ReferralBuzz Announces Partnership with TruliaTwin Cities’ Referral Service for Home Remodeling Experts and Their Customers Partners with Leading Online Real Estate Market

Twin Cities’ referral service for home remodeling experts and their customers partners with leading online real estate marketplace.

Minneapolis, MN (PRWEB) December 21, 2012
Starting in January 2013, ReferralBuzz Inc., in Minneapolis, will be the exclusive partner in the 7 county Twin Cities metro and St Cloud, MN, Madison, WI, Cedar Rapids, IA for the new "Find a Pro - Home Improvement" feature on Trulia. Trulia is a leading online marketplace for home buyers, sellers, renters, and real estate professionals. ReferralBuzz will be the first home improvement recommendation resource on the Trulia website.
Founded in 2011, ReferralBuzz gives consumers a free, easy way to find great service providers - including providers who’ve earned recommendations from social media, neighbors, and friends. ReferralBuzz also gives home remodeling experts the tools they need to market their services and increase referrals using the power of social media.
With unique info on areas people want to live that can’t be found anywhere else, Trulia provides the inside scoop on properties, places, and real estate professionals. Prospective home buyers, sellers, and renters can learn about agents, neighborhoods, schools, crime, commute times, and even ask the local community questions. Meanwhile, real estate professionals use Trulia to connect with millions of transaction-ready buyers and sellers each month via Trulia’s hyper-local advertising services, social recommendations, and top-rated mobile real estate apps.
"The partnership with Trulia will provide a huge benefit to our customers through greater exposure,” says ReferralBuzz Founder Lisa Schneegans. “We will be able to feed information onto the "find a pro" section of Trulia's website from the ReferralBuzz website and provide the inside scoop to homeowners, buyers and sellers on local home improvement service providers."
For ReferralBuzz Service Providers, the partnership with Trulia means:

Service Provider’s ReferralBuzz profile will be seen by hundreds of thousands of consumers interested in home improvement in your service area.
Service Providers ReferralBuzz subscription will include a Trulia "Find A Pro" listing that will be automatically be uploaded from your ReferralBuzz profile.
Referral Buzz Service Providers will be able to participate in Trulia Voices "Ask an Expert"
ReferralBuzz will have the exclusive banner ad on the new Trulia mobile app for our metro area. Subsequently giving the service provider’s profile an opportunity to be seen by thousands of people.
How It Works for Homeowners

To get started, homeowners simply sign on at http://www.referralbuzz.com. Homeowners can view exclusive deals, request estimates and get ideas for their own projects from other customers’ pictures and feedback. Homeowners can sign in through Facebook and see which providers their “Friends” have used and recommend.
How It Works For Service Providers

ReferralBuzz provides a set of very easy to use tools for service providers to help them enhance their business. Automated tools include:
Social Referrals-Get customer referrals through their social networks, the “word of mouth” in the digital age.
Customer Feedback-After a job is completed ReferralBuzz makes the request for feedback automatically.
Stay In Touch Email-This in-touch e-mail system turns great customers into repeat customers and helps customers keep you in mind.
Facebook Posting-Automatically post your projects, photos and specials on your own Facebook page.
Digital Portfolio-Keep your visual assets at your fingertips. Photos sell your service better than any sales pitch. Email your presentation to the prospect, right from your IPad.
Project Communication-Communication during a project is often the key to keeping a job on track. ReferalBuzz makes that easy. And, once the project is done, an automated sequence of feedback requests, social referrals and emails begins. Clients feel well taken care of, long after you’ve left the job site.

Read More..

Politis & Matovina, P.A. Earns BBB Accreditation

Politis & Matovina, P.A. announced its recent accreditation by BBB Serving Central Florida. As a BBB Accredited Business, Politis & Matovina, P.A. is dedicated to promoting trust in the marketplace.

Daytona Beach, FL (PRWEB) December 21, 2012
Politis & Matovina, P.A. is committed to BBB's Standards of Trust. This week, Politis & Matovina, P.A. announced its recent accreditation by BBB Serving Central Florida. As a BBB Accredited Business, Politis & Matovina, P.A. is dedicated to promoting trust in the marketplace. According to BBB reports by Princeton Research, seven in ten consumers say they are more likely to buy from a company designated as a BBB Accredited Business. BBB is a resource for the public, providing objective, unbiased information about businesses.
"We are pleased to be a BBB Accredited Business because we value building trust with our clients," said Michael Politis, Senior Partner/Owner. "Our BBB Accreditation gives our clients confidence in our commitment to maintaining high ethical standards of conduct."
BBB Accredited Businesses must adhere to BBB's "Standards of Trust," a comprehensive set of policies, procedures and best practices representing trustworthiness in the marketplace. The standards call for building trust, embodying integrity, advertising honestly and telling the truth, being transparent, honoring promises, being responsive and safeguarding privacy.
About Politis & Matovina, P.A.

Politis & Matovina, P.A. is a personal injury law firm known for providing aggressive and high quality representation to injured victims, not insurance companies. With offices located in Port Orange, Ormond Beach, Palm Coast and Orange City, our firm focuses on ALL injury cases involving wrongful death, auto/motorcycle accidents, slips and falls, boating accidents, pedestrian accidents and bicycle/moped accidents. We also have departments dedicated to criminal defense and immigration law. We can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for your legal emergencies. Driven to achieve justice for our clients, we know that Results Matter. Let us put our experience to work for you. Visit http://www.TheJusticeAttorneys.com for more information.
About BBB

BBB's mission is to be the leader in advancing marketplace trust. BBB accomplishes this mission by creating a community of trustworthy businesses, setting standards for marketplace trust, encouraging and supporting best practices, celebrating marketplace role models and denouncing substandard marketplace behavior. Businesses that earn BBB Accreditation contractually agree and adhere to the organization's high standards of ethical business behavior. BBB is the preeminent resource to turn to for objective, unbiased information on businesses and charities. Contact BBB serving Central Florida at (407) 789-9008.

Read More..

Car-Specials.com Set to Give Customers a Fresh Car-Shopping Experience

Car-Specials.com is a new car search service that is bringing fun and excitement back to the car shopping game. With an ultra-fast, intuitive interface and a superior selection of new and used cars from local dealerships, Car Specials offers consumer-friendly search options and low-cost, dealer-centric service.

Carmel, Indiana (PRWEB) December 21, 2012
Car-Specials.com is a new kind of online automotive marketplace, offering efficient, customizable search options that cater to every different kind of car shopper. Whether a customer is looking for a new or used vehicle, or wants to search by color, make or body style, Car-Specials.com provides incomparable search functionality and a large selection of vehicles.
Veering away from the kind of automotive website that focuses on the sale and not the customer relationship, Car Specials.com focuses on giving consumers the connection to a particular vehicle that they would expect from walking into a dealership, all from the comfort of their own home. Car-Specials.com is currently in its pilot phase, adding new and used car deals from new dealerships every week.
By enabling visitors the option of selecting make, model, year, price range, body style, geographic location, and more, Car-Specials.com allows customers to take total control over their search. Unlike some of the larger car search engines, visitors can even search new and used vehicles at the same time. From sedans and coupes to SUVs, wagons, and sports cars, a wide variety of vehicles and brands assures that each customer can find their ideal vehicle, matching their lifestyle and budget, all in one place.
“Online car shoppers don’t want just any vehicle, they want the perfect one,” said Roger Laurendeau, President of Car-Specials.com. “We strive to provide the best vehicle choices and a streamlined system that makes the process of finding and purchasing a new car fast, convenient, and fun.”
Online car shopping is packed with large companies that charge dealers huge sums of money to list their vehicles. By contrast, Car-Specials.com is a small company with lower costs for dealerships, affording dealers the option of passing those savings on to the customer.
Customers interested in taking Car Specials for a test drive may visit http://www.car-specials.com. Dealers interested in working with Car-Specials.com to market their vehicles should contact Roger Laurendeau at 317-805-4933.
About Car-Specials.com
Car-Specials.com is an online automotive marketplace, dedicated to providing dealers with a wide-reaching, low cost option for marketing their vehicles online. Car Specials offers its customers lightning-fast search with a variety of customizable search options for finding their next new or used vehicle.

Read More..

Brand id│Strategic Partners Launches Revolutionary Personal Branding Success Program for Women

The Breakfast Club is a 12-month strategic mastermind program for Baltimore women who are ready to expand their “circle of influence, strategically map out their personal and professional path to success, and uplevel their visibility in the marketplace through personal branding.

Baltimore, Maryland (PRWEB) December 21, 2012
Two Maryland business women have partnered to unveil a program specifically designed to help 25 local entrepreneurs and executives dramatically elevate their personal and professional lives in 2013 and redefine the "goold old boy network.". The program is called The Breakfast Club, a 12-month strategic mastermind that will expand their “circle of influence” and strategically map out the personal and professional path to success of each participant through networking, personal branding, life coaching and strategic planning.
Founded by Jennifer Ransaw Smith, CEO of Brand id Strategic Partners, a full-service personal branding agency and Susan Stern, CEO of Live Now a Personal Success Coaching firm, The Breakfast Club is revolutionizing “business as usual.” This program leaves no stone unturned when it comes to mapping out a plan for success.
Although named The Breakfast Club, the program is so much more. In fact, a monthly breakfast is just a small component of what is being offered (held at Miss Shirley’s Inner Harbor). Twice a year, participants will meet at the Mt. Washington Conference Center for an all day “working session” to design personal and professional blueprints. In addition, each participant will have access to both Brand id Strategic Partners and Live Now group coaching programs, meaning they will spend six months working on their “personal brand” and four months working on their “life’s vision.”
“As far as the level of comprehensiveness, Susan and I wanted to put something uniquely special together that truly supported local women. So many women are not use to investing in themselves, so we wanted to use an affordable price point. “You are your greatest asset to your company, spouse, children and/or community. Our personal and professional lives are more connected than most people imagine, and investing in both aspects will dramatically uplevel your life this year, “says Susan.
Our members are going to get opportunities to elevate at every level. From networking monthly to yearly strategic planning and online support, we wanted women to be able to walk away knowing they had taken their lives to an entirely new level and felt supported every step of the way,” said Jennifer Ransaw Smith. “We wanted something for all of those women who know they want more, but just don’t know how to get it.”
The program is ideal for mid-to-senior-level executives and entrepreneurs who want to:

    Be surrounded by a group of women who are committed to helping you succeed
    Receive support, encouragement and inspiration as you skyrocket toward your goals
    Become more focused on where you are going and what you need to do to get there
    Expand their person “circle of influence”
    Be able to test ideas, connect with amazing resources and feedback
    Maximize what they are able to accomplish in a 12-month period
The Breakfast Club (http://www.breakfastclubonline.com) runs from January 24rd until December 31, 2013 and is limited to only 25 participants. First come, first served. The investment is $3,000 and payment options are available. For more information about the program, please visit http:///http://www.breakfastclubonline.com
Brand id│Strategic Partners is a full-service integrated personal branding agency that helps entrepreneurs, senior level executives, and subject matter experts transform from unknown to known. We offer a multi-disciplinary approach to brand elevation both on and offline by providing both business-to-consumer (personal branding) and business-to-business (leadership branding) communication strategy.

Read More..

Fleetwood Mac Tickets Take Off Online at BuyAnySeat.com

Tickets to Fleetwood Mac’s upcoming 34-city North American Tour are creating traffic spikes in search traffic online for seats, said Felina Martinez at ticket marketplace BuyAnySeat.com. The tour kicks off April 4, 2013 in Columbus, Ohio and is the band’s first trek since 2009.

Denver, CO (PRWEB) December 22, 2012
It’s hard to believe that it has been 45 years since Fleetwood Mac’s first album, and 35 years since they band released their best-selling Rumours album, which has sold over 20 million copies in the U.S. to date.
But like other iconic 60’s bands lately, Fleetwood Mac is heading back out on the road again. The group’s 34-city North American tour kicks off April 4, 2013 in Columbus, Ohio. The tour stops in numerous cities including New York, Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The trek’s final concert is slated for June 12, 2013 in Detroit.
“Internet traffic for Fleetwood Mac tickets has been spiking,” said Felina Martinez at online ticket marketplace BuyAnySeat.com. “Part of this surge of new traffic may be related to the Holiday season and gift giving, but we believe it’s also due to the band’s legions of loyal followers of all ages around the globe.”
“Since Fleetwood Mac fans span all nationalities and age groups from pre-teens to those in their 70’s and 80’s, we’re proud to be able to offer buyers a complete selection of Fleetwood Mac tickets, with a worry-free guarantee to protect their purchase,” said Martinez.
“To access the continuously updated selection of tickets we have available, fans can go to BuyAnySeat.com and search for Fleetwood Mac – then select their tickets,” said Martinez.
Fleetwood Mac is a British-American rock band formed in London in 1967 by Peter Green, who had been playing in the blues band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. He named the band in an attempt to entice Mick Fleetwood and John McVie to join him. While Fleetwood joined right away, McVie did not join for several weeks.
After years of member additions and departures, and tumultuous times within the band, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the group – and the band finally found mainstream success with the 1975 release of a second self-titled album. The album became the band's first number one album in any country and their first multiplatinum album. This newfound success was repeated two years later with Rumours, which has become their best selling album thus far.
The next two albums, Tusk and Mirage, were not as successful as Rumours, despite an 18-month worldwide promotional tour. The albums still reached number four and number one respectively, and both reached double-platinum status.
The album Tango in the Night was released in 1987 and became the band’s best-selling album since Rumours, and ranked 3x platinum in the U.S. and 8x platinum in the U.K. The 90’s decade was one of limited success for the band, with the two albums released failing to chart very high in the U.S. The band's fortunes improved again with the release of the 1997 live album The Dance, which reached number one in the U.S. and 5x platinum status. The band also saw a modest success with 2003's Say You Will. (Sources: Official Website, fleetwoodmac.com and Wikipedia.com)
Both Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham released solo albums and toured last year. The band itself hasn’t released an album since 2003, but did tour together in 2009. Insiders say Christine McVie unfortunately will not be joining the tour this time. But for fans, there’s always hope.

Read More..

Chelation doesn't help kids with autism: study

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Removing heavy metals from the body through a process traditionally used to treat mercury and lead poisoning doesn't help relieve autism symptoms, a new analysis suggests.
During chelation therapy, patients are given injections of a chemical that binds to heavy metals, lowering their concentration in the blood and ultimately allowing the metals to be excreted through urine.
Chelation gained traction as an alternative treatment for autism due to a theory that mercury poisoning might play a role in the developmental disorder. However, evidence hasn't supported that idea and it's been essentially discarded in the scientific community, researchers said.
The procedure also carries safety concerns, including risks of kidney damage and gastrointestinal problems.
Lead researcher Tonya Davis from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, said the study team's goal was not to tell parents which treatments they should or shouldn't seek for their children.
"I see that they want to try everything, and they are well intentioned," she told Reuters Health.
"But there are risks involved with any treatment choice, and some of those risks are very serious. So far science does not support (chelation) as being an effective treatment, and that's a big risk to take when you have limited resources and limited time."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that one in 88 kids in the U.S. has an autism spectrum disorder.
Davis and her colleagues found five studies that tested the effects of chelation in kids with autism. Those studies each had between one and 41 children, from age three to 14.
Researchers had given the kids chelation therapy - sometimes along with vitamin supplements or other treatments - between one and 12 times a week for up to seven months. They used tests and questionnaires or anecdotal reports from parents to see how symptoms changed over time.
The study with only one child, a four-year-old boy, found chelation had positive effects on autism symptoms based on a parent report. The other four studies all showed mixed results, with some kids improving on some symptom measures.
However, none of the studies provided any certainty that those benefits were due to chelation itself, and not another treatment or just kids getting older, the researchers wrote in the journal Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders.
Davis said she and her colleagues were surprised to find so few studies measuring the effects of chelation, given how many families they each knew that were using it. That lack of evidence was a concern, she said, along with the questionable study designs and conclusions.
"I just hope that parents get as much information as they can" before trying a new treatment, Davis said.
A typical package of chelation treatments runs for about $2,000 to $5,000. In addition to treating lead poisoning, chelation has also been used for cancer and heart disease.
But when it comes to autism, even calling chelation an alternative therapy is a stretch, said one autism researcher not involved in the new study.
"There's really no evidence that mercury causes autism or has a place in causing autism, and also we know that chelation can be dangerous as well. Even the underlying theories don't make sense," said Dr. Joyce Mauk, head of the Child Study Center, an organization that treats kids with developmental disabilities in Fort Worth, Texas.
"Most children with developmental disabilities, what gets them better is a really skilled therapist and lots of work," Mauk told Reuters Health.
"If you hear about something when all you do is inject something or take a pill, it's unlikely to work."
SOURCE: Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, January 2013.

Read More..

Violence, fear & suspicion imperil Pakistan's war on polio

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani health worker Bushra Bibi spent eight years trekking to remote villages, carefully dripping polio vaccine into toddlers' pursed mouths to protect them from the crippling disease.
Now the 35-year-old mother is too scared to go to work after masked men on motorbikes gunned down nine of her fellow health workers in a string of attacks this week.
"I have seen so much pain in the eyes of mothers whose children have been infected. So I have never seen this as just a job. It is my passion," she said. "But I also have a family to look after ... Things have never been this bad."
After the deaths, the United Nations put its workers on lockdown. Immunizations by the Pakistani government continued in parts of the country. But the violence raised fresh questions over stability in the South Asian nation.
Pakistan's Taliban insurgency, convinced that the anti-polio drive is just another Western plot against Muslims, has long threatened action against anyone taking part in it.
The militant group's hostility deepened after it emerged that the CIA - with the help of a Pakistani doctor - had used a vaccination campaign to spy on Osama bin Laden's compound before he was killed by U.S. special forces in a Pakistan town last year.
Critics say the attacks on the health workers are a prime example of the government's failure to formulate a decisive policy on tackling militancy, despite pressure from key ally the United States, the source of billions of dollars in aid.
For years, authorities were aware that Taliban commanders had broadcast claims that the vaccination drive was actually a plot to sterilize Muslims.
That may seem absurd to the West, but in Pakistan such assertions are plausible to some. Years of secrecy during military dictatorships, frequent political upheaval during civilian rule and a poor public education system mean conspiracy theories run wild.
"Ever since they began to give these polio drops, children are reaching maturity a lot earlier, especially girls. Now 12 to 13-year-old girls are becoming women. This causes indecency in society," said 45-year-old Mir Alam Khan, a carpet seller in the northern town of Dera Ismail Khan.
The father of four didn't allow any of his children to receive vaccinations.
"Why doesn't the United States give free cures for other illnesses? Why only polio? There has to be an agenda," he said.
While health workers risk attacks by militants, growing suspicions from ordinary Pakistanis are lowering their morale. Fatima, a health worker in the northwestern city of Peshawar, said that reaction to news of the CIA polio campaign was so severe that many of her colleagues quit.
"People's attitudes have changed. You will not believe how even the most educated and well-to-do people will turn us away, calling us U.S. spies and un-Islamic," said the 25-year-old who did not give her last name for fear of reprisals.
"Boys call us names, they say we are 'indecent women'."
Pakistan's government has tried to shatter the myths that can undermine even the best-intentioned health projects by turning to moderate clerics and urging them to issue religious rulings supporting the anti-polio efforts.
Tahir Ashrafi, head of the All Pakistan Ulema Council, said the alliance of clerics had done its part, and it was up to the government to come to the rescue of aid workers.
"Clerics can only give fatwas and will continue to come together and condemn such acts," he said. "What good are fatwas if the government doesn't provide security?"
RISK OF POLIO RETURNING
That may be a tall order in Pakistan, where critics allege government officials are too busy lining their pockets or locked in power struggles to protect its citizens, even children vulnerable to diseases that can cripple or disfigure them.
Pakistani leaders deny such accusations.
Politicians also have a questionable track record when it comes to dealing with all the other troubles afflicting nuclear-armed Pakistan.
The villages where health workers once spent time tending to children often lack basic services, clinics, clean water and jobs. Industries that could strengthen the fragile economy are hobbled by chronic power cuts.
Deepening frustrations with those issues often encourage Pakistanis to give up on the state and join the Taliban.
So far it's unclear who is behind the shootings. The main Taliban spokesman said they were opposed to the vaccination scheme but the group distanced itself from the attacks.
But another Taliban spokesman in South Waziristan said their fighters were behind an attack on a polio team in the northwestern town of Lakki Marwat on Monday. "The vaccinations were part of "a secret Jewish-American agenda to poison Pakistanis", he said.
What is clear is the stakes are high.
Any gaps in the program endanger hard-won gains against a disease that can cause death or paralysis within hours.
A global effort costing billions of dollars eradicated polio from every country except Nigeria, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Vaccinations cut Pakistan's polio cases from 20,000 in 1994 to 56 in 2012 and the disease seemed isolated in a pocket in the north. But polio is spread person-to-person, so any outbreak risks re-infecting communities cleared of the disease.
Last year, a strain from Pakistan spread northeast and caused the first outbreak in neighboring China since 1999.
Oliver Rosenbauer, a spokesman for the World Health Organization, said the group had been coming closer to eradicating the disease.
"For the first time, the virus had been geographically cornered," he said. "We don't want to lose the gains that had been made ... Any suspension of activities gives the virus a new foothold and the potential to come roaring back and paralyze more children."
MOURNING FAMILIES
Condemnation of the killings has been nearly universal. Clerics called for demonstrations to support health workers, the government has promised compensation for the deaths and police have vowed to provide more protection.
For women like Fehmida Shah, it's already too late. The 44-year-old health worker lived with her family in a two-room house before gunmen shot her on Tuesday.
Her husband, Syed Riaz Shah, said she spent her tiny salary - the equivalent of just $2 a day - on presents for their four daughters. Even though the family was struggling, she always found some spare money for any neighbor in need.
"She was very kind and big hearted. All the women in our lane knew her," he said.
"The entire neighborhood is in shock. Pray for my daughters. I will get through this. But I don't know how they will."

Read More..

Link between pot, psychosis goes both ways in kids

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Marijuana (cannabis) use may be linked to the development of psychotic symptoms in teens - but the reverse could also be true: psychosis in adolescents may be linked to later pot use, according to a new Dutch study.
"We have focused mainly on temporal order; is it the chicken or the egg? As the study shows, it is a bidirectional relationship," wrote the study's lead author Merel Griffith-Lendering, a doctoral candidate at Leiden University in The Netherlands, in an email to Reuters Health.
Previous research established links between marijuana and psychosis, but scientists questioned whether pot use increased the risk of mental illness, or whether people were using pot to ease their psychotic symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions.
"What is interesting in this study is that both processes are going on at the same time," said Dr. Gregory Seeger, medical director for addiction services at Rochester General Hospital in upstate New York.
He told Reuters Health that researchers have been especially concerned about what tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active property in pot, could do to a teenager's growing brain.
"That's a very vulnerable period of time for brain development," and individuals with a family history of schizophrenia and psychosis seem to be more sensitive to the toxic effects of THC, he said.
A 2010 study of 3,800 Australian teenagers found that those who used marijuana were twice as likely to develop psychosis compared to teens who never smoked pot (see Reuters Health article of March 1, 2010 here:).
But that study also found that those who suffered from hallucinations and delusions when they were younger were also more likely to use pot early on.
CHICKEN v. EGG
For the new study, published in the journal Addiction, the researchers wanted to see which came first: pot or psychosis.
Griffith-Lendering and her colleagues used information on 2,120 Dutch teenagers, who were surveyed about their pot use when they were about 14, 16 and 19 years old.
The teens also took psychosis vulnerability tests that asked - among other things - about their ability to concentrate, their feelings of loneliness and whether they see things other people don't.
Overall, the researchers found 940 teens, or about 44 percent, reported smoking pot, and there was a bidirectional link between pot use and psychosis.
For example, using pot at 16 years old was linked to psychotic symptoms three years later, and psychotic symptoms at age 16 were linked to pot use at age 19.
This was true even when the researchers accounted for mental illness in the kids' families, alcohol use and tobacco use.
Griffith-Lendering said she could not say how much more likely young pot users were to exhibit psychotic symptoms later on.
Also, the new study cannot prove one causes the other. Genetics may also explain the link between pot use and psychosis, said Griffith-Lendering.
"We can say for some people that cannabis comes first and psychosis comes second, but for some people they have some (undiagnosed) psychosis (and) perhaps cannabis makes them feel better," said Dr. Marta Di Forti, of King's College, London, who was not involved with the new research.
Di Forti, who has studied the link between pot and psychosis, told Reuters Health she considers pot a risk factor for psychosis - not a cause.
Seeger, who was also not involved with the new study, said that there needs to be more public awareness of the connection.
"I think the marijuana is not a harmless substance. Especially for teenagers, there should be more of a public health message out there that marijuana has a public health risk," he said.
Griffith-Lendering agrees.
"Given the severity and impact of psychotic disorders, prevention programs should take this information into consideration," she said.

Read More..

Obesity declining in young, poorer kids: study

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The number of low-income preschoolers who qualify as obese or "extremely obese" has dropped over the last decade, new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show.
Although the decline was only "modest" and may not apply to all children, researchers said it was still encouraging.
"It's extremely important to make sure we're monitoring obesity in this low-income group," said the CDC's Heidi Blanck, who worked on the study.
Those kids are known to be at higher risk of obesity than their well-off peers, in part because access to healthy food is often limited in poorer neighborhoods.
The new results can't prove what's behind the progress, Blanck told Reuters Health - but two possible contributors are higher rates of breastfeeding and rising awareness of the importance of physical activity even for very young kids.
Blanck and her colleagues used data on routine clinic visits for about half of all U.S. kids eligible for federal nutrition programs - including 27.5 million children between age two and four.
They found 13 percent of those preschoolers were obese in 1998. That grew to just above 15 percent in 2003, but dropped slightly below 15 percent in 2010, the most recent study year included.
Similarly, the prevalence of extreme obesity increased from nearly 1.8 percent in 1998 to 2.2 percent in 2003, then dropped back to just below 2.1 percent in 2010, the research team reported Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Whether kids are obese is determined by their body mass index (BMI) - a measure of weight in relation to height - and by their age and sex.
For example, a four-year-old girl who is 40 inches tall would be obese if she was 42 pounds or heavier. A two-year-old boy who is 35 inches tall qualifies as obese at 34 pounds or above, according to the CDC's child BMI calculator. (The CDC's BMI calculator for children and teens is available here:.)
The new findings are the first national data to show obesity and extreme obesity may be declining in young children, Blanck said.
"This is very encouraging considering the recent effort made in the field including by several U.S. federal agencies to combat the childhood obesity epidemic," said Dr. Youfa Wang, head of the Johns Hopkins Global Center on Childhood Obesity in Baltimore.
Blanck said between 2003 and 2010 researchers also saw an increase in breastfeeding of low-income infants. Breastfeeding has been tied to a healthier weight in early childhood.
Additionally, states and communities have started working with child care centers to make sure kids have time to run around and that healthy foods are on the lunch menu, she added.
Parents can encourage better eating by having fruits and vegetables available at snack time and allowing their young kids to help with meal preparation, Blanck said.
Her other recommendations include making sure preschoolers get at least one hour of activity every day and keeping television sets out of the bedroom.
"The prevalence of overweight and obesity in many countries including in the U.S. is still very high," Wang, who wasn't involved in the new study, told Reuters Health in an email.
"The recent level off should not be taken as a reason to reduce the effort to fight the obesity epidemic."

Read More..

Kids Lead Crowd-Funded Scientific Mission to Nicaragua: Science Education Is the Tide That Lifts All Boats

Enzo, Haley and Emma are ordinary kids working on an extraordinary mission. They are joining up with a team of Special Forces medics and elite, global surgeons to deliver medical aid to the Rama Indians of Nicaragua in the spring of 2013.
In partnership with HumaniTV, the journey will be beamed to tens of thousands of kids around the globe by satellite as the three middle school students trek through the jungles of Central America performing research on sustainable agriculture and seeing first hand how science and innovation improves peoples' lives.
"We want to send a message to kids that science isn't just about getting a better job and making more money," says team captain and the creator of Exploration nation, twelve year old Enzo. "If it wasn't for science, we'd still be sitting in a cave somewhere chomping on a mammoth bone in the dark."
The high profile expedition was created by Enzoology Education, a social enterprise that produces Exploration Nation and HumaniTV, an online network featuring humanitarian aid programming to send the message that "science education is the tide that lifts all boats".
Enzo, Haley and Emma are part of the cast of Exploration Nation, an education program that features real kids doing real science research around the globe. These adventures are captured on video and coupled with lesson plans designed to inspire and motivate elementary and middle school students to take up careers in science.
America's Future as a Global Innovator Lies at the Feet of our Youngest Citizens
According to a 2009 study by Raytheon, about 60% of students lose their interest in science before the age of 13. The study is just one that shows how students start elementary school genuinely excited about science. By the time they hit seventh grade, the majority feel that science is "boring" and irrelevant to their lives.
Dave Wilson, director of academic programs at National Instruments, stated "In order for students to remain engaged in math and science, they need to actually experience the theory that educators put before them. Bringing the theory to life through hands-on experiences really helps students understand and learn better and makes the concepts more relevant to them." National Instruments is well known for its technical innovation and dedication to science and math education.
"Many science principles have been the same for hundreds of years." says Robert Bourdelais of Ward's Natural Science. "We are using 19th century methods to teach 21st century kids. Students today need to touch and feel science and learn by doing. A lecture environment doesn't inspire today's young students. The way we teach them needs to evolve and align with ever changing technology which is becoming the center of our modern world."
It should be no surprise that presenting science in a dry, isolated context to today's super stimulated kids results in students becoming more and more disconnected from how innovation is at the core of human existence. The irony of this belief is lost on the most wired generation in history.
It is a terrible irony that young people don't believe science to be relevant to their lives when they are totally immersed in some of the most advanced technological innovation in the history of mankind. Even worse is the idea that any one of these kids has the potential to cure cancer, solve the energy problem or invent the next insanely great thing. Let's just hope those kids are not in the 60% who fall through the cracks.
How Does Helping the Indigenous People of Nicaragua Help America's Students?
According to world renowned paleontologist Dr. Jack Horner, "I think it's time to do away with traditional classrooms where information is simply disseminated to students who are then expected to regurgitate that same information. We must now create environments where students have to think or create and solve problems or write using their imaginations in order to pass classes..." Horner says. "We need to show kids that active participation in science is exciting and important while motivating them to have their own adventures instead of hearing it second-hand."
Team XN: Expedition Central America is designed to inspire students to get actively involved in hands-on scientific study and show them how innovations in agriculture, renewable fuels, ethnobotany and medicine improve the living conditions of all people - especially the impoverished.
The Rama Indians of the Mosquito Coast in Nicaragua are on the receiving end for the Expedition. "We chose the Rama to illustrate what life would be like minus innovation." says Dr. Alfredo Lopez Salazar, owner of the Rio Indio Lodge in Nicaragua and a long time supporter of the indigenous populations in Central America. Dr. Lopez continues, "The Rama have a sophisticated tradition of thriving in the rain forest and an intimate knowledge of the plants and animals that surround them. But they currently struggle to fulfill their basic needs, such as medical care."
Team XN: Expedition Central America
The team of kids and doctors will bring access to a wide range of medical procedures, basic drugs like antibiotics and analgesics as well as water purification and curriculum materials for the only school in the village.
The fourteen day trek through the jungle will include several stops to create a series of lesson programs for Exploration Nation on subjects ranging from sustainable tropical agriculture and renewable energy to ethnobotany and austere medicine. These lessons will include instructional materials and video for elementary and middle school students.
The Expedition is also broadcasting live to classrooms across the United States each day of the journey, free for any educators who want to follow the adventure as a learning experience for their students. The team is raising money for the expedition using a crowd funding strategy a growing trend in the scientific community.

Read More..