VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Francis celebrated a trimmed back Easter Vigil service Saturday after having reached out to Muslims and women during a Holy Week in which he began to put his mark on the Catholic Church.
Francis processed into a darkened and silent St. Peter's Basilica at the start of the service, in which the faithful recall the period between Christ's crucifixion on Good Friday and resurrection on Easter Sunday.
One of the most dramatic moments of the Easter Vigil service that usually follows ? when the pope would share the light of his candle with others until the entire basilica twinkled ? was shortened this year as were some of the Old Testament readings.
The Vatican has said these provisions were in keeping with Francis' aim to not have his Masses go on too long. The Easter Vigil service under Benedict XVI would typically run nearly three hours. The new pope has made clear he prefers his Masses short and to the point: he was even caught checking his watch during his March 19 installation ceremony. Saturday was no different: The vigil ended just shy of 2.5 hours.
A trimmed-back vigil ? and one that started earlier than usual ? was just one of the novelties of this Holy Week under an Argentine Jesuit pope who just two weeks ago stunned the world by emerging from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica after his election with a simple "Brothers and sisters, good evening."
He riled traditionalists but endeared himself to women and liberals by washing and kissing the feet of two young girls during a Holy Thursday Mass at a juvenile detention center in Rome, when the rite usually calls for only men to participate. A day later, Francis reached out with friendship to "Muslim brothers and sisters" during a Good Friday procession dedicated to the suffering of Christians from terrorism, war and religious fanaticism in the Middle East.
In his homily Saturday, Francis kept his message simple and tied to the liturgical readings, recalling how Jesus' disciples found his tomb empty a day after his death and were surprised and confused.
"Our daily problems and worries can wrap us up in ourselves, in sadness and bitterness, and that is where death is," he said. "Let the risen Jesus enter your life, welcome him as a friend, with trust: he is life!"
He later baptized four men, part of the Easter Vigil ritual.
Just a few hours after the vigil ends, Francis on Sunday will celebrate Easter Mass and deliver his "Urbi et Orbi" speech, Latin for "To the city and the world." Usually the pope also issues Easter greetings in dozens of languages.
In his two weeks as pope, Francis' discomfort with speaking in any language other than Italian has become apparent. He has even shied away from speaking Spanish when the occasion would call for it, though the Vatican has said he has done so to avoid discriminating against other languages by favoring his native tongue.
Italian is the lingua franca of the Vatican and Francis has emphasized his role as bishop of Rome over that of pope of the universal church, making his use of Italian logical.
It's not clear how Francis will handle the multilingual greetings Sunday.
Typically, after the busy Easter week ceremonies, the pope would go to the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo for a few days of vacation. Francis can't do that since the previous pope, Benedict XVI, is currently living there in retirement.
The Vatican has said Francis would stay put in the Vatican.
___
Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield
Reuters is reporting that Lenovo?(LNVGY), the Chinese electronics giant, is in talks to acquire NEC?s mobile phone unit. Lenovo has been speculated to be in talks with both Nokia (NOK) and BlackBerry (BBRY) over the past two years. Various brokerages have claimed that it is negotiating to buy Nokia?s feature phone unit, Nokia?s Lumia phone unit or BlackBerry?s hardware operations. If Lenovo ends up buying the NEC handset operations, it would acquire a technologically highly sophisticated operation with a minuscule annual production volume of roughly 4 million units.
[More from BGR: iPhone 5S announcement rumored for June 20th, launch in July]
The acquisition would open the door for the world?s No. 2 PC vendor to try to execute an aggressive cross-over to smartphone market ? Lenovo would presumably be well positioned to ramp up smartphone volumes rapidly. This would mean that the most likely buyer of Nokia or BlackBerry would gobble up a much cheaper and more easily integrated alternative.
[More from BGR: Google?s ?Babble? cross-platform messaging service gets detailed in purported leak]
NEC enjoyed its halcyon days around 2001, when its global mobile phone market share briefly spiked close to 10% and hit double digits in Germany and the United Kingdom. That was the period when i-mode was the hottest buzzword in the mobile telecom industry and Japanese vendors like Sony (SNE), Panasonic and NEC were making big gains in Europe and North America. The Japanese vendors were badly dented by the phone industry downturn in 2001-2003 and mostly retreated from the global competition to their home market.
Lenovo is one of China?s most ambitious electronics companies; its acquisition of IBM?s (IBM) PC business made it the world?s second largest personal computer brand. The company has come to regret that purchase, however: Soon after it snapped up the PC division it became obvious that smartphones would become the most important consumer electronics category and that the PC was entering its twilight era.
China and India are now bursting with smartphone brands with heady global growth numbers. Huawei, Micromax, Spice, Karbonn and others are enjoying 80%-plus volume growth by capitalizing on one of biggest trends in the industry as growth has shifted from North America and Europe to South-East Asia and China. Until now, Lenovo has watched the triumphant expansion of these upstarts silently seething. The giant may now be ready to make its move.
Ironically, Lenovo just might be about to repeat the timing mistake it made with its big personal computer acquisition. Global smartphone volume growth has slowed from over 50% to about 35% in just a year. Growth in North America and Europe is sputtering badly right now. If Lenovo buys the NEC phone division and starts to ramp up seriously in 2014, it just might enter the global smartphone competition just when the volume growth falls below 25% amidst intensifying competition.
Pittsburgh Penguins' Jarome Iginla (12) and center Sidney Crosby warm up before an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders in Pittsburgh, Saturday, March 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Pittsburgh Penguins' Jarome Iginla (12) and center Sidney Crosby warm up before an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders in Pittsburgh, Saturday, March 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Pittsburgh Penguins' Jarome Iginla, left, meets the media outside the Penguins locker room before an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders in Pittsburgh Saturday, March 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Pittsburgh Penguins' Jarome Iginla meets the media before an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders in Pittsburgh Saturday, March 30, 2013. Iginla will make is debut with the Penguins in the game. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Pittsburgh Penguins' Jarome Iginla, top center, meets the media outside the Penguins locker room before an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders in Pittsburgh Saturday, March 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Pittsburgh Penguins' Jarome Iginla arrives to meet the media outside the Penguins locker room before an NHL hockey game against the New York Islanders in Pittsburgh Saturday, March 30, 2013. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
PITTSBURGH (AP) ? After scoring more than 500 goals in Calgary, Jarome Iginla just wants to fit in with Sidney Crosby and the streaking Pittsburgh Penguins.
The former Flames captain, acquired early Thursday in Pittsburgh's latest blockbuster trade, made his Penguins debut Saturday against the New York Islanders.
Pittsburgh was looking for its 15th straight victory, which would be two shy of the NHL record set by Mario Lemieux and the 1992-93 Penguins.
"They have a great team, obviously, with great chemistry and great leadership," Iginla said before the game. "I'm just coming to fit in, work hard with them and compete."
Iginla, a six-time All-Star, arrived in Pittsburgh on Friday night and was in the lineup Saturday, a game earlier than originally anticipated.
The 35-year-old forward had 525 goals and 570 assists in 1,219 regular-season games during 16 seasons with Calgary. He had nine goals and 13 assists in 31 games this season.
"The Penguins have been dealing with pressure for a while and they're rolling," Iginla said. "They're a very skilled group, very dynamic, but they work hard and compete hard. I'm just coming in to join that."
The move for Iginla, who waived his no-trade clause to come to Pittsburgh, was the Penguins' third big deal in a week, bolstering them from Stanley Cup contenders to prohibitive favorites. Pittsburgh also obtained former Dallas Stars captain Brenden Morrow and bruising defenseman Doug Murray from San Jose.
"It was already enticing (to come to Pittsburgh), but it's more enticing once you see (Pittsburgh) really going for it," Iginla said. "I'm not as young as I once was and every year that goes by you want to win more."
Iginla is in the final year of his contract and will be an unrestricted free agent July 1. He led Calgary to the 2004 Stanley Cup finals, but the Flames haven't been to the playoffs since 2009 and are currently 14th in the Western Conference.
Pittsburgh general manager Ray Shero gave up the rights to a couple of prospects and a 2013 first-round draft pick to grab Iginla, a future Hall of Famer still searching for his first championship after 16 seasons in western Canada.
"I enjoyed playing (in Calgary). But if you leave, you want to go to have a really great crack to win and I think they have that here," Iginla said.
The stunning deal capped a furious four-day stretch for Shero, who brought in Morrow from Dallas on Sunday and Murray on Monday. In the span of 96 hours, the Penguins added three players with a combined 1,682 points and 189 career playoff games.
And they did it without giving up a single player on a roster that had put together the NHL's second-best record with a month to go in the lockout-shortened regular season.
With his future up in the air, Iginla was scratched from Calgary's lineup against Colorado on Wednesday night, ending his consecutive games streak at 441.
Pittsburgh sent the rebuilding Flames the rights to college players Kenneth Agostino and Ben Hanowski as well as its first pick in this year's draft for the league's fifth-leading active scorer.
CHICAGO (AP) ? United Airlines is delaying its new Denver-Tokyo service ? again ? because its new Boeing 787 jets remain grounded.
United said Friday that service between Denver and Tokyo's Narita Airport will begin June 10. The airline had already pushed back the original March 31 start to at least May 12.
The airline said that it was still determined to use the plane on the new route.
The 787, which Boeing calls the Dreamliner, promises a more comfortable ride for passengers and significant fuel savings for airline customers. But all 50 of the planes in airline fleets are grounded because of incidents involving smoldering batteries in January.
Boeing Co.'s fix for the lithium-ion batteries includes putting more space around cells and wrapping the batteries in steel cases.
Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said Friday that the changes "will add several layers of additional safety features" to the batteries. He said Boeing was moving as quickly as possible on the testing and certification process without taking short cuts.
CEO Jim McNerney said Thursday that Boeing feels it is "very close" to getting the 787 approved for passenger flights.
The company conducted a 2-hour test flight of a 737 on Monday over Washington and Oregon and reported that everything went according to plan. Boeing is doing follow-up work in preparation for another test flight in which it would demonstrate the battery system's performance for Federal Aviation Administration experts.
Startups around the world are desperate for office space in the San Francisco Bay Area, so tomorrow RocketSpace will announce the lease of a new 50,000 sq. ft. office so it can house startups with up to 60 employees instead of capping them at 30. Along with this RocketSpace Suites project, the ?office-as-a-service? plans to lock down another 100,000 sq. ft. spot and open a space in London this year.
RocketSpace currently provides plug-and-play office space for 130 startups and their 600 employees at a per-person, per-month rate. It lets founders concentrate on their businesses while RocketSpace handles leases, security, bandwidth, firewalls and other office hassles. Its relationships with venture capitalists and corporate accelerators have kept at least one of its residents securing funding every week, and it runs inspiring events featuring speakers like Peter Thiel and Vinod Khosla.
CEO Duncan Logan told me in a meeting today that one of RocketSpace?s biggest problems is that due to space contraints, ?we kick out companies when they get to 3o employees.??Fast-rising startups like Uber, Spotify, Kabam, and Leap Motion have all gotten the boot. It?s also receiving far more qualified applicants than it has room for. RocketSpace needed more, well, space. Meanwhile, its current real estate is literally about to get steamrolled. Tomorrow, the city of San Francisco will announce RocketSpace?s current 181 Fremont location will be demolished to make way for a new Transbay Tower?transportation hub.
So after a year of searching, tomorrow RocketSpace will announce the lease of a 50,000 sq. ft. space just north of Market Street at 180 Sansome. Eventually it hopes to take over that whole tower. But RocketSpace Suites is just the start of its expansion. It?s currently looking at a 90,000 sq. ft. Bay Area space to replace the Fremont home it will have to vacate. Logan says it will be able to host 2,000 people in its combined 140,000 sq. ft. space. By the end of 2013 RocketSpace plans to have added a London space. And even though it?s completely bootstrapped, after that it?s eying Tel Aviv, Berlin, and Vancouver for additional locations.
Logan says RocketSpace aspires to become an ?innovation campus? that he calls a ?Stanford for startups.? He explains that ?young companies are like young people. They?re a product of their environment. We can build the best possible environment for startups.? By surrounding themselves with similarly ambitious?makers, Logan believes startups can be more creative and productive.
Just watch out for your neighbors poaching your engineers.
Startup. Blast off. RocketSpace is an accelerator for high-growth, seed-funded tech startups. We provide the fuel that every startup needs to accelerate: access to top talent, tier 1 venture capital, and blue-chip brands representing millions of potential customers. Our programs are focused on creating the perfect tech startup ecosystem: speakers & classes in our dedicated event space, services from the best startup service providers, and research & analysis covering over 10,000 startups worldwide representing the ?what?s next next? in technology. Located in...
Heartland Gourmet is recalling some "dairy-free" mixes that may contain milk. (Image credit: Heartland Gourmet/FDA)
A gourmet food company is recalling three of its ?dairy-free? baking mixes because they might contain milk, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Heartland Gourmet, based in Lincoln, Neb., announced the voluntary recall Thursday after routine sample testing in Canada uncovered milk in some cookie and pizza crust mixes, which are labeled both gluten-free and dairy-free.
The recall notice cites ?a temporary breakdown in the company?s production and packaging processes? leading to the contamination, but a company spokeswoman said the problem is still under investigation.
Milk is one of the most common food allergens, according to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious disease. It can cause hives, wheezing and vomiting, as well as abdominal cramps and diarrhea. In rare cases, milk can cause anaphylaxis, a life-threatening reaction.
17 Scary Allergy Triggers
An ABC News analysis in?December?2012 revealed that more than 400 recalls for undeclared allergens in food were reported to the FDA since March 2009. More than 140 of them were for desserts and snack foods, including cookies, candy and ice cream.
The Heartland Gourmet?mixes were distributed to stores in Minnesota, Texas, Indiana, Connecticut, North Carolina, California and Colorado between October 2012 and March 2013, according to the recall notice. The company also supplies mixes for fundraisers, according to its website. No illnesses have been reported to date.
The recalled products include:
Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie Mix: Item # 2017 UPC Code 7376967020171 16 oz. Lot #0023065, best buy date of 12/2014 and distributed in March of 2013, and Lot # 0023007, best buy date of 10/2014 and distributed in February 2013.
Gluten Free Double Chocolate Cookie Mix: Item # 1530 -UPC Code 737697015306 16 oz. Lot #0012289 ? Best buy Date of 10/2014 and distributed in October of 2012; Lot #0022317 with a best buy date of 10/2014 and distributed in November of 2012; and Lot #0012341 with a best buy date of 01/2014 and distributed in December of 2012.
Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix: Item # 2024 UPC Code 737697020249 15.4 oz. Lot #0073007. Best buy date of 09/2014 and distributed in January of 2013.
Customers are urged to return the recalled products to the place of purchase for a refund, according to the recall notice. Click here for more information.
Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade reacts as he watches a free throw by Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Bulls won 101-97, ending the Heat's 27-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade reacts as he watches a free throw by Chicago Bulls forward Luol Deng during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Bulls won 101-97, ending the Heat's 27-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Miami Heat forward Shane Battier grimaces after he was called for a foul during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Bulls won 101-97, ending the Heat's 27-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Miami Heat forward LeBron James, center, and guard Mario Chalmers, right, listen to guard Ray Allen during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Chicago Bulls in Chicago on Wednesday, March 27, 2013. The Bulls won 101-97, ending the Heat's 27-game winning streak. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Take heart, Heat. Look out, NBA.
When the Los Angeles Lakers' 33-game winning streak ended, they hit a bit of a lull before rolling through the playoffs and winning the NBA title.
That scenario likely would suit Miami just fine since the defending champions have said all along they were focused on repeating more than breaking a record.
Dwyane Wade even sounded relieved Miami's run stopped at 27, courtesy of the Chicago Bulls.
"Now that it's over, I'm glad it's over," he said after the 101-97 loss Wednesday night, his team's first defeat in nearly two months.
"It really didn't matter to us," Wade said. "If you get it, it's awesome. If you don't, we still won 27 games in a row. That's pretty awesome. So we really weren't like, 'We've got to get that record.' Not at all."
So, with their name firmly attached to the second-longest streak in NBA history, the Heat did what they would have done if it had still been going strong. They took Thursday off in New Orleans, where they'll face the Hornets on Friday night.
While the circus atmosphere around the team slows down ? until the playoffs, anyway ? the Heat can turn to the business of wrapping up the final 11 games of the regular season without what some may call a "distraction." Clinching the Eastern Conference's No. 1 seed is a foregone conclusion, and the Heat leads San Antonio by two games in the race for home-court advantage throughout the playoffs.
Still, Lakers star Kobe Bryant urged LeBron James and his teammates to savor the moment.
"I think just as a student of the game, as a fan of the game, you appreciate those kind of streaks and you realize how difficult it is to put together that big of a streak," he said. "Obviously, the Lakers winning 33 in a row was phenomenal, but the Heat's one was just as impressive."
After their streak ended, those '71-72 Lakers lost four of their next six games. But they went 15-2 to close the regular season, then lost only three of 15 playoff games on the way to the title.
That's the only measure of success for the Heat.
"At the end of the day, a win is a win in our league," said James, the reigning MVP who averaged exactly 27 points per game during the 27-game streak. "We've gotten better throughout the season. Each and every month we've improved. We've started from behind some games, but for the most part we've played some great basketball."
They blew out some teams and rallied in the final minutes to beat others, erasing double-digit deficits and pulling off 11 fourth-quarter comebacks in their 7?-week run of dominance.
Entering Thursday, 10 NBA teams hadn't won 27 games all season.
"Really proud of the grind of the last few weeks from my guys," Miami forward Shane Battier wrote on Twitter early Thursday. "The focus and effort (and luck) was phenomenal."
They were must-see television, with ESPN and NBA TV scrambling to pick up Heat games as the streak rolled along. ESPN said the overnight rating for Heat-Bulls was the fifth-best of any regular-season game ever shown on the network.
For those who still need streaks to follow, there are plenty of options.
Women's basketball is full of them right now, with Baylor (32), Notre Dame (28) and Delaware (27) all streaking into NCAA regional games this weekend. In men's college basketball, Louisville takes a 12-game winning streak into its Midwest Regional semifinal against Oregon on Friday night. And in the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins were trying for a 14th straight win against Winnipeg on Thursday night.
To put it in perspective, Heat's streak not only is the second-longest in NBA history, but the second-longest among any of the four major professional sports.
The longest current NBA streak now belongs to the New York Knicks ? six games.
On Friday, the Heat begin anew.
Miami would need to win every game left on its schedule and sweep all four playoff series to end the year with another 27-game winning streak. Meantime, Wade offered this:
"Now that it's over, let's look back on it as something that was great."
___
AP Basketball Writer Jon Krawczynski in Minneapolis contributed to this report.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp's top North American executive on Thursday voiced optimism about the U.S. economy, and said the aging cars and trucks in consumers' garages will continue to drive industry demand this year.
Jim Lentz, newly appointed chief executive of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A, said the Japanese automaker sees U.S. industry new-car sales hitting 15.3 million this year, up from 14.5 million in 2012. Just six months ago, its 2013 forecast was for 14.7 million, but the company at the time believed talk of the fiscal cliff's impact would dampen the economy.
"We're cautiously optimistic about a growing economy, but there's still a lot of uncertainty that can derail the consumer's attitude," Lentz said in an interview after the New York Auto Show.
However, his fears are offset by consumers aging cars, which now average an all-time high of more than 11 years, and the improving mood of consumers as the housing and stock markets rise.
"When people can look at their 401ks and see that not only have they not fallen, but they are now starting to gain ... that is a real positive to overall consumer confidence," Lentz said.
Toyota should sell about 2.2 million cars and trucks under its three brands - Toyota, Lexus and Scion - this year, up from 2.08 million in 2012. The company is introducing nine new or updated vehicles this year.
Automakers are scheduled to report March U.S. sales on Tuesday and Lentz said Toyota expects the industry's annual sales rate to finish at about 15.4 million vehicles. That would mark the fifth straight month above the 15 million rate.
However, Toyota has no plans to revisit its full-year estimate at this point as Lentz said the company is forecasting the sales rate to slow to a range of 15.1 million to 15.2 million in the second quarter.
Lentz said a tightening of interest rates by the U.S. Federal Reserve would have a minimal impact this year and in 2014 on consumers, many of whom have monthly car payments.
"Whether you lease or whether you borrow money to buy a car, it's still all about the monthly payment," he said. "Right now, if you look at car payments relative to income, cars have probably never been cheaper even though the price of cars continues to go up. That monthly payment is still very fixed."
However, Lentz agreed that the high residual values that automakers are setting on their leased vehicles is not sustainable. He said Toyota is already adjusting its residual values going forward.
"In 2014-2015, this low, low lease party will come to an end," he said.
(Reporting by Ben Klayman in New York; editing by Gunna Dickson)
Department of Justice documents obtained by the ACLU reveal that the department has not been ?forthright? with California judges?about its use of a controversial and sophisticated cellphone tracking device, according to the ACLU.
Federal investigators, according to the ACLU?s analysis of Justice Department emails, have ?routinely? used a portable technology called a ?stingray,? which?masquerades as a cellphone tower by emitting a powerful signal. The goal is to trick nearby cellphones into connecting to the stingray, which can then gather data transmitted by the phones.
The device target the cellphones of intended suspects, but it can also?capture?the cellphone data of nearby innocent people for up to?several?kilometers.
The emails ?obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request?filed?by the ACLU of Northern California and?the San Francisco Bay Guardian ? came to light as part of a larger investigation into the methods used by the Justice Department to track down a suspect in an electronic tax fraud scheme.
The Justice Department sought a court order mandating that Verizon hand over location data for the phone of the suspect, Daniel Rigmaiden. While the Justice Department?s request mentioned that it would use a mobile location tracking device, it did not specify that a stingray would be used.
Rigmaiden, who was indicted?in 2008,?has since argued that he should have access to details about the investigative methods used to track him down. A federal magistrate judge has been sympathetic to that position.
The Justice Department has also argued that in-field use of the device was an innocent mistake by agents ?using a relatively new technology,? but the emails obtained by the ACLU demonstrate that the government?s undeclared in-field use of the stingray was not isolated to the Rigmaiden case.
For example, an email chain dated May 2011 showed that federal investigators were still using the technology in the field, although their court applications for surveillance failed to ?make that explicit.?
The federal government has argued, however, that tools like the stingray can be used without a search warrant because they do not capture the content of communications made with cellphones. Instead, they capture only limited data, such as the phone numbers dialed.
Federal officials also contend that they delete the tracking data collected during stingray surveillance?operations.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) also obtained documents from the FBI in February 2013 that revealed the technology not only targeted Rigmaiden, but also innocent cellphones within the vicinity of the signal.
Sound detection worse in animals living in the dark than in their surface-living cousins
Sound detection worse in animals living in the dark than in their surface-living cousins
By Puneet Kollipara
Web edition: March 27, 2013
Enlarge
Cave fish of the species Typhlichthys subterraneus (shown) and Amblyopsis spelaea are not only blind but also partially deaf, researchers have found.
Credit: Dante Fenolio
Blind fish that spend their lives in dark, underwater caves have lost a huge chunk of their ability to hear, scientists report in the March 27 Biology Letters. Two of the fish species studied could not hear high-pitched sounds.
?I was really surprised,? says study coauthor Daphne Soares of the University of Maryland, College Park. ?I expected them to hear much better than the surface fishes.?
Cave-dwelling fish can lose their vision and even their eyes over many generations. And without light, eyesight can lose its importance in fish survival. Only two previous studies have explored what happens to hearing after fish lose their vision; both found no differences in hearing between cave fish and those that experience daylight.
Soares and her colleagues collected fish of two blind cave-dwelling species, Typhlichthys subterraneus and Amblyopsis spelaea, from lakes in Kentucky. Specimens of a surface-dwelling species, Forbesichthys agassizii, which is closely related to the cave dwellers, came from a lake in south-central Tennessee.
Back in the lab, the researchers tested fish hearing by seeing whether sounds across a range of pitches could stimulate nerve activity in the fishes? brains. The researchers also measured the density of sound-detecting hair cells in the creatures? ears.
At frequencies up to 800 hertz, almost the highest pitch of a trumpet, the two cave-dwelling species could hear just as well as their surface counterparts, the researchers found. For higher pitches, it was a different story: The surface fish could hear frequencies as high as 2,000 hertz, roughly the highest pitch of a flute. But the cave dwellers were virtually deaf to those sounds. Those high pitches stimulated little or no nerve activity. The cave dwellers also had two-thirds as many hair cells as the surface fish.
The researchers returned to the caves to find out whether background noise there may have hurt the animals? ability to hear. The noise was generally far louder at higher ranges ? the same frequencies that the cave fish couldn?t hear, the researchers found. The high-pitched sounds may come from ripples or dripping water from the caves? ceilings, Soares says.
The cave fish may have evolved other improved senses to compensate for their lost sight and hearing, Soares says. Most fish have a sixth sense called the lateral line, which allows them to detect water flow. The lateral line senses vibrations in water using tiny organs known as neuromasts, groups of sensitive hair cells on and just below the creatures? skin. Cave fish, Soares says, have far more of these neuromasts than their surface-dwelling relatives.
The study represents the first time scientists have observed a creature that has lost hearing from being in a cave, the researchers say. But the process by which cave fish lost their hearing is not yet clear, says Martina Bradic of New York University. The fish could have adapted over time to the noisy environment, or their hearing systems could be highly flexible within a single lifetime.
Soares next hopes to study whether other creatures living without light, such as cave salamanders, have also become partially deaf.
Walmart is considering the slightly insane sounding idea of using its in-store customers to deliver online orders to help it compete with bricks and mortar-less competitors like Amazon, according to Reuters. The big box outfit currently ships internet purchases from just 25 of its stores using the likes of FedEx to handle delivery, but plans to drastically increase that number going forward. In theory, customers could sign up for the chore and drop packages off to customers who are on their route home in exchange for a discount. CEO Joel Anderson he could "see a path to where this is crowd-sourced," adding that "this is at the brain-storming stage, but it's possible in a year or two." Naturally, there's a gauntlet of insurance, theft, fraud and legal issues Walmart would need to run first -- along with the slightly skeevy idea of having a random stranger show up with your packages.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - German airline Lufthansa is willing to accept more strikes, including the participation of its pilots, if that's what it takes to gain the flexibility it needs, Chief Financial Officer Simone Menne said on Monday.
"We are ready to go for further strikes, including with pilots, if necessary," she said at a press briefing in New York.
Trade union Verdi went on strike last week to push through demands for a 5.2 percent pay rise for 33,000 cabin crew and ground staff at Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Technik, Lufthansa Systems, catering unit LSG Sky Chefs and ground crews.
Lufthansa, now implementing a restructuring, has also been in talks with pilot union Cockpit for nearly a year over a new wage agreement and recent union comments have signaled some impatience.
"We will not agree to short-term harmony if there is long-term further burdening," Menne said.
Asked about the cost of last week's strike, Menne said she did not yet have a figure, but that a strike by cabin attendants during peak season last year had cost it 33 million euros ($42.5 million).
Lufthansa is cutting 3,500 jobs, revamping low-cost carrier Germanwings and bundling procurement for its airlines. The restructuring program, dubbed SCORE, is intended to help to boost operating profit to 2.3 billion euros ($3 billion) in 2015 from 524 million euros last year.
Menne also said that the company would definitely not be selling 100 percent of catering unit LSG Sky Chefs and is looking to expand into hospital, school and train food, possibly with a partner.
An investment banker told Reuters in June last year that LSG Sky Chefs, the world's biggest airline catering company with 2.3 billion euros in annual revenue, could be put on the block.
Luthansa has said the business is not core but makes a valuable contribution to the group.
(Reporting By Alwyn Scott, Writing by Marilyn Gerlach; Editing by Christiaan Hetzner and David Goodman)
Two weeks after his Republican senator dad announced his support for gay marriage and one day before the Supreme Court is to hear arguments on the issue, 21 year-old Will Portman penned an editorial in the Yale Daily News describing how he came out as gay.
"In February of freshman year, I decided to write a letter to my parents. I'd tried to come out to them in person over winter break but hadn't been able to. So I found a cubicle in Bass Library one day and went to work. Once I had something I was satisfied with, I overnighted it to my parents and awaited a response," Portman writes.
"They called as soon as they got the letter. They were surprised to learn I was gay, and full of questions, but absolutely rock-solid supportive. That was the beginning of the end of feeling ashamed about who I was."
Read More at the ABC News Gay Marriage Topics Page.
In his piece Will Portman discusses the difficulty of coming out about his sexuality as his father was being vetted for the vice presidency. Though he admits that his coming out prompted he and his father to begin talking about the policy issues surrounding marriage for same-sex couples, Portman writes that he did not want his sexual orientation to become an issue during the presidential campaign.
"My dad told the Romney campaign that I was gay, that he and my mom were supportive and proud of their son, and that we'd be open about it on the campaign trail."
Portman continues, "When he ultimately wasn't chosen for the ticket, I was pretty relieved to have avoided the spotlight of a presidential campaign. Some people have criticized my dad for waiting for two years after I came out to him before he endorsed marriage for gay couples. Part of the reason for that is that it took time for him to think through the issue more deeply after the impetus of my coming out. But another factor was my reluctance to make my personal life public."
That "rock-solid support" that Will attributes to his father was made evident earlier this month when Sen. Portman publically reversed his opposition to gay marriage.
"I have come to believe that if two people are prepared to make a lifetime commitment to love and care for each other in good times and in bad, the government shouldn't deny them the opportunity to get married," Portman wrote in an op-ed that ran in the Columbus Dispatch.
Portman came out in support of gay marriage at a crucial time. This week the Supreme Court will hear arguments on Proposition 8 and DOMA, two potentially transformative cases regarding the very issue that Portman's son had been urging the senator to consider since he came out during his freshman year of college.
A paradox for young docs: New work-hour restrictions may increase, not decrease, errorsPublic release date: 25-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kara Gavin kegavin@umich.edu 734-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System
U-M-led study of 2,300 1st-year residents questions impact of 2011 duty rules
ANN ARBOR, Mich. At hospitals around the country, young doctors fresh out of medical school help care for patients of all kinds and work intense, long hours as part of their residency training.
Traditionally, residents were allowed to work more than 24 hours without a break. In 2011, new rules cut back the number of hours they can work consecutively to 16, in the name of protecting patients from errors by sleepy physicians.
But a new study of more than 2,300 doctors in their first year of residency at over a dozen hospital systems across the country raises questions about how well the rules are protecting both patients and new doctors.
While work hours went down after new rules took effect in 2011, sleep hours didn't go up significantly and risk of depression symptoms in the doctors stayed the same, according to a new paper published online in JAMA Internal Medicine by a team led by University of Michigan Medical School researchers.
Most concerning: the percentage of residents reporting that they had committed medical errors that harmed patients went up after the new rules took effect.
The results, especially the increase in errors, surprised Srijan Sen, M.D., Ph.D., the U-M psychiatrist who is the report's first author.
"In the year before the new duty hour rules took effect, 19.9 percent of the interns reported committing an error that harmed a patient, but this percentage went up to 23.3 percent after the new rules went into effect," he says. "That's a 15 to 20 percent increase in errors -- a pretty dramatic uptick, especially when you consider that part of the reason these work-hour rules were put into place was to reduce errors."
The findings echo anecdotal reports about the impact of the 2011 duty hour rules.
Co-author Sudha Amarnath, M.D., a resident in the radiation oncology program at the University of Washington, says, "Many interns entering after the new work hour restrictions took effect felt that they were expected to do the same amount of work as in previous years, but in a more limited amount of time, leading to more harried and tiring work schedules despite working fewer hours. Overall, they felt that there was less 'down time' during the work day compared to pre-2011 work schedules, which may partially explain some of the unexpected findings."
Breck Nichols, M.D., MPH, the program director of the combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics residency program at the University of Southern California, and another co-author on the paper, concurs.
"In 2000 a typical call day lasted 36 hours. We have very specifically reduced that for interns from 36 hours to 30 hours in 2003, and now with the latest 2011 work hours change it has been reduced even further to 16 hours," he says. "For most programs the significant reduction in work hours has not been accompanied by any increase in funding to offload the work. As a result, though many programs have made some attempts to account for this lost work in other ways, the end result is that current interns have about 20 less hours each week to complete the same or only slightly less work. If we know that timed tests result in more errors than untimed ones, we should not be surprised that giving interns less time to complete the same amount of work would increase their errors as well."
All the interns assessed in this study were working under the duty hour restrictions that went into effect in 2003 limiting residents to no more than 80 hours of work in a week, and other restrictions. Some studies have suggested that these rule changes, recommended by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, did result in better safety for patients cared for by residents. But in an effort to achieve even greater safety, the ACGME recommended further changes that were implemented in 2011.
Each year, Sen and colleagues send out surveys to students entering residency programs around the U.S. The research team then surveys these interns every three months throughout that first year, asking questions that gauge mental health, overall well-being, sleep habits, work hours and performance on the job.
By comparing the interns serving before the new ACGME rules (called the 2009 and 2010 cohorts) with the interns serving after the new rules were implemented (the 2011 cohort), the research team assessed the effects of the new duty hour rules.
In addition to the increase in self-reported medical errors, 20 percent of the residents screened positive for depression.
Sen was an intern in 2006, and in the years since has studied depression among medical students and residents, said he had been in favor of the adjusting duty hour rules in principle. "It was obvious that after working for 24 hours, we were not functioning at our best, and this was not optimal for us or the patients we were treating," he explains. But in practice, he says, the new rules may have had unintended consequences that ran counter to the goals of new guidelines.
In addition to "work compression", he says, residents now hand off responsibility for a long list of patients more frequently than in the past. Communication between the intern who is ending a shift, and the one beginning a shift, may not cover all patients in detail, he suggests, and this gap in communication may not become apparent until an urgent situation arises with one of the patients.
He also said the increase in errors may come back down with time. "The 2011 changes were a pretty radical shift," he notes. "Doctors have worked 30-hour shifts for decades, and it may just take time for all parts of the health care system to get used to the new rules and adjust."
But, he cautions, the new data don't definitively support any one of these theories as the culprit in the rise in error rates or the lack of progress in sleep hours and well-being among young doctors. Further study is needed to assess what's happening and determine how to better support young doctors in during their stressful training and keep the patients that they treat as safe as possible.
###
The Intern Health Study, from which the new results are drawn, is funded by the National Institutes of Health (grants UL1RR024986, MH095109 and AA013736) with additional support from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. In addition to Sen, Amarnath and Nichols, the paper's authors include Joseph Kolars, M.D., senior associate dean for education and global at the U-M Medical School, Gregory Dalack, M.D., chair of the U-M Department of Psychiatry, Henry R. Kranzler, M.D., from the University of Pennsylvania; Aashish K. Didwania, M.D., from Northwestern University; Ann C. Schwartz, M.D., from Emory University; and Constance Guille, M.D. from the Medical University of South Carolina. REFERENCE: JAMA Internal Medicine, March 25, 2013
[ | 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.
A paradox for young docs: New work-hour restrictions may increase, not decrease, errorsPublic release date: 25-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kara Gavin kegavin@umich.edu 734-764-2220 University of Michigan Health System
U-M-led study of 2,300 1st-year residents questions impact of 2011 duty rules
ANN ARBOR, Mich. At hospitals around the country, young doctors fresh out of medical school help care for patients of all kinds and work intense, long hours as part of their residency training.
Traditionally, residents were allowed to work more than 24 hours without a break. In 2011, new rules cut back the number of hours they can work consecutively to 16, in the name of protecting patients from errors by sleepy physicians.
But a new study of more than 2,300 doctors in their first year of residency at over a dozen hospital systems across the country raises questions about how well the rules are protecting both patients and new doctors.
While work hours went down after new rules took effect in 2011, sleep hours didn't go up significantly and risk of depression symptoms in the doctors stayed the same, according to a new paper published online in JAMA Internal Medicine by a team led by University of Michigan Medical School researchers.
Most concerning: the percentage of residents reporting that they had committed medical errors that harmed patients went up after the new rules took effect.
The results, especially the increase in errors, surprised Srijan Sen, M.D., Ph.D., the U-M psychiatrist who is the report's first author.
"In the year before the new duty hour rules took effect, 19.9 percent of the interns reported committing an error that harmed a patient, but this percentage went up to 23.3 percent after the new rules went into effect," he says. "That's a 15 to 20 percent increase in errors -- a pretty dramatic uptick, especially when you consider that part of the reason these work-hour rules were put into place was to reduce errors."
The findings echo anecdotal reports about the impact of the 2011 duty hour rules.
Co-author Sudha Amarnath, M.D., a resident in the radiation oncology program at the University of Washington, says, "Many interns entering after the new work hour restrictions took effect felt that they were expected to do the same amount of work as in previous years, but in a more limited amount of time, leading to more harried and tiring work schedules despite working fewer hours. Overall, they felt that there was less 'down time' during the work day compared to pre-2011 work schedules, which may partially explain some of the unexpected findings."
Breck Nichols, M.D., MPH, the program director of the combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics residency program at the University of Southern California, and another co-author on the paper, concurs.
"In 2000 a typical call day lasted 36 hours. We have very specifically reduced that for interns from 36 hours to 30 hours in 2003, and now with the latest 2011 work hours change it has been reduced even further to 16 hours," he says. "For most programs the significant reduction in work hours has not been accompanied by any increase in funding to offload the work. As a result, though many programs have made some attempts to account for this lost work in other ways, the end result is that current interns have about 20 less hours each week to complete the same or only slightly less work. If we know that timed tests result in more errors than untimed ones, we should not be surprised that giving interns less time to complete the same amount of work would increase their errors as well."
All the interns assessed in this study were working under the duty hour restrictions that went into effect in 2003 limiting residents to no more than 80 hours of work in a week, and other restrictions. Some studies have suggested that these rule changes, recommended by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, did result in better safety for patients cared for by residents. But in an effort to achieve even greater safety, the ACGME recommended further changes that were implemented in 2011.
Each year, Sen and colleagues send out surveys to students entering residency programs around the U.S. The research team then surveys these interns every three months throughout that first year, asking questions that gauge mental health, overall well-being, sleep habits, work hours and performance on the job.
By comparing the interns serving before the new ACGME rules (called the 2009 and 2010 cohorts) with the interns serving after the new rules were implemented (the 2011 cohort), the research team assessed the effects of the new duty hour rules.
In addition to the increase in self-reported medical errors, 20 percent of the residents screened positive for depression.
Sen was an intern in 2006, and in the years since has studied depression among medical students and residents, said he had been in favor of the adjusting duty hour rules in principle. "It was obvious that after working for 24 hours, we were not functioning at our best, and this was not optimal for us or the patients we were treating," he explains. But in practice, he says, the new rules may have had unintended consequences that ran counter to the goals of new guidelines.
In addition to "work compression", he says, residents now hand off responsibility for a long list of patients more frequently than in the past. Communication between the intern who is ending a shift, and the one beginning a shift, may not cover all patients in detail, he suggests, and this gap in communication may not become apparent until an urgent situation arises with one of the patients.
He also said the increase in errors may come back down with time. "The 2011 changes were a pretty radical shift," he notes. "Doctors have worked 30-hour shifts for decades, and it may just take time for all parts of the health care system to get used to the new rules and adjust."
But, he cautions, the new data don't definitively support any one of these theories as the culprit in the rise in error rates or the lack of progress in sleep hours and well-being among young doctors. Further study is needed to assess what's happening and determine how to better support young doctors in during their stressful training and keep the patients that they treat as safe as possible.
###
The Intern Health Study, from which the new results are drawn, is funded by the National Institutes of Health (grants UL1RR024986, MH095109 and AA013736) with additional support from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. In addition to Sen, Amarnath and Nichols, the paper's authors include Joseph Kolars, M.D., senior associate dean for education and global at the U-M Medical School, Gregory Dalack, M.D., chair of the U-M Department of Psychiatry, Henry R. Kranzler, M.D., from the University of Pennsylvania; Aashish K. Didwania, M.D., from Northwestern University; Ann C. Schwartz, M.D., from Emory University; and Constance Guille, M.D. from the Medical University of South Carolina. REFERENCE: JAMA Internal Medicine, March 25, 2013
[ | 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.
View Inventory Go To Website Map to Dealership Email Seller
?
?Ferrari & Maserati of Central Florida
?sales
?Orlando , FL 32810
?888-286-4238
?
?
Your Central and Northern Florida Factory authorized Ferrari & Maserati dealer. Located conveniently in the heart of Orlando, our expansive showroom houses the latest Ferrari's and Maserati's, including the new Ferrari California and Maserati Convertible, as well as a premier selection of pre-owned luxury sports cars. Please feel free to call us with any questions you may have 407-667-4300. Hours of Operation: Monday - Friday 8 AM to 7 PM; Saturday- 9 - 5 PM; Sunday - Closed.
So after a year of searching, tomorrow RocketSpace will announce the lease of a 50,000 sq. ft. space just north of Market Street at 180 Sansome. Eventually it hopes to take over that whole tower. But RocketSpace Suites is just the start of its expansion. It?s currently looking at a 90,000 sq. ft. Bay Area space to replace the Fremont home it will have to vacate. Logan says it will be able to host 2,000 people in its combined 140,000 sq. ft. space. By the end of 2013 RocketSpace plans to have added a London space. And even though it?s completely bootstrapped, after that it?s eying Tel Aviv, Berlin, and Vancouver for additional locations.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 25-Mar-2013
Share ] 
