WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is chiding Senate Republicans for blocking a Democratic plan to replace automatic spending cuts that are set to kick in Friday.
Senate Republicans objected to $55 billion worth of new taxes in the Democratic plan. It would have replaced the cuts with tax increases on millionaires and spending reductions over 10 years.
Obama says Republicans chose to cut services for kids, older people and the military rather than close loopholes for the rich. He says Republicans want the middle class alone to pay for deficit reduction.
Republicans floated their own plan to give Obama more flexibility to find $85 billion in spending cuts this year. Democrats and tea party Republicans killed that plan Thursday.
Obama and congressional leaders are to meet Friday to discuss potential ways ahead.
A lot of gadgets are packed with features through necessity. But are household gadgets—like toasters, kettles and washing machines—getting needlessly complex for no good reason? More »
Two young boys who were taken from their day care center Tuesday have been found dead in Preston, Conn.
Their grandmother, Debra Denison, who according to state police took the boys, was also found dead.
State police had received a call from civilians around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday reporting that a suspicious vehicle was parked near Lake of Isle in Preston.
More news from NBCConnecticut.com
It was reported that three injured people were inside the car, two which appeared to be children.
Troopers and EMS responded to the scene and located the vehicle, following an Amber Alert. One adult and two children were pronounced dead at the scene.
The cause and manner of death will be determined by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The state police were investigating.
The Amber Alert was issued for Ashton and Alton Perry who were last seen in North Stonington around 2:36 p.m.
Jeremy and Brenda Perry, parents of the two young boys, told NBC Connecticut that Denison had a gun and she had a mental illness.
Alton Perry turned 2 years old Tuesday and Ashton Perry was six months of age.
Anyone with information is asked contact Connecticut State Police Troop E at 860-848-6500.
Web browser company Opera Software, now 300 million users strong, caught the world off guard the other week when it announced that it would be ditching its own Presto framework and moving instead to Google's WebKit to power its mobile and desktop browsers. In an interview with TechCrunch today, Opera's CEO Lars Boilesen said that the decision has freed up the company to innovate in a way that it hadn't for years. "By moving, it meant that we no longer had to have to have 200 engineers working on the core-level product," he said in an interview with TechCrunch. "That meant they could work on new stuff. We could go on the offensive."
BERLIN (AP) ? A survey has found that consumer confidence in Germany, Europe's biggest economy, is edging higher as shoppers feel more optimistic about the country's future.
The GfK research institute says Wednesday that its forward-looking confidence indicator stands at 5.9 points for March ? up from 5.8 in February.
It says consumers' economic expectations continued to brighten amid predictions that economic growth will return in the current quarter after declining in the October-December period.
Their optimism is being fed by a solid job market. Unemployment stood at 7.4 percent in January. That compares favorably with some of the countries worst-hit by Europe's debt crisis.
GfK says the labor-market situation will be key to determining how consumer confidence develops this year.
Acton, MA: This coming Monday and Tuesday, March 4th and 5th, the Acton branch of Sports and Physical Therapy Associates will host Marx Running founder, Mark Coddaire, for a clinic on gait analysis. Mark will be presenting an in-service workshop dealing with how footwear affects gait and how to prevent or rehabilitate running/walking related injuries. Specifically, Mark will touch upon how the right shoe can help fix over-pronation and prevent setbacks. He will debunk the widely held belief that cushioning equates to support and discuss how to determine the correct function of shoe for each individual?s gait pattern.
Sports and Physical Therapy Associates (SPTA) is a group of Physical Therapists, Athletic Trainers and exercise physiologists devoted to providing the community the most up to date injury detection, post injury rehab, and sports specific training in the New England area. Their Acton location is located at 30 Great Rd. in Acton, MA. With the mission of being a community resource for all things running/walking related, Marx Running frequently partners with and presents clinics to local physical therapy offices, schools, and health clubs. SPTA shares Marx Running?s commitment to serving and supporting the running and walking communities. Both are excited about developing this partnership.
MEXICO CITY (AP) ? After decades of depending on inflows of foreign capital to develop its economy, Mexico turned a corner and become a net exporter of direct investment capital in 2012, according to a report released Monday.
Mexico's central bank said that Mexican corporations invested about $25.6 billion last year in buying up foreign plants and companies, more than twice the $12.6 foreigners invested directly in Mexican firms. An official confirmed that was the first time in recent memory that outflows exceeded inflows.
For a country that still has one foot planted firmly in the developing world, that news worried some analysts and delighted others.
"Mexico is in no position to become a net exporter of capital," said economist Ernesto Piedras of the Mexico City-based Competitive Intelligence Unit. "Financing capital is a scarce resource in Mexico."
"Mexico is still a country with a strong need for capital, for investment in highways, dams, in telecommunications networks," said Piedras. "It's regrettable that we have more money going out than coming in."
The turnaround was due in part due to a steep drop in foreign investment in Mexico, from $21.5 billion in 2011 to $12.6 billion, accentuated by the decision by a Spanish bank to sell off about $4.1 billion in shares in its Mexican operations.
But the numbers also show that Mexican firms more than doubled the amount they invested in buying assets abroad, up from $12.1 billion in 2011.
Part of the increase was due to big purchases of European telecom and foreign oil assets by Mexican magnate Carlos Slim, considered the world's richest man.
In 2012, Slim's companies announced deals to purchase an 8.4 percent stake in Argentina's state-controlled oil and gas producer, YPF S.A., about a quarter of Austrian phone carrier Telekom Austria AG, and a $3.4 billion deal for a 28 percent stake in Dutch carrier Royal KPN NV.
That kind of off-shore investment is no cause for mourning, said Mexico City economist Ramiro Tovar.
"These big companies ... shouldn't be satanized for taking capital abroad. This should be seen as a sign of the growth of Mexican companies," said Tovar. "This is a positive sign."
"Mexico, like any other country, has a right to have multinationals," Tovar said, noting that if the trend continues, Mexico could start getting more income from dividend, profit and royalty payments from abroad as a result of the investments.
Few, however, think the trend will become permanent. The foreign buying spree by Mexican magnates is unlikely to keep up at this pace, and foreigners, who are currently favoring portfolio investments in Mexican stocks and bonds, may return to sending more direct investment into Mexican factories and building projects.
That would be for the better, Piedras says.
"Just look around at the infrastructure we have, the quality of services and (telecom) coverage we have," he said. "We are in no position to share excess capital with the rest of the world, because we don't have it."
The Financial Times (?) has this morning produced a blinding set of graphs which highlight how fiscal austerity has had a negative impacted on the GDP of various European economies.
Essentially, the greater each government?s austerity drive the larger the drop in GDP. Are you listening, Mr Osborne? The third graph (furthest to the right) is the important one (the horizontal line depicts the level of austerity from 2009-2012 and the vertical line shows the fall in GDP.
The coup de grace is delivered, however, by Paul Krugman of The New York Times:
?Austerity was costly for the afflicted economies: the greater the tightening between 2009 and 2012, according to the International Monetary Fund, the bigger the fall in output.?
Thus, FT journalist Martin Wolf adds, ?the panic that justified the UK coalition government?s turn to a long-term programme of austerity was a mistake?.
?In the long run, the fiscal deficit must close. In the short run, the UK has the chance to push growth. It should take it. So should the US.?
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel carried out a successful test of its upgraded Arrow interceptor system on Monday, which is designed to destroy in space the kind of missiles held by Syria and Iran, the Israeli Defense Ministry said.
The U.S.-backed Arrow III system deploys "kamikaze" satellites that target ballistic missiles above the earth's atmosphere, hitting them high enough to allow for any non-conventional warheads to disintegrate safely.
Monday's test was the first live flight for the Arrow III, but did not involve the interception of any target.
"The test examined for the first time the capabilities and the performance of the new Arrow III, considered to be the most innovative and revolutionary interceptor in the world," the Defense Ministry said.
A ministry official said the test, which was conducted from a site along Israel's Mediterranean coast and lasted six and a half minutes, was "100 percent successful".
Designers say the system has proved a success in up to 90 percent of previous tests.
"The success of the test is an important milestone in the operational capabilities of the state of Israel to be able to defend itself against threats in the region," the ministry statement added.
But the ministry official said the timing of the test, which took months to prepare, was not related to current tensions with Iran or Syria. He said Israel plans another flight test followed by a simulated interception in space over the Mediterranean.
U.S. BACKING
Arrow is the long-range segment in Israel's three-tier missile shield. This also includes the successfully deployed "Iron Dome", which targets short-range rockets and projectiles, and the mid-range "David's Sling", still under development. They can be deployed alongside other U.S. systems.
Officials say that if Arrow failed to hit an incoming missile at high altitude, there would still be time to destroy it with other systems before it hit its intended target.
The Pentagon and the U.S. firm Boeing are partners in Arrow. Washington has described its support for Israeli missile interceptors as a means of reassuring Israel, which in the past has launched preventative wars against perceived threats, that it has a more passive means of defending itself.
Israel has accused Iran of seeking to build nuclear weapons and has hinted it might strike the Islamic Republic in an effort to halt its atomic program.
Boeing thinks that potential clients for the system may include India, Singapore and South Korea.
"As we prove out that technology, and show that it's not only affordable but effective, we think there will be additional global market opportunities for that capability," Dennis Muilenburg, chief executive of Boeing's defense, space and security arm, told Reuters last year.
The United States and Israel have been developing Arrow jointly since 1988. Boeing's counterpart on the project is state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries.
The U.S. financial contribution to progressively improved versions of the Arrow system tops $1 billion, the Congressional Research Service said in a March 2012 report to lawmakers.
(Reporting by Dan Williams; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
First, the good news. It appears that Visa and Samsung's Olympics trial went over so well, that it's expanding those mobile payment dreams to a global audience. Now, the rough news -- Visa has convinced Samsung to pre-load the payWave app onto every future Samsung smartphone with an NFC module. Granted, you'd be using that anyway for contactless payments... but only if you had a Visa card. At this point, it's practically a given that the impending Galaxy S IV will boast not only an NFC chip, but payWave integration from the factory.
The deal also gives banks the ability to load payment account information over-the-air to a secure chip embedded in Samsung devices (thanks, Mobile Provisioning Service), but neither company is coming clean on what devices in particular will be taking advantage. Unfortunately, this news may be even gloomier for non-Visa users -- it's unlikely Samsung's contract will allow it to announce similar deals with competing mobile payment services, but we suppose we'll see in time.
The Ballistic Hard Core (HC) Series Case is engineered with five layers of protection including a polycarbonate shell, silicone outer layer, a built in screen protector, water resistant mesh over all speakers and an extremely durable rotating holster. This case offers security from drops, fingerprints, scratches, dust, and more. Comes in black, blue, red, and raspberry.
Mark Strong, who is accused of helping his ex-mistress run a prostitution business, wants Skype screenshots of her liaisons excluded as evidence in his trial.
By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC News
An insurance agent charged with helping a Zumba instructor run a prostitution business thinks X-rated images of the liaisons are too hot for the jury to handle.
A lawyer for Mark Strong asked a Maine judge on Monday to exclude a whopping 577 Skype screenshots, arguing the prosecution wants to "drown" his client in "extremely sexual" and prejudicial evidence, the Bangor Daily News reported.
Joel Page / AP
Alexis Wright will go on trial in the spring for allegedly running a prostitution business out of her Zumba studio.
"I think some of this stuff is going to horrify some of these people to the point where he won't possibly get a fair trial," defense attorney Daniel Lilley said on the fifth-day of the trial.
Prosecutors contend the images found on Strong's computer of his ex-mistress, Alexis Wright, and a string of men show he was "actively involved" in the prostitution business.
Strong's attorney countered at worst it shows his client is a "voyeur."
The judge has not yet ruled on whether jurors can see the Skype shots, but signaled that she's inclined to allow them, the newspaper reported.
Strong, 57, who also worked as a part-time private eye in Thomaston, Maine, faces 13 prostitution-related counts.
Wright, 30, is charged with 106 counts for allegedly selling sex to dozens of men at her Kennebunk, Maine, dance studio and home. She will be tried later.
A police computer expert testified Monday that Strong deleted email from his computer a day after Wright's office and home were raided, but he seized the Skype images, spreadsheets and tax documents.
The detective returns to the stand on Tuesday, but only after the judge rules on a defense motion to throw out the remaining charges against Strong. Forty-six counts of privacy invasion have already been dismissed.
HOUSTON (AP) ? Ted Cruz glanced at his black cowboy boots, beneath a silver Texas belt buckle, waiting for the admirers to stop clapping.
His arrival had turned a drop-by at a Houston lumber yard into a virtual campaign rally. At an earlier stop near Austin ?at a gun manufacturer that churns out AR-15 rifles ? cheering fans crowded next to employees, and one held a sign reading "Ted Cruz rocks!"
The new troublemaker of the U.S. Senate was home again, and savoring nothing short of a victory lap.
In just seven weeks on the job, the insurgent Republican elected with the tea party's backing and bankroll has run afoul of GOP mainstays, prompted Democrats to compare his style to McCarthyism and has voted against nearly everything of significance that came before him.
"My view is simple: Washington is a rough-and-tumble place. If folks want to attack me personally, they're welcome to it," Cruz said during a visit this week to a Houston lumber wholesaler. "Texans elected a senator to go to Washington and speak the truth."
His approach was unusual for a freshman in Washington, and its effectiveness long-term far from certain, but the reaction at home so far is effusive.
Other Texas politicians are celebrating him, and supporters have turned his constituent visits during the congressional recess into revivals. On Twitter, Texas' popular attorney general Greg Abbott, a rumored candidate for governor next year, is among those beaming about the "Cruz Missile."
"He's been a terrific partner," declared the state's senior senator, Republican John Cornyn. "What he's finding is there's a lot of critics in Washington when you try to change the status quo."
As the lone tea party candidate to win a Senate seat in last year's election, the brash 42-year-old Harvard-trained attorney has aimed to become a force the GOP ? and Democrats ? must deal with. Having beaten a heavily favored establishment candidate in the Texas primary, he's made good on promises to be combative, uncompromising and absolute in his adherence to conservative principles.
His profile as an Cuban-American in a party struggling to appeal to Hispanics, and his pedigree as a top Ivy League debater and former clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist have made him the freshman to watch in Washington.
Yet Cruz's transition from the campaign trail to the Senate has been anything but smooth.
His sharp questioning of Defense Secretary-nominee Chuck Hagel during his confirmation hearing ? and public challenges to Hagel's integrity? drew a sharp rebuke from Democrats and even a Republican. In pressing for more documents about Hagel's speechmaking in the private sector, Cruz suggested that Hagel, a former Republican senator, had received money from radical sources and possibly was hiding it.
While some Republicans attempted damage control, in Houston this week, Cruz didn't back down.
"The flurry of attacks on me has had their intended effect, which was to shift the conversation away from Chuck Hagel," Cruz said. "Away from his record, away from his refusal to provide financial disclosures, and toward the direct, nasty, personal attacks leveled at me."
Privately, some Republicans expressed surprise that Cruz was barely on the job five minutes before he was saying no to a Cabinet choice. As the latest iteration of "Senator No," he voted against Senate rule changes to modestly curb filibusters, aid for victims of Superstorm Sandy and the Violence Against Women Act.
The attention Cruz received has cast a spotlight on Cornyn, the No. 2 Republican in the leadership, who hasn't strayed far from Cruz on those votes as he looks ahead to his own re-election in 2014 and the possibility of a challenge from the tea party. The only votes against Sen. John Kerry to be the next secretary of state came from Cruz, Cornyn and Republican Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma.
Cornyn called it a "phony construct" that Cruz is pulling him farther to right in an act of political self-preservation.
Not all Republicans have been as comfortable with Cruz. After Cruz's rough treatment of Hagel, Sen. John McCain defended his fellow Republican and Vietnam veteran.
"I just want to make it clear Senator Hagel is an honorable man. He served his country. And no one on this committee at any time should impugn his character or his integrity," McCain said.
At Hagel's confirmation hearing, Cruz employed charts and a scratchy tape from an Al-Jazeera interview with Hagel to challenge the nominee. But it was his guilt-by-association line of questioning that surprised several in the Senate, particularly when Cruz tried to link Hagel to Charles Freeman, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia who resigned in March 2009 as chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Freeman was undone by congressional criticism over his comments about the Israel government and alleged ties to foreign governments.
Cruz cited media reports that Hagel traveled with Freeman to China. Hagel said he had never been on a trip with Freeman and hadn't spoken with him in years.
Cruz shifted the questioning.
"Is he someone whose judgment you respect?" he asked.
Cruz's questioning raised the specter of 1950s communist-hunter Joe McCarthy, the former Wisconsin senator. He has dismissed those suggestions, and conservatives have come to his defense.
In Texas this week, those who came to meet Cruz at stops like Lodge Lumber and La Rue Tactical in Leander took no issue with his line of questioning.
At the end of a tour at Lodge Lumber, Cruz was met by a supporter who carried in his billfold several fake dollar bills bearing Obama's face, including one that read, "The People's Republic of Hollywood." He said it was the president he wanted Cruz to keep in his sights.
Owner John Lodge said he felt that for the first time in a long while, someone in Washington was on his side.
"He gets with them. He's gotten down to business," Lodge said. "He's the man."
___
Cassata reported from Washington.
___
Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: www.twitter.com/pauljweber
Extremely high estrogen levels may underlie complications of single-birth IVF pregnanciesPublic release date: 25-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Colleen Marshall cmarshall3@partners.org 617-726-0275 Massachusetts General Hospital
Freezing embryos for later transfer when hormone levels were lower reduced undersize infants, eliminated preeclampsia in small study
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have identified what may be a major factor behind the increased risk of two adverse outcomes in pregnancies conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Two papers published in the journal Fertility and Sterility support the hypothesis that extremely high estrogen levels at the time of embryo transfer increase the risk that infants will be born small for their gestational age and the risk of preeclampsia, a dangerous condition that can threaten the lives of both mother and child. They also outline a protocol that reduced those risks in a small group of patients.
Both papers addressed IVF pregnancies resulting in a single live birth, not multiple-birth pregnancies which continue to be the most significant risk factor of any assisted reproduction technology. But even single-birth IVF pregnancies are more likely than unassisted single-birth pregnancies to result in premature delivery, low birth weight and other serious complications. In the January 2013 issue of the journal, the investigators at the MGH's Vincent Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology report that freezing embryos of women who had excessively elevated estrogen at the time of egg retrieval, followed by embryo transfer in a later reproductive cycle when hormonal levels were closer to those of a natural cycle, significantly reduced the percentage of small newborns and eliminated the incidence of preeclampsia in a small group of patients.
"We've known for a long time that singleton pregnancies conceived by IVF were at higher risk of these adverse outcomes, but the reasons were unknown," says Anthony Imudia, MD, of the MGH Fertility Center, lead author of both articles. "Now we know which facet of IVF might be responsible, which will allow us to identify at-risk patients and implement ways of averting those risks."
At most fertility centers, IVF involves a sequence of coordinated events that stimulate the ovaries in a way that leads to the growth and maturation of several eggs at the same time. Prior to ovulation the eggs are retrieved for fertilization outside the mother's body. If fertilization is successful, embryos that appear to be developing normally are transferred into the woman's uterus within 5 days of egg retrieval in a process called fresh embryo transfer.
Egg cells grow and mature in ovarian sacs called follicles, which release estrogen, so the development of multiple maturing follicles can lead to significantly elevated estrogen levels. Animal studies have suggested that excessively elevated estrogen early in pregnancy can interfere with the development of the placenta, and other research has associated placental abnormalities with increased risk for both preeclampsia and delivery of small newborns.
In the June 2012 issue of Fertility and Sterility, the MGH team reported that among almost 300 IVF pregnancies that resulted in the birth of a single infant from 2005 through 2010 the women whose estrogen levels right before egg retrieval were highest had significantly greater incidence of preeclampsia and of delivering infants small for their gestational age. Women whose peak estrogen levels were at or above the 90th percentile had a nine-fold greater risk of a small infant and a five-fold greater risk of preeclampsia than women with lower peak estrogen levels.
To follow up that observation, the MGH team examined how a protocol instituted for mothers at risk of a complication of fertility treatment called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) might affect the apparent risks associated with extremely high estrogen levels. At the MGH Fertility Center, if the estrogen levels for IVF patients exceed 4,500 pg/mL on the day they are scheduled to receive a hormonal trigger of final egg cell maturation indicating increased risk for OHSS standard practice is to counsel patients on alternatives. These included postponing the procedure until a future IVF cycle or proceeding with egg retrieval and fertilization but freezing the embryos for implantation in a later cycle to allow time for the ovary to recover.
The team's January Fertility and Sterility report compared the outcomes of 20 patients who choose to have their embryos frozen and implanted later because of their risk of OHSS with those of 32 patients with pre-retrieval estrogen levels over 3,450 pg/mL who proceeded with fresh embryo transfer. Only 10 percent of the infants of mothers who choose embryo freezing and transfer in a subsequent cycle were small for their gestational age, compared with 35 percent of the infants of mothers who had fresh embryo transfer. While the incidence of preeclampsia after fresh embryo transfer was almost 22 percent, none of the patients who chose embryo freezing with later implantation developed preeclampsia.
"Our center takes a very individualized and conservative approach to ovarian stimulation, so fewer than 10 percent of our patients had extremely high estrogen levels of greater than 3,450 pg/mL," says Imudia, who is an instructor in Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School. "If other centers validate our findings by following the same approach and achieving similar outcomes, we would recommend that each patient's hormonal dosage be adjusted to try and keep her estrogen levels below 3,000 pg/mL. If the estrogen level exceeds this threshold, the patient could be counseled regarding freezing all embryos for transfer in subsequent cycles, when her hormone levels are closer to that of a natural cycle."
###
Thomas Toth, MD, director of the IVF Unit in the MGH Fertility Center is senior author of the January Fertility and Sterility article and was a co-author of the June report. Additional co-authors of the papers are Aaron Styer, MD, who is senior author of the June article and a co-author of the January paper, Diane Wright, PhD, and Joseph Doyle, MD, MGH Fertility Center; Anjali Kaimal, MD, MAS, MGH Obstetrics and Gynecology; and Awoniyi Awonuga, MD, Wayne State University School of Medicine.
Massachusetts General Hospital (www.massgeneral.org), founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of more than $775 million and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, reproductive biology, systems biology, transplantation biology and photomedicine. In July 2012, MGH moved into the number one spot on the 2012-13 U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals."
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?
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.
Extremely high estrogen levels may underlie complications of single-birth IVF pregnanciesPublic release date: 25-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Colleen Marshall cmarshall3@partners.org 617-726-0275 Massachusetts General Hospital
Freezing embryos for later transfer when hormone levels were lower reduced undersize infants, eliminated preeclampsia in small study
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have identified what may be a major factor behind the increased risk of two adverse outcomes in pregnancies conceived through in vitro fertilization (IVF). Two papers published in the journal Fertility and Sterility support the hypothesis that extremely high estrogen levels at the time of embryo transfer increase the risk that infants will be born small for their gestational age and the risk of preeclampsia, a dangerous condition that can threaten the lives of both mother and child. They also outline a protocol that reduced those risks in a small group of patients.
Both papers addressed IVF pregnancies resulting in a single live birth, not multiple-birth pregnancies which continue to be the most significant risk factor of any assisted reproduction technology. But even single-birth IVF pregnancies are more likely than unassisted single-birth pregnancies to result in premature delivery, low birth weight and other serious complications. In the January 2013 issue of the journal, the investigators at the MGH's Vincent Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology report that freezing embryos of women who had excessively elevated estrogen at the time of egg retrieval, followed by embryo transfer in a later reproductive cycle when hormonal levels were closer to those of a natural cycle, significantly reduced the percentage of small newborns and eliminated the incidence of preeclampsia in a small group of patients.
"We've known for a long time that singleton pregnancies conceived by IVF were at higher risk of these adverse outcomes, but the reasons were unknown," says Anthony Imudia, MD, of the MGH Fertility Center, lead author of both articles. "Now we know which facet of IVF might be responsible, which will allow us to identify at-risk patients and implement ways of averting those risks."
At most fertility centers, IVF involves a sequence of coordinated events that stimulate the ovaries in a way that leads to the growth and maturation of several eggs at the same time. Prior to ovulation the eggs are retrieved for fertilization outside the mother's body. If fertilization is successful, embryos that appear to be developing normally are transferred into the woman's uterus within 5 days of egg retrieval in a process called fresh embryo transfer.
Egg cells grow and mature in ovarian sacs called follicles, which release estrogen, so the development of multiple maturing follicles can lead to significantly elevated estrogen levels. Animal studies have suggested that excessively elevated estrogen early in pregnancy can interfere with the development of the placenta, and other research has associated placental abnormalities with increased risk for both preeclampsia and delivery of small newborns.
In the June 2012 issue of Fertility and Sterility, the MGH team reported that among almost 300 IVF pregnancies that resulted in the birth of a single infant from 2005 through 2010 the women whose estrogen levels right before egg retrieval were highest had significantly greater incidence of preeclampsia and of delivering infants small for their gestational age. Women whose peak estrogen levels were at or above the 90th percentile had a nine-fold greater risk of a small infant and a five-fold greater risk of preeclampsia than women with lower peak estrogen levels.
To follow up that observation, the MGH team examined how a protocol instituted for mothers at risk of a complication of fertility treatment called ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) might affect the apparent risks associated with extremely high estrogen levels. At the MGH Fertility Center, if the estrogen levels for IVF patients exceed 4,500 pg/mL on the day they are scheduled to receive a hormonal trigger of final egg cell maturation indicating increased risk for OHSS standard practice is to counsel patients on alternatives. These included postponing the procedure until a future IVF cycle or proceeding with egg retrieval and fertilization but freezing the embryos for implantation in a later cycle to allow time for the ovary to recover.
The team's January Fertility and Sterility report compared the outcomes of 20 patients who choose to have their embryos frozen and implanted later because of their risk of OHSS with those of 32 patients with pre-retrieval estrogen levels over 3,450 pg/mL who proceeded with fresh embryo transfer. Only 10 percent of the infants of mothers who choose embryo freezing and transfer in a subsequent cycle were small for their gestational age, compared with 35 percent of the infants of mothers who had fresh embryo transfer. While the incidence of preeclampsia after fresh embryo transfer was almost 22 percent, none of the patients who chose embryo freezing with later implantation developed preeclampsia.
"Our center takes a very individualized and conservative approach to ovarian stimulation, so fewer than 10 percent of our patients had extremely high estrogen levels of greater than 3,450 pg/mL," says Imudia, who is an instructor in Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Biology at Harvard Medical School. "If other centers validate our findings by following the same approach and achieving similar outcomes, we would recommend that each patient's hormonal dosage be adjusted to try and keep her estrogen levels below 3,000 pg/mL. If the estrogen level exceeds this threshold, the patient could be counseled regarding freezing all embryos for transfer in subsequent cycles, when her hormone levels are closer to that of a natural cycle."
###
Thomas Toth, MD, director of the IVF Unit in the MGH Fertility Center is senior author of the January Fertility and Sterility article and was a co-author of the June report. Additional co-authors of the papers are Aaron Styer, MD, who is senior author of the June article and a co-author of the January paper, Diane Wright, PhD, and Joseph Doyle, MD, MGH Fertility Center; Anjali Kaimal, MD, MAS, MGH Obstetrics and Gynecology; and Awoniyi Awonuga, MD, Wayne State University School of Medicine.
Massachusetts General Hospital (www.massgeneral.org), founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of more than $775 million and major research centers in AIDS, cardiovascular research, cancer, computational and integrative biology, cutaneous biology, human genetics, medical imaging, neurodegenerative disorders, regenerative medicine, reproductive biology, systems biology, transplantation biology and photomedicine. In July 2012, MGH moved into the number one spot on the 2012-13 U.S. News & World Report list of "America's Best Hospitals."
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?
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.
ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Urijah Faber and Court McGee got back on the winning track at UFC 157 on Saturday.
Faber got a first-round submission win over Ivan Menjivar. Faber and Menjivar started the fight with a rolling takedown and Faber ended up on top. He worked the top position until Menjivar got back to his feet. Faber held on, and while attached to Menjivar's back, Faber swung around and sunk in a rear naked choke. Menjivar tapped at 4:34 in the first round. The Anaheim crowd erupted for "The California Kid."
It was an important win for Faber after he lost a title fight to Renan Barao in July. The win puts him at 27-6, with five of his losses coming in title fights.
In earlier action, Court McGee punched his way to a decision win over Josh Neer. McGee used an effective strategy early on of working Josh Neer's body. Throughout the first round, Neer was hobbled by McGee's body punches. But in the second, McGee worked more on headshots. Though it wasn't as effective, McGee outstruck Neer. In the final round, McGee worked the ground game and controlled Neer while still leading on strikes. All three judges saw it 30-27 for McGee.
It was McGee's first fight at welterweight.
?I felt great at 170 lbs. This was a great move for me. I felt stronger, faster and had a lot more gas. I was told by FightMetric that I broke the record for most significant strikes ever in a welterweight fight and feel great. I could have stopped it, maybe, early with body shots but I was glad I put on a good performance.?
After the win, McGee's record is 15-3. Though he won "The Ultimate Fighter," he also lost two fights in 2012.
The map below shows how special education cross-subsidies have changed in Minnesota school districts between 2004 and 2011. The darker the shade of a district, the greater percentage increase in per WADM (Weighted Average Daily Membership)?cross-subsidy it saw between these years. Hover your mouse over the districts to see the percentage change and the amount of their 2004 and 2011 per WADM cross-subsidies.
Just who created the yusheng dish which has become synonymous with Chinese New Year in Singapore? Almost everyone?says it?s?the Sin Leong chef. Not me. Though I base my?belief on no more than sheer memory ?which may not be reliable.
As far as I?m concerned, the first time I ever tasted yusheng was in Kuala Lumpur hosted by my BFF ES on one of my visits there. At a Petaling Street eatery.
It was some time after the 1969 racial riots but before I took on real working responsibilities. Till then, I?d never tasted yusheng, perhaps due to the fact that I come from a family of hill turtles
Anyway, I distinctly remember ES telling me that the garnshings of white radish strips, cucumber strips, etc were known as ?lap sap? or rubbish. And that the dish was only eaten?during the 7th day of the Chinese New Year?or Yun-Yat, day of the human being?or day of everyman.
Another pointer that yusheng might have originated from KL rather than SG is that when participants toss the largely raw ingredients (save for the crackers) they chant ?Lo hei?, a distinctly Cantonese phrase. KL is better known for speaking Cantonese, while SG?s major Chinese dialect is Hokein.
Since my first encounter with yusheng, however, it has?become so popular?that even typically western-oriented establishments like the Tanglin Club and Singapore Cricket Club start offering it?well be4 the dawn of Chinese New Year Day and don?t stop serving the dish till Chap Go Mei or the 15th Day of the Chinese New Year.
With the official end of Chinese New Year celebrations tonight ? Yuan Xiao Jie ???? I would like to share my memories of the various yusheng encounters I have had since Feb 1
First taste was had at Jumbo Restaurant@ Dempsey where the Lunch Party had our monthly lunch. It was a luscious offering with plenty of sliced salmon waiting to be tossed.
The next tasting came when AI dropped in from one of her globe-trotting trips and treated some friends and me to a meal at the Tanglin Club. As an absent member, she was raring to do some spending!
Another yusheng was had at my sister n BIL?s home. Mum n I have been going there for kai nian fan for as long as my sister has been married. Their newly minted DIL rushed out to Jelita Cold Storage to get a portion as we are all addicted to the dish. She even splashed out on an extra portion of fish
Not to be out done, I rushed out on the 7th Day of the New Year and bought a serving from GWC Cold Storage for lunch. The $29 serving was loaded on veggies but the sliced salmon was so little I could have eaten it all by myself in one mouthful. But I didn?t add fish, as there were only five of us for lunch that day, the rest of the immediate family having gone to Malaysia to visit far-flung relatives.
The next yusheng I had was courtesy of old school mate JLS who treated us to the dish at our quarterly get together. A generous portion large enough to cater to 15 hungry ? and growing??women
Then came Feb 21 when I went into yusheng overdrive. For lunch, I was at the ritualistic annual CNY lunch hosted by the Association of Banks in Singapore. This time, the event was at the Ritz Carlton and as to be expected, there was no stinting on the fish!
That night, it was dinner with the regular Thursday night yoga kakis at the Kampung Glam Community Club. Our instructors hosted and provided a veritable feast, especially their mum?s signature vegetarian yusheng which was as much a treat for the eye as for the stomach. In place of fish, young fresh coconute flesh was used. Healthy and utterly delicious!
The final yusheng dish for the Year of the Black Water Snake was eaten at another extended family dinner (hosted by younger brother SY and wife)?at Xin Fut Kai, a vegetarian restaurant with a huge following at 282 Jalan Besar.
Am I tired of yusheng after this binge??The answer is a resounding ?no?.
Frankly, I don?t understand why it isn?t available all the year round, especially when the providers? profit margin must be wide enough to drive a bendy bus through!
Web browser company Opera Software, now 300 million users strong, caught the world off guard the other week when it announced that it would be 
Acton, MA: This coming Monday and Tuesday, March 4th and 5th, the Acton branch of Sports and Physical Therapy Associates will host Marx Running founder, Mark Coddaire, for a clinic on gait analysis. Mark will be presenting an in-service workshop dealing with how footwear affects gait and how to prevent or rehabilitate running/walking related injuries. Specifically, Mark will touch upon how the right shoe can help fix over-pronation and prevent setbacks. He will debunk the widely held belief that cushioning equates to support and discuss how to determine the correct function of shoe for each individual?s gait pattern.
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Public release date: 25-Feb-2013
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ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Urijah Faber and Court McGee got back on the winning track at UFC 157 on Saturday.
