to collaborating with Windstream to deliver a superior HD video experience to customers through LifeSize solutions.?

More at www.windstreambusiness.com

Source: http://www.telecomreseller.com/2012/08/27/windstream-partners-with-lifesize-communications-to-provide-high-definition-video-conferencing-solutions/

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Source: http://answers.carecrunch.com/?p=170902&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=5-excellent-home-improvement-franchises

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Native American Spiritual Beliefs Influential in Spurring Youth to Avoid

This article caught my eye.

A group from Mexico is ?caravanning? across the US to raise awareness of the enormous drug trafficking problems in Mexico that are at least in part related to illegal drug problems and violence in the US.***
The caravan ?will be stopping in my hometown, Toledo OH, this coming Wednesday.
I seem to recall the leader, Mexican poet?Javier Sicilia, ?was features on a PBS News Hour segment a few months back.

To be honest, I am still pondering on whether or not illegal drugs should be made legal. Certainly the present system of incarceration is not working.
At the very least, treatment/prevention programs should be stepped up, replacing much of the current court system?s misguided efforts.
Even though our country has a strong tradition of the separation of church and state, I believe prevention/treatment ideally includes a spiritual/religious dimension.

Once promising area of research. Even though it only studies one broad culture, it does invite further study into other cultures.

Native American Spiritual Beliefs Influential in Spurring Youth to Avoid Drugs and Alcohol

From the 20 August 2012 article at Science News Daily

New research indicates that urban native American youth who follow American Indian traditional spiritual beliefs are less likely to use drugs and alcohol. Arizona State University social scientists will present their findings at the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association in Denver, Colorado.

?

Among the general native American youth population, higher rates of substance (both drug and alcohol) abuse are reported than among their non-native American counterparts. They also are more likely to use heavier amounts, initiate substance use earlier, and have more severe consequences from substance use, according to past research.

Native Americans typically do not separate spirituality from other areas of their lives, making it a complex, cultural and intertwined aspect of their daily existence.

Researchers found that adherence to native American beliefs was the strongest predictor of anti-drug attitudes, norms, and expectations. Concerning substance use, aspects of spirituality and religion associated with lower levels of use were affiliation with the Native American Church and following Christian beliefs?

***From the flyer I rec?d the other day

The Caravan began its U.S. journey in San Diego on August 12. Nearly 80 Caravaneros will visit two dozen U.S. cities on the way to their final stop in Washington, D.C., in September.

Victims of the violence in Mexico will share their testimony of suffering and courage. From Jalisco, the mother of Jose Luis Arana Aguilar will speak of her son?s disappearance last January after making one last call to his children?s day care, reminding them to feed his children. From Coahuila, the girlfriend of Jose Antonio Robledo Fernandez will tell of how she heard the abductors of her boyfriend insult and beat him before he disappeared.

Leading the Caravan is Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, whose son, Juan Francisco, was brutally murdered last year. He then travelled with MPJD caravans in Mexico collecting stories of the destruction caused by the so-called war against drugs and organized crime, which the United States has funded with over $1.5 billion in military equipment and training. The result? As Sicilia writes, ?The 60,000 deaths, the 10,000 disappearances, and the 160,000 internally displaced people during the past six years are tragedies caused directly by failed security policies.?

Though their grief knows no end or resolution, they are committed to telling their stories to the American public so that their humanity can move us to action. When the horrific statistics are seen in the pain, suffering, and courage of real people who are reaching out to the victims of the drug war north of the border, the foundation for change can be built.

Sicilia and other movement leaders believe that carrying the campaign across the border underscores the role of the United States. Drug war ideology was born here?putting an end to it must start here too.

What you can do: Come out to welcome and support the Caravan in Toledo!
#Follow the Caravan on twitter (@CaravanaUSA), Facebook, and the Caravan for Peace website. www.caravanforpeace.org/caravan Or www.globalexchange.org/mexico/caravan
#Global Exchange will also be sending updates while on the road at the People-to-People blog.
#Read the latest article on the Caravan in The Nation, August 7, 2012, ?Can the Caravan of Peace end the War on Drugs?? by Tom Hayden
#Watch the Democracy Now interview, August 16, 2012, at www.democracynow.org: ?Mexican Poet, Activist Javier Sicilia Brings Peace Caravan into U.S. to Condemn Deadly Drug War?

National sponsors include: American Friends Service Committee; Border Angels; Drug Policy Alliance; Fellowship of Reconciliation; National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities; Law Enforcement Against Prohibition; Moms United; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; National Latino Congress; Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing (New PATH); School of Americas Watch. Local sponsors: Women?s International League for Peace and Freedom (Toledo); Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition; CCUP Pax Christi. University of Toledo sponsors:
Program in Law and Social Thought; Women?s and Gender Studies Dept.;
Phi Alpha Theta (History Honor Society)

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August 27, 2012 - Posted by Janice Flahiff | Medical and Health Research News | Alcohol abuse, Alcoholism, drug abuse, drug treatment, spirituality, substance_abuse_treatment_services

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Source: http://jflahiff.wordpress.com/2012/08/27/native-american-spiritual-beliefs-influential-in-spurring-youth-to-avoid-drugs-and-alcohol/

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88% Compliance

Even though you may find it maddeningly frustrating because of the things the characters do in this, you cant deny how involved and engrossed you will be by it, and how much youll be talking about it afterwards, which is a lot more than most films can say, i actually saw like 10 people walk out of the screening, as messed up as some of the things get, its sad to say that I dont doubt things like this can happen, (and they do as its based on true events) but it just goes to show how some people will do whatever people tell them just because some says theyre an authority figure just out of fear of getting in trouble, all the acting is good, i was surprised to see pat healy, who was good in the innkeepers, be the creepy voice on the phone here, definitely worth checking out

August 21, 2012

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/compliance_2012/

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Sunday, August 26, 2012

Manning on the money in Broncos' loss to 49ers

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (18) passes against the San Francisco 49ers during the first quarter of an NFL preseason football game in Denver, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

Denver Broncos wide receiver Eric Decker (87) catches a touchdown pass from quarterback Peyton Manning during the first quarter of an NFL preseason football game against the San Francisco 49ers in Denver, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning (18) celebrates with tight end Jacob Tamme (84) after throwing a touchdown pass to wide receiver Eric Decker against the San Francisco 49ers during the first quarter of an NFL preseason football game in Denver, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Joe Mahoney)

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith, bottom center, fumbles against the Denver Broncos during the first quarter of an NFL preseason football game in Denver, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)

DENVER (AP) ? That's the Peyton Manning the Denver Broncos and their fans have been waiting all summer to see. Magnificent. A machine. On the money. And no longer just a memory.

Manning was close to perfect in his final regular-season tuneup Sunday, throwing his first two touchdown passes for the Denver Broncos in a 29-24 loss to the San Francisco 49ers.

In less than a quarter of work, Manning completed 10 of 12 passes for 122 yards, including TD tosses of 10 and 5 yards to Eric Decker, and the only two misses were a dropped pass by Joel Dreessen and an errant throw to Brandon Stokley, who was held on the play but didn't draw the flag.

After managing one TD to go with four turnovers in his first seven possessions this preseason, Manning drove the Broncos (1-2) to scores on all three of his series, then put on his visor with 46 seconds left in the first quarter after staking Denver to a 17-0 lead.

"I thought we did some good things today," Manning said. "We moved the ball pretty well and we got two touchdowns. It would have been nice to get three, had to settle to for a field goal. I thought the running game was good. Willis (McGahee) made some nice runs, had some nice holes by the offensive line, the receivers made some nice plays, as well."

The Broncos finally showed more than just a glimpse of the offensive firepower they can have with the four-time MVP under center.

"I think it was nice just to start fast and finish off some drives and put some points on the board and play some good football," Stokley said. "I think that was more important than him throwing the first touchdown pass."

The Broncos (No. 10 in the AP Pro32) mixed up their looks, throwing in some no-huddle with four-wide receiver sets, using fullback Chris Gronkowski at the point of attack and sending tailback Lance Ball out wide to run routes like a receiver.

"That's what this preseason is for. You want to win the game but you want to get a look at different players," Manning said. "No matter what grouping we were in we showed we could move the ball."

Alex Smith threw a 49-yard TD pass and David Akers kicked five field goals for the Niners (2-1), who outscored the Broncos' backups 19-0 in the second half but lost wide receiver Ted Ginn Jr. to an ankle injury early in the second half.

For the second straight week, the Broncos' backups were awful. They've now been outscored 40-0 after halftime in the last two games.

Denver's first drive stalled when the replacement officials failed to whistle cornerback Carlos Rogers for a blatant hold on a third-down pass to Stokley, and the Broncos settled for Matt Prater's 53-yard field goal.

Manning was money after that.

He completed all six of his passes for 83 yards on a long drive that ended with his first touchdown throw in orange and blue, a 10-yard strike to Decker, who beat Rogers across the middle. The highlight of drive was a 38-yard pass to Ball, who beat linebacker Larry Grant.

Ball, though, bruised his ribs on the play and didn't return. He said afterward he was fine.

So was Manning, who was blasted by linebacker Parys Haralson in the chest right as he released his longest pass of the preseason. After Ball came down with it, Manning bounced right up, raced downfield, lined up in the no-huddle and hit running back Willis McGahee for 14 yards to the San Francisco 12.

It was the second time Manning, who missed all of last season with a neck injury that required four operations, had been hit hard in the preseason, and both times shook off the cobwebs and responded with a big pass for the first down.

"The offense was excited to move the ball," Manning said. "We had some rhythm, we huddled today yet we still played at an up-tempo pace."

Linebacker Wesley Woodyard recovered a fumbled snap for the Broncos (No. 10 in the AP Pro 32) at the San Francisco 24, and four plays later, Manning found Decker wide open by the back left pylon for his second touchdown and a 17-0 lead over the 49ers (No. 4).

The Broncos' onside kick backfired when Matthew Willis touched the ball about a yard early, and Smith found tight end Vernon Davis all alone along the left sideline for a 49-yard score on the next snap.

"I was surprised," Niners coach Jim Harbaugh said of the Broncos' onside kick in the preseason. "But I'm glad they did it. It's good for us because you always have to be aware of it."

Manning said he'd have gone out for another series had the Broncos recovered the onside kick. When they didn't, his day was done.

"I feel very comfortable where he is and rather than put him out there in harm's way, we took him out," Broncos coach John Fox said.

Caleb Hanie, locked in a backup battle with rookie Brock Osweiler to serve as Manning's primary understudy, underthrew Decker and former Broncos cornerback Perrish Cox intercepted at midfield. That led to Akers' first field goal, from 33 yards out. Hanie bounced back to throw a 5-yard TD pass to Dreessen that made it 24-10 at halftime.

"I don't want to say it's just the preseason because this is a time to get better," Niners linebacker Ahmad Brooks said. "It's a time you can really showcase what your team is capable of doing. I don't know but it's been a scary start to this point."

Smith finished 5 of 7 for 69 yards, and his pocket of protection was much better than it had been during the preseason.

"It was a little hard to get in a rhythm," Smith said, who was sacked just once. "I thought the young guys did a great job in the second half. We have some stuff to clean up obviously."

San Francisco's ground game, which had gained an NFL-best 378 yards through the first two weeks of the preseason, was stymied by the Broncos. With LaMichael James (left ankle) and Brandon Jacobs (left knee) sitting this one out, the 49ers were held to 14 yards on nine first-half carries, including two runs for minus-4 yards by Frank Gore.

That all changed after halftime as the Niners finished with 139 yards rushing. Anthony Dixon had a 26-yard TD run and Akers kicked field goals of 45, 21, 32 and 44 yards while the Broncos sputtered once again with Manning on the sideline.

Notes: Manning's passer rating of 148.6 was nearly 100 points higher than what it was (48.8) in the first two preseason games. ... Broncos rookie RB Ronnie Hillman made his preseason debut after dealing with a pulled right hamstring and gained 29 yards on 10 carries. "I'll plan on playing better next week and playing a lot faster," Hillman said. ... X-rays were negative on Ginn's right ankle. ... Rookie CB Omar Bolden bruised his left knee.

___

Follow AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Stapleton on Twitter: http://twitter.com/arniestapleton

___

Online: http://bigstory.ap.org/NFL-Pro32 and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-08-26-49ers-Broncos/id-9db8338c41da411db78ba72861ca12a7

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Major League Baseball's new drug of choice is testosterone

Baseball seemed to have cleaned up its act. Players, who once sported cartoonish physiques, were smaller. So were their statistics.

But the recent suspensions of Giants star Melky Cabrera and A's pitcher Bartolo Colon have resurrected feelings of disillusionment among fans and concern that the game has suffered a relapse with performance-enhancing drugs.

It's unclear whether Cabrera and Colon are isolated cases, or the harbinger of another scandal. But anti-doping experts are certain of this much: Old-school synthetic testosterone is creating the new mischief as the drug of choice among athletes willing to cheat.

Testosterone creams and patches created for legitimate medical purposes are being used by

(Click to enlarge)

unscrupulous athletes as fast-acting performance-enhancers that are difficult to detect. Both Cabrera and Colon received 50-game suspensions after testing positive for elevated levels of testosterone.

"Nothing has changed with synthetic testosterone, but what has changed is the delivery system," said Dr. Gary Wadler, one of the country's leading authorities on sports drugs. "The doping gurus looking at these products said: 'This is great for us. We can give very low doses to athletes and it doesn't last very long.' "

And it works.

"It's a proven performance-enhancer," said Travis Tygart, the CEO of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency. "If there was no drug testing, testosterone and its chemical cousins are what athletes would use.

And it's an ideal choice for athletes who still think they can get away with using it."

Colon and Cabrera got caught. Both players, given up on by multiple other teams, were having outstanding seasons, fueling feel-good stories beyond their fan bases.

Cabrera, 28, was having the best year of his career with a .346 batting average, second-best in the National League. He was named most valuable player of the All-Star Game last month and had become such a fan favorite at AT&T Park

that some fans were dressing as "Melkmen" and "Melkmaids."

Colon, recovered from years of serious arm trouble, was having an age-defying season at 39, sporting a 10-9 record and a 3.43 ERA.

Now it all appears to have been a chemical charade. Cabrera and Colon are among five players suspended this season for using various illegal substances. That's the most since 2007, when there also were five. And that number doesn't include Ryan Braun, the National League MVP whose 50-game suspension in December for elevated testosterone levels was overturned on a technicality.

This has produced a new round of soul-searching about baseball's cleanliness, and whether more needs to be done to assure fans that they can believe what they're seeing on the field.

"You want baseball to be played with legitimacy and integrity," said Dale Murphy, a retired two-time MVP for the Atlanta Braves. "But right now baseball is being used as a punch line and a joke. I don't think drug use is as widespread as people think, but that's not the perception. And the issue is the perception of the game."

Doping is a scourge that plagues all sports. At the recent London Olympics, a Belarus shot-putter was stripped of her gold medal for using anabolic steroids. And just last week, cyclist Lance Armstrong lost claim to all seven of his Tour de France titles when he announced he would no longer fight the drug-use accusations from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency that have hounded him for years.

Baseball has been especially tarnished by drugs, and the Bay Area has been at the center of the story. From the late 1980s to the mid-2000s, now commonly known as the Steroid Era, players with cartoonish physiques put up cartoonish numbers. Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs in 2001, three years after Mark McGwire had hit 70. In the previous hundred years of baseball, only two men had hit 60. A 50-homer season had happened 18 times. Then it happened 18 times from 1995 to 2002.

Fans loved the long ball ... until the show proved to be too good to be true.

The investigation into Victor Conte and his infamous Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) in Burlingame helped reveal the dirty truth of steroid use throughout sports. It ultimately led to the 2011 conviction of Bonds for perjury and resulted in Conte serving four months in jail and four months of home detention for steroid distribution and money laundering. It also pushed baseball to adopt a more aggressive attitude in combating performance-enhancers.

With the implementation of a stricter drug policy in 2005 that now includes mandatory urine and blood testing at spring training as well as additional random tests, baseball had earned praise for making progress in curtailing drug use.

Although the Wild West attitude of steroid use is gone, recent news suggests that a more subtle form of cheating is occurring. Tygart said players no longer will risk using long-lasting designer steroids such as THG, which was at the heart of BALCO's programs, because testers are looking for those.

But as Colon and Cabrera show, some athletes have turned to an old standby: testosterone. It's a naturally produced hormone that builds muscle mass. The synthetic version is used to treat ailments in men who are testosterone-deficient or patients coping with diseases such as AIDS or cancers.

For athletes?

"Testosterone is the granddaddy of all anabolic steroids," said Conte, the BALCO founder who said he now wants to help clean up sports. "It promotes muscle growth, strength, speed and is excellent for recovery. Testosterone is a huge muscle-enhancing drug. It makes a tremendous difference in performance."

With patches and creams, testosterone can be administered in small doses that allow athletes to derive benefits with the confidence that the drug will be gone from their systems within hours, before a test can detect it.

Baseball's primary test is a urinalysis that measures testosterone-to-epitestosterone levels. A sample that exceeds a 4-to-1 ratio is considered suspicious and automatically prompts a second analysis, called a Carbon Isotope Ratio test, that can determine if the testosterone is naturally produced or synthetic.

Baseball officials say the punishments of Cabrera and Colon demonstrate that its crackdown on cheaters is working. MLB has issued 31 suspensions since 2005 for players who violate the league's drug prevention and treatment program.

Still, MLB spokesman Patrick Courtney acknowledges that the drug users forever will be trying to outsmart drug testers.

"That's the world we live in," Courtney said. "All sports struggle with this problem. We rely on the experts as well as our professional baseball athletic trainers and doctors to tell us what's going on with our program, and they all tell us we're in the right spot."

Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones, whose 19-year career spanned much of the Steroid Era, hopes the culture will change.

"I've been seeing a lot of articles saying people are still cheating in baseball, and with the positive tests in the last couple of weeks it's still an issue," Jones said. "But rest assured, those who are doing it will be caught. It's a shame, because baseball's obviously had enough black eyes over the years, and we need to get past it and get back to a level playing field."

Conte believes that won't happen until baseball adopts a tougher policy. He recently said "maybe as much as 50 percent" of players are using something -- a claim that was quickly followed by a joint statement from MLB and the players association that much public commentary about testing protocols "has been inaccurate."

Still, Conte contends there is not nearly enough random testing in the winter months when players are likely be doping to gain strength for the long season ahead. He also said every urine sample should be subjected to Carbon Isotope Ratio monitoring, which he calls "the nail in the coffin test" because of its infallibility.

Conte called the current testing program "a joke and propaganda. The back door is wide open with loopholes and that's where the players are going through. If you understand how to do it," he said of staying under the 4-to-1 ratio, "it's like stealing candy from a baby."

In the A's and Giants clubhouses, where each team now is entering the pennant stretch minus a key contributor, players express a mixture of surprise and resignation that some people are continuing to look for an edge.

"I don't know how you're going to stop people from trying to better themselves one way or another, even if (cheating) is involved," said Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum. "It's human nature. Obviously, I don't want it to happen and I'm upset when it does. It's kind of embarrassing. But with that, it's just always going to be out there."

A's pitcher Travis Blackley said if players are using something, they're being quieter about it.

"If people do it, they do it hush-hush," he said. "You look around the room and you just don't see what you would expect from someone on that kind of substance. You don't see the big, huge, obvious-looking guys like you used to see back in the day."

Both the Anti-Doping Agency's Tygart and Wadler would like to see baseball turn to an independent testing organization as a way to ensure greater transparency. And while Wadler believes baseball has made significant strides, he understands those who fear that the Steroid Era isn't dead but merely has a new drug of choice.

"When you start seeing all-stars and MVPs getting caught, then you start scratching your head and wondering what's going on here?" Wadler said. "Now, two were just caught, and that's good. But you wonder how many others haven't been caught."

Staff writers Joe Stiglich and Carl Steward contributed to this report. Contact Mark Emmons at memmons@mercurynews.com and Daniel Brown at dbrown@mercurynews.com.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/athletics/ci_21395355/major-league-baseballs-new-drug-choice-is-testosterone?source=rss

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