Another Study Finds No Vaccine-Autism Link - Health News and ...

By Amy Norton
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, March 29 (HealthDay News) ? Although some parents worry about the sheer number of vaccines babies typically receive, a new U.S. government study finds no evidence that more vaccinations increase the risk of autism.

Looking at about 1,000 U.S. children with or without autism, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found no connection between early childhood vaccinations and autism risk.

Children with autism and those without had the same total exposure to vaccine antigens ? the substances in vaccines that trigger the immune system to develop infection-fighting antibodies.

?This should give more reassurance to parents,? said lead researcher Dr. Frank DeStefano, director of the CDC?s Immunization Safety Office.

The findings, which appear online March 29 in the Journal of Pediatrics, cast further doubt on a link between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders ? a group of developmental brain disorders that impair a child?s ability to communicate and socialize.

The first worries came from a small British study in 1998 that proposed a connection between the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. A spate of research since has found no link, and the original study was eventually retracted by the Lancet, the journal that published it.

Then came concerns about thimerosal, a preservative once used in certain childhood vaccines (but never MMR) that contains small amounts of ethyl mercury. Again, international studies failed to show a link to autism.

More recently, worries have shifted to the notion that children are getting ?too many vaccinations, too soon.? In the United States, children can be immunized against 14 different diseases by the time they are 2.

DeStefano said his team focused on antigen exposure, rather than just the number of vaccinations, because that gives a more precise idea of the ?immune system stimulation? kids received through vaccines.

A recent survey found that about one-third of parents thought children receive too many vaccinations in their first two years of life, and that the shots could contribute to autism.

But there?s no scientific evidence of that, said Dr. Paul Offit, chief of infectious diseases at the Children?s Hospital of Philadelphia.

He said it?s understandable that parents might worry. ?You see your baby receiving all these vaccines. It looks like too much. It feels like too much,? Offit said.

But, he said, there?s no biological basis for the idea that vaccines ?overstimulate? the immune system, and that somehow leads to autism.

Every day, babies? immune systems battle many more antigens than are present in vaccines, DeStefano explained. ?Most infants can handle exposure to many antigens,? he said.

The findings are based on 256 children with an autism spectrum disorder and 752 autism-free kids who were matched to them based on age, sex and health insurance plan.

The CDC team found that kids? total antigen exposure in the first two years of life was unrelated to their risk of developing an autism disorder.

That was also true when they considered babies? antigen exposure in the first three months of life, and the first seven months. Nor was there any connection between autism risk and the amount of vaccine antigens children received on any single day.

?This provides evidence that concerns about immune system overstimulation are unfounded,? DeStefano said.

Geraldine Dawson, chief science officer for the advocacy group Autism Speaks, said the study ?adds to the existing literature showing no connection between vaccines and autism in large epidemiological studies.?

She added, though, that further research is needed ?to explore whether, in rare cases, a genetic vulnerability might increase susceptibility to vaccine-related side effects, including the triggering of autism symptoms in a genetically and medically susceptible child.?

Both Offit and DeStefano stressed that there is no reason for parents to delay vaccinating their child.

?This is one more piece of evidence to help reassure parents,? Offit said.

More information

The American Academy of Pediatrics has information on vaccine safety.

Source: http://news.health.com/2013/03/29/another-study-sees-no-vaccine-autism-link/

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93% No

All Critics (87) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (81) | Rotten (6)

"No" is a picture that perches precariously on the cusp of a paradox.

A cunning and richly enjoyable combination of high-stakes drama and media satire from Chilean director Pablo Larrain.

A mesmerizing, realistic and often hilarious look at the politics of power and the power of ideas ...

A political drama, a personal drama, a sharp-eyed study of how the media manipulate us from all sides, No reels and ricochets with emotional force.

It's a funny look at the way the media warp public opinion, and a curiously hopeful one.

On every level, "No" leaves one with bittersweet feelings about democracy, love and the cost of compromise.

It's clear that the language of advertising has become universal, and that political commodities can be sold like soap. But toppling a dictatorship? Now there's a story.

A reflection of a moment in time, made in the image of that moment.

Bernal deftly explores the layers of the character's complexity, including his political apathy.

"No" is filmmaking of the first order.

Old technology plus the packaging of a revolution add up to a Yes

Freshens up a decades-old story with vibrant humor and a good sense of storytelling.

No continually impresses for its slyness and savvy -- rarely has such an eyesore been so worth watching.

Larrain fashions an unlikely crowd-pleaser from a historical episode that has its share of tragedy as well as triumph.

Stirring as a celebration of voter empowerment, No may also inspire pangs of wistful nostalgia.

Fascinating work from director Pablo Larrain and screenwriter Pedro Peirano, who manage to slip into the skin of a beleaguered country and detail the urgency of a revolution, sold one jingle at a time.

Swims upstream against high-definition with a defiantly lo-fi approach that's also ingeniously evocative of the historical period.

Wildly colorful strokes, full of bitter humor.

No quotes approved yet for No. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/no_2012/

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Best Sleep Tracking Gadget or App?

Whether it's a gadget designed to keep an eye on your movements while you sleep, or it's a smartphone app that listens to your breathing or noise level at night, sleep tracking gadgets and apps can help you figure out whether you're actually getting a good night's rest or you may have a problem to address. This week, we want to know which ones you think are the best of breed, and why.

Some sleep tracking gadgets, like the Fitbit or the Zeo, or any of the other tools that we've covered before, strap to your arm while you sleep. Others are apps, like previously mentioned Sleep Time or Sleep As Droid, alarm clocks that do their best to watch your sleep cycles from your nightstand. We want to know which ones you rely on to help you get a better night's sleep, or identify systemic sleep problems that you may want to see a doctor about. Let us know in the discussions below!

Hive Five nominations take place in the discussions, where you post your favorite tool for the job. We get hundreds of nominations, so to make your nomination clear, please include it at the top of your post like so: VOTE: BEST SLEEP TRACKING APP. Please don't include your vote in a reply to another person. Nominations emailed to us will not be counted. Instead, make your vote and reply separate discussions. After you've made your nomination, let us know what makes it stand out from the competition.

About the Hive Five: The Hive Five feature series asks readers to answer the most frequently asked question we get: "Which tool is the best?" Once a week we'll put out a call for contenders looking for the best solution to a certain problem, then YOU tell us your favorite tools to get the job done. Every weekend, we'll report back with the top five recommendations and give you a chance to vote on which is best. For an example, check out last week's five best mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras.

The Hive Five is based on reader nominations. As with most Hive Five posts, if your favorite was left out, it's not because we hate it?it's because it didn't get the nominations required in the call for contenders post to make the top five. We understand it's a bit of a popularity contest, but if you have a favorite, we want to hear about it. Have a suggestion for the Hive Five? Send us an email at tips+hivefive@lifehacker.com!

Photo by Tony Alter.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/qwvXDpf4ykI/best-sleep-tracking-gadget-or-app

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Pope's foot-washing final blow for traditionalists

Pope Francis, right, looks up to the Crucifix during the Passion of Christ Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Friday, March 29, 2013. Pope Francis began the Good Friday service at the Vatican with the Passion of Christ Mass and hours later will go to the ancient Colosseum in Rome for the traditional Way of the Cross procession. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Pope Francis, right, looks up to the Crucifix during the Passion of Christ Mass inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Friday, March 29, 2013. Pope Francis began the Good Friday service at the Vatican with the Passion of Christ Mass and hours later will go to the ancient Colosseum in Rome for the traditional Way of the Cross procession. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Pope Francis has won over many hearts and minds with his simple style and focus on serving the world's poorest, but he has devastated traditionalist Catholics who adored his predecessor, Benedict XVI, for restoring much of the traditional pomp to the papacy.

Francis' decision to disregard church law and wash the feet of two girls ? a Serbian Muslim and an Italian Catholic ? during a Holy Thursday ritual has become something of the final straw, evidence that Francis has little or no interest in one of the key priorities of Benedict's papacy: reviving the pre-Vatican II traditions of the Catholic Church.

One of the most-read traditionalist blogs, "Rorate Caeli," reacted to the foot-washing ceremony by declaring the death of Benedict's eight-year project to correct what he considered the botched interpretations of the Second Vatican Council's modernizing reforms.

"The official end of the reform of the reform ? by example," ''Rorate Caeli" lamented in its report on Francis' Holy Thursday ritual.

A like-minded commentator in Francis' native Argentina, Marcelo Gonzalez at International Catholic Panorama, reacted to Francis' election with this phrase: "The Horror." Gonzalez's beef? While serving as Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Francis' efforts to revive the old Latin Mass so dear to Benedict and traditionalists were "non-existent."

The night he was chosen pope, March 13, Francis emerged from the loggia of St. Peter's Basilica without the ermine-rimmed red velvet cape, or mozzetta, used by popes past for official duties, wearing instead the simple white cassock of the papacy.

He also received the cardinals' pledges of obedience after his election not from a chair on a pedestal as popes normally do but rather standing, on their same level. In the days since, he has called for "intensified" dialogue with Islam ? a gesture that rankles some traditionalists because they view interfaith dialogue as a sign of religious relativism.

This year's Good Friday procession at Rome's Colosseum, which re-enacts Jesus Christ's crucifixion, was dedicated to the plight of Mideast Christians, with prayers calling for an end to "violent fundamentalism."

Francis, however, chose to stress Christians' positive relations with Muslims in brief remarks the end of the ceremony. He recalled Benedict's 2012 visit to Lebanon when "we saw the beauty and the strong bond of communion joining Christians together in that land and the friendship of our Muslim brothers and sisters and so many others."

Francis also raised traditional eyebrows when he refused the golden pectoral cross offered to him right after his election by Monsignor Guido Marini, the Vatican's liturgy guru who under Benedict became the symbol of Benedict's effort to restore the Gregorian chant and heavy silk brocaded vestments of the pre-Vatican II liturgy to papal Masses.

Marini has gamely stayed by Francis' side as the new pope puts his own stamp on Vatican Masses with no-nonsense vestments and easy off-the-cuff homilies. But there is widespread expectation that Francis will soon name a new master of liturgical ceremonies more in line with his priorities of bringing the church and its message of love and service to ordinary people without the "high church" trappings of his predecessor.

There were certainly none of those trappings on display Thursday at the Casal del Marmo juvenile detention facility in Rome, where the 76-year-old Francis got down on his knees and to wash the feet of 12 inmates, two of them women. The rite re-enacts Jesus' washing of the feet of his 12 apostles during the Last Supper before his crucifixion, a sign of his love and service to them.

The church's liturgical law holds that only men can participate in the rite, given that Jesus' apostles were all male. Priests and bishops have routinely petitioned for exemptions to include women, but the law is clear.

Francis, however, is the church's chief lawmaker, so in theory he can do whatever he wants.

"The pope does not need anybody's permission to make exceptions to how ecclesiastical law relates to him," noted conservative columnist Jimmy Akin in the National Catholic Register. But Akin echoed concerns raised by canon lawyer Edward Peters, an adviser to the Vatican's high court, that Francis was setting a "questionable example" by simply ignoring the church's own rules.

"People naturally imitate their leader. That's the whole point behind Jesus washing the disciples' feet. He was explicitly and intentionally setting an example for them," he said. "Pope Francis knows that he is setting an example."

The inclusion of women in the rite is problematic for some because it could be seen as an opening of sorts to women's ordination. The Catholic Church restricts the priesthood to men, arguing that Jesus and his 12 apostles were male.

Francis is clearly opposed to women's ordination. But by washing the feet of women, he jolted traditionalists who for years have been unbending in insisting that the ritual is for men only and proudly holding up as evidence documentation from the Vatican's liturgy office saying so.

"If someone is washing the feet of any females ... he is in violation of the Holy Thursday rubrics," Peters wrote in a 2006 article that he reposted earlier this month on his blog.

In the face of the pope doing that very thing, Peters ? like many conservative and traditionalist commentators ? have found themselves trying to put the best face on a situation they don't like lest they be openly voicing dissent with the pope.

By Thursday evening, Peters was saying that Francis had merely "disregarded" the law ? not violated it.

The Rev. John Zuhlsdorf, a traditionalist blogger who has never shied from picking fights with priests, bishops or cardinals when it concerns liturgical abuses, had to measure his comments when the purported abuser was the pope himself.

"Before liberals and traditionalists both have a spittle-flecked nutty, each for their own reasons, try to figure out what he is trying to do," Zuhlsdorf wrote.

But, in characteristic form, he added: "What liberals forget in their present crowing is that even as Francis makes himself ? and the church ? more popular by projecting (a) compassionate image, he will simultaneously make it harder for them to criticize him when he reaffirms the doctrinal points they want him to overturn."

One of the key barometers of how traditionalists view Francis concerns his take on the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass. The Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meetings that brought the church into the modern world, allowed the celebration of the Mass in the vernacular rather than Latin. In the decades that followed, the so-called Tridentine Rite fell out of use almost entirely.

Traditionalist Catholics who were attached to the old rite blame many of the ills afflicting the Catholic Church today ? a drop in priestly vocations, empty pews in Europe and beyond ? on the liturgical abuses that they say have proliferated with the celebration of the new form of Mass.

In a bid to reach out to them, Benedict in 2007 relaxed restrictions on celebrating the old Latin Mass. The move was aimed also at reconciling with a group of schismatic traditionalists, the Society of St. Pius X, who split from Rome precisely over the Vatican II reforms, in particular its call for Mass in the vernacular and outreach to other religions, especially Judaism and Islam.

Benedict took extraordinary measures to bring the society back under Rome's wing during his pontificate, but negotiations stalled.

The society has understandably reacted coolly to Francis' election, reminding the pope that his namesake, St. Francis of Assisi, was told by Christ to go and "rebuild my church." For the society, that means rebuilding it in a pre-Vatican II vision.

The head of the society for South America, the Rev. Christian Bouchacourt, was less than generous in his assessment of Francis.

"He cultivates a militant humility, but can prove humiliating for the church," Bouchacourt said in a recent article, criticizing the "dilapidated" state of the clergy in Buenos Aires and the "disaster" of its seminary. "With him, we risk to see once again the masses of Paul VI's pontificate, a far cry from Benedict XVI's efforts to restore to their honor the worthy liturgical ceremonies."

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-29-Vatican-Pope-Traditionalists/id-66c184b42fcb456c96ec1262566b1325

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?Harry Potter? Star Richard Griffiths Dead At 65

“Harry Potter” Star Richard Griffiths Dead At 65

Richard Griffiths, who played the part of Vernon Dursley in the Harry Potter films, passed away on Thursday from complications following heart surgery in England. The British actor has starred in plays as well as movie blockbusters, but is most remembered as Harry Potter’s mean uncle. Griffiths attended drama college after dropping out of school ...

“Harry Potter” Star Richard Griffiths Dead At 65 Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/03/harry-potter-star-richard-griffiths-dead-at-65/

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Canada GDP: Factories, hockey players, realtors fuelled tepid ...

OTTAWA ? Thank factory workers and hockey players for no-small economic favours.

Canada began the new year with better-than-expected growth, supported by stronger manufacturing output and the return of National Hockey League games following a long labour dispute.

Adding to that, after three straight monthly declines, real estate agents and brokers were also back in play, although that could prove temporary.

Gross domestic product rose 0.2% in January, after contracting 0.2% in December and managing a 0.3% advance the month before that, Statistics Canada said Thursday. Most economists had expected an increase of just 0.1% GDP in January.

It was mostly manufacturing and a hockey lockout story

?It was mostly manufacturing and a hockey lockout story,? said Douglas Porter, chief economists at BMO Capital Markets.

Manufacturing rebounded with growth of 1.2% in the first month of 2013 ? accounting for about half of all of January?s output. That followed a see-saw performance in the last half of last year, which ended with a drop of 1.9% in December.

?We?ve started to see a little improvement in things like auto production and exports in recent months. And there are some signs the worst of the soft patch may be over in the Canadian economy,? Mr. Porter said.

The resumptions of NHL games after the player lockout boosted the arts, entertainment and recreation sector by 4.1% in January, pumping $441 million ? based on 2007 values used by Statistics Canada ? into the Canadian economy.

In the real estate market, meanwhile, output grew by 0.3% in January. Within that group, agents and brokers contributed 0.4% growth to the economy.

?I certainly wouldn?t hang my hat on the real estate sector leading us out of this,? Mr. Porter said.

?Where we can look for some support here is anything that?s levered to the U.S. economy, and manufacturing obviously fits that bill. And hockey, or course.?

Also Thursday, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development offered its assessment of Canada?s prospects, saying growth will be limited to 1.1% in the first three months of this year ? below forecasts for the U.S. and weaker than the average of all Group of Seven nations.

The Paris-based economic think-tank, however, said growth in Canada should pick up in the second quarter by as much as 1.9%.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in his Budget 2013 that GDP would expand 1.6% for all of 2013. That is down from the minister?s previous estimate of 2% this year.

The budget forecasts growth of 2.5% next year, followed by 2.6% in 2015, before slowing to 2.4% in 2016.

Given the still-weak GDP growth, most economists do not expect the Bank of Canada to begin lifting its trendsetting interest rate from its current near-record low 1% until mid-2014.

Emanuella Enenajor, an economist at CIBC World Markets, said there is ?no need for the Bank of Canada to strengthen its barely-there bias for rate hikes.?

The bank will announced its next rate decision on April 17, along with its spring MPR economic and policy outlook.

Source: http://business.financialpost.com/2013/03/28/factories-hockey-players-and-realtors-fuelled-canadas-tepid-growth/

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Thousands in NYC living in hotels after Sandy (Providence Journal)

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