The response to the first two deaths ever in California from the rapidly spreading virus appears to be more prevention than panic, with few reports that the mosquito-borne illness is causing people to cancel outdoor plans or make drastic lifestyle changes.

"We're taking precautions, but you can only do so much," said David Wilson, 61, a neighbor of Morris Sternberg, the 75-year-old man who died Saturday from encephalitis caused by the virus.

As of Wednesday, West Nile had infected 79 people in the state, mostly in Southern California, according to the state Department of Health Services. Last year, there were only three cases statewide and no deaths.

Sternberg, a real estate agent in the small city of Grand Terrace, was the second person in California to die of the illness within a six-week period. Neighbors suspect he was bitten on his front porch, where he often sat in a hammock.

West Nile, which first hit the United States in 1999 in New York, has killed more than 560 people in the United States in the past five years as it marched westward. Last year was the first for the virus to appear in areas west of the Continental Divide.

This year, West Nile has sickened more than 400 people across the nation and resulted in seven deaths, according to data released Wednesday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus killed 262 people in the United States last year, from 9,858 overall cases.

California officials are telling residents what easterners - http://www.encyclopedia.com/searchresults.aspx?q=easterners have long done: Avoid mosquitoes by eliminating pools of stagnant water, wear long sleeves if outside at dusk or dawn, and use mosquito repellant that contains the chemical known as DEET.

Many are apparently following the advice. As of Memorial Day, sales of insect repellant were up 17 percent in California over last year, 경주출장마사지 - https://www.anmaweb.com/%ea%b2%bd%ec%a3%bc%ec%98%a4%ed%94%bc%ea%b1%b8%e2... and 9 percent nationally, according to the most recent data available from tracking firm A.C. Nielsen.

West Nile is carried by birds but only transmitted to humans by mosquitoes. About 20 percent of those bitten by an infected insect show flu-like symptoms, and less than 1 percent die from the illness, according to health authorities. There is no approved vaccine or treatment.

State public health officer Richard J. Jackson has warned of a significant West Nile season in California this year. So far at least, the warnings seem to have caused ripples of concern but not much more.

Park agencies throughout California have gotten phone calls with questions about the virus, but officials reported no mass cancellations, perhaps owing to the relative low risk of infection.

"You're more likely to have a bear try to break into your car," said Alexandra Picavet, a spokeswoman for Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks.

The August issue of the Journal of Virology suggested the H9N2 strain has gotten hotter in recent years, killing far more lab mice than the same strain that circulated just four years earlier. That increased virulence, its prevalence among birds and the ability of the H9N2 virus to infect humans raises fears it could trigger a pandemic, scientists warned.

Already, the H9N2 bird flu showed its ability to strike at humans by sickening three people in Hong Kong in 1999 and 2003.

"Given the poor condition of public health systems in many developing regions and the ubiquity of modern air travel, the consequences of a widespread outbreak of avian influenza in humans could be severe," said Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. "Information generated under this contract will be important for preparing our nation and the world against new influenza viruses with pandemic potential."

In May, 대구출장안마 - https://www.opanma.com/10-daegu Chiron received an NIAID contract to produce 8,000 doses of vaccine - http://www.hometalk.com/search/posts?filter=vaccine for H5N1, a more lethal strain of bird flu that has resurfaced in Asia.

Chiron will manufacture the H9N2 vaccine in Siena, Italy, using an inactivated strain of the virus provided by the Centers for Disease Control - http://hararonline.com/?s=Disease%20Control . The Emeryville, Calif.-based company will manufacture up to 40,000 doses of the vaccine. Some will contain a substance that increases the vaccine's protective value and - perhaps - may permit the health agency to stretch its vaccine supply by lowering doses.

NIAID is scheduled to conduct clinical trials using both versions of the vaccine as early as 2005.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Friday signed a bill barring people from filing lawsuits claiming a restaurant caused weight gain, 카지노사이트 - http://128.199.151.213/ obesity - http://scp-knowledge.org/?s=obesity or other health problems.

Illinois joins 11 other states to enact such laws, 10 of which have been signed since March, according to the National Restaurant Association. Louisiana led the way by enacting a "frivolous-lawsuit" law last summer.

Blagojevich said signing the "Illinois Common Sense Consumption Act" promotes personal responsibility.

"Obesity is a serious problem in Illinois," Blagojevich said in a prepared statement. "But blaming a restaurant for weight gain is not the answer."

A federal judge in New York last year dismissed two lawsuits alleging Oak Brook-based McDonald's Corp. had caused obesity and related health problems in thousands of children. The judge said the law shouldn't try to protect people from their own excesses and that other factors besides fast food could have caused failing health.

"We must put the focus on healthier lifestyles and nutritional balance instead of costly lawsuits and litigation that only serve to clog up our courts and drive up the cost of a meal," said the bill's sponsor, Sen. John Cullerton, D-Chicago.

The federal government estimates 6 percent of Illinois residents and nearly 8 percent of Medicare recipients are obese, according to the governor's office.

Similar measures still are pending in six states, according to the restaurant association, but nine other states considered legislation this year but killed it.

The U.S. House also passed a similar law in March.

Authorities have identified the strain of avian influenza as H5N2, regarded as less dangerous than the H5N1 variety, which ravaged chicken farms across Asia and crossed - http://www.msnbc.com/search/crossed over to humans earlier this year, killing 24 people in Thailand and Vietnam.

The South African outbreak poses little risk to humans, but authorities were still trying to identify the source, said Dr. Johann van Wyk, head of animal health at the Department of Agriculture and Land.

The country supplies about 70 percent of the world's ostrich meat, producing about 950,000 tons a year. But the main source of ostrich revenue is from the bird's skin, which is used to make handbags, shoes, jackets and other leather goods.

The first cases were reported in Middleton, home to some of South Africa's largest ostrich farms — an industry that brings in about $200 million in export earnings annually.

Fifteen farms within a nine-mile radius of the initial outbreak have been quarantined, van Wyk said.

"We have 30,000 ostriches in that radius, and we will begin tests and culling where necessary on Tuesday," he said. "At this stage it is unlikely we will have to cull all the birds."

Police and military have also set up checkpoints up to 18 miles away to prevent the movement of birds in or out of the quarantined area.

On Friday, the government banned all poultry exports in a bid to safeguard the international credibility of its industry. South Africa imports most of its chicken meat, so the ban primarily affects ostrich farmers.

Authorities here hope to reduce the number of birds that must be culled by isolating any determined not to be carrying the virus.

Trenches have already been dug on certain farms to receive the culled birds, which will be buried and covered with quicklime to prevent further spread of the disease, 밀양출장마사지 - https://www.anmaweb.com/%e2%99%82%eb%b0%80%ec%96%91%ec%98%a4%ed%94%bc%ea... van Wyk said.

By Elliott Sylvester

The mutations occur in a gene called p53. "P53 tumor mutations have for several years been known to be associated with a poor prognosis for breast cancer," said study author Beth A. Jones, an assistant professor of epidemiology at the Yale University School of Medicine. The report appears in the Aug. 9 online issue of Cancer.

"But this is the first population-based study that shows a clearly significant race difference in p53 tumor mutations, once you adjust for other factors such as tumor stage," Jones added.

Jones and 구리출장마사지 - https://www.anmapop.com/%ea%b5%ac%eb%a6%ac%ec%b6%9c%ec%9e%a5%ec%83%b5%cf... her team evaluated the breast tumors of 145 black women and 177 white women, looking for differences in the p53 gene. Although they found black women were more likely to have p53 gene mutations, they didn't find significant differences by race in any other cancer-related genes.

In the study, 24.5 percent of the black women had a p53 mutation, compared to 7.1 percent of the white women.

"Overall, the rates of breast cancer in African-American women are slightly lower than in white women," Jones said, "but the death rate from breast cancer in African-American women is slightly higher than in white women."

Discoveries of racial differences in genetic alterations such as the p53 gene mutation may explain why.

In an editorial accompanying the study, Dr. Lisa A. Newman, director of the Breast Care Center at the University - https://knoji.com/search/?query=University of Michigan, notes the largest magnitude of difference in outcomes for breast cancer within the United States have been observed between black and white women. For those under the age of 45, the incidence of breast cancer is higher in black women than in white women, Newman wrote.

"Numerous studies, for at least 50 years, have been showing that African-American women are more likely to die from breast cancer than white American women, " Newman said.

But researchers, she said, have never been able to sort out conclusively whether that is due to socioeconomic factors, poorer access to screening, diagnosis at an advanced stage or other factors. "Studies like this that look at some of the biological enhancers help us to figure out whether some women are more likely to develop inherently more aggressive tumors," Newman said.

Dr. Denise Johnson, advising dean and associate professor of surgery at Stanford University Medical Center, and a member of the African-American Outreach Committee for the American Cancer Society, praised the study.

"It isn't the first study on the topic, but it is the largest," she said.

Eventually, Johnson said, the finding may provide more tools to determine the outlook for a woman with breast cancer, especially if she has the gene mutation.

Still, Johnson said more study was needed. If the finding holds up, she added, perhaps a recommendation will someday be made to analyze the presence or absence of the p53 gene mutation in all women.

By Kathleen Doheny

Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Friday signed a bill barring people from filing lawsuits claiming a restaurant caused weight gain, obesity or other health problems.

Illinois joins 11 other states to enact such laws, 10 of which have been signed since March, according to the National Restaurant - http://www.answers.com/topic/National%20Restaurant Association. Louisiana led the way by enacting a "frivolous-lawsuit" law last summer.

Blagojevich said signing the "Illinois Common Sense Consumption Act" promotes personal responsibility.

"Obesity is a serious problem in Illinois," Blagojevich said in a prepared statement. "But blaming a restaurant for weight gain is not the answer."

A federal judge in New York last year dismissed two lawsuits alleging Oak Brook-based McDonald's Corp. had caused obesity and related health problems in thousands of children. The judge said the law shouldn't try to protect people from their own excesses and that other factors besides fast food could have caused failing health.

"We must put the focus on healthier lifestyles and nutritional balance instead of costly lawsuits and litigation that only serve to clog up our courts and drive up the cost of a meal," said the bill's sponsor, 카지노사이트 - https://www.lattanzishoes.it/ Sen. John Cullerton, D-Chicago.

The federal government estimates 6 percent of Illinois residents and nearly 8 percent of Medicare recipients are obese, according to the governor's office.

Similar measures still are pending in six states, according to the restaurant association, but nine other states considered legislation this year but killed it.

The U.S. House also passed a similar law in March.

Brown, whose real name is Inga Marchand, appeared was in court for what was supposed to be a routine status hearing on a pair of misdemeanor assault charges stemming from an altercation she got into at Queen Beauty Supply store in Pembroke Pines in February of 2007.

However, it didn't turn out routine when Brown's defense attorney, Fred Haddad, decided to withdraw from the case because of "irreconcilable differences."

"I don't have a conflict with anyone," Marchand told the judge. "I just want to have proper representation."

The judge granted Haddad's request to withdraw from the case and gave Brown two weeks to find a new attorney and return to court on May 8.

Brown was released from Rikers Island prison on Friday after serving an eight-month sentence for violating the terms of her probation when she left the state of New York without permission for the trip to South Florida, which resulted in her arrest here.

Brown was arrested in Pembroke Pines for allegedly throwing hair glue at the Pembroke Pines beauty supply store employee - http://realitysandwich.com/?s=store%20employee last year. Police said she was angry after being asked to leave because the store was closing. Brown was also charged with battery and 안산출장마사지 - https://www.popanma.com/%ec%95%88%ec%82%b0%ec%b6%9c%ec%9e%a5%ec%83%b5%cf... resisting an officer with violence, for struggling with an officer on the scene. After her arrest in Pembroke Pines, she posted bond and was allowed to return to New York where she ran into trouble with the law again.

In August of 2007, the hip-hop diva was arrested - http://www.wonderhowto.com/search/arrested/ in Brooklyn after being accused of throwing a cell phone at a woman who complained about her loud music playing from her car stereo. That's the arrest that landed her in prison.

She was already serving a three year probation sentence for an August 2004 attack on two manicurists at a Manhattan nail salon. She pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in the 2004 incident.

Known for her saucy outfits and racy lyrics, the 29-year-old rapper has a handful of albums, including "Ill Na Na" and "Chyna Doll." She's also set to release her next CD, "Brooklyn Don Diva" on May 13.

Academy Award-winning actress Octavia - http://www.futureofeducation.com/main/search/search?q=actress%20Octavia Spencer knew after reading the first scene of "The Shape of Water" that it would be "magical." She was also sure that she wanted to be a part of it.

137132),人在韩国 - chinese in korea" style="max-width:430px;float:right;padding:10px 0px 10px 10px;border:0px;">Director Guillermo del Toro's latest film, which he also wrote and produced, is a fairy tale set in the 1960s about a mute woman who falls in love with a creature held captive in a government lab. Spencer's character tries to help her friend save the creature before he is dissected. 

"I'm a huge Guillermo del Toro fan. I've seen everything he's directed and just about everything he's executive produced and he's an auteur, a true auteur. The first scene when everything is underwater — I said 'Oh my God. They're gonna be doing things like this. I want to be a part of this movie,'" Spencer told "CBS This Morning."

Del Toro actually wrote the part for Spencer, but when the two first met to discuss the role, three hours passed by and they hadn't even gotten to the movie.  

"We talked about everything. Life, love, antiques, our love of antiques, dieting, I mean everything but the movie," she said.

For Spencer, an important part of the story is how it addresses the discrimination of the time – a theme that has relevance today.

"It's interesting because Guillermo is Latin American Canadian so he is also used to being considered 'the other,'" Spencer said. "He can address those political issues without pointing fingers. His two main characters can't speak so he uses marginalized people – a black female janitor, a closeted gay man in Richard Jenkins' character – to characterize the social mores of the day."

Despite Spencer's character being one of those "marginalized people," she holds a unique authority at the government lab where she works as a janitor. 

"Zelda is a woman of the times. It's 1962. Black people don't have the right to vote. So she's considered a second-class citizen within society but within her world at this facility, she's a queen. I mean she talks nonstop," Spencer said.

Her character's nonstop chatter also serves as the de facto voice for her mute friend and co-worker, 김포출장마사지 - https://www.startopanma.com/%ea%b9%80%ed%8f%ac%ec%98%a4%ed%94%bc%ea%b1%b... Eliza, played by Sally Hawkins.

"It was a wonderful progression - http://www.business-opportunities.biz/search/?q=wonderful%20progression of friendship both in real life and on screen to get to play that opposite Sally," Spencer said.

Many have characterized the film as a love story for the romance between the sea creature and Eliza. It's also love that informed its title.

"'The Shape of Water' is the shape of love and love takes on the shape of the vessel. So if you are an ugly person, then the shape of your water going to be quite ugly, but if you're a loving person, you can see past the differences, and that's one of the beautiful things of the movie," Spencer said.

As for how Spencer is seeing herself these days, it's only getting better with age.

"In your 20s you really do spend your time wondering and caring about what other people think – and you should. And in your 30s you take a little ownership and start seeing yourself for who you are. And by your 40s – and I'm gonna say mid-40s, but the kind of latter end of it – I just I realize I don't have to care that much about what other people think because at the end of the day, if I'm being the best person that I can be, that's all I can offer and if it's not good enough, well then, honey, I'm not gonna lose any sleep over it." 

"The Shape of Water" opens in select theaters nationwide on Friday.

창원출장마사지 - https://www.anmaweb.com/%ec%b0%bd%ec%9b%90%ec%98%a4%ed%94%bc%ea%b1%b8%e2...

Research at the University of North Carolina shows more than three-quarters of "red snapper" samples from eight states turned out to be different species — vermillion snapper or lane snapper — in violation of federal law. Red snapper is increasingly rare and it usually fetches a premium price compared to other reef fish.

Cheating consumers by several dollars per pound with mislabeled fish is only the beginning of the problem, scientists - http://www.fin24.com/Search/News?queryString=scientists said.

"The remarkable extent of product mislabeling threatens to distort the status of fish stocks, contributing to a false impression that fish stocks are keeping up with demand," reports the study's senior author, Peter B. Marko.

Seafood industry executives said the study was too small to be meaningful, and its results were overblown. They suspected that most of the samples simply were misidentified.

"Vermillion and red snapper are particularly difficult to tell apart," said Linda Candler of the National Seafood Institute, an industry association in Washington, D.C. "Species substitution actually is pretty rare."

Marko's lab started the study not as genetic detective work, but basic instruction in DNA sequencing.

His team analyzed meat from 22 fish bought from nine vendors in Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina and Wisconsin. Details appear in the latest issue of the journal Nature.

They found that 17, or 77 percent, of the samples were not red snapper, which lives primarily in the Gulf of Mexico.

Instead, they were lane snapper and vermillion snapper — both species from the western Atlantic Ocean. But more than half of the species in the study belong to western Pacific species, Marko said.

There are about 100 snapper species worldwide, and a dozen closely related varieties living in warmer U.S. waters, especially around reefs.

The species are called snappers because they sport canine-like teeth on their upper jaw and snap at their prey. At the dock, inspectors are supposed to weigh and identify the catch. The data is used to enforce restrictions and analyze recovery efforts.

Snapper varieties have firm, white, mild-tasting flesh. When the fish are skinned and boned, they are difficult to distinguish by sight, scientists and industry representatives - http://kscripts.com/?s=industry%20representatives say.

Red snapper, or Lutjanus campechanus, grows to more than 35 pounds and lives more than 20 years, although the commercial catch is smaller.

Many of its populations are overfished, especially by shrimp trawlers that unintentionally scoop them up and discard them as bycatch losses.

Since 1996, government restrictions have strictly curtailed the red snapper harvest. But demand has not slackened and prices have been rising fast due to consumer interest in heart-healthy diets and the popularity of recipes that use snapper, like Cajun-style blackened fish.

In recent years, scientists have experimented with aquaculture to boost red snapper populations. And 구미출장샵 - https://www.anmawp.com/gumi/ Gulf states have supported the construction of artificial reefs to attract young red snapper away from zones frequented by shrimp trawlers.

By Joseph B. Verrengia