ROME (AP) ? The Obama administration said Thursday that it will provide the Syrian opposition with an additional $60 million in assistance and ? in a significant policy shift ? will for the first time provide nonlethal aid like food and medical supplies to rebels battling to oust President Bashar Assad.
"We need to stand on the side of those who want to see a free Syria," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said. "The stakes are really high and we can't risk letting this country in the heart of the Mideast being destroyed by vicious autocrats."
Kerry announced the new support and the decision to back the rebel fighters on the sidelines of an international conference on Syria in Rome, where European and Arab nations also signaled their intention to provide fresh assistance to the opposition.
"No nation, no people should live in fear of their so-called leaders," Kerry said.
Mouaz al-Khatib, leader of the Syrian opposition coalition, called on Assad to "for once in your life behave as a human being."
"Bashar Assad, you have to make at least one wise decision in your life for the future of your country," al-Khatib said.
Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi, who hosted the meeting, said: "We must go above and beyond the efforts we are making now. We can no longer allow this massacre to continue."
Terzi issued a statement earlier Thursday saying the foreign ministers recognized "the need to change the balance of power on the ground." He said the countries "will coordinate their efforts closely so as to best empower the Syrian people and support the Supreme Military Command of the Free Syrian Army in its efforts to help them exercise self-defense."
Kerry said the U.S. decision is designed to increase the pressure on Assad to step down and pave the way for a democratic transition. The aid is also intended to help the opposition govern newly liberated areas of Syria and blunt the influence of extremists.
"For more than a year, the United States and our partners have called on Assad to heed the voice of the Syrian people and to halt his war machine," Kerry said. "Instead, what we have seen is his brutality increase."
He added, "The United States' decision to take further steps now is the result of the brutality of superior armed force propped up by foreign fighters from Iran and Hezbollah."
Washington has already provided $385 million in humanitarian aid to Syria's war-weary population and $54 million in communications equipment, medical supplies and other nonlethal assistance to Syria's political opposition. The U.S. also has screened rebel groups for Turkey and American allies in the Arab world that have armed rebel fighters.
But until now, no U.S. dollars or provisions have gone directly to rebel fighters, reflecting concerns about forces that have allied themselves with more radical Islamic elements since Assad's initial crackdown on peaceful protesters in March 2011.
"Given the stakes, the president will now extend food and medical supplies to the Syrian opposition, including the Supreme Military Council," Kerry said Thursday.
The $60 million will go to Assad's political opposition. U.S. officials said the rations and medical supplies will be delivered to the rebels through their military council, and is to be distributed only to carefully vetted members of the Free Syrian Army.
Kerry was asked if the U.S. contribution was enough to tilt the conflict the rebels' way. "We're doing this but other countries are doing other things," he replied, without going into specifics. "I am confident the totality of this effort is going to have an impact on the ability of the Syrian opposition to accomplish its goals."
The U.S. will be sending technical advisers to the Syrian National Coalition offices in Cairo to oversee and help them spend the money for good governance and rule of law. The advisers will be from non-governmental organizations and other groups that do this kind of work.
The foreign ministers' presentation was disrupted by one protester who called on them to "stop supporting terrorists."
Ustream viewers were really engaged by Sony's big PlayStation 4 hullaballoo last week -- around eight million folks tuned in to the live broadcast on Ustream, with a whopping 1 million concurrents at peak viewing. On average, said viewer watched the two hour and five minute press conference for one full hour. To put that in perspective, the average Ustream viewer in general watches a given broadcast for 20 minutes, effectively meaning the average PlayStation 4 event viewer tripled the norm.
Ustream CEO Brad Hunstable told Engadget that the numbers are emblematic of his company's worldwide infrastructure strength, and a good example of why Sony chose Ustream for sharing game footage and streaming on its next console, the PlayStation 4. "Game consoles are global in nature," Hunstable pointed out. "We need to be able to serve both, from broadcasting out of the console and to the viewers, on a global basis. To be able to do that, you need an infrastructure footprint that's on a massive scale. We're the only ones that have that."
The video streaming company boasts offices around the globe -- "two in the US, one in Europe, and two in Asia; 180 employees strong," Hunstable told us -- and it already has partnerships with a variety of media and electronics companies, from Viacom to Panasonic. Despite the PlayStation 4 partnership, Hunstable said Ustream's game console plans extend beyond a single next-gen box. "We're absolutely free to work with all partners. Our vision is to have Usteam be ubiquitous. We wanna power the world's live broadcasting. If that happens to be on a gaming console, which increasingly it is, we wanna have a place there." Of course, we've yet to hear Microsoft' next-gen plans, but it sounds like nothing's off the table for Ustream just yet. "There'll be a lot more coming for certain, not just about this announcement but all of the things that we have in store for gamers around the world," Hunstable teased.
Superbug CRE may endure in patients 1 year after initial infection: StudyPublic release date: 27-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Liz Garman egarman@apic.org 202-454-2604 Elsevier Health Sciences
Washington, DC, February 27, 2013 -- Patients who tested positive for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) took an average of 387 days following hospital discharge to be clear of the organism, according to a new study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).
The study was conducted in the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, a 700-bed university-affiliated general hospital in Jerusalem, Israel. The research team analyzed follow-up cultures from 97 CRE-positive patients who had been discharged from the medical center between January 2009 and December 2010.
The average time until cultures became negative was 387 days. At three months, 78 percent of patients remained culture positive; at six months, 65 percent remained positive; at nine months, 51 percent, and at one year 39 percent of patients remained positive, meaning they could potentially become re-infected or transmit the germ to others.
Risk factors for extended carriage included the number of hospitalization days, whether and how often the patient was re-hospitalized, and whether the patient had an active infection as opposed to colonization without signs of active disease.
This is one of the first studies to determine length of CRE duration after hospital discharge and provides vital insight into treating formerly CRE-positive patients upon readmission as to limit the spread of this virulent and often deadly pathogen.
The authors state, "Patients with multiple hospitalizations or those who were diagnosed with clinical CRE disease should be assumed to have a more extended duration of CRE coverage and should therefore be admitted under conditions of isolation and cohorting until proven to be CRE-negative. These measures will reduce the hospitalization of CRE-positive patients among the general patient population, potentially preventing the spread of CRE."
CRE are extremely difficult-to-treat, multidrug-resistant organisms that are emerging in the United States. A CRE strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae recently spread through the National Institutes of Health hospital outside Washington, DC, killing six people. Because of increased reports of these multidrug-resistant germs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently alerted clinicians about the need for additional prevention steps to prevent transmission.
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Superbug CRE may endure in patients 1 year after initial infection: StudyPublic release date: 27-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Liz Garman egarman@apic.org 202-454-2604 Elsevier Health Sciences
Washington, DC, February 27, 2013 -- Patients who tested positive for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) took an average of 387 days following hospital discharge to be clear of the organism, according to a new study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).
The study was conducted in the Shaare Zedek Medical Center, a 700-bed university-affiliated general hospital in Jerusalem, Israel. The research team analyzed follow-up cultures from 97 CRE-positive patients who had been discharged from the medical center between January 2009 and December 2010.
The average time until cultures became negative was 387 days. At three months, 78 percent of patients remained culture positive; at six months, 65 percent remained positive; at nine months, 51 percent, and at one year 39 percent of patients remained positive, meaning they could potentially become re-infected or transmit the germ to others.
Risk factors for extended carriage included the number of hospitalization days, whether and how often the patient was re-hospitalized, and whether the patient had an active infection as opposed to colonization without signs of active disease.
This is one of the first studies to determine length of CRE duration after hospital discharge and provides vital insight into treating formerly CRE-positive patients upon readmission as to limit the spread of this virulent and often deadly pathogen.
The authors state, "Patients with multiple hospitalizations or those who were diagnosed with clinical CRE disease should be assumed to have a more extended duration of CRE coverage and should therefore be admitted under conditions of isolation and cohorting until proven to be CRE-negative. These measures will reduce the hospitalization of CRE-positive patients among the general patient population, potentially preventing the spread of CRE."
CRE are extremely difficult-to-treat, multidrug-resistant organisms that are emerging in the United States. A CRE strain of Klebsiella pneumoniae recently spread through the National Institutes of Health hospital outside Washington, DC, killing six people. Because of increased reports of these multidrug-resistant germs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently alerted clinicians about the need for additional prevention steps to prevent transmission.
###
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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.
Study: Same-sex cohabitors less healthy than those in heterosexual marriagesPublic release date: 27-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Daniel Fowler pubinfo@asanet.org 202-527-7885 American Sociological Association
Findings may provide fuel for gay marriage proponents
WASHINGTON, DC, February 21, 2013 Same-sex cohabitors report worse health than people of the same socioeconomic status who are in heterosexual marriages, according to a new study, which may provide fuel for gay marriage proponents.
"Past research has shown that married people are generally healthier than unmarried people," said Hui Liu, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of sociology at Michigan State University. "Although our study did not specifically test the health consequences of legalizing same-sex marriage, it's very plausible that legalization of gay marriage would reduce health disparities between same-sex cohabitors and married heterosexuals."
Titled, "Same-Sex Cohabitors and Health: The Role of Race-Ethnicity, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status," the study, which appears in the March issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, compares the self-rated health of 1,659 same-sex cohabiting men and 1,634 same-sex cohabiting women with that of their different-sex married, different-sex cohabiting, unpartnered divorced, widowed, and never-married counterparts. The study of white, black, and Hispanic 18 to 65-year-olds used pooled, nationally representative data from the 1997 to 2009 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). NHIS respondents rated their overall health as excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor. As part of their study, Liu and her co-authors, Corinne Reczek, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Cincinnati, and Dustin Brown, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, divided the respondents into two groups: those who reported excellent, very good, or good overall health and those who reported fair or poor overall health.
"When we controlled for socioeconomic status, the odds of reporting poor or fair health were about 61 percent higher for same-sex cohabiting men than for men in heterosexual marriages and the odds of reporting poor or fair health were about 46 percent higher for same-sex cohabiting women than for women in heterosexual marriages," Liu said.
As for why same-sex cohabitors reported worse health than people of the same socioeconomic status in heterosexual marriages, Liu said there could be several reasons. "Research consistently suggests that 'out' sexual minorities experience heightened levels of stress and higher levels of discrimination, and these experiences may adversely affect the health of this population," Liu said. "It may also be that same-sex cohabitation does not provide the same psychosocial, socioeconomic, and institutional resources that come with legal marriage, factors that are theorized to be responsible for many of the health benefits of marriage."
According to the researchers, it is possible that providing same-sex cohabitors the option to marry would boost their measures of self-rated health because they would experience higher levels of acceptance and lower levels of stigma. "Legalizing same-sex marriage could also provide other advantages often associated with heterosexual marriagesuch as partner health insurance benefits and the ability to file joint tax returnsthat may directly and indirectly influence the health of individuals in same-sex unions," Liu said.
The researchers also found that same-sex cohabitors reported better health than their different-sex cohabiting and single counterparts, but these differences were fully explained by socioeconomic status. "Without their socioeconomic status advantages, same-sex cohabitors would generally report similar levels of health as their divorced, widowed, never-married, and different-sex cohabiting counterparts," Liu said.
Interestingly, the study suggests that the pattern of poorer self-rated health of same-sex cohabitors in comparison with those in heterosexual marriages does not vary by gender and race-ethnicity. In contrast, results comparing same-sex cohabitors with different-sex cohabiting and single women, but not men, revealed important racial-ethnic patterns. "After we controlled for socioeconomic status, black women in same-sex cohabiting relationships reported worse health than black women of any other non-married union status, while white women in same-sex cohabiting relationships actually reported better health than both white women in different-sex cohabiting relationships and divorced white women," said Liu, who explained that black women in same-sex cohabiting relationships may experience significant social discrimination and homophobia, and such stressors may shape their health in especially detrimental ways.
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About the American Sociological Association and the Journal of Health and Social Behavior
The American Sociological Association, founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. The Journal of Health and Social Behavior is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of the ASA.
The research article described above is available by request for members of the media. For a copy of the full study, contact Daniel Fowler, ASA's Media Relations and Public Affairs Officer.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Study: Same-sex cohabitors less healthy than those in heterosexual marriagesPublic release date: 27-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Daniel Fowler pubinfo@asanet.org 202-527-7885 American Sociological Association
Findings may provide fuel for gay marriage proponents
WASHINGTON, DC, February 21, 2013 Same-sex cohabitors report worse health than people of the same socioeconomic status who are in heterosexual marriages, according to a new study, which may provide fuel for gay marriage proponents.
"Past research has shown that married people are generally healthier than unmarried people," said Hui Liu, lead author of the study and an assistant professor of sociology at Michigan State University. "Although our study did not specifically test the health consequences of legalizing same-sex marriage, it's very plausible that legalization of gay marriage would reduce health disparities between same-sex cohabitors and married heterosexuals."
Titled, "Same-Sex Cohabitors and Health: The Role of Race-Ethnicity, Gender, and Socioeconomic Status," the study, which appears in the March issue of the Journal of Health and Social Behavior, compares the self-rated health of 1,659 same-sex cohabiting men and 1,634 same-sex cohabiting women with that of their different-sex married, different-sex cohabiting, unpartnered divorced, widowed, and never-married counterparts. The study of white, black, and Hispanic 18 to 65-year-olds used pooled, nationally representative data from the 1997 to 2009 National Health Interview Surveys (NHIS). NHIS respondents rated their overall health as excellent, very good, good, fair, or poor. As part of their study, Liu and her co-authors, Corinne Reczek, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Cincinnati, and Dustin Brown, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology and the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin, divided the respondents into two groups: those who reported excellent, very good, or good overall health and those who reported fair or poor overall health.
"When we controlled for socioeconomic status, the odds of reporting poor or fair health were about 61 percent higher for same-sex cohabiting men than for men in heterosexual marriages and the odds of reporting poor or fair health were about 46 percent higher for same-sex cohabiting women than for women in heterosexual marriages," Liu said.
As for why same-sex cohabitors reported worse health than people of the same socioeconomic status in heterosexual marriages, Liu said there could be several reasons. "Research consistently suggests that 'out' sexual minorities experience heightened levels of stress and higher levels of discrimination, and these experiences may adversely affect the health of this population," Liu said. "It may also be that same-sex cohabitation does not provide the same psychosocial, socioeconomic, and institutional resources that come with legal marriage, factors that are theorized to be responsible for many of the health benefits of marriage."
According to the researchers, it is possible that providing same-sex cohabitors the option to marry would boost their measures of self-rated health because they would experience higher levels of acceptance and lower levels of stigma. "Legalizing same-sex marriage could also provide other advantages often associated with heterosexual marriagesuch as partner health insurance benefits and the ability to file joint tax returnsthat may directly and indirectly influence the health of individuals in same-sex unions," Liu said.
The researchers also found that same-sex cohabitors reported better health than their different-sex cohabiting and single counterparts, but these differences were fully explained by socioeconomic status. "Without their socioeconomic status advantages, same-sex cohabitors would generally report similar levels of health as their divorced, widowed, never-married, and different-sex cohabiting counterparts," Liu said.
Interestingly, the study suggests that the pattern of poorer self-rated health of same-sex cohabitors in comparison with those in heterosexual marriages does not vary by gender and race-ethnicity. In contrast, results comparing same-sex cohabitors with different-sex cohabiting and single women, but not men, revealed important racial-ethnic patterns. "After we controlled for socioeconomic status, black women in same-sex cohabiting relationships reported worse health than black women of any other non-married union status, while white women in same-sex cohabiting relationships actually reported better health than both white women in different-sex cohabiting relationships and divorced white women," said Liu, who explained that black women in same-sex cohabiting relationships may experience significant social discrimination and homophobia, and such stressors may shape their health in especially detrimental ways.
###
About the American Sociological Association and the Journal of Health and Social Behavior
The American Sociological Association, founded in 1905, is a non-profit membership association dedicated to serving sociologists in their work, advancing sociology as a science and profession, and promoting the contributions to and use of sociology by society. The Journal of Health and Social Behavior is a quarterly, peer-reviewed journal of the ASA.
The research article described above is available by request for members of the media. For a copy of the full study, contact Daniel Fowler, ASA's Media Relations and Public Affairs Officer.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
With visions of Minority Report, many a user's wildly waved at a Kinect in the hopes of controlling gadgets like a symphony conductor. Now there's another way to make your friends laugh at you thanks to the Thalmic Labs' MYO armband, which senses motion and electrical activity in your muscles to let you control your computer or other device via Bluetooth 4.0. The company says its proprietary sensor can detect signals right down to individual fingers before you even move them, which -- coupled with an extremely sensitive 6-axis motion detector -- makes for a highly responsive experience. Feedback to the user is given through haptics in the device, which also packs an ARM processor and onboard Lithium-Ion batteries. MYO is now up for a limited pre-order with Thalmic saying you won't be charged until it ships near year's end, while developers can also grab the API. If you're willing to risk some ridicule to be first on the block to grab one, hit the source.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The Coast Guard was searching the rough waters off Northern California on Monday for two adults and two young children missing after they radioed they were abandoning a sinking sailboat.
Someone aboard the vessel first made a distress call late on Sunday afternoon that the 29-foot (8.8-meter) craft was taking on water and sinking in the frigid waters south of San Francisco, roughly 65 miles west of Half Moon Bay, the Coast Guard said.
The Coast Guard has so far been unable to identify those said to be aboard the boat, and no one has been reported missing, but Coast Guard spokesman Chief Petty Officer Mike Lutz said the agency was nevertheless taking the call seriously.
A little more than an hour after the first distress call, the vessel's operator reported that the four people aboard the boat were abandoning the craft, and the Coast Guard lost radio communications with the caller.
"The weather was pretty rough yesterday as it most always is in the Pacific. It's always rough and always cold. And they started taking on water," spokeswoman Petty Officer Pamela Boehland told CNN.
"Eventually, the water became too much for them and their electronics failed, their GPS failed, and they decided it was best to abandon ship," she added, describing the call.
Lutz said the boat reportedly had no life raft or electronic-positioning beacon. Some of the boaters were wearing life jackets, he said, but he was unclear how many.
The man from the missing vessel, possibly named the Charmblow, had indicated the group planned to use a makeshift life raft fashioned out of a cooler and a life preserver as a flotation device until they could be rescued , Lutz said.
MUCH OF CONTACT INAUDIBLE
But rescuers had not caught sight of the stranded boaters or their vessel by late Monday afternoon. Lutz said four helicopters and three boats would continue to search the ocean from Half Moon Bay to Monterey through the night and re-evaluate the effort Tuesday morning.
The San Francisco Chronicle identified those believed to have been on board the boat as a man, a woman, their 4-year-old son and his cousin, who was under age 8.
The caller maintained near constant radio contact with the Coast Guard between his first and last distress calls, Lutz said. Much of the contact was inaudible, though, making it difficult to be certain of the boat's name.
"Right now, we're really trying to get information about the people on board that were missing," Lutz said. He said officials have been unable to find neighbors, relatives or friends who know the four. The Coast Guard has been unable to find a boat registered under the name Charmblow.
Lutz released a staticky sound bite from the radio calls in the hope that someone would recognize the voice. A calm, male voice says, "Coast Guard, Coast Guard: We are abandoning ship. This is the Charmblow. We are abandoning ship."
The Coast Guard initially tracked the vessel off Pillar Point, at the northern end of Half Moon Bay south of San Francisco, but later tracked it south near Monterey, Lutz said.
Two sailboat wrecks killed nine people off the coast of California last year. Both occurred during races; one near the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco and the other in one of the Coronado Islands off Southern California.
Twice last year, the Coast Guard also pursued time-consuming, high-profile searches that turned out to be hoaxes, one in Texas and another in New Jersey.
Geeksphone may be an online phone seller based in Spain, but the name of its lower-end Firefox OS reference phone, Keon, appears to be Dutch. Regardless of the title's origin, the part of the phone that's most intriguing is the fact that it's one of the first to bear Mozilla's mobile platform. It isn't much in the way of specs, and that's easy enough to tell from just glancing at it, thanks to a 3.5-inch HVGA display. Still, the Keon's set of specs is actually on par with the Firefox protocol. This means that for roughly around 100 euros, we can expect to see a device with a 3MP camera, 512MB RAM, 4GB internal storage, a 1,580mAh battery and a 1GHz single-core Snapdragon S17225A CPU. Don't expect an earth-shattering experience on this kind of phone, as it's meant to reside strictly on the low end. The Keon will be making its way onto the official company store in the next few weeks, so stay tuned. In the meantime, we've made a lovely video and photo gallery below, so check them out.
If youve ever dreamed of exploring the Arctic, dog sledding holidays provide a fantastic way to do so. There are few experiences as exhilarating as being drawn across the snow on a sled pulled by a team of huskies, and few landscapes as pristine and enchanting as the ones youll traverse while doing so. To help you get in the right frame of mind for such a trip, read on.
What Youll See
The details of your surroundings will, of course, depend on where you choose to go for your dog sledding holidays, but all the potential destinations share an incredible natural beauty. There are the soaring mountains and gleaming lakes of the Yukon, where bears, moose and caribou roam, and pike and trout dart through the waters while hawks, bald eagles and golden eagles soar overhead. North America also offers a plethora of other great locations, from stunning forest scenery in Prince Albert National Park to the sweeping beauty of Algonquin Park. In Europe, the icy wonders and ancient traditions of Lapland await, as well as the icebergs and remote settlements of Greenland.
What Youll Learn
Learning new things is one of the joys of travel, and this is especially true in this case. While the sights that surround you as you make your way across the snow on dog sledding holidays are enough of a magical new experience in themselves, there is also wonder and new knowledge to be gained from the activity itself. Youll learn more about the abilities, personalities and needs of the dogs, which are in many cases Siberian Huskies, although other breeds such as the Alaskan Malamute and the Mahikan are used in some places; each breed will have its own unique but equally interesting characteristics. You might also learn about the history of dog sledding, which predates our era by thousands of years, and about the principles of mushing which comes from the French order traditionally given to the dogs to start moving: Marche!
How to Prepare
While those who have previously embarked on dog sledding holidays will likely agree that they are a fantastic experience from start to finish, it can not be denied that some preparation is necessary to meet the conditions that you will be experiencing. The destinations for such holidays are some of the worlds coldest, so knowing how to protect yourself from the elements is important. When packing, be sure to include plenty of warm clothes, as well as a weatherproof outer layer and good boots. Synthetic fabrics are better than cotton, which retains moisture and can make the wearer cold. Specialist equipment and advice will usually be provided by your holiday operator, but dont forget the smaller essentials such as sunglasses and sunscreen, as the snow can reflect a considerable amount of sunlight.
Philippa Westwood is Marketing Manager at Windows on the Wild, a specialist of wildlife watching tours and dog sledding holidays. Destinations include Canada, Lapland and Sweden where dog sledding holidays can take you on adventurous experiences across the world.
Feb. 26, 2013 ? Plentiful food can accelerate the spread of infections, Edinburgh scientists have shown in a study of water fleas.
Scientists studying bacterial infections in tiny water fleas have discovered that increasing their supply of food can speed up the spread of infection. They carried out the study to better understand factors that affect how diseases are transmitted.
Researchers found that when a population of parasite-infected water fleas was well-fed, some of them became highly contagious, compared with when food was limited.
Epidemic spread
"If we have an idea of which individuals transmit a lot of disease, we will be better able to stop its spread," said Dr Pedro Vale, School of Biological Sciences.
Scientists say the discovery highlights that, under certain conditions, some individuals may be more prone to spreading disease than others.
Their findings could help inform ways to monitor and control the spread of infections, such as epidemics, in large populations.
Some well-fed water fleas were more infectious than others because they were able to survive for longer with the parasite, giving it more time to multiply.
Parasite growth
Scientists at the University studied the impact of food quantity on the spread of a bacteria parasite that grows in the water flea gut, releasing infectious spores when the water flea dies.
Among those water fleas that were well-fed, some were found to be carrying many more parasites than others, and so were more prone to spreading the disease.
The study, published in Biology Letters, was supported by the Wellcome Trust and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in France.
"We know that contact between individuals is important; but now we know that, for some animals at least, nutrition may also play an important role in the spread of disease," said Vale.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Eating well could help spread disease.
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Journal Reference:
P. F. Vale, M. Choisy, T. J. Little. Host nutrition alters the variance in parasite transmission potential. Biology Letters, 2013; 9 (2): 20121145 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2012.1145
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Feb. 25, 2013 ? While the phenomenon of superconductivity -- in which some materials lose all resistance to electric currents at extremely low temperatures -- has been known for more than a century, the temperature at which it occurs has remained too low for any practical applications. The discovery of "high-temperature" superconductors in the 1980s -- materials that could lose resistance at temperatures of up to negative 140 degrees Celsius -- led to speculation that a surge of new discoveries might quickly lead to room-temperature superconductors. Despite intense research, these materials have remained poorly understood.
There is still no agreement on a single theory to account for high-temperature superconductivity. Recently, however, researchers at MIT and elsewhere have found a new way to study fluctuating charge-density waves, which are the basis for one of the leading theories. The researchers say this could open the door to a better understanding of high-temperature superconductivity, and perhaps prompt new discoveries of higher-temperature superconductors.
The findings were published this week in the journal Nature Materials by assistant professor of physics Nuh Gedik; graduate student Fahad Mahmood; Darius Torchinsky, a former MIT postdoc who is now at the California Institute of Technology; and two researchers at Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Explaining the basis for high-temperature superconductivity remains "the hardest problem in condensed-matter physics," Gedik says. But one way of getting a handle on this exotic state of matter is to study what happens to these materials near their "transition temperature," the point below which they become superconductors.
Previous experiments have shown that above the transition temperature, there is a peculiar state where, Gedik says, "the material starts to behave very weirdly": Its electrons act in unusual ways, which some physicists believe is caused by a phenomenon called charge-density waves. While the electron density in most conductors is uniform, Gedik explains, in materials with charge-density waves the density is distributed in a sinusoidal pattern, somewhat like ripples on a pond. But so far, such charge-density waves have only been detected in high-temperature superconductors under special circumstances, such as a particular level of doping (the introduction of atoms of another element onto its surface).
Some researchers have proposed that these waves are elusive in high-temperature superconductors because they fluctuate very rapidly, at speeds measured in picoseconds (trillionths of a second). "You can't see it with conventional techniques," Gedik says.
That's where Gedik's new approach comes in: His team has spent years perfecting methods for studying the movement of electrons by zapping them with laser pulses lasting just a few femtoseconds (or quadrillionths of a second), and then detecting the results with a separate laser beam.
Using that method, the researchers have now detected these fluctuating waves. To do this, they have selectively generated and observed two different collective motions of electrons in these waves: variation in amplitude (the magnitude of modulation of the waves) and in phase (the position of the troughs and peaks of the waves). These measurements show that charge density waves are fluctuating at an interval of only about 2 picoseconds.
"It's not surprising that static techniques didn't see them," Gedik says, but "this settles the question: The fluctuating charge-density waves do exist" -- at least in one of the cuprate compounds, the first high-temperature superconducting materials discovered in the 1980s.
Another question: What role, if any, do these charge-density waves play in superconductivity? "Are they helping, or are they interfering?" Gedik asks. To answer this question, the researchers studied the same material, with optimal doping, in which the superconducting transition temperature is maximized. "We see no evidence of charge-density waves in this sample," Gedik says. This suggests that charge-density waves are probably competing with superconductivity.
In addition, it remains to be seen whether the same phenomenon will be observed in other high-temperature superconducting materials. The new technique should make it possible to find out.
In any case, detecting these fluctuations could help in understanding high-temperature superconductors, Gedik says -- which, in turn, could "help in finding other [superconducting materials] that actually work at room temperature." That elusive goal could enable significant new applications, such as electric transmission lines that eliminate the losses that now waste as much as 30 percent of all electricity produced.
David Hsieh, an assistant professor of physics at Caltech, says the phenomena detected by this research "are known to be very difficult to detect," so this work "is a great technical achievement and a high-quality piece of research." By showing for the first time that the fluctuating charge-density waves seem to compete with superconductivity, he says, "It provides the insight that finding a way to suppress this fluctuating charge-density wave order may simultaneously increase" the temperature limits of superconductivity.
The work, which also included researchers Anthony Bollinger and Ivan Bozovic of Brookhaven National Laboratory, was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy.
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Journal Reference:
Darius H. Torchinsky, Fahad Mahmood, Anthony T. Bollinger, Ivan Bo?ovi?, Nuh Gedik. Fluctuating charge-density waves in a cuprate superconductor. Nature Materials, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nmat3571
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Grant Heslov, from left, Ben Affleck, and George Clooney pose with their award for best picture for "Argo" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)
Grant Heslov, from left, Ben Affleck, and George Clooney pose with their award for best picture for "Argo" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)
Host Seth MacFarlane performs onstage during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Ang Lee poses with his award for best directing for "Life of Pi" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)
Actor Christoph Waltz?poses with his award for best actor in a supporting role for "Django Unchained" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)
Jennifer Lawrence, with her award for best actress in a leading role for "Silver Linings Playbook," and Anne Hathaway with her award for best actress in a supporting role for "Les Miserables," pose during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Just as Oscar host Seth MacFarlane set his sights on a variety of targets with a mixture of hits and misses, the motion picture academy spread the gold around to a varied slate of films. "Argo" won best picture as expected, along with two other prizes. But "Life of Pi" won the most awards with four, including a surprise win for director Ang Lee.
"Les Miserables" also won three Academy Awards, while "Django Unchained" and "Skyfall" each took two.
Among the winners were the front-runners throughout this lengthy awards season: best actor Daniel Day-Lewis for his deeply immersed portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's epic "Lincoln," best actress Jennifer Lawrence as a troubled young widow in "Silver Linings Playbook" and supporting actress Anne Hathaway as the doomed prostitute Fantine in the musical "Les Miserables." Christoph Waltz was a bit of a surprise for supporting actor as a charismatic bounty hunter in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," an award he'd won just three years ago for Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds."
The 22-year-old Lawrence, who got to show her lighter side in the oddball romance "Silver Linings Playbook" following serious roles in "Winter's Bone" and "The Hunger Games," gamely laughed at herself as she tripped on the stairs en route to the stage in her poufy, pale pink Dior Haute Couture gown. Backstage in the press room, when a reporter asked what she was thinking, she responded: "A bad word that I can't say that starts with 'F.'" Keeping journalists in hysterics, she explained, "I'm sorry. I did a shot before I ... sorry."
That's the kind of raunchiness MacFarlane himself seemed to be aiming for as host while also balancing the more traditional demands of the job. There was a ton of singing and dancing during the three-and-half-hour broadcast ? no surprise from the musically minded creator of the animated series "Family Guy" ? including a poignant performance from Barbra Streisand of "The Way We Were," written by the late Marvin Hamlisch, during the memorial montage. But MacFarlane also tried to keep the humor edgy with shots at Mel Gibson, George Clooney, Chris Brown and Rihanna.
An extended bit in which William Shatner came back from the future as his "Star Trek" character, Capt. James T. Kirk, had its moments while a joke about the drama "Flight" being restaged entirely with sock puppets was a scream. A John Wilkes Booth gag in reference to "Lincoln" was a bit of a groaner, perhaps intentionally, while MacFarlane relied on his alter ego, the cuddly teddy bear from his directorial debut "Ted," to make a crack about a post-Oscar orgy at Jack Nicholson's house. (MacFarlane already has indicated he's one-and-done with Academy Awards hosting.)
But it was Day-Lewis who came up with the kind of pop-culture riffing that's MacFarlane's specialty. In accepting his record third best-actor award from presenter Meryl Streep, he deadpanned that before they'd swapped roles, he originally was set to play Margaret Thatcher "and Meryl was Steven's first choice for 'Lincoln,' and I'd like to see that version."
Besides best picture, "Argo" won for Chris Terrio's adapted screenplay and for William Goldenberg's film editing. Affleck famously (and strangely) wasn't included in the best-director category for his thrilling and surprisingly funny depiction of a daring rescue during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. But as a producer on the film alongside George Clooney and Grant Heslov, he got to take home the top prize of the night.
"I never thought I'd be back here, and I am because of so many of you in this academy," said Affleck, who shared a screenplay Oscar with pal Matt Damon 15 years earlier for their breakout film "Good Will Hunting."
Among the wisdom he's acquired since then: "You can't hold grudges ? it's hard but you can't hold grudges."
Lee, who previously won best director in 2006 for "Brokeback Mountain" (which also didn't win best picture), was typically low-key and self-deprecating in victory. His "Life of Pi" is a fable set in glorious 3-D, but Spielberg looked like the favorite for "Lincoln." The film also won for its cinematography, original score and visual effects.
"Thank you, movie god," the Taiwanese director said on stage. Later, he thanked his agents and said: "I have to do that," with a little shrug and a smile.
"Les Miserables" also won for sound mixing and makeup and hairstyling. The other Oscar for "Django Unchained" came for Tarantino's original screenplay. Asked about his international appeal backstage, Tarantino was enthusiastic as usual in saying: "I'm an American, and a filmmaker, but I make movies for the planet Earth."
Speaking of global hits, the James Bond action thriller "Skyfall" won for its original song by the unstoppable Adele (with Paul Epworth). It also tied for sound editing with "Zero Dark Thirty," the only win of the night for Kathryn Bigelow's detailed saga about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.
Among the other winners, "Searching for Sugar Man," about a forgotten musician's rediscovery, took the prize for best documentary feature. Pixar's fairy tale "Brave" won best animated feature.
One of the biggest moments of the night came at the end, as First Lady Michelle Obama announced the winner of the best picture prize. Backstage, Affleck described how surreal it was when he heard her say the word: "Argo."
"I was sort of hallucinating when that was happening," he explained. "In the course of a hallucination it doesn't seem that odd: 'Oh look, a purple elephant. Oh look, Michelle Obama.'"
___
Contact AP Movie Critic Christy Lemire through Twitter: http://twitter.com/christylemire
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Even before she takes office Monday as South Korea's first female president, Park Geun-hye's campaign vow to soften Seoul's current hard-line approach to rival North Korea is being tested by Pyongyang's recent underground nuclear detonation.
Pyongyang, Washington, Beijing and Tokyo are all watching to see if Park, the daughter of a staunchly anti-communist dictator, pursues an ambitious engagement policy meant to ease five years of animosity on the divided peninsula or if she sticks with the tough stance of her fellow conservative predecessor, Lee Myung-bak.
Park's decision is important because it will likely set the tone of the larger diplomatic approach that Washington and others take in stalled efforts to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons ambitions.
It will also be complicated by North Korea's warning of unspecified "second and third measures of greater intensity," a threat that comes as Washington and others push for tightened U.N. sanctions as punishment for the Feb. 12 atomic test, the North's third since 2006.
That test is seen as another step toward North Korea's goal of building a bomb small enough to be mounted on a missile that can hit the United States. The explosion, which Pyongyang called a response to U.S. hostility, triggered global outrage.
Park has said she won't yet change her policy, which was built with the high probability of provocations from Pyongyang in mind. But some aren't sure if engagement can work, given North Korea's choice of "bombs over electricity," as American scientist Siegfried Hecker puts it.
"Normalization of relations, a peace treaty, access to energy and economic opportunities ? those things that come from choosing electricity over bombs and have the potential of lifting the North Korean people out of poverty and hardship ? will be made much more difficult, if not impossible, for at least the next five years," Hecker, a regular visitor to North Korea, said in a posting on the website of Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation.
As she takes office, however, Park will be mindful that many South Koreans are frustrated at the state of inter-Korean relations after the Lee government's five-year rule, which saw two nuclear tests, three long-range rocket launches and attacks blamed on North Korea that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.
Park's policy calls for strong defense but also for efforts to build trust through aid shipments, reconciliation talks and the resumption of some large-scale economic initiatives as progress occurs on the nuclear issue. Park has also held out the possibility of a summit with new North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Much is riding on Park's conclusion.
"The overall policy direction on North Korea among the U.S., Japan and South Korea will be hers to decide," said Victor Cha, a former senior Asia adviser to President George W. Bush. "If Park Geun-hye wants to contain, the U.S. will support that. But if Park Geun-hye, months down the road, wants to engage, then the U.S. will go along with that too. "
Engagement by Park would provide a sharp contrast with the rule of her father, Park Chung-hee, whose antipathy toward Pyongyang during his 18-year rule in the 1960s and '70s prompted a failed attack on the Blue House by 31 North Korean commandos in 1968. In 1974, Park's wife was shot and killed by a Japan-born Korean claiming he was acting on assassination orders by North Korea founder and then leader Kim Il Sung.
Critics say Park Geun-hye's North Korea policy lacks specifics. They also question how far she can go given her conservative base's strong anti-Pyongyang sentiments.
But Park has previously confounded ideological expectations. She travelled to Pyongyang in 2002 and held private talks with the late Kim Jong Il, the father of Kim Jong Un, and her gifts to Kim Jong Il are showcased in a museum of gifts to the North Korean leaders. During the often contentious presidential campaign, she responded to liberal criticism by reaching out to the families of victims of her father's dictatorship.
She said in her 2007 autobiography that she visited Pyongyang because she thought her painful experiences with the North made her "the one who could resolve South-North relations better than anyone else." She also wrote that Kim Jong Il apologized for the 1968 attack.
"I don't think this latest spike in the cycle of provocation and response undermines her whole platform of seeking to somehow re-engage the North," said John Delury, an analyst at Seoul's Yonsei University. North Korea wants a return of large-scale aid and investment from South Korea.
Before the election, Pyongyang's state media repeatedly questioned the sincerity of Park's engagement overture. Since the election, however, although regular criticism of Lee as "human scum" continues, the North's official Korean Central News Agency hasn't mentioned Park by name, though her political party is still condemned.
Pyongyang sees the nuclear crisis as a U.S.-North Korea issue, Delury said. "From a North Korean mindset, ramping up the tension and hostility with the U.S. does not equal jettisoning relations with the South."
Park may take a wait-and-see stance in coming months.
A possible positive turning point could come if North Korea resists tests or launches during April, when it celebrates two state anniversaries ? Kim Il Sung's birthday and the army's founding anniversary ? according to analyst Hong Hyun-ik at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea. Pyongyang conducted a failed long-range rocket launch during last year's celebrations.
Hong predicts that the United States will seek nuclear talks with North Korea in a few months, something that could help Park's efforts to engage North Korea.
"The nuclear test sets back and complicates but does not necessarily doom her engagement efforts over the long term," said Ralph Cossa, president of Pacific Forum CSIS, a Hawaii-based think tank.
Park warned after the test that North Korea faces international isolation, economic difficulties and, eventually, a collapse if it continues to build its atomic program. She also pressed Pyongyang to respond to her overtures.
"We can't achieve trust with only one side's efforts. Isn't there a saying that 'We need both hands to make a clapping sound?'" she said.
Students looking for jobs and a career can get some help when Douglas College hosts its 23rd Annual Career Exploration Fair. The event Wednesday, March 6, from10 a.m.-3.p.m. in the Atrium, Douglas College, Coquitlam Campus, 1250 Pinetree Way is presented by the Douglas College Alumni Association.
This free event is an opportunity for students, alumni and members of the community to explore career options and find out what kinds of skills and knowledge they need for the future workplace. This event will highlight the values, knowledge, personal resources and skills necessary for individual, social and occupational success.
Exhibitors at the Career Exploration Fair include:
? BC Hydro
? Canadian Association of Specialized Kinesiology
? Canadian Property Stars
? Developmental Disabilities Association
? Douglas College Coop
? Douglas College
? Enterprise Holdings
? Get Youth Working! Program
? Nannies on Call
? Institute of Chartered Accountants of British Columbia
This year the big winner at the Academy Awards won't be a specific actor or movie, but a whole category of films. Politically-focused movies like Argo, Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln are all favored to win at least one Oscar category at Sunday's 85th Academy Awards, with a combined total of 24 nominations. In the spirit of political Academy Award winners, here's a look at some of the memorable past Oscar winners across categories:
The Hurt Locker - 2009 (Best Director, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay)
Before the Zero Dark Thirty hype, Kathryn Bigelow's claim to fame was being the first woman to win an Oscar for best director at the 2009 Academy Awards. Bigelow won the award for directing The Hurt Locker, which was nominated in nine categories and won another two Oscars for best picture and best original screenplay.
The Hurt Locker chronicles the experiences of a three-man explosive ordinance disposal team who were responsible for the destruction of bombs during the Iraq war. Mark Boal, a former embedded journalist, wrote the screenplay as a reflection of his time with an EOD team in 2004.
Since the EOD team does not typically engage in combat, Bigelow and Boal faced criticism from war veterans about inaccurately depicting the protocol and responsibilities of this type of military unit.
Criticism aside, The Hurt Locker vividly framed the concept of war as a dangerous addiction. While the United States was depicted as being symbolically addicted to war through troop deployment, the movie also demonstrated how war led soldiers to become accustomed to an adrenaline-fueled lifestyle which prevented their return to normal civilian life.
Bigelow's method of presenting controversial political topics continues to gain acclaim at this year's Academy Awards with Zero Dark Thirty.
An Inconvenient Truth - 2006 (Best Documentary Feature, Best Original Song)
Typically, a movie about a guy giving a presentation would be anything but riveting let alone controversial, but Al Gore managed to make a blockbuster out of a slideshow with An Inconvenient Truth. The movie won two Academy Awards for best documentary feature and best original song in 2006..
The setup of the movie is simple. Gore takes viewers through the history of the world's climate changes and features experiences from his own life that made him aware of environmental issues. His narrative is paired with pop culture references, detailed photographs and video clips from environmental science experts.
"The world won't 'end' overnight in 10 years," Gore says in the movie. "But a point will have been passed and there will be an irreversible slide into destruction."
Four years away from the limit of Gore's timeframe, the global warming debate still rages on while both Congress and businesses see the public's growing demand for green energy sources.
The former vice president maintains his reputation as a leading climate-change activist and continues to give talks about the subject.
Bowling for Columbine - 2002 (Best Documentary Feature)
More than a decade before the Sandy Creek Elementary School tragedy, the nation was introduced to mourning the loss of life as a result of gun violence in 1999 with the massacre at Columbine High School.
In response to the shooting, Michael Moore wrote, produced and directed Bowling for Columbine as an attempt to find the cause for widespread gun violence in the United States, which won the 2002 Academy Award for best documentary feature. The film traces many popular theories behind the issue including the impact of the media, weapon accessibility, American culture and government action.
While the film stirred debate between gun control and gun rights activists on Capitol Hill, the most political topic associated with Bowling for Columbine was Moore's Academy Award acceptance speech. After being announced as the winner, Moore rallied the rest of the documentary film nominees on stage to accept the Oscar with him and proceeded to voice his disdain for the Bush administration.
"We like nonfiction, and we live in fictitious times," Moore said. "We live in the time where we have fictitious election results that elect a fictitious president."
Amidst cheers and jeers, Moore continued his speech to specifically target George W. Bush before being cut off by the orchestra.
Although the speech faced an abrupt ending, the issue of gun violence seems to have no end in sight as it continues to be debated between the Obama Administration and Congress.
Milk - 2008 (Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Original Screenplay)
From Capitol Hill to Hollywood, the topic of gay marriage is often tied to politics. The movie, Milk, depicted this link through the life of gay rights activist and politician, Harvey Milk, who was the first openly gay person to be elected to office in California. Milk was assassinated a few months later in November 1978.
California Sen. Dianne Feinstein was the president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors when Milk was assassinated and had to announce his death to the public.
Sean Penn portrayed Milk in the film and won an Academy Award for best actor in a leading role for his performance. The film also won an Academy Award for best original screenplay. Penn voiced his support for gay marriage in his acceptance speech.
"I think that it is a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that way of support, " Penn said. "We've got to have equal rights for everyone."
Today, Harvey Milk's legacy continues in politics through constant debates about the legalization of gay rights.
All the Kings Men - 1949 (Best Picture)
Based on Robert Penn Warren's novel of the same name, All The King's Men is a cinema classic that follows the ascent and demise of a southern politician when he becomes involved in corruption and is plagued by scandal. The movie won a 1949 Academy Award for best picture, and was remade in 2006.
As cited by the Modern Library, Warren "never intended for the [story] to be about politics," but popular culture dictates otherwise. Another Academy Award-winning movie, All the President's Men, tipped its hat to its political predecessor, in both its title and topics of political corruption and scandal.
All the President's Men - 1976 (Best Supporting Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay,Best Art Direction, Best Sound)
All The President's Men depicts President Nixon's involvement in the Watergate scandal of 1972. Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman play Washington Post journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein as they attempt to put together the pieces of one of the most infamous American political scandals in history.
Although neither Hoffman nor Woodward gained Academy Award nominations, Jason Robards won a best supporting actor Oscar for his portrayal of Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee.
Angela Lansbury won a best supporting actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Eleanor Shaw Iselin in this classic cold war political thriller.
The story saw a facelift in 2004, but the original version was preserved in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress due to being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant."
Lansbury's character was recognized as one of the top 10 greatest villains in cinema history by Newsweek magazine.
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington - 1939 (Best Writing, Original Story)
Despite only winning one award out of 11 nominations, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington is still highly regarded as one of the best films about American politics to this day.
James Stewart plays the role of Jefferson Smith who is appointed senator and finds himself under the guidance of a secretly corrupt senior senator, Jim Taylor. Taylor tries to corrupt Smith and later tries to destroy his political career through scandal.
A television series based on the movie aired in the 1960s and was loosely adapted in the 1992 film, The Distinguished Gentlemen.
The Candidate - 1972 (Best Writing)
Written by a former speechwriter for Eugene McCarthy, this film follows the campaign of Democrat Bill McKay (played by Robert Redford) as he runs against a popular Republican. McKay is told that he can't lose and can say whatever he wants on the campaign trail. As his approval dips in the polls, McKay must decide if he is going to continue speaking his mind or resort to generic statements.
This classic satire continues to gain relevance with each election cycle, as politicians continue to struggle to find themselves in politics.
JFK - 1991 (Best Cinematography and Best Film Editing)
Nominated for eight Academy Awards, JFK won in two categories for its depiction of an investigation of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Kevin Costner plays Jim Garrison, a prosecutor who is suspicious of the official assassination story disseminated by the FBI against a backdrop of iconic Kennedy Administration events.
The film featured an all-star cast including Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones, and Kevin Bacon, but missed awards in major acting roles. Even so, the film had major legislative impact, and its popularity lead to the creation of the U.S. Assassination Records Review Board.
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Public release date: 27-Feb-2013
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