Diabetes study shines spotlight on lifestyle interventions

ScienceDaily (Jan. 10, 2012) ? An Emory University study published in the January issue of Health Affairs assesses real-world lifestyle interventions to help delay or prevent the costly chronic disease that affects nearly 26 million Americans.

Researchers from Emory's Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) systematically reviewed the published literature and analyzed 28 studies that tested adaptations of the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) trial in real-world settings. Published in 2002, this major clinical trial showed that structured lifestyle programs for people with prediabetes could halve the progression to diabetes.

"Participants in the DPP trial received exercise shoes, meal replacement shakes, personal (one-on-one) coaching by degree-holding professionals (exercise physiologists, nutritionists, nurses), and gym memberships that all together cost about $1,400 per person during the first year of the study," says lead investigator Mohammed Ali, MBChB, MSc, assistant professor of global health at Emory's RSPH.

"Over the years, a number of studies have tried to adapt the program and make it more affordable. My colleagues and I scanned the literature to find all such studies in the US, and combined the data to see what kind of average weight loss benefit is possible across all of these studies as moderate (5-7 percent) weight loss was the key driver of success in the DPP trial," says Ali.

The researchers found that a year after enrollment in these lifestyle programs, the average participant had lost about four percent of baseline body weight, an amount that may offer diabetes protection. The weight loss was the same regardless of whether the program relied on higher-salaried health professionals or lower-cost lay staff who are trained to deliver healthy eating and fitness advice. The authors concluded that costs associated with diabetes prevention can be lowered without sacrificing effectiveness and that motivating higher session attendance in structured programs seemed to be the key driver of success in achieving weight loss.

Ali's study is part of a special thematic issue of Health Affairs exploring the efficacy, costs, and value of lifestyle changes and other measures to control diabetes. Commentaries and analyses by his Emory colleagues Kenneth E. Thorpe, PhD, and K.M. Venkat Narayan, MD, also are featured in the diabetes issue.

According to Thorpe, chair and professor of health policy and management at Emory's Rollins School of Public Health, flaws in the current health care system often lead to fragmented and expensive care for chronic conditions, including type 2 diabetes. His article, entitled "Building A National Diabetes Prevention and Treatment Strategy: Opportunities Provided by the Affordable Care Act," maximizes diabetes control opportunities under the ACA by focusing on three strategies: expanding the diabetes prevention program nationally; building care coordination capability by establishing community health teams; and using the Medicare teams to connect public health, prevention and treatment.

Thorpe says taking advantage of the opportunities that the ACA and the Prevention and Public Health Fund provide can significantly lower health care costs, particularly for Medicare. He says programs like the DPP can effectively and sustainably encourage lifestyle modifications that prevent diabetes, achieve better health outcomes and lower costs.

Narayan's commentary and analysis focuses on the need for major policy changes to help prevent and control diabetes. In his article entitled, "Global Prevention And Control Of Type 2 Diabetes Will Require Paradigm Shifts In Policies Within and Among Countries," Narayan says continued increases in the prevalence of and disproportionate health spending associated with type 2 diabetes underscore the need for policies focused on preventing and treating it appropriately.

Narayan, the Ruth and O.C. Hubert Professor of Global Health at RSPH, outlines four policy paradigm shifts that will be necessary to achieve that specific emphasis on type 2 diabetes: conceptually integrating primary and secondary prevention along a clinical continuum; recognizing the central importance of early detection of prediabetes and undiagnosed diabetes in implementing cost-effective prevention and control; integrating community and clinical expertise and resources, within organized and affordable service delivery systems; and sharing and adopting evidence-based policies at the global level.

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Emory University.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. K. E. Thorpe. The Affordable Care Act Lays The Groundwork For A National Diabetes Prevention And Treatment Strategy. Health Affairs, 2012; 31 (1): 61 DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2011.1023

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120110140229.htm

the darkest hour the darkest hour neverland shaun white phoebe prince marlins marlins

MTN Satellite Communications... Moving On Up... : Satnews ...

Satnews Daily January 09, 2012

MTN Satellite Communications... Moving On Up...

[SatNews] MTN Satellite Communications (MTN) has appointed Errol Olivier....

....to the position of President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Mr. Olivier most recently served as the company?s President and Chief Operating Officer (COO).?Mr. Olivier has more than 25 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to joining MTN, he served as President and CEO of?Broadpoint and President and COO of?CapRock Communications. He is also recognized for pioneering the first commercial multi-tenant satellite telecommunication strategy for the oil and gas industry in the Gulf which revolutionized the way Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) services were delivered to the offshore energy market. In addition to Mr. Olivier?s appointment, Joe Wright, who served as MTN?s Chairman of the Board of Directors, is now Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. Mr. Wright is currently a Senior Advisor at Providence Equity Partners and Chart Capital Partners. He was previously Chairman of Intelsat, a provider of satellite and fiber services, and CEO of PanAmSat. Mr. Wright has an extensive government services background and served as Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the White House under President Ronald Reagan. Company information.

Source: http://www.satnews.com/cgi-bin/story.cgi?number=1082643875

kepler 22 b kepler 22 b rosie o donnell st nicholas st nicholas mindy mccready mindy mccready

In elections, jobless trend matters more than rate (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Unemployment is higher than it's been going into any election year since World War II.

But history shows that won't necessarily stop President Barack Obama from reclaiming the White House.

In a presidential election year, the unemployment trend can be more important to an incumbent's chances than the unemployment rate.

Going back to 1956 no incumbent president has lost when unemployment fell over the two years leading up to the election. And none has won when it rose.

The picture is similar in the 12 months before presidential elections: Only one of nine incumbent presidents (Gerald Ford in 1976) lost when unemployment fell over that year, and only one (Dwight Eisenhower in 1956) was re-elected when it rose.

Those precedents bode well for Obama. Unemployment was 9.8 percent in November 2010, two years before voters decide whether Obama gets to stay in the White House. It was down to 8.7 percent in November 2011, a year before the vote. It fell to 8.5 percent in December and is expected to fall further by Election Day.

Even so, the unemployment rate is still at recession levels. And former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who is contending with other Republican candidates to challenge Obama in November, has made the weak economy the centerpiece of his campaign.

In a statement Friday, Romney said Obama's policies "have slowed the recovery and created misery for 24 million Americans who are unemployed, or stuck in part-time jobs when what they really want is full-time work."

An Associated Press-GfK poll of American adults last month found that 60 percent of American adults disapprove of Obama's performance on economic issues.

Obama can take comfort in President Ronald Reagan's experience. In November 1982, the economy was in the last month of a deep recession, and unemployment was 10.8 percent, the highest since the Great Depression. A year later, unemployment was down to 8.5 percent. By November 1984, it was still a relatively high 7.2 percent, but the downward trend was unmistakable. Reagan was re-elected that month in a 59-41 percent landslide.

"A sense that things are on the mend is really important to people," says Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center. Three examples:

? President Richard Nixon got a boost from falling unemployment, which dropped from 5.9 percent in November 1970 to 5.3 percent when voters went to the polls in November 1972.

? President Jimmy Carter was hurt by rising unemployment ? from 5.9 percent in November 1978 to 7.5 percent in November 1980.

? President George H.W. Bush, who seemed invincible after the U.S. drove Saddam Hussein's Iraqi forces out of Kuwait in early 1991, wound up losing in November 1992. The unemployment rate was 7.4 percent that month, up from 6.2 percent two years earlier.

The trend holds up even when the changes in unemployment are slight. President Bill Clinton was re-elected handily even though the unemployment rate was only 0.2 percentage points lower in November 1996 than it had been two years earlier and was the same as it had been a year before.

Under Obama, unemployment peaked at 10 percent in October 2009, nine months into his presidency, before it began coming down in fits and starts. Along the way it stayed above 9 percent for 21 straight months.

But unemployment has now dropped four months in a row. And the economy added 1.6 million jobs in 2011, the most since 2006.

Of course, unemployment isn't everything.

Obama's prospects could be changed by the strengths or weaknesses of whoever emerges as his Republican opponent or by a triumph or setback in foreign policy, perhaps in Afghanistan or the Middle East.

Eisenhower no doubt benefited from having an opponent, the high-brow former Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson, who had trouble connecting with ordinary voters. Ford may have been sunk by his unpopular decision to pardon former President Nixon. President Jimmy Carter's prospects were surely dimmed by the lengthy hostage crisis in Iran ? and a failed attempt to end it with a military rescue.

The third-party candidacy of billionaire Ross Perot ? not just an increase in unemployment ? may have torpedoed President George H.W. Bush's re-election campaign in 1992 by dividing his supporters and giving an edge to challenger Clinton.

And there's no guarantee that unemployment will continue to slide through Election Day. "We've seen this before ... periods when it seemed like things were getting better only to see them grind to a halt," says John Challenger, CEO of the staffing company Challenger, Gray & Christmas. "I'm not yet convinced."

Americans who have given up looking for work don't count as unemployed in the official tally. But if they get more optimistic, they might re-enter the job market and join the ranks of the officially unemployed, pushing the rate back up, says Republican strategist Rich Galen.

Galen says what matters is how the economy looks in late summer when undecided voters start making up their minds. "What people perceive in August is what they take to the polls with them."

Three dozen economists surveyed by The Associated Press in December see an 18 percent chance that Europe's debt crisis will cause the U.S. economy to slip back into recession. If 2012 brings a recession, Obama would surely lose, writes Yale University's Ray Fair, who feeds economic forecasts into a computer model to predict elections.

Pew's Kohut also warns that voters are wary after seeing the economy fail to achieve liftoff two and a half years after the Great Recession officially ended in June 2009. "The public is going to be in a show-me mood," he says.

Still, the online betting market Intrade on Friday put the chances of an Obama victory in November at 52.5 percent.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120107/ap_on_bi_ge/us_jobs_election

adventureland sean hannity kroy biermann nene leakes danny woodhead aaron hernandez aaron hernandez

Romney defends business record in face of attacks (AP)

ROCHESTER, N.H. ? Presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Sunday defended his time in private business and insisted he understands the country's tough economic times because he once feared losing his job.

"I know what it's like to worry about whether you're going to get fired," the former Massachusetts governor told a crowd gathered at the historic Rochester Opera House. "There were a couple of times when I was worried I was going to get pink-slipped."

Romney, who grew up in Michigan while his father served as the state's governor, became a multimillionaire when he was CEO of Bain Capital, a venture capital firm.

Romney's GOP rivals, particularly former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, attacked Romney this weekend for making those millions while laying off workers.

Gingrich referred to Romney's job at Bain as "a Wall Street model where you can flip companies, you can go in and have leveraged buyouts, you can basically take out all the money, leaving behind the workers."

Democrats have also repeatedly attacked Romney's tenure at Bain.

At the rally Sunday, Romney told the crowd that Bain created more jobs in the long run.

He said he once stocked shelves at Staples, the successful office supply company.

"I'm not perfect, but I do get it, and I will use what I know to get America working," Romney said.

Romney's campaign could not provide a concrete example of a time when Romney feared he would be laid off or be fired.

"As a young person just out of college, he worked his way up the career ladder knowing that his continued employment was by no means guaranteed," spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in a statement. "That's the way it is in the private sector."

Saul did not respond to inquiries about what job Romney held when he was just out of college.

Romney was also holding a rally with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in Exeter, N.H., on Sunday night.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120109/ap_on_el_pr/us_romney

derek fisher ny knicks sound of music ihop green bean casserole the temptations prime rib recipe

Suicide bomb kills 25 in Damascus: Syrian TV (Reuters)

BEIRUT (Reuters) ? A suicide bomber killed about 25 people and wounded 46 in Damascus on Friday, Syria's state news agency SANA said, in the third such attack in the Syrian capital in a month.

The blast occurred two days before an Arab League committee was due to discuss an initial report of Arab observers who are checking Syria's compliance with an Arab plan to halt President Bashar al-Assad's crackdown on unrest.

The meeting may decide whether to continue the mission or to refer Syria to the United Nations Security Council, perhaps paving the way for some form of international action, a scenario that many Arab countries are keen to avoid.

Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby said he was sending a message with Damascus-based Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal asking the Syrian government to work to halt the violence.

Syrian state television earlier showed body parts, bloodstains and broken glass from the blast in the central Maidan district, along with people shouting that this was the work of "terrorists." Several riot police shields could be seen in a wrecked bus, which was among several damaged vehicles.

"Immediate information indicates that a suicide terrorist blew himself up at a traffic light in the Maidan neighborhood," state television said. "There are dozens of dead and wounded, mostly civilians."

State television did not immediately confirm the death toll given by SANA and the semi-official Addounia television. Syria bars most independent journalists from the country, making first-hand reporting impossible.

On December 23 at least 44 people were killed by what Syrian authorities said were two suicide bombings that targeted security buildings in the Syrian capital.

Those attacks occurred the day before the arrival in Damascus of the head of the Arab League observer mission.

The League's special committee on Syria is due to meet in Cairo on Sunday to debate the initial findings of the mission, which has been criticized by Syrian activists who question its ability to assess the violence on the ground.

Elaraby, the League's secretary-general, said after meeting Meshaal in Cairo that he had given the leader of the militant Palestinian Islamist group a message for the Syrian authorities "that it is necessary to work with integrity, transparency and credibility to halt the violence that is happening in Syria."

Syria has been racked by a popular uprising against Assad in which the United Nations says more than 5,000 people have been killed. The government says armed "terrorists" have killed 2,000 members of the security forces during the revolt.

FATE OF ARAB MISSION

Arab government sources said on Thursday the League monitors would pursue their mission in Syria, despite criticism from Qatar's prime minister that they had made "mistakes."

Syria, keen to show it is respecting the Arab peace plan, said it had released another 552 people detained during the anti-Assad revolt "whose hands were not stained with blood."

The state news agency SANA said some 4,000 detainees had been freed since November. The Avaaz campaign group says 37,000 people picked up during the revolt are still behind bars.

The monitors began work on the streets on December 26 to try to verify whether the government was keeping its promise to pull troops and tanks out of cities and free thousands of detainees.

Syria, which the Arab League has suspended for failing to honor the plan previously, is a major player in the region and is allied to Iran and the Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah group.

The Free Syrian Army (FSA), an armed opposition force composed mainly of army deserters, condemned the Maidan attack and cast the blame on the Syrian authorities themselves.

"These operations inside Syria are an attempt to terrorize the people and blame groups from the revolution but we stress that this is planned and systematic state terrorism by the security forces of President Bashar al-Assad," FSA spokesman Major Maher al-Naimi said.

An opposition activist, who asked not to be named, suggested that Islamist militants might be involved.

"It seems clear that there is a growing extremist Islamist presence in Syria these days and I think there are hundreds of these extremists willing to fight the regime and blow themselves up in the name of jihad," he said.

"We will be seeing more and more of these explosions in Syria in the coming days, I am sorry to say," he added.

One Damascus resident, who gave her name only as Dima, said the city had been tense even before the blast.

"Some friends who work in the security forces were warning my family since yesterday to stay at home. The streets were empty and only a few people went to pray. There are checkpoints all over Damascus right now, especially at the exits."

Syrian activists say the Arab monitors have had inadequate access to trouble spots and were escorted by Syrian officials, who manipulated them and hid prisoners in military facilities.

Damascus says it has given the monitors all the facilities they needed.

Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, who chairs the Arab League committee on Syria, said after meeting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York on Thursday that it was the League's first monitoring mission.

"I said we must evaluate the types of mistakes it made and without a shadow of a doubt I see mistakes, even though we went in to observe, not to stop the violence," he said.

Ban's spokesman said the United Nations could help train Arab League observers.

The violence in Syria has raged unabated since the Arab monitors arrived, with scores of people reported killed.

Security forces killed four protesters in Hama on Friday when they shot at people shouting anti-Assad slogans as they emerged from the Amer bin Yasser mosque, activists said. Snipers were posted on rooftops in the Qusoor district, they added.

In Hajar al-Aswad, a suburb of Damascus mostly inhabited by refugees from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, protesters shouted: "The people want the execution of the president."

(Writing by Alistair Lyon, additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120106/wl_nm/us_syria

adam shulman adam shulman nfl power rankings week 13 nfl power rankings week 13 patrice patrice tether

Host Senators have 4 elected NHL All-Stars (AP)

NEW YORK ? The Ottawa Senators are assured of having at least four familiar faces on the ice when they host the NHL All-Star game this month.

Defenseman Erik Karlsson led all vote-getters in fan balloting, and captain Daniel Alfredsson and fellow forwards Milan Michalek and Jason Spezza also were elected for the game on Jan. 29.

The NHL said Thursday they will be joined by Toronto defenseman Dion Phaneuf and Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas in this year's game.

The four Senators hold the top four spots on the club's scoring list, with Spezza leading the way with 40 points ? three more than Karlsson. However, Karlsson topped everyone in the league with 939,951 votes, 42,536 more than Alfredsson. Michalek got his spot with a late rush, beating out Toronto's Phil Kessel by 42,144 votes. Kessel had been in line to be voted in all during the election period.

About 24 million votes were cast by fans from Nov. 14 until Jan. 4 in the all-digital balloting, a 66-percent increase over last season. It is the third-highest total since voting went to an exclusive digital format in 2007.

Missing from the initial list of stars are Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos, who leads the NHL with 27 goals, along with Rangers forward Marian Gaborik, Kessel, Jonathan Toews of Chicago, and Pittsburgh's James Neal ? the next four top goal scorers ahead of Michalek.

None of the NHL's top 10 point scorers this season were voted into the game by fans. Spezza is tied for 11th in scoring with 40 points.

The remaining 36 All-Stars will be chosen later this month, and the two team rosters will be determined for a second straight year by the fantasy draft during All-Star weekend. Each team will have 12 forwards, six defensemen and three goalies.

Phaneuf will join the 21-year-old Karlsson on defense after garnering 614,933 votes. The Senators nearly got a fifth player elected, but Phaneuf with 614,933 votes edged Ottawa defenseman Sergei Gonchar by 11,305 for the final spot on the blue line.

Thomas, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner from the defending Stanley Cup champions, easily won the goalie race with 626,540 votes ? 128,000 more than Toronto's James Reimer.

Thomas set the NHL record for save percentage last season with a mark of .938, and is having another impressive season for the Bruins, who started Thursday one point behind the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers. Thomas is 17-6 with a 1.90 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage ? even better than his record-setting mark of last season. He is 14-2 in his past 16 decisions.

Michalek, who recently returned following a five-game absence because of a concussion, has scored 19 goals in 35 games. He has already exceeded his total of 18 from last season and is three away from matching his career-best of 22, set in the 2009-10 season.

Alfredsson is third on the Senators' scoring list with 28 points, two more than Michalek, in his 16th NHL season ? all with Ottawa. He led forwards with 897,055 votes, followed by Spezza with 817,483, and Michalek with 743,977.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120105/ap_on_sp_ho_ne/hkn_all_star_starters

timberwolves steven tyler office space rawhide bigfoot tony romo twilight zone

GovDelivery buy expands communications offerings

GovDelivery buy expands communications offerings

GovDelivery has acquired GovInteractive for an undisclosed amount in a move that adds to the company?s Web-based emergency communications capabilities.

GovI will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of GovDelivery. GovI founder and president John Carrino will continue lead the business.

?GovI brings a talented team, patented citizen alert system technology and a proven track record of delivering value to public sector organizations,? said Scott Burns, CEO and co-founder of GovDelivery in a statement.

Joining GovDelivery will let GovI provide more services and resources to its customers, Carrino said.

The acquisition of GovI provides GovDelivery access to key voice, multi-channel alerting functionality that will be part of GovDelivery?s digital communication management solution, company officials said.

GovDelivery customers include the Federal Emergency Management Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The company?s focus is to provide government agencies with better ways to communicate.

In 2009, Gov Deliver acquired GovLoop, a social networking and collaboration site for government employees.

About the Author

Nick Wakeman is the editor-in-chief of Washington Technology.

Source: http://washingtontechnology.com/articles/2012/01/05/govdelivery-acquisition-govi.aspx

rosie o donnell st nicholas st nicholas mindy mccready mindy mccready cliff harris cliff harris