Financial markets? addiction to central bank stimulus is out of control (see previous post). Below are some financial media headlines from the last few days discussing market moves ? in no particular order. The news driving markets now constantly originates from central banks (or related government entities) ? with earnings mixed in here and there. Central banks? actions (or inaction) are often the major factors in securities valuation. What is not clear however is if market participants and the public understand that this is not how financial markets have typically operated in the past (even though central bank actions were always a component of valuations) and is not how free markets should operate.
We go from this one day:
Reuters: ? U.S. stocks rose modestly on Tuesday on investor confidence that Federal Reserve stimulus would underpin equities and purchases by money managers wanting to touch up portfolios before the quarter?s end.
? to this the following day:
WSJ: ? The Standard & Poor?s 500-stock index dropped nine points, or 0.6%, to 1447. The Nasdaq Composite fell 29 points, or 0.9%, to 3131.
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said the U.S. central bank?s new mortgage bond-buying program is unlikely to boost growth, and that the effort could harm the Fed?s credibility.
"There are many investors who think the Federal Reserve was the catalyst for this latest move," said Michael Shea, managing partner with Direct Access Partners. "If you have another Fed governor dissenting with what the Fed?s doing, you?re going to spook some people."
And it just keeps going.
PBoC:
Reuters: ? Mining stocks .SXPP rose 1.2 percent after China?s central bank injected cash into its money markets and traders speculated it may also take steps to boost the country?s weak stock market, to arrest a slowdown in its economic growth.
ECB:
Reuters: ? Global investors staged a tentative return to euro zone stocks and bonds this month following the European Central Bank?s bond-buying rescue plan and credit easing from the U.S. and Japanese central banks, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.
BoE:
Reuters: ? Traders said talk of new central bank stimulus measures from the likes of China or the Bank of England was preventing equity markets from sliding
BOJ:
WSJ: ? European stocks rose and the euro nudged up against the dollar Wednesday, after the Bank of Japan jumped on the stimulus bandwagon by announcing an expansion of its asset-purchase program.
The BOJ said it will increase it asset purchases to 80 trillion yen ($1.01 trillion) from Y70 trillion, just one week after the U.S. Federal Reserve announced another round of quantitative easing.
RBI:
The Hindu: ? After surging 250 points in anticipation of a rate cut, the Sensex on Monday closed only 78 points higher ? registering 9th straight day of gains ? as investors were not excited at RBI just reducing CRR by 0.25 per cent and keeping key interest rates unchanged.
And it?s not just about the equity markets:
SF Gate: ? The yuan climbed to its strongest level since 1993 on speculation China will step up efforts to arrest a seven-quarter slowdown in the world?s second-largest economy.
Of course like any drug, the high wears off quickly.
Bloomberg: ? Asian stocks fell amid concern stimulus measures by central banks won?t be enough to boost global economic growth ?
Investors are ?finally realizing that recently announced liquidity injections from central banks will do nothing to address the structural issues,? said Matthew Sherwood, Sydney- based head of markets research at Perpetual Investments, which manages about $25 billion.
Until the next fix?
TheStreet.com: ? The U.S. equity market next week will start the final quarter of 2012 with a heavy schedule of reports highlighting conditions in the U.S. economy, with all leading up to figures that will show if there?s been any improvement in the shaky labor market.
The action starts Monday with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke slated to deliver a speech on monetary policy.
?
This post first appeared here: Markets? addiction to central bank stimulus dominates financial headlines
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UNNATURAL ESSENCES: The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics commissioned independent laboratory tests that revealed 38 secret chemicals in 17 leading fragrances. To protect trade secrets, makers are allowed to withhold fragrance ingredients, so consumers can?t rely on labels to know what hazards may lurk inside that new bottle of perfume.Image: PhotoDisk/Thinkstock
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Dear EarthTalk: I?ve always suspected that perfumes and colognes must not be too healthy simply because of the way the smell of most of them bothers me. Am I correct? Is there information available on this issue??Lucinda Barry, Minneapolis
Ahhh...the sweet smell of petrochemicals! The Environmental Working Group (EWG) reports that, while many popular perfumes, colognes and body sprays contain trace amounts of natural essences, they also typically contain a dozen or more potentially hazardous synthetic chemicals, some of which are derived from petroleum. To protect trade secrets, makers are allowed to withhold fragrance ingredients, so consumers can?t rely on labels to know what hazards may lurk inside that new bottle of perfume.
?A rose may be a rose,? reports EWG. ?But that rose-like fragrance in your perfume may be something else entirely, concocted from any number of the fragrance industry?s 3,100 stock chemical ingredients, the blend of which is almost always kept hidden from the consumer.?
The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, a coalition of over 100 groups seeking transparency about chemicals in cosmetics, commissioned independent laboratory tests that revealed 38 secret chemicals in 17 leading fragrances. The top offenders?: American Eagle Seventy Seven topped the list with 24, followed by Chanel Coco with 18 and Britney Spears Curious and Giorgio Armani Acqua Di Gio each with 17.
?The average fragrance product tested contained 14 secret chemicals not listed on the label,? reports EWG, which analyzed the Campaign?s data. ?Among them are chemicals associated with hormone disruption and allergic reactions, and many substances that have not been assessed for safety in personal care products.? EWG adds that some of the undisclosed ingredients are chemicals ?with troubling hazardous properties or with a propensity to accumulate in human tissues.? Examples include diethyl phthalate, a chemical found in 97 percent of Americans and linked to sperm damage in human epidemiological studies, and musk ketone, which concentrates in human fat tissue and breast milk.
EWG explains that ingredients not in a product?s ?hidden fragrance mixture? must be listed on the label, so makers disclose some chemicals but ?lump others together in the generic category of ?fragrance?.?
EWG blames the U.S. government in part, pointing out that the Food and Drug Administration ?has not assessed the safety of the vast majority? of secret chemicals used in spray-on products such as fragrances. ?Fragrance secrecy is legal due to a giant loophole in the Federal Fair Packaging and Labeling Act of 1973, which requires companies to list cosmetics ingredients on the product labels but explicitly exempts fragrance,? reports EWG. As such, the cosmetics industry has kept the public in the dark about fragrance ingredients, ?even those that present potential health risks or build up in people?s bodies.?
For more information, check out EWG?s May 2010 ?Not So Sexy? report, available on the group?s website. Also, EWG?s SkinDeep database serves as an evolving source of information on the ingredients (and their health risks) in thousands of cosmetics and related products widely available on store shelves.
CONTACTS: Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, www.safecosmetics.org; EWG?s ?Not So Sexy,? www.ewg.org/notsosexy; Skin Deep, www.ewg.org/skindeep.
EarthTalk? is written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a registered trademark of E - The Environmental Magazine ( www.emagazine.com). Send questions to: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Subscribe: www.emagazine.com/subscribe. FreeTrial Issue: www.emagazine.com/trial.
FILE - In this July 9, 2010 file photograph, an Afghan National Army soldier wears an ammunition belt around his neck during a joint patrol with United States Army soldiers from Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion of the 508 Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne, in the volatile Arghandab Valley, outside Kandahar City. U.S. military officials have noted that Afghan security forces are dying in insider attacks along with foreign troops, but so far, the Afghan government has not provided statistics on the number killed. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)
FILE - In this July 9, 2010 file photograph, an Afghan National Army soldier wears an ammunition belt around his neck during a joint patrol with United States Army soldiers from Bravo Company, 2nd Battalion of the 508 Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne, in the volatile Arghandab Valley, outside Kandahar City. U.S. military officials have noted that Afghan security forces are dying in insider attacks along with foreign troops, but so far, the Afghan government has not provided statistics on the number killed. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 3, 2009 file photo, U.S. Marine squad leader Sgt. Matthew Duquette, left, of Warrenville, Ill., with Bravo Company, 1st Battalion 5th Marines walks with Afghan National Army Lt. Hussein, during in a joint patrol in Nawa district, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. U.S. military officials have noted that Afghan security forces are dying in insider attacks along with foreign troops, but so far, the Afghan government has not provided statistics on the number killed. (AP Photo/Brennan Linsley, File)
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghan Army Sgt. Habibullah Hayar didn't know it, but he had been sleeping with his enemy for weeks.
Twenty days ago, one of his roommates was arrested for allegedly plotting an insider attack against their unit, which is partnered with NATO forces in eastern Paktia province.
Afghan soldiers and policemen ? or militants in their uniforms ? have gunned down more than 50 foreign troops so far this year, eroding the trust between coalition forces and their Afghan partners. An equal number of Afghan policemen and soldiers also died in these attacks, giving them reason as well to be suspicious of possible infiltrators within their ranks.
"It's not only foreigners. They are targeting Afghan security forces too," said the 21-year-old Hayar, who was in Kabul on leave. "Sometimes, I think what kind of situation is this that a Muslim cannot trust a Muslim ? even a brother cannot trust a brother. It's so confused. Nobody knows what's going on."
The attacks are taking a toll on the partnership, prompting the U.S. military to restrict operations with small-sized Afghan units earlier this month.
The close contact ? with coalition forces working side by side with Afghan troops as advisers, mentors and trainers ? is a key part of the U.S. strategy for putting the Afghans in the lead as the U.S. and other nations prepare to pull out their last combat troops at the end of 2014, just 27 months away.
The U.S. military also has shown increasing anger over the attacks.
"I'm mad as hell about them, to be honest with you," Gen. John Allen, the top commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, told CBS' "60 Minutes" in an interview scheduled to be broadcast on Sunday. "It reverberates everywhere across the United States. You know, we're willing to sacrifice a lot for this campaign, but we're not willing to be murdered for it."
So far this year, 51 foreign troops ? at least half of them Americans ? have been killed in insider attacks. The Afghan government has not provided statistics on the number of its forces killed in insider attacks. However, U.S. military statistics obtained by The Associated Press show at least 53 members of the Afghan security forces had been killed as of the end of August.
A U.S. military official disclosed the numbers on condition of anonymity because he said it was up to Afghan officials to formally release the figures. An Afghan defense official who was shown the statistics said he had no reason to doubt their accuracy.
Overall, the statistics show that at least 135 Afghan policemen and soldiers have been killed in insider attacks since 2007. That's more than the 118 foreign service members ? mostly Americans ? killed in such attacks since then, according to NATO.
Typically, foreign troops are the main targets, but Afghan forces also have been killed by comrades angry over their collaboration with Westerners and many more get killed in the crossfire, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said. He said the ministry did not have a breakdown of how many had been targeted or killed in gunbattles during the attacks.
In at least one instance, an Afghan police officer with alleged ties to militants, killed 10 of his fellow officers on Aug. 11 at a checkpoint in southwestern Nimroz province. An Afghan soldier also was killed on April 25 when a fellow soldier opened fire on a U.S. service member and his translator in Kandahar province, the southern birthplace of the Taliban.
Last year, a suicide bomber in an Afghan police uniform blew himself up May 28 in Takhar province, killing two NATO service members and four Afghans, including a senior police commander. And just a week before that, four Taliban fighters wearing suicide vests under police uniforms attacked a government building in Khost province, triggering a gunbattle that left three Afghan policemen and two Afghan soldiers dead. On April 16, an Afghan soldier walked into a meeting of NATO trainers and Afghan troops in Laghman province, blew himself up, killing five U.S. troops, four Afghan soldiers and an interpreter.
"It's difficult to know an attacker from a non-attacker when everybody is wearing a uniform, Hayar said.
The attacker was one of seven people rounded up earlier this month from various units within the Afghan National Army Corps 203, Hayar said. The corps covers the eastern Afghan provinces of Paktia, Paktika, Ghazni, Wardak, Logar and Khost.
"He was together with me in my room with some of my other colleagues. He had a long beard. We didn't know anything about him. We were living together, sleeping together," said Hayar, who has been in the Afghan army for 2 1/2 years.
He said the suspected infiltrator was identified after a Taliban militant arrested in Logar told his Afghan interrogators that members of the fundamentalist Islamic movement had infiltrated the corps and were planning imminent attacks. That prompted Hayar's superiors to start questioning soldiers in various units.
Hayar said his roommate's uneasy reaction raised suspicion, and investigators found Taliban songs saved to the memory card of his cell phone. He was then detained by Afghan intelligence officials and confessed he was a member of the Taliban and planned to stage attacks.
Hayar says he assumes his former bunkmate was probably going after foreign forces, but it makes him uncomfortable nevertheless.
"It's very hard to trust anybody ? even a roommate," he said. "Whenever I'm not on duty, I lock my weapon and keep the key myself. I don't put my weapon under my pillow to sleep because maybe someone will grab it and shoot me with my own weapon."
To counter such attacks, the U.S. military earlier this year stopped training about 1,000 members of the Afghan Local Police, a controversial network of village-defense units. U.S. commanders have assigned some troops to be "guardian angels" who watch over their comrades even as they sleep. U.S. officials also recently ordered American troops to carry loaded weapons at all time, even when they are on their bases.
Then, after a string of insider attacks, Allen this month restricted operations carried out alongside with small-sized Afghan units. Coalition troops have routinely conducted patrols or manned outposts with small groups of Afghan counterparts, but Allen's directive said such operations would no longer be considered routine and required the approval of the regional commander.
For their part, Afghan authorities have detained or removed hundreds of soldiers as part of its effort to re-screen its security forces. The Ministry of Defense also released a 28-page training booklet this month that advises soldiers not to be personally offended when foreign troops do things Afghans view as deeply insulting.
The booklet urges them not to take revenge for foreign troops' social blunders, such as blowing their noses in public, stepping into a mosque with their shoes on, walking in front of a soldier who is praying or asking about their wives.
"Most of the coalition members are interested to share pictures of their families. It is not a big deal for them. If someone asks you about your family, especially the females in your family, don't think they are disrespecting you or trying to insult you," the booklet says.
"That is not the case. By asking such questions, they are trying to show that they want to learn more about you. You can very easily explain to them that nobody in Afghanistan would ask, especially about wives or females in the family."
___
Associated Press writers Amir Shah and Rahim Faiez in Kabul contributed to this report.
??On Saturday night, an Afghan soldier approached Americans, killing a soldier and a contractor; with that, the number of soldiers killed in Afghanistan is around 2,100 in the United States? 11-year-war in the country. Insider attacks have become increasingly common ? and no one seems to have a good answer about how to stop them. NBC?s Lester Holt and Richard Engel report from Kabul.
It's been a long time since we've seen any new blood refreshing Logitech's line of universal remotes, but after indications of new devices on the way in an earnings call earlier this year tipster Andrew spotted this brand new Harmony Touch on store shelves. Arriving at Best Buy unheralded by any official announcement or specs so far, the box shots and list of features show the ability to control 15 different devices and (of course) that center mounted touchscreen. There's no mention of it on the Logitech site either, however one leaked blog post we spotted referred to this device and a Harmony Plus.
As our friends at Tech of the Hub note, the Touch clearly draws a lot of its heritage from the Harmony One and 1100 touchscreen remotes although to have ditched the dedicated Activity button for "one touch" control. The touchscreen itself supports both taps and swipes as well as up to 50 customizable channel icons, and the box lists both online setup and on-remote customization as features. According to Andrew it's rocking a price tag of $249 -- $50 above the current price of the Harmony One but $100 shy of the RF-equipped Harmony 900 -- hopefully we'll find out soon if what Logitech has added this time around makes it worth the wait.
Update: Another one of our readers, Zachary also saw it at Best Buy and bought one, check out a few out of the box pics in the gallery below, and drop any questions about its capabilities in the comments. He's digging it so far, saying that the touchscreen is responsive and it found icons for his area quickly, with options to change background, LCD brightness and screen timeout. There does not appear to be any RF support however, so it's IR control only.
FILE - In this Feb 11, 2009 file photo, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a bust of Abraham Lincoln are seen in profile during a celebration of Lincoln's 200 birthday held at the California Museum of History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento, Calif. Schwarzenegger, who came to office during California's historic 2003 recall election, will soon be releasing his autobiography, "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story."(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, file)
FILE - In this Feb 11, 2009 file photo, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a bust of Abraham Lincoln are seen in profile during a celebration of Lincoln's 200 birthday held at the California Museum of History, Women and the Arts in Sacramento, Calif. Schwarzenegger, who came to office during California's historic 2003 recall election, will soon be releasing his autobiography, "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story."(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, file)
FILE -- In this April 15, 2004 file photo, Actor Danny DeVito, left, waves as he walks through the Capitol with long-time friend, movie co-star and current Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in Sacramento, Calif. Schwarzenegger, who came to office during California's historic 2003 recall election, will soon be releasing his autobiography, "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story."(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, file)
FILE - In this June 13, 2007, file photo, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, right, and former Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, D-Los Angeles, joke around before a legislative group photo is taken at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. In one of his last formal acts as governor, Schwarzenegger used his executive powers to grant clemency to Nunez' son, who was involved in a fatal stabbing and pleaded guilty to manslaughter charges. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, file)
FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2009 file photo, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger brings the sword he used in the movie "Conan The Barbarian," to the conference table before the start of budget negotiations with legislative leaders at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. Schwarzenegger, who came to office during California's historic 2003 recall election, will soon be releasing his autobiography, "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story."(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, file)
FILE -- In this file photo taken Oct. 5, 2003, Republican gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger, playfully strums a guitar to the Twisted Sister song, "We Ain't Going to Take it Anymore," during a campaign rally held at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. Schwarzenegger, the former governor, who came to office during California's historic 2003 recall election, will soon be releasing his autobiography, "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story."(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, file)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Arnold Schwarzenegger says his wife, Maria Shriver, was told to "snap out of it" by her mother for her attempts to persuade him against running for California governor in 2003, a conversation that ultimately opened the door to his successful candidacy.
Eunice Shriver told her daughter that her husband would be "angry for the rest of his life" if she stopped his ambitions, Schwarzenegger writes in his new autobiography, "Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story."
The former governor says in the book that he had decided against running to recall Gov. Gray Davis after his wife implored him not to for the sake of their family. Maria Shriver announced his decision to their four children.
But he writes that when Maria Shriver told her mother about her efforts to thwart Schwarzenegger's political ambitions, Eunice told her daughter that women in their family "always support the men when they want to do something." Schwarzenegger says he didn't know about the conversation at the time, but learned of it later.
Maria Shriver then softened her stance, paving the way for Schwarzenegger to announce his candidacy on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," where he says he felt most comfortable.
The announcement came after a week of wavering. Schwarzenegger says before he headed to the TV appearance, his wife handed him two pieces of paper with talking points she had written: one in case he decided to run, another in case he decided not to.
He writes that Shriver went on to become a key ally and adviser to his campaign and eventual governorship.
Schwarzenegger has often said that Maria's mother and her father, Sargent Shriver, were essential to his eventual decision to seek public office, and the most "extraordinary human beings I've ever met." But he also writes in the book that he often teased his wife that the close-knit Democratic Kennedy clan was "like a bunch of clones" because there was such conformity among them.
A spokesman for Shriver, Matthew DiGirolamo, declined to comment on the contents of the book.
"Total Recall" will officially be published next week. The Associated Press purchased an early copy.
Schwarzenegger also writes he had a "hot affair" with actress Brigitte Nielsen at a time he and Maria Shriver were dating and already living together.
Schwarzenegger and Nielsen co-starred in the 1985 film "Red Sonja." Nielsen wrote in a memoir published last year that she and Schwarzenegger had an "outrageous affair" while making the movie and that she didn't know until later that he was involved with Shriver.
In "Total Recall," Schwarzenegger writes that he knew the fling with Nielsen wouldn't last and in fact it only made him realize that he wanted to marry Shriver.
The book is part of an effort by the onetime "Mr. Universe" and Hollywood action star to rebrand himself after leaving office with a mixed record and subsequent embarrassing revelations about a fling he had with the family's housekeeper. Schwarzenegger, who fathered a son with the housekeeper, says he also let the boy down.
Schwarzenegger, 65, said he avoided telling his wife for years about the boy, who is now a teenager, even when Shriver asked him, partly because of his longtime penchant for secrecy, and his fear that the news would become public and undermine his political career. He told his wife in January 2011, when she confronted him the day after he left office.
In an interview with "60 Minutes" scheduled to air Sunday, Schwarzenegger said having sex with his housekeeper was "the stupidest thing" he ever did to his now-estranged wife and caused great pain to her and their four children. CBS aired excerpts of the interview Friday.
"I think it was the stupidest thing I've done in the whole relationship. It was terrible. I inflicted tremendous pain on Maria and unbelievable pain on the kids," Schwarzenegger tells "60 Minutes."
Schwarzenegger says he also let down the son he fathered with the housekeeper.
Shriver filed for divorce in July.
In his book, the usually ebullient Schwarzenegger admits to some loneliness, even though he packed his schedule with speeches, projects and movie-making after Shriver and the children moved out of the house. He said his career had been fun for 30 years because he shared it with Maria.
They had done everything together, he writes.
The former GOP governor also writes about a 2003 White House meeting with Karl Rove in which the top GOP strategist told him the recall would not happen and instead introduced the actor to then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice as his pick to run for California governor in 2006.
Schwarzenegger felt snubbed.
He asks, "How could Rove have been so wrong?"
Rove's office said he was traveling Friday and could not be reached for comment.
Rice's chief of staff at Stanford University, Georgia Godfrey, said Rice cannot recall "any conversation on this subject."
"She has stated many times in the past that she has no desire to run for public office and those sentiments have still not changed," Godfrey said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press.
FILE - The Sept. 21, 2009 file photo shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and then German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, left, after a meeting with the German Government's task force for finance architecture at the chancellery in Berlin. Germany's main opposition party appears set to choose former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, who helped pilot the country through the 2008-9 financial crisis, as Chancellor Angela Merkel's challenger in next year's election. Several German media outlets reported Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 the center-left Social Democrats have decided to nominate the 65-year-old Steinbrueck. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer)
FILE - The Sept. 21, 2009 file photo shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and then German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, left, after a meeting with the German Government's task force for finance architecture at the chancellery in Berlin. Germany's main opposition party appears set to choose former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, who helped pilot the country through the 2008-9 financial crisis, as Chancellor Angela Merkel's challenger in next year's election. Several German media outlets reported Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 the center-left Social Democrats have decided to nominate the 65-year-old Steinbrueck. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer)
FILE - The Jan 12, 2007 file photo show then German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck smiling during a press conference in Berlin. Germany's main opposition party appears set to choose former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, who helped pilot the country through the 2008-9 financial crisis, as Chancellor Angela Merkel's challenger in next year's election. Several German media outlets reported Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 the center-left Social Democrats have decided to nominate the 65-year-old Steinbrueck. (AP Photo/Franka Bruns)
FILE - In this May 15, 2012 file photo, Social Democratic politicians, from left, Peer Steinbrueck, Sigmar Gabriel and Frank-Walter Steinmeier attend a news conference in Berlin. Germany's main opposition party appears set to choose former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, who helped pilot the country through the 2008-9 financial crisis, as Chancellor Angela Merkel's challenger in next year's election. Several German media outlets reported Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 the center-left Social Democrats have decided to nominate the 65-year-old Steinbrueck. (AP Photo/dapd, Michael Gottschalk, File)
FILE - The Sept. 21, 2009 file photo shows German Chancellor Angela Merkel, right, and then German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, left, briefing the media after a meeting with the German Government's task force for finance architecture at the chancellery in Berlin. Germany's main opposition party appears set to choose former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, who helped pilot the country through the 2008-9 financial crisis, as Chancellor Angela Merkel's challenger in next year's election. Several German media outlets reported Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 the center-left Social Democrats have decided to nominate the 65-year-old Steinbrueck. (AP Photo/Gero Breloer)
BERLIN (AP) ? Germany's main opposition party is set to nominate former Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, who helped pilot the country through the 2008-9 financial crisis, as Chancellor Angela Merkel's challenger in elections next year.
Officials with the center-left Social Democrats wouldn't immediately confirm reports Friday in several German media outlets that the leadership had decided on Steinbrueck, 65. But the party scheduled an afternoon news conference and former Cabinet colleague Brigitte Zypries wrote on Facebook: "it's true, it's going to be him."
The choice of Steinbrueck ? one of three candidates who has been discussed for months as criticism mounted of the party's failure to settle on a challenger ? kicks off in earnest the race for the chancellery in parliamentary elections expected this time next year.
Steinbrueck earlier this week presented a plan for "taming financial markets," flagging that as a prominent issue in the party's campaign.
But polls suggest that, while Steinbrueck is relatively well-placed to attract swing voters, the Social Democrats face an uphill struggle to unseat the popular Merkel, 58, Germany's leader since 2005.
The party consistently trails her conservative Christian Democrats, and surveys show no majority for their hoped-for coalition with the Green party.
They're keen to avoid ending up as Merkel's junior partner in another "grand coalition" of right and left, the combination in which Steinbrueck served as finance minister from 2005 to 2009.
A significant source of Merkel's popularity is her handling of the eurozone debt crisis, and that's been making it hard for the Social Democrats to land blows on her. They and the Greens have criticized Merkel for what they decry as a too-little, too-late response ? before invariably supporting her plans in Parliament.
Steinbrueck has a reputation for plain speaking, which hasn't always made him popular with fellow Social Democrats. As a minister, he once remarked of his party that "we're coming over to people as crybabies" in the face of Merkel's popularity.
In 2009, he called for governments to use "the whip" against neighboring Switzerland in the fight against tax evasion and said the Alpine nation faced the threat of the "cavalry."
His successor, Wolfgang Schaeuble, has taken a more diplomatic approach, negotiating a deal with Switzerland. But with the election in sight, the Social Democrats have vowed not to let it through Parliament's upper house, where Merkel's coalition lacks a majority.
Approved unanimously on Saturday before Congress adjourned for a fall campaign hiatus, the Senate bill drew relatively little attention. It was the ?European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act of 2011,? the latest attempt to exempt American airlines from paying fees imposed by the European Union to cover the greenhouse gases their planes emit while flying to and from European airports.
The House passed a somewhat tougher bill last October. Because the bills have some differences, the final version will have to be sorted out later when Congress resumes work after the November elections.
The measure, which drew bipartisan sponsorship, is the latest salvo in the tug-of-war over whether American air carriers should pay what is essentially a carbon tax for flights to and from Europe under the European Emissions Trading System, which the aviation sector became a part of on Jan. 1. The regulatory framework had already applied to most other industries, including electricity providers and cement makers.
The Senate version of the bill, although more diplomatic than the House version, essentially gives the secretary of transportation the authority to tell airlines that they should not comply with Europe?s laws on emissions payments if he deems disobedience to be in the public interest.
The lawmakers argue that the American airlines should not pay the fines as a matter of national sovereignty, since some of the carbon dioxide emitted during the flights to and from Europe is emitted in United States or international airspace. Instead they favor a global approach to addressing fast-rising airline emissions, perhaps under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
That body has been working on a policy to address those emissions for several years now, and the European Union says it has been too slow to act. The international agency?s next major assembly does not convene until September of next year.
China and India have also objected to Europe?s new rules, even threatening in some cases to limit European airlines? right to traverse their airspace in retaliation.
Annie Petsonk of the Environmental Defense Fund has an interesting post detailing the state of play on the issue.
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DETROIT (AP) ? Doug Fister was breezing along after striking out nine straight batters and setting an American League record.
Detroit led by four runs in the eighth inning ? but for the 2012 Tigers, nothing has come easy.
The Tigers nearly wasted Fister's dazzling streak, blowing a big lead late before beating Kansas City 5-4 on Thursday when Alex Avila drove home the winning run in the ninth with a bases-loaded grounder.
Detroit's lead in the AL Central grew to two games when the slumping Chicago White Sox lost to Tampa Bay 3-2.
"Getting a win is big," Avila said. "We have to be able to win tight games like this. It's the only way we're going to be able to get in the playoffs and go far in the playoffs."
Detroit finished 50-31 at home this season ? and will now try to wrap up the division on the road. The Tigers play three games at Minnesota, followed by a season-ending three-game series at Kansas City.
Fister came within one strikeout of matching Tom Seaver's major league record of 10 in a row. He struck out Salvador Perez to end the top of the fourth, starting a streak that didn't end until Perez grounded out to the shortstop on a two-strike pitch in the seventh.
"It's crazy, to go through a whole lineup and strike everybody out," Royals outfielder Jeff Francoeur said. "And I don't think he threw more than four pitches to any of the batters."
The AL record of eight consecutive strikeouts had been accomplished several times, most recently by Kansas City's Blake Stein on June 17, 2001.
After Perez grounded out for the third out of the seventh, first baseman Prince Fielder put his arm around Fister as they headed back to the dugout.
"I said, 'Congratulations, man. You made history.' He was like, 'What are you doing?'" Fielder said. "He was locked in so it was kind of like, 'Get away from me.' I was like, 'All right, they'll tell you."
At that point, Fister had retired 16 straight hitters and Detroit led 4-0 ? but he was oblivious to the strikeout record.
"Honestly, I had no idea," Fister said. "(Fielder) was yelling at me to step off during the inning, and I kind of looked at him. Normally, he'll do that, to slow me down, if I'm getting too quick. ... I thought that was kind of what he was doing there. He just said, 'Hey, step off.' I look at him, and he kept looking at me, and he said, 'Aw, I'll tell you later.'"
Fister's performance almost went for naught. The Royals scored three runs in the eighth, and Billy Butler tied it in the ninth with a solo homer off Joaquin Benoit (5-3).
Fielder led off the Detroit ninth with a chopper that went past the mound and charging shortstop Tony Abreu. The hefty slugger made it all the way to second for a double on a ball that only ended up a few feet beyond the infield.
Delmon Young was intentionally walked, and pinch-hitter Ramon Santiago bunted into a forceout at third, leaving runners at first and second. Kelvin Herrera replaced Tim Collins (5-4) on the mound and got Jhonny Peralta to hit what looked like a potential double play grounder to third, but Mike Moustakas misplayed it for his third error of the game ? and Kansas City's fifth.
Avila hit a full-count pitch to first baseman Brayan Pena, who made a diving stop and touched the bag, but had no play at home.
"Pena still made a great play on that one," Fielder said. "Baseball is really hard because even if you're good, you have to be a little lucky, too."
Fister finished with 10 strikeouts in 7 2-3 innings. He allowed two earned runs and five hits.
Kansas City's Luis Mendoza allowed two earned runs in seven innings.
Francoeur hit an RBI double in the eighth, Johnny Giavotella added an RBI groundout, and Abreu, pinch-hitting, drove in a run with a single to make it 4-3.
Detroit took a 4-0 lead thanks in part to four Kansas City errors in the first two innings.
Moustakas was charged with two errors on one grounder by Quintin Berry ? one for mishandling it and another for a bad throw. Fielder drove in a run later in the first with a single, advancing to second on an error by left fielder Alex Gordon.
Young hit a sacrifice fly, and Gordon threw Fielder out at home on a single by Andy Dirks to end the inning.
Berry's two-run triple in the second made it 4-0.
NOTES: Detroit closer Jose Valverde was sick and unavailable. ... Royals 1B Eric Hosmer left the game with a strained right shoulder. ... The Tigers play at Minnesota on Friday night. LHP Drew Smyly (4-3) will start because of an injury to Max Scherzer. Minnesota will counter with LHP Scott Diamond (12-8).
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures edged lower on Friday as investors locked in profit following steep gains in the previous session and as a strong quarter for equities draws to a close.
* Equities have advanced about 6.2 percent over the past three months, much of it linked to expectations for measures by central banks around the world to boost their economies.
* After those expectations were met, stocks have struggled for direction and trading has been thin, as investors looked to new catalysts amid lackluster data and lowered corporate earnings outlooks. Advance Micro Devices , which cut its outlook in July, has slumped 40 percent to be the S&P's worst performer this quarter.
* While the S&P climbed 1 percent on Thursday, its best daily gain since the Federal Reserved announced a new program of monetary easing September 13, the gain came on a plan for economic reform in Spain that was viewed as going beyond what the European Commission had asked of the country to help it tackle its debt.
* In company news, Nike Inc reported first-quarter earnings late Thursday that beat expectations, though it warned of slowing orders in China, the latest company to caution on how economic weakness in the Asian giant was impacting its business.
* U.S. shares of Research in Motion rocketed 18 percent to $8.45 in premarket trading after the BlackBerry maker reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss.
* S&P 500 futures fell 5.4 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures lost 52 points and Nasdaq 100 futures sank 8.5 points.
* The S&P is down 0.9 percent this week so far, for a second straight week in the red, though Thursday's rally sharply narrowed losses from five straight days of declines. The Dow is down 0.7 percent for the week and the Nasdaq is down 1.4 percent.
* There may be volatility on Friday as investors "window dress," or undergo a last-minute push to reposition portfolios ahead of the quarter's end. MetroPCS and Sprint Nextel are the S&P's two biggest gainers in the quarter, with the former almost doubling in value.
* In economic data, investors are looking ahead to August personal income and consumption data at 8:30 a.m. ET (1230 GMT). The Institute of Supply Management Chicago's September manufacturing activity index will be released later, as will the final September read of the Thomson Reuters-University of Michigan consumer sentiment index.
* Income and spending are seen rising modestly while the ISM index is seen holding steady at 53 and the sentiment index is seen moving to 79 from 79.2 in the preliminary report.
* The S&P snapped a five-day losing streak on Thursday, rallying on Spain's economic reform plan. The news overshadowed a weak read on gross domestic product and durable goods, though jobless claims were strong in the week.
A job fair will be held from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 10 to fill positions at the new Robert Wood Johnson Health and Wellness Plaza.
The location, at one Penn Plaza, is in the space formerly occupied by the Rutgers Bookstore.
According to a release from the New Brunswick Development Corporation, both full and part-time jobs are available and include managers, membership counselors, customer service representatives, exercise physiologists, personal trainers, group fitness instructors, Pilates Reformer instructors, aquatic directors, lifeguards, WSI Instructors, nursing RN/LPN, childcare and receptionists.
All positions include a complimentary membership to the fitness center and opportunities for advancement, according to the release.
To register for the job fair, visit http://fwps101012.eventbrite.com. Walk-ins are welcome.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Whether you're a card-carrying Gleek or you think Fox's weekly high -chool musical long ago jumped the shark (with jazz hands), you may find yourself falling under the spell of "Pitch Perfect," an unassuming little comedy with enough cleverness, energy and sheer charm to break out among the crowded slate of fall films.
Even if its underdogs-go-for-the-title storyline doesn't break much new ground, the very appealing cast (led by ing?nue superstar Anna Kendrick) and an overall sense of buoyant silliness advances it to the top of the class.
You might have crossed the quad to get away from actual a cappella groups in real life, but "Pitch Perfect" turns these singers into people in whose company you'll happily spend an hour or two.
Beca (Kendrick) is a new freshman at Barden University, but not by choice - the aspiring DJ wants to move to Los Angeles to become a record producer, but her estranged father (John Benjamin Hickey), a professor at Barden, insists that she go to college first.
Eventually, they make a deal that he'll bankroll her move to L.A. if she gives a whole year to school, including joining an extracurricular activity and making some friends.
Soon, she's roped into joining the Bellas, an all-girl a cappella group that's hit the skids after soloist Aubrey (Anna Camp) violently vomited on the first several rows at the previous year's Nationals during a performance of Ace of Base's "I Saw the Sign."
Beca becomes one of several odd ducks to join the group, alongside the brash Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson of "Bridesmaids"), who gave herself the name "so twig bitches like you wouldn't call me that behind my back," and the painfully shy Lilly (Hana Mae Lee), whose barely-audible utterances provide some of the film's most outrageous laughs.
Will mashup-minded Beca convince Aubrey to shake up the Bellas' playlist? Will the group have a chance at Nationals against their obnoxious all-male rivals, the Treble Makers? And will the rules forbidding fraternization between the choruses stymie Beca's budding flirtation with Jesse (Skylar Astin, "Hamlet 2")?
Surprises are not abundant in the screenplay by Kay Cannon (adapting Mickey Rapkin's novel), but the laughs keep coming from all directions -- "Pitch Perfect" offers a wonderful ensemble of loony supporting bits, from Fat Amy's non-sequitur asides to the ridiculous preening of Treble Makers star soloist Bumper (Adam DeVine) to the unabashed nerdiness of Jesse's roommate Benji (Ben Platt), an amateur magician, "Star Wars" geek and starry-eyed Treble Makers super-fan.
Also making this familiar plot worth navigating are the musical selections, which put pop and hip-hop favorites through the a cappella meat grinder and turn them into something dazzlingly different. (First-time director Jason Moore directed Broadway's "Avenue Q.")
Even the selections that seem like insane choices are delivered with such conviction that their inherent bad taste makes them seem delightful.
Kendrick and Astin generate real sparks, and the film wisely presents real roadblocks to their relationships as well as a supremely satisfying Big Gesture in the final reel.
Elizabeth Banks (one of the film's executive producers) and John Michael Higgins add to the laughs as former singers whose color commentary on the competitions make them the movie's de facto Greek chorus. Both actors are capable of saying the most outrageous things without ever dropping the TV talking-head tone of voice.
"Pitch Perfect" is the back-to-school version of a summer comedy, but even if you're no longer flocking to the theater just to get some air-conditioning, you'll enjoy the film's breezy sensibility.
Finnish game studio Rovio went from relatively unknown to center stage with the Angry Birds franchise. And in record time, too -- the first Angry Birds landed on Apple's iOS App Store in December 2009, less than three years ago, and has since become an international sensation. The birds spawned a flock of sequels, branded tie-ins, and tons of merchandise. All this adds up to quite a bit of chicken scratch for Rovio, and also quite a bit of pressure to keep the money train rolling.
Today marks Rovio's first true sequel to the original Angry Birds, and it's focused on the other side of the farm: the pigs. Enter Bad Piggies. Unlike Angry Birds, Bad Piggies isn't about flinging anything towards a complicated structure in order to knock it down. Instead, it's about moving one very green, goofy sounding pig to various points on a map to collect items and reach a goal -- it's much more Cut the Rope than Angry Birds. The same physics-based game mechanics are at play in Bad Piggies that made both Cut the Rope and Angry Birds so popular, and they're just as fun in this time around. But how do you get said piggy to the goals? You build a contraption, of course.
Each level starts with a build section, allowing players to create all types of vehicles in order to transport the pig from point A to point B (while grabbing collectibles along the way). Only a small handful of build options are available, keeping Bad Piggies just as speedy of a game -- to pick up and play while commuting or while waiting at the dentist's office -- as its wildly successful progenitor. It's hard to say if Bad Piggies will recapture the success that Rovio found with Angry Birds proper, but all the hallmarks are there: quick, fun gameplay, colorful characters, goofy sounds, and accessibility (we couldn't help but get all three stars on every level, but you don't have to in order to proceed, should it prove too difficult). Bad Piggies launches tomorrow morning for iOS devices, Mac, and Android.
Update: Moment after posting, TNW found a report [Spanish] indicating that Bill 510 has passed. This is going to be interesting.
Copyright law in the United States leaves much to be desired. However, as the country?s internal wranglings dominate the international discussion of such legal questions, it?s important to keep in mind that a great host of other countries are struggling with the same issues.
Enter Panama.
Bill 510,?Proyecto 510-2012, is a proposed piece of legislation sent from the country?s executive branch to its legislative. It?s not a good bill.
It has two key flaws, as pointed out by legal blogger Andres Guadamuz. The translated pieces of legislation are via his post; TNW thanks him strongly for his work. The first flaw is how capricious, expensive, and quick proceedings against supposed copyright infringers can be executed. From the bill:
Without prejudice to the civil and criminal penalties that apply, violations of the provisions of this Act or the Regulations the offender can be sanctioned administratively by the General Copyright Directorate, after a hearing, to a fine of one thousand balboas (B 1,000) to one hundred thousand balboas (B 100,000) according to the seriousness of the offence, and the publication of the relevant resolution at the expense of the offender.
To this end it shall notify the alleged perpetrator, summoning him submit evidence in his defence to within fifteen (15) days. In case of re-offending, which is regarded as being the repetition of an act of the same nature within a period of one (1) year, the fine imposed may be doubled.
In certain cases, the minimum fine of 500 Balboas may be charged. For the curious, the conversion rate of Balboas to US dollars is 1:1. So, the fines listed above can be read in USD and not the local Balboa.?Thus, if an offender was fined twice in a year, that person could be hit with a maximum charge of $300,000.
However, quickly re-scan the?method by which a person is charged and fined: the government, apart from civil or?criminal?thoughts, can simply notify an individual, who will then have just over 2 weeks to prepare and submit evidence in their defense. That?s all that?s listed. They tell you that they think you are an infringer, and then you have two weeks to convince them otherwise. As this isn?t a normal proceeding ? say, in a civil court ? the amount of patience you could expect while trying to explain your innocence would be minimal.
Here?s the kicker: the monies collected from infringing parties?do not go to those infringed. In fact, they go right into the pocket of the enforcing party:
The funds accrued by the General Copyright Directorate from the fees for the services it provides and the fines imposed in the exercise of its powers, will be aimed at improving its operational infrastructure and to boost the performance of its officers, complementary to the funds that the State Budget reserves for the operation of the entity[...].
The amounts corresponding to each official, shall not exceed fifty percent (50%) of the total basic salary monthly remuneration.
I?m not exactly sure, but that last bit may indicate that officials could be paid bonuses for effective milking of the Panamanian citizenry through extra-legal extortion.
Our original translator,?Andres Guadamuz, has a good take on what this all means:
So the law gives unprecedented powers to impose harsh administrative fines on infringers on top of possible future civil litigation, and the money obtained goes to the entity and the employees that acts as judge and jury on the imposition of those fines. This is an incentive to hunt down and fine everyone, with an added incentive to find re-offenders, as you double your earnings.
If that sounds like a terrible idea, you are right. Say no, Panama.
Exposure to snot-nosed kids ups severity of cold infectionsPublic release date: 26-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Tom Rickey tom_rickey@urmc.rochester.edu 585-275-7954 University of Rochester Medical Center
Exposure to school-age children raises the odds that a person with lung disease who catches a cold will actually suffer symptoms like a runny nose, sore throat and cough, according to a study just published in the Journal of Clinical Virology.
That finding, the result of a study that drew upon a databank of 1,000 samples of sputum and nasal secretions from people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, comes as a surprise, says Ann Falsey, M.D., professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester and an infectious disease expert at Rochester General Hospital. Falsey is senior author of the study, which was led by first author Anurag Gandhi, M.D., an infectious disease fellow at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
"Before we conducted this study, I would have expected other factors, perhaps the severity of underlying disease the state of the patient's general health to indicate who would actually suffer symptoms from their colds," said Falsey. "Instead, contact with school-age children is the only risk factor we found, and it increases both the risk of infection and also the risk of suffering symptoms once you've caught a cold."
Many studies, including this one, have found that being around school-age children increases the risk of infection, but the new findings go one step further. Of people who come down with colds, the course of the infection is much more likely to be worse in people exposed to children.
In everyday life, many people have no symptoms and don't even realize it when they catch a cold. It comes as no surprise that Gandhi and Falsey found that more than one-third of people infected with a rhinovirus, the bug that causes most colds, had no symptoms.
But further analysis of the data showed that of those people who were infected, people whose infection turned into real-life symptoms congestion, runny nose, sore throat, hoarseness and so on were about twice as likely to have contact with school-age children as people whose infections did not become symptomatic.
While the study was not designed to tease out a possible explanation, Falsey said it's possibly because colds run a bit more rampant in young children. That's because they haven't had many years to build up immunity to the vast family of rhinoviruses that we encounter repeatedly throughout our lives. Children's colds simply tend to be worse; they have more nasal secretions, for instance, as anyone who has tracked a sick child throughout a household will attest.
"We know that kids shed more virus longer when they get a cold," Falsey said. "It may be that your chance of developing cold symptoms is related to the amount of virus you're exposed to, and if you're around small children, you're exposed to more virus. The idea makes sense, but it's speculation at this point."
To avoid colds, Falsey counsels everyone people with emphysema like those in the study, but everyone else as well to practice good hand hygiene. That means washing your hands often, especially after you have sneezed or covered your mouth when coughing. Also, avoid touching your eyes and nose as much as possible. And, try to avoid sick children.
"We all know that children are efficient germ-spreading vectors," said Falsey, "and we know that young children oftentimes don't have ideal hygiene habits. It's not unusual for them to accidentally sneeze in your face, for instance. If you have a grandchild who is sick, it may simply be smart to plan a visit for another day."
The study relied upon close monitoring and sampling of 127 people with emphysema who were evaluated six times each during one year. At all visits, nasal secretions were sampled, and sputum samples were obtained when available.
Gandhi and Falsey's analysis of the resulting 1,000 samples of bodily fluids, stored for nearly a decade at minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit, also turned up another unexpected finding. They found that adults who were on home oxygen use were somewhat protected against the added risk posed by schoolchildren. Again, the study was not designed to answer why, since the finding was unexpected. It could be, for instance, that young children were more apt to avoid close contact with adults who were wired up with tubes and apparatus that are scary to many children.
###
Other authors of the study include Edward Walsh, M.D., professor of Medicine at URMC and an infectious disease expert at RGH; biostatisticians Derick Peterson and Andrea Baran of the University of Rochester Medical Center; and technician Maria Formica and nurses Patricia Hennessey and Mary Criddle at Rochester General Hospital.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Exposure to snot-nosed kids ups severity of cold infectionsPublic release date: 26-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Tom Rickey tom_rickey@urmc.rochester.edu 585-275-7954 University of Rochester Medical Center
Exposure to school-age children raises the odds that a person with lung disease who catches a cold will actually suffer symptoms like a runny nose, sore throat and cough, according to a study just published in the Journal of Clinical Virology.
That finding, the result of a study that drew upon a databank of 1,000 samples of sputum and nasal secretions from people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD, comes as a surprise, says Ann Falsey, M.D., professor of Medicine at the University of Rochester and an infectious disease expert at Rochester General Hospital. Falsey is senior author of the study, which was led by first author Anurag Gandhi, M.D., an infectious disease fellow at the University of Rochester Medical Center.
"Before we conducted this study, I would have expected other factors, perhaps the severity of underlying disease the state of the patient's general health to indicate who would actually suffer symptoms from their colds," said Falsey. "Instead, contact with school-age children is the only risk factor we found, and it increases both the risk of infection and also the risk of suffering symptoms once you've caught a cold."
Many studies, including this one, have found that being around school-age children increases the risk of infection, but the new findings go one step further. Of people who come down with colds, the course of the infection is much more likely to be worse in people exposed to children.
In everyday life, many people have no symptoms and don't even realize it when they catch a cold. It comes as no surprise that Gandhi and Falsey found that more than one-third of people infected with a rhinovirus, the bug that causes most colds, had no symptoms.
But further analysis of the data showed that of those people who were infected, people whose infection turned into real-life symptoms congestion, runny nose, sore throat, hoarseness and so on were about twice as likely to have contact with school-age children as people whose infections did not become symptomatic.
While the study was not designed to tease out a possible explanation, Falsey said it's possibly because colds run a bit more rampant in young children. That's because they haven't had many years to build up immunity to the vast family of rhinoviruses that we encounter repeatedly throughout our lives. Children's colds simply tend to be worse; they have more nasal secretions, for instance, as anyone who has tracked a sick child throughout a household will attest.
"We know that kids shed more virus longer when they get a cold," Falsey said. "It may be that your chance of developing cold symptoms is related to the amount of virus you're exposed to, and if you're around small children, you're exposed to more virus. The idea makes sense, but it's speculation at this point."
To avoid colds, Falsey counsels everyone people with emphysema like those in the study, but everyone else as well to practice good hand hygiene. That means washing your hands often, especially after you have sneezed or covered your mouth when coughing. Also, avoid touching your eyes and nose as much as possible. And, try to avoid sick children.
"We all know that children are efficient germ-spreading vectors," said Falsey, "and we know that young children oftentimes don't have ideal hygiene habits. It's not unusual for them to accidentally sneeze in your face, for instance. If you have a grandchild who is sick, it may simply be smart to plan a visit for another day."
The study relied upon close monitoring and sampling of 127 people with emphysema who were evaluated six times each during one year. At all visits, nasal secretions were sampled, and sputum samples were obtained when available.
Gandhi and Falsey's analysis of the resulting 1,000 samples of bodily fluids, stored for nearly a decade at minus 112 degrees Fahrenheit, also turned up another unexpected finding. They found that adults who were on home oxygen use were somewhat protected against the added risk posed by schoolchildren. Again, the study was not designed to answer why, since the finding was unexpected. It could be, for instance, that young children were more apt to avoid close contact with adults who were wired up with tubes and apparatus that are scary to many children.
###
Other authors of the study include Edward Walsh, M.D., professor of Medicine at URMC and an infectious disease expert at RGH; biostatisticians Derick Peterson and Andrea Baran of the University of Rochester Medical Center; and technician Maria Formica and nurses Patricia Hennessey and Mary Criddle at Rochester General Hospital.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
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Public release date: 26-Sep-2012
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