Flu Symptoms Drove Boston Mayor to Hospital

When Boston Mayor Thomas Menino ended his vacation in Italy short this fall and checked into a Boston hospital complaining of a respiratory infection, it led doctors to find and treat a blood clot in his leg, a fracture in his back, an infection around the fracture and type 2 diabetes.

Cold and flu symptoms from respiratory infections can be a hassle, but sometimes that fever and cough can be good for just getting people to the doctor.

“That’s why every patient needs a careful evaluation because every once in a while, what the patient thinks is the flu or reports as the flu is not,” said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. “I would say 99 percent of people who present to the emergency room and doctor’s office with symptoms of influenza – that is cough, fever and the like – are certainly going to have influenza.”

Click here to read about cold- and flu-fighters.

Menino, 69, arrived at Brigham and Women’s Hospital on Oct. 25, complaining of fatigue and a cough, and doctors described him as “extremely washed out” with some “malaise.” In addition to the respiratory infection, doctors found a blood clot that traveled from Menino’s leg to his lungs.

Respiratory illnesses, like the one that initially drove Menino to seek medical attention, can often range from mild to severe, Schaffner said.

“He was feeling poorly enough to end what was supposed to be a very pleasant vacation, and when he got here, he was very weak and very washed out,” Dr. Dale Adler, Menino’s doctor, said during a press conference in mid-November.

Doctors can usually tell whether flu-like symptoms are the result of a respiratory infection or something else soon after the patient is admitted. If not, they can perform a series of tests to find out.

Click here to read about flu fact and fiction.

(The flu can lead to other ailments, the most common of which is pneumonia, or an infection of the lungs, Schaffner said.

About 1.1 million pneumonia patients were hospitalized and discharged in 2009, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On average, they stayed in the hospital 5.2 days.)

Weeks later, Menino was still in the hospital. Although his illness and clot had been resolved, he was complaining of back pain, which doctors discovered was the result of a compression fracture and an infection around the fracture.

Finally, doctors discovered that Menino had underlying type 2 diabetes, which may have contributed to the infection, Menino’s doctor said during a press conference on Monday.

It’s not clear how Menino’s initial flu-like symptoms tied into his other ailments, but doctors said they are positive about his prognosis. The mayor relocated to a rehabilitation center on Monday.

“It is a run of bad luck,” Morris said of Menino. “He will rebound from this.”

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Flu Symptoms Drove Boston Mayor to Hospital

When Boston Mayor Thomas Menino ended his vacation in Italy short this fall and checked into a Boston hospital complaining of a respiratory infection, it led doctors to find and treat a blood clot in his leg, a fracture in his back, an infection around the fracture and type 2 diabetes.

Cold and flu symptoms from respiratory infections can be a hassle, but sometimes that fever and cough can be good for just getting people to the doctor.

“That’s why every patient needs a careful evaluation because every once in a while, what the patient thinks is the flu or reports as the flu is not,” said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. “I would say 99 percent of people who present to the emergency room and doctor’s office with symptoms of influenza – that is cough, fever and the like – are certainly going to have influenza.”

Click here to read about cold- and flu-fighters.

Menino, 69, arrived at Brigham and Women’s Hospital on Oct. 25, complaining of fatigue and a cough, and doctors described him as “extremely washed out” with some “malaise.” In addition to the respiratory infection, doctors found a blood clot that traveled from Menino’s leg to his lungs.

Respiratory illnesses, like the one that initially drove Menino to seek medical attention, can often range from mild to severe, Schaffner said.

“He was feeling poorly enough to end what was supposed to be a very pleasant vacation, and when he got here, he was very weak and very washed out,” Dr. Dale Adler, Menino’s doctor, said during a press conference in mid-November.

Doctors can usually tell whether flu-like symptoms are the result of a respiratory infection or something else soon after the patient is admitted. If not, they can perform a series of tests to find out.

Click here to read about flu fact and fiction.

(The flu can lead to other ailments, the most common of which is pneumonia, or an infection of the lungs, Schaffner said.

About 1.1 million pneumonia patients were hospitalized and discharged in 2009, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On average, they stayed in the hospital 5.2 days.)

Weeks later, Menino was still in the hospital. Although his illness and clot had been resolved, he was complaining of back pain, which doctors discovered was the result of a compression fracture and an infection around the fracture.

Finally, doctors discovered that Menino had underlying type 2 diabetes, which may have contributed to the infection, Menino’s doctor said during a press conference on Monday.

It’s not clear how Menino’s initial flu-like symptoms tied into his other ailments, but doctors said they are positive about his prognosis. The mayor relocated to a rehabilitation center on Monday.

“It is a run of bad luck,” Morris said of Menino. “He will rebound from this.”

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Diseases/Conditions News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Norway Covets Its Neighbors’ Carbon

The fjords of western Norway seem an unlikely place to tackle industrial pollution. But an hour’s drive north of Bergen, the Norwegians recently inaugurated the world’s largest test facility for carbon capture, the process of trapping carbon dioxide before it spews from the stacks of power plants and factories. The Norwegian government spent more than $ 1 billion to build the facility, a tangle of pipes, scaffolding, and cooling towers overlooking the port of Mongstad. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has called it “Norway’s moon landing.”

That’s quite an investment considering the country’s greenhouse emissions are among the lowest in the developed world. But it’s not domestic CO₂ the Norwegians are after. It’s their neighbors’. Beneath the North Sea lie vast reservoirs that have been emptied of oil by state-owned Statoil. “The potential to store [waste CO₂] in aquifers under the sea is enormous,” says Tore Amundsen, the managing director of the Technology Centre Mongstad.

In theory, Amundsen should face no shortage of customers from countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, where plans for underground storage of waste CO₂ have run into opposition from environmental groups. Norway’s oil industry could benefit, too, as the process of undersea injection would force residual oil and gas deposits out of the seabed.

While it’s integral to the fight against global warming, carbon capture has had a slow start. The International Energy Agency says it expects the technology to account for as much as 20 percent of the emissions reductions needed to limit global warming to a maximum of two degrees by 2050. The European Union has promised more than 1 billion euros ($ 1.3 billion) in financing for carbon-capture projects, but with the region’s economy in crisis, national governments haven’t provided the loan guarantees required for the work to go forward.

Yet the need has never been greater, says Jon Gibbins, a professor at the University of Edinburgh specializing in carbon-capture and power-plant engineering. The U.S. is awash in cheap shale gas, while worldwide, coal consumption, led by China and India, has risen more than 50 percent over the past decade. “We’ve got far too much, far too cheap fossil fuel” to ignore carbon capture, Gibbins says.

To jump-start development, the Norwegians have invited companies to try out carbon-capture technologies at Mongstad. The tests are carried out using emissions from a gas-fired power plant that adjoins the facility. French engineering group Alstom (ALSMY), for example, is testing a process in which emissions are sprayed with chilled ammonia to strip out the carbon dioxide.

Even some environmental groups are willing to give carbon capture a chance. “People have rightfully worried that carbon capture is just an excuse” to avoid developing cleaner energy sources, says Mike Childs, head of policy, research, and science at Friends of the Earth in Britain. “While we want to move to a system of 100 percent renewable energy, that will take time.”

Amundsen says the processes being tested at Mongstad would add 30 percent to 50 percent to the cost of electricity generated by a conventional gas- or coal-fired power plant. That’s roughly on a par with wind- and solar-generated power, and Amundsen expects prices to come down sharply as the technology matures. Norway is considering a plan to expand Mongstad from a test site into a full-scale facility that would scrub all CO₂ emissions from the adjacent power plant and a nearby refinery, at an estimated cost of $ 4 billion.

The country can’t import CO₂, though, unless other countries come up with billions to build their own carbon-capture plants and pay the Norwegians for storage. And while existing gas pipelines could be modified to transport carbon at relatively modest cost, burying it under the seabed would be expensive. What’s more, Norway could face competition from the Dutch port of Rotterdam, which has a plan to become a hub for CO₂ transshipment to North Sea storage sites. Rotterdam has the advantage of being closer than Norway to most of Europe’s major industrial regions.

Amundsen is unfazed by these challenges. “Norway has an interest to see that oil and gas remain an important energy source for the future,” he says. “We’re so incredibly rich, we can actually afford to do it.”

The bottom line: A new $ 1 billion carbon-capture plant is the cornerstone of a plan to bury Europe’s waste CO2 beneath the North Sea.

Businessweek.com — Top News

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Rugby-England add flyhalf Burns to squad for All Blacks’ test

LONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) – England called up uncapped Gloucester flyhalf Freddie Burns on Tuesday to their squad for Saturday’s test against New Zealand in place of the injured Toby Flood.

Flood sustained ligament damage to a big toe during the 16-15 loss to South Africa at Twickenham last Saturday.

Owen Farrell, whose last start was in the first test in South Africa this year, is set to replace Flood in the starting XV against the world champions.

Lock Courtney Lawes, who missed England’s first three tests of the November series because of a knee injury, has also been included in the 23-man squad. Two other locks, Mouritz Botha and Tom Palmer, have been omitted.

After beating Fiji in their opening match, England have lost to Australia and the Springboks and now face a daunting match against the All Blacks who are unbeaten in 20 tests since the start of their victorious World Cup campaign last year.

“For those in Saturday’s squad the message is clear – last week we went toe to toe with the second best team in the world and felt we should have won,” England head coach Stuart Lancaster said in a statement.

“Now we have a chance to take on the number one side in front of a passionate Twickenham crowd, who have been fantastic throughout the Internationals, and it is a challenge we will meet head on.” (Reporting by John Mehaffey; Editing by Ken Ferris)

Australia / Antarctica News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Play Your Wii U Anywhere — Even on a Train

Wii U on a Train

No need for a TV set. If you plug the Wii U in, you can interact entirely with the GamePad. This is on a Japanese Shinkansen, a high-speed train.

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: Nintendo Unveils Wii Mini for the Canucks]

Nintendo’s new Wii U console may have one real advantage over the competition: portability. Since you don’t need a television to play a good portion of the Wii U titles, gaming on the road is as easy as locating a power outlet.

Rocket News 24 tested the console’s mobility by taking a Wii U on a Japanese bullet train, which has power outlets at every seat. Thanks to that — and a little iPhone tethering magic — their staff was able to play New Super Mario Brothers U and Call of Duty Black Ops 2 while riding comfortably.

[More from Mashable: Wii U Sells 400,000 Units in First Week]

Check out Rocket News 24 to see more pictures and a full recount of their experience.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Beyonce to direct documentary about herself for HBO

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Pop superstar Beyonce is stepping behind the camera to direct a behind-the-scenes documentary about her personal and professional life, U.S. cable channel HBO said on Monday.

The currently untitled film will debut on February 16 and show the Grammy-winning singer’s life in the recording studio, readying for live performances and running her own TV and music production company.

“Everybody knows Beyonce’s music, but few know Beyonce the person,” HBO Programming President Michael Lombardo said in a statement. “Along with electrifying footage of Beyonce on stage, this unique special looks beyond the glamour to reveal a vibrant, vulnerable, unforgettable woman.”

The documentary will also feature moments in the “Crazy in Love” singer’s family life and first-person footage Beyonce captured on her laptop.

Beyonce, 31, who is married to hip hop artist and mogul Jay-Z, will headline the Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans on February 3.

(Reporting By Eric Kelsey, editing by Jill Serjeant and Andrew Hay)

Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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FDA suspends peanut butter plant linked to salmonella outbreak

(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration suspended operations on Monday at a New Mexico food producer linked to salmonella-tainted peanut butter that has sickened at least 41 people this year, the agency said in a statement.

The FDA said it had suspended Sunland Inc‘s food facility registration “in the interest of public health,” following the national outbreak and a history of food safety violations reaching back over three years.

“The fact that peanut butter made by the company has been linked to an outbreak … that has sickened 41 people in 20 states, coupled with Sunland’s history of violations led FDA … to suspend the company’s registration,” the FDA statement said, referring to an outbreak that began in June.

Registration with the administration is required for any facility that makes, processes, packs or holds food for consumption in the United States. If a facility’s registration is suspended, it is banned from distributing food for sale.

The FDA said a review of Sunland Inc’s product testing records showed that 11 product lots of nut butter tested positive for salmonella between June 2009 and September 2012.

Between March 2010 and September 2012, at least a portion of eight product lots of nut butter that the firm’s own testing program identified as containing salmonella was distributed by the company to consumers, the organization said.

Additionally, the FDA found the presence of salmonella during its inspection of the plant in September and October, both in samples taken in food production areas and in food products themselves.

Attempts to reach Sunland on Monday were unsuccessful, but in a November 15 statement the company said “at no time in its twenty four year history has Sunland, Inc. released for distribution any products that it knew to be potentially contaminated with harmful microorganisms.”

The company said it “has followed internal testing protocols that it believed resulted in the isolation and destruction of any product that did not pass the test designed to detect the presence of any contaminants.”

Salmonella typically causes diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain. It can be fatal for old people, young children and people with weakened immune systems. The FDA said it would reinstate the firm’s registration only when it determines that the company has implemented procedures to produce safe products.

(Reporting by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Bob Burgdorfer)

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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FDA suspends peanut butter plant linked to salmonella outbreak

(Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration suspended operations on Monday at a New Mexico food producer linked to salmonella-tainted peanut butter that has sickened at least 41 people this year, the agency said in a statement.

The FDA said it had suspended Sunland Inc‘s food facility registration “in the interest of public health,” following the national outbreak and a history of food safety violations reaching back over three years.

“The fact that peanut butter made by the company has been linked to an outbreak … that has sickened 41 people in 20 states, coupled with Sunland’s history of violations led FDA … to suspend the company’s registration,” the FDA statement said, referring to an outbreak that began in June.

Registration with the administration is required for any facility that makes, processes, packs or holds food for consumption in the United States. If a facility’s registration is suspended, it is banned from distributing food for sale.

The FDA said a review of Sunland Inc’s product testing records showed that 11 product lots of nut butter tested positive for salmonella between June 2009 and September 2012.

Between March 2010 and September 2012, at least a portion of eight product lots of nut butter that the firm’s own testing program identified as containing salmonella was distributed by the company to consumers, the organization said.

Additionally, the FDA found the presence of salmonella during its inspection of the plant in September and October, both in samples taken in food production areas and in food products themselves.

Attempts to reach Sunland on Monday were unsuccessful, but in a November 15 statement the company said “at no time in its twenty four year history has Sunland, Inc. released for distribution any products that it knew to be potentially contaminated with harmful microorganisms.”

The company said it “has followed internal testing protocols that it believed resulted in the isolation and destruction of any product that did not pass the test designed to detect the presence of any contaminants.”

Salmonella typically causes diarrhea, fever and abdominal pain. It can be fatal for old people, young children and people with weakened immune systems. The FDA said it would reinstate the firm’s registration only when it determines that the company has implemented procedures to produce safe products.

(Reporting by Tim Gaynor; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Bob Burgdorfer)

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Eurozone deal on Greece bailout

26 November 2012 Last updated at 22:16 ET

Olli Rehn: “Greece has kept its commitments”

Eurozone finance ministers and the IMF have reached a deal on an urgently needed bailout for debt-laden Greece.

They have agreed to cut debts by 40bn euros ($ 51bn; £32bn) and have paved the way for releasing the next tranche of bailout loans – some 44bn euros.

Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras welcomed the deal, saying “a new day begins for all Greeks”.

Asian shares climbed on news of the agreement.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.6% to its highest in more than two weeks.

Australian shares rose 0.7%, while South Korea’s benchmark Kospi index was up nearly 1%.

The euro reached its highest level against the dollar since 31 October, up about 0.3% to $ 1.3010.

‘Credibility test’

The breakthrough came after more than 10 hours of talks in Brussels. It was the eurozone’s third meeting in two weeks on Greece.

The deal opens the way for support for Greece’s teetering banks and will allow the government to pay wages and pensions in December.

Continue reading the main story

We simply could not afford to fail”

End Quote Olli Rehn EU economic and monetary affairs comissioner

The leader of the eurozone finance ministers’ group, Jean-Claude Juncker, said Greece would get the next installment of cash on 13 December.

Greece has been waiting since June for the tranche, to help its heavily indebted economy stay afloat.

European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi said the bailout would “strengthen confidence in Europe and in Greece”.

For his part, Mr Juncker said the deal did not just have financial implications.

“This is not just about money. It is the promise of a better future for the Greek people and for the Euro area as a whole.”

Greece’s international lenders have agreed to take steps to reduce the country’s debts, from an estimated 144%, to 124% of its gross domestic product by 2020.

These include cutting the interest rate on loans to Greece, and returning 11bn euros to Athens in profits from ECB purchases of Greek government bonds.

Ministers have also agreed to help Greece buy back its own bonds from private investors.

So far the ECB, IMF and the European Commission have pledged a total of 240bn euros in rescue loans, of which Greece has received around 150bn euros.

In return, Greece has had to impose several rounds of austerity measures and submit its economy to scrutiny.

The European Union’s commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, said it was crucial that a deal had finally been reached.

“For the eurozone this was a real test of our credibility, of our ability to take decisions on the most challenging of issues.

“And it was a test that we simply could not afford to fail.”

BBC News – Business

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Dog days in Cuba: from shih tzus to schnauzers

HAVANA (AP) — The Cuban capital has played host to political summits and art festivals, ballet tributes and international baseball competitions. Now dog lovers are getting their chance to take center stage.

Hundreds of people from all over Cuba and several other countries came to a scruffy field near Revolution Plaza this past week to preen and fuss over the shih tzus, beagles, schnauzers and cocker spaniels that are the annual Fall Canine Expo’s star attractions. There were even about a dozen bichon habaneros, a mid-sized dog bred on the island since the 17th century.

As dog lovers talked shop, the merely curious strolled the field, checking out the more than 50 breeds on display while carefully dodging the prodigious output of so many dogs.

The four-day competition, which ended Sunday, included competitions in several breeding categories, and judges were flown in from Nicaragua, Colombia and Mexico.

“This is a small, poor country, but Cubans love dogs,” said Miguel Calvo, the president of Cuba’s dog federation, which organized the show. “We make a great effort to breed purebred animals of quality.”

Winners don’t receive any trophy or prize money, but that doesn’t mean the competition is any less fierce.

Anabel Perez, owner of a cocker spaniel named Lisamineli after the U.S. actress, spent more than half an hour coifing the dog’s hair in preparation for the competition, while the owner of a shih tzu named Tiguer meticulously brushed his coat nearby.

“I’m a hairdresser for humans,” explained Tiguer’s owner, Miguel Lopez. “So it’s easy for me. I like shih tzus because they are a lot of work to keep well groomed.”

Latin America News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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