Traces of Anxiety Drug May Affect Fish Behavior, Study Shows





Traces of a common psychiatric medication that winds up in rivers and streams may affect fish behavior and feeding patterns, according to a new study in the journal Science.




Researchers in Sweden exposed wild European perch to water with different concentrations of Oxazepam, a generic anti-anxiety medication that can show up in waterways after being flushed, excreted or discarded.


Researchers reported that fish exposed to Oxazepam became less social, more active and ate faster, behaviors they said could have long-term consequences for aquatic ecosystems.


Scientists who study pharmaceuticals in waterways said the research was intriguing because it examined the potential effect on animals of a specific medication designed to affect human behavior.


“It seems to be a solid study with an environmentally relevant species,” said Donald Tillitt, an environmental toxicologist with the United States Geological Survey who was not involved in the study. He said it made sense that a medication that binds with a certain brain receptor in people could act similarly in fish, and the measures of behavior — activity, sociability, boldness and feeding rate — “are all important ones that we like to look at when we’re trying to see the environmental effects of pharmaceuticals.”


Still, because even the lowest concentration of Oxazepam in the study was higher than that found in the Swedish waterway researchers tested, “the relevance of their study to the real world is unclear,” the Environmental Protection Agency said in written answers to questions.


The agency said that while “most pharmaceuticals do not seem to pose known risks to humans, animals or the rest of the ecosystem” at the levels they occur in the environment, there are some medications “for which some researchers have noted physiological effects in fish exposed to levels close to those occasionally reached in the environment. These include some ingredients used for contraception, hypertension and mood disorders.”


The agency said how often this occurs and the possible environmental repercussions are unknown.


The study joins a small but growing body of research exploring the possible environmental impact of chemicals in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and other products. Many of these chemicals are not removed by wastewater treatment plants, which were designed to remove bacteria and nutrients, experts said.


The topic is difficult to study partly because concentrations of chemicals in waterways can vary with season, hour and distance from treatment plants, and other medications in water may influence a chemical’s effects.


The United States Geological Survey has found “intersex fish,” or male fish that develop female sexual characteristics, in the Potomac River and its tributaries, raising questions about whether hormone residues might be responsible. A study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology found antidepressants like Prozac and Zoloft in the brains of fish collected downstream from wastewater discharge in Colorado and Iowa. But some antidepressants that were more common in those waterways, including Zyban and Citalopram, were not found as frequently in the fish.


In the Swedish study, researchers first tested perch in the wastewater-treated Fyris River, near the city of Uppsala, and found their muscle tissue contained six times the river’s concentration of Oxazepam, said Tomas Brodin, the lead author and an assistant professor of ecology at Umea University.


Researchers then took baby fish hatched from the roe of wild perch in what they considered a drug-free waterway, and divided them into three groups of 25. One group had no exposure to Oxazepam; the other two were placed in water with what researchers called a low concentration, at three times higher than the River Fyris, or an extremely high concentration, at 1,500 times higher.


The more Oxazepam they ingested the more active the fish were, measured by the number of swimming motions in a 10-minute period. They were also less social, spending less time near a section of the tank with other fish and more time near an empty compartment. And they were quicker to grab and eat zooplankton. At the highest Oxazepam concentration, fish were also bolder, measured by how long it took them to leave a box in the tank and explore new territory.


“Basically, no one left the box before they were subjected to the drug,” said Dr. Brodin, who said he saw the difference when he entered the room each day. The non-exposed fish “were hiding basically,” while the others “were out there, greeting me. They were totally different fish.”


In a statement, Matthew Bennett, senior vice president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said the study yielded “somewhat expected results” because of its higher-than-natural concentrations. He said the behavioral changes were small, and the study methods contradicted “widely accepted protocols that determine how the low levels of Oxazepam found in the environment accumulate in fish. The environmental relevance and potential for long-term impact from this drug, which has been in use for decades are therefore debatable.”


Joel A. Tickner, an environmental scientist at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, who was not involved in the research, said he considered the study significant. “These effects may be very subtle,” he said, but “what they’re finding is it’s biologically relevant.”


Dr. Brodin, the lead author of the study, said the implications were unclear for perch, which might benefit from Oxazepam exposure by becoming more efficient eaters or be disadvantaged because enhanced risk-taking behavior might increase their vulnerability to predators. Zooplankton, algae and other organisms could also be affected by changes in fish behavior, he said.


Dr. Tillett, the toxicologist with the Geological Survey, said, “We’re smart enough and we should be able to design chemicals that fulfill these same sorts of functions but with less stress on the environment.”


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Broadcasters blame zombie hack on easy passwords






(Reuters) – Poor password security paved the way for hackers to broadcast a bogus warning on television networks, saying that the United States was under attack by zombies, broadcasters said.


Cyber security experts said the equipment the hackers broke into remained vulnerable to further breaches, and that hackers could potentially take control of the equipment to prevent the government from sending out public warnings during an emergency.






Following the attacks Monday on a handful of TV stations, the government ordered broadcasters to change the passwords for the equipment that authorities use to instantly transmit emergency broadcasts through what is known as the Emergency Alert System, or EAS.


The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would not comment on the attacks, but in an urgent advisory sent to TV stations on Tuesday, the agency said: “All EAS participants are required to take immediate action.”


It instructed them to change passwords on equipment from all manufacturers used to deliver emergency broadcasts to TV networks, interrupting regular programming. The FCC instructed them to ensure that gear was properly secured behind firewalls and to inspect their systems to ensure that hackers had not queued “unauthorized alerts” for future transmission.


VULNERABLE


The attacks come in the wake of warnings by officials and outside security experts that the United States is at risk of a cyber attack that could cause major physical damage or even cost lives. President Barack Obama has told Congress that some hackers were looking for ways to attack the U.S. power grid, banks and air traffic control systems.


While the zombie hoax appeared to be somewhat innocuous, the relatively easy incursion showed that hackers might be able to wreak havoc with more alarming communications.


“It isn’t what they said. It is the fact that they got into the system. They could have caused some real damage,” said Karole White, president of the Michigan Association of Broadcasters.


White and her counterpart in Montana, Greg MacDonald, said they believed the hackers were able to get in because TV stations had not changed the default passwords they used when the equipment was first shipped from the manufacturer.


But Mike Davis, a hardware security expert with a firm known as IOActive Labs, said hackers could still get past new passwords to remotely access the systems.


Davis said he had submitted a report to the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team, or US-CERT, about a month ago that detailed the security flaws.


“Changing passwords is insufficient to prevent unauthorized remote login. There are still multiple undisclosed authentication bypasses,” he told Reuters via email. “I would recommend disconnecting them from the network until a fix is available.”


Davis said he was able to use Google Inc’s search engine to identify some 30 systems that he believed were vulnerable to attack as of Wednesday morning.


A spokesman for US-CERT said he could not immediately comment on the matter.


MANY WAYS IN


Stuart McClure, chief executive of cyber security firm Cylance Inc., said he had investigated cases in which hackers accessed EAS systems via a different method: breaking into hidden accounts built into the systems by manufacturers so that service technicians can easily access them for repairs.


“You cannot give a separate pass code to everybody. Nobody is going to remember it. You have to share the secret,” said McClure, who previously ran a unit at Intel Corp’s McAfee security division that investigated cyber attacks.


He declined to discuss the cases he had worked on, saying that would violate client confidentiality.


Broadcasters and security experts warned that attacks on the Emergency Alert System could undermine the government’s ability to communicate with the public in times of crisis.


“While EAS may not control nuclear power or hydroelectric dams or air traffic control, it can be used to cause widespread panic,” McClure said.


Indeed, far worse than broadcasting zombie jokes, hackers who are able to gain control of the equipment could prevent authorities from warning the public about actual emergencies, McClure added.


Federal Emergency Management Agency spokesman Dan Watson said that the “zombie” breach did not have any impact on the government’s ability to activate the Emergency Alert System.


‘BODIES ARE RISING’


The “zombie” hackers targeted two stations in Michigan, and several in California, Montana and New Mexico, White said.


A male voice addressed viewers in a video posted on the Internet of the bogus warning broadcast from KRTV, a CBS affiliate based in Great Falls, Montana: “Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from the grave and attacking the living.”


The voice warned not “to approach or apprehend these bodies as they are extremely dangerous.”


Bill Robertson, vice president of privately held electronics manufacturer Monroe Electronics of Lyndonville, New York, told Reuters that equipment from his company had been compromised in at least some of the attacks after hackers gained access to default passwords.


Monroe publishes the default passwords for its equipment in user manuals that can be accessed on its public website.


Robertson said that he believed attackers had been able to access the devices over the Internet because television stations had not properly secured the equipment behind fire walls, which is what Monroe recommends.


“The devices were not really locked down right. They were exposed,” he said.


He said that the company was working to beef up security on the equipment and might update its software to compel customers to change default passwords.


(Editing by Lisa Shumaker, Patrick Graham and Bernadette Baum)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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This Ring Rocks: See Engagement Bling Cobra Starship's Gabe Saporta Gave Erin Fetherston




Style News Now





02/14/2013 at 01:52 PM ET



Miley Cyrus Marchesa Fashion WeekWireImage; Inset: Courtesy Erin Fetherston and Gabe Saporta


It’s official: Cobra Starship rocker Gabe Saporta and fashion designer Erin Fetherston are engaged!


Saporta popped the question to his bride-to-be on New Year’s Eve while on vacation in Barbados. “I woke up at dawn to go collect coral and flowers from the beach next to our cottage,” Saporta tells PEOPLE. “I used them to write out my proposal on our patio and then I woke Erin up in a frenzy to come see a ‘monkey’ that had appeared in our backyard. My sleepy-eyed bride quickly realized the only monkey that morning was me … and of course, she said,’Yes!’”


Saporta and Fetherson, who began dating in 2010, say they started seriously discussing marriage this past fall — and she was even involved in designing her ring. But Saporta couldn’t resist pulling a few fake-outs when it came to finally popping the question.


“Since she knew about the ring, surprising her with a proposal was going to prove a challenge,” he says. “My first step was to psych her out. On Christmas Eve, I gave her a nicely wrapped ring-box that did non contain her engagement ring. It contained a sick amethyst cocktail ring instead.”


Fetherston’s actual engagement ring, however, is no joke. Designed by Lorraine Schwartz, it’s an emerald-cut stone set in a pavé basket on a pavé band. “The platinum was oxidized to give the ring a vintage feeling,” says Fetherson. “I love it because it’s luminous and romantic, with the right amount of edge.”


While the couple are still in the planning stages for their big day, Fetherston already has ideas for her dress and ceremony. “I will definitely design my own dress,” she says, “and my fairytale aesthetic will undoubtedly influence the look and feel of the wedding.”


As for Saporta, who is recording a new album with his band, he says, “It’s gonna be a classy shindig.”


–Kevin O’Donnell


PHOTOS: SEE MORE GORGEOUS STAR ENGAGEMENT RINGS HERE!


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Report: Tracking system needed to fight fake drugs


WASHINGTON (AP) — Fighting the problem of fake drugs will require putting medications through a chain of custody like U.S. courts require for evidence in a trial, the Institute of Medicine reported Wednesday.


The call for a national drug tracking system comes a week after the Food and Drug Administration warned doctors, for the third time in about a year, that it discovered a counterfeit batch of the cancer drug Avastin that lacked the real tumor-killing ingredient.


Fake and substandard drugs have become an increasing concern as U.S. pharmaceutical companies move more of their manufacturing overseas. The risk made headlines in 2008 when U.S. patients died from a contaminated blood thinner imported from China.


The Institute of Medicine report made clear that this is a global problem that requires an international response, with developing countries especially at risk from phony medications. Drug-resistant tuberculosis, for example, is fueled in part by watered-down medications sold in many poor countries.


"There can be nothing worse than for a patient to take a medication that either doesn't work or poisons the patient," said Lawrence O. Gostin, a professor of health law at Georgetown University who led the IOM committee that studied how to combat the growing problem.


A mandatory drug-tracking system could use some form of barcodes or electronic tags to verify that a medication and the ingredients used to make it are authentic at every step, from the manufacturing of the active ingredient all the way to the pharmacy, he said. His committee examined fakes so sophisticated that health experts couldn't tell the difference between the packaging of the FDA-approved product and the look-alike.


"It's unreliable unless you know where it's been and can secure each point in the supply chain," Gostin said.


Patient safety advocates have pushed for that kind of tracking system for years, but attempts to include it in FDA drug-safety legislation last summer failed.


The report also concluded that:


—The World Health Organization should develop an international code of practice that sets guidelines for monitoring, regulation and law enforcement to crack down on fake drugs.


—States should beef up licensing requirements for the wholesalers and distributors who get a drug from its manufacturer to the pharmacy, hospital or doctor's office.


__Internet pharmacies are a particularly weak link, because fraudulent sites can mimic legitimate ones. The report urged wider promotion of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy's online accreditation program as a tool to help consumers spot trustworthy sites.


The Institute of Medicine is an independent organization that advises the government on health matters.


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Wall Street rally stalls, S&P 500 skims November 2007 high

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Wednesday amid investor caution after the S&P 500 index briefly hit its highest intraday level since November 2007.


The benchmark index got a boost from Comcast Corp , which said it will buy the rest of NBC Universal for $16.7 billion from General Electric Co .


Equities have been strong performers until recently, buoyed largely by healthy growth in corporate earnings, which helped the S&P 500 to rise 6.5 percent so far this year. The Dow industrials are about 1 percent away from an all-time intraday high, reached in October 2007.


Those gains have left the market vulnerable to a pullback as investors are likely to take profit amid a dearth of new catalysts. While analysts see an upward bias in stocks, recent daily moves have been small and trading volumes light with indexes at multi-year highs.


"I was expecting a 12-15 percent return on the S&P for the whole year of 2013, and we have done about half of that in just 5-6 weeks," said Jack De Gan, principal at Harbor Advisory in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.


"We will hit resistance, but the fundamentals and (microeconomic) picture are looking good, so if there is a correction, it's going to be a brief one."


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 39.17 points, or 0.28 percent, at 13,979.53. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 0.80 points, or 0.05 percent, at 1,520.23. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 7.01 points, or 0.22 percent, at 3,193.50.


Investors shrugged off the latest economic data, which showed that retail sales rose just 0.1 percent, as expected, in January as tax increases and higher gasoline prices restrained spending.


The S&P 500 was well above its 50-day moving average of 1,460.92, a sign the market could be overbought.


Comcast agreed late Tuesday to buy General Electric Co's remaining 49 percent stake in NBC Universal for $16.7 billion. Comcast jumped 4.4 percent to $40.70 as the S&P's top percentage gainer while Dow component GE was up 3.3 percent to $23.33.


Deere & Co reported earnings that beat expectations and raised its full-year profit outlook. After initially rallying in premarket trading, the stock fell 3 percent to $91.13.


According to the latest Thomson Reuters data, of the 353 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results, 70.3 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, above a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters.


Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 5.3 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.


Industrial and construction shares fell, though President Barack Obama, in his State of the Union address late Tuesday, called for $50 billion in spending to create jobs by rebuilding degraded roads and bridges.


The Dow Jones Home Construction index <.djushb> was off 0.5 percent.


(Editing by Kenneth Barry and Bernadette Baum)



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International Military Officials Investigate Afghan Deaths





KABUL, Afghanistan — International military officials are investigating two episodes in which as many as 11 Afghan civilians may have been killed in what appeared to be American-led military actions.




In the more lethal episode, Afghan officials said 10 civilians were killed overnight in Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan in a village where two known Taliban commanders were visiting family members.


“Ten civilians were killed last night in a joint Afghan and American operation that took place in Chogam Valley in Shigal District,” said Fazullah Wahidi, the provincial governor. He said four women, one man and five children between the ages of 8 and 13 were killed; four teenagers were wounded, three of whom were girls.


Increasingly over the last two years, foreign insurgents, sometimes with links to Al Qaeda and other non-Afghan groups, have taken refuge in Kunar and neighboring Nuristan Province. Both provinces have a long border with Pakistan, and insurgents can hide easily in the rugged and forested mountain terrain Mr. Wahidi said the target of Kunar operation was a Taliban leader named Shahpour, “a known and really dangerous Afghan Taliban commander with links to Al Qaeda operatives in Kunar” and another Taliban commander, known as “Rocketi,” a Pakistani citizen from the Northwest Frontier Province. Both men were killed in the attack.


Mr. Wahidi said that the operation was not coordinated with Afghan security forces, but that locally hired Afghan paramilitaries were involved in the raid, which included an airstrike and a ground operation. Sometimes other United States government agencies rather than the military use special commandos.


Maj. Adam Wojack, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force, said they had no information on the operation but “were aware of the reports” of civilian deaths and were looking into it.


Local officials in Kunar said that Shahpour was believed to have links to Al Qaeda and narrowly escaped being killed last year when the Americans attacked another Al Qaeda-linked Taliban commander known as Abu Hafez Al-Najde, who also went by the name Commander Ghani. Shahpour was the Taliban leader in charge of nearby Dangam district but was visiting relatives at the time of the raid.


People from Chogam, who brought injured from the remote village where the attack took place to the main hospital in the provincial capital of Asadabad, described a precise but damaging hit on two adjacent houses.


“Two homes were totally destroyed; air power was used during the operation,” said a man who brought a boy with cuts to the hospital for treatment, but refused to give his name. “There are still dead bodies under the rubble and human flesh scattered in the area.”


The other episode in which an Afghan civilian was killed by foreign troops occurred on Tuesday during daylight hours.


It took place as NATO-led forces were checking a stretch of heavily traveled highway between Kandahar and Spin Boldak for explosives during a road clearance mission and shot at an oncoming car that did not stop when signaled to do so, Major Wojack said.


An Afghan policeman, Taj Mohammed, the local Border Police commander, corroborated much of the ISAF account, but did not see the shooting himself. He said the car was carrying people from a wedding party.


Major Wojack said that the forces had followed standard procedure of signaling to the car to stop. After the driver stopped, he then started to accelerate toward the convoy, at which point the soldier ISAF shot at the car, Mr. Wojack said.


Reporting was contributed by Taimoor Shah in Kandahar and by an employee of The New York Times in Kunar Province.



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Employee Facebook privacy bill advances in Colo.






DENVER (AP) — Facebook profiles and other social-media accounts could be off-limits to employers under a bill approved unanimously in a Colorado House committee Tuesday.


The measure, approved 11-0, would bar most employers from requiring access to their workers’ personal accounts. Several states already have such protections, and dozens more are considering them.






The bill would not prohibit companies from looking at Facebook pages or punishing employees for what they post on their personal sites. But it would ban them from requiring current or potential employees to provide passwords for personal accounts.


The measure’s sponsor said private social media accounts should be considered like physical photographs.


“It’s never been acceptable for en employer to ask to see an employee’s personal photos,” said Rep. Angela Williams, D-Denver.


The bill was amended to exempt law enforcement agencies and corrections workers, since those workers’ personal opinions or off-duty actions can affect their use as witnesses in criminal matters.


“They need to know that the people they have working for them are above reproach and have a higher standard,” said Ann Marie Jensen of the Colorado Association of Chiefs of Police.


Lawmakers rejected a proposal to give all businesses permission to require personal social media access for “legitimate business interests.”


Kim Smiley of the Colorado Defense Lawyers Association suggested businesses should be allowed to require access in some cases. She used examples of an employee threatening violence or bragging about drinking alcohol on the clock.


Lawmakers responded that employers dealt with those problems long before social media networking. Rep. Libby Szabo, R-Arvada, pointed out that employers once used their noses to suss out an employee who drank too much at lunch.


“There was life before Facebook,” Szabo said.


The measure awaits one more committee vote before it’s considered by the full House.


___


House Bill 1046: http://bit.ly/UOffsH


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Harley Pasternak Blogs: 8 Reasons Why Sex Is Great for Your Health






Celebrity Blog










02/13/2013 at 02:30 PM EST



As Valentine's Day draws near, many of you will be wining, dining and romancing your way into someone's heart. If you're lucky, things will go well, and you may GET lucky! Not only will you have a fun evening of intimacy, but you may live longer for it.

Here are some of the reasons science tells us sex is good for our bodies, inside and out.

1. Sex Relieves Stress

Perhaps the most enjoyable way to blow off some steam, research has shown that people who are sexually active respond better in stressful situations and have lower levels of overall stress. Sex increases our levels of oxytocin, a stress fighting hormone. In a fascinating study of the effect of intercourse on acute stress, researchers found that people who had sex the night before public speaking, had a reduced pulse increase, and far lower blood pressure than those who had not. Which brings me to No. 2 ...

2. Sex Is Good for Your Heart – in More Ways Than One

Over the years, there have been a number of studies shown that sex is good for cardiovascular health. Again and again, it's been linked to increased circulation, lower cholesterol and lower blood pressure. In 2010, Brazil's minister of health created some serious buzz when he recommended Brazilians have sex five times a week as a countermeasure to the nation's hypertension epidemic. Sex has also been shown to reduce the chance of heart attack, particularly for men. In a recent groundbreaking study published in the American Journal of Cardiology, men who engaged in intercourse at least twice a week were a staggering 45% less likely to suffer a heart attack than those who had sex once a month or less.

3. Sex Helps You Lose Weight

Sexual activity is exactly that – activity. Thirty minutes of sex burns 200 calories or a pound of body fat for every 17.5 times you have sex.

4. Sex Helps You Sleep

The oxytocin released during sex leads to pronounced relaxation and sounder sleep. If you've read my previous blog on the myriad benefits of a good night's sleep, you'll know that better sleep lends itself to reduced body weight, lower stress, increased immunity and overall well-being.

5. Sex Is a Great Pain Reliever

I know that sex might be one of the very last things on your mind when you're suffering with a migraine, menstrual cramps, or chronic pain, but consider this: sex has been repeatedly linked to alleviating pain, especially in these instances. There's a distinct relationship between the endorphins, corticosteroids and, yes, oxytocin released during sexual intercourse and pain relief. So next time the ibuprofen or aspirin just isn't cutting it, consider sex as an alternative therapy!

6. Sex Boosts Your Immune System

Amid this record-breaking flu season, I'm sure I got your attention with this surprising fact! Yes, sex wards off colds, flu, and other infections by increasing the levels of the antibody immunoglobulin A (IgA). It makes sense, then, that sexually active people take fewer sick days than those who abstain.

7. Sex Can Improve Your Relationship

I'm not just talking about your "sex life" when I say that sex can improve your relationship with your significant other. While the obvious is true that you are experiencing mutual pleasure, the benefits go way beyond that.

Let's come back to good old oxytocin. Oxytocin has been called a "love potion" by many for promoting feelings of intimacy and closeness, but it may also prevent arguments from spiraling out of control. Researchers in Zurich found that sex reduces Cortisol and increases oxytocin, which encourages positive communication and provides a one-two punch against a stressful situation like an argument. Not only that, but fascinating recent research published in The Journal of Neuroscience found that, when given oxytocin, men in committed relationships chose to keep a greater distance between themselves and an unknown woman they find attractive. These findings suggest oxytocin may play a pivotal role in promoting fidelity within monogamous relationships.

8. Sex Improves Your Appearance

Many people focus on looking good in the sack, but did you know the sack can return the favor? Having sex just twice a week increases the hormone DHEA which research suggests can repair tissues, improve skin tone, and even stimulate natural collagen production to fight wrinkles and visible again.

Do you have a healthy sex life? Tweet me @harleypasternak how many times you have sex a month.

Check back every Wednesday for more insider tips from celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak on Hollywood's hottest bodies – and learn how to get one yourself! Plus: Follow Harley on Twitter at @harleypasternak

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Pope shows lifetime jobs aren't always for life


The world seems surprised that an 85-year-old globe-trotting pope who just started tweeting wants to resign, but should it be? Maybe what should be surprising is that more leaders his age do not, considering the toll aging takes on bodies and minds amid a culture of constant communication and change.


There may be more behind the story of why Pope Benedict XVI decided to leave a job normally held for life. But the pontiff made it about age. He said the job called for "both strength of mind and body" and said his was deteriorating. He spoke of "today's world, subject to so many rapid changes," implying a difficulty keeping up despite his recent debut on Twitter.


"This seemed to me a very brave, courageous decision," especially because older people often don't recognize their own decline, said Dr. Seth Landefeld, an expert on aging and chairman of medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.


Age has driven many leaders from jobs that used to be for life — Supreme Court justices, monarchs and other heads of state. As lifetimes expand, the woes of old age are catching up with more in seats of power. Some are choosing to step down rather than suffer long declines and disabilities as the pope's last predecessor did.


Since 1955, only one U.S. Supreme Court justice — Chief Justice William Rehnquist — has died in office. Twenty-one others chose to retire, the most recent being John Paul Stevens, who stepped down in 2010 at age 90.


When Thurgood Marshall stepped down in 1991 at the age of 82, citing health reasons, the Supreme Court justice's answer was blunt: "What's wrong with me? I'm old. I'm getting old and falling apart."


One in 5 U.S. senators is 70 or older, and some have retired rather than seek new terms, such as Hawaii's Daniel Akaka, who left office in January at age 88.


The Netherlands' Queen Beatrix, who just turned 75, recently said she will pass the crown to a son and put the country "in the hands of a new generation."


In Germany, where the pope was born, Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is 58, said the pope's decision that he was no longer fit for the job "earns my very highest respect."


"In our time of ever-lengthening life, many people will be able to understand how the pope as well has to deal with the burdens of aging," she told reporters in Berlin.


Experts on aging agreed.


"People's mental capacities in their 80s and 90s aren't what they were in their 40s and 50s. Their short-term memory is often not as good, their ability to think quickly on their feet, to execute decisions is often not as good," Landefeld said. Change is tougher to handle with age, and leaders like popes and presidents face "extraordinary demands that would tax anybody's physical and mental stamina."


Dr. Barbara Messinger-Rapport, geriatrics chief at the Cleveland Clinic, noted that half of people 85 and older in developed countries have some dementia, usually Alzheimer's. Even without such a disease, "it takes longer to make decisions, it takes longer to learn new things," she said.


But that's far from universal, said Dr. Thomas Perls, an expert on aging at Boston University and director of the New England Centenarians Study.


"Usually a man who is entirely healthy in his early 80s has demonstrated his survival prowess" and can live much longer, he said. People of privilege have better odds because they have access to good food and health care, and tend to lead clean lives.


"Even in the 1500s and 1600s there were popes in their 80s. It's remarkable. That would be today's centenarians," Perls said.


Arizona Sen. John McCain turned 71 while running for president in 2007. Had he won, he would have been the oldest person elected to a first term as president. Ronald Reagan was days away from turning 70 when he started his first term as president in 1981; he won re-election in 1984. Vice President Joe Biden just turned 70.


In the U.S. Senate, where seniority is rewarded and revered, South Carolina's Strom Thurmond didn't retire until age 100 in 2002. Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia was the longest-serving senator when he died in office at 92 in 2010.


Now the oldest U.S. senator is 89-year-old Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. The oldest congressman is Ralph Hall of Texas who turns 90 in May.


The legendary Alan Greenspan was about to turn 80 when he retired as chairman of the Federal Reserve in 2006; he still works as a consultant.


Elsewhere around the world, Cuba's Fidel Castro — one of the world's longest serving heads of state — stepped down in 2006 at age 79 due to an intestinal illness that nearly killed him, handing power to his younger brother Raul. But the island is an example of aged leaders pushing on well into their dotage. Raul Castro now is 81 and his two top lieutenants are also octogenarians. Later this month, he is expected to be named to a new, five-year term as president.


Other leaders who are still working:


—England's Queen Elizabeth, 86.


—Abdullah bin Abd al-Aziz al-Saud, king of Saudi Arabia, 88.


—Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, emir of Kuwait, 83.


—Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court associate justice, 79.


__


Associated Press writers Paul Haven in Havana, Cuba; David Rising in Berlin; Seth Borenstein, Mark Sherman and Matt Yancey in Washington, and researcher Judy Ausuebel in New York contributed to this report.


___


Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP


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Wall Street edges up, Dow nears all-time high

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged higher on Tuesday, putting the Dow within striking distance of all-time highs as investors looked ahead to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, which is expected to focus on the economy.


Jobs and economic growth are seen as major themes of Obama's speech, scheduled to begin at 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Wednesday). Investors will also listen for any clues on a deal with Republicans to avert automatic spending cuts due to take effect March 1, including the tone of the speech.


The S&P 500 has risen for the past six weeks, putting it up 6.7 percent so far this year, while the Dow is about 1 percent away from its all-time intraday record of 14,198.10, reached in October 2007.


But gains have been harder to come by since the benchmark S&P index hit a five-year high on February 1. The market has had to consolidate strong gains at the year's start while investors search for reasons to drive stocks higher.


"We're likely to settle in for a period and digest the gains we've had, though there's still a bias towards positive momentum," said Eric Teal, chief investment officer at First Citizens Bancshares in Raleigh, North Carolina. "Questions over government spending are the big overhang, and we're looking for Obama to inspire some confidence over that tonight."


The White House has signaled Obama will urge investment in infrastructure and clean energy, suggesting companies in those sectors may be volatile in Wednesday's session.


"Gun makers could also see a reaction if Obama talks about anything with respect to gun control," said Teal, who helps oversee $5 billion. Shares of Smith & Wesson were flat at $9.13 while Sturm Ruger was up 0.5 percent at $53.96.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 58.06 points, or 0.42 percent, at 14,029.30. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 3.34 points, or 0.22 percent, at 1,520.35. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 1.91 points, or 0.06 percent, at 3,190.09.


Housing shares were among the strongest of the day, led by a 14.4 percent jump in Masco Corp to $20.35 after the home improvement product maker said it expects new home construction to show strong growth in 2013. The PHLX housing sector index <.hgx> rose 4.3 percent.


Avon Products Inc surged 23 percent to $21.25 as the S&P 500's top percentage gainer after the cosmetics company reversed sales declines and cut costs.


On the downside, Coca-Cola Co fell 2.7 percent to $37.58 and were the biggest drag on the Dow after reporting revenue that was below estimates, hurt by a weaker-than-expected performance in Europe.


Goodyear Tire & Rubber shares slipped 0.4 percent to $13.86 after it posted a stronger-than-expected quarterly profit but cut its 2013 forecast due to weakness in the European automotive market.


Michael Kors Holdings shares jumped 10.8 percent to $63.18 after the fashion company handily beat Wall Street's estimates and raised its full-year outlook.


With earnings season starting to wind down, Thomson Reuters data through Tuesday morning shows of the 353 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 70.3 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, above a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters.


Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 5.3 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.


(Editing by Nick Zieminski)



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