By Steven Seidenberg for Intellectual Property Watch
It has become routine for companies to outsource many business functions. Human resources, customer service, accounting, manufacturing of components ? all have been outsourced. Now, however, a growing number of US businesses are outsourcing something new: patent licensing. And this outsourcing may hurt both the US economy and its patent system.
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Editor?s Note:?Event Partnerships Manager Leslie Hitchcock is a non-editorial TechCrunch employee. In addition to working at TechCrunch and being super fashionable, she reviews startups and tech products occasionally on her personal blog,?Leslie Just Joined. A few months ago I broke down and did something I swore I'd never do. Yes, that's right. I opened a dreaded OkCupid account. [Y'all, I'm so embarrassed right now, you just don't even know.]
Hundreds of Millions of Dollars of Investments Paying off
Background: Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released results of its 2013 Measuring Broadband America?February report.The report contains the most recent results from the FCC?s Measuring Broadband America program.This program, whose first results were published in August 2011, is an ongoing, rigorous, nationwide study of residential broadband performance in the United States.
WASHINGTON?(BUSINESS WIRE)? Frontier Communications? Corporation (NYSE:FTR, news, filings) commitment to bringing broadband to rural America was amply demonstrated in the FCC?s latest ?Measuring Broadband America? report, released today. The report offers a summary of residential broadband testing of speeds offered by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) across the country. Frontier?s performance was found to have improved 13% over the results in the previous report and was highlighted in the FCC report.
Maggie Wilderotter, Frontier Chairman and CEO said, ?We are gratified that our investment in rural America is paying off in the form of better speeds and network performance for our customers. We will continue to transform Frontier into the nation?s leading provider of broadband with a focus on rural America. I expect nothing less from our nearly 15,000 employees across the country who have been solidly executing on our plan.?
Frontier has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in capital expenditures throughout its 27 state service territories to deploy and improve broadband services. Frontier has met or, in many cases, exceeded commitments made to individual state commissions during a transformative transaction in 2010. The money has been spent to connect once underserved and unserved areas and to relieve internet congestion in many of these areas.
Among the states with the highest broadband turns ups are West Virginia (158,000), Michigan (157,358) and Illinois (101,799). Frontier is keenly aware of the importance of broadband to?rural America. It is an essential part of the economic engine that drives economic development, commerce, education, health care, jobs and more.
About?Frontier Communications
Frontier Communications Corporation?(NASDAQ: FTR) is an S&P 500 company and is included in the FORTUNE 500 list of America?s largest corporations. Frontier offers broadband, voice, satellite video, wireless Internet data access, data security solutions, bundled offerings and specialized bundles for residential customers, small businesses and home offices and medium and large businesses in 27 states. Frontier?s approximately 14,700 employees are based entirely in?the United States. More information is available at?www.frontier.com.
Frontier Communications Steve Crosby, 916.686.3333 steven.crosby@ftr.com
Kenneth Faried dunks the ball in the second half in the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge 2013 part of the 2013 NBA All-Star Weekend at the Toyota Center on February 15, 2013 in Houston, Texas.
HOUSTON -- Kenneth Faried had 40 points and 10 rebounds and entertained the crowd at the end with a series of dunks, leading Team Chuck to a 163-135 victory over Team Shaq in the Rising Stars Challenge on Friday night.
Faried, in his second season with Denver, made 18 of 22 shots and was selected the game's most valuable player. He'll compete Saturday night in the dunk contest at All-Star Weekend and offered a sneak preview of what he has planned with a series of powerful jams.
For the second straight year, the rosters of both teams were a mix of rookie and second-year players and former stars Shaquille O'Neal and Charles Barkley served as opposing general managers.
MIAMI -- A public hunt for Burmese pythons in the Everglades yielded 68 of the invasive snakes, the longest measuring more than 14 feet long, Florida wildlife officials said Saturday.
That might not seem like a success, considering roughly 1,600 people signed up for the state-sponsored Python Challenge that ended Sunday, but Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said the hunt may have prevented thousands more pythons from being born in the Everglades.
Female pythons can lay as many as 100 eggs at a time.
"In our view that number - the number that were harvested, taken out of the ecosystem - was an unprecedented number of samples that will help us answer questions about pythons and make us more effective at tackling this problem, removing them from the system. We're going to learn so much," said Nick Wiley, executive director of the wildlife commission.
The highly publicized hunt probably generated more attention-grabbing headlines than snakeskins. Wildlife officials say that was their goal: to raise awareness about the threat pythons and other invasive species pose to native wildlife.
Researchers say pythons are eating their way through the Everglades, decimating populations of native mammals. The snakes can grow more than 20 feet in length, and they have no predators, other than the humans desperately trying to control their population.
Most of the registrants were amateurs lacking the permits usually required to harvest pythons. Two Tennessee men who had been sleeping in their car while hunting had to be rescued by helicopter when they became stranded and disoriented, but most hunters emerged from the Everglades unscathed, if empty-handed.
Ruben Ramirez of Miami and his Florida Python Hunters team won $1,500 for bagging 18 pythons, the most caught by any of the permit holders. He also won prizes for bringing in the two longest snakes to be caught by any of the permit holders. Both those snakes stretched longer than 10 feet.
Brian Barrows of Fort Myers led the competition for amateur hunters, winning $1,500 for harvesting six snakes. His friend, Paul Shannon of Lehigh Acres, won $1,000 for catching a python measuring 14 feet 3 inches long.
The big snake caught Shannon's eye as it slithered through the mud. It didn't like being pulled out and lunged at a friend, Shannon said. Two gunshots to its head finally stopped it.
"When it jumped at him and he dropped it and dove in the bushes, I came around and it was coiled up. The coil was 4 feet wide," he said. "The head was as big as my hand. I have nightmares about that vision of it coiled up, ready to strike again."
The other snakes caught by Barrow and Shannon's team ranged from 7 feet to 9 feet long. On six separate days during the monthlong hunt, they pointed Shannon's airboat toward remote tree islands, looking for snakes sunning themselves on dry land.
"To see one that massive, it was shocking," Barrows said. "You always think these things don't exist out there, and they do. They're out there and they're big."
University of Florida researchers are examining all the harvested snakes, hoping to learn more about the splotchy, tan animal that's hard to see in the Everglades. State wildlife officials will be surveying all the registrants about their methods and the amount of time they spent looking for pythons.
Increasing the number of human python hunters may not be Florida's only option in the ongoing effort to control the snake population. Researchers at Auburn University have been exploring the use of dogs to sniff out pythons.
In a controlled experiment that sent humans and dogs in search of pythons outfitted with radio transmitters, Labrador retrievers previously trained to sniff for bombs did a better job of finding all the snakes, even the smallest ones that were just a foot long, said Christina Romagosa of Auburn's School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences.
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Online:
Python Challenge: http://www.pythonchallenge.org/
Follow Jennifer Kay on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jnkay.
?Making the play? ? something quarterback Matthew Stafford does week after week each season with the Detroit Lions ? is something he couldn?t accomplish without good nutrition and a healthy lifestyle.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) wants to know how kids in grades four through eight would make Michigan healthier through its second annual ?Make the Play for Healthy Habits? video contest.
The student that submits the winning video will get to star as a host of his/her own healthy lifestyle video blog series on aHealthierMichigan.org, and will receive a school assembly featuring Stafford.
Video submissions are being accepted Jan. 30 ? March 29. In April, 10 semifinalists will be selected and notified and their video submissions will be posted on aHealthierMichigan.org for a two-week public voting period. The winner will be announced in early May.
?Last year we had such a tremendous response from kids across Michigan to this contest, we are excited to do it again,? said Andrew Hetzel, BCBSM vice president for corporate communications. ?Kids are naturally creative. Working with their parents and teachers, Blue Cross wants to see their creativity come to life with the goal of making their schools and communities healthier.?
Video submissions should be no more than two minutes long. They should creatively answer the question ?What would you do to make Michigan healthier?? and include the student?s perspective on how themselves, their family, teachers and classmates can live a healthier life. Students should explain how they would communicate healthy lifestyle choices with their families and fellow students.
Students can submit a video using any digital recording device using an MP3 format, such as a smartphone, iPad, Flip video or webcam, or they can upload a video via YouTube. For more information, please visit aHealthierMichigan.org/kidcontest.
Students, grades four through eight, must be enrolled in an accredited public or private learning institution within Michigan to participate.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), childhood obesity has both immediate and long-term effects on health and well-being. The CDC also reports that 14.2 percent of Michigan adolescents in grades nine through 12 are overweight, while 11.9 percent are obese. In children ages two to five years, 16.3 percent are overweight and 13.3 percent are obese.
Schools play a particularly critical role in combating obesity by establishing a safe and supportive environment with policies and practices that can encourage healthy behaviors. Schools also provide opportunities for students to learn about and practice healthy eating and physical activity behaviors.
The ?Make the Play for Healthy Habits? kid contest is an extension of BCBSM?s ongoing efforts to combat childhood obesity by encouraging kids to share their ideas using creativity and new media. In addition, this week BCBSM announced that elementary schools can apply for a new round of grant funding from Building Healthy Communities, a partnership with the Michigan Fitness Foundation, Wayne State University?s College of Education Center for School Health and the United Dairy Institute of Michigan. Since 2009, BCBSM, the program?s creator and primary funder, has invested more than $3 million in the Building Healthy Communities program in an effort to promote healthier lifestyles and prevent childhood obesity and its associated health risks.
Immediate health effects of childhood obesity: ? Obese youth are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol or high blood pressure. In a population-based sample of five- to 17-year-olds, 70 percent of obese youth had at least one risk factor for cardiovascular disease. ? Obese adolescents are more likely to have pre-diabetes, a condition in which blood glucose levels indicate a high risk for development of diabetes. ? Children and adolescents who are obese are at greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem.
Long-term health effects of childhood obesity: ? Children and adolescents who are obese are likely to be obese as adults and are therefore more at risk for adult health problems such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, several types of cancer and osteoarthritis. One study showed that children who became obese as early as age two were more likely to be obese as adults. ? Overweight and obesity are associated with increased risk for many types of cancer, including cancer of the breast, colon, endometrium, esophagus, kidney, pancreas, gall bladder, thyroid, ovary, cervix and prostate, as well as multiple myeloma and Hodgkin?s lymphoma.
Knowledge and prevention: ? According to the CDC, healthy lifestyle habits, including healthy eating and physical activity, can lower the risk of becoming obese and developing related diseases. ? The dietary and physical activity behaviors of children and adolescents are influenced by many sectors of society, including families, communities, schools, child care settings, medical care providers, faith-based institutions, government agencies and the media, as well as the food, beverage and entertainment industries.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are nonprofit corporations and independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more company information, visit bcbsm.com.
More U.S. women are breastfeeding than a decade ago, but the numbers are still relatively low,according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday. The overall increase in breastfeeding held true across almost all racial and ethnic groups.
The CDC report went on to note that while the increase in mothers who choose to breastfeed their infants is good, many are still not breastfeeding for long enough. The recommendation in most cases is a minimum of 12 months.
Here is some of the key information to have emerged from this new report on breastfeeding prevalence in the U.S.
* The report was compiled between 2000 and 2008. Over that eight-year span, breastfeeding increased by some 4 percent overall.
* The number of mothers who were still breastfeeding at the six-month mark jumped substantially, from 35 percent to 45 percent during the same time frame.
* Overall, as MyHealthNewsDaily noted, by 2008 a full 74.6 percent of all mothers breastfed for various lengths of time.
* The director of the CDC, Tom Frieden, said that the fact that more than half of all mothers have stopped breastfeeding by the six-month mark means that "mothers that want to breastfeed are still not getting the support they need from hospitals, doctors, or employers," as quoted by MyHealthNewsDaily.
* At the 12-month mark, only 23 percent of women report still breastfeeding their infants.
* The CDC report made special note of the fact that African-American women have the lowest breastfeeding rate among U.S. women. While the gap between white women and black women who breastfeed did narrow between the eight years covered by the report, there is still a 16 percent difference in the number of white women who breastfeed versus the number of black women who do so.
* As HealthDay News noted, in 2008 nearly 59 percent of all African-American women breastfed their babies for various lengths of time, versus nearly 75 percent of all white women and nearly 80 percent of all Hispanic women.
* The American Academy of Pediatrics "reaffirmed" its recommendation regarding breastfeeding early last year. AAP guidelines state that a baby should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their life, and then given compatible foods along with the continuation of breastfeeding at least up until the baby has passed their first birthday.
* The AAP also states that given the known health benefits to the infant of breastfeeding, that doing so "should be considered an investment in the short- and long-term health of the infant, and not a lifestyle choice."
Vanessa Evans is a musician and freelance writer based in Michigan, with a lifelong interest in health and nutrition issues.
(Reuters) - Boeing Co is working on battery design changes that would minimize fire risks on its grounded 787 Dreamliner and could have the passenger jet flying again as soon as March, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Separately, U.S. aviation regulators said they would allow Boeing to make a one-off 787 flight from Texas to the aircraft maker's facility in Washington State, under strict conditions. Boeing said the plane, scheduled for delivery to China Southern Airlines , would be a "ferry" flight - used to relocate a plane without carrying passengers or conducting tests.
Regulators around the world grounded the technologically advanced 787 in mid-January after a battery fire in Boston and a second incident involving a battery on a flight in Japan.
Boeing is looking at changes within the 787's lithium-ion battery to keep heat or fire from spreading, though technical details have not yet been finalized or approved, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unnamed government and industry officials. One of the paper's sources added that, under a best-case scenario, passenger flights could resume in March.
The Dreamliner's launch customer All Nippon Airways Co Ltd , which has the biggest fleet of the 250-seat planes, said it will cancel 1,887 flights, affecting more than 25,000 passengers, from March 1 to 30. The airline said on Thursday it had no information on Boeing's latest battery plans.
Boeing declined to comment on the newspaper report. GS Yuasa Corp , the Japanese firm that makes batteries for the 787, also declined to comment.
INVESTIGATIONS ONGOING
Air safety investigators from the United States and Japan have been investigating the battery incidents for three weeks. On Wednesday, the head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said it was "probably weeks away" from completing its probe.
The NTSB is conducting the U.S. probe with help from Boeing, GS Yuasa, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and battery experts from other U.S. federal agencies. No one has yet identified what caused the battery failures.
In Tokyo, one official said Japanese regulators had not been notified of any breakthrough in the U.S. battery investigation. "The investigation will continue as scheduled. Resuming flights in March ... seems far too optimistic to me," said the official who didn't want to be named as the investigation is ongoing.
One source familiar with the investigation told Reuters that Boeing engineers sprang into action "almost immediately" after the first battery incident to ensure the company could meet special FAA-approved conditions to allow lithium-ion batteries on the aircraft. "They can't afford to sit around with their planes on the ground," said the source, who was not authorized to speak publicly.
Boeing was pursuing multiple solutions to mitigate and contain a fire if one started in the batteries, part of a determined effort to get the 787s back in the air while a more permanent solution - possibly even a different battery - was explored.
Three or four different approaches would be pursued to ensure the batteries did not breach their containment systems, even if they caught fire, said the source.
"FERRY" FLIGHT
Boeing asked the FAA this week for permission to conduct new test flights of the 787, suggesting it is making progress in finding a solution to the problems, but the government agency has not yet announced a decision.
While that request is pending, the FAA said on Wednesday it would allow a one-time 787 "ferry" flight. The plane, with a minimum crew, would have to land immediately if the flight computer displays any battery-related messages. It was not immediately clear when the flight would take place.
Some 50 Dreamliners have been grounded while investigators try to solve the battery mystery.
Japan Airlines Co Ltd said this week it will talk to Boeing about compensation for the 787's grounding, which it expects to cost nearly $8 million from lost earnings through March. ANA has said it would seek compensation from Boeing once the amount of damages was clearer.
JAL said on Thursday it was also unaware of any Boeing plans to test new batteries.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa in Washington, Bill Rigby in Seattle, Peter Henderson in San Francisco and Mari Saito in Tokyo; Editing by Gary Hill, Bernard Orr, Eric Walsh, Andre Grenon and Ian Geoghegan)
JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? A French company that had one of its diesel tankers and a crew of 17 sailors hijacked off Ivory Coast say their vessel and workers are now free.
SEA Tankers issued a statement Wednesday saying the M/T Gascogne was now free. The company said two of the 17 sailors had been injured in the hijacking, but were receiving medical attention.
The company did not say how or where the ship was freed.
The ship was hijacked by pirates Sunday off Abidjan. Government officials there had said the crew included seven sailors from Togo, four from Benin, two from Ivory Coast, two from Senegal and one apiece from China and South Korea.
Pirate attacks in West Africa's Gulf of Guinea have increased in recent years.
YEREVAN, Armenia (AP) ? Doctors in Armenia have expressed concern about the condition of a presidential candidate who has been on a hunger strike outside the parliament building for more than two weeks.
Andrias Gukasian is protesting what he described as improper use of state resources by the incumbent, Serge Sarkisian.
Sarkisian, who is facing seven challengers, is expected to easily win a second term in the Feb. 18 vote. His campaign has rejected Gukasian's allegations.
Gukasian, a political analyst, was examined by a medical team Wednesday, and the chief of the Armenian capital's healthcare department said that doctors will permanently stay at his side as he refused to be hospitalized.
The election race was thrown into disarray Friday when another candidate, Paruir Airikian, was shot and wounded by an unidentified assailant.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) ? Eighteen people have been charged in what may be one of the nation's largest credit card fraud rings, a sprawling international scam that duped credit rating agencies and used thousands of fake identities to steal at least $200 million, federal authorities said Tuesday.
The elaborate scheme involved improving fake cardholders' credit scores, allowing the scammers to borrow more money that they never repaid, investigators said.
"The accused availed themselves of a virtual cafeteria of sophisticated frauds and schemes, whose main menu items were greed and deceit," said David Velazquez, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's Newark field office.
The U.S. attorney in Newark, Paul Fishman, described an intricate Jersey City-based con that began in 2007, operated in at least 28 states and wired money to Pakistan, India, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Romania, China and Japan.
The group used at least 7,000 fake identities to obtain more than 25,000 credit cards, Fishman said. Investigators documented $200 million in losses, but the figure could rise, he said.
"Through their greed and arrogance," Fishman said, the people arrested harm credit card companies, consumers and "the rest of us who have to deal with increased interest rates and fees because of the money sucked out of the system by criminals."
Participants in the scam set up more than 1,800 mailing addresses, creating fake utility bills and other documents to provide credit card companies with what appeared to be legitimate addresses, investigators said. Once they obtained the cards, they started making small charges and paying off the cards to raise their credit limits, authorities said.
They then sent fake reports to credit rating agencies, making it appear that cardholders had paid off debts, setting the stage for sterling credit ratings and high credit limits, investigators said.
Fishman said once the credit limits were raised, participants would take out loans or max out the credit cards and not repay the debts.
He said those who obtained credit cards often added co-conspirators and sham businesses as authorized users, who could piggyback on high credit ratings and open other fraudulent accounts with high credit limits.
The group created at least 80 sham businesses that accepted credit card payments, Fishman said. It would run the fraudulently obtained credit cards through the machines, keeping the money, he said.
In one example, prosecutors allege a defendant used a 6-year-old boy's Social Security number to obtain a fake utility bill used to open credit card accounts.
The scheme funded a lavish lifestyle for the accused, including spa treatments, electronics, luxury cars and millions of dollars of gold, Fishman said. In one raid, authorities said they found $68,000 stashed in an oven.
Authorities allege one man withdrew and wired $1.5 million from personal accounts despite not having a job. They allege another defendant was linked to 12 false identities, stole $2.5 million from 464 credit cards and received $18,000 from two sham companies.
Three jewelry stores within blocks of each other in a heavily Indian section of Jersey City were closed Tuesday, and their inventory was seized. All had signs advertising gold jewelry. Their metal security gates were shut, and they were guarded by FBI agents.
Fourteen defendants appeared before a federal judge on Tuesday afternoon. Lawyers said one man was a taxi driver, another a limo driver. Most own property in New Jersey or New York and said they were U.S. citizens. Eight were released, and six remained in custody ahead of a Friday bail hearing.
Authorities said many of the defendants had family ties, including a father and son.
Attorney Angelo Servidio, representing defendant Tarsem Lal, said what authorities had done was merely make allegations.
"The fact that this is the biggest fraud case brought by this office doesn't mean my client is involved in it," he said.
Four of the defendants named in Tuesday's indictment were arrested previously, and three have pleaded guilty. Others haven't been charged, and the investigation is ongoing, Fishman said.
Each of the defendants was charged with one count of bank fraud and could face up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine if convicted.
___
Associated Press writer Samantha Henry contributed to this report from Jersey City.
Something tells us they won't be handing out gold watches for this milestone. Just eight months after Google added copyright takedown requests to its Transparency Report, the search firm can claim to have almost exactly 10 million such requests from the RIAA. A dive into the numbers very quickly explains just how they built up so quickly. The RIAA and the music labels attached to it have topped at least the most recent monthly requests, and they're collectively issuing hundreds of thousands of notices every week. We certainly don't expect the industry group to hang up its hat just because it's at a nice, round figure: when pirate sites rarely stay down for long, and the RIAA all but accuses Google of being an accomplice to piracy despite censorship concerns, the current game of infringement whack-a-mole is only likely to continue.
Ocean Rig UDW Inc., a global provider of offshore deepwater drilling services has received a $1.35 billion Bank Facility firm commitments from lenders for a $1.35 billion syndicated secured term loan to partially finance the construction costs of the Ocean Rig Mylos, the Ocean Rig Skyros and the Ocean Rig Athena.
Ultra-deepwater drillships newbuilding hulls Ocean Rig Mylos, Ocean Rig Skyros and Ocean Rig Athena are under construction at Samsung Heavy Industries Co Ltd.
This facility has a 5 year term, and approximately an 11 year repayment profile. The facility bears interest at LIBOR plus a margin. Lead banks are DNB Bank and Nordea Bank supported by several other commercial lenders. Also participating in this financing are export credit agencies Garanti-Instituttet for Eksportkreditt (GIEK), Export Credit Norway and the Import-Export Bank of Korea (KEXIM).
This agreement is subject to definitive documentation which the Company expects to complete in the first quarter of 2013.
In cooperation with the United States Consulate in Israel, the Jerusalem Chareidi (Michlalah) College is offering English to assist students in advancing in the workplace. The subsidized English classes are geared to permit students to advance in their academic studies, funded in part by the US government as efforts continue to provide a framework for chareidim seeking to enter the workplace.
For many or most chareidim in Eretz Yisrael, they hit a stone wall as they try to obtain an academic degree due to their inability to function at the most minimal level in English.
The instructors are from the Open University system, but they have been prepped to their new environment, the chareidi students. For many, successful completion of this course may be the key required to unlock a door to obtaining an academic degree.
A study conducted in Israel reveals that over 1 billion NIS is spent annually towards teaching Israelis a foreign language. 80% of these students are interested in learning English. Interest in English has increased 25% in Israel over recent years and the experts predict this number will only continue climbing with today?s realities vis-?-vis the international business language, internet and other factors.
College officials are proud to be part of this revolution, training the growing number of chareidim who are seeking entry to the business world towards earning a parnasa with dignity.
(YWN ? Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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Pediatric orthopaedic surgeons show age-related patterns of spine injury in ATV injuriesPublic release date: 31-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sara Burnett sara.burnett@lebonheur.org 901-287-5162 Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
Memphis, Tenn. Children continue to account for a disproportionate percentage of morbidity and mortality from ATV-related accidents up 240 percent since 1997, according to a Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics report published by pediatric orthopaedic surgeons at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital.
The surgeons who studied data from the Kids' Inpatient Database found spine-related injuries from all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) in the United States are more common in older children and in females, unlike males in most trauma studies. ATV-related spine injuries in children and adolescents are high-energy injuries with a high rate of associated spine and non-spine injuries.
With increases in use and power of ATVs, there have been dramatic increases in both the number and severity of ATV-related injuries. The Kids' Inpatient Database (KID), a national database that is part of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), showed a 240 percent increase in the number of children admitted to a hospital for an ATV-related injury between 1997 and 2006. During the same time period, there was a 476 percent increase in the number of children with ATV-related spine injuries.
"We want to encourage physicians to be aware of the potential for associated injuries, including abdominal trauma, thoracic trauma, closed head injury, other spinal fracture, appendicular skeletal fracture, or neurologic injury. Of special interest was the frequency of noncontiguous spinal fracture because a second spinal injury may be missed because it is in a separate region of the spine as the first injury," said Jeffrey R. Sawyer, M.D., Associate Professor, The University of Tennessee-Campbell Clinic Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Sawyer is a spokesperson on ATV injuries for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
In another study, Sawyer and his colleagues William C. Warner Jr., M.D., Derek Kelly, M.D. reviewed 53 spine injuries in 29 children (1.8 injuries per child) over a five-year span.
The physicians reviewed records and radiographs of children and adolescents who presented to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. with injuries from ATV accidents. The children had an average age of 15.7 years; 16 (or 55 percent) had associated nonspine injuries and 13 had multiple spine injuries, contiguous in nine and noncontiguous in four.
Four patients, all younger than age 15, had neurological injuries. Children older than 16 had significantly lower pediatric trauma scores and were more likely to have a thoracic spine fracture than younger children. Younger children were more likely to have a lumbar fracture.
Fourteen patients required surgery for their injuries; seven for spine injuries and seven for nonspine injuries.
This study was the lead article in the July/August 2012 issue of The Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics. Their conclusions were:
ATV-related spine injuries in children and adolescents are high-energy injuries with a high rate of associated spine and non-spine injuries.
ATV-related spine injuries are different from other ATV-related injuries in children in that they are more common in older children and females.
Musculoskeletal injuries are the most common ATV-related injuries in children; orthopaedic surgeons need to be aware of these differences
Orthopaedic surgeons should have a high index of suspicion for associated injuries, including additional and often noncontiguous spine injuries.
"Parents need to know that ATVs are not toys but motor vehicles, which can weigh more than 500 pounds. Unlike motor vehicles they lack safety features such as airbags. If you wouldn't let your 12-year-old drive the car then why would you let them operate an ATV? We all too frequently see children unnecessarily severely injured and killed on ATVs," said Sawyer.
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About Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., treats more than 250,000 children each year in a 255-bed hospital that features state-of-the-art technology and family-friendly resources. Nationally recognized, Le Bonheur is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a Best Children's Hospital. Serving as a primary teaching affiliate for the University Tennessee Health Science Center, the hospital trains more pediatricians than any other hospital in the state. For more information, please call (901) 287-6030 or visit lebonheur.org. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/lebonheurchild or like us at Facebook at facebook.com/lebonheurchildrens.
About Campbell Clinic
Founded in 1909, Campbell Clinic serves as a national leader in orthopaedics, sports medicine, teaching and research in orthopaedic surgery. Campbell Clinic has locations in Germantown, Tenn.; Collierville, Tenn.; the Medical District in Memphis, Tenn.; and Southaven, Miss. Campbell Clinic also operates an After Hours Clinic, which is open from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday (Germantown and Southaven locations) and Saturday from 8 to 11 a.m. (Germantown location only). For more information on Campbell Clinic, call 901.759.3100 or visit www.campbellclinic.com.
About the University of Tennessee Health Science Center
As the flagship statewide academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service. Offering a broad range of postgraduate and selected baccalaureate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. UTHSC also educates and trains cohorts of medicine, pharmacy and/or allied health students -- in addition to medical residents and fellows -- at its major sites in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Nashville. Founded in 1911, during its more than 100 years, UT Health Science Center has educated and trained more than 53,000 health care professionals in academic settings and health care facilities across the state. For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.
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Pediatric orthopaedic surgeons show age-related patterns of spine injury in ATV injuriesPublic release date: 31-Jan-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Sara Burnett sara.burnett@lebonheur.org 901-287-5162 Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
Memphis, Tenn. Children continue to account for a disproportionate percentage of morbidity and mortality from ATV-related accidents up 240 percent since 1997, according to a Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics report published by pediatric orthopaedic surgeons at Le Bonheur Children's Hospital.
The surgeons who studied data from the Kids' Inpatient Database found spine-related injuries from all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) in the United States are more common in older children and in females, unlike males in most trauma studies. ATV-related spine injuries in children and adolescents are high-energy injuries with a high rate of associated spine and non-spine injuries.
With increases in use and power of ATVs, there have been dramatic increases in both the number and severity of ATV-related injuries. The Kids' Inpatient Database (KID), a national database that is part of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP), showed a 240 percent increase in the number of children admitted to a hospital for an ATV-related injury between 1997 and 2006. During the same time period, there was a 476 percent increase in the number of children with ATV-related spine injuries.
"We want to encourage physicians to be aware of the potential for associated injuries, including abdominal trauma, thoracic trauma, closed head injury, other spinal fracture, appendicular skeletal fracture, or neurologic injury. Of special interest was the frequency of noncontiguous spinal fracture because a second spinal injury may be missed because it is in a separate region of the spine as the first injury," said Jeffrey R. Sawyer, M.D., Associate Professor, The University of Tennessee-Campbell Clinic Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. Sawyer is a spokesperson on ATV injuries for the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
In another study, Sawyer and his colleagues William C. Warner Jr., M.D., Derek Kelly, M.D. reviewed 53 spine injuries in 29 children (1.8 injuries per child) over a five-year span.
The physicians reviewed records and radiographs of children and adolescents who presented to Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. with injuries from ATV accidents. The children had an average age of 15.7 years; 16 (or 55 percent) had associated nonspine injuries and 13 had multiple spine injuries, contiguous in nine and noncontiguous in four.
Four patients, all younger than age 15, had neurological injuries. Children older than 16 had significantly lower pediatric trauma scores and were more likely to have a thoracic spine fracture than younger children. Younger children were more likely to have a lumbar fracture.
Fourteen patients required surgery for their injuries; seven for spine injuries and seven for nonspine injuries.
This study was the lead article in the July/August 2012 issue of The Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics. Their conclusions were:
ATV-related spine injuries in children and adolescents are high-energy injuries with a high rate of associated spine and non-spine injuries.
ATV-related spine injuries are different from other ATV-related injuries in children in that they are more common in older children and females.
Musculoskeletal injuries are the most common ATV-related injuries in children; orthopaedic surgeons need to be aware of these differences
Orthopaedic surgeons should have a high index of suspicion for associated injuries, including additional and often noncontiguous spine injuries.
"Parents need to know that ATVs are not toys but motor vehicles, which can weigh more than 500 pounds. Unlike motor vehicles they lack safety features such as airbags. If you wouldn't let your 12-year-old drive the car then why would you let them operate an ATV? We all too frequently see children unnecessarily severely injured and killed on ATVs," said Sawyer.
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About Le Bonheur Children's Hospital
Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., treats more than 250,000 children each year in a 255-bed hospital that features state-of-the-art technology and family-friendly resources. Nationally recognized, Le Bonheur is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as a Best Children's Hospital. Serving as a primary teaching affiliate for the University Tennessee Health Science Center, the hospital trains more pediatricians than any other hospital in the state. For more information, please call (901) 287-6030 or visit lebonheur.org. Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/lebonheurchild or like us at Facebook at facebook.com/lebonheurchildrens.
About Campbell Clinic
Founded in 1909, Campbell Clinic serves as a national leader in orthopaedics, sports medicine, teaching and research in orthopaedic surgery. Campbell Clinic has locations in Germantown, Tenn.; Collierville, Tenn.; the Medical District in Memphis, Tenn.; and Southaven, Miss. Campbell Clinic also operates an After Hours Clinic, which is open from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday (Germantown and Southaven locations) and Saturday from 8 to 11 a.m. (Germantown location only). For more information on Campbell Clinic, call 901.759.3100 or visit www.campbellclinic.com.
About the University of Tennessee Health Science Center
As the flagship statewide academic health system, the mission of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is to bring the benefits of the health sciences to the achievement and maintenance of human health, with a focus on the citizens of Tennessee and the region, by pursuing an integrated program of education, research, clinical care, and public service. Offering a broad range of postgraduate and selected baccalaureate training opportunities, the main UTHSC campus is located in Memphis and includes six colleges: Allied Health Sciences, Dentistry, Graduate Health Sciences, Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy. UTHSC also educates and trains cohorts of medicine, pharmacy and/or allied health students -- in addition to medical residents and fellows -- at its major sites in Knoxville, Chattanooga and Nashville. Founded in 1911, during its more than 100 years, UT Health Science Center has educated and trained more than 53,000 health care professionals in academic settings and health care facilities across the state. For more information, visit www.uthsc.edu.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Employment grew modestly in January and gains in the prior two months were bigger than initially reported, supporting views the economy's sluggish recovery was on track despite a surprise contraction in output in the final three months of 2012. Employers added 157,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, the Labor Department said on Friday. There were 127,000 more jobs created in November and December than previously reported. The unemployment rate, however, edged up 0.1 percentage point to 7.9 percent. ...
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In cooperation with the United States Consulate in Israel, the Jerusalem Chareidi (Michlalah) College is offering English to assist students in advancing in the workplace. The subsidized English classes are geared to permit students to advance in their academic studies, funded in part by the US government as efforts continue to provide a framework for chareidim seeking to enter the workplace.
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Public release date: 31-Jan-2013
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