Grape seed and skin extract - a weapon in the fight against kidney disease caused by high-fat diets

Public release date: 28-Feb-2013
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Contact: Jenny Ryan
jenny.ryan@nrcresearchpress.com
613-949-8667
Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press)

New insight into grape seed extract as a therapeutic and preventative measure to fight obesity-induced kidney damage

Ottawa, ON (February 28, 2013) New insight into grape seed extract as a therapeutic and preventative measure to fight obesity-induced kidney damage is presented in a new study. Grape seed and skin extract (GSSE) is known to contain powerful antioxidants. This study, published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, is the first to make a link between GSSEs and high-fat-diet-induced renal disease.

The authors examined the effect of GSSE processed from a grape cultivar ('Carignan') of Vitis vinifera from northern Tunisia on rats. Rats were fed a high-fat diet that induced a low-grade reno-lipotoxicity, that is, kidney damage associated with lipids. This was characterized by elevations in plasma urea and protein in the urine. The researchers found increased deposits of triglycerides (TG) (especially saturated fatty acids), increased signs of oxidative stress and depleted copper levels in the kidneys. There was also histological evidence of disturbance in the kidney structure. When the animals received GSSE at 500 mg/kg bw (which corresponds to 35g/day for a 70 kg human adult) along with the high-fat diet there was a partial reversal of the TG deposition as well as the histological damage. The authors suggest polyphenols including resveratrol are likely the components in GSSE responsible for the positive effects. Furthermore the GSSE prevented the oxidative stress and copper depletion.

"In our research, obesity-induced leaky kidney and proteinuria are shown to be prevented by GSSE, which suggests the use of GSSE as a preventive nutriceutical for high-risk patients," said co-author Kamel Charradi, a researcher with the Laboratory of Bioactive Substance at the Center of Biotechnology of Borj-Cedria (CBBC) in Tunisia. This research group has previously published work showing the benefits of GSSE in combating obesity, heart dysfunction, brain lipotoxicity and kidney cancer.

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The article "Grape seed and skin extract alleviates high-fat-diet-induced renal lipotoxicity and prevents copper depletion in rats" is available Open Access in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, DOI: 10.1139/apnm-2012-0416 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/apnm-2012-0416

Full Reference:

Charradi, K., Elkahoui, S., Karkouch, I., Limam, F. Hamdaoui, G., Ben Hassine, F. El May, M.-V., Ahmed El May, Aouani, E. Grape seed and skin extract alleviates high-fat diet-induced renal lipotoxicity and prevents copper depletion in rat. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 10.1139/apnm-2012-0416.

Related information:

The University of Maryland Medical Center: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/grape-seed-000254.htm

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 28-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jenny Ryan
jenny.ryan@nrcresearchpress.com
613-949-8667
Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press)

New insight into grape seed extract as a therapeutic and preventative measure to fight obesity-induced kidney damage

Ottawa, ON (February 28, 2013) New insight into grape seed extract as a therapeutic and preventative measure to fight obesity-induced kidney damage is presented in a new study. Grape seed and skin extract (GSSE) is known to contain powerful antioxidants. This study, published in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, is the first to make a link between GSSEs and high-fat-diet-induced renal disease.

The authors examined the effect of GSSE processed from a grape cultivar ('Carignan') of Vitis vinifera from northern Tunisia on rats. Rats were fed a high-fat diet that induced a low-grade reno-lipotoxicity, that is, kidney damage associated with lipids. This was characterized by elevations in plasma urea and protein in the urine. The researchers found increased deposits of triglycerides (TG) (especially saturated fatty acids), increased signs of oxidative stress and depleted copper levels in the kidneys. There was also histological evidence of disturbance in the kidney structure. When the animals received GSSE at 500 mg/kg bw (which corresponds to 35g/day for a 70 kg human adult) along with the high-fat diet there was a partial reversal of the TG deposition as well as the histological damage. The authors suggest polyphenols including resveratrol are likely the components in GSSE responsible for the positive effects. Furthermore the GSSE prevented the oxidative stress and copper depletion.

"In our research, obesity-induced leaky kidney and proteinuria are shown to be prevented by GSSE, which suggests the use of GSSE as a preventive nutriceutical for high-risk patients," said co-author Kamel Charradi, a researcher with the Laboratory of Bioactive Substance at the Center of Biotechnology of Borj-Cedria (CBBC) in Tunisia. This research group has previously published work showing the benefits of GSSE in combating obesity, heart dysfunction, brain lipotoxicity and kidney cancer.

###

The article "Grape seed and skin extract alleviates high-fat-diet-induced renal lipotoxicity and prevents copper depletion in rats" is available Open Access in the journal Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, DOI: 10.1139/apnm-2012-0416 http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/apnm-2012-0416

Full Reference:

Charradi, K., Elkahoui, S., Karkouch, I., Limam, F. Hamdaoui, G., Ben Hassine, F. El May, M.-V., Ahmed El May, Aouani, E. Grape seed and skin extract alleviates high-fat diet-induced renal lipotoxicity and prevents copper depletion in rat. Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 10.1139/apnm-2012-0416.

Related information:

The University of Maryland Medical Center: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/grape-seed-000254.htm

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/csp-gsa022813.php

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Accommodating religion: What managers need to know ? Business ...

Say an applicant tells you she wouldn?t be able to work Friday nights due to her religion. Or an employee begins wearing a headscarf to the office. How would you respond?

The increasing religious diversity in the workforce is causing more managers to make legal mistakes. In fact, employee claims of religious discrimination in the workplace have doubled in the past decade.

The law

As a manager, you need to let employees express their religious beliefs while, at the same time, making sure those expressions don?t infringe on the rights of co-workers or the organization.

Federal anti-discrimination law?Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964?makes it unlawful to discriminate against applicants or employees based on their religion.

The law says employers must ?reasonably accommodate? an employee?s ?sincerely held? religious practices unless doing so would impose an ?undue hardship? on the employer. In most cases, such accommodations involve giving employees time off to attend religious services.

How to comply

Here?s what the law means to managers on a practical, day-by-day level:

• Hiring and firing. You can?t treat app?licants or employees less (or more) favorably in hiring, firing or other job conditions because of their religious beliefs or practices.
• Proselytizing. You can?t force em??ployees to participate (or not participate) in a religious activity at work.
• Accommodation. You must reasonably accommodate an employee?s ?sincerely held? beliefs and practices.
• Undue hardship. You can deny a religious accommodation request if it would create an ?undue hardship? on the organization?s business interests. The EEOC defines ?undue hardship? as something that: ?requires more than ordinary administrative costs, diminishes efficiency in other jobs, infringes on other employees? job rights or benefits (or) impairs workplace safety.?
• Religious expression. You must allow employees? religious expression if they?re allowed to engage in other personal expression at work, as long as the expression doesn?t impose an undue hardship on the company or infringe on the rights of co-workers or customers.
• Religious harassment. You must take action and notify HR if you see or hear of an employee being harassed based on religious beliefs.

What?s a ?religion??

When it comes to workplace discrimination law, the courts say employers must view ?religion? fairly broadly, accommodating everything from mainstream religious views down to those of small sects.

In fact, the EEOC specifically states that the size of the group the person belongs to is irrelevant to his or her right to be free of discrimination and harassment in the workplace. The same is true of workers who don?t adhere to any religion.

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19th-century Pa. immigrant reburied in Ireland

FILE - In this March 9, 2012 file photo, Bishop Michael J. Fitzgerald takes part in a funeral at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., for five 19th-century Irish immigrants whose remains were excavated from the Duffy's Cut site. Researchers believe the site in Malvern, Pa., contains the remains of about 50 Irish immigrants who died weeks after coming to Pennsylvania to build a railroad in 1832. The remains of one of the immigrants who researchers believe was murdered while building the railroad will be reburied in his home country on Saturday, March 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

FILE - In this March 9, 2012 file photo, Bishop Michael J. Fitzgerald takes part in a funeral at West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Bala Cynwyd, Pa., for five 19th-century Irish immigrants whose remains were excavated from the Duffy's Cut site. Researchers believe the site in Malvern, Pa., contains the remains of about 50 Irish immigrants who died weeks after coming to Pennsylvania to build a railroad in 1832. The remains of one of the immigrants who researchers believe was murdered while building the railroad will be reburied in his home country on Saturday, March 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

In this March 24, 2009 file photo, Immaculata University history professor William Watson displays what he says are human remains that members of the Duffy's Cut Project unearthed in Malvern, Pa. The bones are from a mass grave for nearly five dozen 19th century Irish immigrants who died weeks after coming to Pennsylvania to build a railroad. The remains of one of the immigrants, who researchers believe was murdered while building the railroad, will be reburied in his home country on Saturday, March 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? The remains of a 19th-century Irish immigrant who researchers believe was murdered while building a Pennsylvania railroad will be reburied in his home country this weekend after being identified in part through a missing molar.

U.S. historians unearthed the bones of the young man thought to be 18-year-old John Ruddy near train tracks in suburban Philadelphia four years ago. On Saturday, they'll attend a re-interment for the railway worker more than 3,000 miles away at a cemetery in County Donegal.

"We can't help but think he would prefer to be buried there," said Bill Watson, a lead researcher on the team that found the remains.

Ruddy was among 57 Irishmen hired in 1832 to help build a stretch of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad known as Duffy's Cut. But the immigrants from Donegal, Tyrone and Derry died about six weeks after their arrival, and the railroad company never told their families.

Watson and his twin brother Frank, also a historian, led a team in a 10-year effort to research and dig up evidence of how the workers died in what is now a woodsy area behind homes in Malvern, about 20 miles west of Philadelphia.

Their conclusion? Many workers died of cholera and were dumped in a mass grave. Yet forensic evidence indicates several were homicide victims, likely killed by local vigilantes because of ethnic hatred or fear of the disease. Those immigrants, including Ruddy, were found buried separately.

The research team tentatively identified Ruddy based on a passenger list from the ship on which the immigrants traveled, and his small bone size. There was only one 18-year-old worker listed in railroad archives, Watson said.

Ruddy's jaw also had a genetic dental abnormality ? a missing molar. It's a trait that still runs in his family, according to Watson, who said modern-day Ruddys in Ireland contacted him after reading about the discovery. One Ruddy donated a DNA sample to confirm the identification in 2010, but researchers have not had the time nor the money to complete the analysis yet.

However, it's unlikely another body with that bone size and "super-rare" tooth anomaly would be found at the site, said University of Pennsylvania anthropologist Janet Monge, who works with the all-volunteer team.

Researchers are going ahead with Ruddy's burial this weekend because of a looming deadline for a documentary film crew that has been following the Duffy's Cut project. Ruddy's relatives, who could not be reached for comment, are expected to attend, as are other community members, Watson said.

"A lot of the people throughout Donegal see this as being important because they've all got stories in their family tree like this ? people who left for America and were never heard from again," said Watson, whose own ancestors also hail from the county.

Ruddy will not be buried in his homestead of Inishowen but in the nearby town of Ardara, where a grave was donated by a more recent immigrant to the U.S.

Vincent Gallagher, now president of the Irish Center in Philadelphia, said it was the least he could do for a fellow countryman who died on a lonely journey to build a better life. Gallagher himself emigrated from Donegal about 40 years ago, joining a slew of relatives who came before him.

"When I came to this country, there were a bunch of people waiting for me from my own family," said Gallagher, a landscaper. "But these people ? 57 of them ? they came here, they didn't know a soul."

The Watsons have been unable to identify the other alleged homicide victims because their bones indicate they were all in their 20s, leaving too many possibilities. However, their remains were reburied last year in a solemn ceremony at a suburban Philadelphia cemetery. The mass grave can't be excavated because of its proximity to active railroad tracks.

"The idea of somehow being able to get one of them back to Ireland, it seemed like a distant hope 10 years ago," said Watson, who is also a history professor at Immaculata University in Malvern, not far from where the workers died. "It's just a miracle, actually."

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Online:

http://www.duffyscutproject.com

___

Follow Kathy Matheson at www.twitter.com/kmatheson

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-02-28-Irish%20Immigrants-Grave/id-6beee402fc45458fbccad8d663cf26bf

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Stop Cowering and Buy Stocks: McCall | Breakout - Yahoo! Finance

Stocks fell sharply yesterday on news of a worst-case-scenario election outcome in Italy. The S&P 500 fell 1.8% to close at 1,487, well below key support at 1,500. Even worse for the bulls the drop came after early gains, creating a 2.5% intraday reversal. Investors who have long claimed to be waiting to "buy a dip" were nowhere to be founder.

Matt McCall, founder and president of Penn Financial Group says the price action is positive even if it is maddening. "Every time we see any kind of pullback buyers jump in," notes McCall in the attached video. Despite breaking short-term support McCall thinks a drop is constructive. Markets that go up in a straight line can't be trusted. The short sharp declines are frustrating but part of the process of getting equities into strong hands.

Speaking of strong hands, plenty of folks have been clinging to cash in the hopes of getting a chance to "buy the dip." Those would-be investors have been stuck waiting for that correction for at least the last 10% move in the broader tape. McCall says investors on the sidelines are getting too cute with their entry points, missing chances to get long stocks.

"Anytime you actually get a 5% pullback the investor that's waiting for it when it happens (investors) are too scared because they read headlines that tells them it's the end of the world."

With the end of the world now upon us once again McCall thinks it's time to start buying. He likes the lumber sector, pointing to the iShares S&P Global Timer and Forestry Index ETF (WOOD) as a personal favorite.

Source: http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/stop-cowering-buy-stocks-mccall-125313188.html

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Relatives add drama to King Richard III saga

The bones of Richard III, who reigned for two years, have been discovered in Leicester, England, and they indicate that his spine was twisted by scoliosis and that he received eight head wounds in battle. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

By Alan Boyle, Science Editor, NBC News

Nine distant relatives of King Richard III are demanding that the British government reverse its decision to have his skeleton reburied at Leicester Cathedral, near the parking lot where it was found, and give it a resting place in York instead.

The open letter, published late Sunday by British newspapers such as The Telegraph and the Daily Mail, is just one of several efforts seeking a burial at York Minster for the more than 500-year-old remains, which were discovered last year by researchers from the University of Leicester. This month, the researchers said DNA analysis and other forensic tests proved "beyond reasonable doubt" that the skeleton was that of Richard III.

The English monarch reigned for just two years before he was killed in battle in 1485, but he was immortalized in William Shakespeare's play, "Richard III," in which he was portrayed as a hunchbacked villain. Richard III's legions of modern-day fans say he wasn't really all that bad ? and the row over what to do with his bones has added a new twist to the drama.

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"We, the undernamed, do hereby most respectfully demand that the remains of King Richard III, the last Plantagenet King of England and our mutual ancestor, be returned to the city of York for formal, ceremonial reburial," the statement from his relatives says. "We believe that such an interment was the desire of King Richard in life and we have written this statement so that his wishes may be fully recognised and upheld. King Richard III was the last King of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty which had ruled England since the succession of King Henry II in 1154.

"We, the undernamed blood descendants, unreservedly believe that King Richard is deserving of great recognition and respect and hereby agree to dutifully uphold his memory.

"With due humility and affection, we are and will remain His Majesty?s representatives and voice."

The statement was signed by nine individuals who have traced their ancestry back to Richard III's siblings. The nine signers are?Charles E. Brunner, Stephen Guy Nicolay, Vanessa Maria Roe, Jacob Daniel Tyler, Paul Tyler, Raymond Torrence Bertram Roe, Linda Jane Roe, Eleanor Bianca Lupton and Charlotte Jane Lupton. Richard died childless and thus has no direct-line descendants.

Even before the remains were found, the British Ministry of Justice granted a license putting the University of Leicester in charge of the parking-lot dig and the disposition of any remains found there."The University of Leicester specified in its application that reinterment would occur in Leicester Cathedral if the remains were proved to be those of King Richard III," the institution said in a statement.

The university is currently working with the cathedral and Leicester's city council on plans for his reburial by August 2014. In the meantime, researchers are continuing to study the remains.

The long lead time means that the tug of war between Leicester and York, two cities that are 100 miles (160 kilometers) from each other, could continue for months. There are even those who want to see the remains interred in London's Westminster Abbey. But the nine relatives behind this week's open letter have no more standing than the other descendants of Richard III's family, who doubtless number in the thousands by now.

In that light, Leicester seems to have the strongest case, by virtue of legal grounds as well as the less rigorous "finders, keepers" rule and the dictum that possession is nine-tenths of the law. Do you disagree? Feel free to weigh in with your comments below.

More about Richard III:

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Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?and adding the?Cosmic Log page?to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/25/17090654-relatives-add-drama-to-the-plans-for-king-richard-iiis-final-resting-place?lite

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'Vulcan' and 'Cerberus' Win Pluto Moon Naming Poll

The votes are in, and it looks like 'Vulcan' could be the new name for one of Pluto's smallest moons.

After weeks of online ballot casting by people around the world, the poll asking the public to name two of Pluto's moons ? currently called P4 and P5 ? ended today (Feb. 25).

As of 12 p.m. (1700 GMT), the polls closed with a total of 450,324 total votes cast since Feb. 11 with 'Vulcan,' a Pluto moon name proposed by Star Trek's William Shatner,?is the clear winner.?Vulcan nabbed roughly 160,000 votes, with Cerberus in clear second place with nearly 100,000 votes.

Vulcan was a late addition to the Pluto moon name contenders, and pulled into the lead after Shatner, building on his Capt. James T. Kirk persona, plugged the name on Twitter. Vulcan, the home planet of Kirk's alien-human hybrid first officer Spock, is not just a fictional world in the Star Trek universe. It is also the name of the god of fire in Roman mythology, and officials at SETI added the sci-fi favorite to the ballot for that reason.

"Vulcan is the Roman god of lava and smoke, and the nephew of Pluto. (Any connection to the Star Trek TV series is purely coincidental, although we can be sure that Gene Roddenberry read the classics.)," wrote SETI scientist Mark Showalter in a blog officially adding the name to the list on Feb. 12. "Thanks to William Shatner for the suggestion!"

These votes don't necessarily mean that P4 and P5 will end up being called Vulcan and Cerberus, however. SETI is going to recommend the winning names to the International Astronomical Union ? the organization responsible for naming the moons. The IAU will take the results into consideration, but ultimately they have final say over what the tiny moons are called.

Pluto has five moons ?that astronomers currently know of. Scientists first caught sight of Pluto's largest moon Charon in 1978, but it was not until 2005 that astronomers discovered two other moons (Nix and Hydra) using the Hubble Space Telescope.

The moon P5 was discovered in 2012, also using the?Hubble telescope ?. The moon P4 was discovered in 2011. Both P4 and P5 are only 15 to 20 miles (20 to 30 km) in diameter.

Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter?@mirikramer?or SPACE.com?@Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook?&?Google+.?

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vulcan-cerberus-win-pluto-moon-naming-poll-173418595.html

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As college costs rise, parents raiding retirement

Kevin Lamarque / Reuters

Graduating students at the University of Michigan commencement ceremony in Ann Arbor, Michigan in this May 1, 2010 file photograph. American families are failing to meet their college savings milestones as short-term needs and emergency savings take priority in family budgets.

By Sharon Epperson, TODAY

Paying for your child's education is a laudable goal, but may not be realistic for some parents who could wind up jeopardizing their own financial future in order to help put their sons and daughters through college.

Parents who are saving for college frequently raid retirement funds ? or plan to do so ? to pay their child's skyrocketing tuition bills, according to a new study released today from the nation's largest student loan provider Sallie Mae. More parents are currently saving for their retirement than for their children's education, but these families often plan to draw from retirement savings to help cover the costs of college, especially as other goals ? from building up a "rainy day" fund to increasing general savings ? take priority. "The economy is putting pressure on families in terms of whether they're saving, how much they're saving and where they're saving," said Sarah Ducich, senior vice president for public policy at Sallie Mae.

The report "How America Saves For College" surveyed more than 1,600 parents with children ages 18 or younger and found half of parents said they were focused on college savings, while 60 percent were focused on saving for retirement. But if they have to choose, parents are opting to boost their retirement savings ? 42 percent of parents who are not saving for college said they are saving for retirement.

The good news: More than three-quarters of those parents surveyed who are saving for college are also focused on saving for retirement.

The bad news: Many of those families who say they are saving for college also admit that they are doing so through their retirement fund. One-third intend to use these savings for college. The other two-thirds say that they would use their retirement savings to pay for college, only if necessary.

Families are more likely to use retirement savings to fund college as their children get older and the urgency intensifies. Less than half (44 percent) of families with children under age 6 would use retirement savings to pay for college, while more than seven in 10 (74 percent) families with teens would use their retirement for college, the survey found.

How much retirement money are they putting toward tuition and other college expenses?

Nearly 6 percent of parents in the thick of paying for college are drawing on retirement funds by taking a loan or withdrawal of about $6,475 on average, according to a 2012 Sallie Mae survey.

Unforeseen consequences
But here's the problem: Most parents don't realize paying for college with money withdrawn from a retirement account can result in a double whammy. First, the withdrawal can count as income, which is taxable. Plus, with that additional income, you'll reduce your financial aid eligibility the following year.

"Between the tax impact and the reduction in aid eligibility, the family may net very little return on their investment," said Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of Fastweb.com, a free scholarship matching service. "It also sacrifices retirement funds," he said.

By borrowing from your 401(k) or IRA, parents not only reduce their retirement balance, but also miss out accruing interest. And if you're under age 59 1/2 and take a loan from your 401(k), you'll have to pay back the loan with interest in five years, or immediately, if you change employers.

Jump start your college savings
So how can parents avoid raiding their retirement funds for college? It sounds very simple. Make a plan to save. The Sallie Mae study showed 70 percent of families with a set goal to save for college are confident they will save 10 percent of future college costs.

To ramp up college savings, start funding or add more money to a?529 college savings plan.?A 529 college savings plan allows you to save money for college and then withdraw the funds for qualified college expenses tax-free. Studies show that people who use 529 college savings plans are more successful college savers than those without 529 plans.

The College Savings Foundation's 2012 parent survey found that 22 percent of 529 owners have saved between $10,001 and $25,000, while only 9 percent of non-529 account owners have saved a similar amount. Likewise, 18 percent of 529 plan owners reported saving between $25,001 and $50,000. Only 4 percent of non-529 account owners managed to save as much. Overall, parents who have not opened a 529 plan are the least effective college savers ? nearly half have no college savings.

To help jump start your college savings, here are a few tips from Kantrowitz, who is also publisher of the financial aid information site FinAid.org:

• Make savings automatic, so you don't have to think to save.
• Increase the amount you save each year. You will quickly get used to not having the money in your checking account.
• Whenever you get a windfall, such as a big income tax refund or inheritance, contribute all or part of it to the college savings plan.
• When expenses change, resulting in some savings, devote the savings to college. "When your child no longer needs diapers or daycare, for example, redirect the savings to their college fund," Kantrowitz says.
• Use a rebating program, like?Upromise, to help build your 529 plan faster.
• Finally, get grandparents and other relatives involved. Have them contribute to your children's 529 plans instead of giving gifts on birthdays and holidays.

Make college savings a true, family affair.

?

Source: http://lifeinc.today.com/_news/2013/02/26/17101997-as-college-costs-rise-parents-fall-short-on-savings-goals?lite

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America?s Overpaid Doctors

A patient sits on her hospital bed as she talks with her doctor at St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor hospital in Ypsilanti, Mich., Dec. 21, 2012.

Photo by Rebecca Cook/Reuters

Steven Brill?s 24,000-word magnum opus in Time on health care billing practices in the United States is remarkably easy to summarize: American health care costs a lot because the prices Americans pay for health care services are very high. And hospitals charge those high prices for the same reason any other business would?because they can.

It?s easy to see why a health care provider is almost uniquely well-positioned to bilk you. If you don?t get treatment, you or someone you love might die. It?s a high-pressure emotional situation that makes it extremely difficult to bargain, comparison shop, or just decide to cut back. Most of us, fortunately, get to outsource most of that bargaining to our insurance companies. Cold-blooded executives, not stressed-out patients, cut the deals that determine how much actually gets paid. This means that the real price of health care services is driven largely by the purchasing clout of the buyer. An uninsured individual gets totally screwed. A big insurance company can drive a harder bargain and get a better deal. But as Brill shows, the best deal of all goes to the biggest insurer around: the federal government, whose Medicare program for senior citizens is such a large purchaser that it and it alone can drive a truly hard bargain and squeeze provider profit margins to the bone.

The policy upshot of this seems clear enough. Rather than cutting Medicare as is currently all the rage in deficit-hawk circles, we ought to be expanding it and enlarging the cheapest and most cost-effective part of the American health care system.

But of course only left-wing crazies think that, so though Brill concedes that this is precisely the reason that more-statist foreign health care systems have much lower costs than ours, he rejects the idea out of hand.

But Brill?s reason for rejecting the idea is interesting. He doesn?t care a fig for the hospitals, which are the villains of his story. Rather he rejects Medicare expansion because if Medicare expanded, ?no doctor could hope for anything approaching the income he or she deserves (and that will make future doctors want to practice) if 100% of their patients yielded anything close to the low rates Medicare pays.? It?s true that many American doctors do believe that they would be crushed if they were paid only Medicare rates. They insist they?re hard-pressed as it is, barely getting by, and practically treat these Medicare cases as acts of charity. There?s no way they could swallow those reimbursement rates without the whole system collapsing.

But that?s not remotely true. The last time the OECD looked at this (PDF), they found that, adjusted for local purchasing power, America has the highest-paid general practitioners in the world. And our specialists make more than specialists in every other country except the Netherlands. What?s even more striking, as the Washington Post?s Sarah Kliff observed last week, these highly paid doctors don?t buy us more doctors? visits. Canada has about 25 percent more doctors? consultations per capita than we do, and the average rich country has 50 percent more. This doctor compensation gap is hardly the only issue in overpriced American health care?overpriced medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, prescription drugs, and administrative overhead are all problems?but it?s a huge deal.

Doctors aren?t as politically attractive a target as insurance companies, hospital administrators, or big pharma, but there?s no rational basis for leaving their interests unscathed when tackling unduly expensive medicine.

If doctors earned less money, fewer people would want to be doctors. We could offset some of that impact by helping doctors out with medical malpractice reform and more government funding for medical school tuition. But a shortage of people wanting to enter the medical pipeline is the last thing we should be worrying about. As it stands, medical school is getting harder to get into (continuing a longtime trend) even as it gets harder for medical school graduates to find residency slots. What?s more, in the 18 states where lesser-paid nurse practitioners are allowed to do primary care without a doctor?s supervision, their treatment is just as good in terms of health outcomes and better in terms of patient satisfaction. Any shortage of primary caregivers, in other words, is about bad rules limiting the number of people who can practice, not a lack of monetary incentives. We need more residencies and more scope for nurses to work unsupervised, not higher-paid doctors.

When it comes to the federal budget, Medicare is a problem. An uncapped commitment to finance the health care needs of elderly Americans is a big challenge for an aging country. But when it comes to the question of health care costs overall, Medicare is the solution. Its vast bargaining clout lets it get much better prices than any private insurer, and we should be relying on it more to pay our bills, not less.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=368b6d4776ef7c59a5e4113c73be9319

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Deals Feb 25: 15% off Logitech G710+ Gaming Keyboard

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Meet the ZTE Open, The First Official Firefox OS Phone

There have been a few Firefox OS developer phones floating around but now, Mozilla has announced the first official Firefox OS handset at Mobile World Congress: The ZTE Open. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/2F01tMGT9go/meet-the-zte-open-first-official-firefox-os-phone

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Dozens of stars rehearse day before Oscar ceremony

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Some dressed down in jeans and hoodies. Others looked camera-ready in suits or chic dresses and spiky stilettos.

But no matter how they looked, all of the stars who rehearsed Saturday for the 85th Academy Awards seemed excited about being a part of the big show.

They paraded through the Dolby Theatre in 15-minute increments: Meryl Streep. Ben Affleck. Reese Witherspoon. Richard Gere. Jennifer Aniston. John Travolta. Nicole Kidman. Jack Nicholson. And dozens more.

Each practiced their lines in front of an audience of show workers and awarded prop Oscars to rehearsal actors. They also scanned the theater from the stage, searching for their show-night seats.

"Oh, wow. That's a very dramatic picture of me," best-actress nominee Jessica Chastain said after spotting her seat-saving placard. "I'm looking at everyone's headshots. It's kind of incredible."

Affleck confessed his excitement from the stage as he looked out at all the famous faces expected Sunday.

"This is like the most memorable aspect of the Oscars," the "Argo" director said. "You see all these place cards (at rehearsal), then you come back and they're all here!"

Affleck also chatted backstage with the college film students who won a contest to serve as trophy carriers during the ceremony.

"I love that," he said. "It's super cool."

Travolta spent time with the students, too.

"I was there when that idea was born and I said it was the best idea they could possibly come up with," he told the aspiring filmmakers backstage. "And here you are!"

Travolta plans to bring his 13-year-old daughter, Ella Bleu, to the ceremony.

Kidman made rehearsals a family affair. Husband Keith Urban and their eldest daughter, Sunday, watched from the audience as Kidman ran through her lines.

She looked impeccable in a wine-colored dress and tall metallic shoes, but other stars were decidedly more casual. Kristen Stewart arrived in jeans, sneakers and a backward ball cap. (She also limped on an injured right foot.) Renee Zellweger also opted for comfort in jeans and running shoes.

The cast of "Chicago," including Gere, Zellweger, Queen Latifah and Catherine Zeta-Jones, injected their rehearsal with silliness. Latifah purposely over-enunciated her lines, and when a pair of rehearsal actors claimed an Oscar onstage and gave an acceptance speech, Zeta-Jones started to play them off with an imaginary violin.

"Get outta here!" Gere said with a smile.

Octavia Spencer, who won the supporting actress Oscar last year for her performance in "The Help," also had a little fun.

"I'm going to do a soft-shoe," she said, shuffling off stage.

Streep and Jane Fonda were each wowed by the set design. Fonda snapped a photo with her iPhone, and Streep marveled at how far the walk to the microphone was.

"All the way to here?!" she asked. "Oh my God."

Halle Berry literally stumbled during her first rehearsal, her pointy heel catching on part of the stage. She insisted on trying again.

"Woo hoo," she said. "Made it."

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dozens-stars-rehearse-day-oscar-ceremony-031405957.html

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Video: Secrets In the Mist, Part 6

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3032600/vp/50915201#50915201

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DC 'Reviewing' Firefighters' Appearance With Obama

The District of Columbia's Fire and Emergency Medical Services says there are no plans to punish first responders for their participation in an economic speech by President Obama, but are still reviewing the event.

Earlier this week, Obama surrounded himself with police and other first responders during remarks regarding the real world impact of the across-the-board package of federal spending cuts known as sequestration, looming in March should Congress fail to reach a deficit reduction agreement. But Washington's fire and EMS chief told a local TV station the appearance of three firefighters at the event may have violated department regulations.

"I didn't know about it, the deputy mayor didn't know about it, the mayor didn't know about it," Chief Kenneth Ellerbe said. "There should be protocol followed anytime one of our employees representing the District of Columbia appears at a public event."

Ellerbe told WRC-TV the employees had been ordered to file special testimonies on how they became guests of the White House event and who authorized it. The news report prompted a statement from the city government Friday.

"Contrary to reports in local media, the DC Fire and EMS Department is not considering any disciplinary action against uniformed personnel for appearing alongside President Obama," reads the Friday-night release, adding "DC FEMS is simply reviewing its internal protocols for such appearances to ensure that both the Department and its employees are fully informed."

"We fully support the efforts of President to highlight the essential and life saving work that our first-responders do every single day, and welcome his invitation for our members to participate," the statement said. "We're exceedingly proud of the men and women that wear the DC FEMS uniform, and thank the President for his support."

An after-hours inquiry to the department was unanswered as of press time.

Capt. Ed Smith, president of the DC Firefighters Association Local 36, said said it is not likely the department will actively discipline the members who participated in the Obama event, but he remains cautious over the broader implications of the review. The association president told ABC News the officers involved were off duty and that firefighters had routinely attended similar public events in the past without incident. The invitation came from the White House through Local 36's parent organization, the International Association of Firefighters.

"If it led to discipline later it would be taken as retaliatory," he said, adding he knew of no protocol breached by appearing in-uniform. "There is a pattern of retaliation with the chief and the department and that is a concern of mine."

Smith said he has seen such measures first-hand. In October an independent arbitrator ruled in favor of the captain's claim that he was involuntarily transferred due to his union activities.

The emergency services of the nation's capital have historically gone to good lengths attempting to appear neutral to the national politics embedded there. For example, the police and fire departments generally refuse to divulge crowd counts for the city's many protests and demonstrations. Any estimate given would likely be targeted as politically motivated.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dc-reviewing-firefighters-appearance-obama-190600676--abc-news-politics.html

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?Stressed? bacteria become resistant to antibiotics

Feb. 20, 2013 ? Bacteria become resistant to antibiotics when stressed, finds research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology. In particular E. coli grown at high temperatures become resistant to rifampicin.

It is generally thought that antibiotic resistance is costly to maintain, for example mutations which reduce antibiotic uptake also restrict the amount of nutrients entering the cell. Consequently in the absence of antibiotics non-resistant bacteria will out-compete the resistant ones. However researchers from UC Irvine and Facult? de M?dicine Denis Diderot have discovered that by putting bacteria under stress, by growing them at a high temperature, the bacteria could spontaneously develop resistance to the antibiotic rifampicin.

The mutations responsible for rifampicin resistance had different effects in other strains of E coli. In each type of bacteria tested the mutated subunit of the RNA polymerase rpoB allowed them to grow in the presence of rifampicin, but unlike the original test strain they did not necessarily have a growth advantage at high temperature.

Dr Olivier Tenaillon who led this study commented, "Our study shows that antibiotic resistance can occur even in the absence of antibiotics and that, depending on the type of bacteria, and growth conditions, rather than being costly to maintain can be highly beneficial. Given that rifampicin is used to treat serious bacterial infections such as tuberculosis, leprosy, Legionnaire's disease, and for prophylaxis in cases of meningococcal meningitis, this development has important implications for public health."

These bacteria provide strong evidence that the evolution of antibiotic resistance is governed by two properties of genes, pleiotropy and epistasis. Dr Arjan de Visser from Wageningen University explained, "Pleiotropy describes how the antibiotic resistance mutations affect other functions, hence their fate in other environments. Epistasis describes how well different mutations combine in their effect on resistance, and therefore determines which mutational pathway will be preferred by evolution when several mutations are needed for full resistance."

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Journal Reference:

1. Alejandra Rodr?guez-Verdugo, Brandon S Gaut and Olivier Tenaillon. Evolution of Escherichia coli rifampicin resistance in an antibiotic-free environment during thermal stress. BMC Evolutionary Biology, (in press) [link]

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/zvdPWm2BBSI/130221194045.htm

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House to take up own version of anti-violence act

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The House and Senate appeared headed for another partisan battle as the House prepared to take up its version of the once-noncontroversial Violence Against Women Act.

The Republican-crafted House bill to renew the popular 1994 act, which expired in 2011, was introduced Friday to instant criticism from Senate Democrats, who said it fell short in fulfilling the law's mission of protecting women from domestic violence.

The office of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., defended the bill, saying Cantor was committed to reauthorizing the law and had worked hard to build consensus between the two parties and with advocacy groups.

The Senate last week passed its version of what is called VAWA on a bipartisan 78-22 vote, and Senate supporters, joined by House Democrats, have been urging House GOP leaders to model their legislation after the Senate bill.

The House bill, headed for a vote next week, does move toward the Senate on the issue of giving tribal authorities the power to prosecute non-Indians in domestic violence cases but drew fire on other points.

The House proposal, said Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a chief sponsor of the Senate bill, "will not provide critical protections for rape victims, domestic violence victims, human trafficking victims, students on campuses or stalking victims."

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said it stripped protections in the Senate bill for the lesbian and gay community and "drastically reduces protections for women on tribal lands."

The failure of the two chambers to find common ground on the measure last year, when the House resisted Senate provisions to make clear that lesbians and gays, immigrants and Native Americans have access to VAWA programs, became an election issue, with Democrats asserting that they were the party that best represented the interests of women.

Cantor has been at the head of GOP efforts to come up with a House alternative to the Senate bill and has promised legislation that will ensure that the law's role in protecting women is continued. Supporters of the House approach say it strengthens protections by increasing accountability in VAWA programs and guaranteeing that sexual assault resources are distributed equitably.

The law has been a cornerstone in federal efforts to reduce acts of violence against women and prosecute offenders and is credited for making Americans more aware of the domestic violence issue. It provides federal grants for programs such as transitional housing, law enforcement training, legal assistance, anti-violence hotlines and improving campus safety.

Kim Gandy, president and CEO of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, said her group was "extremely hopeful that House leadership would introduce a bill that would safely and effectively meet the needs of all victims. Unfortunately, the House substitute introduced today fails to do so."

One problem lingering from last year was how to deal with the epidemic in domestic violence cases on Indian reservations and the poor record of federal authorities in prosecuting cases against non-Indians who abuse Indian partners. The Senate bill gives tribal authorities power to prosecute such cases, but critics, including House Republicans, raised constitutional issues about non-Indian American citizens being tried by Indian courts. The new House bill gives Indian courts some jurisdiction but only after the Justice Department certifies that those courts are capable of protecting the defendant's constitutional rights.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., who is of Indian heritage and has been trying to find a compromise on the issue, said the House approach was a step in the right direction but "the legislation still falls short in providing tribes the authority they need to secure their territory and protect their citizens."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-22-US-Violence-Against-Women-Act/id-cacee711664a4c3081aec82941c9af9c

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Gerber Opens New Repair Centers in Washington and Florida

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.collisionweek.com/cw/news/2013/0221-gerb.asp

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Twin bombings kill 13, wound more in south India

HYDERABAD, India (AP) ? A pair of bombs exploded in a crowded shopping area in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, killing at least 13 people and wounding scores of others in the worst bombing in the country in more than a year.

The blasts occurred about two minutes apart at around 7 p.m. Thursday outside a movie theater and a bus station, police said. Storefronts were shattered, motorcycles were covered in debris, and food and plates from a roadside restaurant were scattered on the ground near a tangle of dead bodies. Passersby rushed the wounded out of the area.

"This is a dastardly attack, the guilty will not go unpunished," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. He appealed to the public to remain calm.

The bombs were attached to two bicycles about 150 meters (500 feet) apart in Dilsukh Nagar district, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told reporters in New Delhi. The district is a usually crowded shopping area near a residential neighborhood.

When asked if the government had any suspects, Shinde responded: "We have to investigate."

India has been in a state of alert since Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri, was hanged in a New Delhi jail nearly two weeks ago. Guru had been convicted of involvement in a 2001 attack on India's Parliament that killed 14 people, including five gunmen.

Many in Indian-ruled Kashmir believe Guru did not receive a fair trial, and the secrecy with which the execution was carried out fueled anger in a region where anti-India sentiment runs deep.

Andhra Pradesh state Home Minister P. Sabita Reddy said 11 people died on the spot in the two blasts and another two succumbed to their injuries in hospital on Thursday night.

She said another 78 people were injured and hospitalized in the city.

Top state police officer V. Dinesh Reddy said improvised explosive devices with nitrogen compound were used in the blasts.

Mahesh Kumar, a 21-year-old student, was heading home from a tutoring class when a bomb went off.

"I heard a huge sound and something hit me, I fell down, and somebody brought me to the hospital," said Kumar, who suffered shrapnel wounds.

Hyderabad, a city of 10 million in the state of Andhra Pradesh, is a hub of India's information technology industry and has a mixed population of Muslims and Hindus.

"This (attack) is to disturb the peaceful living of all communities in Andhra Pradesh," said Kiran Kumar Reddy, the state's chief minister.

The explosions were the first major bomb attack to hit India since a September 2011 blast outside the High Court in New Delhi killed 13 people. The government has been heavily criticized for its failure to arrest the masterminds behind previous bombings.

Officials from the National Investigation Agency and commandos of the National Security Guards arrived from New Delhi to help with the investigation in Hyderabad.

The United States, whose Secretary of State John Kerry was meeting Thursday in Washington with Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, condemned the attack.

"The United States stands with India in combating the scourge of terrorism and we also prepared to offer any and all assistance Indian authorities may need," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing.

Rana Banerji, a former security official, said India remains vulnerable to such attacks because there is poor coordination between the national government and the states. Police reforms are also moving very slowly and the quality of intelligence gathering is poor, he said.

"The concept of homeland security should be made effective, on a war footing," he said.

Rajnath Singh, the president of main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, demanded a thorough probe into the blasts. His party called for a general strike in the state on Friday.

___

Associated Press writers Ashok Sharma in New Delhi and Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/twin-bombings-kill-13-wound-more-south-india-014557344.html

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Access Is as Access Does

President Obama is giving interviews to eight local TV news reporters to highlight the effect of the sequester on their cities, again snubbing the poor White House correspondents who are routinely denied access to the president, as Politico vividly chronicled earlier this week. And what are these lucky local news reporters doing with their precious access? Tweeting about Bo, the dog.

RELATED: The Countdown to the Endeavour's Last Mission

Isn't this just terrible? Those reporters who actually have the chance to ask Obama tough questions are so obviously awed by the grandeur of the White House and the status that comes with it! Except, to be fair, we should look at what the White House press corps does with its access. The reporters outcry came when they were not allowed to interview Obama while he was golfing with Tiger Woods.?"It's not about golf," White House Correspondents Association president Ed Henry told?Politico's Dylan Byers.?It's about a picture of a golf game! As Henry said just a couple sentences earlier: "All we're asking for is a brief exception, quick access, a quick photo-op on the 18th green."?

RELATED: What Mark Halperin Called Obama on Morning Joe

Politico's?Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen reported, "The president has shut down interviews with many of the White House reporters who know the most and ask the toughest questions." In not giving an interview to major newspaper reporters in years, Obama is avoiding "the reporters who are often most likely to ask tough, unpredictable questions." But as Slate's Dave Weigel pointed out, the White House press corps doesn't always ask great questions. Most questions, Wiegel writes, fit into three categories:?"How will you pass this?" "How do you respond to this?" and "Remember when you said this?" Allen asked George W. Bush about baseball and?American Idol in 2008.

RELATED: Life Gets Better After Pool Reporting

Even the reporter known for having the most presidential access of anyone, Bob Woodward, sometimes has trouble turning that access into timely reportage.?The New York Times topic page for Bob Woodward notes that he wrote four books about Bush's presidency, and "The first of those books wrote about Mr. Bush in glowing terms; the last treated him savagely. Critics say Mr. Woodward's works reflect his perceptions of who's on top at a given moment more than any deep analysis."?The "critics" the anonymous author refers to is Jill Abramson, who is now executive editor of the Times. In a September 2008 review of War Within, Abramson made this exact critique, noting, ?"Cynics will say that Woodward waited until the last book to fully criticize the president and his closest advisers because he no longer needs access to them."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/access-access-does-202940737.html

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Virgin Mobile announces the Kyocera Event for just $79

Virgin Mobile and Kyocera have teamed up to offer an extremely low-cost Android device, the Event, for just $79.99 without a contract. Now you can't expect high-end specs at this price, but the Event shouldn't be a complete slouch. We're looking at a 3.5-inch HVGA (320x480) display, a 1GHz processor, 512MB of RAM (SDcard expandable), a 3.2MP camera and it's all running under Android 4.0. The software looks very slightly skinned as well, which is nice.

The Event can be purchased for just $79.99 without a contract, and paired with one of Virgin's plans that offers unlimited data starting at $35 per month for 300 minutes. This device would be a great option for a frugal first-time smartphone user.

More: Virgin Mobile

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/14va6uXQ0a4/story01.htm

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Official: Cadaver dogs search in Kansas City blast

Firefighters are on the scene of a gas explosion and massive fire Tuesday night, Feb. 19, 2013 at JJ's restaurant at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. A car crashed into a gas main in the upscale Kansas City shopping district, sparking a massive blaze that engulfed an entire block and caused multiple injuries, police said. (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Tammy Ljungblad)

Firefighters are on the scene of a gas explosion and massive fire Tuesday night, Feb. 19, 2013 at JJ's restaurant at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. A car crashed into a gas main in the upscale Kansas City shopping district, sparking a massive blaze that engulfed an entire block and caused multiple injuries, police said. (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Tammy Ljungblad)

Firefighters battle a massive fire Tuesday night, Feb. 19, 2013 at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. A car crashed into a gas main in an upscale Kansas City shopping district, sparking a massive blaze that engulfed an entire block and caused multiple injuries, police said. (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Allison Long)

Firefighters are on the scene of a gas explosion and massive fire Tuesday night, Feb. 19, 2013 at JJ's restaurant at the Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. A car crashed into a gas main in the upscale Kansas City shopping district, sparking a massive blaze that engulfed an entire block and caused multiple injuries, police said. (AP Photo/The Kansas City Star, Tammy Ljungblad)

In this image taken from video from KCTV, firefighters battle a massive fire at Country Club Plaza in Kansas City, Mo. Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. A car crashed into a gas main Tuesday evening in an upscale Kansas City shopping district, sparking a massive blaze that engulfed an entire block and caused multiple injuries, police said. (AP Photo/KCTV) MANDATORY CREDIT: KCTV

Firemen and utility workers respond to a gas explosion and massive fire Tuesday night, Feb. 19, 2013 in the Plaza shopping district in Kansas City, Mo. A car crashed into a gas main in the upscale Kansas City shopping district, sparking a massive blaze that engulfed an entire block and caused multiple injuries, police said (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? Cadaver dogs searched through the smoldering rubble of a Kansas City restaurant after a gas explosion sparked a massive blaze Tuesday evening in an upscale shopping district.

More than a dozen people were injured in the blast and resulting fire, which occurred just after 6 p.m. and completely destroyed JJ's restaurant. There were no reports of fatalities by Tuesday night, though authorities cautioned that could change because it was unclear how many people were inside at the time of the blast.

Kansas City Fire Chief Paul Berardi said cadaver dogs were called to the scene because of the size of the conflagration.

"I would always fear there are fatalities in a scene like this," Berardi said.

He said results of the search would take hours and that he expected his crews would be working the scene through the night.

City Manager Troy Schulte said it appeared an accident by a utility contractor had caused the blast, and a statement from utility Missouri Gas Energy late Tuesday reiterated that possibility, but Berardi and others cautioned that the cause was still being investigated.

"This investigation is ongoing," Berardi said. "We do have reports that there was an odor of gas earlier. But, again, this investigation needs to be concluded before we want to speculate on any of that."

Indeed, the smell of gas was very strong in the area hours after the blast. Berardi said the utility stopped the flow of gas about 8 p.m., and utility crews could be seen working in the area after the blast.

Witnesses noted street signs indicated utility work was being done in the area, and a JJ's employee said the restaurant was open but undergoing renovations.

Mayor Sly James was at the scene after the blast, praising the work of first responders.

"The first thing we need to be concerned about is the people that are injured," James said.

Police Sgt. Tony Sanders said the manager of JJ's restaurant was unable to account for three people, but it was unclear whether they were caught in the blaze or had left earlier.

The University of Kansas Hospital was treating six people injured in the blast, said spokesman Bob Hallinan. He said one person was in critical condition, two were in serious condition and two others were expected to be released. He said all of those injuries were traumatic, such as broken bones, rather than burns or smoke inhalation. The final patient there was a burn victim who was transferred from Truman Medical Center, Hallinan said.

Dr. Marc Larsen, medical director of the emergency room at St. Luke's Hospital, which is near the scene of the fire, said they had treated eight people, six of whom were walk-ins with minor injuries. He said two males were in critical condition and would be kept overnight. He said one had extensive burns and another had facial trauma.

Jim Ligon, a JJ's bartender, said he wasn't working Tuesday night but started getting texts and calls from co-workers minutes after the explosion. He said the incident happened during the peak of weekday happy hour, when there is typically anywhere from 15 to 45 people in the bar area as well as three to five tables of diners at the restaurant.

"JJ's has a small staff, a family feel," said Ligon, 45, of Kansas City, Mo. "You see the same 100 people all the time ? a bar and restaurant for regulars. We're just really hoping we come out of here OK in terms of injuries."

Ligon said he was on his way Tuesday night to meet up with co-workers at another bar in town to talk about the incident.

The shopping area was established in 1922 by J.C. Nichols. Based on the architecture of Seville, Spain, it includes retail, restaurants, apartments and offices.

___

Associated Press reporters Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City and Jeff McMurray in Chicago contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-20-US-Kansas-City-Plaza-Fire/id-6a7ddcd132d4403d924cf98bd1dc568e

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