Living in the US puts Hispanic women at high risk for preterm birth

Public release date: 11-Feb-2012
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Contact: Olivia Goodman
olivia.goodman@gabbe.com
212-220-4444
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

Length of residence increases risk

GALVESTON, February 7, 2012 The longer a Hispanic woman lives in the United States, the higher her risk of preterm birth (PTB), with nearly half of PTBs among Hispanic women occurring in those who were born in the U.S.

This is the main finding of a study by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston who sought to shed light on possible environmental factors in PTB. It is one of several studies from UTMB presented this week at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) 32nd Annual Meeting in Dallas.

"Though we don't know whether preterm birth is predominately related to genetic or environmental factors, our research shows that preterm birth is at least strongly related to our environment in ways that are potentially preventable," said principal investigator Dr. Radek Bukowski, professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at UTMB.

More than half a million babies are born prematurely each year in the U.S.; the cause is unknown in as many as 40 percent of cases.

Using data from a population study of more than 2,140 Hispanic women with a prior live birth who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2006), the researchers observed that the PTB prevalence rate for women residing in the U.S. for fewer than 10 years was four percent; after 10 years, that rate rose to 7.4 percent. Hispanic women born in the U.S. had a PTB prevalence rate of 9.5 percent.

The researchers adjusted for age, body mass index, education, marital status, income, current and prior smoking, diabetes and hypertension, among other potential factors.

"We were surprised to find that the risk was nearly twice as high for women living in the U.S. for more than 10 years and was almost three times higher for women born here," said Bukowski. "These findings confirm the link between preterm birth and environmental factors. However, it remains unclear what specific environmental features may predispose or protect women from preterm birth. That said, because the risk factors appear to have been acquired while living in the U.S., it is likely that they are modifiable," added Bukowski.

Embargoed until Thursday, February 9 at 4:15 ET.

More UTMB Research at SMFM

Additional UTMB research presented at the SMFM meeting includes:

• Immune and biochemical pathways of preterm labor vary in response to specific bacteria associated with amniotic fluid infection and differ between races. Led by Dr. Ramkumar Menon, assistant professor, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, researchers tested normal-term fetal membranes exposed to a range of pathogens linked to spontaneous PTB for differences in immune response and between African American and Caucasian women. They found that pathogens associated with PTB have different cytokine signatures and that those with lipopolysaccharides (LPS; lipids containing endotoxins) provide maximum immune response. Further, pathogens such as E. coli may play a role in racial disparities associated with infection-mediated PTB. Menon notes that the findings reiterate that the pathways of PTB associated with bacterial infection are not universal and that interventions should take into account the type of infection and the patient's race/ethnicity.
  Embargoed until Friday, February 10 at 3:00 pm ET.
• Babies born to obese mothers are at risk for metabolic syndrome as adults. Dr. Arshag Kalanderian, also from the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and his team explored whether they could activate a known biological pathway with a diabetic drug to improve the metabolic status of mouse offspring exposed to maternal obesity. They found that short-term therapy with the drug pioglitazone (PL) significantly reduced the offsprings' body weight and other metabolic changes associated with developmental programming. According to Kalanderian, this research is novel and points to a potential new role for PL and similar drugs.
  Embargoed until Saturday, February 11 at 9:00 am ET.
• Other UTMB researchers presented data on late-preterm birth and optimal timing of repeat cesarean sections; the novel use of statins to prevent preeclampsia and PTB; and the effects of nicotine exposure on long-term cardiovascular health of babies, among others.

###

Researchers are available for interviews. Please contact olivia.goodman@gabbe.com, 212-220-4444.

ABOUT UTMB Health: Established in 1891, Texas' first academic health center comprises four health sciences schools, three institutes for advanced study, a research enterprise that includes one of only two national laboratories dedicated to the safe study of infectious threats to human health, and a health system offering a full range of primary and specialized medical services throughout Galveston County and the Texas Gulf Coast region. UTMB Health is a component of the University of Texas System and a member of the Texas Medical Center.

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Public release date: 11-Feb-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Olivia Goodman
olivia.goodman@gabbe.com
212-220-4444
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

Length of residence increases risk

GALVESTON, February 7, 2012 The longer a Hispanic woman lives in the United States, the higher her risk of preterm birth (PTB), with nearly half of PTBs among Hispanic women occurring in those who were born in the U.S.

This is the main finding of a study by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston who sought to shed light on possible environmental factors in PTB. It is one of several studies from UTMB presented this week at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's (SMFM) 32nd Annual Meeting in Dallas.

"Though we don't know whether preterm birth is predominately related to genetic or environmental factors, our research shows that preterm birth is at least strongly related to our environment in ways that are potentially preventable," said principal investigator Dr. Radek Bukowski, professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine at UTMB.

More than half a million babies are born prematurely each year in the U.S.; the cause is unknown in as many as 40 percent of cases.

Using data from a population study of more than 2,140 Hispanic women with a prior live birth who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1999-2006), the researchers observed that the PTB prevalence rate for women residing in the U.S. for fewer than 10 years was four percent; after 10 years, that rate rose to 7.4 percent. Hispanic women born in the U.S. had a PTB prevalence rate of 9.5 percent.

The researchers adjusted for age, body mass index, education, marital status, income, current and prior smoking, diabetes and hypertension, among other potential factors.

"We were surprised to find that the risk was nearly twice as high for women living in the U.S. for more than 10 years and was almost three times higher for women born here," said Bukowski. "These findings confirm the link between preterm birth and environmental factors. However, it remains unclear what specific environmental features may predispose or protect women from preterm birth. That said, because the risk factors appear to have been acquired while living in the U.S., it is likely that they are modifiable," added Bukowski.

Embargoed until Thursday, February 9 at 4:15 ET.

More UTMB Research at SMFM

Additional UTMB research presented at the SMFM meeting includes:

• Immune and biochemical pathways of preterm labor vary in response to specific bacteria associated with amniotic fluid infection and differ between races. Led by Dr. Ramkumar Menon, assistant professor, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, researchers tested normal-term fetal membranes exposed to a range of pathogens linked to spontaneous PTB for differences in immune response and between African American and Caucasian women. They found that pathogens associated with PTB have different cytokine signatures and that those with lipopolysaccharides (LPS; lipids containing endotoxins) provide maximum immune response. Further, pathogens such as E. coli may play a role in racial disparities associated with infection-mediated PTB. Menon notes that the findings reiterate that the pathways of PTB associated with bacterial infection are not universal and that interventions should take into account the type of infection and the patient's race/ethnicity.
  Embargoed until Friday, February 10 at 3:00 pm ET.
• Babies born to obese mothers are at risk for metabolic syndrome as adults. Dr. Arshag Kalanderian, also from the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, and his team explored whether they could activate a known biological pathway with a diabetic drug to improve the metabolic status of mouse offspring exposed to maternal obesity. They found that short-term therapy with the drug pioglitazone (PL) significantly reduced the offsprings' body weight and other metabolic changes associated with developmental programming. According to Kalanderian, this research is novel and points to a potential new role for PL and similar drugs.
  Embargoed until Saturday, February 11 at 9:00 am ET.
• Other UTMB researchers presented data on late-preterm birth and optimal timing of repeat cesarean sections; the novel use of statins to prevent preeclampsia and PTB; and the effects of nicotine exposure on long-term cardiovascular health of babies, among others.

###

Researchers are available for interviews. Please contact olivia.goodman@gabbe.com, 212-220-4444.

ABOUT UTMB Health: Established in 1891, Texas' first academic health center comprises four health sciences schools, three institutes for advanced study, a research enterprise that includes one of only two national laboratories dedicated to the safe study of infectious threats to human health, and a health system offering a full range of primary and specialized medical services throughout Galveston County and the Texas Gulf Coast region. UTMB Health is a component of the University of Texas System and a member of the Texas Medical Center.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-02/uotm-lit020712.php

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Kodak Exiting Digital Cameras, Pocket Videos in Bankruptcy ...

February 10, 2012, 6:50 AM EST

By Beth Jinks

(Updates with request to end Kodak Theatre contract in seventh to ninth paragraphs.)

Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) ? Eastman Kodak Co., the photography pioneer that filed for bankruptcy last month, said it will phase out the unit that makes digital cameras, pocket video cameras and digital picture frames.

Kodak will seek to license its brand to other makers of the devices as it exits cameras in the first half of 2012, the Rochester, New York-based company said today in a statement. It will book a $30 million charge and estimates saving $100 million annually, while pledging to honor warranties and provide technical support.

The move reduces Kodak?s consumer offerings to printing photos and selling film and inkjet printers, as the 131-year-old imaging company shrinks into a digital-printing specialist that intends to sell more faster, flexible commercial and consumer digital printers to profit from ink sales.

Kodak filed Chapter 11 last month after years of burning through cash when digital dissolved its film business. The company that pioneered the digital-imaging technology that gutted its iconic photography business has shed 47,000 employees since 2003 and closed 13 factories that produced film, paper and chemicals, along with 130 photo laboratories. The restructuring has already cost $3.4 billion.

Patent Sale

Kodak is trying to sell more than 1,100 digital-imaging patents, and is pursuing device makers including Apple Inc. and Research In Motion Ltd. for patent-infringements, maintaining the companies owe it royalty payments.

Bankruptcy makes it easier for Kodak to sell assets to pay for layoffs, U.K. and U.S. employee pensions and health-care benefits, and provide capital needed to install a big enough base of digital printers to eventually be profitable.

Kodak also has asked the bankruptcy court in Manhattan for permission to end its naming rights sponsorship of the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles, which hosts the annual Academy Awards, citing significant savings from the termination.

CIM/H&H Media LP, the company that assumed the contract, said in a court filing yesterday that the name recognition of the Kodak Theatre ?is the precise benefit Kodak sought in entering into the 20-year sponsorship agreement.? Backing out of the agreement is ?not only legally impermissible, but practically impossible,? CIM/H&H Media said.

Kodak is obligated to pay $72 million over 20 years, CIM/H&H Media said.

The case is In re Eastman Kodak Co., 12-10202, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan)

?With assistance from Joel Rosenblatt in San Francisco and Will Daley in New York. Editors: John Pickering, Stephen Farr

To contact the reporter on this story: Beth Jinks in New York at bjinks1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Pickering at jpickering@bloomberg.net; Ville Heiskanen at vheiskanen@bloomberg.net

Source: http://g7finance.com/global-news/kodak-exiting-digital-cameras-pocket-videos-in-bankruptcy/

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Finding and Buying a Retirement Home in San Miguel de Allende ...

San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico (PRWEB) January 31, 2012

Newly opened Alma Realty San Miguel offers central Mexico?s most comprehensive bilingual realty marketing services for Americans, Canadians and Mexicans looking to buy homes for sale in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a UNESCO World Heritage Site destination popular with retirees and second home owners.

It?s easy to get distracted while looking at homes for sale in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site?like Florence, Italy?where people from around the world actually live, work, and play.

After all, this village sports 450 years of history etched upon its walls like the lines on a well-loved grandmother, or abuelita: cobblestone-dappled streets that demands a walker?s attention. Color-intense bougainvillea-draped walls of century-old stone. Bells chiming out the hours from 28 different churches, architectural masterpieces all.

But perhaps it?s the multitude of signs that most distract the visitor turned home-shopping dreamer: Casas en Venta en San Miguel?homes for sale in San Miguel. In this buyer?s market, Realtor signs abound on every street, sometimes several on a single home, where no American-style Multi-Listing Service (MLS) exists and exclusive listings are rare.

?I got confused just looking at the homes for sale in San Miguel,? said Daniel Arrowood, a recent visitor from Colorado who owns international properties elsewhere. ?Some homes had as many as four different realty signs on the wall. How do I know which realty agency I can trust??

For the serious home-buyer in San Miguel?whether from Canada or Mexico City?the choices can seem daunting. The village of 85,000 city-residents boasts over 60 realty agencies in most directories, yet many offer little more than a telephone number and a dated web site of musty listings.

Alma Realty San Miguel, the region?s newest real estate agency, aims to bring real estate marketing in San Miguel into the 21st century, making it easier for home buyers to find a dream home in Mexico. Top among their offerings for showing real estate listings in San Miguel is a Quick Response (QR) campaign, common elsewhere in North America, but new to Mexico.

?Without an MLS system here, potential buyers have a hard time researching homes in Mexico,? says Alma Realty San Miguel Partner Gregory R. Gunter. ?Our QR campaign provides Alma Realty?s home sellers an advantage by offering serious buyers a tour of the home on a Sunday afternoon?or after hours?when the buyer wants to know about a home immediately.?

As more international visitors travel with their smartphones?including the growing middle class from Mexico City seeking a respite from their big-city life?QR code campaigns ease the process of researching homes for sale in San Miguel while visitors with limited vacation time rush to see alternative listings.

Alma Realty San Miguel also boasts their ?Marquee Listings? provide better marketing exposure for home sellers in San Miguel than any other realty agency. ?While other agencies simply post listings to their web site,? says Gunter, ?we integrate social media in our marketing campaigns, including blogs, Tweets, YouTube posts and international press releases. No other realty agency in central Mexico matches such service.?

And although 21st century marketing sets Alma Realty San Miguel apart from their competitors, it is the firm?s local experience that counts most to neophytes unsure of whom to trust with what will likely be the largest cash transaction of their lives.

Rosewood San Miguel and the internationally-acclaimed boutique Hotel Matilda are among the commercial development sites Alma Realty Partner Ben Calderoni has brokered in his eleven years of experience in San Miguel de Allende. He has also sold homes to numerous residential clients only too happy to provide full-name testimonials?a rarity in the realty industry?on the firm?s new web site, http://www.AlmaRealtySanMiguel.com.

?Being bi-national?Mexican and American?myself,? says Calderoni, ?it?s easier to bridge the cultural gap buyers might face doing business here in San Miguel de Allende, whether from Vancouver or Mexico City. We also offer over a decade?s history of safe, secure transactions with our own U.S.-based trust or Stewart Title?s escrow services.?

Ready to join the four million new Boomers expected to make Mexico their next home over the upcoming 15 years? If so, be sure to visit Alma Realty San Miguel and learn how to best search for your new home in San Miguel de Allende.

###

Source: http://www.onlinesys.info/home-family/finding-and-buying-a-retirement-home-in-san-miguel-de-allende-mexico-now-easier-in-2012

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Heart disease may be linked to prostate cancer

Washington, Feb 9

Coronary artery disease (CAD) and prostate cancer, two seemingly unrelated conditions, may actually share similar causes, according to the findings of a drug trial.

CAD kills more adults in the US than any other cause, accounting for one in four deaths. Risk factors include inactivity, obesity, high blood pressure and cholesterol, cigarette smoking, and diabetes.

If confirmed that heart disease is tied to prostate cancer, the malignancy might be combated in part by lifestyle changes such as weight loss, exercise and a healthy diet, which are known to prevent heart disease, the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention reported.

"What's good for the heart may be good for the prostate," said Jean-Alfred Thomas II, post-doctoral fellow in urology at the Duke University Medical Centre, who led the study, according to a university statement.

The Duke team used data from 6,390 men enrolled in a large study called REDUCE, a four-year, randomized trial to test the prostate cancer risk reduction benefits of a drug called dutasteride.

All the participants had a prostate biopsy at the two and four-year marks. They also provided a detailed medical history that included their weight, incidence of heart disease, alcohol intake, medication use and other factors.

Having CAD increased the men's risk of prostate cancer by 35 percent, with the risk rising over time.

Source: http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a279120.html

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What is a BBQ Smoker | Manager's Blog For Food and Drink

[unable to retrieve full-text content]There is no need to even light the BBQ grill to get the GrillKicker? smoking and this permits the user to cold smoke the food before cooking it as well as smoking the food while it is being cooked. This increased smoking time ...

Source: http://www.sweater4you.com/what-is-a-bbq-smoker

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Property Management Mistakes | Georgia Real Estate

What does property management companies do? A property management company takes care of properties that homeowners can?t handle themselves. They oversee properties like rental properties and condominiums. They handle the property?s maintenance, repairs and all things necessary to make sure the property is in its excellent condition to operate.

There are thousands of property management companies saying they can take care of your properties with 100% guaranteed satisfaction. But how do you choose an agent? Busy real estate owners hire Property Management Logan Utah agents to unload some of their properties and live a stress free life while still earning.

It is important that you are fully aware of these so you will avoid the costly mistakes of hiring the wrong property management company to avoid the same mistakes. And because there have been many people who made a mistake in choosing a property manager to work for them, selecting property managers involves careful and serious decision

Mistake #1 ? Hiring a company because they offer the cheapest cost in the services

Mistake #2 ? Hiring a company without looking into their experience, expertise and customer feedback

Mistake #3 ? Hiring a company whose services and their corresponding cost aren?t explained.

Mistake #4 ? Hiring a company in a haste without considering other companies.

Mistake #5 ? Hiring a company that does not listen carefully to the services that you need.

Mistake #6 ? Hiring a company closest to you or your property.

Most rental property owners would like to take on the responsibility of managing their own business so they can make sure they are manage properly. However, having multiple properties can be hard to keep up with. Since they are also busy, they pass it on to the right hands of property management companies. You might be thinking of hiring someone to take care of your business, but you are doubtful and a little scared not to be involved in the management of your business.

Remember that when looking for a property management company, you need to be very careful in choosing one. Mistakes in real estate can cost you time and money and this is something that can be very costly and dangerous for your business.

Managing Arizona Homes for Sale can eat much of your time. Why not allow someone to manage it for you? Property management companies can simplify the stressful process of managing your Homes for Sale Phoenix . Maximize your profit now and find one near your area.

Source: http://www.seegeorgiarealestate.com/2012/02/property-management-mistakes/

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Candidacy tests Mexico's culture of machismo (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? Mexico's conservative ruling party is gambling that this country known for machismo is ready for a female president and have chosen a devout Roman Catholic and popular former congresswoman who says she sympathizes with the causes of the poor.

Josefina Vazquez Mota, a 51-year-old economist, became the first female presidential candidate from any of Mexico's major parties late Sunday when she convincingly won the National Action Party's primary.

Her victory marks a milestone for women in Mexico, a country where they were not allowed to vote until 1953. The first female governor did not take office until 1989. Only a handful have been elected since.

National Action hopes Mexico is ready to follow in the footsteps of Brazil, Argentina, Costa Rica, Chile and other Latin American countries that have elected female leaders recently.

Vazquez Mota, who is still married to her high school sweetheart, won national attention after publishing a 1999 book titled "God, Please Make Me A Widow," which is described as a call to women to stop being afraid of developing their potential.

She has said she wrote the book based on her own experience of being a woman who chose to work over staying at home to raise her three daughters, defying the role she was expected to fulfill.

Vazquez Mota told El Universal newspaper in an interview published Monday that she has experienced Mexico's machismo first hand during her campaign.

"One of the hardest questions I have been asked is 'How will you manage the army if you are having menstrual cramps?'" she told the newspaper. "I have also been asked if I will have the courage to face criminals. My answer is that courage is not a matter of gender."

Born in Mexico City on Jan. 20, 1961, Vazquez Mota was educated at some of the country's more costly private universities and graduate schools, then worked as a financial consultant and business columnist for several years.

The fourth of seven siblings born to a paint store franchise owner and a housewife, she grew up in a middle class, traditional family. She is married to businessman Sergio Ocampo, who was her first boyfriend.

A religious woman, she asked PAN members to go to church first Sunday and then go vote for her. But she is not a typical conservative.

Vazquez Mota told Univision in an interview last year that although she didn't support abortion rights, she doesn't think the practice should be criminalized. She also told the network she believed marriage was between a man and a woman but that gay couples deserve respect.

She told El Universal that she is sympathetic with Liberation Theology, which advocates activism on behalf of the poor, and admires slain Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, whose fight for the poor during El Salvador's bloody civil war made him a national hero.

Vazquez Mota formally jumped into politics when she was elected to Congress in 2000, part of a wave of political change that rolled across Mexico as Vicente Fox of her National Action Party captured the presidency and ended the 71-year hold on power of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI.

After only three months as a legislator, Vazquez Mota was pulled into Fox's Cabinet to head the Social Development Department, the first woman to hold the post.

She continued to build her political skills and reputation within her party by managing Felipe Calderon's successful 2006 presidential race, then serving as his education secretary after being elected to Congress for a second time. She supposedly had a falling out with Calderon after she was removed from Education Department.

But the affable candidate with a permanent smile faces an uphill battle against former Mexico State Gov. Enrique Pena Nieto, the PRI candidate who leads in all recent polls.

Many voters have grown disillusioned with National Action after 12 years in power, and due to growing frustration with a drug war in which more than 47,000 people have died over the past five years.

"She is offering to combat corruption, but Fox first offered that and after 12 years nothing has happened," said political analyst Jose Antonio Crespo. "Why would people believe her now?"

Besides ending corruption and improving education, she has said little about what direction she would take the country.

She won the nomination even though most analysts considered rival Ernesto Cordero, the former finance secretary, as the top choice of Calderon and the party establishment.

For Crespo, her victory was thanks to the support of PAN members displeased with Calderon's administration.

The fact that she is seen as an outsider in Calderon's camp will help her, said Andrew Selee, director of the Washington-based Mexico Institute.

"One thing that benefits her is that she has a certain amount of distance from President Calderon," Selee said. "I think she will try to project a sense of openness to new ideas ... but that may not be enough to overcome people's desire to entirely change direction."

Vazquez Mota, who was elected to the lower house of Congress for a second time in 2009 and became speaker of the house, is known as a good negotiator.

She could attract independent voters because many of them "might be reluctant on supporting the PRI because of its past authoritarian record or PRD candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (AMLO) because of his past radicalism," the U.S.-based Eurasia Group consulting firm wrote in a research note Monday.

Lopez Obrador is the candidate for the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, best remembered for narrowly losing against Calderon in 2006.

Though she has said she won't use gender as an issue during her campaign, the married mother of three, has used her family life on the campaign trail to garner the support of Mexican mothers and young voters.

"She is playing the gender card," said Soledad Loaeza, a political science professor in Colegio de Mexico who has studied the evolution of the PAN. "What I don't know is if that card will help her."

"She is a serious, hard working woman," Loaeza added. "Her main virtue was surrounding herself with experts."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120207/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_politics

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