Current Events in September 2014

Pesky weeds, they mess up everything and grow just about anywhere. Is there an inexpensive way to get rid of them? Yes, there is and it can work just about anywhere, although if you are in California you might want to reconsider using it because of the drought.

The main ingredient is water. Actually the only ingredient is water. It's a pretty easy solution you just boil water in a tea kettle and pour! There are variations of this -- some people use lemon and salt as well as vinegar with the water.

If you want to flavor it up with the salt, bring 2 cups of water to a boil, remove from heat and add 1 cup of salt, stirring until the salt dissolves. Any type of salt will work since all salt acts as a dehydrator to kill the weeds.

Another option is to mix 1 cup of salt with 4 cups of white vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon dish soap. Choose a dish soap that does not contain bleach, fragrance or a degreaser. Adding dish soap to the mixture helps the liquid stick to the plant instead of simply running off. Be aware that salt can cause yellowing to plants and tends to stay in the ground longer.

No splashing

There is an art to this. Slowly and carefully pour the stream of water onto the crown of the weed plant. You can make this easier and more effective by cutting off the top growth of the plant before you dowse it with the kettle water. Pour the water just above the plant so you don't splash and destroy something unintended.

Some perennials that have long taproots like dandelions may resprout from the lower root area if they weren't scalded. You can dig a hole in your lawn and remove the root if possible. Pour the kettle water right into the hole it will seep down and kill whatever it can reach. then just refill the whole put a little grass seed on it and you are good to grow!

Sometimes it may take a few tries to kill them. Just repeat the process and eventually they will disappear. Just be careful you don't spill the hot water on yourself. Make sure to wear long pants and sleeves and shoes that cover your toes.

Your dogs depend on you for their care and of course you want the best for them, but it can be difficult to know when they are in pain.

Sometimes they may get into a scuffle with another dog or jump from a rock and hurt themselves. One dog we know has an odd habit of rolling over and falling out of bed at night.

Whatever the situation, dogs seem resilient but remember that they may not be able to tell you they are really hurting. Here are a few ways that you can tell your dog is in pain.

Limping

This is one is pretty obvious but limping is a good clue something is wrong. If your dog fell it could have sprained its leg. Arthritis also affects dogs and they can be sore and just very stiff. There are ways to help dogs with arthritis and the signs shouldn't just be ignored or brushed away.

Attitude and temperament

You know your dog's temperament better than anyone so if your dog seems a little more grouchy then usual it could be an indicator they just aren't feeling up to par. A dog who is normally very friendly could become aggressive and even try to bite, especially if it's an area that is sensitive due to an injury .

Licking

If your dog is licking itself more than normal, it may be a sign of trouble. Pets will often groom areas that are sources of pain and they may be trying to clean a wound. Be sure to keep an eye on it. Dogs also get "hot spots" due to seasonal allergies.

Panting

Panting is common in dogs especially when it's hot out or after they have played hard. But if you notice excessive panting -- especially if it comes out of nowhere -- it could be a sign your dog is in pain.

Not hungry and won't eat

Refusal to eat is usually a sign that something is wrong. If a dog has no appetite I am sure you will notice right away. After all their life is very treat-based. But pain can cause a dog to not want anything to do with food, so don't ignore your dog's hunger strike. 

Expressions

Ahh, that face -- you love it. But if your dog has a blank stare, its eyes become glazed or you notice that it is grimacing, it's a sign something is wrong.

Posture

Watch your pet's posture as well. If a dog is hunched over with its hindquarters on the ground it's not comfortable. Lying down and not wanting to walk is also a sign that there is most likely something wrong.

What to do

If you notice any of these signs, don't try to treat your pet with medicine yourself. Because dogs can't talk, it's very hard to gauge how serious the situation is. A "wait-and-see" attitude may work in some cases but that's a decision that needs to be made by a medical professional -- your vet, in other words. 

Many dog owners put off going to the vet. That's understandable since veterinary care is expensive and many of us don't have any spare minutes in the day. But just changing a dog's diet or letting it take a day off from going for a walk isn't the answer -- you need to find out what's troubling your furry friend.

A visit to the vet will include measuring vital signs, checking the animal's weight and taking a blood sample. These alone may be enough to indicate whether the situation is serious. Putting off a vet visit for a few days can mean the difference between your pet bouncing back or failing to recover.

Not much movement in the Deloitte Consumer Spending Index during July. In fact, the Index was effectively unchanged in during that month and was relatively flat over the past three months. The Index tracks consumer cash flow as an indicator of future consumer spending.

“There were only small movements among the key components of the Index to drive a change in consumers’ spending plans,” said Daniel Bachman, Deloitte’s senior U.S. economist. “Home prices dipped slightly, and real wages grew at a slower pace compared with the last 12 months. On a positive note, the tax rate declined slightly. Despite some fluctuation recently, unemployment insurance claims are still hovering in the 300,000 range.”

The Index, which is made up of 4 components -- tax burden, initial unemployment claims, real wages and real home prices – fell to 3.56 from 3.74 in June.

Consumer uncertainty

Continued economic fluctuations in areas such as housing and unemployment are cited as the main reasons that consumers are still hesitant to spend robustly. “Aside from a slow economic recovery, we’ve seen other factors challenging retailers -- particularly in our just released back-to-school and back-to-college studies,” said Alison Paul, vice chairman of Deloitte, and retail and distribution sector leader.

“Consumers” she added, “are planning to shop smarter, often buying items on a just as-needed basis. As a result, the traditionally anticipated back-to-school shopping trip is not the event it once was. The convenience of 24/7 online access allows parents -- and students -- to shop any time, not just during the traditional mid- to late-summer back-to-school period.”

Given these factors, Paul says retailers need to remain sharp by making their merchandise and offers extremely attractive to finish the back-to-school season strong.

Index highlights

• Tax burden: The tax rate continues a steady hold at 11.7%t showing a marginal decrease from prior month.
• Initial unemployment claims: Claims rose slightly this month to 315,000, but are still down 8.3% from the same period last year.
• Real wages: Real hourly wages dropped slightly to $8.79 this month, but remain at a higher level compared with the past 12 months.
• Real median new home price: New home prices continue to fluctuate, falling 3.5% from the prior month to $115,000.

Retail sales rose in August for a seventh straight month.

Figures from the Census Bureau show sales totaled $444.4 billion last month -- an increase of 0.6% from The previous month and up 5.0% from August of last year.

At the same time, the July showing, which had initially been reported as flat , was revised to an advance of 0.3%

If the highly volatile auto sector, where sales jumped 1.5%, is stripped out, August sales were up a more modest 0.3%.

Other winners include building materials, with a gain of 1.4%, sporting goods (+0.9%) and electronics and appliance stores (+0.7%).

Sectors that didn’t fare so well were gas stations, where sales were down 0.8% and department stores (-0.4%).

Sterne Agee Chief Economist Lindsey M. Piegza calls the August report , “a welcomed step in the right direction.”

She notes that lower energy prices have given consumers a bit more spending capacity, adding that, “continued price reprieve at the pump will help maintain a modest but positive spending pace in the third-quarter, despite minimal improvement in wage growth.”

But, Piegza concludes, “while lower prices at the pump will continue to pad consumers' pockets, in order to see a marked increase in spending -- particularly to the extent implied by the extreme ramp-up in production -- consumers will need sustained, robust income gains.”

The full August retail sales report is available on the Commerce Department website.

Ford Motor Company is recalling 133,227 model year 2013-2014 Escape vehicles manufactured October 5, 2011, to April 1, 2013, and equipped with 2.0 liter engines; and Focus ST vehicles manufactured February 14, 2012, to October 14, 2013, and equipped with 2.0 liter engines.

Insufficient compression in the engine wiring harness splices to the Manifold Absolute Pressure (MAP) sensor may provide incorrect signals to the powertrain control module (PCM). Incorrect signals could cause the vehicle to hesitate or the engine to stall, increasing the risk of a crash.

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will replace the current crimped splices with new splices, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin September 29, 2014.

Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-800-392-3673. Ford's number for this recall is 14S17.

Ford Motor Company is recalling 70,209 model year 2005-2008 Ford Escape hybrid electric vehicles manufactured October 13, 2003, to June 20, 2008, and 2006-2008 Mercury Mariner hybrid electric vehicles manufactured June 10, 2005, to June 20, 2008.

The coolant pump for the hybrid system may fail resulting in the hybrid electronics overheating. If the hybrid electronics system overheats, it may shut down the powertrain, resulting in a stall-like condition, increasing the risk of a crash.

Ford will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and replace the original Motor Electronics Coolant (MEC) Pump with an improved brushless pump, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin on October 27, 2014.

Owners may contact Ford customer service at 1-866-436-7332. Ford's number for this recall is 14S19.

The English language was once a fairly precise way of communicating. And it still is, in written form. But increasingly, when Americans speak it, it takes some rather odd twists and turns.

Perhaps none of these trends has sparked the backlash of “uptalk,” the habit of raising your voice slightly at the end of a declarative sentence, transforming it into a question.

Uptalk was a comic feature of the 1995 film “Clueless,” in which the female characters at Beverly Hills High School spoke in the Valley Girl cadence that emerged from California in the 1980s. Diane DiResta, a speech pathologist and public speaking coach and trainer based in New York, says today's widespread uptalk trend probably has much of its origins in that movie.

“I find that when something becomes popularized in the media it starts to spread,” DiResta told ConsumerAffairs. “Now, with young people, it has become peer identity.”

The language of youth

In an episode of the Simpsons, the family has gone to the beach for a week and Lisa is trying to reinvent herself so she can fit in with the cool kids. When she says something intelligent in a declarative sentence, she gets strange looks. When she repeats it in uptalk, with a few “you knows” thrown in, she gets a positive reaction.

Uptalk may be more prevalent in young women but DiResta notes it has crept into male speaking habits as well. She says young people adopt uptalk sometimes because they may think making a declarative sentence will make them seem arrogant.

“It's almost as if people are afraid to put a stake in the ground and make a commitment,” she says.

It may also have something to do with a desire to sound “cool.” Teacher and poet Taylor Mali, in the video below, calls it a “tragically hip interrogative tone.”

Not everyone uptalks

You may think you hear uptalk everywhere, but you don't.

“I always tell my audiences the one place I don't hear uptalk is in the executive suite or boardroom,” DiResta said.

Her message to young managers rising through the ranks is to break the uptalk habit if they want their careers to advance. Leadership, after all, requires a certain level of confidence.

So...

These speech abnormalities have nothing to do with intelligence or education. If you listen to NPR regularly, you'll heard PhD after PhD interviewed on its programs begin each answer to the interviewer's question with “So...”

DiResta says “so” is the new “um.” No one really knows the origin of “so” to begin sentences, but she tells her clients that these filler words, and overworked phrases like “at the end of the day,” rob the speaker of credibility. For young people, that can have dramatic results.

“I tell people, how you speak with your peers is one thing, but when you're in the workplace, uptalk and other speech affectations will work against you,” DiResta said, simply and declaratively.

Net neutrality is even bigger than "nipplegate." The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) reports receiving a record 1,477,301 public comments about the issue since July.

The previous record of 1.4 million comments was set back in 2004 when a supposed “wardrobe malfunction” during the halftime show at the Super Bowl led to portions of Janice Jackson’s anatomy being displayed to an estimated audience of 111 million.

Many Internet heavyweights -- and not a few lightweights -- have been hounding their users, customers and fans to contact the FCC and Congress to express support for the principle that all users should have equal and unfettered access to the Internet.

Discussions around the issue had been rather academic until video streaming caught on and companies like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon began burning up vast swaths of bandwidth sending TV shows and movies to their subscribers.

This caused ISPs like Verizon to begin putting pressure on Netflix et al to pay more.

Awesomeness at stake

Corporate behemoths on the content side of the battle -- Twitter, Netflix, Reddit, Google and so forth -- managed to spin the issue so that civil libertarians and many consumers saw it as a free speech battle and took to the barricades.

Google, never shy about selling preferred placement on its search pages, issued a statement warning that the very awesomeness of the Internet was at stake. 

"If Internet access providers can block some services and cut special deals that prioritize some companies’ content over others, that would threaten the innovation that makes the Internet awesome," the search giant wrote in a message to Internet activists Wednesday. "No Internet access provider should block or degrade Internet traffic, nor should they sell ‘fast lanes’ that prioritize particular Internet services over others."

Unnoticed in all the hubbub were previous court rulings that had blocked the FCC's attempts to impose net neutrality principles on the Internet. Current FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler has proposed a compromise often called "net neutality with a fast lane" but it has failed to pass the sniff test with neutrality advocates, who apparently would prefer to pass on the cost of upgrading the network to consumers.

Some technophiles have gone so far as to demand that the FCC declare the Internet a public utility and regulate it in much the same manner as telephone companies were regulated back in the Dark Ages (i.e., before the Internet came along). 

This would undoubtedly help alleviate the nation's unemployment problem by providing jobs for untold numbers of bureaucrats but how that stimulates innovation isn't always all that apparent.

A godsend for K Street

Truth is, Congressional action will most likely be needed to get around the legal roadblocks to enshrining net neutrality principles.

Compared to simply imposing the utility solution, throwing the matter into the arms of Congress may not immediately create a new army of regulators but it will certainly solve any shortfall in lobbying contracts on K Street, setting up a feeding frenzy that will sustain influence-peddlers for years, putting throngs of offspring through expensive colleges while financing beachfront homes and upgraded primary dwellings in McLean and Bethesda.

The downtown luncheon business will also enjoy quite a spurt.

Turning to Congress may, in fact, well set off the biggest lobbying battle since the titanic decade-long struggle that resulted in the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which brought a hungry populace such wonders as 976 numbers, the ability to create your own bogus Caller IDs and, perhaps best of all, the requirement that telephone companies pass along third-party bills for such services as daily horoscopes and porn updates.

In other words, be careful what you wish for, net neutralitarans.

---

(Disclosure: The author was a public affairs executive who represented telecommunications clients during the 1990s). 

The news that “5 million Gmail passwords were hacked” caused worldwide consternation when it first broke on Wednesday, but as more information comes to light, it appears the news isn't quite as bad as initially feared – although, by modern hacking standards, “Not as bad as initially feared” still leaves plenty of room for badness.

That said: if you have a Gmail account and worry the hacking might affect you, you probably have nothing to fear — provided your Gmail account has an exclusive password you don't use anywhere else. On the other hand, if you use the same password across multiple accounts, that's when you need to worry — and remind yourself of the well-known online safety rule “Never use the same password across multiple accounts.”

Here's a summary of the major points known so far: first of all, it appears that Gmail itself was not hacked — the hackers never actually gained access to the Gmail database and information therein.

Discussion forums

Instead, this appears more like the StubHub “hacking” discovered last July: identity thieves gained fraudulent access to over 1,000 StubHub accounts, without ever breaking into the StubHub database. The hackers had broken into and stolen passwords from various other websites, discussion forums and password-protected online places, and discovered that at least some of those stolen passwords worked in the victims' StubHub accounts, too.

It does appear that when hackers successfully steal the password to one of your accounts, they'll try plugging that password into your other accounts on the off-chance it will work. Where over 1,000 StubHub customers last summer were concerned, it did. And it might have worked for upwards of 5 million Gmail accounts, too.

Or maybe not. What actually happened? On Tuesday evening, someone in a Russian Bitcoin forum posted a list of 5 million stolen Gmail-connected passwords. The passwords apparently came not from Gmail itself, but from various registration-required sites where people used a Gmail account to register. The Western media discovered and reported that list late in the afternoon of Wednesday, Sept. 10.

Can't confirm

But there was something strange about those passwords: most of them were useless from an ID thief's perspective, because they were too old and out-of-date.

Mashable.com reported late Wednesday evening that “We can't confirm the authenticity of all the email addresses on the list, but a Mashable employee, Evan Engel, saw that his old Gmail password, which he hasn't used in years, is part of the leak.”

Engel and Mashable weren't the only ones to find outdated information on the list; plenty of people on Twitter did too. For example, Ben Ten @Ben0xA tweeted “That gmail dump looks very old folks. Can confirm a dummy account w/ password that was already changed twice. Dump has original pw.”

Here's how the hack apparently worked. Suppose that, many years ago, your Gmail password was 12345 (which, by the way, is a very weak password choice that you should never use in real life). Then you used that Gmail account to register with – well, any website requiring an email address to register: posting comments on your local newspaper's online stories, joining a discussion forum about your favorite hobby or musician, whatever.

And suppose further that when you used your Gmail address to register with that website, you ignored or did not know the “Never use the same password across multiple accounts” rule, so you used your Gmail address to register with DiscussionForum.com, using the password 12345 for both.

But over the years since then, you've had to change either your Gmail password, your DiscussionForum.com password, or maybe both.

Presumably, the hackers at some point managed to break into the DiscussionForum.com database and stole your name, Gmail address and your old 12345 forum password. They did not actually steal your Gmail password — unless you were foolish enough to use your DiscussionForum.com password as your Gmail password too.

So why did the hackers in that Russian Bitcoin forum bother stealing and posting these antique passwords anyway? Probably to show off and gain status among their fellow hackers. A senior advisor for the online security firm Sophos told Mashable that he doubted many of the posted accounts would still be valid: “There is no honor among thieves as they say, and often stunts like this are released as a sad attempt at gaining credibility among other criminals.”

A Wisconsin woman who fell for the “Microsoft scam” last month found a relatively happy ending to her story: the scammer hasn't been identified or caught, but a police officer with good computer skills was able to undo most of the damage he caused.

The Microsoft scam is simply a brand-specific version of the “tech support scam,” which usually works like this: the scammers contact the victim over the phone, pretending to be tech-support personnel from Microsoft or any other tech company big enough to have a customer-support staff. (If they try using email to reach you, then technically they're attempting a “phishing” scam rather than a “tech-support” scam. Regardless of the label, the scammers have the same basic goals, and you need to be wary of them all.)

The faux-Microsoft scammers will tell you they've discovered a security flaw in your computer's Microsoft operating system, but they can fix it for you, right now, provided you give them remote access to your computer.

Of course, if you go along with their suggestion, it will end badly for you. The single most important rule to protect yourself from phishing, tech-support and similar scams, is “Don't call me; I'll call you.”

Calls from the blue

In other words: if you personally notice a problem with, say, your Microsoft system or Netflix account, and want to contact Microsoft or Netflix to complain about the problem, that's fine. But if someone claiming to represent Microsoft, Netflix or any other company calls you, out of the blue, offering to fix some problem you never even knew you had — don't believe it. That's not a Microsoft staffer or Netflix security expert on the phone; that's a scammer trying to ensnare you.

Sometimes the scammers are trying to plant various forms of malware on your computer — anything from spy software that monitors your personal computer activity, to zombie software that takes over your computer and uses it to send phishing spam or malware viruses to still more people, usually without you even realizing it.

But last month, an unnamed woman in Madison, Wisconsin fell for a Microsoft scammer who essentially tried holding some of her key files for ransom.

News source Channel3000.com reported this week that a man claiming to be from Microsoft called her and asked for remote access to her laptop. Once he got it, he deleted certain files and demanded she use her credit card to pay him $200 if she wanted them back.

She did not give him her credit card information, and did call Madison police; an officer was eventually able to restore her deleted files.

But the scammer is still out there, and probably still calling potential victims. If anyone claiming to be from Microsoft calls you about a supposed problem, hang up at once, the same way you'd hang up on any so-called tech-support person who expects you to ignore the anti-scam security rule “Don't call me; I'll call you.”

If you think you have trouble sleeping, try being a bird in the city. The lights from shopping centers, stadiums and homes are turning birds' internal clocks cuckoo! It's really messing with a lot of different things -- their songs, mating and reproduction.

Davide Dominoni, an ecologist at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell, Germany, investigated whether the birds’ activity patterns were merely behavioral responses to busy cities or were caused by an actual shift in the animals' body clocks. 

Dominoni and colleagues used European blackbirds, attaching radio transmitters to birds that lived in Munich and to birds that lived in the forest. Then they watched the birds for three weeks. They found that the forest birds started getting a little rowdy at dawn but city birds started 29 minutes earlier and they were active for about 6 minutes longer in the evening.

Altered state

Similar studies support the idea that city lights are altering the basic physiology of urban birds even to the point of suppressing their estrogen and testosterone, changing mating behaviors. One experiment showed that male blackbirds did not develop reproductive organs when they were exposed for two years to light at night.

An Avian sleep biologist at the Max Planck Institute who was not involved in the study commented: “You have to wonder — if these city birds are not compensating by napping during the day or sleeping more deeply at night, is sleep deprivation reducing their cognitive abilities or shortening their life spans?”

People may be in the same fix. There have been numerous studies on shift work and how it alters humans sleep patterns and deprivation of sleep. There are countless ramifications from turning your world from night to day literally.

"We don’t see a lot of people who do fine on shift work," says Sally Ibrahim, M.D., of the Cleveland Clinic’s Sleep Disorder Center. "They have trouble sleeping, trouble waking. And they’re drowsy when they’re awake."

Contrave (naltrexone hydrochloride and bupropion hydrochloride extended-release tablets) has won approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as treatment option for chronic weight management.

The drug is approved -- along with a reduced-calorie diet and physical activity -- for use in adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater (obesity) or adults with a BMI of 27 or greater (overweight) who have at least one weight-related condition such as high blood pressure (hypertension), type 2 diabetes, or high cholesterol (dyslipidemia).

BMI, which measures body fat based on an individual’s weight and height, is used to define the obesity and overweight categories. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than one-third of U.S. adults are obese.

“Obesity continues to be a major public health concern,” said Jean-Marc Guettier, M.D., director of the Division of Metabolism and Endocrinology Products in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “When used as directed in combination with a healthy lifestyle that includes a reduced-calorie diet and exercise, Contrave provides another treatment option for chronic weight management for people who are obese or are overweight and have at least one weight-related health condition.”

Impressive test results

The effectiveness of Contrave was evaluated in multiple clinical trials that included approximately 4,500 obese and overweight patients with and without significant weight-related conditions treated for one year. All patients received lifestyle modification that consisted of a reduced- calorie diet and regular physical activity.

Results from a clinical trial that enrolled patients without diabetes showed that patients had an average weight loss of 4.1% over treatment with placebo (inactive pill) at one year. In this trial, 42% of patients treated with Contrave lost at least 5% of their body weight compared with 17% of patients treated with placebo.

In another clinical trial that enrolled patients with type 2 diabetes, patients had an average weight loss of 2% over treatment with placebo at one year. In this trial, 36% of patients treated with Contrave lost at least 5% of their body weight compared with 18% of patients treated with placebo.

Patients using Contrave at the maintenance dose should be evaluated after 12 weeks to determine if the treatment is working. If a patient has not lost at least 5% of baseline body weight, Contrave should be discontinued, as it is unlikely that the patient will achieve and sustain clinically meaningful weight loss with continued treatment.

Use with caution

Because it contains bupropion, Contrave has a boxed warning to alert health care professionals and patients to the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviors associated with antidepressant drugs.

The warning also notes that serious neuropsychiatric events have been reported in patients taking bupropion for smoking cessation.

Contrave can cause seizures and must not be used in patients who have seizure disorders. The risk of seizure is dose-related. The drug should be discontinued and not restarted in patients who experience a seizure while being treated with Contrave.

Contrave can also raise blood pressure and heart rate and must not be used in patients with uncontrolled high blood pressure. Blood pressure and pulse should be measured prior to starting the drug and should be monitored at regular intervals, particularly among patients with controlled high blood pressure prior to treatment.

Other products containing bupropion should not be taken along with Contrave. The drug should not be used in patients who have eating disorders (bulimia or anorexia nervosa). Contrave should also not be taken by patients who are using opioids or treatments for opioid dependence, or who are experiencing acute opiate withdrawal.

Patients undergoing an abrupt discontinuation of alcohol, benzodiazepines, barbiturates and antiepileptic drugs should not take Contrave. Women who are pregnant or trying to become pregnant should not take Contrave.

The most common adverse reactions reported with Contrave include nausea, constipation, headache, vomiting, dizziness, insomnia, dry mouth, and diarrhea.

Post-marketing requirements

The FDA is requiring the following:

• a cardiovascular outcomes trial to assess the cardiovascular risk associated with Contrave use;
• two efficacy, safety, and clinical pharmacology studies in pediatric patients (one in patients 12 to 17 years of age, and one in patients 7 to 11 years of age);
• a nonclinical (animal) juvenile toxicity study with a particular focus on growth and development as well as behavior, learning, and memory;
• a study to evaluate the effect of Contrave on cardiac conduction;
• clinical trials to evaluate dosing in patients with hepatic or renal impairment;
• a clinical trial to evaluate the potential for interactions between Contrave and other drugs.

Just like the humans on whom they so often feed, deer ticks are moving west, with the hardiest pioneers now reported to have reached North Dakota. No one would much care, perhaps, except that the mite-sized pests are the primary carrier of Lyme disease.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, there are more than 300,000 cases of Lyme disease in the U.S. each year. Last year, most Lyme disease cases reported to the CDC were concentrated heavily in the Northeast and upper Midwest, with 96 percent of cases in 13 states. In fact, the disease gets its name from the northeastern town of Lyme, Connecticut, where it was discovered.

However, a new article published in the Journal of Medical Entomology reports that the ticks that vector Lyme disease — Ixodes scapularis, also known as blacklegged ticks or deer ticks — are moving westward, and for the first time have been found in North Dakota.

Researchers sampled ticks at nine locations throughout North Dakota by trapping small mammals and then removing the attached ticks. When they found I. scapularis, they screened them for the bacteria that cause Lyme disease and two other tick-borne diseases called Anaplasmosis and Babesiosis.

I. scapularis ticks were collected in six of the nine counties surveyed, and two of the counties seemed to have established poulations because all life stages — eggs, larvae, nymphs, and adults — were present.

"This represents an expansion of the predicted range for this tick species and is of concern because of the ability of this tick species to transmit various disease-causing agents," the authors wrote. "I. scapularis and associated pathogens have become established in northeastern North Dakota."

A new study finds that adults who consume a high-protein diet may be at a lower risk for developing high blood pressure, and researchers involved in the study say the results suggest it's time to take a new look at dietary recommendations.

"These results provide no evidence to suggest that individuals concerned about the development of HBP (high blood pressure) should avoid dietary protein. Rather, protein intake may play a role in the long-term prevention of HBP," said Lynn Moore, associate professor of medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine. "This growing body of research on the vascular benefits of protein, including this study, suggest we need to revisit optimal protein intake for optimal heart health," she added.

In the latest study, published in the American Journal of Hypertension, researchers found participants consuming the highest amount of protein (an average of 100 g protein/day) had a 40% lower risk of having high blood pressure compared to the lowest intake level.

The researchers analyzed protein intakes of healthy participants from the Framingham Offspring Study and followed them for development of high blood pressure over an 11-year period.

Overweight and normal

They found that adults who consumed more protein, whether from animal or plant sources, had statistically significantly lower systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure levels after four years of follow-up. In general, these beneficial effects were evident for both overweight and normal weight individuals.

They also found that consuming more dietary protein was associated with lower long-term risks for HBP. When the diet also was characterized by higher intakes of fiber, higher protein intakes led to 40%–60% reductions in risk of HBP.

One of three U.S. adults has hypertension and 78.6 million are clinically obese, a risk factor for the development of hypertension. Because of the strain that it puts on blood vessel walls, High blood pressure is one of the most common risk factors of stroke and an accelerator of multiple forms of heart disease, especially when paired with excess body weight.

The chances of your flight arriving on time showed considerable improvement in July.

According to the Transportation Department’s (DOT) Air Travel Consumer Report, the nation’s largest airlines posted an on-time arrival rate of 75.6% in July, compared with June's 71.8% mark and a 73.1% on-time rate in July 2013.

In addition, the carriers reported canceling 1.6% of their scheduled domestic flights in July, versus a 2.0% rate in June and 1.7% a year earlier.

As for tarmac delays, airlines reported two of them lasting more than three hours on domestic flights and no tarmac delays of more than four hours on international flights. DOT is investigating the domestic delays.

The full report, which is available on the DOT website, also includes data on tarmac delays, chronically delayed flights, and the causes of flight delays filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by the reporting carriers.

In addition, the report contains information on mishandled baggage reports filed by consumers with the carriers and consumer service, disability, and discrimination complaints received by DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division.

Reports of incidents involving the loss, death, or injury of pets traveling by air, are included as well.

After averaging roughly 300,000 during July and August a level usually associated with full employment, first-time applications for state unemployment benefits were up substantially last week.

Figures released by the Labor Department (DOL) show initial claims jumped 11,000 in the week ending September 6 to 315,000. The consensus estimate of economists surveyed by Briefing.com was for a total of 300,000.

Some analysts had maintained the recent drop in the weekly figure during the summer was due to poor seasonal adjustments, mostly from the motor vehicle sector, as there was no retooling shutdown. Thus, the rebound seen this past week, they say does not mean labor market conditions have actually changed.

The 4-week moving average, which strips out the weekly volatility, rose 750 to 304,000.

The full report is available on the DOL website.

Just as kids around the country headed back to school, a dangerous respiratory virus hit the U.S., specifically targeting children.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines Enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) as “one of many enteroviruses,” which have the habit of mutating quickly. EV-D68 isn't anything new – it was first identified in California in 1962.

However, doctors don't see this disease very often. The CDC says EV-D68 has been rarely reported in the U.S. over the last 4 decades.

Sudden appearance

All of a sudden there has been an outbreak, primarily affecting young children. On August 19 CDC was notified by Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Mo., of an increase in patients examined and hospitalized with severe respiratory illness, including some admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit.

Four days later CDC got a report from the University of Chicago Medicine Comer Children's Hospital of an increase in patients similar to those seen in Kansas City. EV-D68 was identified in 19 of 22 specimens from Kansas City and in 11 of 14 specimens from Chicago.

Since them, reports of the disease have come from hospitals in at least 10 states, mostly clustered in the Midwest. Many of the children diagnosed with the disease have ended up in intensive care.

Though people with the virus can get very sick, doctors say they usually don't die. However, Missouri health officials say mortality rates from previous occurrences of the disease are hard to come by.

Like a bad cold

Doctors say parents should be on the lookout for symptoms that are similar to a cold, but a lot worse. Many of those who get EV-D68 have difficulty breathing and make a wheezing sound.

How it spreads is not completely understood, in part the CDC says, because is has been so rare. Because of its respiratory nature, the virus can be found in respiratory secretions such as saliva and mucus.

“The virus likely spreads from person to person when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or touches contaminated surfaces,” the CDC says.

No vaccine

Unfortunately there are no vaccines or specific treatments for EV-D68, and clinical care is about the only treatment. The CDC says health care providers should consider EV-D68 as a possible cause of acute, unexplained severe respiratory illness; suspected clusters or outbreaks should be reported to local or state health departments.

The Missouri Department of Health reports that of the 300 children admitted to a Kansas City pediatric hospital, 15% were placed in intensive care. The Department says parents and health care professionals should take careful steps to avoid spreading the virus.

Precautions

• Wash hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds, especially after changing diapers;
• Avoid touching eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands;
• Avoid kissing, hugging, and sharing cups or eating utensils with people who are sick;
• Disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as toys and doorknobs, especially if someone is sick;
• Stay home when feeling sick, and obtain consultation from your health care provider

While many young parents tend to over react to slight changes in their child's health, doctors say erring on the side of caution might be called for in this case.

If a child has symptoms of respiratory illness, it could just be a cold, or it might not be. It's best to seek a medical opinion, especially if you live in an area where the virus is prevalent.