Current Events in June 2013

Some of the scare headlines read: "Restless leg syndrome can kill you." But in fact, a recent study merely links the syndrome with a higher risk of death. It's what's called an observational study, not one that establishes causation. 

In other words, there may be a common underlying cause for the restless legs syndrome and the higher death rate observed in those with the condition.

"This study suggests that individuals with restless legs syndrome are more likely to die early than other people," said study author Dr. Xiang Gao, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School and an associate epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. "This association was independent of other known risk factors."

Gao and his team are studying a group of women with the syndrome;  he said he doesn't know if the findings from the study of men will be similar in women.

But Gao went on to caution: "[T]his is an observational study," not one that establishes a definite cause-effect relationship. The findings were published online June 12 in the journal Neurology. 

The findings corroborate a 2007 study, which found that people with the syndrome were twice as likely to have a stroke or heart disease compared, and the risk is greatest in those with the most frequent and severe symptoms.

39% higher risk

Gao and colleagues studied nearly 20,000 men and found that those with restless legs syndrome had a 39 percent higher risk of an early death than did men without the condition.

Restless legs syndrome is a common condition that causes people to feel an uncomfortable sensation in their legs when lying down, according to the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). The feeling may be a throbbing, pulling or creeping sensation. Restless legs syndrome makes it hard to fall asleep and stay asleep.

While the exact cause is unknown, it does tend to run in families, suggesting that there may be a genetic factor.

The condition has been linked to medical conditions including kidney disease and peripheral neuropathy. 

Gao noted that many people with restless legs syndrome have low iron levels but he cautioned that consumers should check with their doctor before taking iron supplements, as too much iron can be dangerous, especially in men.

The study followed 18,500 men for eight years. The average age at the start of the study was 67 and at the beginning of the study, none of the men had kidney failure, diabetes or arthritis. 

During the study, nearly 2,800 men died. Comparing those with restless legs syndrome to those without, it was found that those with the condition were 39 percent more likely to have died.

Men with restless legs syndrome were more likely to take antidepressant drugs and to have high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease or Parkinson's disease.

Common condition

Restless legs syndrome is a condition that produces an intense, often irresistible urge to move the legs and is a major cause of insomnia and sleep disruption. It affects approximately 10 percent of the U.S. population and about one percent of school-aged children. 

In 2007, an international team of researchers identified the first gene associated with the condition. 

"We now have concrete evidence that RLS is an authentic disorder with recognizable features and underlying biological basis," David Rye, MD, PhD, professor of neurology at Emory University School of Medicine, director of the Emory Healthcare Program in Sleep, and one of the study's lead authors, said at the time.

Confidence among the nation's home builders hit a level in June not seen since April 2006.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index (HMI) is up eight points this month to a reading of 52. Any reading over 50 indicates that more builders view sales conditions as good than poor.

“This is the first time the HMI has been above 50 since April 2006, and surpassing this important benchmark reflects the fact that builders are seeing better market conditions as demand for new homes increases,” said NAHB Chairman Rick Judson, a home builder and developer from Charlotte, N.C. “With the low inventory of existing homes, an increasing number of buyers are gravitating toward new homes.”

The eight-point jump was the biggest one-month gain since August and September of 2002, when the HMI recorded a similar increase of eight points.

“Builders are experiencing some relief in the headwinds that are holding back a more robust recovery,” said NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe. He calls the report “consistent with our forecast for a 29 percent increase in total housing starts this year, which would mark the first time since 2007 that starts have topped the 1 million mark.”

Things are looking up

The NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index gauges builder perceptions of current single-family home sales and sales expectations for the next six months as “good,” “fair” or “poor.” The survey also asks builders to rate traffic of prospective buyers as “high to very high,” “average” or “low to very low.” Scores from each component are then used to calculate a seasonally adjusted index where any number over 50 indicates that more builders view conditions as good than poor.

All three components posted gains in June. The index gauging current sales conditions increased eight points to 56, while the index measuring expectations for future sales rose nine points to 61 -- its highest level since March 2006. The index gauging traffic of prospective buyers rose seven points to 40.

The HMI three-month moving average was up in three of the four regions, with the Northeast and Midwest posting a one-point and three-point gain to 37 and 47, respectively. The South registered a four point gain to 46 while the West fell one point to 48.

If you were took an international flight from the U.S in April, getting away on time was no problem. For domestic flights, though, there were a few delays.

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report says there were two tarmac delays of more than three hours on domestic flights, but no tarmac delays of more than four hours on an international flights.

The 16 carriers that file their on-time performance data with the Department reported that 77.3% of their flights arrived on time in April, compared with an on-time rate of 79.8% in March and 86.3% a year earlier.

The report also includes data on cancellations, chronically delayed flights, and the causes of flight delays, along with information on mishandled baggage reports filed by consumers with the carriers, and consumer service, disability, and discrimination complaints. Reports of incidents involving the loss, death, or injury of pets traveling by air are included as well

The full report is available on the Department of Transportation website.

GITI Tire Company is recalling 218 Runway P235/60 R16 Enduro 816 tires manufactured in the second week of 2013 (DOT code 0213).

Due to a tire mold issue, the tires may develop splits in the shoulder. As a result, the tires may experience rapid air loss while driving, possibly resulting in tire failure and increasing the risk of a crash.

GITI will notify owners and dealers will replace the tires, free of charge. The manufacturer has not yet provided a notification schedule.

Owners may contact GITI Tire at 1-866-488-4737.

General Motors is recalling193,652 model year 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT, GMC Envoy XL, and 2006-2007 Chevrolet Trailblazer, GMC Envoy, Buick Rainier, SAAB 9-7x and Isuzu Ascender vehicles.

Fluid may enter the driver's door module, causing corrosion that could result in a short in the circuit board. That, in turn, could cause the power door lock and power window switches to function intermittently or become inoperative. It might also cause overheating, which could melt components of the door module, producing odor, smoke, or a fire.

A short in the circuit board could lead to a fire, increasing the risk of personal injury. A fire could occur even while the vehicle is not in use. As a precaution, owners are advised to park outside until the remedy has been made.

Owners will be contacted and dealers will test the driver's door module. If the module is functioning properly, a protective coating will be applied. If it is not functioning properly, it will be replaced. These repairs will be done free of charge. GM will notify Buick, Chevrolet, and GMC owners, Isuzu and Saab will contact their respective owners. The recall is expected to begin July 24, 2013.

Buick owners may contact the owner center at 1-800-521-7300, Chevrolet owners at 1-866-694-6546, GMC owners at 1-866-996-9463, Isuzu owners at 1-800-255-6727, and SAAB owners at 1-855-880-0808. GM's campaign number is 12180.  

If you happen to live in a place that gets a lot of tourists,  you learn how to spot them pretty quickly.

New York tourists, for example, are constantly looking up at skyscrapers or they'll walk way too slowly, forcing you to alter your usual pace. Or, they'll wear those darn "I Love New York" t-shirts, which might as well say "I love to be mugged." 

Simply put, no matter where you live in the United States, you've probably seen a tourist who did a horrible job of blending in.

But it happens when Americans travel out of the country too.

Learning to blend

Many of us will travel to a foreign country and act like it's not foreign, by wearing the things we usually wear, doing the things we usually do and so on.

Ruth Yunker, frequent traveler and author of the book "Paris, I've Grown Accustomed to Your Ways," says blending in with the locals isn't just about safety; it's about getting the best travel experience too.

"When I travel to a foreign country I automatically strive to be the best American I can be, an American who is willing to learn to do things the local's way," she said.  "This will always make for a more rewarding experience. You'll find the people are friendlier [and] the vibe is positive. You are trying to live the culture instead of simply viewing it as a spectator."

 Travel Editor for CBS's The Early Show, Peter Greenburg agrees.

He says learning to speak a little bit of the local language will add to your experience and dressing like the locals do will help you out as well.

"Where is it in a manual that you have to wear the ugliest pair of plaid golf pants that somebody gave you he said," in an interview with ConsumerAffairs.

Greenburg was speaking about what to do when traveling to Mexico, but he gave advice about traveling to other countries too.

"Go down there, learn a little Spanish," he says. "As I would expect you to do if you're going to Paris -- learn a little bit of French. Or a little Italian if you're going to Rome. Immerse yourself in the neighborhoods and the culture, and you'll find that people are open, warm and welcoming and you'll have a great time."

You're wearing THAT?

A good way to immerse yourself, according to the site TheSavvyBackPacker.com, is to get a sense of how people dress in the country you're visiting.

For example, when traveling to Europe avoid wearing American style clothing, namely athletic wear or sneakers.

"Unless they're doing something athletic, most Europeans don't wear athletic shoes," wrote the Savvy Backpacker, who only goes by James. "This doesn't mean you have to wear nice dress shoes, but you should avoid the solely athletic style shoes. If nothing else, avoid white shoes. White shoes are the calling card for American tourists."

In addition, experts say that not everyone dresses in t-shirts and jeans, so if you're going to Paris, let's say, dress sort of business casual. This will allow you to blend in with the locals much better.

Plus, avoid wearing things like New York Yankee caps and football jerseys. Wearing these things will only make you stand out that much more.

Behave yourself

But it's not only how you dress that can make you stand out in a foreign country, it's how you act too.

Experts say it's important not to get annoyed or show frustration once you notice things work differently. This means, be patient if the restaurant staff doesn't jump to attention when you walk through the door.

And you certainly shouldn't make any comments about how America is better at this or that and avoid asking the locals a bunch of annoying questions. If you need directions or other information, speak to an officer or place that deals with tourists.

Yunker says it's important to learn at least some of the local ways when you travel.

"Learn what you can about a country's habits, pet peeves, ingrained ways of being, before you go," she advises. 

What to do

Yunker says to follow these tips as well:

Leave the fanny packs at home, she says. Being concerned about carrying  around a wallet isn't a good reason to ever wear one of those things. 

"I always carry a large shoulder purse, because it fits everything I'll need during the day, including whatever valuables I want to keep close," she says. "I carry it clutched tightly to my body. I observe the local women, and carry my purse like they carry theirs."

Don't be so loud when you're in a foreign country, says Yunker. In many places people speak quietly, so be mindful of how loud you're talking. Plus, you don't always want the locals to know that you're a foreigner and a loud conversation in English will certainly give that away.

Even learning things like how people tip in a particular country will allow you to blend in better.

"Look up the customs on tipping in the country you're visiting," she says. "For instance, tips are not expected in Parisian restaurants. In fact, tipping a waiter there simply brands the unaware tourist as a stupid one."

And Yunker agrees with the Savvy Backpacker about wearing white sneakers in places like Europe. It's a big no-no, she says.

"If you must wear sneakers, wear dark ones that will attempt to masquerade as regular closed-toed shoes. Try to find comfortable walking shoes with a little bit of style and your feet will announce you as the polite, indeed savvy, visitor."

If you have a problem with excessive wax in your ears, then you know it can be annoying and sometimes a little painful. And using a Q-tip certainly doesn't help. As a matter of fact, putting a Q-tip or anything else in your ear is just plain bad.

A few years ago, an ear, nose and throat doctor told me that Q-tips are one of the most useless products ever made and they serve no purpose.

I have to see an ear, nose and throat specialist at least every couple of years, because over time the wax in my ears builds up so much, it has to be removed with a machine.

Well, it's been almost two years since I had my last ear cleaning, which means it's time to head back to the doctor's office. But before I made my appointment, I saw this contraption on TV called the WaxVac, which is supposed to safely remove debris and moisture from your ear canal.

So I had to give it a try and I bought one for $19.07 in a nearby mall. But you can purchase a WaxVac on the company's website for $10.

Power drill

The tiny ear cleaner looks like a miniature power drill and comes with eight reusable silicone tips to remove the wax. Plus, it comes with one cleaning brush to keep everything tidy.

The company says the WaxVac is safe to use, because it sucks debris and moisture out of your ear, and doesn't push it in like a Q-tip does. The instructions say you're not supposed to insert the device more than one eighth of an inch into your ear, a warning that should definitely be followed.

In addition, the WaxVac comes with a round safety guard on its end, so you won't be able to insert the tip too deeply. It comes with a small light attached as well, so you can inspect your ear when you're done, if you can figure out how to bend your eye that way. 

There really isn't any assembly required for the WaxVac, you'll just have to unscrew the safety guard, slip on one of the tips, screw the safety guard back on and you'll be all ready to go.

So after I did all of that, I gave it a whirl.

I first noticed how quiet the device was when I turned it on, which was a good thing, because the last thing you want, is a loud buzzing sound going in and out of your ear.

What happened ...

Then I put the tip into my ear. And what happened? Nothing. I didn't feel a pull or any suction from the device, nor did I notice any wax being removed.

"Surely I must have put the tip on wrong or something," I thought, so I went back to the manual, noticed I did everything right the first time and gave it another try. 

I even replaced the colored silicone tip. "Who knows?" I thought to myself sarcastically. "Maybe the pink one works better than the yellow one for some reason." 

And what happened when I tried the second time? Again, nothing. No suction feeling, no pulling sensation, nothing at all. 

On the manual it says if the debris and moisture don't come out in 30 seconds you should see a doctor. "So maybe my ear wax problem is too severe for the WaxVac," I said to myself. So I tried a completely different test.

On the TV commercial, the WaxVac picks up water and small pieces of debris from a countertop. So I tried to do the same thing.

I splashed a few drops of water on my bathroom counter, gathered a few pieces of lint and turned the machine on. Well, the drops of water didn't budge and as for the lint, it barely moved. 

The verdict

So what's the final verdict after using the WaxVac? Well, I'd have to say it's guilty, without a doubt. 

Based on my admittedly unscientified tests, it's guilty of being useless, guilty of giving people false hopes and guilty of being yet another dumb thing advertised on cable.

If you were thinking of buying a WaxVac think again, think twice before investing your hard-earned money. I mean, even if your money isn't hard-earned, think again. You could spend it on something else -- or just throw it out the window.

It's really a shame too, because having a miniature ear cleaner that could vacuum out the excess wax would be nice, since you wouldn't have to go to a doctor to have it done.

And as far as the WaxVac solving my particular ear problem, I'm making my ear, nose and throat appointment a little later today.

It's been kind of amazing to longtime Washington operatives to see the response to the news that the National Security Agency has been monitoring telephone and email traffic. You call that news? NSA and other agencies have been doing that for years in one way or another. Everybody knows about it. 

What nobody in taxpayerland seemed to remark on was how the most sensitive tasks imaginable had been outsourced to an independent contractor with a GED. This, after all, is the real secret of Washington -- the government itself doesn't do a whole lot, it just farms stuff out and then sits back and "manages." Or tries to.

But forget that for a minute. Here's something that will send you seeking a piece of gauze to tape over your computer's webcam: An advertising unit set up by AOL says it can monitor how you feel about the ads the Web constantly throws at you by watching your facial expressions.

Heh, and you thought that camera only worked when you asked it to.

Watching you watching us

Turns out AOL's "Be On" platform watches you watch the Web and measures your response to what you see by tracking your eye movements and other facial responses.

The platform is powered by Realeyes, a tech firm that says it has figured out how to control the cameras built into your laptop, desktop, tablet and smartphone to "read faces and measure human emotion." 

But don't worry. The company says that at the moment it is only spying on consumers who have opted in to tests being organized by a couple of market research firms.

But that, of course, is only the beginning. Be On CEO René Rechtman says AOL is already considering ways it could deploy the technology to track the emotional sentiment of its general users who want to opt into it, Online Media Dailyreported.

“It has always been very clear that content that has a strong emotional component has a much greater engagement and consumer response. We always knew that, but we didn’t have the science to execute it,” Rechtman said. “Now we have the technology and the science to measure how content affects people emotionally.”

Content, in this instance, is presumably ads. But then again, not necessarily. Perhaps the next step in the "happy talk" that infects TV news is to use Be On's technology to weed out stories that upset viewers, concentrating instead on stories about cute kittens and brave children who overcome adversity.

Politicians could make good use of it too. Although, come to think of it, if we knew they were watching us while we were watching them, there could be interesting consequences, not all of them necessarily tasteful.

They once were called family doctors. Now they are called primary care specialists and they are the doctors you see for aches and pains, fevers, rashes and other routine ailments.

Finding one is getting harder and harder. For years medical associations have been sounding the alarm over a growing doctor shortage, mainly primary care physicians working in rural and inner city areas.

Researchers at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS) have just completed a study showing that this shortage is getting worse. The study found that fewer than 25 percent of new doctors go into primary care and only a small fraction, 4.8 percent, set up shop in rural areas of the U.S.

"If residency programs do not ramp up the training of these physicians the shortage in primary care, especially in remote areas, will get worse," said lead study author Candice Chen, an Assistant Research Professor of Health Policy at SPHHS. "The study's findings raise questions about whether federally funded graduate medical education institutions are meeting the nation's need for more primary care physicians."

Where's the accountability?

Yes, federal tax dollars go to programs that are supposed to be producing these needed doctors. A combined $13 billion a year is carved from the Medicare and Medicaid budgets to support the graduate medical education system. But with the declining numbers of primary care doctors graduating from medical schools, some experts say the U.S. government is not holding residency programs receiving this money accountable.

Medicaid and Medicare invest in these programs because their recipients – seniors and the poor – depend most on primary care physicians. The SPHHS study followed the career paths of 8,977 physicians who had graduated from 759 medical residency sites from 2006 to 2008, looking at where they ended up practicing three to five years later. Only 25% of the graduates were in primary care, the study found. In addition, nearly 200 of the 798 institutions receiving money to produce primary care doctors produced none at all.

Demand about to increase

This shortfall of primary care physicians is occurring at just the time they are most needed. The Affordable Care Act, also known as “Obamacare,” goes into effect in January, with estimates of millions of additional people looking for a doctor. These new patients who live in rural areas may have a particularly hard time finding a health care provider.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has estimated that the U.S. needs about 20,000 more physicians and that the shortfall will increase to 100,000 in the next decade. One solution, it says, is to turn over some primary care responsibilities to other health care professions.

AAMC commissioned a poll of patients and found that, while about half of Americans prefer physicians as primary care providers, they are willing to be treated by nurse practitioners and physician assistants if it means getting faster treatment.

Alternative

“As this nation faces a critical doctor shortage – 90,000 by the year 2020 – we must find ways to be certain patients have access to the care they need,” said Darrell G. Kirch, M.D., president and CEO of the AAMC. “By our estimate, training 4,000 more doctors a year is a critically important part of the solution. But medical schools and teaching hospitals also are exploring innovative methods of care delivery that involve all members of the team to address patient needs when appropriate.”

Kirch said the study shows that Americans are open to the possibility of being treated by someone other than a doctor. While it's not a complete solution, he said allowing other professionals to make bigger contributions could help meet critical needs.

When home prices plunged in 2009 and 2010, millions of homeowners were stuck in place. They couldn't sell their homes or, when interest rates plunged, they couldn't refinance because their homes were worth less than the mortgage balance.

It's a condition known as “being underwater,” and these millions of homeowners have spent the last four years fighting to keep their heads above water. But as the housing market has recovered, there are beginning to be signs that the market is regaining some stability.

One indicator is a drop in homeowners with negative equity. CoreLogic, a residential property data firm, reports nearly a million mortgages returned to a positive equity balance in the first quarter of the year. So far so good.

Don't pop the Champagne just yet

While the trend is encouraging, it probably isn't cause for celebration, as many of these homeowners with newly-gained home equity still can't refinance – at least not yet. That's because of the 39 million U.S. residential properties with positive equity, 11.2 million have less than 20 percent equity. Borrowers with less than 20 percent equity usually have a very difficult time getting new financing for their homes because underwriters have vastly increased their standards.

But for housing market analysts, the good news is that the trend is running in a positive direction.

Another trend that might slow the rise in home prices is an increase in bank repossessions of foreclosed homes. Repossessions slowed to a crawl last year and those that did make it to the marketplace were quickly snapped up by investors. It was one reason for a big drop in available homes for sales and that decline in inventory helped push prices higher.

RealtyTrac, an online foreclosure marketer, reports bank repossessions jumped 11% in May, suggesting banks have been sitting on troubled mortgages, waiting for market conditions to improve before foreclosing. A rise in REOs may mean banks see a ripening market.

More foreclosures to come

While foreclosure sales and repossessions are on the rise again, a report from Lender Processing Services (LPS) finds there are still plenty of distressed properties still in the pipeline.

"The situation is far from resolved," LPS Applied Analytics Senior Vice President Herb Blecher said. "Foreclosure inventories in judicial states are still more than three times the size of those in non-judicial states, and national inventories are still more than seven times pre-crisis levels.”

Banks appear to be controlling how quickly foreclosures come to the market, which may have prevented the market from becoming over saturated. The resulting shortage of homes for sales in many areas has caused long-dormant home builders to go back to work, constructing new homes.

Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research Group says housing has helped the U.S. enter a prolonged period of steady economic growth which  has yet to reach its full potential.

Below-par growth

"At the outset of the year, we forecast that 2013 would witness sustainable but below-par growth as the economy begins its transition to more normal levels. Halfway through the year, our view is little changed," said Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan. "We expect approximately 2.1 percent growth over the course of 2013, up from the anemic pace of 1.7 percent in 2012. This is consistent with the incremental improvement seen over the past few years but still below the economy's potential. Our forecast calls for growth to push past 2.5 percent in 2014, boosted largely by tailwinds from the strengthening housing market."

Duncan says housing was a mostly positive force entering the spring and summer season, with important indicators like home prices, home sales, and homebuilding activity showing signs of long-term improvement toward normal levels. The outlook? In spite of rising mortgage rates, Duncan says housing market conditions remain favorable and should not present a significant obstacle to potential home buyers.

The cost of living on the wholesale level moved higher in May after posting declines in the two previous months.

Government figures show the Producer Price Index (PPI) for finished goods rose 0.5% last month, surprising economists surveyed by Briefing.com, who were calling for a gain of just 0.1%. The PPI had fallen 0.7% in April and 0.6% in March. For the 12 months ended May in May, wholesale prices are up 1.7%.

Contributing factors

More than 60% of the May PPI increase was due to energy costs, which advanced 1.3%. Forty percent of that was due to a 1.5% increase in gasoline prices. Prices for residential natural gas and residential electric power were also higher.

Food prices were up 0.6%, thanks to a surge of 41.6% in the cost of eggs. Prices for natural, processed, and imitation cheese were also higher.

The “core rate” of inflation, which strips out the volatile food and energy segments, was up just 0.1%, in line with analysts expectations.

More information on the rise in producer prices is available on the Bureau of Labor Statistics website.

Chrysler is recalling several Ram trucks because of problems in their lighting systems.

The first involves 30,197 model year 2013 Ram 1500, 2500, and 3500 trucks manufactured September 9, 2012, through March 5, 2013, and equipped with optional premium tail lamps.

The turn signal indicator in the affected vehicles may not flash at a double rate to give a notification to the driver of a turn signal malfunction. Without a warning that the turn signal is malfunctioning, the driver would continue to use the vehicle, unaware that other drivers on the road are not being notified that the vehicle is turning, increasing the risk of a crash.

Chrysler will notify owners, and dealers will reprogram the Central Body Controller software, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in July 2013.

Owners may contact Chrysler at 1-800-247-9753. Chrysler's recall campaign number is N35.

Second recall

The second recall is for 1,253 model year 2013 Ram 2500 and 3500 trucks manufactured January 7, 2013, through February 28, 2013, and equipped with optional premium headlamps.

The headlamp shutters may function improperly when in high-beam mode. Improper headlight shutter function during high beam use may reduce the drivers visibility and possibly blind oncoming traffic. Either condition may increase the risk of crash.

Chrysler will notify owners, and dealers will reconfigure the Central Body Controller, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in July 2013.

Owners may contact Chrysler at 1-800-247-9753. Chrysler's recall campaign number is N33.

Stride Rite Children’s Group of Lexington, Mass., is recalling about 7,500 pairs of “Joanna” girl’s sandals.

The metal flower on the shoe can detach, posing a choking hazard. The firm has received six reports of the flowers detaching and eleven reports of flowers loosening. No injuries have been reported.

The “Joanna” girl’s sandals have an ankle strap, three bands and a flower on top. They were sold in white with a silver-colored metal flower and brown with a copper-colored metal flower in girl’s sizes 8.5 through 10. The name “Joanna,” the style number CG40723 (white shoe) or CG40725 (brown shoe) and the size are printed on the underside of the front shoe strap. “StrideRite” appears on the bottom of the shoe.

The sandals, manufactured in China, were sold at Stride Rite stores and other department stores nationwide and at various online retailers from December 2011 through May 2013 for between $30 and $42.

Consumers should immediately take the recalled shoes away from children and contact Stride Rite to receive a prepaid envelope for the return of the shoes. Upon return, customers will receive a voucher for the purchase price redeemable at Stride Rite stores or striderite.com.

Consumers may contact Stride Rite at (800) 365-4933, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or by e-mail at JoannaReturns@striderite.com.

Think about it. Five years ago smartphones were a rarity. People did not walk while texting, emailing or surfing the Internet.

Now, of course, they do and “distracted walking” may be as big a safety issue as distracted driving. In a new survey conducted by Liberty Mutual Insurance 60% of pedestrians admit they walk while texting, emailing, talking on the phone, or listening to music. Seventy percent said they consider those behaviors to be dangerous. Yet they do it anyway.

Liberty Mutual says these distractions may have been a contributing factor in the 4,280 pedestrian deaths in traffic accidents in 2010, a four percent increase from the previous year, as reported in the latest data by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Forgetting what we learned as kids

"So much attention has been paid, and rightly so, to distracted driving that we have ignored the fact that distracted walking and crossing can be just as risky," said David Melton, a driving safety expert with Liberty Mutual Insurance and managing director of global safety. "From an early age, we all learn how to safely cross the street – look both ways, wait for the walk sign – but as adults many of us seem to forget those simple rules."

It's easy to forget when you are reading an email or trying to concentrate on sending a text. Why do pedestrians engage in activity they know to be dangerous to themselves and others?

Technology has granted us the ability to communicate instantly, no matter where we are. This didn't exist just a decade ago. But just because we can communicate instantly doesn't mean we should.

Extension of our brains

Some think that smartphones have become extensions of our brains. When we receive a message from a friend, we just naturally want to respond immediately. It is as though the person was walking down the street with us. If they ask a question, we don't wait until we reach our destination to reply. But in this case, we should.

A 2012 observational study published in the journal Injury Prevention found that nearly one in three pedestrians is distracted by their mobile phone or other electronic device while crossing busy intersections. Texting was judged most distracting but other non-electronic distractions were also noted.

Those classified as distracted took significantly longer to cross the road – as much as 1.3 seconds longer. Texting was judged the riskiest behavior. The researchers said people who were texting took almost two seconds longer to cross the average intersection of three to four lanes than those who weren't texting at the time.

In 2011 a Pennsylvania woman sued a Reading, Pa., shopping mall after an accident. According to police reports she was texting while walking through the shopping center when she tripped and fell into a fountain. Video of the mishap went viral on YouTube, but safety officials say there is no humor in the problem. People who aren't paying attention while they walk are a danger to themselves and others, they say.

ER personnel see the results

In 2011 about 1,152 people were treated in hospital emergency rooms in the U.S. for injuries suffered while walking and using a cellphone or some other electronic device, according to the Consumer Product Safety Commission. It was a 400% increase over the past seven years and coincided, not surprisingly, with the explosive growth in smartphones.

According to the Liberty Mutual Insurance Pedestrian Safety Survey findings, both pedestrians and drivers say they realize the dangers of their actions, but they don't change their behavior.

"The reality is that neither drivers nor pedestrians seem to actually realize the dangers of their distracted behaviors," said Melton. "The fact that drivers and pedestrians continue to engage in dangerous habits, despite claiming to recognize the risk, suggests that the majority of Americans are taking a cavalier, 'it won't happen to me' attitude. As the weather warms up and we head into the summer driving season, pedestrians and drivers need to take extra precautions to ensure the safety of everyone on the roads, whether on foot or behind the wheel."

The furor that has erupted over PRISM -- the sweeping government surveillance program leaked to the public last week -- has now found its way into the courts. On Wednesday, a former prosecutor for the Justice Department filed a class action lawsuit against nine companies that have been identified as partners in the program.

PRISM, which burst into the spotlight after being unveiled by Booz Allen contractor Edward Snowden, allows the National Security Agency (NSA) to perform surveillance on communications and stored information transmitted via email, voice and video chat, and social networking.

The suit, filed by Larry Klayman, is being brought on behalf of plaintiffs Michael Ferrari and Matt Garrison -- both private investigators -- and Charles Strange, the father of a Navy SEAL who died in Afghanistan in 2011.

The complaint names as defendants AOL, Apple, AT&T, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, PalTalk, Skype, Sprint, Yahoo! and YouTube. The complaint also targets the CEOs of AT&T and Sprint, as well as President Obama, the Department of Justice, the National Security Agency (NSA), Attorney General Eric Holder, and NSA Director Keith Alexander.

“Rights are being surrendered”

"Defendants' willful acts constitute outrageous conduct insofar as they violated Plaintiffs' and Class members' basic democratic rights, constitutional rights, and exposed them to beyond an 'Orwellian regime of totalitarianism,'" the complaint says. "Plaintiffs' and Class members' rights are being surrendered in secret to the demands of unaccountable intelligence and other government agencies, as well as all of the Defendants."

Klayman hopes to ultimately join the suit with another on he filed on Monday. That suit focused on a top-secret court order requiring Verizon to hand over phone data to the NSA on an “ongoing, daily basis.”

ACLU also files suit

Klayman isn’t the only one using the courts to fight the program. On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a suit alleging that PRISM violates the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition against unreasonable search and seizure, as well as the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech and free association. That suit also names Holder and Alexander, as well as Defense Secretary Charles Hagel, FBI Director Robert Mueller, and James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence.

And on Sunday, Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator who made headlines in March with an impassioned filibuster focusing on the Obama Administration’s drone policy, told Fox News that he plans to file his own lawsuit over the program.

"I'm going to be asking all the Internet providers and all of the phone companies: Ask your customers to join me in a class action lawsuit," Paul told Fox. "If we get 10 million Americans saying we don't want our phone records looked at, then maybe someone will wake up and something will change in Washington."

Both Klayman and the ACLU are seeking an end to the program, and Klayman’s suit also demands $20 billion in damages.

Eyeball-licking doesn't sound like much fun but it's apparently the latest odd fetish among young Japanese lovers. And like other sexual practices, it can have unintended consequences, including eye infections and blindness. 

Called "oculolinctus," the seemingly strange practice has apparently been around awhile, judging from a series of five- and six-year-old YouTube videos that show young lovers doing more than just gazing into each other's eyes. 

Besides grossing out any onlookers unlucky enough to be around, eye-licking can also transmit the bacteria which causes conjunctivitis, or "pink eye," an eye infection that can have serious repercussions including blindness.

The Japanese web site Naver Matome reported that the craze was discovered at one school when teachers noticed that up to ten children in a single class showed up wearing eye patches.

‘Nothing good can come of this,’ Dr. David Granet, a San Diego ophthalmologist, told The Huffington Post. ‘There are ridges on the tongue that can cause a corneal abrasion. And if a person hasn't washed out their mouth, they might put acid from citrus products or spices into the eye.’

LEGO seems harmless enough, right? Little pieces of plastic that kids can use to build things. You probably remember playing with the little smiley faces when you were small.

But wait. Something has changed in LEGOland. The little plastic faces aren't as smiley as they used to be. In fact, some are downright angry-looking, and that may be having a negative effect on children, according to a new study.

A researcher at New Zealand's University of Canterbury, Christoph  Bartneck, has published a research study that found the LEGO characters are becoming more conflict-oriented, and that human figures featured in LEGO sets are getting angrier.

Bartneck is something of an expert on LEGO figures. He has photographed and cataloged all the 3,655 Mininfigures that LEGO released between 1975 and 2010, forming the basis of his research into the facial expressions of LEGO characters. The collection is available as an eBook.

Based on his collection, Bartneck says LEGO sets are increasingly designed to tie in with films, which often feature battles between good and evil, with a growing number of faces showing emotions including digusts, happiness, sadness, fear, anger and surprise.  

"Analysis shows that toy design has become a more complex design space in which the imaginary world of play does not only consist of a simple division of good versus evil, but a world in which heroes are scared and villains can have superior smile," Bartneck said.

"LEGO themes have been increasingly based on conflicts. Often a good force is struggling with a bad one," says Bartneck, citing the Harry Potter saga as an example.

While there are still happy faces in LEGOland, they frequently belong to villains, he said. The villains often look smug or disdainful while the "good guys" look fearful or apprehensive. 

Bartneck said the negative faces could be having an impact on how children play. 

"Designers of agent faces should take great care to design the expressions and to test their effect since toys play an important role in the development of children," he said.

"Instead of focusing on highly realistic expressions, it may be worthwhile to increase the variability of expressions. A comic style expression is sufficient to convey a full spectrum of emotions and intensities."

The paper is to be presented at the First International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction in Sapporo, Japan, in August.

LEGO, a Danish company, is one of the biggest toy manufacturers in the world. It's estimated there are 75 LEGO pieces for each person on the planet.

There are many ways to lose or control weight. There are commercial diet programs, diet pills and old fashioned calorie counting.

But taking neurological steps to control behavior? Could that be the new frontier in weight loss?

Researchers at the University of Iowa are just the latest to suggest that controlling brain impulses may be a key step in controlling diet. The team bred mice that were missing a gene known to cause obesity, and suspected to also be involved in compulsive behavior, with a genetic mouse that was compulsive about grooming. The researchers were surprised when the offspring had neither trait. They weren't compulsive about grooming and they weren't obese.

Unrelated behavior?

Obesity and obsessive-compulsive behavior may seem to be unrelated. But Iowa researcher Dr. Michael Lutter thinks this brain wiring goes back to an evolutionary process when man binged on safe, clean food in times when food was abundant, saving up, in effect, for times when it was scarce.

"Food safety has been an issue through the entire course of human evolution – refrigeration is a relatively recent invention," Lutter said. "Obsessive behavior, or fear of contamination, may be an evolutionary protection against eating rotten food."

Could the researchers be onto something? They aren't the first to recognize the compulsion that causes some people to overeat. Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler wrote a book about it, suggesting that eating too much fat, salt and sugar can alter your brain chemistry, leading to compulsive eating habits.

Overpowering forces

Kessler speaks from experience. He says he has struggled throughout his life to control his own weight, often succumbing to what he felt were overpowering forces.

"For much of my life, sugar, fat, and salt held remarkable sway over my behavior," he writes.

Kessler and the Iowa researchers agree that brain circuitry is part of the problem. But while Kessler sees the influences as controlled by outside influences – the content of the food we eat – the Iowa researchers see it as a deeper problem, a hardwiring of our brains.

External cues

Some nutritionists believe that external cues can trigger impulses in our brains that can send us on a food bender. Sometimes it is the mere sight of a buffet. Even a large plate, piled high with delicious food that you find at many chain restaurants, may give our brains a green light to chow down.

Then there are activities like watching hour after hour of television. Some believe this cues us to eat, while making us less responsive to our body's signals that we aren't really hungry and don't need food. We eat because it is a programmed response to what we are doing, not because our bodies are requesting to be fed.

In a 2003 study of childhood obesity, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that, when subjected to a number of eating cues, obese children failed to regulate their eating. Normal weight children, the study found, did not have the same response to the cues.

This is not to suggest that overeating is all in your head. However it does raise the possibility that solving the obesity problem requires a complex solution that involves a regulation of brain circuitry. The Iowa researchers say the next step is development of drugs that can achieve that result.