Belfort will face Dan Henderson on Saturday in a five-round light heavyweight bout in Goiania, Brazil, that will serve as the main event of UFC Fight Night 32 and will be broadcast in the U.S. on Fox Sports 1.
Belfort is headlining the show in Goiania at the request of Globo, the UFC's broadcast partner in Brazil and the South American nation's largest television network.
UFC president Dana White said viewership and ratings expectations for Saturday's card in Brazil are astronomical. He said Globo expects a 70-75 share and an average viewership of between 12 and 14 million people. That's staggeringly high for an MMA card, and is roughly comparable to the average viewership of an NFL regular season game in the U.S. in 2011 and 2012, particularly when accounting for the disparity in market size.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Heart-clogging trans fats were once a staple of the American diet, plentiful in baked goods, microwave popcorn and fried foods. Now, mindful of the health risks, the Food and Drug Administration is getting rid of what's left of them for good.
Condemning artificial trans fats as a threat to public health, the FDA announced Thursday it will require the food industry to phase them out.
Manufacturers already have eliminated many trans fats, responding to criticism from the medical community and to local laws, Even so, the FDA said getting rid of the rest — the average American still eats around a gram of trans fat a day — could prevent 20,000 heart attacks and 7,000 deaths each year.
It won't happen right away. The agency will collect comments for two months before determining a phase-out timetable. Different foods may have different schedules, depending how easy it is to find substitutes.
"We want to do it in a way that doesn't unduly disrupt markets," said Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods. Still, he says, the food "industry has demonstrated that it is, by and large, feasible to do."
Indeed, so much already has changed that most people won't notice much difference, if any, in food they get at groceries or restaurants.
Scientists say there are no health benefits to trans fats. And they can raise levels of "bad" cholesterol, increasing the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death in the United States. Trans fats are widely considered the worst kind for your heart, even worse than saturated fats, which also can contribute to heart disease.
Trans fats are used both in processed food and in restaurants, often to improve the texture, shelf life or flavor of foods. Though they have been removed from many items, the fats are still found in some baked goods such as pie crusts and biscuits and in ready-to-eat frostings that use the more-solid fats to keep consistency.
They also are sometimes used by restaurants for frying. Many larger chains have phased them out, but smaller restaurants may still get food containing trans fats from suppliers.
How can the government get rid of them? The FDA said it has made a preliminary determination that trans fats no longer fall in the agency's "generally recognized as safe" category, which covers thousands of additives that manufacturers can add to foods without FDA review. Once trans fats are off the list, anyone who wants to use them would have to petition the agency for a regulation allowing it, and that would likely not be approved.
The fats are created when hydrogen is added to vegetable oil to make it more solid, which is why they are often called partially hydrogenated oils. The FDA is not targeting small amounts of trans fats that occur naturally in some meat and dairy products, because they would be too difficult to remove and aren't considered a major public health threat on their own.
Many companies have already phased out trans fats, prompted by new nutrition labels introduced by FDA in 2006 that list trans fats and by an increasing number of local laws, like one in New York City, that have banned them. In 2011, Wal-Mart pledged to remove all artificial trans fats from the foods the company sells by 2016. Recent school lunch guidelines prevent them from being served in cafeterias.
In a statement, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said it was his city's 2008 ban that led to much of the change. "Our prohibition on trans fats was one of many bold public health measures that faced fierce initial criticism, only to gain widespread acceptance and support," he said.
But support is far from universal. A nationwide poll conducted by the Pew Research Center between Oct. 30 and Nov. 6 said that of the 996 adults surveyed, 44 percent were in favor of prohibiting restaurants from using trans fats while 52 percent opposed the idea.
Still, Americans are eating much less of the fat. According to the FDA, trans fat intake among Americans declined from 4.6 grams per day in 2003 to around one gram in 2012.
A handful of other countries have banned them, including Switzerland and Denmark. Other countries have enacted strict labeling laws.
Dr. Leon Bruner, chief scientist at the Grocery Manufacturers Association, said in a statement that his group estimates that food manufacturers have voluntarily lowered the amount of trans fats in food products by 73 percent.
The group, which represents the country's largest food companies, did not speculate on a reasonable timeline or speak to how difficult a ban might be for some manufacturers. Bruner said in a statement that "consumers can be confident that their food is safe, and we look forward to working with the FDA to better understand their concerns and how our industry can better serve consumers."
Said FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg: "While consumption of potentially harmful artificial trans fat has declined over the last two decades in the United States, current intake remains a significant public health concern."
Agency officials say they have been working on trans fat issues for around 15 years and have been collecting data to justify a possible phase-out since just after President Barack Obama came into office in 2009.
The advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest first petitioned FDA to ban trans fats nine years ago. The group's director, Michael Jacobson, says the prohibition is "one of the most important lifesaving actions the FDA could take."
"Six months or a year should be more than enough time, especially considering that companies have had a decade to figure out what to do," Jacobson said.
___
Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mcjalonick
Feeling perky post-split? Liberty Ross proudly flaunted her body on the red carpet of the MOCA Awards in Beverly Hills on Wednesday, Nov. 6. The 35-year-old estranged wife of Rupert Sanders went braless in a see-through black dress that exposed her nipples.
Ross appeared to be in great spirits at the event, flashing a big smile to photographers while posing on the carpet. The model styled a short, sleeveless dress with a sheer black bodice and white-and-black printed skirt and black high-heels. The British mom of two also playfully posed in a pair of dark shades, which she later placed on the top of her head.
Ross recently opened up to Vanity Fair about life after her husband's public affair. The Snow White and the Huntsman director was caught cheating with the star of his movie, Kristen Stewart, on July 17, 2012.
"It was horrible," Ross told the December issue of the magazine. "It was really the worst, really the worst."
After filing for divorce from Sanders in January 2013, Ross, who is now dating music honcho Jimmy Iovine, said she's finally moving on. "I have no words to describe what we went through," she told Vanity Fair. "But I think, for me, something always has to completely die for there to be a rebirth. And, for me, I feel like I'm going through a rebirth."
Researchers advocate for climate adaptation science
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
7-Nov-2013
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Contact: Phil Mote pmote@coas.oregonstate.edu 541-737-5694 Oregon State University
CORVALLIS, Ore. An international team of researchers says in a new paper that climate science needs to advance to a new realm more practical applications for dealing with the myriad impacts of climate variability.
The scientific capability already exists as does much of the organizational structure, they say, to begin responding to emerging climate-related issues ranging from declining snowpack, to severe storms, to sea level rise. What is missing is better engagement between the scientific community and the stakeholders they are seeking to inform.
Their paper is being published on Friday in the Policy Forum section of the journal Science.
"Adaptation is required in virtually all sectors of the economy and regions of the globe," they wrote. "However, without the appropriate science delivered in a decision-relevant context, it will become increasingly difficult if not impossible to prepare adequately."
Philip Mote, an Oregon State University climate scientist and co-author on the paper, said climate adaptation science involves trans-disciplinary research to understand the challenges and opportunities of climate change and how best to respond to them.
"What we need is more visibility to gain more inclusiveness to bring into play the private sector, resource managers, universities and a host of decision-makers and other stakeholders," said Mote, who directs the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State. "The stakeholders need to know our scientific capabilities, and we need to better understand their priorities and decision-making processes."
Oregon State is among the national leaders in climate adaptation science. In addition to the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute, the university has two regional climate centers one established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to work with municipalities, utilities, emergency management organizations and state and federal agencies; the other by the Department of the Interior to work primarily with federal and state agencies, and non-governmental organizations.
Mote, who is involved with all three centers, said work with stakeholders is gaining traction, but the gap that exists between scientists and decision-makers is still too large.
"The centers here and elsewhere around the country are driven by stakeholder demands, but that needs to reach deeper into the research enterprise," Mote said. "We're working with some water districts, forest managers and community leaders on a variety of issues, but that's just the tip of the iceberg."
Richard Moss, a senior scientist with the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, said the Science article grew out of a NASA-funded workshop held in 2012 at the Aspen Global Change Institute in Colorado, which focused on how to improve support for decision-making in the face of a changing climate.
"Traditionally, we think that what society needs is better predictions," said Moss, who was lead author on the Science article. "But at this workshop, all of us climate and social scientists alike recognized the need to consider how decisions get implemented and that climate is only one of many factors that will determine how people will adapt."
OSU's Mote said examples abound of issues that need the marriage of stakeholders and climate scientists. Changing snowmelt runoff is creating concerns for late-season urban water supplies, irrigation for agriculture, and migration of fish. An increasing number of plant and animal species are becoming stressed by climate change, including the white bark pine and the sage grouse. Rising sea levels and more intense storms threaten the infrastructure of coastal communities, which need to examine water and sewer systems, as well as placement of hospitals, schools and nursing homes.
Mote, Moss and their colleagues outline a comprehensive approach to research in the social, physical, environmental, engineering and other sciences. Among their recommendations for improvement:
Understand decision processes and knowledge requirements;
Identify vulnerabilities to climate change;
Improve foresight about exposure to climate hazards and other stressors;
Broaden the range of adaptation options and promote learning;
Provide examples of adaptation science in application;
Develop measures to establish adaptation science.
One such measure could be the development of a national institution of climate preparedness in the United States comprised of centers for adaptation science aimed at priority sectors.
"More broadly," the authors wrote in Science, "support for sustained, use-inspired, fundamental research on adaptation needs to be increased at research agencies. A particular challenge is to develop effective approaches to learn from adaptation practice as well as published research. Universities could provide support for sustained, trans-disciplinary interactions. Progress will require making a virtue of demonstrating tangible benefits for society by connecting research and applications."
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Researchers advocate for climate adaptation science
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
7-Nov-2013
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Contact: Phil Mote pmote@coas.oregonstate.edu 541-737-5694 Oregon State University
CORVALLIS, Ore. An international team of researchers says in a new paper that climate science needs to advance to a new realm more practical applications for dealing with the myriad impacts of climate variability.
The scientific capability already exists as does much of the organizational structure, they say, to begin responding to emerging climate-related issues ranging from declining snowpack, to severe storms, to sea level rise. What is missing is better engagement between the scientific community and the stakeholders they are seeking to inform.
Their paper is being published on Friday in the Policy Forum section of the journal Science.
"Adaptation is required in virtually all sectors of the economy and regions of the globe," they wrote. "However, without the appropriate science delivered in a decision-relevant context, it will become increasingly difficult if not impossible to prepare adequately."
Philip Mote, an Oregon State University climate scientist and co-author on the paper, said climate adaptation science involves trans-disciplinary research to understand the challenges and opportunities of climate change and how best to respond to them.
"What we need is more visibility to gain more inclusiveness to bring into play the private sector, resource managers, universities and a host of decision-makers and other stakeholders," said Mote, who directs the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State. "The stakeholders need to know our scientific capabilities, and we need to better understand their priorities and decision-making processes."
Oregon State is among the national leaders in climate adaptation science. In addition to the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute, the university has two regional climate centers one established by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to work with municipalities, utilities, emergency management organizations and state and federal agencies; the other by the Department of the Interior to work primarily with federal and state agencies, and non-governmental organizations.
Mote, who is involved with all three centers, said work with stakeholders is gaining traction, but the gap that exists between scientists and decision-makers is still too large.
"The centers here and elsewhere around the country are driven by stakeholder demands, but that needs to reach deeper into the research enterprise," Mote said. "We're working with some water districts, forest managers and community leaders on a variety of issues, but that's just the tip of the iceberg."
Richard Moss, a senior scientist with the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, said the Science article grew out of a NASA-funded workshop held in 2012 at the Aspen Global Change Institute in Colorado, which focused on how to improve support for decision-making in the face of a changing climate.
"Traditionally, we think that what society needs is better predictions," said Moss, who was lead author on the Science article. "But at this workshop, all of us climate and social scientists alike recognized the need to consider how decisions get implemented and that climate is only one of many factors that will determine how people will adapt."
OSU's Mote said examples abound of issues that need the marriage of stakeholders and climate scientists. Changing snowmelt runoff is creating concerns for late-season urban water supplies, irrigation for agriculture, and migration of fish. An increasing number of plant and animal species are becoming stressed by climate change, including the white bark pine and the sage grouse. Rising sea levels and more intense storms threaten the infrastructure of coastal communities, which need to examine water and sewer systems, as well as placement of hospitals, schools and nursing homes.
Mote, Moss and their colleagues outline a comprehensive approach to research in the social, physical, environmental, engineering and other sciences. Among their recommendations for improvement:
Understand decision processes and knowledge requirements;
Identify vulnerabilities to climate change;
Improve foresight about exposure to climate hazards and other stressors;
Broaden the range of adaptation options and promote learning;
Provide examples of adaptation science in application;
Develop measures to establish adaptation science.
One such measure could be the development of a national institution of climate preparedness in the United States comprised of centers for adaptation science aimed at priority sectors.
"More broadly," the authors wrote in Science, "support for sustained, use-inspired, fundamental research on adaptation needs to be increased at research agencies. A particular challenge is to develop effective approaches to learn from adaptation practice as well as published research. Universities could provide support for sustained, trans-disciplinary interactions. Progress will require making a virtue of demonstrating tangible benefits for society by connecting research and applications."
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
What are the most striking features of the new version of Office Web Apps? The ones that aren't there.
It isn't the fact that the Save button has been nixed (shades of Google Docs!) or that multiple users can edit the same document in real time and not stomp all over each other's work. It's how little -- as opposed to how much -- variation there is between OWA and its desktop counterparts.
That small margin makes a big difference.
Better collaborative editing than the desktop Tony Bradley at PCWorld covers in detail all the new goodies in OWA, which still consists only of Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. The biggest is simultaneous co-authoring: Many users can log into OWA, open the same document, and work on it simultaneously. Flags within the document tell you where each user is.
One particularly smart touch here is how Microsoft has set different levels of editing granularity for each document type. For Word, it's a paragraph; for Excel, it's a cell; for PowerPoint, it's a slide. They're good commonsense defaults, and in my conversation with Microsoft's people, they hinted at the possibility that it could be made even more fine-grained.
From a practical standpoint, it's unlikely two people will attempt to edit the same sentence at once. But if Microsoft can nudge the line of thinking a smidge further in that direction, it's a sign of how completely Web apps could be able to eclipse their desktop cousins. For one, the desktop versions of these apps don't have anything like the simultaneous-editing features found in OWA -- a case where the Web app actually sports a feature superior to the desktop app.
This brings up the first of two big questions about OWA. Do Web apps need to displace their desktop counterparts?
The answer may be different depending on whether you're asking Microsoft or end-users. End-users may enjoy the convenience of OWA, but there comes a point where OWA simply can't deliver. The longer and more complex the document, the greater the odds OWA -- or your browser -- will simply gag.
There's little question that Microsoft needs to create a product portfolio off the desktop that's as valuable and rich as the one the company has created on it. But I doubt it can move people off desktop editions of Office and into OWA anytime soon, and not just because OWA's feature set is lacking.
Graphic designer Paula Rupolo came up with the clever idea to see just how far famous brands and logos have penetrated our brains: she swapped the colors of brands with their closest competitor. The results are so weird: coke is blue, Pepsi is red, Google is purple and Yahoo is colorful. It's like living in some alternate reality.
FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2013, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall about the federal health care law. Obama says he's sorry Americans are losing health insurance plans he repeatedly said they could keep under his signature health care law. But the president stopped short of apologizing for making those promises in the first place. "I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," he said in an interview Thursday, Nov. 7 with NBC News. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 30, 2013, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall about the federal health care law. Obama says he's sorry Americans are losing health insurance plans he repeatedly said they could keep under his signature health care law. But the president stopped short of apologizing for making those promises in the first place. "I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," he said in an interview Thursday, Nov. 7 with NBC News. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says he's sorry Americans are losing health insurance plans he repeatedly said they could keep under his signature health care law. But the president stopped short of apologizing for making those promises in the first place.
"I am sorry that they are finding themselves in this situation based on assurances they got from me," he said in an interview Thursday with NBC News.
He added: "We've got to work hard to make sure that they know we hear them, and we are going to do everything we can to deal with folks who find themselves in a tough position as a consequence of this."
The president's apology comes as the White House tries to combat a cascade of troubles surrounding the rollout of the health care law often referred to as "Obamacare." The healthcare.gov website that was supposed to be an easy portal for Americans to purchase insurance has been riddled by technical issues. And with at least 3.5 million Americans receiving cancellation notices from their insurance companies, there's new scrutiny aimed at the way the president tried to sell the law to the public in the first place.
Much of the focus is on the president's promise that Americans who liked their insurance coverage would be able to keep it. He repeated the line often, both as the bill was debated in Congress and after it was signed into law.
But the measure itself made that promise almost impossible to keep. It mandated that insurance coverage must meet certain standards and that policies that fell short could no longer be sold except through a grandfathering process, meaning some policies were always expected to disappear.
The White House says under those guidelines, fewer than 5 percent of Americans will have to change their coverage. But in a nation of more than 300 million people, 5 percent is about 15 million people.
Officials argue that those people being forced to change plans will end up with better coverage and that subsidies offered by the government will help offset any increased costs.
"We weren't as clear as we needed to be in terms of the changes that were taking place," Obama told NBC. "And I want to do everything we can to make sure that people are finding themselves in a good position, a better position than they were before this law happened."
The president's critics have accused him of misleading the public about changes that were coming under the law, which remains unpopular with many Americans and a target for congressional Republicans.
Obama dismissed that criticism, saying "I meant what I said" and insisting that his administration was operating in "good faith." He acknowledged that the administration "didn't do a good enough job in terms of how we crafted the law" but did not specify what changes might be made.
Sign-ups for the new health care marketplaces opened Oct. 1. People have six months to enroll before facing a penalty.
Some lawmakers — including Democrats — have called on the White House to delay the penalty or extend the enrollment period because of the website woes that have prevented many used from signing up. Obama said he remains confident that anyone who wants to buy insurance will be able to do so.
"Keep in mind that the open enrollment period, the period during which you can buy health insurance is available all the way until March 31," he said. "And we're only five weeks into it."
The question of how humans process the flood of electronic media was a central part of the work of Stanford University sociology professor Clifford Nass, who died recently. Citing multiple studies, Nass said people often overestimate their ability to multitask.
iStockphoto.com
The question of how humans process the flood of electronic media was a central part of the work of Stanford University sociology professor Clifford Nass, who died recently. Citing multiple studies, Nass said people often overestimate their ability to multitask.
iStockphoto.com
Clifford Nass, the Stanford University sociologist who helped pioneer studies that undermined ideas about multitasking, has died at age 55. The man who dedicated his career to thinking about how humans live in a digital age died after taking part in a hike near Lake Tahoe Saturday.
At Stanford, Nass was "a larger than life character," his colleague professor Byron Reeves tells NPR's All Things Considered. Reeves says Nass "was just incredibly enthusiastic about his work, about students."
As for Nass' legacy, Reeves says his colleague worked to trace how technology has moved "from tools to social actors," in which everything from robots and computer-laden cars can now use interactive software to present visual cues.
"These were essentially social responses," Reeves says. "And humans were built for those kinds of social responses, and to recognize that kind of social interaction and to participate... and they did."
A graduate of Princeton University with degrees in mathematics and sociology, Nass worked as a computer scientist at Intel Corp. before beginning his work at Stanford, according to the Stanford Report. The school paper adds, "He was also a professional magician."
Nass's work on multitasking was just one part of how he examined the way people interact with technology. He also wrote books about voice recognition software, and the ways people think about computers and television.
But it was his research — and his skepticism — about multitasking that drew the most notice. And Nass didn't have to look far for test subjects.
"The top 25 percent of Stanford students are using four or more media at one time whenever they're using media," he told NPR's Science Friday this past May. "So when they're writing a paper, they're also Facebooking, listening to music, texting, Twittering, et cetera. And that's something that just couldn't happen in previous generations even if we wanted it to."
To anyone who claims they're able to multitask, to concentrate on multiple things at once while still thinking creatively and using their memory, Nass had a ready response.
"They're basically terrible at all sorts of cognitive tasks, including multitasking," he told Science Friday's Ira Flatow, citing a raft of scientific research. In Nass's view, people who say they're good at multitasking because they do it all the time are like smokers who say they've always smoked — so it can't be bad form them.
"People who multitask all the time can't filter out irrelevancy. They can't manage a working memory. They're chronically distracted," Nass said. "They initiate much larger parts of their brain that are irrelevant to the task at hand. And even - they're even terrible at multitasking. When we ask them to multitask, they're actually worse at it. So they're pretty much mental wrecks."
Nass also warned that the mental strain of taking in an ever-increasing load of information through electronic media hasn't been fully realized.
"Companies now create policies that force their employees to multitask," he said, according to the Stanford Report. "It's an OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) problem. It's not safe for people's brains."
Another of Nass' experiments revolved around how people see virtual versions of themselves — particularly when given the option of giving themselves feedback. Here's how he explained the results of a study during a 2010 appearance on NPR:
"We've done studies, for example, in which... you take a test on a computer and the feedback is either given not only by your own voice but your own face, saying you did a good job or you did a bad job, or someone else has.
"And people not only thought they did better when they got feedback from their own voice, they thought their own face and voice was more intelligent, more likable, and in fact they remembered more of the positive and fewer of the negative comments."
FILE - In this Feb. 10, 2013 file photo, Chris Brown arrives at the 55th annual Grammy Awards, in Los Angeles. Brown on Wednesday Nov. 6, 2013, countersued a man who claimed the R&B singer injured him during a fight outside a recording studio earlier this year. Brown's suit seeks unspecified damages and claims Sha'keir Duarte punched and kicked him during the fight. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Chris Brown has countersued a man who accused the R&B star's entourage of attacking him outside a recording studio earlier this year.
The singer filed an assault and battery lawsuit Wednesday against Sha'keir Duarte, who claimed in an earlier suit that he was injured when a fight erupted between Brown and Frank Ocean's entourages in January outside a West Hollywood studio.
Duarte sued Brown in August and accused the singer of being the aggressor in the fight. Brown's countersuit however accuses Duarte of instigating the fight by pushing, kicking and punching the R&B singer and threatening to kill him.
Brown, 24, is seeking unspecified damages.
Duarte's attorney Joseph Porter III did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment.
No criminal charges were filed over the fight, but Brown may face criminal penalties after he was arrested last month in Washington, D.C. for allegedly punching a man outside a hotel.
Brown remains on probation for his 2009 attack on then-girlfriend Rihanna and is due for a hearing in Los Angeles on Nov. 20, during which the new case may be addressed. Brown spent a day and a half in custody and faces a misdemeanor battery charge over the incident.
The R&B singer entered rehab for anger management issues on Oct. 29.
In the new RoboCop trailer, Samuel L. Jackson claims that the American public refuses to have robots patrolling the streets. But when this happens in real life we shouldn't reject it, because it could be a great thing.
One man's sewage is another man's drinking water. This pipe, filled with straw-like filters, gets rid of the contaminants in __.
Amy Standen/KQED
One man's sewage is another man's drinking water. This pipe, filled with straw-like filters, gets rid of the contaminants in __.
Amy Standen/KQED
In California's Silicon Valley, there will soon be a new source of water for residents. That may not sound like big news, but the source of this water – while certainly high-tech — is raising some eyebrows.
With freshwater becoming more scarce in many parts of the country, the public may have to overcome its aversion to water recycling.
Ah, The Stench Of Drinking Water
If text could transmit odor, you'd already know where this water is coming from.
"Well, we happen to be very close to a landfill," says Marty Grimes, a spokesman for the brand-new $68 million Silicon Valley Advanced Water Purification Center in San Jose.
There's also a wastewater treatment plant across the street. And that is where this water comes from: a place that smells a lot like a toilet.
This hydrant carries __ water to/from the treatment plant.
Amy Standen/KQED
This hydrant carries __ water to/from the treatment plant.
Amy Standen/KQED
"Wastewater is not necessarily a pretty business," says Grimes. "But let me tell you, the result of our plant is going to be pure, clean water."
It's a little unfair to linger on the unsavory sewage source. When this plant starts up later this year, it will be doing some of the most state-of-the-art water filtration in the country.
Naturally, that's what engineers here emphasize when they give tours.
"The water comes from the autostrainers, where it's strained down to 300 microns," says Crystal Yezman, who works at the facility. One micron is one thousandth of a millimeter, so 300 microns is about the size of a human hair.
That's step one — filtering out everything wider than a human hair.
Finally, the water gets zapped by ultraviolet rays, which scramble the DNA of anything that might be living in it. This water is clean.
"The Department of Health has acknowledged that we are removing 99.99 percent of all pathogens," says Yezman.
If that's true, then the water is cleaner than snow melt, and certainly almost as good as what people get from their kitchen sinks now.
Or, says Grimes, "it could be even better."
Erasing A Dirty Past
Despite how clean this water is, no one's going to drink it. It's going into segregated pipes bound for landscaping instead.
But that may have to change one day because, like a lot of places in the West, water supplies here are drying up. Recycled water is the future — if enough people can be convinced that it's OK to drink.
"You have to break the memory, or the line of history, of the water," explains Brent Haddad of the University of California, Santa Cruz.
This is not an engineering challenge, he says. It's a psychological challenge. Water managers, he says, need to rewrite the history of the water to help people forget the part about sewage.
One way to do this is to take recycled water and put it back into a natural setting, like a river.
A "river is something that's comforting to people," says Haddad. "And we don't have to think anymore that it was passing through a city. We just begin the history of that water in the river itself."
Nine Years Of Convincing
This, of course, happens in nature every day. Just look at the Mississippi River — it's full of treated sewage water that people downstream clean and then drink.
And it's happening in Southern California, home to the largest potable water recycling facility in the world.
"We put it back into the ground, and then eventually it becomes part of the water supply," says Mike Markus, general manager of the facility.
Instead of putting their water into a river, his district cleans treated sewage and then pumps it underground, where it mixes with other water. Then, they pump it back up and treat it all over again, before piping it to peoples' houses.
Even with this crazy, Rube Goldbergian system, getting the public to accept recycled water took lots of meetings.
Markus says he and his colleagues talked to almost anyone who would listen — local elected officials, the health and medical community, the chamber of commerce, schools, environmentalists, rotary groups.
"We talked to the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. And scouting troops," Markus adds. "Anyone who would want to hear or receive a presentation."
That whole process took nine years.
The irony, of course, is that when you put recycled water back into the ecosystem, it actually gets dirtier and has to be treated again. How does it feel to put that beautiful clean water into a hole in the ground? "Frustrated," Markus says.
So, he reminds himself that winning people over to recycled sewage water is a process — one that's just beginning here in Silicon Valley.
New method predicts time from Alzheimer's onset to nursing home, death
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
7-Nov-2013
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Contact: Elizabeth Streich eas2125@cumc.columbia.edu 212-305-3689 Columbia University Medical Center
Draws on information from a single patient visit
NEW YORK, NY (Nov. 7, 2013) A Columbia University Medical Center-led research team has clinically validated a new method for predicting time to full-time care, nursing home residence, or death for patients with Alzheimer's disease. The method, which uses data gathered from a single patient visit, is based on a complex model of Alzheimer's disease progression that the researchers developed by consecutively following two sets of Alzheimer's patients for 10 years each. The results were published online ahead of print in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
"Predicting Alzheimer's progression has been a challenge because the disease varies significantly from one person to anothertwo Alzheimer's patients may both appear to have mild forms of the disease, yet one may progress rapidly, while the other progresses much more slowly," said senior author Yaakov Stern, PhD, professor of neuropsychology (in neurology, psychiatry, and psychology and in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain and the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center) at CUMC. "Our method enables clinicians to predict the disease path with great specificity."
"Until now, some methods of predicting the course of Alzheimer's have required data not obtained in routine clinical practice, such as specific neuropsychological or other measurements, and have been relatively inaccurate. This method is more practical for routine use," said Nikolaos Scarmeas, MD, a study co-author and associate professor of neurology, in the Taub Institute and the Sergievsky Center. "It may become a valuable tool for both physicians and patients' families."
The new method also may be used in clinical trialsto ensure that patient cohorts are balanced between those with faster-progressing Alzheimer's and those with slower-progressing diseaseand by health economists to predict the economic impact of Alzheimer's disease.
The prediction method is based on a Longitudinal Grade of Membership (L-GoM) model, developed by a research team also led by Dr. Stern and published in 2010.
The L-GoM includes 16 sets of variables, such as ability to participate in routine day-to-day activities; mental status; motor skills; estimated time of symptom onset; and duration of tremor, rigidity, or other neurological symptoms. It also includes data obtained postmortem (time and cause of death).
"The benefit of the L-GoM model is that it takes into account the complexity of Alzheimer's disease. Patients don't typically fall neatly into mild, moderate, or severe disease categories. For example, a patient may be able to live independently yet have hallucinations or behavioral outbursts," said Dr. Stern, who also directs the Cognitive Neuroscience Division at CUMC. "Our method is flexible enough to handle missing data. Not all 16 variables are needed for accurate predictionsjust as many as are available."
Results can be presented as expected time to a particular outcome. Two 68-year-old Alzheimer's patients, for example, had similar mental status scores (one a mini-mental status score (mMMS) of 38/54, the other of 39/54) at initial visit. The first patient was more dependent on his caregiver and had psychiatric symptoms (delusions). These and other subtle differences in the initial presentation of the two patients resulted in different predictions of time until death. The method accurately predicted that the first patient would die within three years, while the other would survive more than 10 years.
"In addition to time to nursing home residence or death, our method can be used to predict time to assisted living or other levels of care, such as needing help with eating or dressing, or time to incontinence," said first author Ray Razlighi, PhD, assistant professor of neurology at CUMC and adjunct assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia University.
Development of the method began in 1989, when Dr. Stern received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to begin the Predictors of Severity in Alzheimer's Disease study. "The fact that work on this prediction method began nearly 25 years ago underlines the difficulties of studying Alzheimer's disease," said Richard Mayeux, MD, MS, neurology chair, the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry and Epidemiology and co-director of the Taub Institute and the Sergievsky Center.
Dr. Stern and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital and Johns Hopkins first followed 252 non-familial Alzheimer's patients every six months for 10 years. Eric Stallard, an actuary at Duke and a co-author of the paper, used the resultant data to create an L-GoM model of Alzheimer's progression. They published their results in 2010 in Medical Decision Making. The researchers then followed a separate group of 254 patients and used data from only a single patient visit to predict outcomes for this group.
Dr. Stern and his team are now developing a computer program that would allow clinicians to input the variables and receive a report. They expect the program to become available within the next two years. Eventually, such a program might be incorporated into electronic health records. "At our Alzheimer's center, patients are already filling out much of their clinical information electronically," said Dr. Stern.
The researchers are also testing the method with a third cohort. While the first two sets of patients were primarily white, educated, and of high socioeconomic status, the new cohort follows a diverse group of participants from CUMC's Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP), an ongoing, community-based study of aging and dementia comprising elderly, urban-dwelling residents. Because participants may be dementia-free when they join the study, the researchers are able to capture the age of dementia onset and track symptom development over time.
###
The paper is titled, "A New Algorithm for Predicting Time to Disease Endpoints in Alzheimer's Disease Patients." The method's formula is detailed in supplementary material for the paper. The other contributors are: Anatoliy I. Yashin (Duke); Jason Brandt and Marilyn Albert (Johns Hopkins); Deborah Blacker (Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard); and Bruce Kinosian (Philadelphia VA Medical Center).
The study was supported by a grant to Dr. Stern from the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG007370). The authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interest.
The Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center is a multidisciplinary group that has forged links between researchers and clinicians to uncover the causes of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other age-related brain diseases and discover ways to prevent and cure these diseases. It has partnered with the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center at Columbia University Medical Center, which was established by an endowment in 1977 to focus on diseases of the nervous system, and with the Departments of Pathology & Cell Biology and of Neurology to allow the seamless integration of genetic analysis, molecular, and cellular studies and clinical investigation to explore all phases of diseases of the nervous system. For more information visit The Taub Institute at http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/taub/.
Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. For more information, visit cumc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org.
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New method predicts time from Alzheimer's onset to nursing home, death
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7-Nov-2013
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Contact: Elizabeth Streich eas2125@cumc.columbia.edu 212-305-3689 Columbia University Medical Center
Draws on information from a single patient visit
NEW YORK, NY (Nov. 7, 2013) A Columbia University Medical Center-led research team has clinically validated a new method for predicting time to full-time care, nursing home residence, or death for patients with Alzheimer's disease. The method, which uses data gathered from a single patient visit, is based on a complex model of Alzheimer's disease progression that the researchers developed by consecutively following two sets of Alzheimer's patients for 10 years each. The results were published online ahead of print in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
"Predicting Alzheimer's progression has been a challenge because the disease varies significantly from one person to anothertwo Alzheimer's patients may both appear to have mild forms of the disease, yet one may progress rapidly, while the other progresses much more slowly," said senior author Yaakov Stern, PhD, professor of neuropsychology (in neurology, psychiatry, and psychology and in the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain and the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center) at CUMC. "Our method enables clinicians to predict the disease path with great specificity."
"Until now, some methods of predicting the course of Alzheimer's have required data not obtained in routine clinical practice, such as specific neuropsychological or other measurements, and have been relatively inaccurate. This method is more practical for routine use," said Nikolaos Scarmeas, MD, a study co-author and associate professor of neurology, in the Taub Institute and the Sergievsky Center. "It may become a valuable tool for both physicians and patients' families."
The new method also may be used in clinical trialsto ensure that patient cohorts are balanced between those with faster-progressing Alzheimer's and those with slower-progressing diseaseand by health economists to predict the economic impact of Alzheimer's disease.
The prediction method is based on a Longitudinal Grade of Membership (L-GoM) model, developed by a research team also led by Dr. Stern and published in 2010.
The L-GoM includes 16 sets of variables, such as ability to participate in routine day-to-day activities; mental status; motor skills; estimated time of symptom onset; and duration of tremor, rigidity, or other neurological symptoms. It also includes data obtained postmortem (time and cause of death).
"The benefit of the L-GoM model is that it takes into account the complexity of Alzheimer's disease. Patients don't typically fall neatly into mild, moderate, or severe disease categories. For example, a patient may be able to live independently yet have hallucinations or behavioral outbursts," said Dr. Stern, who also directs the Cognitive Neuroscience Division at CUMC. "Our method is flexible enough to handle missing data. Not all 16 variables are needed for accurate predictionsjust as many as are available."
Results can be presented as expected time to a particular outcome. Two 68-year-old Alzheimer's patients, for example, had similar mental status scores (one a mini-mental status score (mMMS) of 38/54, the other of 39/54) at initial visit. The first patient was more dependent on his caregiver and had psychiatric symptoms (delusions). These and other subtle differences in the initial presentation of the two patients resulted in different predictions of time until death. The method accurately predicted that the first patient would die within three years, while the other would survive more than 10 years.
"In addition to time to nursing home residence or death, our method can be used to predict time to assisted living or other levels of care, such as needing help with eating or dressing, or time to incontinence," said first author Ray Razlighi, PhD, assistant professor of neurology at CUMC and adjunct assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Columbia University.
Development of the method began in 1989, when Dr. Stern received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to begin the Predictors of Severity in Alzheimer's Disease study. "The fact that work on this prediction method began nearly 25 years ago underlines the difficulties of studying Alzheimer's disease," said Richard Mayeux, MD, MS, neurology chair, the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Professor of Neurology, Psychiatry and Epidemiology and co-director of the Taub Institute and the Sergievsky Center.
Dr. Stern and colleagues at Massachusetts General Hospital and Johns Hopkins first followed 252 non-familial Alzheimer's patients every six months for 10 years. Eric Stallard, an actuary at Duke and a co-author of the paper, used the resultant data to create an L-GoM model of Alzheimer's progression. They published their results in 2010 in Medical Decision Making. The researchers then followed a separate group of 254 patients and used data from only a single patient visit to predict outcomes for this group.
Dr. Stern and his team are now developing a computer program that would allow clinicians to input the variables and receive a report. They expect the program to become available within the next two years. Eventually, such a program might be incorporated into electronic health records. "At our Alzheimer's center, patients are already filling out much of their clinical information electronically," said Dr. Stern.
The researchers are also testing the method with a third cohort. While the first two sets of patients were primarily white, educated, and of high socioeconomic status, the new cohort follows a diverse group of participants from CUMC's Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP), an ongoing, community-based study of aging and dementia comprising elderly, urban-dwelling residents. Because participants may be dementia-free when they join the study, the researchers are able to capture the age of dementia onset and track symptom development over time.
###
The paper is titled, "A New Algorithm for Predicting Time to Disease Endpoints in Alzheimer's Disease Patients." The method's formula is detailed in supplementary material for the paper. The other contributors are: Anatoliy I. Yashin (Duke); Jason Brandt and Marilyn Albert (Johns Hopkins); Deborah Blacker (Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard); and Bruce Kinosian (Philadelphia VA Medical Center).
The study was supported by a grant to Dr. Stern from the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG007370). The authors declare no financial or other conflicts of interest.
The Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer's Disease and the Aging Brain at Columbia University Medical Center is a multidisciplinary group that has forged links between researchers and clinicians to uncover the causes of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other age-related brain diseases and discover ways to prevent and cure these diseases. It has partnered with the Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center at Columbia University Medical Center, which was established by an endowment in 1977 to focus on diseases of the nervous system, and with the Departments of Pathology & Cell Biology and of Neurology to allow the seamless integration of genetic analysis, molecular, and cellular studies and clinical investigation to explore all phases of diseases of the nervous system. For more information visit The Taub Institute at http://www.cumc.columbia.edu/dept/taub/.
Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, preclinical, and clinical research; medical and health sciences education; and patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the largest medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest faculty medical practices in the Northeast. For more information, visit cumc.columbia.edu or columbiadoctors.org.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
One day Neil Gaiman will rule everything. I’ve seen it in the stars. I’ve foretold it in tea leaves. I heard about it at GDC Next 2013 in Los Angeles on Thursday.
Gaiman, author of novels like American Gods and Coraline, is involved on a new game entitled Wayward Manor, in collaboration with The Odd Gentlemen, developer of critically-acclaimed game The Misadventures of P.B. Winterbottom.
Ghost in the house
Wayward Manor is a puzzle and adventure game, built in the style of classic Hollywood whodunits. You’re a ghost—more akin to Beetlejuice than Casper the Friendly Ghost. Your goal is to drive a bunch of obnoxious residents from your home by exploiting their fears, uncovering the truth behind the mansion in the process.
“We wanted to blend game mechanics and story together through play,” says Matt Korba, co-founder of The Odd Gentlemen, during his GDC Next talk. “[Neil] wasn’t really interested in coming in and being a writer for hire. The two of us have gone back and forth. Neil’s influenced the design, we’ve influenced the writing.”
The Odd Gentlemen claim Gaiman is doing more than just writing Wayward Manor.
“It was very obvious from the start that Neil respects games,” continued Korba. “He really understands the different needs of different medias.”
Most writers outside the game industry are used to a more linear or film-like format, even though games are fundamentally a choice-based narrative. This can be a huge detriment when writing game stories, as it tends to funnel players down a specific path.
According to Korba, Gaiman “got” games and understood what made the medium special.
There’s very little dialogue in Wayward Manor—in fact, Korba and the rest of the team are actively removing dialogue at this point to let Gaiman’s story shine through the interactive elements.
“A lot of people that want to get into games from Hollywood think it’s all about that cutscene and who cares whatever you’re doing in between those,” said Korba. “From the start, [Gaiman] was like, ‘We’re not going to tell the story through cutscenes. That’s boring. Nobody plays a game to watch cutscenes.’”
And it all started with a bunch of Lego blocks.
Building a game, brick by brick
“We’re really big on paper prototyping at the studio,” said Korba. “We think it’s a great way to share the experience early on and find out what makes the game work and not work and make changes really fast.”
Paper prototyping, as you might expect, involves physically building the basic elements of the game out of available materials, whether clay, toothpicks, Lego, or actual paper. What you end up with is something between a board game and a more abstract experience like Dungeons and Dragons.
Wayward Manor was built on a base of LEGO prototypes.
“We’d set up these levels in Lego, and it was color-coded and the bricks all corresponded to something in the game. A one-piece brick would be a level one object you could possess, a two-piece brick would be a level two object and so on,” said Korba.
“So we’d create these little scenes and then we would play them with people. We’d ask them what they would touch, and then we’d act out what would happen,” he continued.
The result? “We had this back and forth, fun little thing we could put on and show people and get to what we thought was the core of the game.”
And that’s what hooked Gaiman. Paper prototyping is just abstract enough to make a game fun even in the early days of development, when the actual digital prototype is still a garbled mess.
“When we’re talking about a collaboration with outside talent, it’s oftentimes easier for people to see the game and imagine where the game could go than showing them something digital,” said Korba. “Oftentimes when you show them something that’s very early digital it has temp art in it or it doesn’t have the proper sound or animation…and they can’t really see past that.”
“With a paper prototype, since it’s so abstract and a lot of times plays like a board game, you get people’s imaginations working and they can see where the game could go,” he continued.
We’re still a bit off from exploring Wayward Manor ourselves. Korba showed off some digital prototypes during his talk, but the full game won’t see release until next year.
In the meantime, maybe you should bust out that old Lego collection and try your hand at building your own games.
Miami Dolphins coach Joe Philbin talks to the media during a news conference after practice at the Dolphins training center in Davie, Fla., Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. NFL officials launched an investigation to try and determine who knew what and when about the troubled relationship between offensive lineman Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)
Miami Dolphins coach Joe Philbin talks to the media during a news conference after practice at the Dolphins training center in Davie, Fla., Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013. NFL officials launched an investigation to try and determine who knew what and when about the troubled relationship between offensive lineman Richie Incognito and Jonathan Martin. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)
Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland, left, stands with head trainer Kevin O'Neill, right, during the NFL football team's practice Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2013, in Davie, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
DAVIE, Fla. (AP) — In a culture that fosters conflict, Jonathan Martin sought to avoid it.
Upset by treatment he considered abusive, the Miami Dolphins tackle let the situation fester for months before leaving the team last week. Martin's agent then complained to the Dolphins, who suspended guard Richie Incognito.
The NFL is investigating whether Incognito harassed or bullied Martin, and whether their teammates and the organization mishandled the matter.
Some say Martin, a Stanford graduate who went about his business quietly, handled the situation well. But pro football is a macho world, and some players believe Martin should have responded more firmly.
"Is Incognito wrong? Absolutely. He's 100 percent wrong," New York Giants safety Antrel Rolle said. "No individual should have to go through that, especially in their workplace.
"But at the same time, Jonathan Martin is a 6-4, 320-pound man. I mean, at some point and time you need to stand your ground as an individual. Am I saying go attack, go fight him? No. I think we all understand we can stand our ground without anything being physical."
Dolphins players have robustly defended Incognito, long considered among the NFL's dirtiest players. He's now a notorious national villain, but teammates praise his leadership and loyalty.
They've been less passionate in their support of Martin, saying he and Incognito behaved like best friends.
"They did a lot of stuff together," tackle Tyson Clabo said. "So if he had a problem with the way he was treating him, he had a funny way of showing it."
Martin is with his family in California to undergo counseling for emotional issues.
A senior partner in a New York law firm was appointed by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to investigate possible misconduct and prepare a report. DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Association, said Thursday that he continues to be in touch with those involved.
"The NFLPA has taken steps to ensure that every one of our affected members is represented," Smith said in a statement. "It is our duty as a union to learn the full facts, protect the interests of players involved and hold management accountable to the highest standards of fairness and transparency."
The alleged bullying saga engulfing the Dolphins has shed a light on how damaging perceptions can be in the violent world of the NFL.
A Pittsburgh native, Martin is the son of Harvard graduates and his great grandfather also graduated from the school in 1924. At Stanford he protected Andrew Luck's blind side, and also majored in the classics.
Taken in the second round of the 2012 draft, Martin has what it takes physically to be an NFL player — size, skill, athleticism, intelligence. He won praise from the Dolphins for his diligent study of game and practice video.
But while has been a starter since the first game of his rookie season, Martin developed a reputation in the NFL for lacking toughness. That impression might have been reinforced by the way he handled his issues with Incognito, current and former teammates acknowledge.
"A lot of people might look at Jonathan Martin and think that he's soft because he stepped away from the game, and say, 'Why don't you just fight him?'" said Seattle Seahawks receiver Doug Baldwin, who played with Martin at Stanford. "Well, if you look at it with common sense and being logical, what options did Jonathan Martin have?
"He could fight Richie Incognito. He could go and tell on the players, which we know in the football locker room doesn't go over too well. Or he could remove himself from the situation and let the proper channels take care of itself. And I think he made the intelligent, smart choice without putting himself or Richie Incognito's physical abilities in danger."
Houston Texans Antonio Smith, who has accused Incognito of dirty play since they went against each other in college, said Martin should have responded more forcefully. Smith drew a three-game suspension this year for taking Incognito's helmet and hitting him during an exhibition game.
"I don't think that in my opinion a grown man should get bullied," Smith said. "And I think that if you're realistically getting bullied, there's only one way my mom taught me and my dad taught me how to get rid of bullies. They used to always say, 'You hit a bully in the mouth. It will stop him from bullying, no matter what you hit him with.'"
Incognito's harassment of Martin included text messages that were racist and threatening, two people familiar with the situation have told The Associated Press. Incognito is white, while Martin is biracial.
Two other people familiar with the situation have said Martin talked of quitting football earlier in his pro career before leaving the Dolphins. One person said Martin considered giving up the sport because of the way he was being treated by other offensive linemen on the team. The person added that Martin now wants to continue his football career.
The Dolphins (4-4) play for the first time since the scandal broke Monday night at Tampa Bay (0-8). At least 75 reporters and cameramen tracking the case were in the locker room after Thursday's practice, but receiver Brian Hartline said the scrutiny won't prevent the team from playing well.
"It almost heightens your awareness," he said. "You know it's going to take away from your focus, so it does the exact opposite. You overcompensate to make sure you stay aware of the game."
___
AP Sports Writers Tim Booth in Seattle, Tom Canavan in East Rutherford, N.J., and Kristie Rieken in Houston contributed to this report.
___
AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
___
Follow Steven Wine on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Steve_Wine
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