Whitley blog

Campbell River, B.C. Author Publishes New Book with RoseDog Books

Anita Hayes shares with us her unique viewpoint on the triumphs, humiliations, and side-splittingly funny experiences of her life from birth to her forties.

Campbell River, B.C. (Vocus/PRWEB) January 22, 2011

Private School of Hard Knocks, a new book by Anita Hayes, has been released by RoseDog Books.

Full of candor and a zest for living, Anita shares with us her unique viewpoint on the triumphs, humiliations, and side-splittingly funny experiences of her life from birth to her forties.

Her inspiration for the book came after an unfortunate series of events led to the devastation of all she had worked for and left her on the brink of suicide.

This boldly honest, deeply touching account reveals a buoyant soul who is not afraid to be who she is and to follow her dreams wherever they may lead.

Anita was born and raised in Vancouver, B.C., and shares her home in Campbell River, B.C., Canada, with her “kids,” four beautiful purebred collies. She is an active supporter of animal welfare and a fantastic cook.

She entered a writing contest and her work, along with others’, was published in a book called Sweating with Finns: Sauna Stories from North America out of Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario.

She enjoys writing articles for newspapers and plans to continue her autobiography.

Private School of Hard Knocks is a 174-page hardcover with a retail price of $19.00.The ISBN is 978-1-4349-9875-0.It was published by RoseDog Books of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For more information or to request a review copy, please visit our virtual pressroom ator our online bookstore at .

###

Jessica StillwellDorrance Publishing412-288-4543Email Information

Q&A: Can powers revive nuclear fuel deal with Iran?

VIENNA (Reuters) – Major powers are expected to test whether Iran might be ready to start addressing their concerns about its nuclear plans at a meeting in Istanbul this week, possibly by exploring ways to reduce deep mutual mistrust.

Both sides have in recent months indicated willingness to resume talks about a plan to swap atom fuel which that more than a year ago and is seen by the West as a potential step to build confidence for broader negotiations on Iran's nuclear program.

The issue may come up at the January 21-22 session between Iran and the six world powers in the Turkish city, even though expectations of any breakthrough in the long-running dispute over Tehran's atomic ambitions are low.

They still differ on how such an exchange of Iranian low-enriched uranium (LEU) for higher-refined reactor fuel from abroad would take place. A tentative pact struck in October 2009 fell apart after Iran backed away from its terms.

Western diplomats have suggested the idea could be revived if Iran also accepts wider discussions they hope will lead to it agreeing to curb nuclear work which they fear has military aims.

They say any new accord must be updated to take into account Iran's growing LEU stockpile, material which can be used for bombs, and escalating enrichment activity since last February. Iran has rejected any toughening of the terms.

Senior fellow Greg Thielmann of the Washington-based Arms Control Association said a fuel swap could increase confidence and help set the stage for a solution to the core dispute.

"A step to rejuvenate this concept would be a concrete symbol of progress," he said.

The following looks at the plan's main elements and how it fits into the broader nuclear row between Iran and the powers:

WHAT WAS THE IDEA BEHIND THE FUEL SWAP PLAN?

Under the initial agreement brokered by the U.N. nuclear watchdog between Iran, the United States, France and Russia in 2009, Iran would send 1,200 kg of its LEU abroad -- roughly the amount needed for a bomb if refined to a high degree.

The material would first be enriched to 20 percent fissile purity by Russia and then turned into fuel assemblies by France before its return to Iran for use in a medical research reactor, which is running out of fuel provided by Argentina in the 1990s.

For the West, which suspects Iran is seeking covertly to develop nuclear weapons, the proposal offered a way to restore a degree of trust in relations with Tehran and help in the search for a diplomatic solution to the eight-year nuclear dispute.

At the time, 1,200 kg of LEU represented about 75 percent of Iran's stockpile so it would also have ensured that it did not have enough left over for a weapon, at least temporarily.

For Iran, it would have provided fuel for a reactor it says helps in treating hundreds of thousands of cancer patients.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would also have been able to hail it as a foreign policy success, with Iran striking a deal with the powers without backing down over its enrichment work.

The U.S. envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Glyn Davies, has described it as a "beautiful" agreement for Iran.

SO WHY DID THE DEAL COLLAPSE?

Analysts and diplomats believe it fell victim to Iran's internal power rivalries. Ahmadinejad's opponents, keen to deny him a diplomatic victory, said it would have forced Iran to part with the bulk of a strategic asset and a strong bargaining chip.

Iranian politicians raised new conditions for the swap, saying it must take place on Iranian soil and simultaneously.

This was unacceptable for the West as it would fail to remove potential bomb material from Iran, which says its nuclear program is a peaceful drive to generate electricity.

Iran, Turkey and Brazil resurrected parts of the original plan last May in a bid to avert a tightening of sanctions on Tehran. Under this proposal, Iran would still send out 1.2 tons of LEU, this time to Turkey, in return for reactor fuel.

But the United States, Russia and France -- known as the Vienna Group -- voiced deep concerns about Iran's new offer and the move failed to prevent the introduction of more sanctions.

Their main worries included Iran's growing LEU stockpile -- which now amounts to more than 3 tons -- and its decision in February to escalate enrichment to 20 percent itself, an advance

toward weapon-grade material.

Iran said it was forced to take this step to prepare the way for producing reactor fuel itself. But many analysts doubt its technical ability to convert the uranium into special fuel rods, heightening suspicions.

COULD IT BE REVIVED?

Ahmadinejad said in December Iran was prepared to discuss a possible fuel swap again. [ID:nLDE6B716F] But Iran later said the idea was losing its appeal because it would soon be able to make the fuel itself. [ID:nLDE70702U]

Western diplomats stress that even if the fuel exchange arrangement is revived, Iran must also agree to address their core concerns about its nuclear activities.

They fear that Iran may use any fuel swap talks as a way to distract attention from the West's main worry -- the uranium enrichment program -- and buy time to perfect the process.

In October, the New York Times reported that intelligence analysts had concluded last year's deal was scuttled by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and that many officials therefore suspected any new effort would also fail.

The Times said Washington and its European allies have prepared a new swap offer to Iran, which would require Iran to send about 2,000 kg of LEU out of the country.

Tehran quickly dismissed the report, saying it only needed reactor fuel for the equivalent of 1,200 kg [ID:nLDE6A122Z] and this month, announced that it will make its own fuel for the research reactor later in 2011.

If Iran "is confident that it can make reliable fuel elements, it will have no motivation to go through with the complex swap deal offered by France, Russia and the United States," nuclear expert Ivanka Barzashka of Federation of American Scientists (FAS) said.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

New hope for hepatitis C, an often hidden disease

WASHINGTON – There's new hope for an overlooked epidemic: Two powerful drugs are nearing the market that promise to help cure many more people of liver-attacking hepatitis C — even though most who have the simmering infection don't know it yet.

Surprisingly, two-thirds of hepatitis C sufferers are thought to be baby boomers who've harbored since their younger, perhaps wilder, years a virus that can take two or three decades to do its damage.

What could be a treatment revolution is spurring the government to consider if it's time to start screening aging baby boomers for hepatitis C, just like they get various cancer checks.

"We're entering a whole new era of therapy," says Dr. John Ward, hepatitis chief at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "We really want to begin that clarion call for action for this population who's at risk."

Today's two-drug treatment for hepatitis C cures only about 40 percent of people with the most common variety of the virus, and causes some grueling side effects. Now major studies show that adding a new drug _either Vertex Pharmaceuticals' telaprevir or Merck & Co.'s boceprevir — can boost those cure rates as high as 75 percent. And they allow some people to cut treatment time in half, to six months, thus lessening how long they must deal with those side effects.

If the Food and Drug Administration approves the drugs — a decision widely expected this summer — they would be the first that work by directly targeting the hepatitis C virus. Specialists draw comparisons to the early 1990s when potent combination therapies emerged to treat AIDS. Many recently diagnosed patients are postponing therapy to await these new drug cocktails in hopes of a better chance at a faster cure, says Dr. Paul Pockros, hepatology chief at the Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, Calif., who helped test telaprevir.

However, the bigger impact could come if more people get tested for hepatitis C, a blood-borne virus. It's often stigmatized as a risk only to people who inject illegal drugs. But the virus could have begun festering from a blood transfusion before 1992, when testing of the blood supply began.

Lapses in infection control in health facilities still occasionally expose people today. So could even a one-time experiment with drugs way back in college, something doctors are reluctant to ask a now middle-aged, button-downed patient to reveal, says Ward.

"It cuts across every segment of society," adds Dr. Arun Sanyal of Virginia Commonwealth University, past president of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases. "I can tell you our hepatitis C treatment clinic is a great social equalizer."

About 3.2 million Americans, and 170 million people worldwide, have chronic hepatitis C. In the U.S., new infections have dropped dramatically — although the disease's toll is rising as people infected decades earlier reach ages where their livers start showing damage. Hepatitis C already is a leading cause of liver transplants, and it kills about 12,000 U.S. patients a year, a number expected to triple within 20 years.

Most people find out they're infected like Brian Graham of Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., during a routine check-up that spotted elevated liver enzymes. He'd never heard of hepatitis C and had no obvious risk factors. But tests showed the virus had begun to scar his liver. So over the last decade he tried three rounds of traditional treatments, with increasingly tough side effects, to no avail.

"I didn't want to die of liver disease or cancer or suffer the prospect of having to tee up for a liver transplant. Scary stuff," says Graham, now 56.

Enter the new drugs. They work by blocking an enzyme named protease that's key for the virus to reproduce. But they must be taken together with standard medications — ribavirin pills plus injections of interferon-alpha — that are thought to boost the immune system.

According to studies presented at a recent medical meeting, 67 percent to 75 percent of patients given treatment including either boceprevir or telaprevir, respectively, had what doctors call a cure. That's defined as no sign of the hepatitis C virus six months after their last dose. Importantly, only about a quarter of black patients are helped by standard therapy but adding one of the new drugs more than doubled their cure rates.

People getting their first-ever treatment did best, but the studies also found improvements in hard-to-treat patients like Graham.

"The fourth time did the trick," says Graham, who volunteered for an early telaprevir study and says he's been hepatitis-free for three years.

The new drugs do add side effects to the flulike symptoms and other complaints of existing treatment. Telaprevir's main risk is a rash that is sometimes severe, and boceprevir's is anemia.

"The future looks very bright beyond telaprevir and boceprevir," notes Dr. Fred Poordad of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, who has studied both drugs and consults for several companies. He points to additional drugs in earlier-stage testing that promise to target more types of hepatitis C and perhaps eventually allow for pill-only, interferon-free treatment.

Manufacturers haven't said how much the new drugs will add to the price of treatment that already can cost $30,000, albeit far cheaper than a liver transplant.

A stickier issue: Not everyone suffers serious liver damage and it's hard to predict who will, raising questions about exactly who needs treatment even as drug companies help push for more screening."

That's a concern, acknowledges Jeff Levi of the nonprofit Trust for America's Health, also a screening proponent. But when to treat is a doctor-patient decision, and "anyone with chronic infection you do want to be monitoring so you can intervene at the right moment," he adds.

Plus, people with hepatitis C should avoid alcohol and consider other liver-protection steps — and know how to avoid infecting others, he stresses.

Stay tuned: The CDC has begun a study at four hospitals — in New York, Detroit, Houston and Birmingham, Ala. — to see if a one-time hepatitis C test for baby boomers makes sense. Among the boomers, black men in their 50s are at particular risk. CDC plans new guidelines next year.

Meanwhile, "start that conversation" at a routine doctor's visit by asking about hepatitis C risks and testing, Ward advises boomers.

___

EDITOR's NOTE — Lauran Neergaard covers health and medical issues for The Associated Press in Washington.

U.N. sending human rights team to Tunisia: Pillay

GENEVA (Reuters) – U.N. human rights officials will go to Tunisia next week to help investigate violence and advise the new coalition government on justice and reforms, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said on Wednesday.

At least 117 people died, including 70 killed by live fire, in five weeks of bloodshed linked to demonstrations which led to the ousting of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, she said.

The Tunisian government has said at least 78 people have been killed in the unrest, sparked by a wave of protests against unemployment, repression and graft.

Perpetrators of the killings and other serious human rights violations must be held accountable by an independent judiciary, according to Pillay, a former United Nations war crimes judge.

"Because without justice we will not have proper peace and reconciliation in Tunisia, so that is essential," she said.

Her assessment team, composed of 4-5 senior U.N. human rights officials, should be in the North African country soon and has got permission from the new unity government, she said.

"We have not done this before, we've never been able to act so fast before. You do need the cooperation of the authorities," Pillay told a news conference.

Switzerland said on Wednesday it would freeze assets belonging to Ben Ali, a measure aimed at encouraging the new authorities to lodge claims to recover the funds.

Pillay also welcomed the unity government's pledges to liberate political prisoners and investigate corruption.

"While it is still very early days, it is important that the seeds of change are sown wisely and sown now, before former entrenched interests start to reassert themselves, or new threats emerge. We must act quickly, so when a free and fair election takes place in the near future, the next government is in a position to move forward from Day One," Pillay said.

She voiced sadness at suicides in the region -- Egypt, Algeria and Mauritania -- apparently inspired by an immolation in Tunisia in protest at living conditions and repression that prompted the demonstrations there.

"This is now a learning call that should be heeded in the entire region," she said.

(Editing by Jonathan Lynn and Philippa Fletcher)

Stocks shrug off strong Black Friday sales weekend

NEW YORK/CHICAGO (Reuters) – Store chains had a strong start to the holiday shopping season, but investors who bid up retail stocks were not impressed as they waited to see how much of a sales lull might set in.

The Standard & Poor's Retail index (.RLX) had hit a 3-1/2 year high on Wednesday on hopes a slowly recovering economy would put shoppers in a buying mood during the "Black Friday" weekend, which refers to the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday and signals the start of the holiday shopping season.

The index was down 1.3 percent on Monday, a sign that investors may have missed the chance to bet on a recovering U.S. economy.

"It might be tough for the ... rally to continue into December, as retailers historically lag the markets post Thanksgiving following the November outperformance in anticipation of consumer strength heading into the holidays. " JP Morgan analyst Charles Grom wrote in a note to clients.

The biggest share losers included Nordstrom Inc (JWN.N), down 2.8 percent, Best Buy Cos Inc (BBY.N), which fell 2.9 percent, and off-price clothing sellers Ross Stores Inc (ROST.O) and TJX Cos Inc (TJX.N), which both shed nearly 3 percent.

"A lot of the enthusiasm is a bit misplaced," said Walter Stackow, an analyst with Manning & Napier, referring to the initial analyst and media reaction to Black Friday sales. "We still have a consumer who is heavily indebted," he added, noting that unemployment was still high.

Manning and Napier is an investment firm that owns Kohl's Corp (KSS.N), Nordstrom (JWN.N) and other retailers.

Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and other online commerce sites were among the few companies whose shares rose, as investors bet retailers would win over more sales on Cyber Monday -- the Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend when many people return to work and make online gift purchases -- after Internet shopping increased over the holiday weekend. Amazon shares hit an all-time high during the session.

Analysts said that while consumers did buy for themselves and even purchased highly discretionary items like jewelry -- Zale Corp (ZLC.N) shares rose 3.6 percent on Monday -- they did not spend as profusely as they did before the recession.

In a survey of shoppers over the weekend, 16.3 percent said that they paid for their purchases with credit cards, down from 30.9 percent a year earlier, according to consumer research firm America's Research Group.

"The consumer is in what I call a wallet watch. They're just not jumping out there and going crazy," said Britt Beemer, president of America's Research Group.

BUT THE SHOPPERS CAME OUT

Still, analysts said that because of Black Friday weekend, promotions and more consumers buying for themselves, retailers were poised to report November sales above forecasts.

JP Morgan's Grom forecast that most retailers will likely "beat Street estimates by a wide margin."

The bulk of those sales reports are due out on Thursday. As of last Friday, analysts on average forecast a 3.5 percent increase in November same-store sales, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The National Retail Federation said that shopper traffic to stores and websites was up 8.7 percent between Thanksgiving Day on Thursday and Sunday, compared with the same period in 2009, and spending per person rose to $365.34 from $343.31 a year earlier.

The NRF data contrasts with that of Shoppertrak, which said that traffic to stores on Friday alone rose 2.2 percent and sales rose a mere 0.3 percent, which shows that where shoppers made purchases, it was often on discounted items.

While Black Friday weekend attracts a lot of public attention, analysts also noted that it does not necessarily make a great predictor for the entire holiday season.

"We're focusing on what we think are going to be market share gainers, whether you are talking about the holiday or beyond that," said Edward Jones analyst Matt Arnold. He named Target (TGT.N), Kohl's (KSS.N) and Tiffany & Co (TIF.N) as companies set to gain customers.

Among other big-name retailers, shares of Macy's (M.N) were down 2.7 percent on Monday, while Kohl's fell 1.6 percent and J.C. Penney Co Inc (JCP.N) was down 0.7 percent. Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N) shares were down 0.5 percent and Aeropostale's slipped 0.3 percent.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba and Brad Dorfman, editing by Michele Gershberg, Dave Zimmerman and Matthew Lewis)