Early surgical menopause linked to declines in memory and thinking skills

Jan. 14, 2013 ? Women who undergo surgical menopause at an earlier age may have an increased risk of decline in memory and thinking skills, according to a study released January 14 that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego, March 16 to 23, 2013. Early surgical menopause is the removal of both ovaries before natural menopause and often accompanies a hysterectomy.

"While we found a link between surgical menopause and thinking and memory decline, women on longer hormone replacement therapies had slower declines," said study author Riley Bove, MD, with Harvard Medical School in Boston and a member of the American Academy of Neurology. "Since hormone replacement therapy is widely available, our research raises questions as to whether these therapies have a protective effect against cognitive decline and whether women who experience early surgical menopause should be taking hormone replacement therapies afterward."

The study included 1,837 women between the ages of 53 and 100 participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Of those, 33 percent had undergone surgical menopause. The women were given several types of tests that measured thinking skills and memory. Researchers also recorded age at the start of menstruation, years of menstrual cycles and use and length of hormone replacement therapies.

The study found that among women who underwent surgical menopause, earlier age of the procedure was associated with a faster decline in long-term memory related to concepts and ideas, in memory that relates to time and places and in overall thinking abilities. The results stayed the same after considering factors such as age, education and smoking. This same association was not seen in women who underwent natural menopause.

There was also a significant association between age at surgical menopause and the plaques linked to Alzheimer's disease.

"Our study warrants further research as the interest in this subject will continue to grow right along with our aging population," said Bove.

The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/EM4QVY4gCek/130114161319.htm

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Wind farm contracts to increase energy bills for families

Heathrow Airport could face severe disruption, with forecasters warning there could be up to 5cm of snow in some parts of the country.

Energy bills have more than doubled since 2004 to more than ?1,300 a year per household, largely due to rising gas prices.

Bills are set to go up by hundreds of pounds a year under all the Government?s green and fuel poverty policies.

Following the MPs damning report into the wind farm contracts, the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has now said it will ?re-examine some of the terms? of the lucrative deals.

The sharp criticism of the Government came in a report on the ?elaborate? new system that licences companies to operate assets bringing wind-generated power onshore.

Energy ministers want controversial offshore wind farms to provide up to 15 per cent of the country?s electricity needs by 2020.

That will require around ?8 billion of investment in infrastructure such as platforms, cables and substations.

The committee said that long-term licences awarded to energy companies so far ?appear heavily skewed towards attracting investors rather than securing a good deal for consumers?.

Under the terms of the contracts the companies are guaranteed an RPI inflation linked income for 20 years regardless of how much the infrastructure is used.

The estimated returns of 10-11 per cent on the initial licences ?look extremely generous given the limited risks?, the MPs said.

Ministers stand accused of failing to learn lessons from failed Private Finance Initiatives, with the committee warning that costs from the wind farm schemes will now be passed on to taxpayers.

Mrs Hodge, the MP for Barking, described the way the contracts had been awarded as ?shocking?.

?[The energy companies] are guaranteed income even if we don?t use the electricity and if the transmission cables fail they can only get fined up to 10 per cent of the total income coming in,? she said.

?It?s like another PFI. If you create such generous terms people would be mad not to get involved in the market.?

The contracts were awarded to the energy firms in March 2011 but the policy was decided by the last Labour Government, the committee confirmed.

?Not only is it unlikely that this new licensing system for bringing electricity from offshore wind farms onto the national grid will deliver any savings for consumers, it could well lead to higher prices,? Mrs Hodge added.

?Indeed the terms of the transmission licences appear to have been designed almost entirely to attract investors at the expense of securing a good deal for consumers.

?Licensees and their investors are provided with a guaranteed income, increasing annually in line with RPI, for 20 years regardless of the extent to which the assets are used.

?Future payments to licensees are estimated at around ?17 billion, and this will ultimately be funded by customers who could well end up paying higher electricity prices.?

The Labour MP said DECC and the Gas and Electricity Markets Authority had wanted to create a ?competitive market? for offshore transmission, but the first six licences were awarded to just two firms - Transmission Capital Partners and Macquarie.

?In setting up this new market the Department and Authority ignored vital lessons from previous government experience of PFI, such as the need to share refinancing gains, and it is shocking that the Treasury allowed it to proceed,? the Labour MP said.

Christopher Heaton-Harris, the Conservative MP for Daventry, warned that consumers could be left paying for ?redundant? wind farm technology because of the deals.

?This is going to be a sizable chunk of money in the future on top of our bills,? Mr Heaton-Harris said.

?There is every chance that in 15 years you could be seeing huge numbers of redundant offshore wind farms that we will still be paying for.?

A DECC spokesman insisted that the contracts had been designed to ?drive value for money? for consumers.

?The offshore electricity transmission regime harnesses competitive forces to drive value for money for consumers,? the spokesman said. ?Potential licence holders bid against each other on price in the context of the licence terms.

"With six licences now granted, now is the right time to re-examine some of the terms. We therefore welcome Ofgem's current consultation on them.?

The disclosure that consumers? energy bills could increase came as a poll showed that the majority of MPs do not trust energy companies to offer genuine competition and provide customers with choices so they can choose between suppliers.

The survey of 92 MPs by pollsters Ipsos MORI found that 86 per cent distrust the companies to ?provide clear information so customers can choose between suppliers?.

Of the surveyed MPs, just 10 per cent said they believe energy companies will try to offer ?genuine competition? in energy supply.

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568387/s/277b949f/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cnews0C97992610CWind0Efarm0Econtracts0Eto0Eincrease0Eenergy0Ebills0Efor0Efamilies0Bhtml/story01.htm

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Thread: Character Accents - Writing Forum

?I'd rather be a could-be if I cannot be an are; because a could-be is a maybe who is reaching for a star. I'd rather be a has-been than a might-have-been by far; for a might-have-been has never been, but a has-been was once an are.? - Milton Berle

There's only one absolute in writing - Never listen to absolutes.

Source: http://www.writingforums.org/showthread.php?t=59018

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11 Alternatives To Paying For Cable - Business Insider

Call us old fashioned, but you can't go wrong with good old antennas if you're looking for basic channels without all the fuss of gadgets.

Depending on where you live, you can get standard stations like ABC, NBC, CBS, CW, Fox, public access channels, and PBS. People in well-populated cities will probably find this option more viable.?

Cost: Antennas typically range from $4 to $55. There are many to choose from, however, so check out Antenna Web to help you decide.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/11-alternatives-to-paying-for-cable-2013-1?op=1

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Wisconsin lawmakers to avoid late-night debates

MADISON, Wis. (AP) ? Wisconsin lawmakers have a bipartisan deal to avoid all-night debates in the state Assembly.

Party leaders announced the agreement Thursday. The deal hinges on Republican and Democratic leaders agreeing each day on how much time they will spend on each measure.

As a test of the new procedure, both sides have agreed to limit the day's debate to no more than five hours.

Going past midnight happens elsewhere, especially at the end of sessions or as other deadlines loom. But the Wisconsin Assembly in recent years has routinely pushed debates and votes on contentious bills into the wee hours, when only lobbyists and the cleaning crew are left in the building.

Republican Speaker Robin Vos says both sides want to eliminate all-night sessions, saying they're not in the public interest.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wisconsin-lawmakers-avoid-night-debates-173858054.html

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Partial victory for Bolivia in coca fight

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) ? Evo Morales' global crusade to decriminalize the coca leaf, launched in 2006 after the coca growers' union leader was first elected president of Bolivia, has finally attained a partial, if largely, symbolic victory.

A year ago, Bolivia temporarily withdrew from the 1961 U.N. convention on narcotic drugs because it classifies coca leaf, the raw material of cocaine, as an illicit drug.

It has now rejoined, with one important caveat: The centuries-old Andean practice of chewing or otherwise ingesting coca leaves, a mild stimulant in its natural form, will now be universally recognized as legal within Bolivia.

To press for coca's decriminalization, Bolivia's first indigenous president has chewed it at international forums, bestowed coca-leaf art on such figures as former U.S. Secretary of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and promoted the leaf as a "nutritional" ingredient fit for school lunches.

Bolivia's condition for rejoining the convention met resistance from 15 countries, including the United States and the rest of the G8 group of industrial nations, according to U.N. spokeswoman Arancha Hinojal. But the objections received by the United Nations ahead of Thursday's midnight deadline fell far short.

In order to block Bolivia's return to the convention a full third of its signatories ? or 63 ? needed to object.

Among nations objecting were Germany, Mexico, Russia, Sweden, Britain, Japan, The Netherlands and Portugal. Notably, neither Peru nor Colombia, the world's two other cocaine-producing nations, filed objections. Nor did any other South American nation.

The White House has, since 2008, maintained that Bolivia has failed to meet its international counternarcotics obligations.

"We oppose Bolivia's reservation and continue to believe it will lead to a greater supply of cocaine and increased cocaine trafficking and related crime," said a senior U.S. State Department official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name.

"While we recognize Bolivia's capacity and willingness to undertake some successful counternarcotics activities, especially in terms of coca eradication, we estimate that much of the coca legally grown in Bolivia is sold to drug traffickers, leading to the conclusion that social control of coca (allowing some legal growing) is not achieving the desired results," the official said in a statement.

Morales had long sought to remove language from the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, which obliges its signatories to ban the chewing of coca leaves, and temporarily withdrew from it on Jan. 1, 2012.

Morales' government said a celebration was planned for Monday with coca farmers.

"It's a great achievement but much remains to be done," said Rolando Vargas, a coca growers' leader in Cochabamba who belongs to Morales' union.

Coca leaves and coca tea, which fight hunger and alleviate altitude sickness, are widely available in Peru and Colombia and the highlands of northern Argentina. The coca leaf also has deep religious and social value in the Andean region.

Its non-narcotic extract has also been used to flavor the soft drink Coca-Cola.

Bolivia has the world's third-largest coca crop, by U.N. estimate, with 31,000 hectares (120 square miles) under cultivation. More than a third of that crop is legal.

Morales expelled the U.S. ambassador and U.S. counterdrug agents in 2008, accusing them of inciting the opposition.

Washington denies the accusations. Both countries have been working, so far with limited success, to restore relations at the ambassadorial level.

The text of Bolivia's reservation says it "reserves the right to allow in its territory: traditional coca leaf chewing; the consumption and use of the coca leaf in its natural state for cultural and medicinal purposes; its use in infusions; and also the cultivation, trade and possession of the coca leaf to the extent necessary for these licit purposes."

___

Associated Press Writer Frank Bajak in Lima, Peru contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/partial-victory-bolivia-coca-fight-160037842.html

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Lingerie Football League shedding lingerie, and not in the fun way

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