"Good bacteria" during pregnancy may ward off eczema

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Babies were less likely to get an itchy skin rash when their mothers took probiotics during pregnancy and while breastfeeding, in a new study from Finland.

Known as eczema, the rash is caused by an allergic reaction and hints at future problems with allergies and asthma.

Researchers said it's possible that probiotics - which are thought to help balance bacteria populations in the gut and prevent disease-causing strains from spreading - may influence babies' health through immune cells that cross the placenta and later are passed in breast milk.

Still, it's too early to send all pregnant women out to buy "good bacteria" supplements, some researchers said.

"While our results are promising, it is not yet possible to make recommendations for routine use of probiotics to reduce the risk of eczema," the study's lead author told Reuters Health in an email.

For the new study, Dr. Samuli Rautava of Turku University Central Hospital and his colleagues assigned 241 pregnant women to take one of two different probiotic combinations, given as a powder mixed with water once daily, or a bacteria-free placebo powder.

All of those mothers-to-be had a history of allergies, so their babies were at extra-high risk of eczema and other allergic reactions.

The women drank their assigned concoction for the last two months of pregnancy and their first two months of breastfeeding. Researchers then tracked their babies' health for two years to see how many developed rashes.

By the end of the study, 71 percent of babies in the placebo group had had eczema at least once, compared to 29 percent of babies whose mothers took either probiotic combination. Chronic eczema was diagnosed in 26 percent of placebo kids, compared to 10 percent and six percent, respectively, of those in the two probiotic groups.

However, by age two there was no difference in kids' sensitivities to a range of allergens, including milk, wheat, soy and dog and cat dander, based on whether their mothers had taken the supplements. About one-quarter of kids had a positive "skin prick" test for sensitivity to an allergen, the researchers reported last week in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Dr. Ruchi Gupta, an allergy and eczema researcher at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, called the study "fascinating."

"It really shows a reduction in eczema from probiotics, which is such a simple and easy intervention for mothers," said Gupta, who wasn't involved in the research.

But she said it's too soon to tell if that reduction in eczema will also be tied to a drop in asthma and more serious allergies later on.

The probiotic strains used in the study were donated by Nestle, which markets probiotics in infant formula and other products.

Rautava and his colleagues didn't find any evidence of probiotic-related side effects. Stomach complaints, in particular, were just as common in mothers and kids in the placebo group as in the probiotic study arms.

The researcher said there have been reports of infections attributed to probiotics in babies, but that giving the supplements to mothers-to-be instead of to the babies themselves, as his team did, may reduce that risk.

Gupta thinks the side effects tied to probiotics have been so minimal that the supplements are worth taking for many people, especially pregnant and lactating women.

"We can safely advocate and encourage pregnant women of the potential advantages of taking probiotics," she told Reuters Health.

Probiotics, now sold by a range of companies to support immune and digestive health, run about 25 cents per day.

Some researchers have questioned whether the supplements sold on drugstore shelves have any real health benefit - especially given the number of different bacteria strains available, all with potentially different functions.

"The results look encouraging, but this is a controversial area and confirmation is needed," Dr. James Gern, a pediatric allergy researcher from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health in an email.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration classifies probiotics as a food or dietary supplement. That means the products don't have to be proven to work before they're marketed, but they can't be billed to treat or prevent any specific disease.

SOURCE: Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, online October 18, 2012.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/good-bacteria-during-pregnancy-may-ward-off-eczema-195115983.html

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MyReviewsNow.net Online Shopping Mall Features 20% Sale on ...

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San Diego, CA, October 25, 2012 ?(PR.com)? People who are in search of fashionable, comfortable and designer items for men, women and kids can now head to review source MyReviewsNow.net?s affiliate partner Bjorn Borg, and save big during their big Halloween Sale.

For a limited time, folks who shop online at BjornBorg.com will save 20% off any purchase of Bjorn Borg underwear, socks, sportswear, shoes, bags, luggage, and more, when they enter promo code HALL020 at checkout. Plus, they can also browse for gift ideas as the holiday season quickly approaches.

?Bjorn Borg was larger than life, and a legend in his own time,? commented Lina Andrade. Affiliate Relationship Spokesperson from MyReviewsNow.net. ?And now, people all across the world can be a part of that unique vibe and spirit when they shop online at BjornBorg.com during their amazing Halloween sale. But they?d better hurry ? the sale won?t last long, so now is the time to stock up for oneself, or pick up some great gift ideas!?

Shoppers can shop online for Bjorn Borg underwear and other designer items via MyReviewsNow.net?s Apparel & Fine Jewelry Portal. They can also read helpful reviews left by other shoppers, and share their own views and opinions for the online shopping community.

For more information or media inquiries, contact Lina Andrade at info@myreviewsnow.net. Press release issued by SEOChampion.com.

About MyReviewsNow.net Online Shopping Mall

An Internet superstore of gift ideas, and thousands of other services, products and publications available online, MyReviewsNow.net is a business directory that sets itself apart from similar sites by offering both professional reviews and consumer reviews on the Internet?s hottest offerings in a fun, simple format that is easy for visitors to shop online and enjoy. Plus, MyReviewsNow.net is 100% free, open 24/7, and the best way avoid crowded malls and parking lots.

About SEO Champion

SEO Champion was started in 1999 and is owner operated by Michael Rotkin, SEO Specialist for over 17 years. Michael Rotkin?s goal for his clients is to ?own keyword placements for the top 3 slots organically, so that his clients can earn a higher return on investment from their advertising dollars. Rotkin realizes the value of SEO over Pay-Per-Click campaigns, where click-throughs are generally more expensive and harder to convert into sales. SEOChampion?s intense work ethic can be seen in daily and weekly reports that show progress through organic keyword gain. This effort is the reason his SEO firm has been able to build a loyal client base for many years. Learn more at SEO Champion.

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Is Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) a Good Investment After The Miss? - Insider ...

Netflix (NFLX)Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) announced earnings yesterday that painted a very bleak picture for the company. The company saw earnings drop by 88% for 3Q on greater than expected international expansion costs, causing the stock to drop by over 15% in after market trading. Netflix?s net income came in at $7.7 million, compared to $62.5 million for the same quarter last year?see which hedge funds were killed by Netflix. The company did manage to grow international subscribers at a greater rate than expected, but spent way more money than expected to do so.

Key concerns noted by Netflix CEO, Reid Hastings, was that despite the company?s over 1 million subscribers in Latin America, it will take longer than expected to reach profitability in the country. As well, the company is now likely to carry a loss through the fourth quarter given its recent launch in Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden.

Netflix managed to continue to adding subscribers in 3Q, up 2 million to a total of 29 million subscribers, but a transition in consumer preference has allowed notable competitor Redbox to take market share for movies and films, as Netflix sees the majority of its viewers now preferring television shows. However, even as competition and cost concerns slam Netflix the company still trades above its closest competitors on a valuation basis.

Notable competitor, Coinstar, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSTR), is best known for its self-service movie rental kiosks, Redbox. Coinstar?s initiatives include the potential to place self-serve kiosks for photo printing and coffee. The company is said to have been in talks with private-equity firms to take the company private, but stock is now down 3% year to date, versus having been up as much as 50% earlier this year.

However, Coinstar has beat earnings for the past four quarters and is expected to grow earnings at over 18% annually over the next five years. These are impressive growth prospects that both Jim Simons and Ken Griffin believe in, as they upped their 1Q stake during 2Q by 70% and 290%, respectively.

DISH Network Corp. (NASDAQ:DISH) is expected to add over 100,000 net subscribers for both 2012 and 2013. The company is expected to see a rise in its average revenue per user based whole-home DVR services, streaming video and TV Everywhere?DISH?s streaming feature. It remains to be seem how much its streaming service will catch on, but its an interesting prospect nonetheless. Additionally, the company recently reached a settlement that will bring AMC back to DISH subscribers?the company has been up as much as 5% this week on the news. Earlier this month the company launched a satellite broadband offering that targets some 14.5 million rural U.S. residents that previously had no Internet available. Fund interest was positive for DISH in 2Q, with George Soros and Jim Simons upping their 1Q stakes 115% and 72%, respectively, yet insiders were selling over the past month in the range of? $33 to $35.70.

It is rumored that Time Warner Cable Inc (NYSE:TWC) and HBO will offer viewing services directly to consumers, versus being a pay-cable business. The company has been growing its core business, expecting revenues up 6.1% in 2012 and 4.7% in 2013 on the back of bundled high-speed data and voice penetration. Time Warner pays a 2.3% dividend and has seen a number of EPS revisions upwards over the last month, where earnings are now expected to grow 25% and 22% for 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Let us not forget the ever-popular e-commerce company that appears to be competing with various players across several industries, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). Amazon?s Instant Video offering takes a direct stab at Netflix. 2013 $2.75 EPS estimates put earnings at a huge increase from the expected $1.01 EPS for 2012.

While Amazon trades at a forward ratio of 90x, Netflix still manages to trade at a forward ratio of 67x. We believe that the growth prospects are much greater for Amazon, with the company getting into web services, hardware and digital content, which will help Amazon grow into its valuation. Additionally, by leveraging its leading Internet brand name to offer online video, the company can further expand its margins.

As Netflix?s DVD customers continue to decline, streaming growth will be left to mitigate churn. Netflix will be relying on its ability to enter global markets to spur future growth, but uncertainty around adoption and costs provide a cloudy outlook for the company. We believe that increasing content cost and a flood of competition into the Internet video streaming still poses key risks for Netflix.

While Amazon is a P/E ratio outlier, the other movie and TV providers trade with an average P/E of 14x. Even with Netflix?s recent stock slide, it still trades at over 30x. We would prefer to avoid Netflix for the time being given the rich amount of competition and uncertainty with international expansion. We do like Amazon?s prospects to grow market share in the streaming industry given its strong brand name, and would be even more interested should Amazon decide to take a look at buying competitors like Hulu.

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Source: http://www.insidermonkey.com/blog/is-netflix-inc-nflx-a-good-investment-after-the-miss-25404/

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Most large treatment effects of medical interventions come from small studies

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

CHICAGO ? In an examination of the characteristics of studies that yield large treatment effects from medical interventions, these studies were more likely to be smaller in size, often with limited evidence, and when additional trials were performed, the effect sizes became typically much smaller, according to a study in the October 24/31 issue of JAMA.

"Most effective interventions in health care confer modest, incremental benefits," according to background information in the article. "Large effects are important to document reliably because in a relative scale they represent potentially the cases in which interventions can have the most impressive effect on health outcomes and because they are more likely to be adopted rapidly and with less evidence. Consequently, it is important to know whether, when observed, very large effects are reliable and in what sort of experimental outcomes they are commonly observed. ? Some large treatment effects may represent entirely spurious observations. It is unknown how often studies with seemingly very large effects are repeated."

Tiago V. Pereira, Ph.D., of the Health Technology Assessment Unit, German Hospital Oswaldo Cruz, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and colleagues conducted a study to evaluate the frequency and features of very large treatment effects of medical interventions that are first recorded in a clinical trial. For the study, the researchers used data from the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR) and assessed the types of treatments and outcomes in trials with very large effects, examined how often large-effect trials were followed up by other trials on the same topic, and how these effects compared against the effects of the respective meta-analyses.

Among 3,545 available reviews, 3,082 contributed usable information on 85,002 forest plots (a graphical display designed to illustrate the relative strength of treatment effects in multiple studies). Overall, 8,239 forest plots (9.7 percent) had a nominally statistically significant very large effect in the first published trial, group A; 5,158 (6.1 percent) had a nominally statistically significant very large effect found only after the first published trial, group B; and 71,605 (84.2 percent) had no trials with significant very large effects, group C. The researchers found that nominally significant very large effects arose mostly from small trials with few events. For the index trials, the median [midpoint] number of events was only 18 in group A and 15 in the group B. The median number of events in the group C index trials was 14.

The authors also observed that 90 percent and 98 percent of the very large effects observed in first and subsequently published trials, respectively, became smaller in meta-analyses that included other trials; the median odds ratio decreased from approximately 12 to 4 for first trials, and from 10 to 2.5 for subsequent trials.

Topics with very large effects were less likely than other topics to address mortality. Across the whole CDSR, there was only 1 intervention with large beneficial effects on mortality and no major concerns about the quality of the evidence (for a trial on extracorporeal oxygenation for severe respiratory failure in newborns).

"? this empirical evaluation suggests that very large effect estimates are encountered commonly in single trials. Conversely, genuine very large effects with extensive support from substantial evidence appear to be rare in medicine and large benefits for mortality are almost entirely nonexistent. As additional evidence accumulates, caution may still be needed, especially if there is repetitive testing of accumulating trials. Patients, clinicians, investigators, regulators, and the industry should consider this in evaluating very large treatment effects when the evidence is still early and weak," the researchers write.

###

Paper: JAMA. 2012;308[16]:1676-1684

JAMA and Archives Journals: http://www.jamamedia.org

Thanks to JAMA and Archives Journals for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/124764/Most_large_treatment_effects_of_medical_interventions_come_from_small_studies

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Tips to Remember on Your Debt Relief Path

There are a variety of avenues that you can take when seeking debt relief for your small business, but the final goal is always the same ? to be debt free and to keep your financial situation this way. Here are things to remember when you are feeling a little down and out, and are looking for some debt elimination advice.

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Cash. Cash. Cash. Use it as much as possible! If you can, cut up all of your credit cards! Plastic is often a huge contributing factor to small business? debt, so get rid of it as much as you possibly can. It may seem unrealistic to get rid of your plastic, so if you need to, keep only one around that has the lowest fees and interest rates. And of course, if you don?t have to pull out that credit card, use that cash! If you are in absolute dire need, a payday loan from a direct payday lender can help temporarily.

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Remember your income and spend less than that. This can certainly seem like the most difficult thing, especially if your small business isn?t bringing in enough income at the moment. However, it?s imperative that you don?t bend this rule or make excuses for spending that exceeds what you make. If you have to make a lifestyle change to add some additional income to your life, than that may be what is needed to overcome your debt. Of course, this is something that will be discussed at the time, and will be done so, specific to your situation.

?

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Be creative! This may mean that you have to explore new recipes that are convenient for your busy lifestyle as a small business owner, so you can add them into your life, which will eliminate your need to spend money on eating out. This may also mean that you need to think of new ways of entertainment so you aren?t spending money that you could potentially be added to relief your debt.

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Take the time to sit down and evaluate your spending habits so you can determine where you need to make adjustments so those few extra dollars can be put towards making that negative number in your financial accounts a little more positive, because every bit helps.

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There may be a time when you come across some extra money that you weren?t expecting, whether this be a tax return or an inheritance of some sort, remember to keep this as a backup plan. It may be tempting to take that money and put it towards your debt, but you will seek comfort in knowing that you have a financial cushion to fall back on if needed, so put that in an emergency funds account and keep it there. Well, until an emergency arises of course. This also has the potential of building money for you if you opt to place the money in a high interest savings account. Every bit counts, right?

?

Debt relief for small business owners is definitely achievable and while you?re marching this terrain to a more positive financial situation, keeps these little positive tips close in mind!

Source: http://blog.ebusinessdebtrelief.com/debt/tips-to-remember-on-your-debt-relief-path

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Thermo Fisher 3Q profit climbs 9 percent

WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) ? Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.'s third-quarter earnings climbed 9 percent, helped by revenue growth in key segments, and the scientific instrument and laboratory supply maker raised its forecast for 2012.

The Waltham, Mass., company said Wednesday it earned $290.4 million, or 79 cents per share, in the three months that ended Sept. 29. That compares to $265.4 million, or 69 cents per share, in last year's quarter. Adjusted earnings, which exclude some one-time items, came in at $1.19 per share.

Revenue grew 5 percent to $3.09 billion.

The performance topped Wall Street expectations. Analysts expected, on average, earnings of $1.16 per share on $2.99 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

Company shares climbed 3.4 percent, or $1.97, to $59.58 in midmorning trading.

Thermo Fisher said revenue from its laboratory products and services segment climbed 5 percent to $1.51 billion, while specialty diagnostics segment revenue rose 15 percent to $706.7 million in the quarter.

The company's costs and operating expenses also climbed nearly 5 percent in the quarter to $2.73 billion.

Thermo Fisher now expects adjusted 2012 earnings of $4.81 to $4.88 per share, up from its forecast in July for $4.74 to $4.84 per share. It also raised its revenue expectation to between $12.32 billion and $12.4 billion from $12.14 billion to $12.26 billion.

Analysts expect, on average, earnings of $4.82 per share on $12.27 billion in sales.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thermo-fisher-3q-profit-climbs-9-percent-150141690--finance.html

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How to Increase Your Online Retail Business Profits | earningdiary ...

increase online business profitThere are a ton of retail businesses, and there are probably more successful online retail stores than brick and mortar retail stores.

Sure, there are hybrids like Best Buy and Walmart that flourish both in physical property and on an online environment, but most people are don?t have virtually unlimited funds turn to online properties to cut costs while still offering quality products.

If you have an online retail business, chances are you?ve done your marketing and advertising to gain a market base that consistently nets you income. But what happens when you hit a standstill? What you?re making may be enough to live off of, but what if you want to increase your profits to become richer than you?ve ever been? You may need to make some changes.

Here?s how to increase your online retail business profits:

Start by Eliminating the Fat

Nobody likes useless fat. Trim that fat down to size so you?re not wasting effort with it.

What I mean is you should go through your entire inventory and expenses (including your staff), and figure out what you could do with less of, without, or need more of.

Is there an area of your business that you don?t really need as much as before because the market shifted? Cut it out of your plan or reduce the products you carry. Is there an area of your business that sees a ton of sales in particular? Bolster that and focus more of your energy in that direction. Who knows, you may even move toward being a niche seller!

Increase Your Multi-Tasking Abilities and Maneuverability with New Software

That sounded like a mouthful, but it?s the truth. Your software may or may not be outdated, and even if it?s up-to-date, there is always more software out there to make your life easier and to make your business run more efficiently.

It?s amazing what a fresh program that you just learned about can do to streamline your business, organize your inventory and budget better, and track everything you?re doing better to obtain optimal retail performance management goals.

Cut Down Your Inventory

This may seem like you?re moving backwards, because don?t you want to INCREASE your inventory to get more profits? Not exactly true all of the time. See, if you cut down your inventory so it?s easier to manage (especially if you?re a smaller business), it?ll be easier to show trends and see where you can improve, or what needs more help.

This could also help you find which products sell better than others, allowing you to branch out and purchase products of a similar category.

As you can see, there are a number of ways to make more money with your online retail business. You just need to get back to the drawing board and get dirty!

About the author:

Joe Petchonka does his best to convey only the best and most informative retail performance management business solutions.

Related posts:

from your own site.

Source: http://www.earningdiary.com/others/how-to-increase-your-online-retail-business-profits/

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ELLICOTT CITY Real Estate | BETHANY MANOR Homes For Sale ...

by starfish on October 25, 2012

Find BETHANY MANOR Homes For Sale and BETHANY MANOR Home Values. We also have information on mortgages, insurance, movers and other ELLICOTT CITY Real Estate Services for anyone looking to sell or buy a home in Maryland.

Showing properties 1 - 1 of 1. See more Bethany Manor tract Homes For Sale.
(all data current as of 10/25/2012)

  1. 4 beds, 2 full, 1 part baths

    Home size: 3,013 sq ft

    Lot size: 20,603 sqft

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

Paul Kitchen and Starfish Team provide clients, family and close friends with professional, honest and dependable service. A resident of ELLICOTT CITY, Paul is extremely familiar with the local neighborhoods including BETHANY MANOR, school districts and the ELLICOTT CITY Real Estate market in this beautiful Maryland town.

Paul Kitchen
Real Estate Consultant
Keller Williams Realty Consultants
3915 National Drive, Ste 100 Burtonsville, MD 20866
(301) 589-5051
(800) 793-7304 toll free
ELLICOTT CITY Real Estate
ELLICOTT CITY Real Estate Blog

Starfish Real Estate

Source: http://www.starfishteam.com/dc-md-va-blog/2012/10/25/ellicott-city-real-estate-bethany-manor-homes-for-sale-october-2012/

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"Millennium Bomber" faces re-sentencing in Seattle

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Convicted "Millennium Bomber" Ahmed Ressam, whose 22-year prison term was judged too lenient by a U.S. appeals court, faces re-sentencing on Wednesday for a foiled New Year's Eve 1999 plot to set off explosives at Los Angeles International Airport.

Federal prosecutors who appealed the original punishment have asked the Seattle-based U.S. district judge presiding over the case to impose a new sentence that will require Ressam, an Algerian national, to spend the rest of his life in prison.

They argue that Ressam deserves a much harsher penalty because he reneged on an agreement to assist in the prosecution of other suspected militants and later recanted all his testimony and other statements to authorities.

By doing so Ressam "has returned to the camp of the terrorist," prosecutors wrote in a pre-sentencing memorandum.

Ressam's lawyers recommend he be sentenced to between 30 and 34 years imprisonment, arguing that this is close to the 35-year term prosecutors previously recommended.

The defense also said that 35 years in prison is the statutory maximum penalty carried by the core crimes for which Ressam was convicted - an act of terrorism through the use of explosives.

They also argue that Ressam should still receive credit for the valuable information he did provide to authorities, including testimony against a convicted co-conspirator.

According to the defense, Ressam also identified Zacarias Moussaoui, a convicted September 11 conspirator, as an individual he met at a militant training camp in Afghanistan, and gave information leading to the arrest of al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah.

In a statement filed in court last week, Ressam repeated his retraction of all previous statements, saying a deal to cooperate was made under duress.

He also insisted he was "against killing innocent people of any gender, color or religion," adding, "I apologize for my action." He concluded by saying, "You can judge me as you wish, I will not object to any of your sentences."

MENTAL STRESS

Defense lawyers have suggested that severe mental stress Ressam suffered from seven-plus years in solitary confinement at the "Supermax" federal prison in Florence, Colorado, may have influenced his decision to recant.

He was expected to appear in court for re-sentencing on Wednesday, his lawyer, Thomas Hillier told Reuters.

Ressam was arrested in December 1999 as he attempted to cross into the United States from British Columbia and aroused the suspicion of a U.S. Customs inspector at a ferry landing in Port Angeles, Washington.

After he tried to run away, the trunk of his rental car was found packed with explosives capable of producing a blast 40 times greater than that of a typical car bomb, authorities said.

A jury convicted him in April 2001 of nine felony counts for his role in a plot to set off the explosives at Los Angeles International Airport on December 31, 1999.

He subsequently reached a deal with prosecutors to cooperate in helping to bring other terror suspects to justice, and was finally sentenced in 2008 to 22 years in prison, plus five years of supervised release.

Prosecutors, angry that Ressam had by then ceased cooperating, appealed the penalty as falling far short of the prison term called for under U.S. sentencing guidelines.

A divided 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed, and by a 7-4 vote ordered the case sent back to U.S. District Judge John Coughenour for re-sentencing.

The appeals court majority ruled that Coughenour failed to properly account for the fact that Ressam, who has been incarcerated since late 1999, would be 51 when released, sufficiently young enough to pose a threat to the public.

Defense lawyers argued that Ressam faces deportation back to Algeria and likely further imprisonment there once released from U.S. custody. They also said he would most certainly be a marked man, viewed by groups such as al Qaeda as a traitor for the cooperation he gave U.S. authorities before his recantation.

Disputing prosecutors' assertions that the information he provided was of little value, defense lawyers said Ressam gave more than 70 interviews to prosecutors from the United States and several other Western countries. They said he gave dozens of names authorities could act on, as well as vital information about recruitment, training, organization and financing of Islamist militant groups.

(Additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/millennium-bomber-faces-sentencing-seattle-110448051.html

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A sense of control, even if illusory, eliminates emotion-driven distortions of time

ScienceDaily (Oct. 24, 2012) ? We humans have a fairly erratic sense of time. We tend to misjudge the duration of events, particularly when they are emotional in nature. Disturbingly negative experiences, for example, seem to last much longer than they actually do. And highly positive experiences seem to pass more quickly than negative ones.

Researchers say they have found a way to lessen these emotion-driven time distortions. Having a sense of control over events reduces the influence of emotions on time perception, the researchers report. This is true even for highly reactive emotional individuals and even if one's sense of control is an illusion.

The researchers describe their findings in a paper in Frontiers in Psychology.

Previous studies have found that highly arousing emotional experiences lead to the time distortions described above. Most people report that highly arousing positive images (erotic pictures, for example), viewed briefly on a computer monitor, flash by more quickly than disturbingly negative ones (of a dismembered body, for instance), even when the images are viewed for the same length of time. In contrast, low arousing positive or negative images (of a flower or mop, for example) tend to have the opposite effect: Most people report that mildly positive images seem to last longer than mildly negative ones do.

"We imagine that we're perfect at judging time, but we're not," said University of Illinois postdoctoral researcher Simona Buetti, who conducted the study with psychology professor Alejandro Lleras. "If you see a disgusting image, like a photo of a mutilated body, you will perceive this image lasting longer than if you see a picture of people on a roller coaster, or an erotic image. The major contribution of this study is to show that when you give participants a feeling of control, even if it's not perfect and even if it's totally illusory in an experiment, then you can make all these time distortions vanish."

Previous studies also exposed participants to positive and negative images to determine their effect on cognition, Lleras said.

"But in these previous studies, participants never had a sense of control over the experimental events. Images were just presented and participants simply reacted to them as they appeared," he said. "What is novel in our study is that participants are for the first time being given a sense that they can control the emotional events that they are witnessing in the lab."

In a series of experiments, the researchers asked participants to press keys on a keyboard to try to increase the frequency with which positive (or, in one experiment, negative) images appeared on a computer monitor. In reality, the participants had no control over the images; the researchers manipulated the ratio of positive to negative images to give them the impression that they were controlling -- or failing to control -- the emotional content of the images.

The researchers also tested a subset of participants who had a strong aversion to spiders. Buetti and Lleras reasoned that if control could alter the way people experienced emotional events, a particularly rigorous and useful test of this hypothesis would be to see if this held true in subjects who had very strong emotional reactions to images of spiders.

As in previous studies, when participants experienced low levels of control over experimental events, they tended to overestimate the amount of time they looked at highly arousing negative images (including photos of spiders) in relation to the amount of time they viewed highly arousing positive images. Buetti and Lleras also discovered that the more a person feared spiders, the more he or she tended to overestimate the duration of spider images.

"For spider-fearful individuals, it's as if time slows down when they are confronted with spiders," Lleras said.

But when the researchers induced a high level of perceived control in participants, the time distortions associated with the emotional content of the images went away.

"Even among spider-fearful participants, images of spiders no longer slowed time," said Lleras, who also is an affiliate of the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.

"Across experiments, we found that the same images, the same horrible or positive images are actually treated differently if you give a sense of control to participants," Buetti said. "All of a sudden, they're looking at the world differently; they're reacting to the world differently."

Some time distortions returned, however, when in a final experiment participants were made to feel in control of negative events (the viewing of mostly negative images). When they pursued a goal that violated their basic instincts and desires for well-being, Lleras said, their sense of control "failed to inoculate them from the time distortions associated with viewing very disturbing negative images."

The new findings have implications for future studies, the researchers said.

"We now know that experiments on emotion processing can lead to dramatically different outcomes depending on whether participants are offered a sense of control over experimental events or not," Buetti said.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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Journal Reference:

  1. Simona Buetti, Alejandro Lleras. Perceiving Control Over Aversive and Fearful Events Can Alter How We Experience Those Events: An Investigation of Time Perception in Spider-Fearful Individuals. Frontiers in Psychology, 2012; 3 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2012.00337

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/QZ4lAeyk-MI/121024133450.htm

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