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Archive for August, 2011

Few televised sports inspire more passion than college football, especially when it comes to opinions on announcers and the networks that employ them. With kickoff less than a week away, I asked college football writers Stewart Mandel, Andy Staples and George Schroeder to join me for a roundtable on a number of television-related topics:

1. Which college football announcers and announcing teams are must-watches for you and why?

Stewart Mandel: Now that Gus Johnson is joining the college football realm (for Fox), he will be my first real "must tune in." (i.e.: I might turn on a game I otherwise wouldn’t.) Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit have earned their role as the Saturday primetime crew. You know it’s a big game when you hear Brent’s voice, and Herbstreit has consistently gotten better as an analyst. Gary Danielson (when he’s not relentlessly shilling for the SEC) is hands-down the best game analyst in terms of breaking down action in real time. Todd Blackledge is not far behind. And Mike Mayock really emerged as a star on Notre Dame games last year. Joe Tessitore and Rod Gilmore may be the best pairing on television; it’s a shame they’re buried doing the Friday night late game. Sean McDonough also does a great job with play-by-play.

Andy Staples: I’m thrilled that Gus Johnson is going to be calling college football. When he calls an Oregon game and tracks that offense ripping up and down the field, his head might actually explode. I think Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit provide the right gravitas for what is often the most hyped game of each week. I also love the Musburger drinking game, which I unfortunately can never partake in because I work Saturdays. I like Rece Davis as the play-by-play guy on Thursday nights. He’s also great in the studio on Saturdays. Davis is the best college football ringmaster working, because it’s clear he knows the sport and loves the sport. As for analysts, I’m a big fan of Ed Cunningham — and not only because of The King of Kong. Cunningham consistently offers the most intelligent analysis in a language viewers can understand.

George Schroeder: It’s probably in large part because of the matchups — one of the biggest games of the week, and in primetime — but Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit have become a fun pairing for me. Musburger can overdo it, but how can you not get excited when he does? Herbstreit has become really good, too, in expanding far beyond his College GameDay role. I’m really looking forward to Gus Johnson on Fox. Not for technical expertise. For insane fun. At the Pac-12′s media day in L.A. last month, you knew he was there before you saw him. ("We’re at FOX! STUDIOS!" — or something like that.) Anticipating when Gus happens is half the fun, the potential energy. When it goes kinetic: MADNESS!

Richard Deitsch: Agree with much of what’s been said above. Herbstreit is simply terrific as an analyst, and his chemistry with Musburger (even with Brent’s tendency to overhype an event) is really enjoyable. College GameDay ranks with TNT’s Inside The NBA as the best in class for a studio show and that’s in large part because of Chris Fowler, who treats his role like a professional. Staples is right. Ed Cunningham is underexposed. I still like Verne Lundquist on college football and he and Danielson are an enjoyable pair, even with Danielson’s sis-boom-bah-ness for all things SEC. What else? Sean McDonough is a terrific game caller and I’d like to see more Tessitore and Gillmore, too. If you read me, you already know what I think about Mayock: He’s the best football analyst working today. I’m not part of the cult of Gus when it comes to football. He’ll be fine, but the sport doesn’t lend itself to frenzy outside of end-of-game situations.

2. Which college football announcer/s are the least appealing for you and why?

Mandel: Craig James and Jesse Palmer. James’ glaring conflict of interest (more on that later) aside, it’s still two ex-jocks glad-handing each other and spewing clichés for three-and-a-half hours. I feel bad for Rece Davis, a true pro, who spends Thursday nights wedged between those two and Saturdays moderating the Mark May-Lou Holtz circus act.

Staples: Craig James, because he adds very little to the broadcast, and ESPN has sacrificed much of its journalistic integrity to protect him in the wake of his campaign to get Mike Leach fired at Texas Tech. If ESPN replaced James with any random ex-jock, viewers wouldn’t complain a bit. Yet for some reason the network has bent over backward to protect James. It makes no sense.

Schroeder: Other than Craig James? Even aside from the helicopter-dad/Mike Leach/Texas Tech stuff, I’m not a big fan. And how can we leave aside that stuff? Since he is still employed, can we at least eliminate the weekly weird-workout feature with James (and Jesse Palmer) and the home team’s strength coach on those Thursday night games? We get it, James was a big-time athlete and he’s still able to toss around big tires.There are a lot of forgettable announcers out there. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. As much as I enjoy listening to him, Musburger walks a fine line. When he crosses it, he can override the game. I’ll take a dialed-back, who-was-that-announcer broadcast and be more than satisfied.

Deitsch: That Craig James gets such prominent assignments remains a mystery on the D.B. Cooper scale. He is unpopular by any fan metric you choose, including performance and likeability. The fact that former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is suing James merely adds noise here. ESPN management says it values James for his relationships with coaches but what that ultimately leads to for viewers is little more than backslapping commentary. The network deserves to get crushed for keeping him on the air. I’m not as bothered by Palmer as some of the other guys but I agree with everyone on Holtz, whose act wore thin around the time Ron Powlus graduated from Notre Dame. Again, Holtz is an example of Bristol management having a tin ear with a broadcaster whose name far exceeds his value. Same with James.

3. If you could change anything about ESPN’s college football coverage, what would you change and why?

Mandel: It’s far too late to stop, but ideally there’d be more separation of church and state between the programming and journalism sides. The Bruce Feldman incident and the Longhorn Network have shown that horse has left the stable for good.

Staples: Lately, it seems as if ESPN has tried to set the agenda for college coverage. This is a bad idea. The big story is what it is, and people will seek coverage of it even if it happens to be SEC coaches "Car Wash" day. There will be days when I turn on College Football Live and I wonder if I even cover the same sport. The fact that ESPN is in bed financially with all the conferences shouldn’t affect its journalism choices. Really, ESPN is so massive that the business relationships don’t have to affect journalism choices. At this point, the conferences need ESPN more than it needs the conferences. So it shouldn’t kowtow.

Schroeder: See my answer to No. 2, and the weekly workout feature. But I’d also like to see more Rece Davis and less Dr. Lou. Rece Davis is really good. He’s a big reason why, aside from the actual games, College Football Final is my favorite TV on fall Saturdays (although to be fair, I don’t see as much of College GameDay as I’d like; out here in the Pacific time zone, the pre-dawn start interferes with my sleeping habits). With Holtz, it’s not so much that I want less of the former coach, but less of the caricature he plays. Or maybe it’s not a caricature? His interplay with Mark May often feels really forced.

On the subject of GameDay, I wish we could rewind a few years. I’m really glad Lee Corso has recovered so well from the stroke. The GameDay guys — talent, producers, everyone — have done a great job helping him. Against the odds, his weekly headgear choice turned into and remains must-see TV — it’s cheesy silliness, but it’s somehow so right. If this is possible for a segment on a preview show, it has become iconic. I just wish we could have the old Lee back (wait, I guess I mean the younger Lee; ah, you know what I mean). When Corso finally retires, the show is going to take a huge hit.

Deitsch: This won’t happen but I’d like to see the hiring ethos change from former college coaches to information gathers. There’s value in hiring ex-coaches but not if they provide vanilla commentary as they bide time for their next job. The Holtz-May shtick is bad television and the truth is the segments make May, who is a bright guy, look silly and less credible. If you want me to believe that Jenn Brown was the best candidate in America for such a high-profile gig, I’m going to have to see something resembling journalistic instincts soon.

4. Are regional networks (Big Ten Network, Pac-12 Network) good for the sport?

Mandel: Absolutely. I don’t know why it’s taken so long, but major media companies are finally realizing that A) college football is huge and B) fans can’t get enough coverage of it. The major networks can only show so many games, talk about so many teams. If you’re a Purdue fan and you can watch a network that shows all your games and talks about your team every night of the week, that’s a dream come true.

Staples: Of course. Variety for the consumer is always a great thing. Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott points out frequently that college football has been undervalued and underleveraged for years. Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany probably figured that out before anyone. That’s why the creation of the Big Ten Network might be one of the most important things to happen in college sports in decades. The appetite for college football is huge. The conference networks give viewers more of what they obviously want.

Schroeder: To paraphrase a lot of coaches, no question! Let’s see what the Pac-12 Network actually becomes, especially with the regional network components, but in terms of showing games — what’s not to like about every football and men’s basketball game for a league being televised? It’s good for the fans, and good for the sport. All of this assumes widespread distribution. The Big Ten had issues but has them mostly resolved. What’s the Pac-12 Network going to do with satellite providers and cable systems that aren’t Comcast, Cox, Time Warner or Brighthouse? Also, what pricing tier will the network be on? But in general, I think the conference networks are a big positive for college football (and hoops, too).

Deitsch: It’s fantastic programming for the diehard conference fan, and I love the auxiliary benefit of non-revenue sports such as women’s basketball and track and field getting added exposure on football’s back. Here’s the big downside: Regional networks, in general, are not a great place to find journalism. No matter how ESPN spins it, The Longhorn Network is a PR arm of Texas. The network’s existence also creates an impossible situation for ESPN’s college football producers and reporters (plenty of whom care about reporting). For every story ESPN does on Texas and its opponents, they’ll be skeptics wondering what the motivation was for the story. As one longtime ESPNer told me, the LHN will be the worst decision in the company’s history regarding its newsgathering arm.

5. ESPN’s Beth Mowins was given a fulltime slate of games this season, joining Pam Ward as a fulltime play-by-play announcer on college football. Does gender matter to you when it comes to a college football game-caller?

Mandel: Not if the person is good. Pam Ward has taken a lot of criticism — probably too much so — and I’m sure much of it was gender-based. But for me it was more that she just wasn’t very good. Beth Mowins has been exceptional in everything she’s done and I look forward to hearing her call football.

Staples: No. Ability matters.

Schroeder: No. I’ll admit it used to be a bit jarring, as though something was out of place, because it was so unusual. Not anymore. Either way, I just want competence. But I don’t think we’re going to see too much deviation from the standard formula — all-male booths — in the near future.

Deitsch: Not for me. I’ve been touting Mowins for a long time, and I appreciate ESPN management finally catching up with me. She’ll be great. I think gender still matters for some viewers when it comes to announcing football, but the more women get an opportunity as game-callers, the less that will be an issue.

6. How big of an advantage is the Longhorn Network for Texas?

Mandel: It depends on what’s ultimately allowed. Showing high-school games would be a game-changer, but I think there’s so much pressure on Texas and the NCAA right now to block it. Otherwise, it’s a slight advantage financially but not that much exposure-wise, because no one that’s not a Texas fan is going to watch it.

Staples: It’s huge. Besides Notre Dame, no other school has the combination of marketing muscle and huge fan base to make this work. Texas is the dominant school in a state of 25 million people. That fact alone guarantees wide distribution. If they ever are allowed to broadcast high school games on The Longhorn Network, it will give Texas an almost prohibitive recruiting advantage.

Schroeder: Will they be showing Dillon High’s games? Even without high school games, it’s a giant advantage in a lot of ways. Think of the potential just considering the ‘Inside Texas football’ type of programming — carefully sanitized Hard Knocks meant to present the football program, in this case, in nothing but the most positive light. Never mind the high school games, recruits will be promised serious exposure — and then they’ll get it. Fans will lap it up. The kids will love it. How could it not help? That said, Texas already gets almost every player it wants from in-state, and rarely even ventures beyond the borders (you might have heard, but it’s a whole other country). It’s not like there are a bunch of kids who’ve been getting away from the ‘Horns — but figure fewer get away now.

Deitsch: Huge advantage. For starters, it’s a direct message that Texas is linked to the biggest television brand in sports. Obviously, as the guys mentioned above, showing high school games in the future would be a killer ap for recruiting.

7. How valuable are sideline reporters on a college football broadcast?

Mandel: I respect many of them (Erin Andrews, Tracy Wolfson, Holly Rowe) and the hard work they do, but it’s hard to argue game coverage would be worse off without the 30-second coach interview on the way into the locker room. They do prove valuable on occasion when major injuries arise, or other unexpected behind-the-scenes developments come up. Case in point: When Erin Andrews described the "mass confusion" on the West Virginia sideline when the coaches botched a late-game situation during one of Bill Stewart’s first games as head coach.

Staples: Very valuable. Go back to the West Virginia-Colorado game a few years ago. In 30 seconds, Erin Andrews encapsulated what would be the entire Bill Stewart era at West Virginia.

Schroeder: It depends. The best reporters give us a sense for the mood on the sidelines, and provide really useful nuggets. But that’s the best of them. I see most sideline reporting largely these days as a series of pre-packaged sidebars, and the quality of that coverage varies with the reporter.

Deitsch: The value for me comes in reporting things the viewer can’t see (injuries, the emotion of the crowd). The best of the lot ask pointed questions of coaches, especially at end of a game when emotions run raw and high. There’s tons of value there. The worst are merely part of the school’s PR apparatus and value relationships with the coaches and players more than informing the viewers.

8. Do you trust Craig James when it comes to reporting on the Big 12?

Mandel: I wouldn’t trust Craig James to report on sixth-grade volleyball. It’s been established, via documented emails, that he not only encouraged a sitting Big 12 football coach’s dismissal but hired a PR firm to intentionally manipulate coverage. And yet he’s still walking into Big 12 coaches’ offices every week to break down tape. Now he’s running partisan political advocacy ads, which you would think would be a no-no for a television analyst (I seem to recall Lou Holtz getting in trouble simply for endorsing a candidate). How he’s still on television (and in prominent time slots at that) is one of the great mysteries of modern civilization.

Staples: No. But I don’t trust him when it comes to reporting on anything.

Schroeder: Does he report? I’m not sure how ESPN justified keeping him around. But he’s still around. And now that Leach is no longer at Texas Tech, the immediate storm has passed. It would be unthinkable to have James in the booth for one of Leach’s games (when Leach inevitably returns to coaching). Which is why it will probably happen. Until then, did you know James was a big-time athlete and he can still toss around big tires?

Deitsch: (Laughs).

9. Will Urban Meyer be a good game analyst?

Mandel: I think he’ll be good, both because he’s so closely connected to the current game (unlike a coach who’s been out of it for 20 years) and because he’s always been outspoken.

Staples: He will if he doesn’t hold back. But if he wants to get back into coaching, he’ll hold back.

Schroeder: If he wants to be. He’s articulate and polished and looks good in a suit. The question is if he’s willing to spout strong opinions, especially when it comes to questioning coaches’ decisions (on or off the field). I’m not sure he is, and I think we all suspect he’ll be back on the sidelines somewhere soon. As long as we’re talking about recent former coaches doing TV, though, I’d put in a plug here for Mike Bellotti. The former Oregon coach is doing analysis on games, not studio stuff. But he’s pretty good. He was a natural on Oregon’s in-house broadcasts in 2009, when he was the athletic director, and he’s gotten better with ESPN’s coaching. He does a nice job explaining what’s happening without getting too technical.

Deitsch: I asked Herbstreit the same question and he gave me a pretty good answer: "He just has to continue to do what he started early in his career, and that is being honest and shooting from the hip. If you go back to when he was a coach, when he stepped to the podium he would tell you exactly what he thought. That was very unique in our world. This guy was actually saying something. I think you have to do that as an analyst. Where he is going to be challenged is when his peers, his colleagues — and he is still in that fraternity — when he has to be critical. Because he owes that to the viewer. Not to pile on, because I don’t pile on, but there are certain times when you have to question some things. That will be his biggest challenge this year."

10. Give us your three TV games of the year and why.

Mandel: You never know before the season what will be the big games at the end, but right now I’d say:

1. LSU vs. Oregon at Cowboys Stadium (Sept. 3, ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET)

2. Oklahoma at Florida State (Sept. 17, ABC, TBD)

3. Nebraska at Wisconsin (Oct. 1, ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET)

Staples:

1. Oregon vs. LSU at Cowboys Stadium (Sept. 3, ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET): Because SEC people love to say the Pac-12 is soft, and everybody else loves to see an SEC team get challenged. Why ESPN scheduled this game against Georgia-Boise State — another intriguing bragging rights game — remains baffling.

2. Oklahoma at Florida State (Sept. 17, ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET): The game atmosphere in Tallahassee has gotten a lot better as the Seminoles have improved. On the evening of Sept. 17, the heat index should still be in the mid-90s when the game kicks off. That should make for some fascinating crowd shots.

3. Nebraska at Wisconsin (Oct. 1, ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET): It’s Nebraska’s first Big Ten game. It’s at night at Camp Randall Stadium. Everything will be bathed in red.

Schroeder:

1. Oregon vs. LSU at Cowboys Stadium (Sept. 3, ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET): When was the last time we a matchup of top five teams in a season opener? But wait, it gets better: at a neutral site. The winner is in prime position for a run at the BCS championship game. The loser isn’t out of it. Off-field distractions aside, it’s the kind of nonconference matchup we don’t see nearly often enough. Could there be a better kickoff?

2. Nebraska at Wisconsin (Oct. 1, ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET): I love the Huskers’ move to the Big Ten, for their sake and the Big Ten’s. Even as I hate to see them leave behind all their old rivalries, they’re a great fit. And this isn’t just Nebraska’s first Big Ten game, it’s also a gauge of whether the league’s hierarchy has been immediately altered by the expansion.

3. Oklahoma at Oklahoma State (Dec. 3, ABC, TBD): The Sooners have won eight straight in the series, but in Stillwater, it’s actually Bedlam. See last year, when the fourth quarter might have provided the best action of the season — high-stakes riveting stuff. With the Big 12′s reduction to 10 members and the resulting scheduling tweaks, the Cowboys somehow get a shot at the Sooners at home for the second straight year. It’s probably the game of the year in the Big 12 — and potentially an elimination matchup in the national title race.

Deitsch:

1. Nebraska at Wisconsin (Oct. 1, ABC, 8:00 p.m. ET): Nebraska’s first Big Ten game comes at SI’s No. 2 top Game Day experience in college football. Camp Randall and its House of Pain will be rocking.

2. Texas A&M at Oklahoma (Nov. 5, ABC, TBD): I love the Aggies this season and I smell an epic here that will be the game of the year in the Big 12.

3. Alabama at Auburn (Nov. 26, CBS, TBD): Sure, Auburn isn’t expected to contend for a national title but given the drama of last year’s game (no team had ever beaten Alabama after trailing by 24 points) and the Harvey Updyke case, the Iron Bowl is going to be compelling television for all.

Originally Published On: sportsillustrated.cnn.com – Original Article Here

Blood Test Can Predict Baby’s Sex at 7 Weeks

A simple blood test can accurately tell women the sex of their baby as early as seven weeks into a pregnancy. The test, which analyzes fetal DNA in the mother’s blood, establishes gender weeks earlier than traditional methods, such as ultrasounds. Unlike chorionic villus sampling and amniocentesis, the test is noninvasive and doesn’t carry the risk of miscarriage, according to a study published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Although it’s been available for years online and at drugstores, the test never caught on in the U.S. due to questionable accuracy. (It’s popular in Europe.) But the new study has quieted those concerns: Researchers found it determined gender correctly 95 percent of the time at seven weeks and 99 percent of the time at 20 weeks. Still, some experts worry the test could be misused, spurring an epidemic of sex-selective abortion. "In an ideal world, if there’s a serious or life-threatening genetic problem with the fetus, I understand people will want to end this pregnancy and try again," Art Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, told Time. "But when you’re talking about picking a baby’s sex, doctors shouldn’t offer the test, companies shouldn’t offer it, and we should tell people that’s not a good reason to have an abortion."

Remembering Dr. Bernadine Healy, a Colleague and Friend

Bernadine Healy, M.D., a U.S. News colleague who died of brain cancer on August 6, climbed to the top of some of healthcare’s highest mountains—director of the National Institutes of Health, head of the American Red Cross, and president of the American Heart Association are only three of the many summits she scaled. Even from those heights, she never lost sight of her core belief as a physician and as a person: that medicine is about doctors who see each of their patients as a unique individual, deserving of the best help her profession has to offer.

She lived her life that way, always focused on the value and dignity of each person with whom she crossed paths. She objected to any form of healthcare that herded patients into faceless groups and ignored their individuality and autonomy. And she abhorred the use of data to restrict care when the same data could be used to enhance it. While others might argue that a cancer drug with a modest benefit was not worth its cost, for example, she refused to submit to such cold-hearted thinking.

"Nobody points out that if a cancer drug extends life by an average of four months, that means half the patients taking it have their lives extended by more than four months," Dr. Healy once told U.S. News’s health rankings editor Avery Comarow. "Some of them live another 10 months, a year, more than a year. Are we saying that means nothing?" [Read more: Remembering Dr. Bernadine Healy, a Colleague and Friend.]

Study: More Aggressive Two-Drug Chemo Benefits Older Patients

Elderly lung cancer patients could benefit from an aggressive, two-drug chemotherapy regimen that’s commonly used in younger patients, new research suggests. Older patients typically get single-drug chemotherapy because it’s thought to be more tolerable. But it’s also less effective, according to a study published Tuesday in the Lancet. Researchers found that nearly 45 percent of older patients on two-drug chemo were still alive one year after beginning treatment, compared with about 25 percent of those in the single-chemo group. Though harsher side effects will likely occur—such as weakness and a reduced white blood cell count, which increases the risk of infection—the survival benefits outweigh the risks, the researchers said. "Our study demonstrates clearly that [the two-drug] scheme is feasible in elderly patients," study author Elisabeth Quoix of the University of Strasbourg, which is located in France, told HealthDay.

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New Anti-Clot Drug Shows Promise for Heart Patients

A new blood thinner could help prevent strokes among people with an irregular heartbeat. Patients with atrial fibrillation—who commonly experience strokes due to blood clots—typically take warfarin, a drug that requires strict supervision, since food and other medications can interfere with it. But researchers say a newer drug called rivaroxaban is as effective as warfarin, without the need for such close monitoring. The findings, based on a trial of more than 14,000 patients who took either warfarin or rivaroxaban, appear today in the New England Journal of Medicine. Though the new drug was approved last month to prevent clots in patients undergoing knee or hip replacement surgery, it hasn’t yet been OK’d as an anti-stroke drug for people with atrial fibrillation (it’s expected to be green-lighted in September). Rivaroxaban "will be game-changing for all of us that treat atrial fibrillation," Kousik Krishnan, an associate professor of medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, told HealthDay.

5 Symptoms You Need to Know to Recognize a Stroke Immediately

Minimizing the time between the onset of a stroke and the start of stroke treatment is critical for surviving the brain attack and minimizing the resulting brain injury. The key is to immediately get to the emergency room for a brain scan to detect which type of stroke has hit. If it’s ischemic—caused by a blood clot—the best treatment is a clot-dissolving drug called tissue plasminogen activator, or TPA, and the quicker the treatment, the less the disabling damage. Most hospitals will treat stroke patients with TPA only if the medicine can be injected within three hours of the appearance of symptoms, which is why getting to the hospital is such an urgent matter. One study found, however, that TPA can be safe and effective up to 4½ hours after a stroke. Treatment for hemorrhagic stroke, caused by a bleeding vessel in the brain, involves lowering blood pressure and reducing swelling in the brain, U.S. News reported in 2009.

Stroke can present itself with a range of symptoms, but the consistent factor is that they come on suddenly. Call 911 immediately if you, or someone you’re with, experience any of the following:

Numbness or weakness, particularly on one side of the body. This can be in the face, an arm, or a leg. If someone you’re with appears to be experiencing this, ask the person to smile, lift both arms, or move both legs, the National Stroke Association recommends. If one side of the body doesn’t respond, it may be a sign of stroke. [Read more: 5 Symptoms You Need to Know to Recognize a Stroke Immediately.]

6 Ways to Avoid Dying of a Surprise Heart Attack

Even knowing someone’s risk factors for heart disease, it’s often tough to pinpoint who will actually go on to get the disease, U.S. News reported in 2008. And once blood flow to the heart muscle is blocked and a heart attack happens, it’s not exactly clear why some people experience sudden cardiac arrest, and others don’t. Those uncertainties, however, don’t mean that you are powerless to protect yourself from dying of a heart attack. Here are steps to take to improve your odds:

First, follow the standard prevention guidelines. The American Heart Association has three basic tips for preventing heart disease, stroke, and heart attack: Don’t smoke, be more active, and make good nutritional choices. This is good general health advice, regardless of your heart disease risk.

Exercise is also important. "Exercise raises good cholesterol and lowers bad cholesterol," says Rob Michler, director and chairman of heart surgery at the Montefiore-Einstein Heart Center in New York. Worrying that exercise is going to give you a heart attack is not a valid excuse for skipping it; while it’s true that exercise raises your odds of a heart attack in the moment, the long-term benefits vastly outstrip this short-term risk. Still, check with your doctor first if you’re obese, have health problems, or haven’t exercised in years. [Read more: 6 Ways to Avoid Dying of a Surprise Heart Attack.]

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Salt is everywhere: dumped into cans of soup, packed into hotdogs, and swimming in salad dressing and salsa. Exactly how bad for you are all those tiny crystals? That question’s surprisingly controversial. In May, several researchers reignited a debate by suggesting that cutting salt intake doesn’t benefit heart health, contrary to conventional wisdom. In their Journal of the American Medical Association study of 3,681 people without heart problems, those who had the most salt in their diets actually had the lowest risk of dying from heart disease.

But that conclusion runs against the long-standing consensus among experts—and against the latest evidence. If Americans made small daily reductions in salt intake, say the authors of a new analysis that appeared Thursday in the British Medical Journal, the country could have up to 120,000 fewer cases of heart disease, 66,000 fewer strokes, and 99,000 fewer heart attacks annually. (Though essential in small amounts, sodium increases blood volume, making the heart work harder and increasing pressure in the arteries.)

The federal government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, updated in January, recommend people limit sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams a day, or 1,500 milligrams if they are older than 50, African-American, or have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. Here are some suggestions for cutting back on salt, provided by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Stephen Havas, vice president for science, quality, and public health at the American Medical Association.

1. Cook from scratch so you know exactly what’s in your food. You might be surprised at the sodium content included in your favorite prepackaged meals: The non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest analyzed a range of processed foods and found, for example, that ready-made roasted carved turkey containing up to an astonishing 5,410 milligrams of sodium per serving. Half of a ready-made pepperoni pizza might contain as much as 1,350 milligrams.

2. When you do opt for packaged foods, choose products that are sodium free or low in sodium. A typical cup of miso soup, for instance, contains 700 to 900 milligrams of sodium, so look for canned soups with "low sodium" or "reduced sodium" on the label. If you can’t find many of these products, Havas advises asking your local grocery store to start stocking them. Even bread and cereal may surprise you: The CSPI found whole-wheat bread contains anywhere from 150 to 190 milligrams of sodium per slice, depending on the brand. White bread had 115 to 230 milligrams per slice.

3. Make smart swaps. You don’t necessarily have to sacrifice taste. A McDonald’s Egg McMuffin, for example, packs 820 milligrams of sodium; a wiser choice is two scrambled eggs, which have just 180 milligrams. Canned tuna typically contains 300 milligrams of sodium per 3-ounce serving, which doesn’t include mayonnaise. Substitute fresh grilled tuna steak and you’ll only be getting 40 milligrams of sodium. And be wary of salad dressing: Some brands jam more than 700 milligrams into each 1.5-ounce serving. Stick with your own oil and vinegar instead.

[Best Hospitals for Cardiology and Heart Surgery]

4. At restaurants, ask your server which foods are prepared without added salt—and order those items. "The more restaurants hear this, the more they’re going to change the way they’re cooking," Havas says. Fresh steamed veggies and roasted entrees are often the smartest choices.

5. In the kitchen and at the dinner table, substitute spices, herbs, and salt-free blends for salt.

6. Avoid instant foods such as pasta, rice, and cereals, which usually contain salt. Spaghetti sauce, according to the CSPI, contains 270 to 770 milligrams of sodium per serving, depending on the brand.

7. Rinse canned foods to wash off some of the salt.

[10 Salt Shockers That Could Make Hypertension Worse]

8. Check labels for sodium in all its forms. Table salt is mainly sodium chloride, but canned or packaged foods can contain other forms of sodium.

9. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Fresh produce has "essentially no sodium," Havas says. If you’re cooking veggies, don’t add salt, and carefully read the labels on frozen vegetables to make sure it hasn’t been added already.

Study: Depression May Raise Women’s Stroke Risk

Depressed women may be more likely than others to have a stroke. That’s according to a new study by Harvard researchers, who found that women with a history of depression have a 29 percent higher stroke risk than women who aren’t depressed. The risk jumps to 39 percent for those taking antidepressants such as Prozac or Zoloft, according to data published Thursday in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. The findings are based on an analysis of 80,574 women ages 54 to 79 who were tracked for six years. Though more research is necessary, one explanation is that depression is linked to obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, which can lead to stroke, the researchers speculate. And depressed people are more likely to smoke, be physically inactive, and to forgo needed medication than their non-depressed counterparts. It’s unclear whether the results apply to men, since women are twice as likely to be depressed, USA Today reports.

Stroke: 7 Signs You Could Be at Risk of a Brain Attack

Stroke can hit like a deadly lightning bolt. And if the victim survives, the aftermath can be debilitating—affecting functioning from movement to speech. While stroke is the third-leading cause of death and the leading cause of adult disability in the United States, it trails behind other major diseases in awareness and recognition of symptoms. Being informed, however, can protect you from suffering either an ischemic stroke, caused by a blood clot and the most common form of stroke, or the less common hemorrhagic stroke, caused by bleeding in the brain. Know the factors that may be putting you at risk:

1. Uncontrolled high blood pressure. As for all cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure is a major risk factor for stroke. The American Heart Association estimates that only 45 percent of people with high blood pressure actually have it under control, U.S. News reported in 2009. Female stroke victims, in particular, tend to have uncontrolled blood pressure, and in general, women who suffer strokes don’t seem to be treated as aggressively as men. High blood pressure doesn’t have any outward telltale signs, so getting it measured by your healthcare provider is essential to determine if you should make lifestyle changes or take medications to bring it down.

2. Smoking. Puffing on cigarettes is associated with a host of ills. An increased risk of stroke is one of them. When compared to nonsmokers, smokers have double the risk of ischemic stroke. Heavy smokers face an even greater risk: A study of women ages 15 to 49 published in the journal Stroke found stroke risk was proportional to the number of cigarettes smoked per day. The women who smoked two or more packs a day had nine times the risk of stroke of a nonsmoker. [Read more: Stroke: 7 Signs You Could Be at Risk of a Brain Attack.]

9 Surprisingly Simple Ways to Cut Salt

Salt is everywhere: dumped into cans of soup, packed into hotdogs, and swimming in salad dressing and salsa. Exactly how bad for you are all those tiny crystals? That question’s surprisingly controversial. In May, several researchers reignited a debate by suggesting that cutting salt intake doesn’t benefit heart health, contrary to conventional wisdom. In their Journal of the American Medical Association study of 3,681 people without heart problems, those who had the most salt in their diets actually had the lowest risk of dying from heart disease.

But that conclusion runs against the long-standing consensus among experts—and against the latest evidence. If Americans made small daily reductions in salt intake, say the authors of a new analysis that appeared Thursday in the British Medical Journal, the country could have up to 120,000 fewer cases of heart disease, 66,000 fewer strokes, and 99,000 fewer heart attacks annually. (Though essential in small amounts, sodium increases blood volume, making the heart work harder and increasing pressure in the arteries.)

The federal government’s Dietary Guidelines for Americans, updated in January, recommend people limit sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams a day, or 1,500 milligrams if they are older than 50, African-American, or have hypertension, diabetes, or chronic kidney disease. Here are some suggestions for cutting back on salt, provided by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and Stephen Havas, vice president for science, quality, and public health at the American Medical Association.

1. Cook from scratch so you know exactly what’s in your food. You might be surprised at the sodium content included in your favorite prepackaged meals: The non-profit Center for Science in the Public Interest analyzed a range of processed foods and found, for example, that ready-made roasted carved turkey containing up to an astonishing 5,410 milligrams of sodium per serving. Half of a ready-made pepperoni pizza might contain as much as 1,350 milligrams. [Read more: 9 Surprisingly Simple Ways to Cut Salt.]

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By Marlene Cimons, National Science Foundation

Imagine a large cyber-network with its own built-in “immune system,” one that can recognize and destroy foreign invaders, just like the human body.

“We no longer can afford to be reactive in our attitudes about cyber security,” says Shankar Sastry, dean of the college of engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. “Our current approach is bolt-on, rather than built-in patches, bolted on, like an afterthought. We need to be proactive.”

Sastry is principal investigator and director of the Team for Research in Ubiquitous Secure Technology (TRUST), a UC Berkeley led group focused on developing cyber security science and technology aimed at radically transforming the ability of organizations to design, build, and operate trustworthy information systems for the nation’s critical infrastructure.

One of its long-term major goals is to build a solid science base upon which to develop an inherent cyber security defense system.  “We believe what is missing is the science of cyber security—-a science base, like the kind taught in medical schools, so as to enable doctors to treat and help patients,” Sastry says. “We want the legacy of TRUST to be the start of this science base, upon which an inherent defense system can be built that will operate almost like the body’s in the event of an attack.”

In recent years, enhancing cyber security has become a critically important issue with a growing sense of urgency. There has been an escalation in computer security attacks within the last decade, from so-called “phishing” scams that lure people into revealing sensitive and private information, to Internet attacks that crash popular websites.

Even worse, large-scale cyber attacks potentially could topple widespread systems, destabilizing national and economic security and paralyzing key resources, such as power and water. These can come from enemy foreign governments determined to attack U.S. networks, as well as from independent terrorist groups and hackers.  

“We’re not just talking about crashing the Internet and suspending trading,” Sastry says.  “This can cause serious danger to life and limb.”

The center is a National Science Foundation (NSF) Science and Technology Center based at Berkeley, with research partners at Carnegie Mellon University, Cornell University, San Jose State University, Stanford University and Vanderbilt University. There also are more than a dozen industry collaborators, including Intel, Cisco Systems, IBM, Symantec and Qualcomm.  NSF supports the center with about $40 million over ten years.    

The center has an ambitious research agenda to improve the state-of-the-art in cyber security, including the security of physical infrastructure, and preventing identity theft and privacy issues, especially with medical records. The center also is developing an education plan to teach the next generation of computer scientists, engineers and social scientists, as well as outreach programs to attract women and minorities in science and engineering.

Center researchers also are working on new technologies to combat phishing, spyware, botnets and other threats; and promoting legislation and policies to protect privacy. 

For example, TRUST researcher and UC Berkeley law professor Deirdre Mulligan worked on California legislation that requires companies to notify individuals whose private information might have been compromised as a result of company actions. The California security breach notification law is believed to be the first in the nation, and more than three dozen states have since passed similar laws, according to the center. 

TRUST’s recent policy work also is focusing on such issues as paths to identity theft, privacy in social networking and social media, and the use of web browser tracking technologies for targeted advertising.  The center is working on technical and policy solutions that address both business functionality and privacy, Sastry says. 

Four years ago, a student approached Trinity University chemistry professor Adam Urbach expressing an interest in diabetic research.  Christopher Morris, then a pre-med major who also was a Type 2 diabetic using an insulin pump, said he wanted to cure diseases, and in particular, he wanted to cure his own disease.

Urbach said he explained that scientists cure diseases and recalled an insulin project he had begun but shelved. With Morris as his motivator, Urbach invited the student to join his research group, and the insulin work began anew in the summer of 2007. Morris graduated in 2008 and went on to pursue a doctorate instead of entering medical school, but he is one of five Trinity University students listed as authors of a ground-breaking scholarly article published in a June edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society. 

Titled "Molecular Recognition of Insulin by a Synthetic Receptor," the article presents a new technique for accessing desired proteins in a highly predictable manner. Urbach’s research group uses artificial receptors to bind to human insulin at a single, predetermined location.  "There is one position on every protein that acts as a sort of handle for us to grab onto. That is the chemical nature of this paper," Urbach said.

This discovery is exciting because it suggests that the process can be generalized for other proteins, not only the insulin protein, Urbach said.

As his research evolved, Urbach noted that the tail of the protein unfolds like a ball of string and is captured by the receptor, an activity resembling a cat’s playful attempt to snare string with its paw. Urbach worked with Venetia Dubose, publications designer in Trinity’s Office of University Communications, to develop a cat-themed image depicting the unfolding protein (see illustration).

A simple blood test for insulin would be a very useful complement to blood sugar tests for managing diabetes, Urbach said. He is quick to point out that no blood is used in experiments in his lab and that he and his researchers are still far from developing a test that would work well with blood.

The new advancement is a critical step toward the goal of "protein recognition" by which any protein could be found and measured, by demonstrating a strategy that allows the binding of a desired protein based on which amino acid unit is located at the end of the tail, a concept that has not yet been advanced, he said.

The project has moved Urbach’s researchers in an unexpected and exciting direction, and they plan to continue working on protein recognition and insulin-related science.

Urbach is spending the 2011-12 year on academic leave to pursue studies at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, Calif., to learn proteomics and protein engineering techniques that will be incorporated into his ongoing research program at Trinity.

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University Park, Pa.—Tracking their dinner may be the best way to help North Atlantic right whales in Cape Cod Bay avoid being hit by recreational and commercial boats, according to a team of researchers who studied the whales for two years.

"Auto-detection buoys are making a remarkable attempt at recording the whale sounds to show when whales are in the area," said Susan Parks, assistant professor of acoustics and ecology and senior research associate, Penn State Applied Research Laboratory. "But North Atlantic right whales don’t make call sounds when they are eating, so they don’t show the whales when they are feeding."

North Atlantic right whales, like Southern and North Pacific right whales, are an endangered species. The researchers report in today’s (Aug 3) issue of Biology Letters that "North Atlantic right whales have the largest per capita record of vessel strikes of any large whale population in the world."

These whales are susceptible to being struck by boat propellers when they are in Cape Cod Bay because the whales feast on copepods—tiny crustaceans the size of sesame seeds—that school in very large masses just below the water’s surface. The whales eat for about 18 hours, consuming between 125 to 400 pounds of copepods an hour with their mouths open like large scoops.

After two years of study, the research team determined that during the day when they feed, the North Atlantic right whales spend most of their time between the surface and 13 feet below. When the whales are below the surface, but still in the reach of boat propellers, they are invisible to people on the boats and consequently may be hit unintentionally.

"We found that every whale spent a lot of time just below the surface, where they can’t be seen while feeding," said Parks. "It is a good thing that the whales are in Cape Cod Bay in April when it is pretty cold and not a lot of recreational boating is going on, because any boat, even small recreational boats, could bump into them."

The researchers have been studying the whales in Cape Cod Bay by placing suction cup tags—digital acoustic recording tags developed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution—on the whales and recording their depth through the day.

The researchers also investigated the whale’s preferred prey, the copepods, using acoustics and physical sampling methods. Using an echosounder—a device like a depth sounder—that could produce multiple sound frequencies, the researchers tested a variety of depths from about 1.5 to 90 feet below the surface looking for the copepods. Because sound waves bounce off objects, the scientists were able to locate tiny objects that could be copepods and eliminate large fish and crustaceans because of their large size. However, sound waves can locate objects of the proper size to be copepods, but cannot not detect whether these objects are copepods or inanimate debris of the same size.

To ensure that what the ecosounder recorded was actual prey, the researchers also looked at netted and pumped samples. Using very fine mesh nets less than 1640 feet from a tagged whale, they retrieved samples of the water and preserved any wildlife in formalin for identification. They also pumped samples from the water and preserved the samples in the same way.

The physical samples matched the acoustic data and showed that "there was a strong relationship between the depth of the center of a feeding whale’s mouth and the mean depth of the top 5 percent concentration of their prey in the water column," the researchers reported.

The researchers suggest that the development of moored devices that can remotely detect the copepods may provide a way to remotely monitor where unseen and unheard right whales may be and provide a warning to avert ship collisions.

"The daytime and nighttime behavior may be different, but we don’t know the nighttime behavior because every whale we tagged with a suction cup recorder slipped out of it before evening," said Parks.

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A new material that can retain and release heat according to specific temperature requirements could make a significant difference to the cost of heating and cooling buildings, scientists say.

Researchers based at The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) believe their invention—which could be used in existing structures as well as new builds—could offer considerable energy savings.

The novel non-deformed energy storage phase change material (PCM) has the unique advantage of possessing a larger energy storage capacity with faster thermal response than existing materials and could be cheaply manufactured.

If, for example, the required optimum temperature in a room is 22°C, the material can be fixed so that it starts absorbing any excess heat above that temperature.

The heat-regulating material, devised by researchers at the University’s Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies, could be applied anywhere, from walls and roofs to wallpaper.

The material looks like a circular tablet with the circumference of a large coin in the laboratory. It can be manufactured in a variety of shapes and sizes, including so small that it can be sprayed as an unobtrusive microscopic film to surfaces.

The building material was recently awarded a patent application approval in China and patent applications are in the pipeline in other countries.

The scientists responsible for the breakthrough are project leader Professor Jo Darkwa, who is Director of the Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies, Research Associate Oliver Su and, PhD student Tony Zhou.

Professor Darkwa said: "The construction industry produces more carbon emissions than any other industry in the world—even more than aviation. In China, the building sector is one of the highest energy consuming sectors, accounting for about 30 per cent of total energy usage and also a significant proportion of pollutant emissions.

"This material, if widely used, could make a major impact in the world’s efforts to reduce carbon emission."

The basic structure of the material has to be engineered for a specific temperature before it is used. The next developmental steps will include creating material which can be used for both heating and cooling applications.

"The material won’t make air-conditioners obsolete, because you still need an air conditioner to control humidity and air movement. This material purely reduces the amount of excessive heat energy in a room," said Professor Darkwa.

The University is looking to develop the material further as well as commercialise it and already has a number of sponsors and partners involved in the research, including the Ningbo Science and Technology Bureau—which provided important funding and support for the initial two-year research—and private companies based in China.

The material could potentially save up to 35 per cent of energy in a building and scientists believe it could also be used in solar panels and LED (light-emitting diode) lighting to enhance the efficiency of these alternative energy-generating technologies.

Also on the cards for further research at UNNC are:

The scientists at the Centre for Sustainable Energy Technologies, meanwhile, are involved in various other projects aimed at finding ways to reduce the global carbon footprint emitted by the world’s buildings.

Professor Darkwa and Dr David Chow, who leads the Architectural Environment Engineering degree programme, have played a major role in work behind new building regulation laws in Ningbo, China. Building developers in the city are compelled to include at least one sustainable energy technology, among other steps, to reduce any environmental harm associated with construction.

China’s national government is on a major drive to improve the country’s environmental track record and the University’s scientists are increasingly involved in making recommendations to policy makers at the highest levels.

In October, UNNC will be the site of China’s second international symposium on low carbon buildings when scientists, researchers, government officials and practitioners will gather to present and discuss recent research outputs and demonstration projects.

Ago 18, 2011
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