Crenezumab, from Genentech, a unit of Roche Holding AG, ROG.VX +0.26% targets a sticky protein in the brain called amyloid that is thought to contribute to Alzheimer's when it clumps together. The trial also will seek to understand whether the amount of amyloid in one's brain could help predict later cognitive decline—a so-called biological marker. If it works, future trials could potentially use amyloid levels to determine whether a treatment is working rather than waiting to see if patients' memory worsens.

"...I've got more to learn than I thought."

[You had the chance to get up to 3]GB of free Dropbox storage, just by uploading photos and videos. The [new release gives] you 500MB on your first upload and up to 3GB of storage. If you don't want to keep your photos in Dropbox, but still want the free space, upload your 3GB of photos and videos and then delete them. The space will remain.

To get started, download and install version 1.4.0 of Dropbox for Mac.

For Android phones, DroidStats displays usage graphs for minutes, text messages and data, all on a single screen. It does what the carriers’ apps should have done all along: shows you, instantly, your current data usage and minutes-used tallies. No username, password or red tape.

For iPhone, there’s DataMan and VoiceMan. The Pro versions, 50 percent off until Sunday (now $1 and $2), are well worth the money. They show you which apps are eating up how much data, and they give you real-time automated alerts when you hit certain warning thresholds that you set up. Voice Man is even smart enough not to include evening and weekend calls if those calls are free, as they are on most plans.

I wish DataMan and VoiceMan would track your text messages, too; that’s coming, says the developer. (A rival app, Cell Minute Tracker, is free and shows all three stats — minutes, texts and data — but it’s for AT&T only.)

On May 9, the Labor Department also issued a series of frequently asked questions (FAQ) regarding the implementation of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. While these FAQs do not apply directly to the Affordable Care Act, they are likely to be used to interpret the mental health parity provisions of the ACA. The FAQs clarify that if a plan provides mental health and substance abuse benefits, it may not limit those benefits to inpatient services only. Plans may carve out mental health services and handle them through managed behavioral health organizations as long as standards applied are comparable to and not more stringent than those applied to other services. Indeed, this is the standard that plans must follow generally in applying non-quantitative treatment limitations to mental health and substance abuse services.

For example, many health insurance plans still refuse to cover lifesaving treatment for eating disorders. Others create discriminatory barriers to care, such as imposing stricter prior-authorization requirements for mental health and addiction treatment than for medical benefits. Sadly, as underscored in a recent report by the assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, levels of care for evidence-based behavioral treatments, such as residential psychiatric services for children, are being eliminated because of uncertainty about what is required.

The most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health, published last year, found that fewer than half of the 45.9 million adults with a mental illness receive treatment or counseling and that only 10 percent of the more than 23 million people who need help for a substance-use problem received any specialized treatment in 2010. Even more troubling is the fact that people with either disease have shorter life expectancies than most Americans; a 2006 study put the difference at 25 years.

More than 23.2 million people 12 and older needed treatment for an illicit drug- or alcohol-use problem in 2007, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA. Only 3.9 million received treatment at a substance-abuse facility. Lack of insurance and insufficient coverage were cited in the 2009 report as two principal causes for this disparity.
Between 40 percent and 60 percent of those who seek treatment relapse, the same report found.
Robin Barnett said recent legislation to promote parity between medical and mental-health coverage has largely been circumvented or ignored by insurers. As co-owner of [a treatment facility], she said keeping patients in treatment after detox is a constant, often futile battle.
“Insurance (companies) are the gatekeepers to the amount of treatment somebody is able to obtain"....
NIDA guidelines recommend 90 days or more of primary treatment...but most insurance companies cut off patients at two weeks. Because of the tremendous costs associated with that level of treatment, she said, there’s no incentive to see patients through.
Congress passed the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act in 2008, and there was hope of improved access to treatment...Insurers, however, quickly found new loopholes.
Barnett said coverage is often dropped as soon as the physical symptoms disappear, even though the psychological addiction remains.
“Someone can come in in acute distress and withdrawal, with sweating, shaking, exhaustion and body aches...As soon as those symptoms go away, and if there’s no major damage to the liver or other organs, or high blood pressure or physiological issues, they’ll say (the treatments) don’t meet medical necessity.”

During the decade from 1998 to 2007, the percentage of the general population who used psychotherapy remained stable. Over the same period, however, psychotherapy assumed a less prominent role in outpatient mental health care as a large and increasing proportion of mental health outpatients received psychotropic medication without psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy has traditionally been regarded as a central feature of mental health service in the United States. It is widely viewed as a core clinical activity of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and other mental health care professionals (1). Some evidence suggests that the role of psychotherapy in community treatment has diminished in recent years. According to the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, visits to office-based psychiatrists that include psychotherapy declined from 44.4% in 1996-1997 to 28.9% in 2004-2005 (2). Although the survey includes clinical diagnoses reported by the treating physicians, it offers no information about psychotherapy delivered by other mental health specialists and no person-level data on psychotherapy use. As measured by the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), the percentage of Americans treated with antidepressants who also received psychotherapy decreased from 31.5% in 1996 to 19.9% in 2005 (3). There has also been a decrease in employer-sponsored health plans that cover outpatient psychotherapy (4). Over this period, however, Americans have become more comfortable talking with health care professionals about personal problems (5), and concerns about antidepressant-associated suicidality may have led more depressed adults to pursue psychotherapy (6).

There is a paucity of information about recent national trends in use of psychotherapy in the United States. The most recent national profile of psychotherapy use indicated that in 1997 approximately 3.6% of Americans received at least one psychotherapy visit and most of those who received psychotherapy (61%) were also treated with a psychotropic medication (7). The scarcity of data on basic patterns in psychotherapy use contrasts with a relative abundance of information on patterns of psychotropic medication use (8, 9).

I was asked if I was open to political questions and said "yes." But I did not know until I heard the question if I would answer it or not. One of the first was, "Would I consider that the Administration had done all that it could to give leadership in the question of desegregation."
Suddenly I could visualize the headlines which would focus on this much-argued point in the South as against the real reason for our visit. So I promptly announced that I had come here to talk about the United Nations and I thought that my views on the subject of civil rights were well enough known for me not to discuss them on this particular visit. That saved me from any further difficulties on that score.
I have never forgotten a pamphlet written by a gentleman in answer to some reflection of mine on the civil rights issue and I had no desire to draw attention away from the United Nations, which is of paramount interest at the present time.
Our leadership in the United Nations should be of interest to all our citizens, regardless of whether or not we agree on questions which may be in some way related but are not the only thing involved in foreign policy.

The DHA-deprived rats also developed signs of resistance to insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar and regulates synaptic function in the brain. A closer look at the rats' brain tissue suggested that insulin had lost much of its power to influence the brain cells.

"Because insulin can penetrate the blood–brain barrier, the hormone may signal neurons to trigger reactions that disrupt learning and cause memory loss," Gomez-Pinilla said.

He suspects that fructose is the culprit behind the DHA-deficient rats' brain dysfunction. Eating too much fructose could block insulin's ability to regulate how cells use and store sugar for the energy required for processing thoughts and emotions.

"Insulin is important in the body for controlling blood sugar, but it may play a different role in the brain, where insulin appears to disturb memory and learning," he said. "Our study shows that a high-fructose diet harms the brain as well as the body. This is something new."

Gomez-Pinilla, a native of Chile and an exercise enthusiast who practices what he preaches, advises people to keep fructose intake to a minimum and swap sugary desserts for fresh berries and Greek yogurt, which he keeps within arm's reach in a small refrigerator in his office. An occasional bar of dark chocolate that hasn't been processed with a lot of extra sweetener is fine too, he said.

Still planning to throw caution to the wind and indulge in a hot-fudge sundae? Then also eat foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, like salmon, walnuts and flaxseeds, or take a daily DHA capsule. Gomez-Pinilla recommends one gram of DHA per day.

"Our findings suggest that consuming DHA regularly protects the brain against fructose's harmful effects," said Gomez-Pinilla. "It's like saving money in the bank. You want to build a reserve for your brain to tap when it requires extra fuel to fight off future diseases."

The UCLA study was funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Gomez-Pinilla's lab will next examine the role of diet in recovery from brain trauma.

Expenditures for Treatment of Mental Health Disorders among Young Adults Ages 18-26, 2007-2009: Estimates for the U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population
Statistical Brief #358
Top 10 Most Costly Conditions among Men and Women, 2008: Estimates for the U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Adult Population, Age 18 and Older
Statistical Brief #331
Health Care Expenditures for Adults Ages 18-64 with a Mental Health or Substance Abuse Related Expense: 2007 versus 1997
Statistical Brief #319
Anxiety and Mood Disorders: Use and Expenditures for Adults 18 and Older, U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population, 2007
Statistical Brief #303
The Five Most Costly Medical Conditions, 1997 and 2002: Estimates for the U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population
Statistical Brief #80
Antidepressant Use in the U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population, 2002
Statistical Brief #77
Trends in Antidepressant Use by the U.S. Civilian Noninstitutionalized Population, 1997 and 2002
Statistical Brief #76
Outpatient Prescription Medicines: A Comparison of Expenditures by Household-Reported Condition, 1987 and 2001
Statistical Brief #43

About 3% of Americans had outpatient psychotherapy in 2007—roughly the same as in 1998—although the percentage taking antidepressants and other psychotropic drugs rose sharply, according to an analysis in the American Journal of Psychiatry last year. The same study found that the average number of visits dropped from nearly 10 in 1998 to eight in 2007.

male 11" foot size 43 most models

Size 43 per chart, possibly 44+ per reviews? Need to try on in store.

The U.S. Department of Education has identified 16 "key components" in state bullying legislation, including a statement of scope, listing of enumerated groups, process of district policy review, definitions and reporting guidelines. Minnesota ranks last in the country with its state bullying law only covering two of the 16 components, according to an Education Department analysis of state bullying laws released in December. Nebraska ranks second-to-last by covering four of the 16 components.

Statement of scope, one of the most common components of state bullying laws, establishes where legislation applies and what conditions must exist for schools to have authority over student conduct.

According to the Education Department report, Minnesota is one of just three states -- alongside Wisconsin and Arizona -- that prohibits bullying but doesn't define that behavior. The state also doesn't provide for its districts a model bullying policy, and at a mere 37 words, its anti-bullying law is the shortest one in the country:

Each school board shall adopt a written policy prohibiting intimidation and bullying of any student. The policy shall address intimidation and bullying in all forms, including, but not limited to, electronic forms and forms involving Internet use.

What we're seeing is the strategy clearly laid out by the National Organization for Marriage: divide blacks from whites, create confusing amendments that do not just ban marriage for gay couples, but any recognition or rights at all, and use the churches as your main organizing tool. This had, for me, an added wound: seeing some African-Americans celebrate marginalizing another minority in the South is heart-breaking.

The twist was that before each word and image appeared, the word “me” or “other” was flashed on the screen for 35 milliseconds — long enough for participants to subliminally process the word but short enough that they could not consciously see it. The theory here, known as semantic association, is that when “me” precedes words or images that reflect your sexual orientation (for example, heterosexual images for a straight person), you will sort these images into the correct category faster than when “me” precedes words or images that are incongruent with your sexual orientation (for example, homosexual images for a straight person). This technique, adapted from similar tests used to assess attitudes like subconscious racial bias, reliably distinguishes between self-identified straight individuals and those who self-identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual.

Using this methodology we identified a subgroup of participants who, despite self-identifying as highly straight, indicated some level of same-sex attraction (that is, they associated “me” with gay-related words and pictures faster than they associated “me” with straight-related words and pictures). Over 20 percent of self-described highly straight individuals showed this discrepancy.

Notably, these “discrepant” individuals were also significantly more likely than other participants to favor anti-gay policies; to be willing to assign significantly harsher punishments to perpetrators of petty crimes if they were presumed to be homosexual; and to express greater implicit hostility toward gay subjects (also measured with the help of subliminal priming). Thus our research suggests that some who oppose homosexuality do tacitly harbor same-sex attraction.

What leads to this repression? We found that participants who reported having supportive and accepting parents were more in touch with their implicit sexual orientation and less susceptible to homophobia. Individuals whose sexual identity was at odds with their implicit sexual attraction were much more frequently rais

How to be cool, man. (Video and soooo much more!)

My favorite new way to use coconut oil is for popcorn. The oil brings out the nutty sweetness of the corn itself while adding a rich creamy sensation, without having to pour melted butter on the top. Of course, the movie theaters knew it all along.

Last year, both Jobs and Ive were named by Fortune as among the smartest people in technology. In giving Jobs top honors among all CEOs, the magazine referred to him as a "visionary, a micromanager, and a showman." Naming Ive as the top designer in technology, Fortune credited him as the person who created the iPhone and said that "from the iPod to the iPhone to the iPad, his contributions have set the course not just for Apple but for design more broadly."

curated feed of updates by Mother Jones, recommended by Columbia Journalism Review

"I mean - REALLY?"

"Okay, I'll start by checking myself for feathers and talons..."

full-size

Shoelson SE, Lee J, Goldfine AB. Inflammation and insulin resistance. J Clin Invest. 2006 Jul;116(7):1793-801. Review. Erratum in: J Clin Invest. 2006 Aug;116(8):2308.
Fleischman A, Shoelson SE, Bernier R, Goldfine AB. Salsalate Improves Glycemia and Inflammatory Parameters in Obese Young Adults. Diabetes Care. 2007 Oct 24; [Epub ahead of print]
Goldfine AB, Silver S, Aldhahi W, Cai D, Tatro E, Lee J, Shoelson SE. Use of Salsalate to Target Inflammation in the Treatment of Insulin Resistance and Type 2 Diabetes, Clinical and Translational Science, 2008 May;1(1):36-43
Goldfine AB, Fonseca V, Jablonski KA, Pyle L, Staten MA, Shoelson SE; for the TINSAL-T2D (Targeting Inflammation Using Salsalate in Type 2 Diabetes) Study Team. The Effects of Salsalate on Glycemic Control in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Trial. Ann Intern Med. 2010 Mar 16;152(6):346-357.

Experts who were not involved in the multi-center trial agreed larger trials were needed, and said the impact of the drug on blood glucose levels[—.5% reduction in A1c over three months at the highest tested dose of 4g daily—]was moderate. But they said the findings were exciting because they suggested Type 2 diabetes could be treated by targeting the underlying inflammation....
Since atherosclerosis is also considered an inflammatory state, this approach may also potentially reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications associated with diabetes...
Salsalate sells for less than a quarter a pill, and does not present the opportunity for profit that would attract large pharmaceutical companies to do the research...
The patients continued with their regular Type 2 diabetes treatment regimen throughout the study.

"Then we realized that there were other salicylates, chemically similar to aspirin, that don’t carry the same risk of bleeding.” The drug they’re studying now, salsalate, was widely used not too long ago to treat arthritis, but it got “back-shelved” when other drugs were developed for the treatment of pain and arthritis.
The researchers’ first salsalate studies showed that blood glucose control and glucose metabolism improved in people with diabetes; salsalate also lowered inflammation markers and improved levels of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood. The second round of studies, investigating whether the drugs could have a beneficial impact on overweight people who do not have diabetes but are at risk for developing it, found that blood glucose levels improved, as did inflammatory markers and other risk factors for disease.

Each percentage point decrease in A1C lowers the risk of long-term diabetes complications by 37%.
Diabetes is more common and often more severe in African Americans. To determine if people in this population could lower their A1C levels by talking regularly with others who had successfully controlled their blood glucose levels, researchers recruited 118 African Americans at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center who hadn’t been successful at lowering their A1C[:]
Those in the usual care group were provided with specific goals for A1C.
Participants in the financial incentive group were given $100 for lowering their A1C by one point (for example, from 7.9% to 6.9%) and $200 for lowering their A1C by two points or for hitting an A1C level of 6.5% or lower.
Those in the peer-mentoring group were connected with someone with diabetes who had once had poor blood glucose control but who had brought it to target levels (an average of 6.7%). The mentors were paid $20 and told to meet with their “mentees” at least once per week for the duration of the six-month study.
Mentors and mentees spoke an average of four times during the first month of the study and twice a month thereafter. The researchers were not sure whether this decrease in contact was due to reduced motivation or to a perceived lack of need for more frequent communication.
[Peer-mentoring participants] achieved the greatest reduction in A1C levels: Among those in the usual care group, A1C was reduced, on average, from 9.9% to 9.8%; among those in the financial incentive group, A1C was reduced from 9.5% to 9.1%; and among those in the peer-mentoring group, A1C was reduced from 9.8% to 8.7%.
“Perhaps the most obvious attraction of this type of peer mentoring is that it is virtually free, almost certainly enhancing its cost-effectiveness relative to more expensive interventions, such as nurse care management, telemedicine, and group medical appointments"...
The researchers note that all participants in the study were veterans, so the sense of camaraderie among them may not translate to other groups of people with diabetes, and they call for future studies that look into whether the blood glucose effects seen in this trial are sustainable....
{T]o find a diabetes mentor, check out the article “Peer Support, Education, and Mentoring,” [link] by certified diabetes educator Martha Mitchell Funnell.

"When you use [Google Translate] to take a letter from a Swedish girlfriend and check that you have understood what she meant, that's fine, if your Swedish is a bit ropey. ... Google Translate has many perfectly sensible and viable uses, and it's a most impressive intellectual and technical achievement. But ... Google itself wouldn't think of using Google Translate to produce its publicity literature in the languages in which it sells its services. It uses human translators to do that....
"Every human language can fulfill all the needs that its users want to make of it. And if it really needs a word to articulate the wrist and distinguish the hand from the arm, well, they'll jolly well invent one so as to do so. And if they haven't invented one, it's because actually their [are] sort of other ways around it, because life is a very flexible thing.
"I'm personally very skeptical of the idea that any language, any of the languages that human communities have, constrains them to talk about the world in any particular way. It may make it easier to talk about the world in some particular ways, but if you really need to make a distinction, well, you invent a word. You do something new. Language is forever changing in response to [its] users' need."

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I have had many patients – with type 2 diabetes – ask if they can get rid of it. I always explain that by making healthy food choices, exercising, managing their stress and losing weight they can get their blood glucose level down. Once their numbers are consistently in the “normal” range (70-110 mg/dL before meals and less than 140 mg/dL 2 hours after meals) they will feel better, have a greatly reduced risk of long-term complications, and they will appear to not have diabetes. However, diabetes is still lurking there: if they were to return to their old habits/lifestyle, their numbers would go right back up.

The article linked above discusses the “remission” of diabetes after gastric bypass/banding. It is very common for diabetes to go away after someone has this type of weight loss surgery. If the person follows a healthy lifestyle consistently – healthy eating and regular exercise – they can keep their blood glucose levels down. Unfortunately, even in these people, returning to unhealthy eating habits and/or lack of exercise can land them back in diabetes-ville. I’ve had patients for whom this has happened.

Healthcare professionals historically used the term, “borderline” to describe what is now called “pre-diabetes”. To those of us in the field, this means type 2 diabetes is knocking on the door, and without sufficient lifestyle adjustments (changes), it’s going to come right in. We no longer say “borderline”, because people just didn’t take it seriously. How many times have you heard someone say, “I’m just borderline. I don’t have to worry about it.” Just as type 2 diabetes can be prevented with a healthy lifestyle, diabetes remission can be prolonged the same way. Regardless, I think it’s risky to call this a “cure” or even “reversal”. I worry that people might truly believe it’s gone, whereas even “remission” implies that it could come back.

Unlike the other cloud systems, Dropbox doesn’t need a Web-browser interface. It will run natively on almost any PC, including Linux or devices running Android or iOS.

What I really like about Dropbox is that I can use it just like it was any other network drive with my file manager. Unlike the other services, there are no extras. Dropbox offers file storage without any frills. On the other hand, sometimes that’s all you need and since it lets you easily get to your most important files no matter what device you’re using I find it extremely handy.

Kevin Allocca is YouTube’s trends manager, and he has deep thoughts about silly web video. In this talk from TEDYouth, he shares the 4 reasons a video goes viral. There are some funny videos here, very entertaining. You’ll also get some ideas (if you think laterally) for creating viral videos to promote your freelance businesses.

iCoud does not replace local storage on iPhones, iPads and iPod Touches. What it does is keep your data in sync between any Apple device or PC that you own. For example, if you're writing a document in Pages on an iPad, that document will automatically be available for editing on your iPhone or a PC, with no need to transfer files by e-mail or USB.

iCloud also remembers your device's settings, apps, home screen layouts, ring tones and text messages, so all of that information is available if you upgrade or replace your iPhone or iPad. Think of it like the backup function in iTunes, but through the Internet instead.

Which apps use iCloud?

Apple iCloud: What It is, and What it CostsApple's iWork productivity software -- Pages, Numbers and Keynote -- can sync documents through iCloud. Contacts, Calendar and Mail will also be updated automatically across multiple devices. A new service called Photo Stream allows you to download your 1,000 most recent photos to a computer or other iOS device for 30 days. You can also store a device's entire camera roll in iCloud for longer.

Third-party apps will be able to use iCloud as well. Rovio, for instance, could make Angry Birds data available across devices so your iPhone and iPad will show the same progress through the game. It's up to developers to implement these kinds of features.

What's included for free, and what costs extra?

Apple will provide 5 GB of iCloud storage for free, but iTunes music, apps, books and Photo Stream don't count against that total. iCloud storage is consumed by documents, mail, app data, your full camera roll, settings and other device information. Additional storage costs $20 per year for 10 GB, $40 per year for 20 GB and $100 per year for 50 GB.

Apple suggests that 5 GB of storage should suffice, but that depends largely on whether you're storing lots of photos and videos on your Camera Roll, and how much app data you're backing up. The former should be easy to determine -- you can already see in iTunes how much data is used by photos and video -- but the latter will be harder to pin down until we see how many developers adopt the service.

Apple’s iCloud uses the cloud to push content and media across your Apple devices but it doesn’t eliminate the need for on-board storage. Box is essentially a hard drive in the sky where you can download your content on multiple devices and platforms or you can stream that content too.