Heap of news

среда, 15 мая 2013 г.

Doctors, patients praise Jolie's openness on surgery

The choice actress Angelina Jolie made to have a double mastectomy is increasingly common, at least in the United States, says Lisa Sclafani, a breast cancer surgeon.

Angelina Jolie's decision to have both breasts removed because of a high genetic risk of cancer might be hard for some fans to understand. But doctors, counselors and women who deal with such decisions every day say they understand — and admire Jolie for her frankness.
"I'm very grateful to her," says Karen Kramer, 48, of Potomac, Md., vice president of marketing for FORCE, a group representing families affected by cancers linked to BRCA1 and BRCA2 genetic mutations.
She had Jolie's surgery four years ago, after learning she had inherited one of the mutations from her father's side of the family. Kramer, whose paternal grandmother had breast cancer twice before menopause, says the decision to have her own breasts removed "boiled down to what fear was greater. I had no fear of having a mastectomy. I had a greater fear of being diagnosed with cancer. That's how it is for many women."
But Kramer's own sister, Amy Kolodin, 45, of Gaithersburg, Md., got the same test results and made a different decision: She had her ovaries removed, but not her breasts, "because it just didn't feel like the right time for me," she says. Instead, she goes for mammograms and MRIs every six months. But she says she thinks about breast-removal surgery "all the time."
She says she's also grateful to Jolie for raising awareness.
It is unclear how many women in Jolie's shoes choose preventative breast-removal surgeries. A small study published in 2008 suggested it was just over a third of those in the United States, says Lisa Sclafani, a breast cancer surgeon at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. But, she says, "I believe it is much higher now."
Q&A: Jolie's cancer risk shared by others with genetic flaw
One reason, she says, is that women are learning they can get better cosmetic results with reconstruction surgery than in the past. The nipple-saving procedure Jolie described in The New York Times "can produce very good results," she says. "It looks nice. For patients, that's a big emotional boon."
Patients who choose surgery often have thought about it long before they are even tested for the gene mutations, Sclafani says. "These women have grown up seeing people in their families stricken with cancer and going through treatment," she says. "They've been through tough times."
Women — and men — who think they are candidates for genetic testing should first discuss their family histories with their physicians, says Rebecca Nagy, a genetic counselor at Ohio State University and president of the National Society of Genetic Counselors. If testing might be appropriate, the next step is an appointment with a genetic counselor, she says.
Counselors typically ask patients to consider what steps they will take if results are positive, Nagy says. Some women who decide they would not have surgery also decide not to take the tests. They would rather live with uncertainty and frequent, possibly unneeded cancer screenings, she says. "Knowing you are at very high risk for these cancers can be scary."
Jolie's openness may help others who face that news, Nagy says. "She's so well-known for her beauty and sexuality. So for her to share that she's had an operation that can change your body and your body image could be very empowering for women."
Jolie's announcement will no doubt "keep genetics counselors busy" for the near future, Sclafani says.
But women should know that final choices, about whether to be tested and how to be treated, always are up to them, says Kara Milliron, a genetics counselor at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
"One of the biggest barriers is that patients feel like we're going to tell them what to do," Milliron says. "We only give them the information. We're not here to sell them something or pressure them into something."
Contributing: Detroit Free Press

3 European oil companies probed for price-fixing

European anti-trust authorities have launched investigations into at least three oil companies on suspicion of price-fixing.
Britain's BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Norway's Statoil confirmed they are subject to the inquiry announced Tuesday by the European Union's executive arm, the Commission.
Statoil said a raid at its headquarters in Stavanger, Norway, was carried out with the assistance of Norwegian antitrust officials. Norway is not a member of the EU. BP and Shell offered no details, but said they were cooperating with authorities.

What goes into the price of gasoline?

Platts, which compiles prices for energy markets, said the Commission also visited its London operations on Tuesday. Platts is a division of McGraw Hill Financial.
"Commission officials carried out unannounced inspections at the premises of several companies active in and providing services to the crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels sectors," the Commission said in a statement Tuesday. It did not identify the companies involved.
The Commission said it had concerns that oil companies "may have colluded in reporting distorted prices." Such prices are used to determine the market cost of several energy products in Europe and globally.

Several Ontario gas stations were fined more than $2 million for price-fixing in 2007

"Even small distortions of assessed prices may have a huge impact on the prices of crude oil, refined oil products and biofuels purchases and sales, potentially harming final consumers," the Commission said.
The Commission said it was investigating whether the companies may also have "prevented others from participating in the price assessment process, with a view to distorting published prices."
EU antitrust officials can make unannounced inspections of a company's offices as a preliminary step in an investigation. Such probes do not mean the companies are guilty of any wrong-doing, the Commission said.
There is no deadline for the completion of the investigation.

Mortgage lenders urge caution as regulator eyes more control

Mortgage lenders are urging Canada's top financial regulator to exercise caution amid reports that the agency is considering cracking down on terms for uninsured mortgages.
Earlier this week, media reports suggested that the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) is considering taking steps to rein in mortgage term lengths for so-called "uninsured" borrowers who put down at least 20 per cent on their homes.
Several times in the past few years, the federal government has moved to raise the minimum down payment for mortgages insured through the government-backed CMHC to five per cent, and to lower the amount of time borrowers have to pay it back — down to 25 today from as much as 40 years in 2007.
Until now, uninsured borrowers have been the last thing housing experts and policymakers needed to worry about. But in the continuing attempts to stickhandle the formerly hot Canadian housing market toward a soft landing, changes there may now be on the table.

'I'm not going to intervene in the mortgage market, I don't need to'—Finance Minister Jim Flaherty on Tuesday

"A decision in that regard would be taken once we hear back from the industry," mortgage industry newsletter CanadianMortgageTrends.com quoted officials at OSFI with saying this week.
"Any proposed changes to our mortgage guideline that may result from this work would be subject to a public consultation process."
A series of changes implemented over the past several years appear to have had their desired effect of letting out some of the steam from Canada's housing market. Since the last round cutting amortizations to 25 years in July came into effect, home sales are down about nine per cent. And price increases have gone from double-digit gains on average to increases that are just slightly outpacing inflation.
Housing starts have slumped from a peak of 205,000 in 2011, and the growth of mortgage credit has also slowed dramatically since then.
In reaction to the possibility of a further tightening on a new front, the Canadian Association of Accredited Mortgage Professional or CAAMP urged on its website this week for OSFI to exercise caution.
"Instead of further restrictions on uninsured mortgage products, the government should examine measures to support first-time buyers who have been impacted the most by recent regulatory changes," CAAMP said.
In an interview with CBC News, CAAMP president Jim Murphy says the agency has yet to be formally consulted on any changes OSFI may be considering, but he urges a cautious approach to any new changes. Indeed
"As an association we always take a balanced approach," Murphy said. "We're always concerned about household debt, and rates and we understand the government's concern with taxpayer exposure [through CMHC] but we also know housing is an important economic contributor that has taken some knocks already," he said.
Indeed if regulators or policymakers are thinking about changes, he says they would do well to consider making it easier to buy a home for a specific segment of people — first-time homebuyers.
An expansion of the Home-Buyer's Plan RRSP exemption, some sort of modest new home buyer tax credit or even simply making sure first-time borrowers qualify under stringent rules before allowing them some leeway would all be easy to implement policies that could help out first time homebuyers without making the system as a whole more vulnerable.
New data came out Wednesday showing the average price of a Canadian resale home was $380,588 last month.
For its part, the federal Department of Finance appears content to sit on the sidelines. After moving four times to tinker with CMHC rules, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said yesterday he has done enough.
"I'm not going to intervene in the mortgage market, I don't need to," he said.

Google CEO Larry Page discloses health issue

Google CEO Larry Page has disclosed a problem with his vocal cords that makes it difficult for him to speak and breathe occasionally, but he says he remains fit enough to keep running the internet's most influential company.
The explanation that Page posted Tuesday on his Google Plus profile cleared up a mystery hanging over him since he lost his voice a year ago, causing him to miss Google Inc.'s annual shareholders meeting in June and a conference call to discuss the company's quarterly earnings in July.
Page, 40, the company's co-founder and CEO for the past two years, says his left vocal cord has been paralyzed since he came down with a severe cold 14 years ago, while Google was still in its formative stages. That issue was compounded last year with another cold that Page says impaired his right vocal cord, though it still has limited movement.

Echoes of fears over Steve Jobs's health

Page's unavailability last year spooked investors, especially those who remembered Apple Inc.'s initial refusal to disclose the extent of co-founder Steve Jobs's health problems. Jobs took two formal medical leaves as Apple's CEO before resigning from the job about six weeks before his death from cancer. When Page had his health issue, Google had simply said Page was dealing with a throat problem that wouldn't get in the way of his job.
Wall Street's worries about Page's condition eased when he resurfaced in October to field questions during Google's earnings call. Although his voice has been raspy and robotic-sounding at times, Page has spoken at length in each of Google's three earnings calls since the one he missed.
Page provided further reassurance in Tuesday's post.
"Thankfully, after some initial recovery, I'm fully able to do all I need to at home and at work, though my voice is softer than before," he wrote.
Doctors have not been able to diagnose why his vocal cords are hobbled, according to Page. The trouble could be tied to another health problem, Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Page said he was diagnosed with that condition in 2003. He described it as a "fairly common benign inflammatory condition of the thyroid which causes me no problems."

Impaired vocal cords affect breathing

The weakened vocal cords affect more than just Page's voice. "Vocal cord nerve issues can also affect your breathing, so my ability to exercise at peak aerobic capacity is somewhat reduced," Page wrote. "That said, my friends still think I have way more stamina than them when we go kitesurfing!"
Page said doctors had told him his condition was "extremely rare."
Google said the company had no further comment beyond Page's post.
Investors seemed unfazed. After hitting a new all-time high of $888.69 US Tuesday, Google's stock was still up by $9.57, or 1.1 per cent, to close at $887.10. The shares have risen by 50 per cent since Page replaced Eric Schmidt as Google's CEO in April 2011.
"It's a good thing that he is in good health, to a large extent," said Standard & Poor's Capital IQ analyst Scott Kessler. "It's unfortunate that he is in a position where he felt compelled to disclose these personal details, though I applaud him for his transparency. I completely understand why shareholders would want to know — and deserve to know — about the well-being of a key person in a business that they are investing in."

Donated to vocal cord paralysis research

Page made his revelations on the eve of another major Google event — a conference for engineers and entrepreneurs who create software applications. It's not clear whether Page will make an onstage appearance this year after skipping last year's conference while he tried to regain his voice. Page, who isn't as outgoing as fellow Google co-founder Sergey Brin, had bypassed this conference in previous years, too.
The timing of Page's disclosures appeared tied to his decision to finance research into vocal cord paralysis at the Voice Institute. Page, whose owns Google stock worth about $22 billion, didn't disclose the size of his donation to the Voice Institute. He said it was large enough to support a "significant" research program that will be led by Dr. Steven Zeitels from the Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital Voice Center. The amount of Page's contribution is believed to be in the tens of millions of dollars.

PM's chief of staff paid off Mike Duffy's Senate expenses

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's chief of staff Nigel Wright wrote a personal cheque worth more than $90,000 to pay back Senator Mike Duffy's living expenses, Harper's office confirmed Wednesday.
"Mr. Duffy agreed to repay the expenses because it was the right thing to do," Harper's spokesman Andrew MacDougall said in a statement.
"However, Mr. Duffy was unable to make a timely repayment. Mr. Wright therefore wrote a cheque from his personal account for the full amount owing, so that Mr. Duffy could repay the outstanding amount."
The confirmation came following a CTV News report Tuesday night said that Wright intervened to arrange a deal with Duffy that involved him reimbursing taxpayers $90,172 in return for helping him financially and assuring him that the government would go easy on him.
Before his Ottawa appointment, Wright, a Harvard-educated lawyer, was the managing director of Onex, a private equity firm with assets worth $44 billion.
It is not expected that the money will be repaid to Wright. Conservative Party spokesman Fred DeLorey told CBC News that the party has not reimbursed Wright for his payment. Earlier in the day he had confirmed that the party had not covered Duffy's expenses.
"We didn't pay any of the money he reimbursed for living expenses," DeLorey said in an email. "No party money involved in any way," he said in another email.
MacDougall wrote on Twitter on Tuesday night that "no taxpayer funds were used" in Duffy's repayments.
Duffy was asked Wednesday morning for comment and declined.
Duffy, a senator from Prince Edward Island who owns a home in Ottawa, was one of three senators whose living allowance expenses were being reviewed by the external auditing firm Deloitte. He voluntarily repaid $90,172 in March, weeks before the audit was released last week. Senator Patrick Brazeau, a former Conservative, and Liberal Senator Mac Harb are the other two senators whose expenses were questioned.
The CTV report cited an email from Feb. 20 in which Duffy said Wright worked out a "scenario" where his claimed living expenses would be covered, including money for the repayment. Two days later, Duffy publicly said he may have made errors filling out the claim forms that declared his P.E.I. home as his primary residence and that he would pay some money back.

RCMP examining expense claims

Senators are eligible for a housing allowance of up to $22,000 per year to cover accommodation while they're working in Ottawa, if their primary residence is more than 100 kilometres from the capital.
Duffy did not co-operate with the Deloitte audit. It noted that he had already paid money back for the housing allowance, but also said he improperly claimed per diem expenses while he was in Florida for non-Senate business. Duffy has also paid back $1,050 for what he explained as a clerical error.
Harper's office said Wednesday that it believes taxpayers should not be on the hook for Senate expenses that are improperly claimed.
"The independent external audit by Deloitte looking into Senate expenses was completed and the results tabled. Mr. Duffy has reimbursed taxpayers for his impugned claims. Mr. Harb and Mr. Brazeau should pay taxpayers back immediately," MacDougall said.
Brazeau, who now sits as an Independent after being forced out of the Conservative caucus because he is facing criminal charges for sexual assault, said Tuesday he doesn't think he should pay any money back. The Senate wants him to reimburse taxpayers about $48,000.
The report recommends that Harb repay $51,000 for housing and mileage claims dating from April 2011.
The RCMP said it is examining senators' expense claims following the Deloitte reports, and "may or may not" initiate an investigation.
The NDP jumped on the newest revelations about Wright's involvement, issuing a statement that called for an independent investigation to look into "unethical behaviour and coverups" inside Harper's office.
"Conservatives must agree to an independent investigation into these troubling allegations involving his most senior advisers," NDP ethics critic Charlie Angus said in a statement.
"This is a very serious charge against Stephen Harper's right-hand man. The prime minister cannot bury his head in the sand hoping it will go away."
Angus wants the police to investigate whether any laws were broken when Duffy, Harb and Brazeau claimed the expenses.

All eyes on meeting between Wynne, Horwath

A meeting between Premier Kathleen Wynne and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath will be closely watched today, as Ontarians wait to see if the fate of the minority government’s budget will become any clearer.
The governing Liberals don’t have enough seats in the legislature to get the budget passed on their own. That has left the government seeking support from the third-party New Democrats, as they won’t be getting any help from the Progressive Conservatives.

Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, seen surrounded by members of the media on Wednesday, is pressing the governing Liberals to make tweaks to their budget. The Liberals need the third party's help if they are going to pass their budget. (Mike Crawley/CBC)While the New Democrats have been pushing for amendments to the budget, they are also under pressure to work with the government. If the third party decides it can't support the government's budget, the province will face an election.
Horwath has continued to press for accountability measures she argues are necessary to keep the government on track.
"I have three things to say to the premier's comments about accountability of the Liberal government thus far in Ontario: eHealth, Ornge and the gas plant scandals," Horwath said in the legislature on Wednesday, referring to a handful of controversies that have plagued the government in recent years.
Early Wednesday afternoon, Horwath reinforced her message by tweeting that she would be seeking "action on accountability" during her meeting with the premier.
The NDP leader and the premier are due to meet at 2:30 p.m. Horwath will address the media later in the afternoon.
A year ago, the Liberals struggled to get a budget passed under similar conditions in which the New Democrats' support was critical to the government’s survival. It eventually passed in June of 2012, weeks after it was tabled.

Dellen Millard to plead not guilty in Bosma slaying, lawyer says

Dellen Millard will plead not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder the death of Timothy Bosma, of Hamilton, Ont., according to his lawyer.
Deepak Paradkar has described his client as "very shaken up, very concerned, wondering how one ends up in a situation like this."
Bosma's remains were found after he disappeared more than a week ago after leaving his home with two men who wanted to test drive a truck he had posted for sale online, police said.
Millard, 27, of Toronto, who had already been charged with forcible confinement and theft over $5,000 in the case, walked into a Hamilton court Wednesday morning, unshaven and looking tired, to hear that he has now been charged with first-degree murder. He was wearing a white dress shirt and beige dress pants. He no longer has a Mohawk haircut.

Dellen Millard appeared tired when he appeared in a Hamilton court today where it was announced he would face a murder charge in the death of Timothy Bosma. (Alex Tavshunsky/CBC)Millard has been ordered to not communicate with a list of people. He is scheduled to make a video appearance in court on June 13.

An interactive look at key events in the last few days of Tim Bosma
Tim Bosma remembered: father, husband, son and friend

Bosma was last seen on May 6. He was with the two men in the truck he had posted for sale on the Kijiji and AutoTrader websites. Police believe Bosma was killed the night he disappeared.

Suspect 'shaken up,' lawyer says

Paradkar said the plan for the defence right now is to remand the matter for about a month or so, to get some initial disclosure of the evidence from the Crown.

Tim Bosma was last seen on May 6. Hamilton police believe he was killed the night he disappeared. (Hamilton police)"This is a hugely complex case with multi-jurisdictions, multi-search warrants. We expect disclosure to take months. This is not going to be a quick thing, so we expect at least for a number of months Mr. Millard will just be making remand appearances until we get the case."
Paradkar says Millard is choosing not to speak to police about the investigation.
"At the end of the day, under the constitution, Canadian citizens have the right to remain silent," he said.

Kijiji Canada responds

Bosma created two online ads – one on Kijiji and one on AutoTrader – for his 2007 black Dodge Ram he intended to sell. Hamilton Police Sgt. Mat Kavanagh confirmed during a press conference last week Bosma left only a cell phone number as a point of contact.

Police search for other suspects

At a news conference on Tuesday, police said Bosma's remains were "burned beyond recognition" and that they are still searching for at least two more suspects.
“Video evidence that we've now recovered shows that when Mr. Bosma's vehicle left his residence, there was a second vehicle following,” Det. Sgt. Matt Kavanagh of Hamilton police said.
Kavanagh said police have not identified any of the other suspects.
Investigators have been searching a farm near Cambridge, Ont., that is owned by the Millard family. The Hamilton police forensic unit set up a large tent at the rear of the property on Tuesday. Officers could be seen carrying what appeared to be buckets of soil and passing it through large sifting screens.

Bosma's truck targeted

Jim Wilson said he used to live next to the farm two decades ago.
“When you think about killing somebody for a truck, it doesn’t make sense,” said Wilson. “I just wonder if it’s something bigger.”
Hamilton police said that the truck was targeted by the suspects

40 Waterloo police officers involved in Bosma investigation

Peter Lowe, a family friend, spoke to media outside the Bosma home in Hamilton's Ancaster and said the family had no statement to make.
"We just ask that you give us the same respect you did last week," he said, regarding giving the Bosma family privacy. "It's tough."
Everyone who knew Bosma, from his closest family members to friends he hasn't seen in years, have the same description: A kind-hearted friend who was generous with laughs and love.
"He was as great a guy as everyone says he was, if not a hundred times more," said Edward De Groot, a neighbour of Bosma's extended family for 20 years.

Tim Bosma dead, mourning begins

Hamilton police homicide Det. Sgt. Matt Kavanagh, in a more formal way, echoed the same assurance that Bosma is exactly who his family says he was.
"The picture that is being painted of Mr. Bosma is what we have found in our investigation," he said.

Community reacts with shock

The Christian Reformed Church that the Bosma's belong to is like one big, extended family, their members say. And like family, when one of their own has to deal with tragedy, they all come together to help them though.

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"When people have a hard time — and in this case it is a particularly hard time — we come around them like a family would," Henry Hess, director of communications for the Christian Reformed Church North America said.