Vitamin D study suggests no mortality benefit for older women

ScienceDaily (Nov. 1, 2011) ? A study of postmenopausal women found no significant mortality benefit from vitamin D after controlling for health risk factors such as abdominal obesity. The only exception was that thin-waisted women with low vitamin D levels might face some risk. The results agree with advice issued last year by the Institute of Medicine that cautioned against vitamin D having a benefit beyond bone health.

Doctors agree that vitamin D promotes bone health, but a belief that it can also prevent cancer, cardiovascular disease and other causes of death has been a major health controversy. Consistent with advice issued last fall by the Institute of Medicine, a new study finds that vitamin D did not confer benefits against mortality in postmenopausal women after controlling for key health factors such as abdominal obesity.

"There's not enough evidence to do anything about vitamin D levels if it's not in regard to bone health.""What we have is clinical trial evidence that for the most part vitamin D doesn't seem to be helpful for conditions where people thought it might," said study lead author Charles Eaton, professor of family medicine and of epidemiology in the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and a physician at Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, R.I. "The best we can tell is that there isn't an association. Once we took into account these other factors, high levels didn't provide a benefit and low levels didn't put you at risk."

In the study, published online Oct. 26 in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Eaton led an analysis of data from 2,429 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 79 who participated in the broad-based Women's Health Initiative study, in which Eaton and many co-authors were investigators. They tracked blood levels of vitamin D in the women and their mortality over a 10-year period. They not only looked at death from all causes but also focused on cancer and cardiovascular disease.

In all, 225 of the women died, including 79 from cardiovascular disease and 62 from cancer.

Eaton said he expected to find some protective effect against such mortality from vitamin D, and at first glance -- controlling only for age, ethnicity, and whether women took part in a calcium and vitamin D supplement trial -- that's what the data showed. But what was apparent in the data was that the women with the lowest levels of vitamin D also had a lot of other negative health indicators. The team therefore controlled for several more key health factors, such as smoking, history of cardiovascular disease, history of cancer, alcohol consumption, and waist circumference. The additional controls, especially waist circumference, which is a measure of abdominal obesity, eroded the statistical significance of vitamin D's seemingly protective effects down to nothing.

The one exception was that women with thinner waistlines (less than 35 inches) and with the lowest vitamin D levels seemed to have a greater risk of "all-cause" mortality within the 10-year analysis period. That result, however, was right on the borderline of statistical significance.

"If you are thin, this data suggest that maybe low vitamin D levels are potentially harmful and you should talk to your doctor about what to do about them," Eaton said.

Eaton said he and his co-authors can only speculate about why abdominal obesity was an especially important and powerful factor to control for in their analysis. In the study they note that abdominal obesity is associated with several negative health indicators that may overwhelm any modest benefit vitamin D might have. They also point out that fat tissue can store vitamin D, possibly meaning that women with larger waistlines are storing more of the vitamin than their blood serum levels alone would reveal.

More research into the connections between abdominal fat and the health effects of vitamin D could help resolve the question, Eaton said. He also said that a major new trial of vitamin D supplements and health called "VITAL" is getting underway and will likely inform the broader controversy about what vitamin D is good for.

For now, Eaton said, "there's not enough evidence to do anything about our vitamin D levels if it's not in regard to bone health."

The other authors on the paper are Anne McTiernan and Alicia Young of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle; Matthew Allison of the University of California-San Diego; Jennifer Robinson of the University of Iowa; Lisa Martin of the George Washington University Medical Center; Lewis Kuller of the University of Pittsburgh; Karen Johnson of the University of Tennessee; J. David Curb of the University of Hawaii; Linda Van Horn of Northwestern University; Simin Liu of the University of California-Los Angeles; and JoAnn Manson of Harvard Medical School.

The Women's Health Initiative was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Brown University.

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Journal Reference:

  1. C. B. Eaton, A. Young, M. A. Allison, J. Robinson, L. W. Martin, L. H. Kuller, K. C. Johnson, J. D. Curb, L. Van Horn, A. McTiernan, S. Liu, J. E. Manson. Prospective association of vitamin D concentrations with mortality in postmenopausal women: results from the Women's Health Initiative (WHI). American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2011; DOI: 10.3945/ajcn.111.017715

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://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111101125820.htm

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Justin Bieber Christmas release marks first as baritone (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? "Under the Mistletoe" isn't just Justin Bieber's first Christmas album. More significantly, maybe. it's his first album as a baritone.

Well, relative baritone. The kid is still capable of sounding like he's singing in his falsetto range even when he isn't. But from the first not-so-stratospheric notes of "Only Thing I Ever Get for Christmas," it's clear Bieber has been through the non-menopausal version of The Change.

Or, to put it another way, "vocally, his balls have dropped," as his manager Scooter Braun was quoted as saying this past week, accurately, if indelicately.

For comparison's sake, proceed directly to the vintage track that closes the album's deluxe edition, a cover of Donny Hathaway's "Someday at Christmas" that appears to feature the same vocal Bieber put up on YouTube back in 2007. It sounds like an outtake from "The Chipmunks' Christmas Album."

But he's no cheerful, squeaky-voiced rodent on the newly minted tracks, even if it's a bit premature to certify the 17-year-old cougar-chaser (sorry, Selena) as a full-fledged soul man.

A who's who of R&B guest stars (and one country star) offer a holiday assist. His mentor, Usher, helps roast the chestnuts on the world's 15-millionth unnecessary reprise of Mel Torme's "Christmas Song." Boyz II Men -- speaking of boys becoming men -- collectively help out on an original, "Fa La La," singing that they "wanna be your biggest gift."

Mariah Carey guests on a re-do of her own "All I Want for Christmas" (the '90s smash that history may record as the final original Christmas song ever to become a standard). But it seems more appropriate to say that he guests on her recording. Bieber cut the song in a lower range, but then Carey heard it and suggested that they should do it as a duet, provided that he bring it back up to her original key. He should have kept the first version and turned her down; the end result sounds like Bieber singing along with Carey karaoke.

Certain to be the most polarizing track: "Drummer Boy," where both Bieber and Busta Rhymes add topical, lickety-split rap verses to the familiar tale of Jesus' own percussionist. Bieber also plays (yes) drums on the cut. To most non-fans, it'll sound like coal squared, but this "Drummer Boy" is so brash in its dumbness that it's kind of likable.

"I only spit heat 'cause I'm playin' for the son," Bieber raps, in one of the album's stranger juxtapositions of the sacred and secular. "I'm surprised you didn't hear this in the Bible/I'm so tight, I might go psycho/Christmas time so here's a recital/I'm so bad like Michael." (Michael Jackson as honorary Christ child?)

But Rhymes gets the prize for best couplet in "Drummer Boy," as the veteran rapper actually manages to rhyme "all our Twitter followers" with "happy Hanukkah." Now, that's Christmas chutzpah.

This may be the first adaptation of "Little Drummer Boy" to include a mention of mistletoe, a plant not previously mentioned in any extra-biblical accounts of the gift of the Magi. But the title of the album is "Under the Mistletoe," and Bieber manages to make mention of it in almost every track on the album.

It's really a concept album, then, this is -- not just in the way that every Christmas record is a concept album, but a collection of songs specifically themed around an "obligate hemi-parasitic plant" (thanks for that, Wikipedia).

"I should be playing in the winter snow/But I'mma be under the mistletoe/Shorty, with you," he warbles in the quasi-reggae-styled title track, already a hit single. "The mistletoe can pull us closer...?It sorta feels like it's Valentine's," he sings in "Christmas Eve," a seductive lothario's anthem co-written with Chris Brown. (Presumably Brown is the one responsible for the lascivious-sounding line: "You leave some cookies out, I'mma eat them all.")

The word mistletoe pops up in such a ridiculous plurality of the songs -- originals and covers alike -- that it's a little surprising when Bieber finally gets to "Silent Night" and doesn't add a line about wanting to make out beneath the stuff behind the stable.

You have to give Bieber and crew credit for loading the album with so many newly written songs, when most celebrity Christmas carolers are content to go after a quick cash-in by spending a day or two in the studio rushing through Bing-approved oldies.

Then again, not much original thought went into the new songs, which mostly consist of tangled combinations of Christmas cliches. To wit: ""I'll deck your heart with boughs of holly/Baby 'cause you're the reason to be jolly" or "Baby I will not pout/Baby I will not cry/'Cause I got your love this Christmas time." You get the picture, even without opening all the flaps on this particular chocolate advent calendar.

There are some lost opportunities here. The most unusual guest, the Band Perry's Kimberly Perry, duets with Bieber on "Home This Christmas," but it's such a generic ballad that Perry's wonderful rasp is wiped clean, leaving the country singer sounding like just another pop session chick.

Perhaps the album's most novel idea arrives with "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." No, he doesn't sing the often-copied Jackson 5 arrangement of the tune, as you'd expect. Instead, Bieber hews to the traditional melody but then sets it against an instrumental backing that pays as much homage to "I Want You Back" as humanly and musically possible without having to pay royalties. That subtler tribute is a clever, if slightly bizarre, way of bearing gifts for the late King of Pop.

Will "Under the Mistletoe" be huge? Of course. What chance does it stand of being pulled out as a perennial 10 Christmases from now? About the same odds that Frosty has of celebrating Memorial Day.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111101/music_nm/us_reviews_music_underthemistletoe

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Cerrone moves into title picture by smashing Siver at UFC 137

Cerrone moves into title picture by smashing Siver at UFC 137

LAS VEGAS - The new Donald Cerrone is one scary individual. The former WEC star continued his assault on the UFC lightweight by destroying as previously hot Denis Siver in less than three minutes.

Cerrone (17-3, 4-0 UFC) rocked Siver on the feet several times before finishing him with a rear-naked at the 2:25 mark of the first round in the second fight on the UFC 137 Spike broadcast.

[Related: UFC 137: Penn, 'Cro Cop' set to retire after losses]

Cerrone's now won six straight fights and last two have come via brutal knockout. The list of title contenders is long at 155 pounds, but Cerrone has certainly earned himself a shot at one of the guys in the top six.

Both fighters came out throwing, but it was Cerrone who was able to deal with getting hit. He fired back hard shots and when he landed a huge left kick to the head, it was the beginning of the end for the Russian fighting out of Germany. Siver's legs were lost. He wobbled for several seconds before grabbing a Cerrone leg and slowing the down the fight along the cage.

The fighters separated and Cerrone landed a another right straight down the pipe. Siver went down to his knees where Cerrone jumped on his back and quickly got his hooks in. Seconds later, he slapped on the rear-naked choke and Siver tapped almost immediately.

Cerrone loves to fight so he may not wait until one of the big boys is free to fight. He said before and after the fight, he'd like another bout before the end of 2011. He's 4-0 this year.

Siver (19-8, 8-5 UFC) had won four straight coming in.

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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Cerrone-moves-into-title-picture-by-smashing-Siv?urn=mma-wp8718

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Pope prays for flood victims (AP)

VATICAN CITY ? Pope Benedict XVI says he is praying for the victims of recent flooding in Thailand and Italy.

Benedict began his greetings to pilgrims in St. Peter's Square on Sunday by recalling the devastation caused by heavy rains in the two countries. Thailand's worst flooding in half a century has claimed 381 lives over the last three months. In Italy, floods and mudslides last week devastated coastal areas of Liguria and Tuscany and killed nine people.

The pope says he wants to express his closeness to those suffering because of the flooding and assure them of his prayers.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111030/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vatican_pope_floods

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Iowa up for grabs 2 months before GOP caucuses (AP)

WILTON, Iowa ? Iowa's presidential caucuses are any Republican candidate's to win.

Just two months before the GOP nomination voting begins, Iowa Republicans aren't surging toward former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney even though he's essentially been running for president since losing in the state in 2008.

This time, none of his opponents has emerged as the consensus candidate of conservatives to become his main rival, as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee did four years ago.

As Tamara Scott, an undecided social conservative leader who backed Huckabee in that race, says: "It's anybody's game right now."

That could change soon.

Sensing an opening, Romney is stepping up his Iowa campaign and talking about winning the state after months of taking a more low-key approach. He probably will return to Iowa in November and hold a conference call with thousands of Iowa GOP caucus-goers.

"I'd love to win Iowa, any of us would. I will be here again and again, campaigning here," Romney said recently in Sioux City.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who is casting himself as the more conservative option, is starting to confront Romney. With $15 million in the bank, Perry started running a TV ad last week that, without mentioning Romney challenges Romney's efforts to portray himself as the strongest candidate on the economy.

"I'll create at least 2 1/2 million new jobs, and I know something about that," Perry says in the ad that highlights Texas job creation.

Businessman Herman Cain, a political outsider enjoying a burst of momentum, is starting to focus more on Iowa, adding campaign staff and visiting the state recently for the first time in 10 weeks. But he trails both Romney and Perry in fundraising by the millions.

For now at least, the race in Iowa is wide open.

Saturday evening's results of a Des Moines Register poll showed Cain at the head of the pack, with the support of 23 percent of respondents. Romney came in just behind him at 22 percent.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a libertarian-leaning Republican, placed third at 12 percent, followed by Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann at 8 percent. Perry and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich polled 7 percent each, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum got 5 percent.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, a moderate on some issues that Iowa Republicans hold dear, was supported by only 1 percent of those participating in the poll.

The up-for-grabs nature of the Iowa race matters nationally because the outcome on Jan. 3 will shape what happens in the states that vote next ? New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida ? and beyond.

As it stands now, Iowa reflects the Republican Party's lack of clarity when it comes to the crowded GOP field and its increasingly urgent search for a candidate who can defeat Democratic President Barack Obama next fall.

"This is the first time I've waited this long to decide," said Linda Allison, an Iowan who recently attended a Perry event. "I am still waiting to be convinced."

Many factors are adding to the volatility.

Large numbers of Iowa Republicans are undecided and just starting to tune into the race in earnest. Fewer than 20 of Iowa's 76 Republican legislators have publicly declared their support for a candidate, and no single candidate has a clear edge among those who have picked sides. At this point four years ago, nearly all lawmakers had endorsed someone.

Consider state Rep. Jeff Kaufmann, for whom Perry raised money at a recent event in eastern Iowa.

"Perry may not be the best debater, but he can really work an audience like this," said Kaufmann, who endorsed former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson four months before the 2008 GOP caucuses. "And while Romney is well prepared, and campaigns well, I'd like to see him out in this area more."

Critical groups of activists also are waiting to rally behind a candidate, too.

Iowa's evangelical pastors, influential among a part of the GOP base, are divided. So are home-school advocates. Both groups pushed Huckabee to victory four years ago.

"None of these home-school families are calling me and asking me about the candidates," said Susan Geddes, a Des Moines-area Republican and top organizer for Huckabee in 2008. "Nobody's excited about them."

All this explains why many candidates are returning to Iowa in the week ahead for a series of events. Most of the 2012 candidate, but not Romney, courted Christian conservatives at a forum on values last weekend.

The all-out effort to court social conservative is partly why Romney is recalibrating his approach toward Iowa, where he's only made three visits this year.

He has been reached out quietly to past supporters and working to cast himself as the candidate with the strongest economic credentials. Unlike in 2008, he's not overtly competing for the love of social conservatives. These voters, a potent bloc in the caucuses, have had doubts about his Mormon faith and his reversals on several social issues.

So while he's stepping up his Iowa activity, he's also picking his spots.

He's the only major candidate who hasn't committed to appearing in Iowa at Tuesday's forum on manufacturing hosted by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad in Pella or the state GOP dinner Friday in Des Moines.

Perry plans to attend both.

He has little choice given that he's lagging in state polls, facing challenges from the right and fighting with rivals for the backing of social conservatives. The former Texas agriculture commissioner and Air Force officer is trying to broad his appeal, reaching out to veterans and farmers as he looks to cobble together a winning coalition and stop Romney.

Bachmann, whose support has cooled since her victory in the state GOP's August test vote, is popular with Christian conservatives and tea party activists. She has heavily sought the support of evangelical pastors and recently named a veteran GOP campaign operative to stabilize the campaign for the stretch run.

Santorum is working hard in Iowa and was expected to have stopped in all 99 counties by week's end, even though he has little money and manpower. He shows no sign of going away and recently began airing his first radio ads in Iowa.

Cain is a bit of a wild card.

He's popular for his business background and plain-spoken speaking style. But he's far behind in building an Iowa campaign and he's under attack by conservatives for referring recently to abortion as a choice. Still, tea party activists adore him and his campaign has recently begun conducting automated phone calls.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111030/ap_on_el_ge/us_iowa_up_for_grabs

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Turkey rescuers look for survivors at 4 buildings (AP)

ERCIS, Turkey ? Turkish rescue teams on Saturday were digging through the remains of four collapsed buildings in what the deputy prime minister said would be the final day of the search for survivors of a devastating earthquake six days ago.

The death toll in the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that also rattled parts of Iran and Armenia, increased to 582, of whom 455 were in the eastern city of Ercis. Close to 4,000 were injured and some 230 were brought out of the ruins alive, authorities said.

On Saturday, rescuers pulled the body of a 27-year-old female teacher from a crumbled building and continued drilling through the wreckage in search of two other missing people.

Turkan Ormanoglu waited outside wailing for her son, another teacher, believed to be trapped beneath, as hopes of finding more survivors were dimming.

"We want to keep our hopes up, but I don't know," rescuer Yilmaz Ersoy told The Associated Press then paused pensively. "There is no indication that he is alive, but we are working as though he is."

Missing teacher Tahir Ormanoglu's family rushed to Ercis from the southern city of Adana as soon as they heard that the 27-year-old was trapped inside a building and have been waiting outside since. At least three people were brought alive from the block of apartments earlier, including a 2-week-old baby.

"My kid, my kid, my kid," the mother cried, clutching and kissing a photo of her son as she watched the rescue operation from inside of a fire engine.

Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay said rescue work was under way at four sites in Ercis but he expected it to end later in the day.

Some survivors, meanwhile, expressed frustration over an uneven quake relief response, even after foreign assistance began pouring in and the government said an initial shortage of tents had now largely been overcome.

Ishak Kartal, 73, traveled to Ercis with a young relative in search of tents to take back to his village of Ulupamir, population 7,000.

"We have four dead people. Not enough help has arrived," Kartal said. "We came to find some tents."

Interior Minister Idris Naim Sahin said the government was making plans to house the homeless in temporary, prefabricated homes or container-style housing units within two months.

Turkey canceled parades and other ceremonies marking the 88th anniversary of the founding of the republic in respect of the dead while survivors said they didn't even realize it was a holiday.

"It doesn't feel like a holiday to us," said Bayram Ala. "We're in an earthquake zone. There are aftershocks every night."

__

Associated Press writer Suzan Fraser in Ankara contributed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111029/ap_on_re_eu/eu_turkey_quake

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Syria's Assad says intervention will burn region

(AP) ? Syrian President Bashar Assad has warned that a western intervention in Syria will lead to an "earthquake" that "would burn the whole region."

In an interview with Britain's Sunday Telegraph, Assad said that such an intervention against his regime will cause "another Afghanistan."

Assad's rare interview comes after an intensification of the seven-month uprising against his regime following the death of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

The unrest in Syria could send unsettling ripples through the region, as Damascus' web of alliances extends to Lebanon's powerful Hezbollah movement, the militant Palestinian Hamas and Iran's Shiite theocracy.

Syria "is the fault line, and if you play with the ground you will cause an earthquake," Assad said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-10-30-ML-Syria/id-b96e64ea759d4ab686d25dc01db6c484

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