LOS ANGELES (AP) ? UCLA hired Steve Alford as basketball coach on Saturday, luring him from New Mexico days after he signed a new 10-year deal with the Lobos.
Athletic director Dan Guerrero said Alford is "the perfect fit for UCLA" because he connects with a new generation of players and brings an up-tempo and team-oriented style of play to Westwood.
The 48-year-old coach succeeds Ben Howland, who was fired last weekend after 10 years and a 233-107 record that included three consecutive Final Four appearances and four Pac-12 titles. The Bruins were 25-10 this season, which ended with a 20-point loss to Minnesota in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Alford led New Mexico to a 29-6 record this season that included the Mountain West regular-season and tournament titles. But the Lobos were upset by Harvard in the second round of the NCAAs shortly after Alford's new deal with the school had been announced.
Alford will be introduced at UCLA on Tuesday.
"I have been so fortunate and blessed in my life, and an opportunity to lead one of the greatest programs in college basketball history is once-in-a-lifetime," he said in a statement.
Alford had a 155-52 record in six years at New Mexico, with the Lobos making three trips to the NCAA tournament. He was selected Mountain West coach of the year three times.
His other head coaching stints were at Iowa (2000-07), Missouri State (1996-99) and Manchester College (1992-95) in his native Indiana.
Alford is a legend in the Hoosier state, where he starred at Indiana University from 1984-87 under coach Bob Knight. The Hoosiers won the national championship in his senior year. He also played on the gold medal-winning 1984 U.S. Olympic basketball team in Los Angeles as a college sophomore. Knight coached that team.
Alford was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in 1987 and played four years in the NBA before starting his head coaching career at tiny Manchester.
As the luxury housing market continues to rebound, it is evident that brokers specializing within this niche are presented an excellent opportunity.
Summer Greene, Regional Manager at?Better Homes and Gardens??Real Estate Florida 1st?and the 2012 Florida REALTORS? President says ?now is a great time to dive into the luxury market as the sizzle is back.? Greene went on to say that the state of Florida?s luxury housing market is hot; a trend she expects to continue.
While it?s true that the market downturn impacted Florida and housing markets across the United States, the improving luxury niche may now provide real estate professionals the right incentives to dive in.
So how can you position yourself as an area luxury expert and tap into the needs, wants and desires of this sophisticated niche?
Let?s begin by understanding whom todays luxury homebuyer really is.
The luxury buyer is a limited bunch. Recent statistics show that only nine percent of first-time and repeat buyers bought homes priced $500,000 and above. That makes the luxury niche a much smaller pond for real estate professionals to fish in.
With the pervasiveness of internet search, they are far more sophisticated, savvy and informed about industry trends and market conditions than ever before. From websites to mobile apps, they have done their research and are coming to the market organized, equipped and educated.
Buyers in the $1 million plus range have very definite and unique purchase requirements. In order to capitalize on this burgeoning market niche, you must be able to not only understand their needs, but also directly speak to those needs. For example, a buyer purchasing an ocean front property would be concerned about privacy, security and upkeep of the grounds. You should be prepared to answer their questions and assuage any concerns.
Quite often they are looking for lifestyle items and amenities that meet their precise needs. For example, in Florida, a three or more car garage, dockage for boats and additional living quarters for family are all popular requests. When advising a luxury home buyer, you have to possess an astute appreciation for their distinctive must-haves.
There is also a new type of luxury buyer, the young buyer who has different needs than listed above. This buyer will search based on the type of rooms they need and how they will use them. For example, a formal dining room may become an office or a media room. Keep in mind that due to this, a home that was decorated for the boomer lifestyle may need a staging?face-lift.
As an agent or broker working with today?s luxury homebuyer, you must be educated, but also connected. As a brand, we see more homes sell within this niche due to the sphere and networking know-how of the agent. It does come back to that old saying that it?s all about whom you know and who they know.
It is also about what you know. The discriminating luxury homebuyer including international buyers have expressed the need for elite service from a seasoned professional who can specifically address their interests. Whether it?s an extended garage for their recreational vehicles or the dream kitchen with a sub-zero freezer they have always wanted, your intimate knowledge, selectivity and scrutinizing eye within this niche are requirements they desire when searching for a home.
If you are interested in capitalizing on this burgeoning market, make sure to take advantage of the luxury marketing materials your brand offers.? Leveraging resources designed specifically for this high-end tier affords brokers and agents a unique branding edge within the industry and market.
Distinctive Collection by Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate ? is a luxury residential real estate marketing program designed to offer brokers and agents innovative marketing materials, specialized training and branding opportunities to capture listings in the competitive luxury market.? If you have these materials available to you, there is no need to reinvent the marketing wheel when you could be focused on lead generation and sales strategies.
Is the luxury market on your ?to-do? list? There is no time like the present to make the most of this lucrative and highly rewarding real estate niche!
The UFC gave a backstage look at Georges St-Pierre's win over Nick Diaz at UFC 158, complete with an adorable shot at the end of GSP high-fiving a young fan who was dressed like the champ from head to toe.
According the GSP's trainer, Firas Zahabi, it's a fight the UFC welterweight champion went through with despite an injury. Zahabi said GSP injured his Achilles tendon during training for the fight, and it may have worsened during the bout.
"I was worried it would tear during the fight," Zahabi told MMAFighting.com. "We had to cut his last sparring [session] short due to his injury. He had a week to rest it and then the fight."
Does finding out that GSP was injured changed your opinion of his performance? Speak up in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter.
From all the reasons (in GIFs!) why Ryan Gosling can't quit acting to big career moves that the stars of Saved by the Bell have made over the years, these are stories that we were loving this week!
Cellphone video captures the shootout involving a man who could be linked to the slaying of Colorado's state prison chief. NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports.
By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News
Investigators are looking into whether a paroled white supremacist may have killed a pizza delivery man and gunned down the top prisons official in Colorado before he led Texas authorities on a wild chase and shootout.
One theory in the case is that the parolee killed the delivery man for his uniform, and used the disguise to get the prisons official to open the door.
Investigators also believe the spree may be connected to a gang of white supremacists who are still in prison.
At the center of the investigation is Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, who died Thursday after the chase and shootout in Texas. Authorities from Colorado were in Texas on Friday, examining the car for evidence to tie him to the Colorado killings.
?We don?t know yet exactly whether this is the guy,? Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper told reporters. ?There?s some indication. I hope it is.?
Authorities from both states offered few details Friday about what evidence they have turned up and stressed that the investigation was still open.
?We are on heightened alert,? said Steve Johnson, assistant director of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation. ?We don?t have any reason to dismiss that at this point.?
Sheriff David Walker of Wise County, Texas, said investigators had ?no idea? why Ebel was in Texas. Medical examiners ruled Friday that he died of a single gunshot wound to the middle of the forehead.
The prisons official, Tom Clements, was shot to death at his front door Tuesday night in the Denver suburbs. A dark car was seen idling outside, and authorities launched a manhunt.
Two days later and hundreds of miles away, late Thursday morning in Texas, authorities came across a dark sedan in a traffic stop. The man inside shot a sheriff?s deputy three times before speeding away.
Colorado Dept. of Corrections via Reuters
As more police followed, the man opened fire again.
?When he came by me, he was running I?d say around 100 miles an hour, just had his left arm out the window, and he was just shooting,? said Rex Hoskins, chief of the Decatur, Texas, police. ?He wasn?t planning on being taken alive.?
Authorities say the suspect collided with an 18-wheeler, got out of his car and kept firing until officers shot him. Medical examiners in Tarrant County, Texas, said that Ebel died Thursday afternoon. An autopsy was under way Friday.
Inside the suspect?s mangled car, authorities found a pizza delivery uniform that police believe may be linked to the murder of Nathan Leon, a Domino?s delivery man, on Sunday in Golden, Colo.
The car in the crash had a Colorado license plate and matches at least the vague description of the car that was seen outside Clements? home.
The deputy who made the traffic stop, James Boyd of the Montague County, Texas, sheriff?s department, was wearing a bulletproof vest and was taken to a hospital in Fort Worth. He was recovering Friday.
Sources told KUSA, the NBC affiliate in Denver, that Ebel had been recruited into a white supremacist gang called the 211 Crew.
Mark Potok, a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, said the gang was extremely vicious. He said it requires its members who leave prison to make money through criminal enterprises and return it to gang leaders.
He said the gang has a ?blood in, blood out? ideology, meaning that its members must carry out a violent attack to get in and can?t get out until they themselves die.
The gang was implicated in the 1997 killing of an African immigrant at a Denver bus stop. One of its members, Nathan Thill, pleaded guilty to murder and said at his sentencing that the immigrant was wearing an ?enemy uniform,? which Potok said was understood to mean black skin.
The gang is believed to have several hundred to 1,000 members, most of them in Colorado prisons. It gets its name from a section of the California penal code that deals with robbery. Potok said it was not clear why the gang was named for that section.
?The bulk of it is still inside the prisons, but increasingly they?re spilling out onto the streets,? he said. ?A lot of drug-running, weapons trafficking, other crimes. They?re well-known for the harshness of the discipline on members ? disobey a rule and you?re risking your life or a serious beating.?
EARLIER:
Man in Texas car chase, shootout may have ties to Colorado prison chief death
Manhunt on for killer of Colorado prisons chief
This story was originally published on Fri Mar 22, 2013 9:07 AM EDT
Bright pink sockeye salmon swarm above a brown Dolly Varden trout, which is lurking in wait for an egg meal.
By Stephanie Pappas LiveScience
Forget Thanksgiving: In the world of gorging, the Dolly Varden trout has humans and their holidays beat. A new study finds this trout feasts once a year, expanding its gut up to four times the usual size to make the space.
The findings are important for the conservation of this large, spotted fish, which eats the eggs of spawning sockeye salmon. Wild salmon are in trouble across North America, which could cause a domino effect among other fish populations that depend on the spawning season for most of their yearly food.
"If, for some reason, the salmon didn't come back, undoubtedly lots and lots of these fish wouldn't survive," said study researcher Morgan Bond, a doctoral student at the University of Washington. [Bounds of Biodiversity: Wildlife at Risk]
Mystery trout Dolly Varden trout grow to about 2 feet (60 centimeters) long. During salmon spawning season in the late summer or early fall, the trout lurk as female salmon root in riverbeds to create nests for their eggs. All this digging turns up unhatched eggs from previous lays, which Dolly Varden view as a sumptuous feast. In the monthlong spawning season, the trout can put away a third to a half-pound (150 to 230 grams) of eggs each day.
M. Bond / University of Washington
A Dolly Varden caught during salmon spawning season (top) weighs twice that of a Dolly Varden of the same length caught during the lean months.
Eating a quarter of their body weight daily for a month is no easy task. Bond and his colleagues stumbled upon how these fish do it while researching the trout in Alaska's Alec River, in the Chignik Lake watershed.
They found large Dolly Varden hanging out in the upper portion of the watershed when, by all expectations, they should have been at sea. Like salmon, Dolly Varden migrate between fresh and saltwater, though unlike salmon, they do so on an annual basis, making the trip and spawning multiple times.
Fasting fish At first, the researchers thought the fish must have found a secondary food source in the freshwater, since it's a lack of food that drives them seaward. Instead, they found that the fish just weren't eating for the 10 to 11 months when the salmon aren't spawning.
"They basically are fasting themselves right down to the brink of death," Bond told LiveScience. "They're really skinny, there's almost no fat left in their body, and then days later, the salmon show up."
What's even stranger is that the fish actually change the size of their digestive tracts to accomplish this fasting feat. During spawning season, the fish's digestive tracts?could nearly quadruple in size. And the fish aren't just stretching out their stomaches ? they're actually adding new gut tissue. This is an evolutionary advantage, because even at normal size, the digestive tract uses almost a third of the fish's resting energy. Temporarily growing and then shrinking the gut allows fish to shed that energy-sucking tissue in seasons when they hardly eat at all.
"The fact that these fish can change the size of their organs to change how much energy they need just to live is a really novel thing," Bond said. "Nobody's ever showed that in wild fish before."
Conserving the food web Along with Bond's other work, the results reveal that Dolly Varden live in lakes until about age 3, at which point they spend a few years shuttling back and forth between the ocean and freshwater, following food. Around age 5 or so, the fish stop their summer trips to the sea and start staying put in lakes and rivers, fasting until the sockeye salmon bring them a smorgasbord of eggs.
The strategy works well in the Chignik Lake watershed, Bond said, where fishing is strictly regulated and there are more than enough salmon eggs to go around ? so many that it became hard for the researchers to lure the trout with bait during spawning season.
In the lower 48 states, though, salmon populations?are severely depleted, Bond said. Conservation efforts take salmon from rivers pre-spawning and move them to hatcheries to lay their eggs. It's a strategy that ensures more salmon eggs survive, but could have ramifications for the creatures that depend on the spawning season for food.
"It's sort of an interesting dynamic where we'd like to see the fishery regulated not only to provide enough fish for returning the salmon population, but also to provide enough of these (egg) subsidies for the Dolly Varden and birds and bears and other organisms that rely on that subsidy," Bond said.
The researchers report their results Wednesday?in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter?and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook? andGoogle+. Original article on LiveScience.com
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Digg.com and other links from its website have disappeared from Google's search result pages, following a recent update to Google's algorithms. It's unclear at this time exactly what caused the site to be de-listed, though the current speculation is that it has to do with Digg pointing to bad or spammy links. [UPDATE: See below, Google says it will fix the problem].
Google's been awfully busy these past few weeks, but it seems that between sunsetting Reader (and pissing off most of the internet in the process) and rolling out new services like Google Keep, the company has been working on a redesigned version of the Google Play Store for Android. That's what the folks at Droid-Life claim, anyway -- they appear to have obtained and installed the unreleased 4.0 version of the Google Play Android app ahead of a wider release.
Docking technique to repair torn elbow ligament yields favorable results in teen baseball playersPublic release date: 21-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Phyllis Fisher phyllis.fisher@gmail.com 212-606-1724 Hospital for Special Surgery
Hospital for Special Surgery study also sheds light on best candidates for the surgery
A study at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) found that a surgical procedure known as the "docking technique" to repair a torn elbow ligament in teenage athletes yielded favorable results. The outcomes were better than those in previously published reports on reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), also known as Tommy John surgery, in this age group and may be attributed to technique-specific factors, according to the study authors.
The paper, titled, "The Docking Technique for Elbow Ulnar Collateral Ligament Insufficiency: Two-Year Follow Up in Adolescent Athletes," will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons on March 21 in Chicago.
"Over the last decade, the incidence of ulnar collateral ligament tears has dramatically increased in the adolescent population due to widespread participation in overhead sports such as baseball," said David W. Altchek, M.D., senior author of the study and co-chief of the Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service at HSS. Dr. Altchek is also medical director for the New York Mets baseball team and medical consultant for the National Basketball Association.
Dr. Altchek noted that previous reports suggest that clinical outcomes following UCL reconstruction in teenage athletes are inferior to results in higher-level adult athletes. He and his colleagues set out to determine if UCL surgery using the docking technique would result in improved outcomes in adolescent athletes.
The ulnar collateral ligament links and stabilizes bones of the upper and lower arm where they meet at the elbow. UCL injury is most common in professional and amateur athletes involved in overhead throwing sports such as baseball, softball, football, lacrosse and tennis. A UCL tear can occur suddenly or it can develop over time due to repetitive stress on the elbow.
When the ligament is torn, an individual still retains full range of motion and can go about daily activities. But a professional or aspiring pro athlete cannot perform at his usual level, and this is when surgery is considered. "The reason for surgery in the majority of cases is to get a serious athlete back to playing baseball or an overhead sport," explained Joshua Dines, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon in the Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service at HSS and one of the study authors. "An intact ulnar collateral ligament isn't needed for 98 percent of what people do in the game of life."
Patient selection and patient counseling are very important, according to Dr. Dines. "We carefully evaluate each patient to determine his or her goals and to see which treatment option would be best, and patient expectations are critical," he said. "We generally start with a conservative strategy of rest, anti-inflammatory medication and physical therapy. If those treatments fail and a young athlete wants to get back to his or her previous level of competition, surgery is considered." Patients must also be prepared for nine to 12 months of recovery and rehabilitation after the procedure. Dr. Dines is also a team physician for the U.S. Davis Cup Tennis Team and assistant team physician for the New York Mets.
The original UCL reconstruction surgery, first performed in 1974 by Dr. Frank Jobe on Tommy John, who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, involves taking a tendon from the patient's forearm or hamstring and then grafting it into the elbow to act as a replacement for the injured UCL. Surgeons weave the harvested tendon in a figure eight pattern through bone tunnels drilled in the ulna (lower arm bone) and humerus (upper arm bone) and suture the tendon into place. To do so, muscles are detached and the ulnar nerve needs to be moved.
Considered less traumatic than traditional UCL reconstruction or Tommy John surgery, the docking technique entails gently splitting the muscles rather than detaching them, requires that fewer holes be drilled in the humerus, and allows the ulnar nerve to remain in place. The muscle splitting technique allows surgeons to gain access to the bone by gently prying apart muscle fibers, similar to the way you can poke a finger through a knitted sweater. By minimizing the number of holes drilled into the bone, there is decreased risk of a postoperative fracture.
In the Hospital for Special Surgery study, 46 adolescent athletes (mean age 17 years, range 12-18 years) underwent UCL reconstruction using the docking technique. The majority of patients were baseball players, along with three gymnasts and three javelin throwers. Patients were evaluated at a minimum of two years postoperatively based on their ability to return to athletic activity.
At the most recent follow up, 89 percent (41 out of 46) of patients had excellent results (were able to return to the same or a higher level of competition). The study also had one good, two fair and two poor results. The fair result was noted in a revision case, and the two poor results occurred in patients who had concomitant capitellar osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) lesions. There were four postoperative complications in four patients (two gymnasts and two javelin throwers) who developed ulnar neuritis following reconstruction.
The study concludes that the docking technique results in favorable clinical outcomes in adolescent athletes with a UCL tear at two-year follow-up. Overall, results were better than those in previously published reports and may be attributed to technique. The paper also notes that athletes with coexisting elbow conditions or injuries should be counseled that they may experience inferior clinical outcomes from UCL surgery. Additionally, gymnasts and javelin throwers may be at increased risk for postoperative complications due to their sport's increased stress on the elbow.
###
Other Hospital for Special Surgery contributing authors were Kristofer Jones, M.D.; Brian Rebolledo, M.D.; Kenneth D. Weeks, M.D.; and David M. Dines, M.D.
Paper: The Docking Technique for Elbow Ulnar Collateral Ligament Insufficiency: Two-Year Follow Up in Adolescent Athletes (Paper 506)
Thursday, March 21, 5:18 p.m. 5:24 p.m. CDT, McCormick Place, Room N427
About Hospital for Special Surgery
Founded in 1863, Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) is a world leader in orthopedics, rheumatology and rehabilitation. HSS is nationally ranked No. 1 in orthopedics, No. 3 in rheumatology, No. 10 in neurology and No. 5 in geriatrics by U.S. News & World Report (2012-13), and is the first hospital in New York State to receive Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Service from the American Nurses Credentialing Center three consecutive times. HSS has one of the lowest infection rates in the country. From 2007 to 2011, HSS has been a recipient of the HealthGrades Joint Replacement Excellence Award. HSS is a member of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System and an affiliate of Weill Cornell Medical College and as such all Hospital for Special Surgery medical staff are faculty of Weill Cornell. The hospital's research division is internationally recognized as a leader in the investigation of musculoskeletal and autoimmune diseases. Hospital for Special Surgery is located in New York City and online at http://www.hss.edu.
For more information contact:
Phyllis Fisher
212-606-1197
FisherP@hss.edu
phyllis.fisher@gmail.com
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Docking technique to repair torn elbow ligament yields favorable results in teen baseball playersPublic release date: 21-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Phyllis Fisher phyllis.fisher@gmail.com 212-606-1724 Hospital for Special Surgery
Hospital for Special Surgery study also sheds light on best candidates for the surgery
A study at Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) found that a surgical procedure known as the "docking technique" to repair a torn elbow ligament in teenage athletes yielded favorable results. The outcomes were better than those in previously published reports on reconstruction of the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), also known as Tommy John surgery, in this age group and may be attributed to technique-specific factors, according to the study authors.
The paper, titled, "The Docking Technique for Elbow Ulnar Collateral Ligament Insufficiency: Two-Year Follow Up in Adolescent Athletes," will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons on March 21 in Chicago.
"Over the last decade, the incidence of ulnar collateral ligament tears has dramatically increased in the adolescent population due to widespread participation in overhead sports such as baseball," said David W. Altchek, M.D., senior author of the study and co-chief of the Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service at HSS. Dr. Altchek is also medical director for the New York Mets baseball team and medical consultant for the National Basketball Association.
Dr. Altchek noted that previous reports suggest that clinical outcomes following UCL reconstruction in teenage athletes are inferior to results in higher-level adult athletes. He and his colleagues set out to determine if UCL surgery using the docking technique would result in improved outcomes in adolescent athletes.
The ulnar collateral ligament links and stabilizes bones of the upper and lower arm where they meet at the elbow. UCL injury is most common in professional and amateur athletes involved in overhead throwing sports such as baseball, softball, football, lacrosse and tennis. A UCL tear can occur suddenly or it can develop over time due to repetitive stress on the elbow.
When the ligament is torn, an individual still retains full range of motion and can go about daily activities. But a professional or aspiring pro athlete cannot perform at his usual level, and this is when surgery is considered. "The reason for surgery in the majority of cases is to get a serious athlete back to playing baseball or an overhead sport," explained Joshua Dines, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon in the Sports Medicine and Shoulder Service at HSS and one of the study authors. "An intact ulnar collateral ligament isn't needed for 98 percent of what people do in the game of life."
Patient selection and patient counseling are very important, according to Dr. Dines. "We carefully evaluate each patient to determine his or her goals and to see which treatment option would be best, and patient expectations are critical," he said. "We generally start with a conservative strategy of rest, anti-inflammatory medication and physical therapy. If those treatments fail and a young athlete wants to get back to his or her previous level of competition, surgery is considered." Patients must also be prepared for nine to 12 months of recovery and rehabilitation after the procedure. Dr. Dines is also a team physician for the U.S. Davis Cup Tennis Team and assistant team physician for the New York Mets.
The original UCL reconstruction surgery, first performed in 1974 by Dr. Frank Jobe on Tommy John, who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, involves taking a tendon from the patient's forearm or hamstring and then grafting it into the elbow to act as a replacement for the injured UCL. Surgeons weave the harvested tendon in a figure eight pattern through bone tunnels drilled in the ulna (lower arm bone) and humerus (upper arm bone) and suture the tendon into place. To do so, muscles are detached and the ulnar nerve needs to be moved.
Considered less traumatic than traditional UCL reconstruction or Tommy John surgery, the docking technique entails gently splitting the muscles rather than detaching them, requires that fewer holes be drilled in the humerus, and allows the ulnar nerve to remain in place. The muscle splitting technique allows surgeons to gain access to the bone by gently prying apart muscle fibers, similar to the way you can poke a finger through a knitted sweater. By minimizing the number of holes drilled into the bone, there is decreased risk of a postoperative fracture.
In the Hospital for Special Surgery study, 46 adolescent athletes (mean age 17 years, range 12-18 years) underwent UCL reconstruction using the docking technique. The majority of patients were baseball players, along with three gymnasts and three javelin throwers. Patients were evaluated at a minimum of two years postoperatively based on their ability to return to athletic activity.
At the most recent follow up, 89 percent (41 out of 46) of patients had excellent results (were able to return to the same or a higher level of competition). The study also had one good, two fair and two poor results. The fair result was noted in a revision case, and the two poor results occurred in patients who had concomitant capitellar osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) lesions. There were four postoperative complications in four patients (two gymnasts and two javelin throwers) who developed ulnar neuritis following reconstruction.
The study concludes that the docking technique results in favorable clinical outcomes in adolescent athletes with a UCL tear at two-year follow-up. Overall, results were better than those in previously published reports and may be attributed to technique. The paper also notes that athletes with coexisting elbow conditions or injuries should be counseled that they may experience inferior clinical outcomes from UCL surgery. Additionally, gymnasts and javelin throwers may be at increased risk for postoperative complications due to their sport's increased stress on the elbow.
###
Other Hospital for Special Surgery contributing authors were Kristofer Jones, M.D.; Brian Rebolledo, M.D.; Kenneth D. Weeks, M.D.; and David M. Dines, M.D.
Paper: The Docking Technique for Elbow Ulnar Collateral Ligament Insufficiency: Two-Year Follow Up in Adolescent Athletes (Paper 506)
Thursday, March 21, 5:18 p.m. 5:24 p.m. CDT, McCormick Place, Room N427
About Hospital for Special Surgery
Founded in 1863, Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) is a world leader in orthopedics, rheumatology and rehabilitation. HSS is nationally ranked No. 1 in orthopedics, No. 3 in rheumatology, No. 10 in neurology and No. 5 in geriatrics by U.S. News & World Report (2012-13), and is the first hospital in New York State to receive Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Service from the American Nurses Credentialing Center three consecutive times. HSS has one of the lowest infection rates in the country. From 2007 to 2011, HSS has been a recipient of the HealthGrades Joint Replacement Excellence Award. HSS is a member of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System and an affiliate of Weill Cornell Medical College and as such all Hospital for Special Surgery medical staff are faculty of Weill Cornell. The hospital's research division is internationally recognized as a leader in the investigation of musculoskeletal and autoimmune diseases. Hospital for Special Surgery is located in New York City and online at http://www.hss.edu.
For more information contact:
Phyllis Fisher
212-606-1197
FisherP@hss.edu
phyllis.fisher@gmail.com
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
FILE - In this June 10, 2009 file photo, Argentine Catholic priest Julio Grassi talks to reporters as he leaves a courthouse after being found guilty of sexual abuse in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A U.S. group that tracks clergy abuse is calling on Pope Francis to apologize for the Argentine church's protection of two priests convicted of abusing children. The Bishop Accountability group cites the case of Father Julio Cesar Grassi, who ran the "Happy Children" foundation and was convicted of pedophilia in 2008. Now Grassi is free on appeal, thanks in part to the church?s report. (AP Photo/Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi, File)
FILE - In this June 10, 2009 file photo, Argentine Catholic priest Julio Grassi talks to reporters as he leaves a courthouse after being found guilty of sexual abuse in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A U.S. group that tracks clergy abuse is calling on Pope Francis to apologize for the Argentine church's protection of two priests convicted of abusing children. The Bishop Accountability group cites the case of Father Julio Cesar Grassi, who ran the "Happy Children" foundation and was convicted of pedophilia in 2008. Now Grassi is free on appeal, thanks in part to the church?s report. (AP Photo/Rolando Andrade Stracuzzi, File)
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) ? A U.S. group that tracks clergy abuse called on Pope Francis to apologize Tuesday for what it called the Argentine church's protection of two priests who were eventually convicted of abusing children.
The Bishop Accountability group cites the case of Father Julio Cesar Grassi, who ran the "Happy Children" foundation and was convicted of pedophilia in 2008, and Father Napoleon Sasso, convicted in 2007 of abusing girls at a soup kitchen in suburban Buenos Aires. Sasso had been moved to the kitchen by church authorities after he got into trouble for pedophilia in remote San Juan province.
Jorge Bergoglio, who became Argentina's cardinal in 2001, wasn't directly involved in any sex abuse scandals or coverups, but he failed to remove priests accused of sexually abusing their faithful, and refused to meet with the victims, their attorney Ernesto Moreau told The Associated Press.
"Bergoglio has been the strongest man in the Argentine church since the beginning of this century," Moreau said, and yet "the leadership of the church has never done anything to remove these people from these places, and neither has it done anything to relieve the pain of the victims."
Now Grassi is free on appeal, thanks in part to the church's report. Before he was convicted, he thanked Bergoglio for "never abandoning him."
Bishop Accountability co-director Anne Doyle says this shows Bergoglio was behind the curve in the Catholic church's global struggle to deal with sex abuse by its priests, which began in 2002 after thousands of cases became public in the United States and around the world.
"We would be alarmed if the archbishop Bergoglio had done this in the '60s or '70s. That would be sad and disturbing. But the fact that he did this just five years ago, when other bishops in other countries were meeting victims and implementing tough reporting laws, it puts him behind some of his American counterparts, that's for sure," Doyle told the AP.
The group said that to send a message of zero tolerance, Francis should tell the Buenos Aires archdiocese to release the complete files on these two cases; publicly identify any priests who are "credibly accused"; publicly endorse the mandatory reporting by church officials to law enforcement of any suspected abuse; admit that he was wrong to defend abusive priests; apologize to the victims of Grassi and Sasso; and offer to meet with the victims now.
Doyle noted that The Washington Post reported on these cases just as Francis was being installed as pope in a Vatican ceremony seen around the world.
"The victims of these two priests are the very children of God about whom he was speaking in his homily today," she said. "They are the most vulnerable of the poor. We hope that Francis will seize this as a priority and reach out to the victims and rectify his terrible insensitivity to them when he was archbishop."
Messages left by phone and email by the AP seeking comment from the Buenos Aires archbishopric's press office were not immediately returned Tuesday.
Kate Upton, Eli Manning -- this is a seriously star-studded Samsung event here in New York -- and the latest celebrity to step up on stage is Flo Rida, who helped unveil the new, super-sized Giga Sound MX-FS9000 speakers. Featuring dual 15-inch subwoofers that deliver 2560W in sound, they'll go for $1,499 when they debut in May. (There's also a slightly smaller version, the MX-FS9000, which will hit stores in June for $999.) The big-name guests have sent this room of photographers into a frenzy, so it will take a few minutes for us to push our way through to get hands-on. In the mean time, take a look at the full press release past the break.
Update: We've now had a chance to check out the gigantic rig. The speakers are a bit flashy for our taste, given the size and constant LED color cycling, but we can certainly see them being a fit for karaoke bars and the like, thanks to microphone inputs and an option to record your voice to an attached USB storage device. Sadly, the Samsung rep we spoke to was unwilling to demonstrate their full potential at the crowded venue, so we can't really speak to audio quality. If you're thinking about making a purchase, we'd suggest checking them out at a retail store before getting these bad boys home -- as they're quite hefty, you probably won't want to be making any returns. You can also take a closer look in our gallery below or the hands-on video after the break.
Mar. 18, 2013 ? The answer to longevity may be far simpler than we imagine; it may in fact be right under our noses in the form of a morning caffeine kick. The elderly inhabitants of Ikaria, the Greek island, boast the highest rates of longevity in the World, and many scientists turn to them when looking to discover the 'secrets of a longer life'. In a new study in Vascular Medicine, published by SAGE, researchers investigating cardiovascular health believe that a cup of boiled Greek coffee holds the clue to the elderly islanders' good health.
Only 0.1% of Europeans live to be over 90, yet on the Greek island of Ikaria, the figure is 1%. This is recognized as one of the highest longevity rates anywhere -- and the islanders tend to live out their longer lives in good health.
Gerasimos Siasos, a medical doctor and professor at the University of Athens Medical School, Greece set out with his team to find out whether the elderly population's coffee drinking had an effect on their health. In particular, the researchers investigated links between coffee-drinking habits and the subjects' endothelial function. The endothelium is a layer of cells that lines blood vessels, which is affected both by aging and by lifestyle habits (such as smoking). The team homed in on coffee because recent studies suggest that moderate coffee consumption may slightly reduce the risks of coronary heart disease, and that it may also have a positive impact on several aspects of endothelial health.
From a sample of 673 Ikarians aged over 65 who lived on the island permanently, the researchers randomly selected 71 men and 71 women to take part in the study. Medical staff used health checks (for high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.) and questionnaires to get more detail on the participants' medical health, lifestyles and coffee drinking, in addition to testing their endothelial function.
The researchers investigated all types of coffee taken by participants -- but interestingly more than 87% of those in the study consumed boiled, Greek coffee daily. More importantly, subjects consuming mainly boiled Greek coffee had better endothelial function than those who consumed other types of coffee. Even in those with high blood pressure, boiled Greek coffee consumption was associated with improved endothelial function, without worrying impacts on blood pressure.
"Boiled Greek type of coffee, which is rich in polyphenols and antioxidants and contains only a moderate amount of caffeine, seems to gather benefits compared to other coffee beverages," Siasos concludes.
The new study provides a new connection between nutritional habits and cardiovascular health. Given the extent of coffee drinking across the world, and the fact that even small health effects of at least one type of coffee could have a large impact on public health, this study provides an interesting starting point. However, further studies are needed to document the exact beneficial mechanisms of coffee on cardiovascular health.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by SAGE Publications, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Gerasimos Siasos, Evangelos Oikonomou, Christina Chrysohoou, Dimitris Tousoulis, Demosthenes Panagiotakos, Marina Zaromitidou, Konstantinos Zisimos, Eleni Kokkou, Georgios Marinos, Athanasios G Papavassiliou, Christos Pitsavos, and Christodoulos Stefanadis. Consumption of a boiled Greek type of coffee is associated with improved endothelial function: The Ikaria Study. Vasc Med, March 18, 2013 DOI: 10.1177/1358863X13480258
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.
A piece of family history can be found in a library book.
As a young girl, I spent a lot of time at the iconic New York Public Library ? with those stone lions out front - working on school projects. I once found a book I needed and opened it. Out fell an old-fashioned photo postcard with my grandfather?s picture on it.
He was in the army and had sent the card, with a message, to his sister. She had likely stuck it in the book and forgotten about it, until I found it decades later.
My grandfather - Szaje Sidney Fink - whose photo was found in a library book!
I wasn?t a genealogist then, and in what I now believe was a misguided act of responsibility, I put the card back in the book. Perhaps the owner would come looking for it?
When I got home, I told my family about it, and everyone said I should have brought it home. Fortunately, we found a copy at another relative?s home much later.
Have you ever had to clear out the home of a deceased relative or had to help move an elderly relative to a retirement or nursing home?
Checking the dusty corners of a large home, or even a small apartment, can produce family treasures that would otherwise be lost forever.
Remember that those who suffer from senility or Alzheimer?s tend to hide things in the most improbable places.
Even those healthy family members ? who may have ?pack-rat? mentalities ? do the same. People who grew up during the American Depression or were refugees or Holocaust survivors may have had the habit of hiding valuables ?just in case.?
Allow sufficient time to do a proper search or you may simply give up and throw out the most valuable of family history items.
Here? are some helpful hints:
Look everywhere, behind and under things, on the top shelves of closets and in corners.
Look for greet cards, photos, family documents hidden in old books or even between old tablecloths in drawers.
Anyone who has ever changed a light switch on the wall knows there is a handy-dandy little space back there that can hold jewelry.
All compartments of old handbags, briefcases and suitcases should be searched.
Clothing, in closets or drawers, could contain important items hidden in pockets or linings.
Stories abound of people hiding valuable jewelry in the linings of window curtains or long-stored coats.
Those famous shoeboxes on bedroom closet shelves are always a place to look for photos, currency, documents.
Check seat cushions and pillows on furniture ? those with zippers have easily accessible hiding places.
Do look under large rugs. While the edges might have been moved for periodic cleaning, it is possible that the larger rugs were not completely moved and something is under there.
Is there a large pendulum clock on the wall, or a Grandfather-type floor clock? Open it and look inside, where there is lots of space for little items.
Check between mattresses and box springs, inside pillows.
Look at the backs of paintings, photos and mirrors hanging on walls.
Old trunks and suitcases may have markings of previous travels or hold other family treasures.
Always look through old books before discarding them. Hold them upside down and fan the pages. Check front and back covers for handwritten notes. Everything and anything could have been used as a bookmark.
Religious books, such as Bibles and prayer books, could contain notes on important family events.
Kitchen canisters of flour or sugar might hold interesting items.
Check covered sugar bowls and teapots.
Check the freezer for valuable items hidden in containers or in plastic baggies inside frozen food boxes. I once put jewelry in a a frozen vegetable box in the back of my freezer because I could get to the bank?s safety deposit box that day. Yes, it was silly ? thieves don?t go through your frozen green peas, or do they? ? But I couldn?t just leave it around. I remembered to remove mine the next day. Your relative may have left it there years ago.
Remove drawers from dressers and turn them over to see if documents or envelopes might be attached, or perhaps other items have fallen into the bottom of a piece of furniture. Check the backs of furniture.
In the bedroom, check jewelry box linings for things that might have slipped inside.
Check vases that are part of the d?cor. I once knew someone who threw spare change and other items into a large vase on the table in the entry of her home.
In these hi-tech days, and the increasing percentage of older generations with computer access, consider checking those CD cases.
Don't forget to check basements, attics, garages and even garden sheds!
If and when you do find something of interest, document where you found it, how you found it and store it properly so it doesn?t get lost again.
If the found items are documents or photos, make working copies or photographic negatives, and store the originals in a safe place in proper acid-free, archival folders.
And when you do make finds like this, remember to add the photographs themselves, or photos of the objects, to your family website at MyHeritage, so they won't be lost again!
Have you ever found family treasures in a relative?s home? Share your discoveries in our comments below.
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.
Is saying you need to keep track of six timezones a humblebrag? Maybe it is, maybe it isn't, but either way, don't expect an apology from Mr. Darren Murph -- the man is positively giddy about his new $2 Clocks app. You know who else won't be issuing any apologies? Jon Fingas, our resident Canadian smartphone nerd, who says the BlackBerry Z10 isn't half bad.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China has become the world's fifth-largest arms exporter, a respected Sweden-based think tank said on Monday, its highest ranking since the Cold War, with Pakistan the main recipient.
China's volume of weapons exports between 2008 and 2012 rose 162 percent compared to the previous five year period, with its share of the global arms trade rising from 2 percent to 5 percent, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said.
China replaces Britain in the top five arms-dealing countries between 2008 and 2012, a group dominated by the United States and Russia, which accounted for 30 percent and 26 percent of weapons exports, SIPRI said.
"China is establishing itself as a significant arms supplier to a growing number of important recipient states," Paul Holtom, director of the SIPRI Arms Transfers Program, said in a statement.
The shift, outlined in SIPRI's Trends in International Arms Transfers report, marks China's first time as a top-five arms exporter since the think tank's 1986-1990 data period.
Now the world's second-largest economy, China's rise has come with a new sense of military assertiveness with a growing budget to develop modern warfare equipment including aircraft carriers and drones.
At the Zhuhai air show in southern China in November, Chinese attack helicopters, missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles and air defenses were on public show for the first time.
SIPRI maintains a global arms transfers database base that tracks arms exports back to the 1950s. It averages data over five-year periods because arms sales vary by year.
"Pakistan - which accounted for 55 percent of Chinese arms exports - is likely to remain the largest recipient of Chinese arms in the coming years due to large outstanding and planned orders for combat aircraft, submarines and frigates," SIPRI said.
Myanmar, which has been undergoing fragile reforms that the United States thinks could help counter Beijing's influence in the region, received 8 percent of China's weapons exports.
Bangladesh received 7 percent of the arms, and Algeria, Venezuela and Morocco have bought Chinese-made frigates, aircraft or armored vehicles in the past several years.
Beijing does not release official figures for arms sales.
Germany and France ranked third and fourth on the arms exporter list. China followed only India in the acquisition of arms, though its reliance on imports is decreasing as it ramps up weapons production capabilities at home.
After decades of steep increases in military spending and cash injections into domestic defense contractors, experts say some Chinese-made equipment is now comparable to Russian or Western counterparts, though accurate information about the performance of Chinese weapons is scarce.
China faces bans on Western military imports, dating back to anger over its crushing of pro-democracy protests in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989. That makes its domestic arms industry crucial in assembling a modern military force that can enforce claims over Taiwan and disputed maritime territories.
China has faced off recently with its Southeast Asian neighbors and Japan over conflicting claims to strings of islets in the South China Sea and East China Sea, even as the United States executes a military pivot towards the Pacific.
(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Nick Macfie)
For a company that's being so relentlessly scrutinized, it's almost baffling that Apple can still wheel out the odd surprise every now and again. We've assembled a gaggle of professional Cupertino-watchers to join our Tim on stage to hash out where Apple's been, where it's going and if Sir Jonathan and Mr. Cook's next big idea is going to center around your wrist or your TV corner. Taking the stage will be Victor Agreda Jr. from The Unofficial Apple Weblog, Analyst Gene Munster and Crunch Fund's MG Siegler. Join us after the break for the blow-by-blow commentary, lovingly dictated into easy-to-read words.
March 17, 2013 7:15 PM EDT
Follow all of Engadget's Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
METAIRIE, La. (AP) ? Authorities in Louisiana say they tracked a man accused of stealing drugs from a pharmacy because he left behind a pickax he used to break in ? and forgot to remove the price tag.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Col. John Fortunato says the sticker included a bar code indicating when and where the pickax was bought. The store had video of the purchase.
Fortunato tells The Times-Picayune (http://bit.ly/ZBcFaW ) that a store near the pharmacy had surveillance video from the night of the burglary, showing the same man and a vehicle license plate.
Fortunato says drugs from the pharmacy were found during a search of 43-year-old Scott Rodrigue's home.
Rodrigue was booked with pharmacy burglary and drug possession and freed on $70,000 bond. He does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached.
Last Modified: Sunday, March 17, 2013 at 9:00 a.m.
SUN CITY CENTER | A Tampa Bay-area community is looking for more centenarians to try and break a world record.
The chamber of commerce in Sun City Center is hosting a Centenarian Birthday Party on March 27. South Bay Hospital is organizing the event and hopes to break the record for the largest gathering of people 100 years old and older.
The hospital's spokeswoman tells The Tampa Tribune (http://bit.ly/Wq5hkS ) that the current record of 28 was set in the United Kingdom during a 2009 tea party.
Natalia Diaz says Sun City Center has a high concentration of seniors and a good chance to break the record.
So far, 17 centenarians plan to attend the party. Anyone 100 years old or turning 100 this year is invited to participate.
People line up to use an ATM machine outside of Laiki Bank branch in Larnaca, Cyprus, on Saturday. Many rushed to cooperative banks which are open Saturdays in Cyprus after learning that the terms of a bailout deal that the cash-strapped country hammered out with international lenders includes a one-time levy on bank deposits.
By Michele Kambas, Reuters
NICOSIA, Cyprus - Cyprus's parliament will decide on Monday whether savers must pay a levy on bank deposits under terms for an international bailout to avert bankruptcy - with approval far from certain.
The euro zone demand on Saturday that savers pay up to 10 percent of deposits as a condition for the 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout drew fury in the eastern Mediterranean island and caused some jitters elsewhere in the region.
Cypriots emptied ATMs after news emerged of bailout terms which broke a previous euro zone taboo on protecting depositors in its efforts to address the regional debt crisis.
Newly elected Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said refusing the bailout would have led to the collapse of the island's two largest banks, badly singed by their exposure to bailed out neighbour Greece.
The tax on deposits in Cyprus, which accounts for only 0.2 percent of the euro zone's economy, is expected to raise up to 6 billion euros as a condition for the bailout, mainly needed to recapitalize banks.
Those affected will include rich Russians with deposits in Cyprus and Europeans who have retired to the island as well as Cypriots themselves.
The size of foreign deposits in Cyprus - estimated at 37 percent of the total - was one reason the euro zone agreed to the tax on savings, to take effect when banks reopen on Tuesday. Cyprus stopped electronic transfers over the weekend.
Cyprus's parliament was due to convene on Sunday in an emergency session to discuss the proposed penalties on deposits: 9.9 percent for those exceeding 100,000 euros and 6.7 percent on anything below that. However, the Cyprus News Agency reported that the meetings had been postponed until Monday.
The choice facing Cyprus was between "the catastrophic scenario of disorderly bankruptcy or the scenario of a painful but controlled management of the crisis," President Anastasiades said in a written statement.
'A gun to our head' His right-wing Democratic Rally party, with 20 seats in the 56-member parliament, needs support from other factions for a vote to pass.
"The dilemmas are very tough," said Marios Karoyian, head of the Democratic Party, junior partner in the coalition government. "Things are unbelievably hard."
He did not say which way his party would vote. It is already split over backing Anastasiades three weeks ago.
Cyprus's Communist party AKEL, accused of stalling on a bailout during its tenure in power until the end of February, was likely to vote against the measure. The socialist Edek party called EU demands "absurd".
"This is unacceptably unfair and we are against it," said Adonis Yiangou of the Greens Party, the smallest in parliament but with the potential ability to swing any vote.
"They have got a gun to our head," he said.
Related:
Spain's economic crisis turns middle-class families into illegal squatters
'The country is on its knees': Ireland grapples with economic collapse
Greek tragedy: Economic crisis sparks brain drain
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BISMARCK, N.D. --?The North Dakota Senate on Friday approved banning abortions as early as six weeks into a pregnancy, sending what would be the most-stringent abortion restrictions in the U.S. to the state's Republican governor for his signature.
The measure would ban most abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected, something that can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The House already approved the measure. Gov. Jack Dalrymple generally opposes abortion but has not said whether he will sign the bill into law.
It's one of several anti-abortion measures the state Legislature has weighed this session. The vote came with almost no debate in the Senate and after the same chamber approved another measure that would make North Dakota the first to ban abortions based on genetic defects such as Down syndrome.
That measure would also ban abortion based on gender selection. The Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion laws throughout the country, says Pennsylvania, Arizona and Oklahoma already have such laws.?
Some supporters of the so-called fetal heartbeat measure have said they hope to send a message that North Dakota is anti-abortion and aims to challenge the U.S. Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion up until a fetus is considered viable, usually at 22 to 24 weeks.
Arkansas passed a 12-week ban earlier this month that prohibits most abortions when a fetal heartbeat can be detected using an abdominal ultrasound. That ban is scheduled to take effect 90 days after the Arkansas Legislature adjourns.?
A fetal heartbeat can generally be detected earlier in a pregnancy using a vaginal ultrasound, but Arkansas lawmakers balked at requiring women seeking abortions to have the more invasive imaging technique.
North Dakota's measure doesn't specify how a fetal heartbeat would be detected. Doctors performing an abortion after a heartbeat is detected could face a felony charge punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Women having an abortion would not face charges.
A spokeswoman for the Guttmacher Institute, which tracks abortion laws across the country, said North Dakota's measures are the latest in a "tidal wave of abortion restrictions" in the U.S.
"We have seen efforts to ban abortion entirely and those attempts have failed," spokeswoman Elizabeth Nash said. "Now they're moving toward banning abortions as early as possible."
Abortion-rights advocates say the anti-abortion measures in the North Dakota Legislature are attempt to close the state's sole abortion clinic, in Fargo. They also say the so-called fetal heartbeat bill is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade, and its supporters should expect a costly legal fight if it becomes law.
Republican Rep. Bette Grande, an ardent opponent of abortion from Fargo who introduced the fetal heartbeat bill, said fears about potential litigation should not prevent lawmakers from approving the measure.
"Whether this is challenged in court is entirely up to the abortion industry," Grande told lawmakers this week. "Given the lucrative nature of abortion, it is likely that any statute that reduces the number of customers will be challenged by the industry."?
How do you enter? Simply post a comment on the original contest news post (not this one!). That's it -- do that and you're automatically entered. But we'll be closing the contest soon, so get in your post while you still can.
When you're done, you'll find plenty of friendly Galaxy S4 discussion over in our GS4 forum. Good luck to everyone who enters!