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Thursday, May 2, 2013

Adderall abuse as finals study aid 'trending' on East Coast

Public release date: 1-May-2013
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Contact: Todd Hollingshead
toddh@byu.edu
801-422-8373
Brigham Young University

Twitter analysis: Adderall mentions spike during final exam times

A growing number of college students are abusing the ADHD medication Adderall to give them an academic edge, and they're tweeting about it.

Thanks to Twitter, tracking roughly when and where Adderall use happens is now possible. So a group of BYU health science and computer science researchers did just that.

Their six-month study, appearing in the current issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research, produced two major revelations about Adderall:

It is mentioned most heavily among students in the northeast and south regions of the U.S.
Tweets about Adderall peak sharply during final exam periods.

"Adderall is the most commonly abused prescription stimulant among college students," said lead researcher Carl Hanson, a professor of health science at BYU. "Our concern is that the more it becomes a social norm in online conversation, the higher risk there is of more people abusing it."

For the study, researchers monitored all public-facing Twitter mentions of "Adderall" between November 2011 and May 2012, but removed tweets from users whose screen-names indicated they were promoting Adderall.

The results showed 213,633 tweets from 132,099 unique users mentioned the drug during the study, with an average of 930 per day. Though the analysis didn't sort out "legal" vs. "illegal," use, Adderall tweets spiked sharply during traditional finals periods, with peaks on Dec. 13 (2,813) and April 30 (2,207).

Researchers also found that Adderall tweets peaked during the middle of the week and declined by the weekend. Both findings are consistent with previous research that shows college students who abuse ADHD stimulants do so primarily during times of academic stress.

"It's not like they're using it as a party drug on the weekend," Hanson said. "This data suggests that they're using it as a study aid. Many of the tweets even made a study reference."

The rate of Adderall tweets was highest among college and university clusters in the northeast and south regions of the United States. Researchers surmise that the high activity in those areas could be connected to the fraternity/sorority system, which has deep roots in the northeast.

Vermont had the highest per capita Adderall tweet rate, followed by Massachusetts and Alabama, while Southeast Texas had the lowest, followed by Central Illinois and Northern California.

The Northern Utah college cluster was one of the lowest Adderall-tweeting areas, as were a number of western areas such as Phoenix, Los Angeles and Reno.

The Twitter analysis also revealed that 9 percent of Adderall tweets mentioned another substance, with the most common two being alcohol (4.8 percent) and stimulants like coffee or Red Bull (4.7 percent). Other substances included cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamines and depressants such as Xanax.

"Tweets hinting at co-ingestion are particularly troubling because morbidity and mortality risk increases when substances are combined," said study co-author Michael Barnes.

Researchers hope the study renews interest in promoting the safe and legal use of Adderall and other substances on college campuses. Additionally, authors hope to spark more promotion of student wellbeing and study habits to better manage the academic demands and pressures of college.

###

BYU computer science professor Christophe Giraud-Carrier and PhD candidate Scott Burton, along with health science professors Josh West and Michael Barnes, were co-authors on the study.

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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.

Adderall abuse as finals study aid 'trending' on East Coast

Public release date: 1-May-2013
[ | E-mail |

Share ]

Contact: Todd Hollingshead
toddh@byu.edu
801-422-8373
Brigham Young University

Twitter analysis: Adderall mentions spike during final exam times

A growing number of college students are abusing the ADHD medication Adderall to give them an academic edge, and they're tweeting about it.

Thanks to Twitter, tracking roughly when and where Adderall use happens is now possible. So a group of BYU health science and computer science researchers did just that.

Their six-month study, appearing in the current issue of the Journal of Medical Internet Research, produced two major revelations about Adderall:

It is mentioned most heavily among students in the northeast and south regions of the U.S.
Tweets about Adderall peak sharply during final exam periods.

"It's not like they're using it as a party drug on the weekend," Hanson said. "This data suggests that they're using it as a study aid. Many of the tweets even made a study reference."

Vermont had the highest per capita Adderall tweet rate, followed by Massachusetts and Alabama, while Southeast Texas had the lowest, followed by Central Illinois and Northern California.

The Northern Utah college cluster was one of the lowest Adderall-tweeting areas, as were a number of western areas such as Phoenix, Los Angeles and Reno.

"Tweets hinting at co-ingestion are particularly troubling because morbidity and mortality risk increases when substances are combined," said study co-author Michael Barnes.

###

BYU computer science professor Christophe Giraud-Carrier and PhD candidate Scott Burton, along with health science professors Josh West and Michael Barnes, were co-authors on the study.

[ | E-mail |

Share ]

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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/byu-aaa050113.php

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Soaring and ?genuinely silly? prom costs prompt families to budget for big dance

Don?t call this prom cheap. It?s more like financially sane.

When Kim Jacobs Walker?s son, Devon Pankratz, told her he had decided to attend his high school prom this spring, it was ?a happy surprise,? she says. Pankratz, 18, had never been to a school dance, and she had hated to see him miss out on a teenage rite of passage.

Walker was chagrined, however, by the $55 per ticket price tag. Her prom?a four-course, sit-down affair at a four-star hotel in Houston in 1983?was basically free. Her junior class, she says, covered the costs through bake sales, magazine sales and concession sales at basketball games.

But it?s not 1983 anymore, and prom costs have crept higher and higher. According to Visa?s annual survey released last week, parents plan on coughing up $1,078 on average for their kids? proms this year. That?s a 33 percent increase over 2011, when families spent $807, says Visa.

Two of the more staggering figures: Parents in the northeastern United States are budgeting $1,944 for the dance; and nationwide, families in the $20,000 to $29,000 income bracket are doling out the most?$2,635 for prom?about three times as much as a family that makes more than $75,000.

Prom can be fun for much less, right? That?s one question Yahoo News asked families around the country this week. We also wanted to know: Is dropping a grand on a dance outrageous? Or is that what we pay for a once-in-a-lifetime party? In an economy still rotten for many, how do budgeting families shave costs and still make prom, well, prom?

?I feel the same about the high cost of prom as I do about the soaring costs of everything else," Walker, who lives in Austin, wrote in a first-person account for Yahoo News this week. "It's a reflection of the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots. Those who still have well-paying jobs are being preyed upon by businesses who know they will spend whatever they have to. Parents want to give their kids everything, and businesses are?logically?taking advantage of this.?

So Walker and her son budgeted $25 for his date?s wrist corsage of white roses and purple ribbons, bought from the local grocery story; $25 for dinner before the prom; $4 per game of black-light bowling after prom; and $110 for a lower-end tux from a rental shop (because, as Walker says, ?the sales people will quickly tell you that no self-respecting teenager would wear the economy suit? priced at $59.99).

?These days, outfitting a boy for prom is at least as expensive, if not more so than dressing a girl,? she says.

Add in the 55 bucks for the ticket, and they spent about $220, far from the $1,000 tab the average family is admitting to.

Most importantly: Did Pankratz enjoy prom?

Walker says he told her that "'the best part was the bowling.'"

?I guess he could have done that without the tuxedo,? she says.

Unromantic? Perhaps. Inexpensive? For sure

Dalton Gilbert did, in fact, decide against the tux.

The 16-year-old and his friends opted to dress down for their prom in the Denver suburbs last year, when he and four friends (there were four couples and one went stag) attended prom in dress shirts and jeans.

?Our family doesn't have much wiggle room in our budget for events like prom, which, unfortunately, cost upward of $500,? shared Nannette Gilbert, Dalton?s mom, in her first-person story. She and her husband contributed $100 toward the costs.

He barely spent that. After eschewing a $70 rental tux and forgoing a $75 limo ride to instead carpool in a friend?s mom?s Suburban, Gilbert's only costs were $20 for a wrist corsage, $30 for each prom ticket and $10 for the after-prom party. They ate dinner at IHOP for $40. (Dalton ordered a steak; his date opted for the shrimp.)

?I thought this was a bit unromantic,? his mother says. ?I think his prom date night would have been more romantic with a tux rental and limo. But, more importantly, they all had a great time.?

?Splurging? $107 on prom

In Davis, Calif., Jennifer Wolfe and her 16-year-old daughter, Lily, found frugality in numbers.

Rather than spending wads of cash on fancy individual dates and dinner, Lily and her friends threw a ?group primping party? at her house this year.

Jennifer Wolfe explains: ?Nine girls trickled in our front door during the early evening and immediately began flat ironing and curling each other's hair; they enjoyed the time together, and it didn't cost a cent. Makeup and fragrance took a similar route: Applied on each other, they giggled and fussed until each one looked stunning.?

The preprom party included "sparkling apple cider in champagne flutes for $8 and two extra-large take-n-bake pizzas for 20 bucks," Wolfe continues. Other families stopped by to snap photos before the girls carpooled to prom. ?No outrageous limo costs for this group of girls!? she says.

The biggest expense, as it is for most, was the dress: ?We knew it would be hard to match last year's find (a bright red strapless number from Macy's for only $10), and ultimately she found her dream dress online?for $79," says Wolfe. "It was definitely more than I would have liked to spend, but the dress was just perfect for her so we ?splurged.??

While Visa says that families in the western United States will spend an average of $744, Wolfe notes that ?our family didn't spend anything close to that. Our bill came to a grand total of $107, and I dare anyone to prove that the average prom-going California girl had $637 more worth of fun than my girl did.?

$1,000-plus proms are 'silly'

?You can't beat free,? Lyn Brooks says.

When the Virginia mother of four began tabulating the cost of her daughter Cierra?s 2011 prom, she spotted a trend: Zero dollars goes a long way. A friend?s mom styled the younger Brooks' hair and cosmetics for free and the family took their own photographs. A limousine was out of the question.

Her daughter's dress??a strapless, two-toned royal and periwinkle blue, taffeta and tulle, full-length prom dress with sequins, beads and multi-tiered bodice,? describes Brooks?dominated the costs, but at $120, the dress that retailed for $400 was a steal.

?Several of my friends either rented their kids' formal attire or shopped at consignment shops and then altered their find,? Brooks says. ?I've noticed the best department store deals can be found by either shopping in June or July at the end of the prom season, or beginning your search early in January or February.?

Mother and daughter spent $190 total, and because Cierra reused her accessories for a JROTC ball that year, the price tag for two formal events came to $235??much cheaper than what many will pay this year for their child to attend one prom," says Lyn Brooks.

She adds, ?I've always thought that buying clothes on credit or paying what I feel is a ridiculous amount for clothing, especially for a one-time event, is genuinely silly."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/soaring-genuinely-silly-prom-costs-prompt-families-budget-194831136.html

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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Zimbabwe PM's party: Voters' lists being inflated

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) ? Zimbabwean state election officials are dramatically inflating the numbers of electors on new voters' lists months ahead of crucial polls, Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's party alleged Tuesday.

It said lists in some voting districts swelled by more than 10,000 names in a 48-hour period, or the addition of about 150 voters a second.

"This is just impossible," said party official Douglas Mwonzora. He said a copy of one Harare district list was obtained on a Monday earlier this month. Two days later, a revised copy showed an additional 11,890 voters on the list.

In other districts the names of active party members were missing or misspelled, making them ineligible to vote, raising fears of voting fraud being planned by officials loyal to President Robert Mugabe's party, he said.

The official voters' registry has denied tampering with the lists and insists it is just collating data in batches.

A new drive to register voters began Monday, following weeks of campaigning by all political groups for eligible voters not yet listed to have their details added to the nationwide roll containing 5.7 million names in a population of 13 million, slightly less than half of whom are under the voting age of 18.

Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party, in a shaky coalition with Mugabe brokered by regional leaders after the last violent and disputed elections in 2008, said even Theresa Makone, its co-minister of Home Affairs in charge of voter registration, saw her name was missing in her area.

Under the coalition agreement, Tsvangirai's party shares control of that ministry that is also responsible for the nation's police dominated by Mugabe loyalists. Makone has had little influence over police commanders and senior government officials who have repeatedly vowed their allegiance to Mugabe.

Makone has told her district supporters that irregularities in their voters' list were "a tip of the iceberg" in what she suspected was happening countrywide to skew voting. Past elections since 2000 have been marred by allegations of vote rigging.

Tsvangirai on Sunday began a diplomatic offensive to garner the backing of regional leaders to ensure fair conditions are in place for elections planned between July and September that include large scale corrections to the voters' lists. Last month, the state Electoral Commission said in a continuing clean-up exercise it had removed the names of 350,000 dead voters who had appeared on previous lists.

Tsvangirai's party also accuses Mugabe of resisting reforms to sweeping media sweeping media and security laws demanded by regional mediators in the run-up to polling.

It says "hate speech" against Tsvangirai and his colleagues in the former opposition by the state broadcast monopoly and the main newspapers loyal to Mugabe has not been reined in and the party has been denied fair access to the state broadcaster, the only source of information to many impoverished, rural voters.

Tsvangirai met with South African President Jacob Zuma, the chief Zimbabwe mediator, on Sunday before heading to Tanzania to meet with President Jakaya Kikwete, current chair of a three nation Southern African Development Community (SADC) "troika" on regional disputes.

Tsvangirai's office said he has called for an urgent regional summit on long delayed democratic reforms in Zimbabwe.

Zuma told Tsvangairia that SADC and the continent-wide African Union organization "will do everything in their power to ensure a free and fair poll in Zimbabwe," said Luke Tamborinyoka, Tsvangirai's spokesman.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/zimbabwe-pms-party-voters-lists-being-inflated-104514136.html

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Obama nominates Congressman for housing post

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama acted Wednesday to fill two top regulatory posts, tapping a veteran Democratic congressman to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency at a pivotal time for the housing market and naming a top campaign fundraiser and former lobbyist to head the Federal Communications Commission.

Rep. Melvin Watt, D-N.C., would oversee the government-controlled mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac just as the industry is beginning a comeback. He would succeed Edward DeMarco, an appointee of Republican President George W. Bush. DeMarco's refusal to allow Fannie and Freddie to reduce principal costs for homeowners at risk of foreclosure made him a target of housing advocates, liberal groups and Democratic lawmakers.

Watt, 67, has spent 20 years in the House, all of it on the Financial Services Committee, which oversees federal housing policy. Introducing Watt at the White House, Obama said the Charlotte-area congressman had led efforts to rein in unscrupulous mortgage lenders, protect consumers from the kind of risk-taking that led to the 2008 financial crisis and has championed increased access to affordable housing.

"Mel understands as well as anybody what caused the housing crisis," Obama said. "He knows what it's going to take to help responsible homeowners fully recover."

Watt's selection was praised by housing advocates, liberal groups and lawmakers in both political parties.

Tom Wheeler, former head of the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, and the National Cable Television Association, would become the nation's top telecommunications regulator. He has been a venture capitalist since 2005 and he raised more than a half million dollars for Obama's re-election, according to data provided by the campaign.

Wheeler would replace Julius Genachowski, who announced his resignation in March. Obama spoke effusively on Wednesday about Genachowski, his pal from their days together at Harvard Law School.

Obama also sought to allay any concerns that Wheeler would be unable to effectively regulate an industry he once represented, saying Wheeler has spent more than 30 years at the forefront of dramatic change in a "communications universe that is growing and changing faster than you can tweet."

"He's like the Jim Brown of telecom, or the Bo Jackson of telecom," Obama joked, comparing the slender, bespectacled 67-year-old to the two former professional athletes. "So Tom knows this stuff inside and out."

Senate confirmation is required for both posts.

Obama said he would nominate FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, a daughter of Assistant House Democratic Leader Jim Clyburn of South Carolina to lead the agency until Wheeler is confirmed.

Watt's nomination comes at a crucial time for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were rescued by the government at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008 as they neared collapse from losses on bad mortgage loans. Taxpayers spent about $170 billion on the rescue but so far have received about $55.2 billion in repayment.

Fannie and Freddie together own or guarantee about half of all U.S. mortgages, nearly 31 million home loans worth more than $5 trillion. Along with other federal agencies, they back roughly 90 percent of new mortgages.

Recent economic data shows the housing industry beginning a comeback since plunging into a depression during the financial crisis. Home prices are up, foreclosures are down and housing construction is rising. Moreover, Fannie Mae had its biggest yearly profit last year, earning $17.2 billion.

Meanwhile, a Congressional Budget Office report released Wednesday found that principal reduction for struggling borrowers by Fannie and Freddie would result in savings to taxpayers of up to $2.8 billion. It also would reduce mortgage defaults by between 18,000 and 95,000 and give a slight boost to economic growth, the report said.

Watt, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee and former Congressional Black Caucus chairman, played an influential role in the passage of a financial regulatory overhaul in 2010. That legislation, however, did not address the fate of the major mortgage lenders, an issue likely to be revisited during Obama's second term.

In fact, two Republicans ? Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas ? called on the administration to present a plan to overhaul the country's housing finance system.

"This gives new meaning to the adage that the fox is guarding the henhouse," said Corker, who sits on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, in a written statement. "The debate around his nomination will illuminate for all Americans why Fannie and Freddie failed so miserably."

Corker said the administration should "explicitly lay out" its plans for dissolving Fannie and Freddie before the committee considers anyone for the FHFA's top job.

The administration presented such a plan in 2011, with the goal of shrinking the government's role in the mortgage finance system, but Congress has yet to decide on how to limit federal involvement.

Republican Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina endorsed Watt, saying he looks forward to working with his former House colleague to encourage more involvement by the private sector in the housing and mortgage markets.

"Having served with Mel, I know of his commitment to sustainable federal housing programs and am confident he will work hard to protect taxpayers from future exposure to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," Burr said in a statement.

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said the administration still wants to work with Congress on overhauling the mortgage finance system.

Watt is the latest African-American and the second North Carolinian nominated to top government jobs this week. On Monday, Obama tapped Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx to become transportation secretary.

___

Associated Press writers Marcy Gordon, Jim Kuhnhenn and Nedra Pickler contributed to this report.

___

Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/congressman-former-lobbyist-housing-fcc-nods-183624761.html

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Boston Intel facing scrutiny

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Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2b5e79ed/l/0Lvideo0Bmsnbc0Bmsn0N0Cid0C51723289/story01.htm

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IBM makes tiny movie by pushing molecules around

In this undated image taken from video and provided by IBM, a boy composed of carbon monoxide molecules rides a skateboard in a scene from what IBM claims to be the world's tiniest stop-action movie. Entitled ?A Boy and his Atom,? the one minute video employs individual carbon monoxide molecules that are rearranged to show the boy carrying out various activities. Each of the 242 frames measures 45 by 25 nanometers which is one billionth of a meter. (AP Photo/IBM)

This undated image taken from video and provided by IBM shows a scene from what IBM claims to be the world's tiniest stop-action movie. Entitled ?A Boy and his Atom,? the one minute video employs individual carbon monoxide molecules that are rearranged to show a boy dancing and bouncing on a trampoline. Each of the 242 frames measures 45 by 25 nanometers which is one billionth of a meter. (AP Photo/IBM)

In this undated image taken from video and provided by IBM, carbon monoxide molecules are arranged on the screen to form the IBM logo, in what IBM claims to be the world's tiniest stop-action movie. Entitled ?A Boy and his Atom,? the one minute video employs individual carbon monoxide molecules that are rearranged to show a boy carrying out various activities. Each of the 242 frames measures 45 by 25 nanometers which is one billionth of a meter. (AP Photo/IBM)

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) ? Scientists have taken the idea of a film short down to new levels. Molecular levels.

IBM says it has made the tiniest stop-motion movie ever ? a one-minute video of individual carbon monoxide molecules repeatedly rearranged to show a boy dancing, throwing a ball and bouncing on a trampoline.

Each frame measures 45 by 25 nanometers ? there are 25 million nanometers in an inch ? but hugely magnified, the movie (http://bit.ly/17ZmHIt ) is reminiscent of early video games, particularly when the boy bounces the ball off the side of the frame accompanied by simple music and sound effects.

The movie is titled "A Boy and His Atom."

Videos showing atoms in motion have been seen before but Andreas Heinrich, IBM's principal scientist for the project, said Tuesday this is the first time anything so small has been maneuvered to tell a story.

"This movie is a fun way to share the atomic-scale world," Heinrich said. "The reason we made this was not to convey a scientific message directly, but to engage with students, to prompt them to ask questions."

Jamie Panas of Guinness World Records said Guinness certified the movie as "Smallest Stop-Motion Film."

IBM used a remotely operated two-ton scanning tunneling microscope at its lab in San Jose, Calif., to make the movie earlier this year. The microscope magnifies the surface over 100 million times. It operates at 450 degrees below zero Fahrenheit (268 degrees below zero Celsius).

The cold "makes life simpler for us," Heinrich said. "The atoms hold still. They would move around on their own at room temperature."

Scientists used the microscope to control a tiny, super-sharp needle along a copper surface, IBM said. At a distance of just 1 nanometer, the needle physically attracted the carbon monoxide molecules and pulled them to a precisely specified location on the surface.

The dots that make up the figures in the movie are the oxygen atoms in the molecule, Heinrich said.

The scientists took 242 still images that make up the movie's 242 frames.

Heinrich said the techniques used to make the movie are similar to what IBM is doing to make data storage smaller.

"As data creation and consumption continue to get bigger, data storage needs to get smaller, all the way down to the atomic level," he said.

___

Associated Press Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report from Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2013-05-01-Tiny%20Movie/id-473217b81acf4879ab819ba64b6eb072

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'Cinderella' Lands Leading Lady In 'Downton Abbey' Star Lily James

Kenneth Branagh is directing Disney's live-action adaptation.
By Todd Gilchrist

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1706600/cinderella-casts-lily-james.jhtml

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