�The widely-held perception that the influenza vaccination reduces overall mortality risk in the aged does non withstand careful scrutiny, according to researchers in Alberta. The vaccine does confer protection against specific strains of flu, but its overall benefit appears to have been exaggerated by a figure of experimental studies that found a very large reduction in all-cause mortality among aged patients world Health Organization had been vaccinated.
The results will appear in the first issuing for September of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, a publication of the American Thoracic Society.
The study included more than 700 matched elderly subjects, half of whom had interpreted the vaccine and half of whom had not. After controlling for a wealth of variables that were largely not considered or simply not available in previous studies that reported the mortality benefit, the researchers concluded that any such benefit "if present at all, was very little and statistically non-significant and may just be a healthy-user artifact that they were unable to identify."
"While such a reduction in all-cause mortality rate would have been impressive, these mortality rate benefits ar likely implausible. Previous studies were likely measuring a benefit non directly attributable to the vaccine itself, but something specific to the individuals who were vaccinated - a healthy-user benefit or frailty bias," said Dean T. Eurich,Ph.D. clinical epidemiologist and supporter professor at the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta. "Over the last two decades in the United Sates, even while inoculation rates among the aged have increased from 15 to 65 percent, on that point has been no commensurate decrease in hospital admissions or all-cause mortality. Further, only almost 10 percent of wintertime deaths in the United States ar attributable to influenza, so to suggest that the vaccine can reduce 50 percent of deaths from all causes is implausible in our opinion."
Dr. Eurich and colleagues hypothesized that if the healthy-user effect was responsible for for the mortality benefit associated with influenza vaccination seen in observational studies, there should also be a significant mortality benefit present during the "off-season".
To determine whether the discovered mortality benefits were actually an effect of the flu vaccinum, therefore, they analyzed clinical data from records of all six hospitals in the Capital Health region in Alberta. In summate, they analyzed data from 704 patients 65 years of years and old who were admitted to the infirmary for community-acquired pneumonia during non-flu season, half of whom had been immunised, and
Friday, 5 September 2008
Saturday, 16 August 2008
Nebraska Women Benefit From Efforts To Close Gaps In Cancer Screening
�A decade-long Nebraska study that showed disparities in breast and cervical cancer screenings could have spurred changes that raised the percentage of women screened in the state.
"Disparities in screening 'tween racial and ethnic groups, even in a homogenous state such as Nebraska, are a problem and by dig into some of the differences we were able to have an wallop on breast and cervical cancer
"Disparities in screening 'tween racial and ethnic groups, even in a homogenous state such as Nebraska, are a problem and by dig into some of the differences we were able to have an wallop on breast and cervical cancer
Thursday, 7 August 2008
Miley 2.0 Can't Speak for Herself
Is on that point an echo in here? Selena Gomez was asked about her rumored assemblage with Nick Jonas -- but only if parroted back what her flack told her to say.
More info
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Friday, 27 June 2008
Monday, 23 June 2008
Eric Burdon and the Animals
Artist: Eric Burdon and the Animals
Genre(s):
Blues
Rock
Discography:
The Twain Small Meet
Year: 1968
Tracks: 8
Love Is
Year: 1968
Tracks: 9
Winds Of Change
Year: 1967
Tracks: 11
Eric Is Here
Year: 1967
Tracks: 12
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
PETA Lines Up Birthday Present For Olsen Twins
Animal rights group PETA are celebrating the upcoming 22nd birthday of Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, by encouraging people to send locks of their hair to the celebrity twins with a note saying, "Please, use my hair instead of the animals," in a protest against the actresses wearing fur.
A website set up by PETA and dedicated to the 'Trollsen Twins', "Hairy-Kate and Trashley", states they are "old enough to know better than to wear the skins of animals... Since they seem to be in such dire need of extra hair on their bodies, let's give them some of ours."
The site lists an address to post any hair cllippings to and is part of an ongoing campaign by the group to stop the twins from wearing fur.
NEXT: Tom Cruise's Lawyer Slams Dr.'s Diagnosis
Photo courtesy of PETA.
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
The alluring alchemy of Dario Robleto
You've never seen the Frye Art Museum look like this before. With two exhibitions that take over the entire museum (for the first time sweeping clean the usual crush of paintings from the permanent collection in the center galleries), Dario Robleto has transformed the place into a shrine to love and longing.
A rising star from San Antonio, Robleto bases his artwork in sympathetic magic, with the energy and symbolic meaning of the raw materials becoming the soul of the objects he creates. You must read the labels to fully "get" the work — and the ingredients he cites read like the stuff of a witch's brew, invoking the spirits of the dead.The spiritual center of Robleto's work arouses cultlike admiration among his fans. The meticulously crafted artworks do a kind of voodoo thing, seeping into you viscerally as you take in the sometimes shocking materials Robleto says they're made from: men's wedding-ring-finger bones coated in melted bullet lead from various American wars. Men's wedding bands excavated from American battlefields. Casts of Civil War-era "pain bullets" — the ones soldiers used (in lieu of anesthesia) to bite on during operations. Robleto works with tears, hair, shredded vinyl records (stand-ins for the songs recorded on them), tinctures and vintage apothecary concoctions. Whether those lists are real or pure poetry, it's powerful stuff. Yet at times Robleto's ideas seem overwrought and the objects start to feel way too precious — giving me the urge to just bury all that minutiae and move on.
The first part of the exhibition, "Heaven Is Being a Memory to Others," was assembled specifically for the Frye. This part of the show takes its cue from conceptual artist Fred Wilson, who demonstrated that the objects in museums are themselves an art medium and that new meaning can be constructed by the way they are selected and displayed. With a nod to Wilson, "Heaven" is Robleto's poetic imagining of the inner life of Emma Frye, who founded the museum with her husband to house their art collection.
Robleto stirs up Emma's ghost with a spare assortment of paintings and sculptures from the Frye's permanent collection that reflects the inner world he imagines for her. Not much is known about the late Mrs. Frye, so what he chose may tell us as much about Robleto's character as hers. He shows us an Emma who is lovely and passionate but unfulfilled, the paintings she lived with substituting for the children she never had — and who knows what else?
One painting the artist chose to spotlight is an odd, little-known jewel of the Frye collection, a small, undated oil by Grigory Gluckmann, called "Young Woman, Head & Shoulders." It depicts only the back of a woman's head and vulnerable-looking nape. Who is she? The image sets the tone of mystery and yearning that is Robleto's hallmark. Adding several of his own emotion-laden assemblages, one a tableau of wedding and mourning gowns, the artist creates a portrait by proxy of the various phases of Emma's life, with a strong resonance of the hereafter. It's brilliantly done.
The back galleries house Robleto's big traveling exhibition "Alloy of Love," more of a mixed bag. There are plenty of searing artworks, including the gut-punch of "A Defeated Soldier Wishes to Walk His Daughter Down the Wedding Aisle" — a pair of antique military boots slogging through sand and rice, seemingly resurrected from the grave by sheer force of will.
Here, too, you'll see Robleto's iconic assemblage "War Pigeon With a Message (Love Survives the Death of Cells)." It's a fragile pigeon skeleton marked with a WWII-era ID tag that lies toppled on a pile of debris. The long-dead bird still carries a tiny scroll with its never-to-be-delivered message. By itself, the image pulses with a thousand associations, a palpable sense of loss. Yet what the label tells us intensifies the charge. The paper is said to be made from a pulp of human bone dust and a Civil War letter from a wife pleading for the release of her prisoner-of-war husband. The debris under the pigeon includes rubble from the Berlin Wall.
On the other hand, the grander, more prominent, glass-case-enclosed "The Diva Surgery" struck me as beautiful, but inflated, the kind of thing that seems designed to be in a museum collection. It brought to mind similar pieces by Josiah McElheny (an obvious progenitor to Robleto's work) and Damien Hirst. A vintage laboratory of glass beakers and porcelain mortars, syringes, mirrors and vials of chemical powders, the assemblage has plenty of glitter and charm — but I also found it a bit tiresome. Of course, that could be Robleto's point. It is about divas, after all.
Sheila Farr: sfarr@seattletimes.com
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Fawcett Plans To Show Her Cancer Documentary
Farrah Fawcett is negotiating a multi-million deal with major U.S. TV networks to broadcast a documentary about her battle with cancer. The 61-year-old actress, who last talked about her anal cancer ordeal on American show Entertainment Tonight earlier this year , has been followed around as she jets between the U.S. and Germany, where she is undergoing revolutionary treatment. The film's director Craig Nevius refuses to confirm reports network bosses at NBC are buying the documentary for $2 million (?1 million), but he reveals, "We are negotiating with one of the three big networks, but no deal has been signed yet."
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See Also
The OC star joins Desperate Housewives
'The OC' star Chris Carmack is reportedly set to join the cast of 'Desperate Housewives'.
According to TV Guide, the actor will play a new character called Tim, who is Susan Mayer's cousin.
He arrives on Wisteria Lane to help Susan, played by Teri Hatcher, with her taxes.
Carmack previously played Marissa Cooper's boyfriend Luke Ward in 'The OC'.
According to TV Guide, the actor will play a new character called Tim, who is Susan Mayer's cousin.
He arrives on Wisteria Lane to help Susan, played by Teri Hatcher, with her taxes.
Carmack previously played Marissa Cooper's boyfriend Luke Ward in 'The OC'.
X Factor Winner Steve Brookstein: 'Sharon Osbourne is Past Her Sell-by Date'
X Factor winner Steve Brookstein says Sharon Osbourne is "past her sell-by date."
The singer, who wan the 2004 series of the hit ITV show, was branded "fake", "full of c**p" and "over confident" by rock matriarch Sharon. He then went on to sell 250,000 copies of his debut album, Heart and Soul, and shortly faded back into obscurity.
But now, in a new interview with Scotland's Daily Record newspaper , Brookstein has launched a scathing attack on Sharon.
He fumes, "I feel vindicated that she has gone on to slag off almost everyone else, which says more about her than it ever did about me.
"She's past her sell-by date.
"I think people have forgotten how nasty she was to me and how she has been proven wrong.
"What's the worst I've done? Worked in Butlins? Is that as bad a person as I am?
"I don't wish her any bad things, whatever she does is up to her.
"She is the most abusive woman I've ever met, but I put it down to her having issues. She's had a hard life.
"I've never had much respect for her, but I don't wish her any ill, she's a human being - just."
Steve, 39, was dumped by mentor Simon Cowell just eight months after getting a Christmas No.1 with Against All Odds, when he refused to do a second album of cover versions.
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Jolie planning party for unborn twins
Angelina Jolie is planning to host a 'sibling party' for her four kids when her unborn twins arrive so that the family can celebrate their arrival together.
According to Hollywood.com the actress told the Today Show anchor Natalie Morales: "It's like, 'Congratulations, your big brother, cake.' It's a big deal. I think it's just mainly so their life doesn't feel like the new baby's made their life feel smaller."
Talking about being pregnant that star said: "I'm very happy. Unlike most women, I love being pregnant. You just feel like everything about your body is there for your baby."
Jolie and Brad Pitt have three adopted children Maddox, Pax and Zahara and their first natural child, Shiloh, will be two-years-old this month.
Jolie was speaking at the screening of her new film 'Kung Fu Panda' in Cannes.
According to Hollywood.com the actress told the Today Show anchor Natalie Morales: "It's like, 'Congratulations, your big brother, cake.' It's a big deal. I think it's just mainly so their life doesn't feel like the new baby's made their life feel smaller."
Talking about being pregnant that star said: "I'm very happy. Unlike most women, I love being pregnant. You just feel like everything about your body is there for your baby."
Jolie and Brad Pitt have three adopted children Maddox, Pax and Zahara and their first natural child, Shiloh, will be two-years-old this month.
Jolie was speaking at the screening of her new film 'Kung Fu Panda' in Cannes.
Yum Yums
Artist: Yum Yums
Genre(s):
Rock: Punk-Rock
Other
Indie
Discography:
Boogie Fever in Cologne Live The Underground
Year: 2002
Tracks: 19
Go Rheinland: Live @ the Underground
Year: 1999
Tracks: 20
Cherry Pie
Year: 1995
Tracks: 12
Sweet As Candy
Year:
Tracks: 14
Singles n Stuff
Year:
Tracks: 26
Blame It On The Boogie
Year:
Tracks: 14
Fox talks about Lost in the future
Actor Matthew Fox, who plays Jack in 'Lost', has been talking about what lies ahead in the series.
Speaking to the film website comingsoon.net about his new thriller 'Vantage Point', Fox found the time to talk about 'Lost'.
Following the resolution of the writers' strike in the US, Fox said that he would be going back to shoot more episodes for the fourth series of 'Lost' this spring.
"We probably won't get all of the eight [episodes] we owe," said Fox, "but I'm sure we'll get five or six of them."
Fox remained coy on the development of his character, Jack, and whether he would become a hero or villain in the series.
He said: "I think the idea of hero or good guy, bad guy is sort of an antiquated notion in a lot of respects. I think it's more interesting to accept the complexity of all of us and hope that he makes heroic choices in very difficult circumstances."
He continued: "I really feel like 'Lost' and what I'm getting to do on that show is pretty complex, and it's evolving as well. (Jack) sort of started as this idea. Everybody wanted him to be this heroic guy, and actually, he's really flawed and the island is stripping away this deep compassion in him and bringing out a much darker side, so there's an evolution that's happening in the character that's always been important to Damon [Lindelof, 'Lost' creator] and myself."
Of the fourth series, Fox said: "I think the fourth season will close those two moments of time of Jack in the future and Jack feeling like he's being rescued. The season will be about answering all those questions of who got off with him? Who's in the casket? Why does he want to go back, this guy of all people? Why is he suicidal and desperate to go back?"
In his interview with comingsoon.net, Fox did offer a hint about the timeframe of the series, when asked how much time had passed on the island since the aeroplane crash.
He said: "If you're going to talk about from Jack in the plane crash to Jack in the future, that's about a year-and-a-half, and Jack on the island now would be about 120 days."
For more on 'Lost', read our blog here.
Visit the show's website here.
Speaking to the film website comingsoon.net about his new thriller 'Vantage Point', Fox found the time to talk about 'Lost'.
Following the resolution of the writers' strike in the US, Fox said that he would be going back to shoot more episodes for the fourth series of 'Lost' this spring.
"We probably won't get all of the eight [episodes] we owe," said Fox, "but I'm sure we'll get five or six of them."
Fox remained coy on the development of his character, Jack, and whether he would become a hero or villain in the series.
He said: "I think the idea of hero or good guy, bad guy is sort of an antiquated notion in a lot of respects. I think it's more interesting to accept the complexity of all of us and hope that he makes heroic choices in very difficult circumstances."
He continued: "I really feel like 'Lost' and what I'm getting to do on that show is pretty complex, and it's evolving as well. (Jack) sort of started as this idea. Everybody wanted him to be this heroic guy, and actually, he's really flawed and the island is stripping away this deep compassion in him and bringing out a much darker side, so there's an evolution that's happening in the character that's always been important to Damon [Lindelof, 'Lost' creator] and myself."
Of the fourth series, Fox said: "I think the fourth season will close those two moments of time of Jack in the future and Jack feeling like he's being rescued. The season will be about answering all those questions of who got off with him? Who's in the casket? Why does he want to go back, this guy of all people? Why is he suicidal and desperate to go back?"
In his interview with comingsoon.net, Fox did offer a hint about the timeframe of the series, when asked how much time had passed on the island since the aeroplane crash.
He said: "If you're going to talk about from Jack in the plane crash to Jack in the future, that's about a year-and-a-half, and Jack on the island now would be about 120 days."
For more on 'Lost', read our blog here.
Visit the show's website here.
Lykke Li, Youth Novels
Having wanted to release album before her 20th birthday, this Swedish singer/songwriter managed to realise her ambitions shortly afterwards, at the tender age of 22. Lykke Li Zachrisson may have already come to your attention through MySpace or an entrancing appearance on Jools Holland’s Later... TV show earlier this year, and this solid debut album lives up to the promising groundwork.
Lykke Li sings her catchy pop confections in a breathy, girlish voice that falls somewhere between her angst-filled compatriot Stina Nordenstam on effective anti-depressants and the candy-flavoured bleat of Altered Images' Clare Grogan.
Her youthful optimism and vulnerability are offset by mentor, producer and co-writer Björn Yttling’s sparse, minimalist arrangements of piano, keyboard drones, rippling acoustic guitar, inventive percussion and electronica. The occasional use of atmospheric trumpet and sax also suggests the influence of Norwegian nu jazzers like Nils Petter Molvaer.
If there’s a potentially for a major hit on the album, it has to be the metronomic, infectiously hummable single Little Bit – a great new example of the emotional conflict which 10cc and Smokey Robinson lyrically documented so well.
Although it’s more of a grandiose ballad, the pulsing, hypnotic Tonight has an equally catchy chorus. And while Everybody But Me convincingly plumbs the depths of adolescent insecurity, the deadpan, robotic delivery on Complaint Department shows Lykke has a sense of humour, as well as a love of vintage electro, something that's also apparent on Breaking It Up.
OK, so I'm Good, I'm Gone appears to borrow a substantially from Allen Toussaint's Working In A Coalmine, and some might find the little-girl-lost vocal mannerisms and melodrama of Time Flies a little overdone. But overall, the standard of song writing is high, the sequencing instills a sense of emotional narrative, and Yttling’s imaginatively varied settings furnish a stylish and engaging showcase for this novel youth.
Lykke Li sings her catchy pop confections in a breathy, girlish voice that falls somewhere between her angst-filled compatriot Stina Nordenstam on effective anti-depressants and the candy-flavoured bleat of Altered Images' Clare Grogan.
Her youthful optimism and vulnerability are offset by mentor, producer and co-writer Björn Yttling’s sparse, minimalist arrangements of piano, keyboard drones, rippling acoustic guitar, inventive percussion and electronica. The occasional use of atmospheric trumpet and sax also suggests the influence of Norwegian nu jazzers like Nils Petter Molvaer.
If there’s a potentially for a major hit on the album, it has to be the metronomic, infectiously hummable single Little Bit – a great new example of the emotional conflict which 10cc and Smokey Robinson lyrically documented so well.
Although it’s more of a grandiose ballad, the pulsing, hypnotic Tonight has an equally catchy chorus. And while Everybody But Me convincingly plumbs the depths of adolescent insecurity, the deadpan, robotic delivery on Complaint Department shows Lykke has a sense of humour, as well as a love of vintage electro, something that's also apparent on Breaking It Up.
OK, so I'm Good, I'm Gone appears to borrow a substantially from Allen Toussaint's Working In A Coalmine, and some might find the little-girl-lost vocal mannerisms and melodrama of Time Flies a little overdone. But overall, the standard of song writing is high, the sequencing instills a sense of emotional narrative, and Yttling’s imaginatively varied settings furnish a stylish and engaging showcase for this novel youth.
Leona Lewis to Sing Bond Theme Tune?
Leona Lewis is reportedly in talks to record the theme tune for the new James Bond film, Quantam of Solace.
Leona's manager Simon Cowell is said to have suggested to the movie�s producers she would be great given that she has had huge success in both the UK and US.
It was last month claimed that former Destiny's Child star Beyonce Knowles was in talks to record the track after troubled singer Amy Winehouse pulled out.
Amy, 24, reportedly backed out of recording the coveted soundtrack after a bust up with producer Mark Ronson.
Last month, Ronson -- who worked with Amy on her smash hit album Back to Black -- said the 'Rehab' hitmaker was not in a fit state to make music; and that it would be "a miracle of science" if she recorded a song for the film.
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