A small, but growing trend of women in the US are choosing home births, a new government report finds. These mostly over 35, non-Hispanic white women are “consciously rejecting the system” of hospital deliveries, says the researcher.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46138818#46138818
st nicholas mindy mccready mindy mccready cliff harris cliff harris josh turner bishop eddie long
ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2012) ? In an essay that expands on a previous proposal to use the courts to prosecute those involved in ghostwriting on the basis of it being legal fraud, Xavier Bosch from the University of Barcelona, Spain and colleagues lay out three outline specific areas of legal liability in this week’s PLoS Medicine.
First, when an injured patient’s physician directly or indirectly relies upon a journal article containing false or manipulated safety and efficacy data, the authors (including “guest” authors), can be held legally liable for patient injuries, says the article. Second, guest authors of ghost-written articles published by Medicare- and Medicaid-recognized peer-reviewed medical journals used as clinical evidence for indications for off-label drugs articles may be liable under the federal False Claims Act for inducing the United States government to reimburse prescriptions under false pretenses. Finally, the authors argue, paying guest authors of ghostwritten papers — which may influence clinical judgment, increase product sales and government health care costs, and put patients at risk by misrepresenting risk-benefit — can mean that both physicians and sponsor companies may be liable under the federal Anti-Kickback Statute.
Although guest authors and pharmaceutical defendants may argue a First Amendment right to participate in ghostwriting, the authors say, the US Supreme Court has firmly held that the First Amendment does not shield fraud.
In the previous proposal, published in PLoS Medicine in August 2011, Simon Stern and Trudo Lemmens from the Faculties of Law and Medicine at the University of Toronto, Canada argued that it is irrelevant whether publications with academic guest authors are factually accurate. Rather, ghostwriting of medical journal articles raises serious ethical and legal concerns, bearing on the integrity of medical research and scientific evidence used in legal disputes. Furthermore, the false respectability afforded to claims of safety and effectiveness through the use of academic investigators risks undermining the integrity of biomedical research and patient care — an integrity that also underpins the use of scientific evidence in the courtroom.
According to these authors, medical journals, academic institutions, and professional disciplinary bodies have failed to enforce effective sanctions. Some journals, such as PLoS Medicine, have called for bans on future submissions by authors who act as guests, formal retraction if unacknowledged ghostwriting is discovered after publication, and reporting of authors’ misconduct to institutions. Although the authors agree that such actions may have an impact on academics concerned about their status and future publication options, they say that it is unclear whether journals can adequately monitor the practice.
They made the case for more effectively deterring the practice of ghostwriting through the imposition of legal liability on the ”guest authors” who lend their names to ghostwritten articles. The authors say: “We argue that a guest author’s claim for credit of an article written by someone else constitutes legal fraud, and may give rise to claims that could be pursued in a class action based on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act [RICO].”
The authors said: “The same fraud could support claims of ”fraud on the court” against a pharmaceutical company that has used ghostwritten articles in litigation. This claim also appropriately reflects the negative impact of ghostwriting on the legal system.”
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 Public Library of Science.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
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://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/IXRYYtu6UJE/120124184154.htm
port charlotte florida kit homes boxing day radio shack bethany hamilton bethany hamilton after christmas sales
TOKYO ? Japan’s central bank said Tuesday it expects the economy to shrink slightly during the fiscal year ending in March instead of expanding as it forecast earlier because of the overseas slowdown.
The Bank of Japan kept its key interest rate the same at close to zero percent but downgraded its growth forecast for the year ending March 2012 to a 0.4 percent contraction from the 0.3 percent expansion it gave in October.
The bank stuck to its projection for a moderate recovery starting the first half of the next fiscal year.
But it lowered its projection for fiscal 2012 to 2.0 percent growth from 2.2 percent growth. It was more upbeat about fiscal 2013, raising that to a 1.6 percent expansion from 1.5 percent.
The bank said the massive debt problems in Europe as well as uncertainty about the U.S. economy are risks for Japan’s outlook.
The strong yen, which erodes the value of exports from the world’s third largest economy, also dragged down growth, keeping economic activity “more or less flat,” it said.
bethany hamilton bethany hamilton after christmas sales macys stratfor bears vs packers after christmas sales 2011
DAVOS, Switzerland
, January 23, 2012 (ENS) – Eighty percent of automotive CEOs see developing environmentally-friendly products or services as an “important part” of their companies’ innovation strategy, finds the annual survey of CEOs by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.
On January 24, on the eve of the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Dennis Nally, chairman of the PwC network, will reveal the results of firm’s 15th annual global CEO survey.
To discover “how chief executive officers are approaching growth during a time when sustainable economic growth is far from certain,” PwC polled 1,201 business leaders in 69 countries in the last quarter of 2010, and conducted further in-depth interviews with 31 CEOs.
Advance information from the survey released by PwC indicates that, in general, chief executives are nearly as confident of growth in the coming year as they were in the boom years, even though the global economy is still recovering from PwC called “the worst economic crisis in 75 years.”
Fifty automotive CEOs in 20 countries said innovation is critical. They are brainstorming with supply chain partners to improve fuel efficiency and partnering with governments – responding to new regulatory requirements and using government programs to help drive sustainable innovation.
“Now, with their worst fears about the crisis behind them and an emerging recovery ahead,” says the survey report, automotive CEOs are “adopting new attitudes and approaches, tailored to dealing with the issues of the multi-speed global recovery that they hope is underway.”
Fifty-two percent of automotive CEOs are “very confident” of revenue growth over the next 12 months, compared to just 20 percent last year, and they’re moving in greener directions.
“Every country in the world is focused on improving fuel economy and reducing CO2 emissions. It’s turned out to be an excellent strategy. It was strong before the recession, it was strong during the recession and it’s strong after the recession,” said Timothy Manganello, CEO of BorgWarner, the Michigan-based vehicle parts and systems supplier.
Governments and automotive CEOs share priorities such as ensuring that laid-off automotive workers find new employment.
“The most promising areas are new ‘green jobs,’” the PwC survey report says. “As the industry moves away from its reliance on the internal combustion engine, many skilled workers will be needed to help produce new battery technologies.”
Stephen Roell, chairman and CEO, Johnson Controls, told the survey team about one new technology that lowers emissions and fuel consumption – the start-stop battery.
“This is an advanced lead-acid battery that helps stop and start vehicle engines at red lights and other intermittent stops, as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption. The technology, which is best known in Europe, can lower emissions by five to 12 percent,” Roell said.
“Consumer demand has been very high, he said. “The assumption had been that the stop/start battery would be embraced and adopted by 2015, but it’s happened much more quickly, and now the industry is scurrying to meet capacity demands.”
The survey cites some green job initiatives already in place, for example, Driving Change, a research consortium of Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio Labor Market Information Offices, which is “tackling changes in the automotive industry and resulting workforce needs.”
CEOS said cooperation of government with automotive companies looking to intensify their own green technologies will be critical to making such programs a success.
Automakers are gearing up to meet governmental requirements to slash emissions and boost fuel economy.
The European Union has stipulated that by 2012, emissions from 65 percent of vehicles on its roads be reduced to 130 grams of CO2 per kilometer. By 2015, the number of vehicles expected to conform is 100 percent, followed by a mandate that by 2020 CO2 emissions be dropped to 95 g/km.
EVs are one option for meeting these regulations as well as the U.S. government’s new stricter corporate average fuel economy standards that will hit 54.5 percent by 2025. But there are many competing “and often synergistic” technological alternatives, the PwC report says, adding, “In the longer term, we believe that EVs and the underlying technology, as well as some of the other options, will be vital to the industry’s broader efforts to reshape the global automotive landscape.”
Government help will be “vital,” and it may take a variety of forms, the CEOs said. Mainstream consumers may not yet be ready for electric vehicles, so some governments are offering or proposing incentives. Others are providing or planning rebates, grants, and loans.
Such programs are one reason why 32 percent of automotive CEOs told the survey teams that they expect government assistance, like financing, tax credits and technology transfer, to boost their innovation output.
Roell said the auto industry has been “surprising” in its ability to bounce back.
“In terms of resiliency, I’ve been surprised to the extent the automotive markets recovered in 2010. We also were surprised at how far they fell the preceding year,” Roell said. “The supply base, for the most part, has weathered it much better than I thought it would. Had liquidity and access to capital been prolonged, we would have had a lot more issues in our industry around the supply base.”
More automotive CEOs are focusing primarily on the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – as the most important sources of future business growth than their peers in the survey population as a whole.
They are particularly interested in China: 64 percent see it as a top future market, which is 25 percentage points more than the overall average. The country is already the largest vehicle market in the world and rapidly getting bigger.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2012. All rights reserved.
Source: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jan2012/2012-01-23-02.html
seahawks jets air jordans pecan pie recipe prince philip david wright sugar cookie recipe
KUWAIT CITY (AP) ? Sheik Saud Al Nasser Al Sabah, who served as Kuwait’s ambassador to the U.S. during Iraq’s 1990 invasion of the oil-rich country and the American-led war to oust Saddam Hussein’s forces, has died, a government-backed newspaper reported Sunday. He was 68.
Al-Qabas said the former diplomat died Saturday. It gave no cause of death.
A member of Kuwait’s royal family, Sheik Nasser was a leading voice calling for international help during Iraq’s occupation. But he was forced to defend his tactics when it was revealed that his then-teenage daughter, Nayirah, told U.S. lawmakers in October 1990 that she had witnessed Iraqi soldiers yank newborn babies from incubators. Several rights groups later questioned the account, which helped galvanize U.S. public opinion in favor of war.
A statement Sunday from former President George H. W. Bush called Sheik Nasser a “trusted partner” during the occupation and the U.S.-led war in 1991 that drove Saddam’s military from Kuwait.
“Throughout that defining ordeal, he stood proudly with the United States as our coalition ejected Saddam’s forces from Kuwaiti soil and upheld international law,” said Bush’s statement from Houston. “He was truly a good man, and a joy with whom to work.”
Sheik Nasser served as Kuwait’s envoy to Washington from 1981 to 1992. He later served in Kuwait’s government as information minister and oil minister.
In the past decade, he played an elder statesmen’s role with close ties to the White House and U.S. officials.
He also was a strong opponent of anti-Western views by Islamic hard-liners in Kuwait. In 2003, he joined other Kuwaiti leaders in endorsing the U.S. invasion of Iraq and called it the “beginning of the end” for Muslim extremists.
Al-Qabas newspaper said a funeral was scheduled for Sunday.
Associated Press
unc basketball college basketball gunsmoke papelbon papelbon anita hill penn state football schedule
By Kimberly Potts, TheWrap.com
AMC
Could it be? Will Betty and Jon reunite next season on “Mad Men”?
Don and Betty Draper?… together again?
That’s the hint “Mad Men” series creator Matt Weiner is dropping about the show’s upcoming fifth season, which premieres on AMC on March 25.
“It’s called ‘A Little Kiss,’ ” Weiner tells TV Guide of the two-hour season premiere. “I like the title to have some kind of synergy with the show so it will pique your interest.”
More from TheWrap: Dear (‘Downtown) Abbey’: An obsession with a long shot
And when asked if Jon Hamm’s Don Draper is one half of the titular kiss, perhaps with secretary-turned-fianc?e Megan (Jessica Par?), Weiner answered with a cryptic comment that could mean a surprise reunion for exes Don and Betty (January Jones).
“Who says Megan’s even going to be part of Don’s life?” Weiner told the magazine. “He may be back with Betty. One of my favorite scenes from (the season four finale) was when Betty offered herself to him again. And let’s face it — those two look really good together.”?
AMC did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
Do you want to see Don and Better together again? Tell us on our Facebook page!
Related content:
iowa gop gloria steinem forgetting sarah marshall meteor shower tonight annie oakley edc paranormal activity 4
Okay hi.. personally, I find this site quite confusing compared to all of the others I am involved in.
But I can’t wait to understand it! I love how organized it is.
So yes, my name is Gabi, I have been roleplaying for 3 years.
I love romance and fantasy roleplays, of course. xD
And I can be extremely outgoing.
So hi again, nice to meet you, wanna be friends? 
<3 -hugs-
Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RolePlayGateway
occupy wall st occupy wall st the graduate holly madison tragedy of the commons tragedy of the commons casey jones
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, right, delivers a speech at the opening of the second year of the Afghanistan parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Karzai announced to parliament on Saturday that he has taken the lead in peace negotiations with the Hizb-i-Islami insurgent faction, meeting personally with radical Islamist militia representatives to push ahead with the peace process.(AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, right, delivers a speech at the opening of the second year of the Afghanistan parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Karzai announced to parliament on Saturday that he has taken the lead in peace negotiations with the Hizb-i-Islami insurgent faction, meeting personally with radical Islamist militia representatives to push ahead with the peace process.(AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
Afghan President Hamid Karzai listens to Afghan national anthem ahead of inspecting the guards of honor during the opening ceremony of the second year of the Afghanistan parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Karzai announced to parliament on Saturday that he has taken the lead in peace negotiations with the Hizb-i-Islami insurgent faction, meeting personally with radical Islamist militia representatives to push ahead with the peace process. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, salutes to Afghan parliament members, as he walks out of parliament after delivering his speech at the opening ceremony of the second year of the Afghanistan parliament in Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Karzai announced to parliament on Saturday that he has taken the lead in peace negotiations with the Hizb-i-Islami insurgent faction, meeting personally with radical Islamist militia representatives to push ahead with the peace process. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that he personally held peace talks recently with the insurgent faction Hizb-i-Islami, appearing to assert his own role in a U.S.-led bid for negotiations to end the country’s decade-long war.
Karzai made the announcement hours before he met with American special representative Marc Grossman to discuss progress and plans for bringing the Taliban insurgency into formal talks for the first time.
“Recently, we met with a delegation from Hizb-i-Islami … and had negotiations,” Karzai told a meeting of the Afghan parliament. “We are hopeful that these negotiations for peace continue and we will have good results,” he added.
Karzai’s statement was a reminder that any negotiations to end Afghanistan’s war will be more complex than just talking to the Taliban’s Pakistan-based leadership, headed by Mullah Mohammed Omar. The two other main insurgent factions in the country have their own leaders and agendas.
Hizb-i-Islami is a radical Islamist militia that controls territory in Afghanistan’s northeast and launches attacks against U.S. forces from Pakistan. Its leader, powerful warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, is a former U.S. ally now listed as a terrorist by Washington.
Based over the Pakistan border, Hekmatyar has ties to al-Qaida and has launched deadly attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Fighters loyal to Hekmatyar also have strongholds in Baghlan, Kunduz and Kunar provinces in the north and northeast Afghanistan.
The other main insurgent group is the feared Haqqani network, which maintains close ties to both al-Qaida and the Taliban and commands the loyalties of an estimated 10,000 fighters. The Haqqanis have been blamed for a series of spectacular attacks, including suicide bombings inside Kabul.
By showing he can bring at least one major faction to the negotiating table, Karzai may hope to boost his standing in a tentative peace process that has recently been dominated by Washington. The president has met before with representatives of Hekmatyar, whose political allies hold seats in the Afghan parliament and Cabinet, but Saturday’s public announcement seemed intended to bolster Karzai’s insistence on inclusion in the U.S.-led peace process.
“It should be mentioned that the Afghan nation is the owner of the peace process and negotiations,” Karzai said. “No foreign country or organization can prevent (Afghans) from exercising this right.”
The U.S. has repeatedly said that formal negotiations must be Afghan-led, but Karzai is reportedly uneasy with his government not being directly involved in recent preliminary talks with Taliban representatives.
U.S. representative Grossman was meeting with Karzai on Sunday, the U.S. Embassy said. Grossman stressed that any future negotiations would include Afghanistan’s government, and said he would meet Karzai on Saturday.
“After our meeting with President Karzai, we will decide what to do next because we take his guidance and advice in an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led process,” Grossman said Friday during a stop in India.
French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet also arrived in Kabul on Saturday for talks with Afghan officials after Paris suspended training missions following the killing of four French troops by an Afghan soldier, the latest in a rising number of assaults in which Afghan security forces or infiltrators have turned their guns on coalition forces.
Longuet said on arrival that there is “no possible partnership” in Afghanistan without “trust.”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has threatened to withdraw French troops from Afghanistan early over the deaths, a potential setback for the U.S.-led coalition’s efforts to build a national army and allow foreign troops to go home.
On Saturday, insurgents killed a NATO service member in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said. The statement gave no other details, nor the nationality of the casualty.
The attack comes a day after an Afghan soldier opened fire on French troops during a training exercise, killing four of them and prompting France to suspend its training programs.
Insurgents clashed Saturday with government forces in the town of Barmal in Paktika province in eastern Afghanistan, said Maj. Abdul Rahman, who coordinates coalition and Afghan operations in the area.
The Paktika governor’s office said four attackers were trying to enter the town’s main bazaar and then move toward government offices and military bases nearby. Before they could, Afghan security forces engaged them in a one-hour gun battle and all four attackers were killed, it said.
Separately, a roadside bomb killed four Afghan civilians Saturday morning in Helmand province in the south, the Interior Ministry said.
On Friday, insurgents killed five border police in the Gulran district of Herat province near the Iranian border in western Afghanistan, said Sulaiman Khan, commander of a border police rapid reaction unit in the area.
Associated Press
x factor finale pro bowl voting kindle fire update college board pasco county rooney mara solstice
We’ve spent the past week recuperating and reflecting, and while we’re ready to put CES 2012 behind us, we’re bring you this special roundup edition to cover all of our consumer electronics bases. In this issue, we’ll dive deep into product categories that were overlooked in our previous CES editions, like audio, and flesh out those categories that dominated this year’s coverage. Also in this issue, OK Go’s Andy Ross takes on the Distro Q&A, we bring you a visual breakdown of Engadget’s CES Vital Stats and Box Brown takes a comic look at the SOPA / PIPA debate. So join us in grabbing a cold one and get to downloading.
Distro Issue 24 PDF
Distro on the iTunes App Store
Distro in the Android Market
Distro APK (for sideloading)
Like Distro on Facebook
Follow Distro on Twitter
Engadget Distro Issue 24: CES Roundup, OK Go’s Andy Ross and SOPA comic relief originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | 
iTunes, Android Market | Email this | Comments
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/20/dnp-engadget-distro-issue-24-ces-roundup-ok-gos-andy-ross-and/
john elway fox news debate i have a dream speech martin luther king jr mlk mlk school closures
On Thursday, Apple’s value on the stock market reached an all-time high of $400 billion. That figure makes it worth more than Greece, Austria, Argentina and South Africa. And, come to mention it, quite a lot of other things, too. [CNN; Image: fdecomite] More »
charlie daniels band charlie daniels band the thing carrie steve wozniak steve wozniak legarrette blount