POPE LIVE: End of a papacy, dawn of a retirement

"Pope Live" follows the events of the final day of Pope Benedict XVI's papacy as seen by journalists from The Associated Press around the world. It will be updated throughout the day with breaking news and other items of interest.

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AN ERA HAS ENDED

In the final moments of Benedict XVI's papacy, the church bells began ringing.

It was 8 p.m. in the Italian hill town of Castel Gandolfo, 8 p.m. in the Vatican, 8 p.m. across Italy ? the chosen time on the chosen day that the one who was chosen decided to retire.

Both Swiss Guards flanked the elegant 20-foot doorway leading into the papal palace in the town. One of them saluted an official. From the crowd ? about 100 well-wishers who braved the freezing temperatures with their children and their dogs ? shouts rang out.

"Long live the pope!"

With precise movements, the guards marched into the palace. The massive wooden doors began closing shut, first one side, then the other. The crowd was applauding, sighing, shivering.

And with the click of a lock, Pope Benedict XVI's eight-year reign as leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics came to a quiet end.

? Frances D'Emilio ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fdemilio

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CRITICAL VOICE

A critical voice about Benedict as the doors close on his papacy:

As she left St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square in New Orleans' French Quarter, Cheryl Hribar snapped a picture of the long aisle and altar of the city's most famous church and posted it to her Facebook page. Hribar, a Catholic from Lorain, Ohio, says she's been uneasy about the state of the church and hopes a new pope can change that.

"Pope Benedict took us backward," she says. "He wasn't progressive enough. This is 2013. Let's move on, move ahead and do more to reach our young people and get them back in church. We need someone who will do something strong and positive."

? Stacey Plaisance

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CARDINAL PLANS

Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley says he hadn't been planning any particular observation for the 8 p.m. hour when the pope officially resigned. O'Malley said the more significant moments for him were when the cardinals gathered with Benedict Thursday morning. "And watching him leave for Castel Gandolfo. There was a certain moment of finality in that."

But the 8 o'clock hour? Dinner with friends, probably. "Pretty prosaic," O'Malley says.

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago told reporters at the Pontifical North American College he would say a prayer "that the Holy Spirit will guide us" as the cardinals set about the process of choosing a new pope, most likely from among their ranks.

Then George joked: "I might walk quietly through the corridors here to find out if I get any more deference from the seminarians."

? Colleen Barry ? Twitter http://twitter.com/collbarry

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OFF THE NET

With the doors of the papal palazzo closed, Benedict XVI has taken his leave of the Vatican's home page too. In place of Benedict's picture, it now reads "Apostolica sedes vacans," referring to the vacancy between papacies.

? Geir Moulson ? Twitter http://twitter.com/gmoulson

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PAPACY ENDS

The doors of the papal palace have closed. Benedict XVI is no longer pope.

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PRAYERS IN NYC

In New York City, the Rev. Moses Mary Apreku says Benedict XVI was right to resign if the work had become too onerous. "To me, it's something that the church should really accept, and thank him for his courage and pray for him," Apreku says.

The 40-year-old Apreku is from Ghana, the West African Nation where one of his seminary teachers was Cardinal Peter Kodwo Appiah Turkson, considered a contender to become the next pope. Apreku celebrated Mass today for two dozen worshippers scattered around St. Michael's Church in midtown Manhattan, which has room for hundreds.

Apreku says Turkson would make a good pope ? but he's not rooting for him just because they're both from Ghana.

? Karen Matthews ? Twitter http://twitter.com/1karenmatthews

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WAITING

Huge anticipation is building in Castel Gandolfo.

Both Swiss Guards are standing at attention at the 20-foot high doors to the papal palace.

Only 100 or so townspeople have come back out, some with children, others with their dogs. Most are quiet but light-hearted, waiting for history to be made as Benedict becomes the first pope in 600 years to retire.

? Frances D'Emilio ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fdemilio

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'A LITTLE CONCERNED'

A long banner with a picture of a waving Pope Benedict XVI hangs from an iron fence outside St. Patrick's Catholic Church, one of the oldest in New Orleans, where traditions like Mardi Gras stem from Catholic roots.

But not everyone was supportive of his decision to step down.

"You can't help but feel emotional today, and maybe a little concerned," said Manolito Martinez, 42, who has attended St. Patrick's since childhood and now serves as the maintenance supervisor. "We're in peril times, with all these allegations, and my opinion is he should have endured this position until the end."

On a receiving table just inside the church, the faithful were invited to take prayer cards with a picture of the resigning pope. The prayer on the reverse side included a note of thanks and hope for the Church's next leader.

? Stacey Plaisance

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COUNTING DOWN

Retiring Pope Benedict XVI is the 265th leader of the world's 1.2 billion Catholics ? but only for 26 more minutes.

? Sheila Norman-Culp ? Twitter http://twitter.com/snormanculp

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COMMENTS FROM PROVIDENCE

In Rhode Island, one of the nation's most Catholic states, several hundred people packed the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul in Providence for a noontime mass said by Bishop Thomas Tobin of the Diocese of Providence. The cathedral was filled to capacity with Catholic-school students in their uniforms, professionals in suits and people wearing jeans.

Tobin called the pope's resignation historic, humble and courageous, and says he resigned because of his love for the Roman Catholic Church. He called Benedict a pilgrim, a prophet and a bridge-builder and used a sports analogy to describe his time as pope.

"Pope Benedict left everything on the field," Tobin says.

And then this from Liz Ricci of East Providence, R.I., who says she left the Church for a number of years but had come back: "I just think the Lord's got the whole thing under control."

? Erika Niedowski ? http://witter.com/eniedowski

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READING ABOUT A LIFE

Robei George, 7, sat on a pew at the Cathedral of Saint Mary just north of Miami's Little Haiti neighborhood. He had a black shirt with the words "Pope Benedict XVI" written in white. In his hand, he carried a photo of the pontiff taped to a ruler.

Fifteen minutes before the pope's resignation officially goes into effect, George will walk with a half dozen students to the front of the church. They will hold up his picture and read about his life.

"I'm nervous," George admitted.

He and other children here are disappointed the pope is resigning.

"I was in love with the pope," said Maria Quant, 13. "He taught me how to be holier."

After the readings, the students will say a prayer to guide the selection of a new pope and blow out a candle.

? Christine Armario ? Twitter http://twitter.com/cearmario

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SAINT ONE DAY?

In Chicago, some Catholics attending Mass at St. Alphonsus Church on the city's North Side ? a church founded as a German national parish more than a century ago and the only church in the city that still occasionally celebrates Mass in German ? say they are saddened by the pope's decision to step down. But many ultimately agree he is doing the proper, even courageous thing.

"He's a very frail man, his body is aging and I don't think (being pope) is something he could handle any more." says Nancy Oliver, a 73-year-old retired nurse. Like a lot of parishioners at a church that still has many German-Americans, she was excited when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger became pope eight years ago.

Frank Scharl, 72, agrees. Scharl, whose parents came from Bavaria and were married in the Church in 1930, said that just as German-American parishioners were proud when Pope Benedict assumed the papacy, they are proud of his decision to step down for health reasons.

"Who knows," Scharl says, "he might be a saint someday."

? Don Babwin ? Twitter http://twitter.com/dbabwin

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AN ARGENTINE POPE?

In Argentina, Benedict XVI's final moments as pope were followed closely by the faithful in Buenos Aires' downtown cathedral.

Leaving Mass, Raquel Gonzalez and her friend Zuni Gimenez paused to dip their fingers in holy water and make the sign of the cross on their chests, then on each other's backs for good measure.

"It would be good if he's an Argentine, but I what would please me is that the coming pope does some good in this world," Gonzalez said of her hopes for the next in line. "That he achieves peace, and persuades those living with so much wealth to share more of it with the poor."

? Michael Warren ? Twitter http://twitter.com/mwarrenap

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APPLAUSE IN BALTIMORE

Several dozen archdiocese employees in Baltimore were watching the television as Pope Benedict XVI headed into retirement. They applauded when he stepped outside at the Vatican, then watched in silence as his helicopter took off for Castel Gandolfo.

"It was wonderful he came to terms with the fact that this is a huge international corporation and he doesn't have the energy to run this corporation anymore," said Derek Coelho, the director of gift planning for Catholic Charities.

That took "a lot of humility," he added.

? Alex Dominguez ? Twitter ? http://twitter.com/ADominguezAP

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GERMAN TRIBUTE

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Catholic leaders in the pope's native Germany are offering thanks for his papacy at a Berlin service.

Archbishop Robert Zollitsch says Benedict was "solid as a rock in a fast-changing world."

? Geir Moulson ? Twitter http://twitter.com/gmoulson

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WHAT THE POPE SAID

The text of Pope Benedict XVI's comments, delivered to a roaring crowd in Castel Gandolfo:

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Dear friends, I'm happy to be with you, surrounded by the beauty of creation and your well-wishes, which do me such good. Thank you for your friendship, and your affection. You know this day is different for me than the preceding ones: I am no longer the Supreme Pontiff of the Catholic Church, or I will be until 8 o'clock this evening and then no more.

I am simply a pilgrim beginning the last leg of his pilgrimage on this Earth. But I would still ... thank you ... I would still with my heart, with my love, with my prayers, with my reflection, and with all my inner strength, like to work for the common good and the good of the church and of humanity. I feel very supported by your sympathy.

Let us go forward with the Lord for the good of the church and the world. Thank you, I now wholeheartedly impart my blessing. Blessed be God Almighty, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Good night! Thank you all!"

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NEW SHOES

It's all about the shoes.

As Benedict XVI spends his final hours as pope, Mexican media are focused on the pontiff's footwear.

The Vatican said this week that Benedict would abandon his signature ruby red shoes in retirement and wear a comfortable brown pair he was given in the city of Leon when he visited Mexico last year. Leon is a renowned shoemaking center.

Today's headlines in Mexico include: "Benedict XVI will keep using Mexican shoes," and "Benedict XVI loves his shoes from Mexican craftsmen."

?Michael Weissenstein

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CROWDS DISAPPEAR

Minutes after the pope went back into the palace at Castel Gandolfo, the crowd of several thousand in the piazza outside has disappeared.

Many of the faithful have crammed into the two coffee bars on the square to warm up. Locals, meanwhile, headed home for dinner.

Swiss Guards are still standing at the entrance to the palace. But each is wearing a dark blue woolen mantle down to their knees over their colorful uniforms, trying to stay warm in the winter chill.

In less than 90 minutes, Pope Benedict XVI will be retired.

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HIGH ALTITUDE

Benedict never visited Bolivia as pope, but impressed one bishop with his knowledge of the poor, landlocked South American nation.

The Rev. Eugenio Escarpellini is bishop of El Alto, a city at 13,000 feet (4,000 meters), where the elevation can put strain on the heart. He recalled meeting Benedict in Rome three years ago and, after telling him where he was from, hearing the pontiff ask, "How's your heart?"

"I was surprised at how knowledgeable he is," Escarpellini told Radio Fides.

Churches across Bolivia collected farewell messages for the pope in hundreds of ledgers and organized rosary-reciting sessions that were to last until a new pope is elected.

Even President Evo Morales, often critical of the Catholic hierarchy, had praise for the pontiff.

"We're not all alike, but the pope's questioning of humanity's problems has made me reflect and I express my solidarity," Morales said last week.

? Carlos Valdez ? Twitter http://twitter.com/cvaldezm

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'LONG LIVE THE POPE!'

Benedict XVI was on the balcony at Castel Gandolfo for a little over a minute, speaking his last public words as pope.

"I am simply a pilgrim who is starting the last part of his journey," the 85-year-old told the crowd, wearing only a white robe in the chilly evening air.

They shouted back "Long live the pope!"

"Thank you, goodnight!" Benedict replied before going back inside the palace.

A few minutes later, aides came out on the balcony, pulled off the papal banner, rolled it up and brought it inside the palace. The glass doors to the balcony were quickly clicked shut and the white curtains behind them tightly drawn.

Within seconds, the crowd of a few thousand in the piazza dwindled to a few hundred.

? Frances D'Emilio ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fdemilio

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THE POPE'S BROTHER

Benedict XVI's elder brother says his final day as pontiff on Thursday was more of a private matter than his big send-off.

Monsignor Georg Ratzinger told Germany's RTL television at his home in Regensburg, Germany, that Wednesday's farewell in St. Peter's Square was "the most important day for me." He says it was Benedict XVI's last encounter with the faithful "and with that, the essential has actually already happened."

He said: "Today is more private, a sort of an accessory matter, at least according to my point of view."

Georg Ratzinger, who is 89, was ordained on the same day in 1951 as his brother, the former Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

? Geir Moulson ? Twitter http://twitter.com/gmoulson

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LAST WORDS AS POPE

"Thank you, goodnight!" Pope Benedict XVI's final public comments as pope from the balcony at Castel Gandolfo.

? Frances D'Emilio ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fdemilio

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QUICKQUOTE: BENEDICT

"I am simply a pilgrim who is starting the last part of his journey." ? Pope Benedict XVI on the balcony at Castel Gandolfo.

? Frances D'Emilio ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fdemilio

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AMERICANS SAY GOODBYE

Catholic churches across the U.S. are opening their doors for prayer timed with the end of Pope Benedict XVI's reign.

At the Cathedral of St. Mary in Miami, school children will read from Benedict's writings, then blow out a candle in front of his photo at 2 p.m., the moment Benedict has chosen to step down.

At the same time, a Mass for the Election of a New Pope will be celebrated at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York. The Archdiocese of Detroit is planning a holy hour of prayer from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Cathedral of the Most Blessed Sacrament. Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley, who is in Rome and will vote in the conclave to elect the next pontiff, asked churches in his archdiocese to ring bells for eight minutes starting at 1:52 p.m. to honor Benedict's ministry.

? Rachel Zoll, AP Religion Writer, https://twitter.com/rzollAP

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POPE ON THE BALCONY

As Pope Benedict XVI appears on the balcony at Castel Gandolfo, people in the crowd below start screaming his name. He must wait before he can even speak to them.

? Frances D'Emilio ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fdemilio

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THE POPE SPEAKS

Benedict XVI greets the faithful for the last time as pope from the balcony of the papal retreat.

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'BENEDETTO, BENEDETTO'

As a helicopter whirs overhead, bells start ringing more furiously than before. The crowd in the Castel Gandolfo square starts cheering and chanting, "Benedetto, Benedetto" in rhythm.

? Frances D'Emilio ? Twitter http://twitter.com/fdemilio

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THE PAPAL RETREAT

The Pope has arrived at the papal estate in Castel Gandolfo, as crowds in the town square cheer and wave flags.

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BELLS IN ROME

Bells are tolling in Rome as the papal helicopter leaves Vatican, flies toward the Castel Gandolfo papal retreat.

The pope's loyal secretary Georg Gaenswein was seen weeping as he accompanied Benedict in his final walk down a Vatican corridor.

? Joji Sakurai ? Twitter ? http://twitter.com/jojisakurai

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THE ARRIVAL

The Pope's helicopter lands at the pad in Castel Gandolfo, where he is greeted by well-wishers.

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TWEETING GOODBYE

A final tweet from the first pope to have his own Twitter account, (at)Pontifex, sent shortly before his departure from the Vatican: "Thank you for your love and support. May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives."

Follow AP reporters on Twitter where available.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-live-end-papacy-dawn-retirement-190621921.html

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Renewable energy: Nanotubes to channel osmotic power

Feb. 28, 2013 ? The salinity difference between fresh water and salt water could be a source of renewable energy. However, power yields from existing techniques are not high enough to make them viable. A solution to this problem may now have been found. A team led by physicists at the Institut Lumi?re Mati?re in Lyon (CNRS / Universit? Claude Bernard Lyon 1), in collaboration with the Institut N?el (CNRS), has discovered a new means of harnessing this energy: osmotic flow through boron nitride nanotubes generates huge electric currents, with 1,000 times the efficiency of any previous system. To achieve this result, the researchers developed a highly novel experimental device that enabled them, for the first time, to study osmotic fluid transport through a single nanotube. Their findings are published in the 28 February issue of Nature.

When a reservoir of salt water is brought into contact with a reservoir of fresh water through a special kind of semipermeable membrane, the resulting osmotic phenomena make it possible to produce electricity from the salinity gradients. This can be done in two different ways: either the osmotic pressure differential between the two reservoirs can drive a turbine, or a membrane that only passes ions can be used to produce an electric current.

Concentrated at the mouths of rivers, Earth's osmotic energy potential has a theoretical capacity of at least 1 terawatt -- the equivalent of 1,000 nuclear reactors. However, the technologies available for harnessing this energy are relatively inefficient, producing only about 3 watts per square meter of membrane. Today, a team of physicists at the Institut Lumi?re Mati?re in Lyon (CNRS / Universit? Claude Bernard Lyon 1), in collaboration with the Institut N?el (CNRS), may have found a solution to overcome this obstacle.

Their primary goal was to study the dynamics of fluids confined in nanometric spaces, such as nanotubes. Drawing inspiration from biology and cell channel research, they achieved a world first in measuring the osmotic flow through a single nanotube. Their experimental device consisted of an impermeable and electrically insulating membrane pierced by a single hole through which the researchers, using the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope, inserted a boron nitride nanotube with an external diameter of a few dozen nanometers. Two electrodes immersed in the fluid on either side of the nanotube enabled them to measure the electric current passing through the membrane..

Using this membrane to separate a salt water reservoir and a fresh water reservoir, the team was able to generate a massive electric current through the nanotube, induced by the strong negative surface charge characteristic of boron nitride nanotubes, which attracts the cations contained in the salt water. The intensity of the current passing through the nanotube was on the order of the nanoampere, more than 1,000 times the yield of the other known techniques for retrieving osmotic energy.

Boron nitride nanotubes thus provide an extremely efficient solution for converting the energy of salinity gradients into immediately usable electrical power. Extrapolating these results to a larger scale, a 1-m2 boron nitride nanotube membrane should have a capacity of about 4 kW and be capable of generating up to 30 megawatt-hours (1) per year. This performance is three orders of magnitude greater than that of the prototype osmotic power plants currently in operation. The next step for the researchers in the project will be to study the production of membranes made of boron nitride nanotubes and test the performances of nanotubes made from other materials.

This project was made possible largely through the support of the ERC and ANR.

Note:

(1) One watt-hour corresponds to the energy consumed or delivered by a system with a power of 1 watt for one hour.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS).

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Alessandro Siria, Philippe Poncharal, Anne-Laure Biance, R?my Fulcrand, Xavier Blase, Stephen T. Purcell, Lyd?ric Bocquet. Giant osmotic energy conversion measured in a single transmembrane boron nitride nanotube. Nature, 2013; 494 (7438): 455 DOI: 10.1038/nature11876

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/electricity/~3/GksEYTxPZog/130228093509.htm

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The sequester in 60 seconds (Reuters)

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Video games take aim at dyslexia

Controversial study suggests attention problem at root of reading disorder

By Bruce Bower

Web edition: February 28, 2013

Children with dyslexia may read better after playing action video games that stress mayhem, not literacy, a contested study suggests.

Playing fast-paced Wii video games for 12 hours over two weeks markedly increased the reading speed of 7- to 13-year-old kids with dyslexia, with no loss of reading accuracy, says a team led by psychologist Andrea Facoetti of the University of Padua, Italy. Reading gains lasted at least two months after the video game sessions. The gains matched or exceeded previously reported effects of reading-focused programs for dyslexia, the researchers report online February 28 in Current Biology.

?These results are clear enough to say that action video games are able to improve reading abilities in children with dyslexia,? Facoetti says. Although the new study includes only 20 children with dyslexia, its results build on earlier evidence that many poor readers have difficulty focusing on items within arrays, Facoetti holds. By strengthening the ability to monitor central and peripheral objects in chaotic scenes, he says, action video games give kids with dyslexia a badly needed tool for tracking successive letters in written words.

But evidence for Facoetti?s conclusions is shaky, asserts psychologist Nicola Brunswick of Middlesex University in London. The researchers tested word reading ability two months later but failed to test reading comprehension, she says. What?s more, they did so with a mere six of 10 kids who played the action video games. ?

Ten participants in a comparison group played video games that didn?t require constant scanning of frenzied scenes. These kids showed no reading improvement. All games in the study came from a Wii product called Rayman Raving Rabbids.

Action video games deserve scrutiny as possible dyslexia fighters, says cognitive neuroscientist Bruce McCandliss of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. But the new study doesn?t necessarily prove their worth in allaying severe reading problems, he says. For instance, children made many errors when reading nonsense words before and after playing action video games, although they did so in less time following the intervention. ?

Action video games may particularly help bad readers of straightforward languages such as Italian, in which written letters usually stand for single sounds (SN: 3/31/01, p. 205). Facoetti?s group ? Padua colleagues Sandro Franceschini, Simone Gori and Simona Viola, as well as Milena Ruffino and Massimo Molteni of Scientific Institute E. Medea in Lecco, Italy ? plans to study action video games as a dyslexia treatment for speakers of English and other tough-to-read languages, in which written letters can correspond to multiple sounds.

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Suggested Reading

B. Bower. Video mayhem enlivens decision making. Science News. Vol. 178, Oct. 29, 2010, p. 12. Available online: [Go to]

B. Bower. Dyslexia gets a break in Italy. Science News. Vol. 159, March 31, 2001, p. 205. Available online: [Go to]

Andrea Facoetti?s website: [Go to]

Website for video games used in the study: [Go to]

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/348659/title/Video_games_take_aim_at_dyslexia

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AA's longest-serving flight attendant retires

Gilma Avalos , NBC Miami ? ? ? 22 hrs.

A retirement party was held for an American Airlines flight attendant Barbara Beckett Monday as she celebrated her 53-year career with the company.

"It's something that I grew up wanting to do,? said Beckett, who is based in Miami. ?When I was very young my parents took me to the airport and I saw the stewardesses get off the plane. And I thought that's what I want to do.?

Beckett donned the American Airlines uniform for one last trip ? a last hurrah from Miami International Airport to London?s Heathrow Airport and back. Her flight was set to leave at 8 p.m.

Beckett has worked 8,000 flights for American, traveling the globe and going to places like Hawaii, Japan and Argentina.

The longest-serving flight attendant on American?s staff, she graduated from training on July 29, 1960, and has worked for the airline ever since.

Beckett?s longtime partner, her colleagues and friends, and some passengers wished her well at the gate before her Heathrow flight. Beckett said the first thing she wants to do once she retires is travel ? but she and her partner joked that she will be grounded for a while before booking a trip to Hawaii.

More from NBC Miami:

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/itineraries/american-airlines-longest-serving-flight-attendant-retires-after-53-years-1C8543813

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Kerry pushes trans-Atlantic free trade in Germany

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 2. Matt Kuchar $1,987,000 3. Hunter Mahan $1,412,965 4. John Merrick $1,296,014 5. Phil Mickelson $1,232,760 6. Dustin Johnson $1,200,125 7. Tiger Woods $1,144,000 8. Russell Henley $1,129,080 9. Brian Gay $1,089,181 10. Charles Howell III $1,087,944 11. Jason Day $1,009,164 12. Chris Kirk $990,013 13. Steve Stricker $940,000 14. Josh Teater $870,934 15. Bill Haas $816,300 16. Jimmy Walker $812,620 17. Scott Piercy $789,592 18. Charlie Beljan $785,800 19. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kerry-pushes-trans-atlantic-free-trade-germany-133433528--finance.html

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JPMorgan to cut up to 17,000 jobs by end of 2014

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co said on Tuesday that it plans to cut 17,000 jobs by the end of 2014, representing about 6.6 percent of the company's overall workforce, as the bank sheds staff that helped it deal with bad home loans.

The bank is optimistic that it can generate record income this year and is planning to add 4,000 employees in commercial and investment banking and credit cards to help it win business, bank executives said at an investor conference.

That hiring will be more than offset by job cuts in areas like mortgage servicing and retail banking, where the bank is positioning for a recovering housing market and new forms of branch banking. The net impact of the additions and cuts will be 17,000 fewer employees on the bank's payrolls.

The job cuts reflect the pressure that banks are under, even as the U.S. housing market and overall economy show signs of recovery. Many banks are looking to automate more of their businesses to make their staff more productive and improve profits.

For example, at JPMorgan's branches, where it plans to cut about 6,000 tellers and other employees, the bank hopes customers will use automated teller machines for every day transactions and that remaining staff can focus on higher-margin activities like selling wealth management services.

JPMorgan is one of the few big U.S. banks that is still adding branches to its network, but it is hoping to staff the branches with fewer workers. The bank's 5,614 branches have 63,500 employees, representing about a quarter of JPMorgan Chase's total. Chase's branch network is second to Wells Fargo & Co's in size.

For overall staffing levels, JPMorgan Chase had 258,965 employees globally at the end of 2012. Its headcount rose following the financial crisis to 262,882 in the second quarter of 2012 from 219,569 in the first quarter of 2009. Since last year's second quarter, staffing levels have drifted lower.

JPMorgan Chase overall earned $21.9 billion last year, excluding accounting charges linked to changes in the value of its debt. The bank said it has the potential to earn about $27.5 billion, thanks in part to efficiency gains. It aims to cut overall expenses by $1 billion in 2013.

To reach the $27.5 billion profit figure, the bank is also counting on costs for lawsuits to fall as disputes over bad mortgages are resolved, as well as seeing a one percentage point rise in interest rates, said Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake.

The profit scenario also depends on the bank not being hit by another trading debacle like the $6.2 billion loss last year on derivatives trades placed by the London Whale, the nickname given a London-based JPMorgan trader for the size of the positions.

Chief Executive Jamie Dimon acknowledged that many of his top lieutenants who spoke to investors on Tuesday were in new jobs after changes he made last year in his management team and the bank's divisions.

"It is a little bit too much change in one year," Dimon said. "Some of it was the Whale. Some of it was the re-org" to better align product divisions with customer interests, he said.

All of the top executives, however, have been at the company several years and know its businesses, Dimon said.

JPMorgan Chase shares were down 0.2 percent at $47.60 at the close of trading on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting By David Henry; Additional reporting by Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, North Carolina; Writing by Dan Wilchins; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick, John Wallace and Matthew Lewis)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jpmorgan-chase-cut-4-000-jobs-2013-010505461--sector.html

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March 2013 Health Tips | Semo Health Network

March is MS Awareness Month. March 11-17 is MS Awareness Week. Multiple Sclerosis is a chronic neurological disorder that affects the central nervous system. In MS, the myelin (the layer of insulation that surrounds nerve fibers) is destroyed. Statistics indicate that there are currently 350,000 to 500,000 people in the US who have been diagnosed with MS. There are 2.5 million people living with the disease worldwide.

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MS (Multiple Sclerosis) was first described by French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot in 1898. After more than 140 years of research into the disease, much still remains a mystery. There is no known cause, and, no cure. However, there are treatments that can slow the progression of the disease and manage the symptoms.

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Although the exact cause of MS remains unknown, researchers believe a combination of factors may be involved:

• Immunologic Reaction- MS is generally believed to be an autoimmune disease
• Viral or infectious Agents ? Some data suggests a common virus or other infections play a role
• Environmental Factors ? scientists have discovered that MS occurs more frequently in locations farther from the equator.
• Genetic factors ? While MS is not believed to be hereditary; having a history of MS does make a person more likely to develop it

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Symptoms of MS include: fatigue, weakness, spasticity, balance problems, bladder and bowel problems, numbness, vision loss, tremors and depression. But not all symptoms affect all MS patients.

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There are no specific tests that can determine if a person has MS. Diagnosis involves both neurological exams, and MRI, Spinal Tap evidence.

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Treatment for MS falls into two catagories:

• Treatments that address symptom management
• Treatments that change the course of the disease

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The treatment of MS has changed dramatically in the last decade. A more favorable outcome and better quality of life are definitely more attainable by people with MS through appropriate and aggressive management. But remember? EARLY TREATMENT MAKES A DIFFERENCE.

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For more information on MS (Multiple Sclerosis), please go to: www.msfocus.org

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Be informed, be aware, be safe and healthy!

If there is a health subject you would like to see information on, please contact Kimberly Crawford at 573-748-5046 or email: kcrawford@semohealthnetwork.org

Source: http://semohealthnetwork.org/march-2013-health-tips/

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Stocks edge lower; Barnes & Noble, Hertz jump

NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks edged lower on Wall Street Monday, erasing an early rally, following signs that Italy could be headed for political gridlock.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 33 points, or 0.2 percent, to 13,967 as of 12:40 p.m. EST. It had been up as much as 81 points. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell four points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,510 and the Nasdaq composite dropped 1, or 0.04 percent, to 3,158.

Stocks rallied in the early going as exit polls showed that a center-left coalition in Italy that favored economic reforms in the euro region's third-largest economy was leading in the polls. That gain evaporated after another poll showed that the elections appear to be heading toward gridlock. Stocks slumped last year on concern that Italy would become engulfed in the European government debt crisis.

"The Italian elections have implications for the credit markets," said Quincy Krosby, chief market strategist at Prudential. "The ultimate worry is that the credit markets start reacting."

The yield on Italy's 10-year government bond edged up to 4.43 percent from 4.40 percent as investors sold them. The country's benchmark stock index, the FSTE MIB, rose 0.7 percent, giving up an early gain of 4 percent.

On the New York Stock Exchange, Barnes & Noble rose $1.33, or 10 percent, to $14.85 after founder and chairman Leonard Riggio told the bookseller he is going to try to buy the company's retail business. Hertz advanced $1.15 to $19.87, despite posting a fourth-quarter loss, after the rental car company said that pricing improved, volume rose and it cut costs.

Stocks gained even with the threat of across-the-board automatic government spending cuts less than a week away. Some $85 billion in cuts will occur over the next seven months starting March 1, with more in following years if lawmakers can't come to an agreement on how to reduce spending in a more measured and targeted manner.

The Standard & Poor's 500 had its first weekly decline of the year last week. Investors sent stocks plunging after minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting revealed disagreement over how long to keep buying bonds in an effort to boost the economy.

Many analysts say the Fed's bond-buying program and the resulting low interest rates have been a big driver behind this year's stock rally, which lifted indexes to their highest levels since 2007.

Japanese stocks surged on reports that the prime minister's pick for central bank governor will be a strong advocate of loose monetary policy aimed at reviving the moribund economy. The Nikkei 225 gained 2.4 percent to end at 11,662.52

European stocks also advanced, but gave back much of their early gains. Benchmark indexes were up 0.4 percent in France, 1.5 percent in Germany and 0.8 percent in Spain. Britain's index was up just 0.3 percent after Moody's stripped the country late Friday of its triple-A credit rating.

The yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, fell two basis points to 1.93 percent.

Among other stocks making big moves:

? Drugmaker Affymax plunged $14, or 85 percent, to $2.43 after the company recalled its anemia drug following severe allergic reactions and the deaths of some kidney dialysis patients.

?Mead Johnson fell $2.54 to $76.45 after the company said that a new regulation in Hong Kong could affect the company's sales there as well as in mainland China.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-edge-lower-barnes-noble-hertz-jump-172734343--finance.html

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The Onion Apologizes for Offensive Quvenzhane Wallis Tweet

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HIStalk Interviews Robert Lorsch, CEO, MMRGlobal | HIStalk

Robert H. ?Bob? Lorsch is president, CEO, and chairman of MMRGlobal of? Los Angeles, CA.

Tell me about yourself and the company.

I sold my business in 1998 for several hundred million dollars to AT&T. After the company was sold, I have spent many years focused on philanthropic activities ? California Science Center, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, St. John?s Hospital, and a variety of other organizations.

In 2000, I myself was diagnosed with a rare form of thyroid cancer. Despite the fact that I was extremely connected to doctors, hospitals ? both as someone who?s been in the Los Angeles community for many, many years and as somebody who had supported these organizations ? I was personally subjected to the task of selecting the guy that was going to be the surgeon who was going to go into my neck and deal with my cancer.

In the course of that, I quickly realized that having the disease was only one aspect of what I had to deal with. But the real aspect of what I had to deal with was the emotional trauma of what goes with being diagnosed with the disease and the challenges that are placed in front of a patient in terms of collecting and getting information so they can get competent physicians to give them knowledgeable and informed information to deal with their situation.

I must tell you that I?m not sure that dealing with the cancer ? which was a six-hour operation where I was completely out of it ? was probably easier in the long run than the months of agony and emotional torture of trying to figure out if I picked the right doctor, how was I going to get copies of my medical records, what the diseases meant, etc.

In 2005, someone showed up at my house and said, ?I think you should go in the electronic medical records business? because Bush had signed an executive order in 2004 suggesting ? or ordering ? that everybody in America have an electronic health record within 10 years. I took a look at that and I said, ?You know, interesting concept. I?m not interested, though, in competing with GE, Cerner, Allscripts, McKesson, and all the giant companies in the industry.?

But nobody had focused on the personal health records side of the house. I decided that that would be something I was interested in and we formed MyMedicalRecords.

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Everybody assumed that that would be a really hot sector because people were Googling medical issues, symptoms, and drug side effects, yet for the most part personal health records didn?t do very well. Google shut theirs down, presumably because patients don?t really want to enter that information themselves manually. How have you found that to be with your personal health record?

Our personal health record doesn?t really require the patient to enter anything manually. We have a completely different perspective on what goes into a personal health record and the ease of utilizing a personal health record.?

We give a patient what we call a lifeline number, which is a 10-digit telephone number. We basically have a personal health record that is completely connected, completely interoperable with not only any hospital, physician, or medical professional in the United States, but any hospital, physician, or medical professional in the world based, on the backbone of the telecommunication system.

If you go to a doctor, you have a right to get your medical records in the United States. All you have to do is tell them how you want them. You give him or her your lifeline telephone number, and when you leave the office, they fax your record or e-mail the record to you so you can upload the record and it goes right into your account.

As a patient, when I look in my account, I?m seeing medical records from my physician. I?m seeing medical records from Cedars-Sinai. I?m seeing medical records from St. John?s. I?m seeing medical records from Long Beach Memorial. I?m seeing medical records from private practices. I?m seeing medical records from my orthopedic guys. I?m seeing medical records from my father. All consolidated into one place that requires me to actually input nothing but look at the document and select the file folder I want to insert it into.

It doesn?t require somebody to sit down and start typing in stats and results and information that in all likelihood will be plagued with typographic errors, wrong and not reliable. When somebody goes into my emergency view, they see my most recent laboratory tests on Cedars-Sinai or Quest lab forms with the phone number, the physician, and the lab that ran the tests. Exactly as they would see it in their office, regardless of where it was originated.

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That?s a pretty fascinating approach. Other organizations advocated that health records be exchanged as PDFs, but nobody really ever bought into that concept too much. By doing that, you eliminate the concerns about what data you can accept and the standard interchange formats and all that. You just take everything that looks like a fax or an e-mail and it?s just stored in that exact form. Is that correct?

Part of that?s correct. We also have in the site a patient history. Assuming the patient actually wants to go in and enter data, there?s a form with simple drop-downs where they can say, ?I want to input my maternal grandparent?s health history.? You just hit the button that says ?grandparents.? It drops down and says is it a condition, an allergy, or a surgery, and gives them some categories. You click on that, write what it is, write the doctor and any information that you want, and save it. Then you can go in and put in your mother, your father, yourself, or your children.

Basically what?s happening is you are building through data entry your personal health record, but all you?re really building is that form that you?re going to fill out in the doctor?s office anyway. When you go to the doctor, you hit a button that says ?print my record.? You just bring it in and pretty much everything you?re going to need for that form is with you on the spot and can go right into the doctor?s file. If it?s a medical record or chart note or handwritten note, or in my case, my eyeglass prescription ??

Each account works for 10 family members. In my case, I have my son, my father ?? may he rest in peace ? my dog, my wife. Everybody?s in this kind of system. Depending on the emergency password that a physician or a paramedic or emergency room representative would put in there, it brings up the medical records, photo, insurance information, and prescription and labs for that individual. From any Internet-connected computer anywhere in the world, no questions asked for the quality of the form, because the person looking at it can basically reach out to the lab and confirm it?s accurate.

One of the problems of personal health record is you may get a patient that?s embarrassed about something. They may kind of redact something from data. We do not give the patient the ability to do that, because there is no data in the actual record. There is data in the health history.

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I believe I understand right that it?s priced for families at somewhere around $100 per family per year.

There are multiple pricing programs. Direct online, somebody can go and pay $9.95 a month or $99.95 a year and set up and have their account. They can also pay for what we call personal touch ? $80 more ? and we find a nurse practitioner to go to collect forms for them. We contact all the physicians from throughout their life and we update the medical records in the account for them.

And then there?s the employer programs, where an employer with 1,000 employees can pay us less then $2 a month per employee and every employee in a company would have access to an account. And then there are associations, much larger groups, where they would pay an annual fee for every member in the association and it becomes an affinity benefit, much like a LifeLock or other similar service ? whether it be lost baggage, a personal health record, insurance services ? that are embedded into the benefits of that organization.

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I don?t want you to tell me anything that?s proprietary, but can you give me a feel for how many active users the service has?

We define users in two different ways. We have members and we have users. For example, if you?re part of a company that has 5,000 employees, every one of those employees is a member. The actual user, depending on the type of company, can range anywhere from 5 percent to as much as 28 percent, and so we define members from users separately.

At last count, we had I think 750,000 members, although that does fluctuate up and down. We had from those members approximately 8 or 9 percent what I would call heavy, heavy users. But it doesn?t really matter, because if you work for that company, you have the ability to go in and set up your account at any time.

You might take some medications. You might have something going on in your life. But you take somebody who?s 30 years old. They get a personal health record, they don?t even think about it. They?re not as aware of it. Until one day they go to the doctor and he says, ?You know, you need to have appendicitis operation or your cholesterol is too high or for some reason we?ve got a little spot that we want to deal with or some type of MRI.? All of sudden then, the person is, ?Oh my gosh, I?d better start collecting my information and building my medical record.? We find that as people have their record over time, more and more people will come in and start adding things into the record.

The other thing that we find is attrition. Since we?ve been in business ? which is almost eight years now and with the product out there a little more than six ? attrition is less than 2 percent. The real-world attrition, we think, is less than 1 percent. The difference is that is people who have passed away or for whatever reason aren?t getting the benefit any more. It?s not really the attrition in the account, because once somebody gets their information in the account, they don?t want to give up the account.

In the account are 16 file folders. You have complete control over what those file folders are called. Four of those file folders are actually password protected. You can call them an e-safe deposit box. You can call them a real estate file. You can call them advance directives. If somebody gets into your medical record on emergency basis, they won?t see those files, because they are password protected through the administrative side of the site.

I could be anywhere in the world and I would have passport, driver?s license, advance directives, emergency documentation, inventories of all the furniture, fixtures, and materials in my home, etc. It?s not only a personal health record, but it?s an emergency disaster preparedness medical record. You?re in a community, a tornado comes in, you?re wiped out, you need your medical records. You also need your driver?s license, your banking information, your advance directives, the articles that were in your home, your insurance policies. They are all in password-protected files that are embedded into the account.

The other reason we do the password-protected files is when a child becomes 16 years old, they are entitled to have privacy to their personal health information. This way, a family can have a MyMedicalRecords account and they can allow a one file folder to be assigned to each of the teenage members of the family so that the parents can?t have access to what?s in that account. If you have a daughter that, for example, decides they want to take birth control pills, their medical record could be separate from the family?s medical record and password protected so the parents cannot get into that account.

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I want to ask you a question about patent licensing. You?ve made some statements that licensing is the future of the company?s growth and a lot of the press releases involve that. Is it fair to say that a long term plan is that the licensing fees will be the majority of the company?s income?

If I may push back a little bit, I?m not sure that I?ve said licensing is the future of the company anywhere. I don?t think that?s actually a quote that I made. What I have said is that as a result of Meaningful Use Stage 2, hospitals, healthcare professionals are obligated if they sign on the dotted line and tell the federal government that they are requesting reimbursement under Meaningful Use Stage 2, there are certain things they have to attest to. One of them is to provide a certain percentage to their audience with a personal health record. Under Stage 3, it will be more severe, because under Stage 2, they have more time. They?re talking about bringing that down to less than a day in Stage 3. Those records are required.

If somebody complies with that Stage 2 Meaningful Use, we believe that they will infringe on one of seven patents that we have issued in the US Patent Office an additional patents that we have issued in 12 additional countries around the world. What we have done is we?ve gone to the hospitals, providers, vendors, laboratories, and we?ve said, ?Look, if you?re going to comply with Stage 2 Meaningful Use or you?re going to offer products and services that enable healthcare professionals to meet Stage 2 Meaningful Use, they?re probably going to infringe on one of our patents.?

We?re suggesting that they license those patents at very reasonable license fees, such that whatever they decide to do to comply with Stage 2, Stage 3 Meaningful Use, they have a license ? a safe harbor ? that they?re grandfathered in, where they never have to be concerned about infringement on any of our patents or other intellectual property. If those same hospitals say, ?Are there any other ways to address this?? they could also use our products ? our MyMedicalRecords products, our professional products ? which are embedded with licenses for the technology.

What we?re essentially saying is if a hospital wants to comply with Stage 2 Meaningful Use ? and I want to be very, very clear, I?m not saying they?re definitely infringing, but we believe with nearly 400 claims, that there is a high degree of likelihood that they will infringe on our patents and other intellectual property ? we will, as cooperative a way possible, reach out to them to offer them licenses, the ability to utilize their product, prior to bringing any form of legal action if we believe the infringement is direct and on point.

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Have you ever taken someone to court for infringement?

We currently have four matters that are of interest. Approximately two or three weeks ago, we filed a lawsuit against Walgreens. Last week, we filed a lawsuit against WebMD. We currently have identified in Australia that the Australian government actually built a $1.1 billion personal health record system that blatantly, we believe ? and I would appreciate it if you would always qualify it with ?we believe? ? infringes on our patents almost totally. The irony of the whole thing is that the government actually appears ? and I want to say ?appears? ? to have used our attorneys who got us the patents in Australia to review and give them an opinion on the intellectual property.

We have found the same thing in Singapore, where the health department in Singapore and other companies ? including a very, very large company out of China ? are infringing on our patents there.?

We have begun the process of pursuing Australia. We would hope to settle it very, very quickly, because they have a billion-dollar system that is basically given away to everybody who lives in Australia, which completely, completely destroys the ability for us to sell our product.? We would hope that they will be objective in entering to some type of licensing agreement with us. Our patents go far back before they ever actually looked at the system that they built subsequent to the issuance of the patents, which we believe they were aware of.

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I forgot to ask that earlier. What years were your patents granted?

The patents have been granted throughout the last seven years. I mean, originally they were filed ? I think originally the first filings were in 2005. The US patents mostly were issued at the very, very end of 2011 and throughout 2012. We continue to have numerous applications on file, both pending applications and continuation applications on existing patents.

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Your patents were filed in 2011. What was new in 2011 in your patents that hadn?t already been marketed by someone prior to that?

It has to do with what we originally invented in 2005. The patent is like three legs of a stool. You plant the first leg and the stool is going to be a bit wobbly. Then you plant the second leg and the stool is going to be solid. Then you plant the third leg and the fourth leg and you build on intellectual property. The original inventions were true inventions at the time they were filed in the patent office. They?re all based on the original art. Then over time, you amend those applications to bring in different features and functionality that rely upon the original prior art.

But the original prior art when we file these patents or the amendments to these patents or additional patents or continuation patents on,? the Patent Office is very, very thorough. I mean, very, very thorough. It took us close to seven years to issue the first patent. It took us, I think, five or six years to issue the first patent internationally. It took almost eight years to issue patents in Mexico. It?s not a simple process. They look at everything. It costs this company millions of dollars in fees, expenses, and attorneys on a global basis in order to prosecute this portfolio.

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Most patents are written to be as broad as the patent office will accept. Can you just describe in general what the patents cover? Maybe the top one or two that are in question now with other people infringing.

There is a valuation that was done which I can send you the link to. It was actually covered in a news release by the company when it came out about a month, a month and half ago. That valuation identifies every one of the patents around the world by its name, description, and number. I don?t want to answer a question that really has the potential of narrowing the scope just by the fact that I can?t properly answer it in an article like this. What I would do is I would refer people to that valuation summary and they would be able to go to the patent office and look up everything.

There?s claims that deal with how the patients get personal health records. There?s claims that deal with telemedicine. There?s a broad spectrum of claims. Like I said close, to 400 in stage, with more patents and additional claims pending and a lot of claims around the world. It wouldn?t be fair to you, me, or the reader to just say, ?The basics of it is this.?

They are a method and system for providing personal health records, electronic health records, and other forms of electronic documents. They run the gamut of e-safe deposit box, which could mean personal information like we discussed with advance directives and maybe a copy of your passport all the way to your medical records.

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Some of the recipients of the potential infringement letters have been hospitals, most of which are non-profit. I don?t want to ask you a proprietary question, but when you say the fees are reasonable, what kind of terms would you offer them to license?

Every one of the agreements and licenses that we?ve entered into is confidential. If you look at me or you Google me, I spent the last 13-14 years of my life dedicating it to giving away money to charity. Prior to that, I probably have raised more money for organizations using what was called cause-related marketing, where a portion of a dollar that a company like Procter & Gamble would get would go to Special Olympics or the Heart Association or D.A.R.E. America. So when it comes to non-profit charity and giving, it?s in my DNA.

When I say reasonable, I mean in a way that protects the hospital, gives them a benefit so that they can provide a broader service to their patients. It?s not the kind of dollars that you?re looking at from all these lawsuits with Samsung and BlackBerry and Apple. It?s not that kind of a thing.

We look for a win-win situation with the hospital. The best way I can? explain it is our primary business is personal health records. A lot of people have tried to paint the letters we?ve sent to the hospital as if we?re patent trolling. A troll is somebody who has rights to a patent, but basically goes around suing people and demanding royalties. A troll is not the original inventor of the patents, of which I am on every patent that?s been filed anywhere in the world.

We invented those patents so that we would have the opportunity to go into the market and compete and create a barrier to entry for our competition. By ignoring our rights under those patents, we are essentially being denied the ability to compete in that marketplace, because other people will just go in and sell their product at the expense of infringing on our patents.?

What?s fair and reasonable in our mind is something analogous to the amount of money that we would have made had we were providing those products and services. But if somebody is going to say we?re going to preclude you from providing those products and services, then they should pay us something reasonable for infringing on our intellectual property.

In our case, we don?t care if somebody licenses or somebody buys. They win and we win either way. The objective here is to not do something that makes it impossible to make a deal, but also do something that is fair to our shareholders in the sense that we?re not denied access to the marketplace just because somebody said, ?The heck with them. We don?t care about their patents,? which is what is happening in Australia. I mean the Australian government in a macro example ? macro being huge, but one country ? they basically said, ?We?re going to make a personal health record. We?re going to give it away to 20 million people free and we?re going to infringe on IP and we don?t care.?

I had a meeting with a group of Congressmen last week in Washington, DC. Ironically, we focused on stimulus, and some of the things were covered in the Page 1 article in The New York Times. These Congressional representatives who are on the oversight committees have said that intellectual property ?the right to own property, the right to own a home, the right to own what you create, eat what you sow ? is a fundamental right of every American, and it?s probably a fundamental right of everybody wherever they are anywhere in the world.

These are rights that we built products for, we created things for. When somebody takes away your right to compete in the open marketplace, they pay a royalty or a license fee. In those rare cases where you unfortunately have to go to litigation, maybe they?ll pay more. But the objective here is to create reasonable relationships with hospitals.

I have said to our shareholders, there?s 5,000 hospitals out there. It doesn?t take a lot to figure if every hospital gave you some reasonable amount of money for every 250 beds, the hospital would win based on the quality of our product and we would win for our shareholders.

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There was a rumor that there was some interest by the National Coordinator or some part of HHS about what was going on with the patents and the letters that were being received by hospitals, and possibly by somebody in California, maybe the Attorney General, as well. Has there been any official interest or discussion about what you?re doing from any government or oversight-type body?

When we originally sent out the letters, some of the hospitals apparently forwarded them to the California Hospital Association and the AMA. I received a copy of a letter that was sent by the California Hospital Association legal counsel Jana Du Bois to every hospital general counsel saying, ?If you get a letter from a company called MyMedicalRecords, we think they?re some kind of patent troll. Let us know.?

When I got a copy of that, we contacted her, and we explained to her that, ?Hey, it?s our primary business. We invented it. We did not buy these patents. We are not trolling with these patents, and by the way, we are very, very anxious to enter into reasonable business relationships with the hospitals to license the patents or utilize our products and services.?

She turned around and basically sent out what I would ? I?m not going to say it was an apology letter ? but she definitely sent a letter out to everybody to set the record straight. To the point that I just found out last week in one state on the East Coast, meeting with their association, actually discussing the possibility of saying, any hospitals in the state, we will negotiate through the association one license agreement so that the hospitals can get the benefit of the lowest possible rate, and as long as the hospital is a member of that association, they would get the license agreement.

In addition to that, we ? meaning MMR ? would take 30 percent of those license fees, put them into a non-profit managed by that association to provide healthcare and philanthropic services to underprivileged in their communities through their hospital network. So in essence, we would say, State XYZ is kind of like a safe harbor for,? I think it?s 10 months. We would negotiate a license agreement with that association. The license agreement would be based on the beds in the hospital. They would offer it to everybody in that state.

If they accepted it, they got that rate. We would take 30 percent of the money, give it back to the community to provide healthcare and other services to the community through those hospitals. If the hospital did not sign on, then we would see what happens after that period of time. That is as recently as last week. It was very well received. We are already in the process of signing agreements to facilitate those conversations.

The associations are very aware. The associations hopefully will understand that we?re trying to be reasonable about the whole thing.? As for the AMA, I know they?re aware of it. We?ve not communicated with them.

As to the National Coordinator, my days with the National Coordinator go back to Dr. Brailer, when Mike Leavitt was Secretary of Health. Mike Leavitt knew about MyMedicalRecords and our intellectual property in the early, early days. Dr. Brailer knew about MMR and our IP in the early, early days. The Small Business Administration acknowledged what we were doing after Katrina, because we had the ability to not only provision personal health records, but emergency safe deposit boxes for victims of natural disasters ? they presented us an award. Subsequently, I meet with Dr. Blumenthal and William Yu, when he was in the office, went through the products, service, patents, the intellectual property. There could be no surprises to anybody about what we have been doing.

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I think I read that you?re sending ? maybe it?s not the right figure ? 250 letters a week. I?m just curious how much response you?re getting from those letters or what hospitals are doing when they receive those letters?

We?ve sent out somewhere between 600 and 750 letters. Many of them respond. Some of them don?t respond. When they don?t respond, we reach out and try to communicate with them.

There are maybe additional letters, but at this particular point in time, we?ve had a lot of success with everything from the association I described to numerous hospitals in California that have opened the door for meaningful negotiations. If somebody opens the door for meaningful negotiations, we?re basically going to take the time that?s necessary to make them comfortable that they?re making the right decision.

Meaningful Use Stage 2 really starts in February 2014, I think. And so, if the hospital wants to understand this, vet the product, vet the service to understand the IP, we?re anxious to work with them in a businesslike manner.

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Any final thoughts?

We?re looking forward to HIMSS. There are a lot of people that have gotten letters from us. We?re looking forward to more patents being issued. There are a lot of people that have contacted us and arranged to meet with us at HIMSS to discuss a variety of business opportunities from strategic partners, licensing. We?re going to be previewing wellness applications connected to our personal health records. We?re going to be focused on integrating our personal health record with the output from all the apps that are coming in on iPhones and Android phones.

We?re looking forward to meeting people in the booth who may have the wrong perception of the company. If the perception they have is it?s some guy sending out letters trying to get royalties who is not entitled to them, we?re not those people. There may be some of those people out there. We?re not those people.

We have a real product that we invented that we would prefer to sell people. But if people are not going to buy it and they?re just going to work around it or they?re going to ignore us ? the most reasonable thing to do is to license, because that way everybody wins. Should they decide that, you know, it?s really not such a dumb idea to attach a 10-digit telephone number to every one of our patients? personal health records so that they can go anywhere in the world, and if they?re on vacation in Israel ? where, by the way, we own the patents ? they can literally get a lab test, have it put in their account, and seen by their physician at New York Pres in three minutes.

I?m a big believer in supporting hospitals so that if, God forbid, I go into the emergency room and I need something, the little green light goes on and says, ?He?s a good guy." But hundreds and millions of dollars have recently been spent in this community by Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and UCLA. They both have Epic systems. They can?t talk to each other. Here I?ve got a health savings plan. I?m in the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai, but next time because I?m closer to UCLA or the Cedars emergency room is full, all the tests that I had at Cedars now have to be redone at UCLA. Why?

Kaiser is? a classic example. The rumor is more than $6 billion has been spent on EMR and PHR. Right now, I?m not a Kaiser member. If I get sick anywhere and I need my medical records, yeah, I have some kind of a patient view. But that emergency physician in Sheboygan, Wisconsin or in Deer Valley, Utah, where I just came off at a ski slope with a pain in my arm or my chest or broken bone ? they can?t get that data. They?ve got to completely rework me up before I go into surgery. If I?m unconscious, these people don?t know today that I?m a thyroid patient. I don?t have a thyroid. I have to take certain medications. If I?m unconscious, I can?t tell them that.?

If you start asking around about how much money has been spent on a state-by-state basis trying to create a regional health information system ? I?m going to be kind ? It?s probably $20 to $50 million a year, and I don?t think you can find a working model. If you do find a working model, I don?t think you can find a handful of hospitals that talk to it, because they?ve all got their own EMRs. There?s no interoperability, despite the fact that this whole effort from Bush was designed to empower the patient and create interoperability. So basically we?re at $11 billion and counting ? maybe 12 now, I don?t even know, it goes so fast ? and the original selling proposition of why we needed this has not been met.

Source: http://histalk2.com/2013/02/25/histalk-interviews-robert-lorsch-ceo-mmrglobal/

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Why we don't eat horse meat: It's economics

John Carney , CNBC.com ? ? ? 8 hrs.

Why do we have such an aversion to horse meat?

The discovery of traces of horse meat in food products supposedly made of beef or pork has caused a scandal in Britain and, most recently, prompted Ikea to withdraw its Swedish meatballs from stores in 21 European countries.

Related: No horse in IKEA meatballs in the US, store says

The controversy is obviously about more than the mislabeling of food. The very idea of eating horse strikes many people in Britain and the U.S. as abhorrent ? despite the fact that horse is considered a proper food item in many parts of the world.

A new study from researchers at Oxford University says the roots of the taboo on horse meat are in the spread of Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England. But the real reason may be something more pedestrian: simple economics.

Although church authorities did attempt to root out the practice of eating horse in Northern Europe and the U.K. because of its perceived connection with paganism, there's no evidence that this was the decisive factor in turning popular sentiment against horse meat.

It seems far more likely that the aversion grew out of common sense home economics. Cows are just more efficient sources of food than horses.

Brian Palmer of Slate explains that in terms of caloric content, 3 ounces of cows give you more bang per pound:

A three-ounce serving of roast horse has 149 calories, 24 grams of protein, and five grams of fat. The same amount of beef tenderloin has 179 calories, 24 grams of protein, and nine grams of fat. Horse milk, which some Central Asians drink in fermented form, has one-third the fat of cow's milk.

To the contemporary eye, that may make it sound as if horse meat is healthier than beef. But that's only because we have ample sources of calories and fat available to us. For most of human history, that hasn't been true. Medieval residents of Northern Europe would have certainly appreciated the higher calorie, higher fat content of beef. Even without the scientific ways of discovering precise fat and caloric intakes, it would have been easy to notice that a serving of beef left you feeling more full than a serving of horse.

What's more, the different digestive systems of horses and cows mean that cows are more efficient eaters. A 2002 study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology found that horses eat 63 percent more than cattle. This isn't just a matter of bulk. Horses also eat more "digestible material" with actual nutritional content than cows, according to the study.

This is rooted in the differences between the digestive systems of the animals. Here's how Jessica Walling, a graduate student at Central Washington University, explains it at the Mustang Management blog:

[Cows and horses] diverged from common ancestors into two families known as Artiodactyla and Perissodactyla ? ruminant and cecal digesters. Fermentation in the cecum and the rumen is similar. However, horses are only 70% as efficient as cows at digestion. This is because cattle regurgitate and chew partially digested food as "cud," repeatedly. Food is ground into smaller particle sizes. Another reason cattle are more efficient is because the food they intake is digested by microbes before it enters the true stomach.

Given a choice between raising cows and horses for food, it makes far more sense to raise cows. To put it differently, people who preferred beef to horse meat would have been healthier, heartier and used available resources more efficiently. They would, in short, have been more prosperous and successful. Over time, the beef eaters would triumph over the horse eaters.

While early Christian leadership may have nudged some in Europe away from eating horse meat, it's very likely the more efficient culinary taste would have won out even without a papal edict.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/why-eating-horse-meat-taboo-its-economics-1C8565314

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