There are many well-known, skilled magicians that you might not know about because even though they're well known, they haven't reached magician cult status. Most people know about the magician David Copperfield, but there are many more magicians equally skilled. So, take a moment to learn about other wizards of magic and expand your knowledge about magicians.
Curtis Adams: A magician who appeared at the age of 16 in the Young Magicians Showcase featured on Fox Television. He was born on October 12, 1984 and was one of the youngest magicians to perform in Reno, Nevada casinos.
Criss Angel: The only three-time magician winner of the Merlin Award from the International Society of Magicians. Angel is a skilled magician who did stunts like lying on a bed of nails while a Hummer drove over him.
Ed Balducci: A street magician who died in 1988 at the age of 82. He is a magician known for his gimmick-free trick of visibly rising several inches from the ground with his back turned to his audience.
Derren Brown: A British magician who practiced traditional close-up magic in the 1990s. Brown's claim as a magician is his "mind-reading" act. Brown claims aliens abducted him.
Cardini: Richard "Cardini" Pitchford was a magician with almost 50 years of performing tricks and illusions. He's one of the world's most imitated magicians, but no one to date has ever been able to completely duplicate his tricks. He was a magician known for his sleight of hand. Items were forever appearing and disappearing from his hands. He died in 1973.
Tommy Cooper: A magician and comedian known who was a member of the Magic Circle until his death in 1984. He collapsed while doing a live magician act that became his last.
Paul Daniels: A currently retired British magician who in 1983 became the first magician to ever receive the prestigious Magician of the Year Award by the Hollywood Academy of Magical Arts.
S.W. Erndase: A magician and author whose real identity has never been figured out. Erndase is a magician who wrote a book in 1902 about card playing tricks.
Ching Ling Foo: The first Asian magician to achieve fame. He was a magician who did tricks like breathing fire and pulling a fifteen-foot pole from his mouth. He died in 1922.
Lennart Green: A magician known for his close-up card tricks. In 1991 this magician became the world champion of in close-up card magic.
Paul Harris: A magician known for pulling coins from mirrors. Many claim he is a magician with skills like a combination of Copperfield and Henning.
Scott Interrante: An American magician specializing in escape-artist tricks. He won awards from the International Brotherhood of Magicians.
Ricky Jay: A magician listed in the Guinness Book of Records as throwing a playing card 190 feet at 90 miles per hour.
Fred Kaps: A Dutch magician who died in 1980. He is a magician known for making a saltshaker create an endless supply of salt.
Juan Tamariz: A Spanish magician who in 1971 founded a school that has trained generations of Spanish magicians.
Dia Vernon: This Canadian magician was born in 1894 as David Frederick Wingfield Verner. This magician, who died in 1992, is known for fooling Houdini with one of his card tricks.
Paul Zenon: A British street magician who also performed in the bars and pubs in the U.K. This magician has written three books about magic, the most recent published in 2005.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Internet search leader Google is taking another step beyond information retrieval into grocery delivery.
The new service, called Google Shopping Express, will initially provide same-day delivery of food and other products bought online by a small group of consumers in San Francisco and suburbs located south of the city. The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., didn't say how many people will be part of the test.
If the pilot program goes well, Google Inc. plans to expand delivery service to other markets.
"We hope this will help users explore the benefits of a local, same-day delivery service, and help us kick the tires on the new service," Google said in a Thursday statement.
The delivery service is part of Google's effort to increase consumer reliance on the Internet, so it will have more opportunities to show online ads, which generate most of its revenue.
Google has learned that the more time people spend online, the more likely they are to use its dominant search engine or one of its other popular services, like its YouTube video site or Gmail, that include advertising.
The delivery service also could spur merchants to buy more online ads if Google's same-day delivery service encourages consumers to do more of their shopping online. Having to wait days or, in some cases, more than a week for the delivery of online orders ranks among the biggest drawbacks to Internet shopping.
It's a problem that Amazon.com Inc. and eBay Inc., which operate the largest e-commerce sites, already have been trying to solve by offering same-day service in some U.S. markets. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, also offers same-day delivery in five markets.
A mix of national, regional and neighborhood merchants are enlisting in Google Shopping Express. The best-known names on the list include Target Inc. and Walgreen Co. All the merchants in the Google program will sell certain items through a central website. Google has hired courier services to pick up the orders at the merchant stores and then deliver them to the customer's home or office.
Although the couriers will be working on a contract basis, they will be driving Google trucks and wearing company-issued uniforms.
It remains unclear whether Internet shopping and same-day delivery can be profitable. Online grocer Webvan collapsed in 2001, largely because it couldn't devise a pricing plan that would pay for the costs of same-day delivery without alienating shoppers unwilling to pay too much extra for the added convenience.
Google is still trying to figure out how much to charge for its same-day delivery service. For the six-month test period in the San Francisco area, consumers won't have to pay a surcharge. Google instead will receive a commission from participating merchants.
The expansion into same-day delivery comes at the same time that Google is preparing to close some of its older online services so it can devote more attention and money to other projects.
The realignment has irked some Google users. The biggest complaints have centered on Google Reader, which allows people to automatically receive headlines and links from their favorite sites, and iGoogle, which allows Web surfers to design a page consisting of the Google search engine surrounded set up other online features, such as local weather reports and stock market quotes.
Google Reader is scheduled to close in July and iGoogle will shut down in November.
Google shares fell $8.47 to close at $794.19 on Thursday.
Miriam researchers say correctional policies discourage released inmates from seeking methadone therapy
PROVIDENCE, R.I. Methadone treatment for opioid dependence remains widely unavailable behind bars in the United States, and many inmates are forced to discontinue this evidence-based therapy, which lessens painful withdrawal symptoms. Now a new study by researchers from the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, a collaboration of The Miriam Hospital and Brown University, offers some insight on the consequences of these mandatory withdrawal policies.
According to their research, published online by the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment and appearing in the May/June issue, nearly half of the opioid-dependent individuals who participated in the study say concerns with forced methadone withdrawal discouraged them from seeking methadone therapy in the community after their release.
"Inmates are aware of these correctional methadone withdrawal policies and know they'll be forced to undergo this painful process again if they are re-arrested. It's not surprising that many reported that if they were incarcerated and forced into withdrawal, they would rather withdraw from heroin than from methadone, because it is over in days rather than weeks or longer," said senior author Josiah D. Rich, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, which is based at The Miriam Hospital.
He points out that methadone is one of the only medications that is routinely stopped upon incarceration. "This research highlights that what happens behind bars with methadone termination impacts our ability to give methadone, a proven treatment, to people in the community," he added."Given that opioid dependence causes major health and social issues, these correctional policies have serious implications."
For the past four decades, methadone has been the treatment of choice for opioid dependence, including heroin, and is on the World Health Organization's list of "Essential Medicines" that should be made available at all times by health systems to patients. This "anti-addictive" medication prevents withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings and blocks the euphoric effects of illicit opioids. Additionally, methadone therapy has been shown to reduce the risk of criminal activity, relapse, infectious disease transmission (including HIV and hepatitis) and overdose death.
However, in the United States, a significant proportion of people who are opioid dependent are not engaged in methadone replacement therapy. Rich says the majority of patients terminate treatment prematurely, often within the first year.
In their study, Rich and colleagues surveyed 205 people in drug treatment in two states Rhode Island and Massachusetts that routinely enforce methadone withdrawal in correctional facilities. They found nearly half of all participants reported concern regarding forced methadone withdrawal during incarceration. Individuals in Massachusetts, which has more severe methadone withdrawal procedures, were more likely to cite concern.
"If other evidence-based medicines like insulin therapy were routinely terminated or withdrawn from those who were incarcerated, we would hear about these serious lapses in care. They would likely garner some attention. But routine termination of methadone maintenance therapy has been occurring in the criminal justice system for decades and remains a little discussed and highly neglected issue," says lead author Jeannia J. Fu, Sc.B., a former researcher with The Miriam Hospital who is now affiliated with the Yale University School of Medicine.
Rich adds, "We should examine the impact of incarceration itself, and what happens behind bars, on public health and public safety outcomes, and tailor our policies appropriately. We have methadone, which has been shown to improve public health and public safety, yet we have policies that reduce access to this treatment. The correctional policies on methadone should be re-evaluated in terms of the impact they have on the individual and the community."
###
This research was supported by National Institutes of Health grants K24DA022112 from National Institute of Drug Abuse and the Lifespan/Tufts/Brown CFAR grant P30AI042853 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Study co-authors include Fu and Alexander R. Bazazi, B.A., who were previously affiliated with The Miriam Hospital and are now with the Yale University School of Medicine; Nickolas D. Zaller, Ph.D., of The Miriam Hospital, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights; and Michael A. Yokell, Sc.B., previously affiliated with The Miriam Hospital and Brown University and now with Stanford University Medical School and the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights.
The principal affiliation of Josiah D. Rich, M.D., M.P.H., is The Miriam Hospital (a member hospital of the Lifespan health system in Rhode Island) and direct financial and infrastructure support for this project was received through the Lifespan Office of Research Administration. Rich is also professor of medicine and epidemiology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
The Miriam Hospital (http://www.miriamhospital.org) is a 247-bed, not-for-profit teaching hospital affiliated with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. It offers expertise in cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, men's health, and minimally invasive surgery and is home to the state's first Joint Commission-certified Stroke Center and robotic surgery program. The hospital is nationally known for its HIV/AIDS and behavioral and preventive medicine research, including weight control, physical activity and smoking cessation. The Miriam Hospital has been awarded Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Services four consecutive times and is a founding member of the Lifespan health system. Follow us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/miriamhospital) and on Twitter (@MiriamHospital).
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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.
Forced methadone withdrawal in jails creates barrier to treatment in communityPublic release date: 27-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Miriam researchers say correctional policies discourage released inmates from seeking methadone therapy
PROVIDENCE, R.I. Methadone treatment for opioid dependence remains widely unavailable behind bars in the United States, and many inmates are forced to discontinue this evidence-based therapy, which lessens painful withdrawal symptoms. Now a new study by researchers from the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, a collaboration of The Miriam Hospital and Brown University, offers some insight on the consequences of these mandatory withdrawal policies.
According to their research, published online by the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment and appearing in the May/June issue, nearly half of the opioid-dependent individuals who participated in the study say concerns with forced methadone withdrawal discouraged them from seeking methadone therapy in the community after their release.
"Inmates are aware of these correctional methadone withdrawal policies and know they'll be forced to undergo this painful process again if they are re-arrested. It's not surprising that many reported that if they were incarcerated and forced into withdrawal, they would rather withdraw from heroin than from methadone, because it is over in days rather than weeks or longer," said senior author Josiah D. Rich, M.D., M.P.H., director of the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, which is based at The Miriam Hospital.
He points out that methadone is one of the only medications that is routinely stopped upon incarceration. "This research highlights that what happens behind bars with methadone termination impacts our ability to give methadone, a proven treatment, to people in the community," he added."Given that opioid dependence causes major health and social issues, these correctional policies have serious implications."
For the past four decades, methadone has been the treatment of choice for opioid dependence, including heroin, and is on the World Health Organization's list of "Essential Medicines" that should be made available at all times by health systems to patients. This "anti-addictive" medication prevents withdrawal symptoms and drug cravings and blocks the euphoric effects of illicit opioids. Additionally, methadone therapy has been shown to reduce the risk of criminal activity, relapse, infectious disease transmission (including HIV and hepatitis) and overdose death.
However, in the United States, a significant proportion of people who are opioid dependent are not engaged in methadone replacement therapy. Rich says the majority of patients terminate treatment prematurely, often within the first year.
In their study, Rich and colleagues surveyed 205 people in drug treatment in two states Rhode Island and Massachusetts that routinely enforce methadone withdrawal in correctional facilities. They found nearly half of all participants reported concern regarding forced methadone withdrawal during incarceration. Individuals in Massachusetts, which has more severe methadone withdrawal procedures, were more likely to cite concern.
"If other evidence-based medicines like insulin therapy were routinely terminated or withdrawn from those who were incarcerated, we would hear about these serious lapses in care. They would likely garner some attention. But routine termination of methadone maintenance therapy has been occurring in the criminal justice system for decades and remains a little discussed and highly neglected issue," says lead author Jeannia J. Fu, Sc.B., a former researcher with The Miriam Hospital who is now affiliated with the Yale University School of Medicine.
Rich adds, "We should examine the impact of incarceration itself, and what happens behind bars, on public health and public safety outcomes, and tailor our policies appropriately. We have methadone, which has been shown to improve public health and public safety, yet we have policies that reduce access to this treatment. The correctional policies on methadone should be re-evaluated in terms of the impact they have on the individual and the community."
###
This research was supported by National Institutes of Health grants K24DA022112 from National Institute of Drug Abuse and the Lifespan/Tufts/Brown CFAR grant P30AI042853 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Study co-authors include Fu and Alexander R. Bazazi, B.A., who were previously affiliated with The Miriam Hospital and are now with the Yale University School of Medicine; Nickolas D. Zaller, Ph.D., of The Miriam Hospital, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights; and Michael A. Yokell, Sc.B., previously affiliated with The Miriam Hospital and Brown University and now with Stanford University Medical School and the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights.
The principal affiliation of Josiah D. Rich, M.D., M.P.H., is The Miriam Hospital (a member hospital of the Lifespan health system in Rhode Island) and direct financial and infrastructure support for this project was received through the Lifespan Office of Research Administration. Rich is also professor of medicine and epidemiology at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
The Miriam Hospital (http://www.miriamhospital.org) is a 247-bed, not-for-profit teaching hospital affiliated with The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. It offers expertise in cardiology, oncology, orthopedics, men's health, and minimally invasive surgery and is home to the state's first Joint Commission-certified Stroke Center and robotic surgery program. The hospital is nationally known for its HIV/AIDS and behavioral and preventive medicine research, including weight control, physical activity and smoking cessation. The Miriam Hospital has been awarded Magnet Recognition for Excellence in Nursing Services four consecutive times and is a founding member of the Lifespan health system. Follow us on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/miriamhospital) and on Twitter (@MiriamHospital).
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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.
NEW YORK (AP) ? A top NBC executive says the network is not considering replacing Matt Lauer as anchor of the "Today" show.
NBC News executive Alex Wallace, who oversees the troubled morning show, made the comment Wednesday in response to reports that the network had approached CNN's Anderson Cooper about the "Today" job.
The report first appeared in Deadline Hollywood and was confirmed to The Associated Press by a source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.
Wallace says Lauer is "the best in the business" and that NBC wants him on "Today" for many years to come.
The "Today" show has fallen behind ABC's "Good Morning America" in the ratings and Lauer has been buffeted by bad publicity surrounding last year's ouster of co-anchor Ann Curry.
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada's main stock index fell to its lowest point in nearly a month on Monday as investors reconsidered their initial relief over a bailout deal for Cyprus, while shares of BlackBerry dropped 4.5 percent after a downgrade by Goldman Sachs. Stocks initially rose after Cyprus reached a deal with international lenders for a 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout, averting a collapse of its banking system.
Icahn opens door to Blackstone tie-up on Dell bid
(Reuters) - Two of the most prominent U.S. investors could upset Michael Dell's $24.4 billion buyout bid for Dell Inc, after billionaire Carl Icahn opened the door to an alliance with Blackstone Group to wrest control of the computer maker from its founder. Icahn said on Monday he has started preliminary talks with Blackstone. Both sides have made bids that could be superior to the offer on the table from Michael Dell and private equity firm Silver Lake.
BlackBerry shares drubbed, just days before key results
TORONTO (Reuters) - Reports of a lackluster launch of its pivotal new smartphone in the U.S. market cost BlackBerry an influential downgrade on its stock on Monday and a 4 percent drop in its share price, just days ahead of quarterly results that will offer the first concrete gauge of how its new phone is being received. The results, due on Thursday, will offer a glimpse of sales of the new Z10 device in Britain, Canada and several other markets, where it has been available for more than a month.
Cyprus girds for run on banks after sealing bailout
NICOSIA (Reuters) - The president of Cyprus assured his people a bailout deal he struck with the European Union was in their best interests and would end anxiety, but he also announced "very temporary" capital controls to stem a run on the island's banks. Returning on Monday from fraught overnight negotiations in Brussels, the conservative leader said the 10-billion euro ($13 billion) rescue plan agreed there in the early hours of the morning was "painful" but essential to avoid economic meltdown.
Analysis: Cyprus rescue raises new questions about euro's long-term survival
LONDON (Reuters) - The messy deal to bail out Cyprus has averted the latest threat to the break-up of the euro but at the cost of raising new questions about the single currency's long-term viability. Savers in other euro zone banks appear so far to be taking the freezing of balances over 100,000 euros in Cyprus's two biggest lenders in their stride. Perhaps they judge that events in a tiny, far-away island with outsize banks and a reliance on deposits from Russian oligarchs hold little relevance for them.
Boeing 787 takes to sky in first flight check
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner took to the sky on Monday in the first of two flights aimed at showing that the plane's new lithium-ion battery system meets regulatory safety standards, a key step toward ending a two-month, worldwide grounding of the high-tech jet. Monday's two-hour flight test, if successful, would allow Boeing to go ahead with a second flight test "in coming days" that would gather data to be submitted to the Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said.
Rajaratnam's brother pleads not guilty to insider charges
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rengan Rajaratnam, the younger brother of imprisoned hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam, pleaded not guilty on Monday to insider trading charges. The younger Rajaratnam entered his plea in Manhattan federal court, one day after his arrest at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Vinoo Varghese, an attorney for Rajaratnam, said his client arrived in New York early Sunday morning, accompanied on a flight from Brazil by an FBI agent.
Best Buy founder Schulze rejoins as chairman emeritus
(Reuters) - Best Buy Co Inc founder Richard Schulze, who left the board last year and later failed in his effort to take the company private, will rejoin the retailer as chairman emeritus and add two of his former colleagues to the board. The news helped dispel rumors the top investor in the world's largest consumer electronics chain was contemplating selling his stake in the company he founded in 1966. Best Buy shares rose as much as 3 percent on Monday.
U.S. approves Nasdaq payback plan for Facebook IPO, UBS unhappy
(Reuters) - Regulators approved Nasdaq OMX Group's $62 million compensation plan for firms that lost money in Facebook Inc's glitch-ridden market debut, a victory for the exchange operator that also set the stage for potential lawsuits from firms seeking more. The Nasdaq plan will give retail market makers far less than the $500 million in estimated losses from Facebook's initial public offering. Nasdaq said in a note to traders on Monday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved the plan, and that firms had one week to submit requests for compensation.
Canadian advisers see gains, pitfalls in social media
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian financial adviser Will Britton is the quintessential success story of social media in the industry. He's active on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and when someone needs a financial planner, Britton's contacts are quick to send a "here's my guy" link. Presto, a new client. "I'm probably doing it wrong according to what social media experts may say," said Britton, a certified financial planner in Kingston, Ontario, and member of Advocis, the Financial Advisors Association of Canada.
Youth with type 1 diabetes may suffer health risks when transitioning from pediatric to adult carePublic release date: 26-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jackie Brinkman jackie.brinkman@ucdenver.edu 303-724-1525 University of Colorado Denver
AURORA, Colo. (March 26, 2013) Adolescent type 1 diabetes patients face greater risk for heart attacks, strokes, blindness and kidney failure later in life if their transition from pediatric to adult care is not carefully managed, two CU researchers have found. The estimated median age at transition to adult care was 20.1 years and 77 percent of individuals with type 1 diabetes had left pediatric care by age 21. The study suggests that without support, they were 2.5 times more likely to have high blood glucose levels when transitioning from pediatric to adult care
The study is co-authored by Georgeanna Klingensmith, MD, professor, University of Colorado, Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes and Dana Dabelea, MD, PhD, professor, University of Colorado, Colorado School of Public Health.
"With these results and our Colorado experience, we are developing a program for high school students and young college students to better prepare them to transition into adult care within 2-4 years of graduating from high school. We hope through this program they will have the support and learn the skills they need to successfully transition to the more independent care expected by providers of adult diabetes care," said Klingensmith. Dabalea added, "Our data highlight the importance of optimal health care transition during a critical period in the life of a teenage with type 1 diabetes. Additional research and programs focusing at improving health care services for this high risk population are urgently needed."
These data were analyzed from the multi-centered SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study, which has tracked children and young adults with diabetes from six centers across the U.S. since 2002. The cohort of youth studied included 185 adolescent and young adults with type 1 diabetes enrolled in the study in the year after their diabetes was diagnosed. Youth included in these analyses were cared for by pediatric diabetes physicians at the time of their initial study visit and were followed for an average of 4.5 years.
Previous research of youth with type 1 diabetes in the United States has primarily looked at youth from one diabetes specialty center or from one geographic area. Other research has looked at youth at one point in time, either before or after leaving pediatric care. This study is the largest national cohort of youth with type 1 diabetes in the U.S. to be followed over a period of time.
The authors did not find that type of insurance (such as public versus private) made a difference in switching to adult care, but they found that older age of the patient, less parental education and lower baseline blood glucose levels were independently associated with increased odds of transitioning to adult care.
The next stage of research is to study young adults who are leaving pediatric care directly as they are aging to see what happens as they get older, and look at how different types of help with the transition to adult care affect outcomes.
Type 1 diabetes is a condition where the body does not produce insulin and cannot convert sugar, starches and other food into energy and is often diagnosed during childhood or adolescence age. It requires life-long access to medical care and intensive daily self-management for people with diabetes to stay healthy.
###
This article will be published in the April 2013 issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Faculty at the University of Colorado School of Medicine work to advance science and improve care. These faculty members include physicians, educators and scientists at University of Colorado Hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado, Denver Health, National Jewish Health, and the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Degrees offered by the CU Denver School of Medicine include doctor of medicine, doctor of physical therapy, and masters of physician assistant studies. The School is located on the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus, one of four campuses in the University of Colorado system. For additional news and information, please visit our online newsroom.
The Colorado School of Public Health is the first and only school of public health in the Rocky Mountain Region, attracting top tier faculty and students from across the country, and providing a vital contribution towards ensuring our region's health and well-being. Collaboratively formed by the University of Colorado Denver, Colorado State University, and the University of Northern Colorado, the Colorado School of Public Health provides training, innovative research and community service to actively address public health issues, including chronic disease, access to health care, environmental threats, emerging infectious diseases, and costly injuries.
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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.
Youth with type 1 diabetes may suffer health risks when transitioning from pediatric to adult carePublic release date: 26-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jackie Brinkman jackie.brinkman@ucdenver.edu 303-724-1525 University of Colorado Denver
AURORA, Colo. (March 26, 2013) Adolescent type 1 diabetes patients face greater risk for heart attacks, strokes, blindness and kidney failure later in life if their transition from pediatric to adult care is not carefully managed, two CU researchers have found. The estimated median age at transition to adult care was 20.1 years and 77 percent of individuals with type 1 diabetes had left pediatric care by age 21. The study suggests that without support, they were 2.5 times more likely to have high blood glucose levels when transitioning from pediatric to adult care
The study is co-authored by Georgeanna Klingensmith, MD, professor, University of Colorado, Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes and Dana Dabelea, MD, PhD, professor, University of Colorado, Colorado School of Public Health.
"With these results and our Colorado experience, we are developing a program for high school students and young college students to better prepare them to transition into adult care within 2-4 years of graduating from high school. We hope through this program they will have the support and learn the skills they need to successfully transition to the more independent care expected by providers of adult diabetes care," said Klingensmith. Dabalea added, "Our data highlight the importance of optimal health care transition during a critical period in the life of a teenage with type 1 diabetes. Additional research and programs focusing at improving health care services for this high risk population are urgently needed."
These data were analyzed from the multi-centered SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study, which has tracked children and young adults with diabetes from six centers across the U.S. since 2002. The cohort of youth studied included 185 adolescent and young adults with type 1 diabetes enrolled in the study in the year after their diabetes was diagnosed. Youth included in these analyses were cared for by pediatric diabetes physicians at the time of their initial study visit and were followed for an average of 4.5 years.
Previous research of youth with type 1 diabetes in the United States has primarily looked at youth from one diabetes specialty center or from one geographic area. Other research has looked at youth at one point in time, either before or after leaving pediatric care. This study is the largest national cohort of youth with type 1 diabetes in the U.S. to be followed over a period of time.
The authors did not find that type of insurance (such as public versus private) made a difference in switching to adult care, but they found that older age of the patient, less parental education and lower baseline blood glucose levels were independently associated with increased odds of transitioning to adult care.
The next stage of research is to study young adults who are leaving pediatric care directly as they are aging to see what happens as they get older, and look at how different types of help with the transition to adult care affect outcomes.
Type 1 diabetes is a condition where the body does not produce insulin and cannot convert sugar, starches and other food into energy and is often diagnosed during childhood or adolescence age. It requires life-long access to medical care and intensive daily self-management for people with diabetes to stay healthy.
###
This article will be published in the April 2013 issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Faculty at the University of Colorado School of Medicine work to advance science and improve care. These faculty members include physicians, educators and scientists at University of Colorado Hospital, Children's Hospital Colorado, Denver Health, National Jewish Health, and the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Degrees offered by the CU Denver School of Medicine include doctor of medicine, doctor of physical therapy, and masters of physician assistant studies. The School is located on the University of Colorado's Anschutz Medical Campus, one of four campuses in the University of Colorado system. For additional news and information, please visit our online newsroom.
The Colorado School of Public Health is the first and only school of public health in the Rocky Mountain Region, attracting top tier faculty and students from across the country, and providing a vital contribution towards ensuring our region's health and well-being. Collaboratively formed by the University of Colorado Denver, Colorado State University, and the University of Northern Colorado, the Colorado School of Public Health provides training, innovative research and community service to actively address public health issues, including chronic disease, access to health care, environmental threats, emerging infectious diseases, and costly injuries.
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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.
LONDON (Reuters) - The head of Japanese online retailer Rakuten Inc is used to defying convention, having quit the safety of a job at the Industrial Bank of Japan at the age of 31 and insisting employees at his new business spoke English at work.
Now Hiroshi Mikitani, or Mickey as he is known by his staff and on his business card, is trying to buck another trend -growing his brand of online "shopping mall" in Europe's recession-hit retail sector.
"We're very confident we'll be able to grow in any kind of (economic) circumstance," Mikitani told Reuters in an interview.
At Rakuten's websites, merchants from egg sellers to jewelers can create online shopfronts and post blogs and photos to communicate with customers, something which Mikitani hopes will give the firm an edge over rivals like e-Bay and Amazon.com, and tempt European consumers to spend.
"Of course we'll be price competitive and very efficient but more than that we'd like to create a very unique shopping experience through which we'd like to differentiate ourselves," said Mikitani, who has an MBA from Harvard.
Largely unknown outside Asia, Rakuten is hoping to tap into a shift in shopping habits in Europe as time-pressed consumers increasingly spend online rather than in bricks-and-mortar stores.
But the group will also have to wrestle a flagging economy, with nearly 19 million people out of work across the euro zone, where retail sales fell in January year-on-year.
Rakuten, which also owns the Kobo brand of e-reader, has been ramping up global expansion as Japan's shrinking population and weak consumer spending has forced it to seek new markets.
The company, which operates in more than a dozen countries, owns several shopping websites in Europe, including France's PriceMinister, Germany's Rakuten.de, and Britain's Play.com.
After a painful restructuring of Play.com, which contributed to overall one-off costs of 28.5 billion yen ($300 million) in 2012, Mikitani said the website is showing "healthy" growth in annual sales, though he did not give exact figures.
The company, with a market capitalization of about $13 billion, reported record 2012 net sales of 443.4 billion yen.
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Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
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