Lourdes Leon Gets Dramatic [Remains]
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Aubrey ODay Jennifer ODell Charisma Carpenter Robin Tunney Kerry Suseck
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Aubrey ODay Jennifer ODell Charisma Carpenter Robin Tunney Kerry Suseck
COUNTY: Better health care, less smoking may be the cause; growing obesity rates threaten gains.
Heart disease and stroke are claiming far fewer lives in Los Angeles County than a decade ago, but worsening obesity rates could sabotage progress, health officials said Thursday.
The county
That translates to about 9,000 lives saved annually, according to the report. Nevertheless, the mortality rate from heart disease remains 12 percent higher than the national average.
Deaths caused by stroke, meanwhile, fell 39 percent throughout the county in 1997-2007, which translates to about 2,000 lives saved annually. That mortality rate of 36 deaths per 100,000 people is 14 percent lower than the national average.
Dr.
"Of the reduction (in mortality rates), we think about 50 percent is due to better medical and surgical care, and much of the other 50 percent is due to the reduction in smoking," Fielding said.
Obesity
rates, however, are on the rise, and Dr. Kathy Magliato, board president of the American Heart Association's Greater Los Angeles Division"Heart disease and stroke remain the No. 1 and No. 3 killers in the country and several major risk factors for these diseases have not seen the same decline as death rates - in fact, several are on the rise and are appearing at earlier ages than ever before," she said.
"If this trend continues, death rates could begin to rise again in the years ahead, and we will see our children developing heart disease at a young age, dying early or requiring medical care sooner."
Fielding warned obesity could lead to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes - all risk factors for heart disease and stroke.
"Certainly the increase in overweight and obesity works against the things we're trying to do to improve health, including cardiovascular disease," he said. "We would have had a greater impact (in the mortality rates) if we hadn't seen this increase in overweight and obesity."
Sheila Cobo, a 36-year-old mother of two, became an advocate for healthy living after a 90 percent blockage was found in her coronary artery. Since then, she has lost about 30 pounds.
"I think that everyone feels that they're immortal and nothing can happen... but people drop dead of this every day," she said. "I don't want my children to get cheated out of extra time with their mother."
Fielding urged policymakers to increase physical activity at schools; facilitate the sale of fruits and vegetables in low-income areas with few supermarkets; and provide more opportunities for the public to take walks and ride bikes safely.
Alessandra Ambrosio Georgina Grenville Charlize Theron Lacey Chabert Aisha Tyler
Pop Quiz: Do you remember the week that was?
By Lindsay Deutsch and Arienne Thompson, USA TODAY
Test your knowledge of the week's big celebrity and entertainment stories with the Pop Quiz.
What other stories caught your eye this week? Comment below and then visit Lifeline Live.
Also, if you missed the last Pop Quiz, click here to test yourself further.
Melissa Sagemiller Christina DaRe Rozonda Thomas Audrina Patridge Autumn Reeser
A
It was the type of Sunday one drifts through in a dream-like state, acknowledging the realities of his surroundings but not truly absorbing them. There is a distance between a man and a no day, a separation of time and space that creates a world of its own.
I was in that kind of somnambulant condition on the afternoon we visited the Strathearn Historical Park in Simi Valley, six acres of land and buildings once owned by a family that had migrated to 19th century America from Scotland to begin a new life.
Our stroll through the area was like a walk through time's garden, engaged by an era of less hurried days, before world wars, space flight and electronic wizardries. My son Allen talked us into visiting the exhibit to get us out of the house and away from the traumas that had accompanied the death of our eldest daughter Cindy just a few days earlier.
But you don't simply stroll away from an emotional biome into a less troubled state of mind without being accompanied by a tangle of thoughts and feelings still too real to have floated off like a toy balloon. One must pay the
price of guilt and memory to be free.There were nine of us touring the property. While most were able to lock in to a docent's descriptions of family life in the 1800s and enjoy the rustic serenity of a wooden church and the colors of spring's early gardens, I found myself adrift, lagging behind the main group, unable to bring myself into the moment.
Only in the house in which the Strathearn family actually lived did I manage to come slightly alert, for this was a place of community and I could relate to that. I could hear voices around the dining room table and music from a piano in the living room.
I lingered here for awhile to restore myself by remembering Thanksgiving gatherings at an extended table of our own and the chatter that was a happy blend of the young and old in patterns of laughter and conversation that continue to resonate.
The no day ended on a lighter note, with a family dinner that helped to make it meaningful as a time of transition from one life to another. We did the best we could thereafter with the day that had been thrust upon us, and lay in bed that night longing for the past.
Al Martinez writes a column on Mondays and Fridays. He can be reached at almtz13@aol.com.
Drea de Matteo Tricia Helfer Leelee Sobieski Kate Bosworth Emma Heming
There?s been talk that they might be branching out into individual efforts for some time, and now it has been confirmed that Nicole ?Snooki? Polizzi, Jenni ?JWoww? Farley and Paul ?DJ Pauly D? Delvecchio are a-go for two new series on MTV.
Both shows are scheduled to be out sometime in 2012 and will follow the lives of the three ?Jersey Shore? stars.
Each season will be 12 episodes with one series focusing on Snooki and Jwoww while the other is solely spearheaded by Pauly D.
Executive vice president of programming and head of production at MTV, Chris Linn, told press, ?The ?Jersey Shore? cast is at the center of the show?s ongoing success and Nicole, Pauly D and Jenni have become household names as a result of their unique, sometimes outrageous and often hilarious personalities.?
Dominique Swain Malin Akerman Drea de Matteo Tricia Helfer Leelee Sobieski
We all remember the SunChips Episode of 2010. Frito-Lay introduced bio-degradable packaging for SunChips in March, and was surprised to see sales of the chips drop by 11% over the next six months. The reason: Consumers felt that the new bags were too noisy, prompting an onslaught of YouTube videos and Facebook groups bemoaning their high decibel levels. In October, Frito-Lay switched most of the SunChips brands back to quieter plastic packaging. Only last month -- a year after the initial launch -- did the company start reintroducing (very slowly) a new, quieter version of the biodegradable bag in some grocery stores.
In light of this "curious case of the cacophonous snack pack," I find that many people see sustainability as a version of a Faustian dilemma; they often knowingly make choices that have immediate personal benefits, but in the long run are disastrous for all of us. Their reasoning goes like this: "While I'd like to save the planet in the long-term, if it means that I have to give up my currently comfortable lifestyle in the short-term, I probably won't do it."
Lifestyle resistance to the wind energy industry -- a clean alternative to fossil fuels -- is another example of this dilemma. One New York Times article documents noise complaints from a number of communities across the U.S., Canada, Britain, and France. As one neighbor of a newly installed wind farm in Maine said, "... we are prisoners of sonic effluence." Other wind energy projects, such as the proposed turbines off the coast of Cape Cod and Hawaii, have been slowed or stopped by residents who do not want their view of the ocean disturbed.
Similarly, makers of all-electric cars are facing resistance from "range anxiety," or the fear of getting stuck somewhere when the batteries run out of juice. It stems from the hesitancy to give up that limitless freedom of gasoline-powered vehicles, despite the knowledge that electric cars will significantly reduce tailpipe emissions. To counter this anxiety in a somewhat ironic way, for a time Nissan considered giving its all-electric Leaf customers free access to gasoline-powered rentals whenever they needed them (essentially defeating the purpose of having an electric car).
The correlation between these examples is that they reinforce and even amplify the notion that sustainability requires a trade-off: In order to improve the environment, we'll have to sacrifice something (e.g., peace and quiet, view, freedom of travel, or inexpensive transportation). And while some people are willing to accept this trade-off, many others are not. As a result, the idea of sustainability -- which should be a perfectly sensible notion in a world of finite resources -- is often viewed with suspicion or skepticism.
To counter this resistance in the coming years, more companies may need to embrace what Cisco's Inder Sidhu calls "doing both." The idea is that instead of thinking about tradeoffs between equally good alternatives -- such as innovation vs. core business or discipline vs. flexibility -- to creatively try to achieve both. In other words, more companies should be acting like Frito-Lay. By developing a package that is compostable and quiet, they are working to save the environment while still delivering a quality product that will please consumers. For the wind industry this would mean developing silent and more attractive turbines; and for automobile manufacturers it will mean developing electric cars (or supporting infrastructures) that provide range as well as zero emissions.
I'll admit that this may be blindingly obvious. But if we're going to make progress with sustainability, we'll have to accept the fact that many people are like Faust -- they will sell their souls (or at least their planet) to the devil in order to maintain their current standard of living. Until we give them a better choice, and prove that sustainability doesn't require sacrifice, we'll be fighting an uphill battle -- and putting our snack packs in landfills instead of compost heaps.
What are your suggestions for overcoming sustainability's Faustian dilemma?
Cross-posted from Harvard Business Online
Follow Ron Ashkenas on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RHSAConsulting
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Veronica Kay Dominique Swain Malin Akerman Drea de Matteo Tricia Helfer

She?ll be an official British Royal in a matter of weeks, and Kate Middleton has thankfully avoided too many comparisons to her soon-to-be-hubby Prince William?s late mother Princess Diana.
According to Max Clifford, a prominent PR agent, Miss Middleton bares little resemblance to Diana overall.
"As a PR person, which is what I have been for 45 years, I would say Princess Diana was a one-off. She (Diana) became just about the biggest star in the world.?
?She became far more popular all over the world than the royal family. I think Kate's going to be far more controlled, she's going to be far more part of William."
"Kate the individual I don't believe will receive a fraction of the coverage that Diana got worldwide and in many ways it's going to be a lot easier for her because the palace and all those around will have learned from what happened with Diana. They will be very, very guarded to make sure that doesn't happen again."
Deanna Russo Joanne Montanez Natalie Portman Larissa Meek Shannon Elizabeth

Gearing up for a pair of Radio City Music Hall shows, Charlie Sheen was spotted in New York City today (April 7).
The former ?Two and a Half Men? star looked to be in good spirits as he strolled inside the Trump Hotel.
During his gig in Columbus, Ohio, Charlie went on a profanity-laden rant about his desire to have Mila Kunis in his harem.
"Here's the good news -- my goddesses have already f---ing approved her. She's pre-approved! I would have great tolerance for many missing items provided it involves Mila f---ing Kunis: If Mila Kunis is stealing your s--t, trust me, you're still f---ing winning, you're still winning at that moment."
"I'm going to go on her Facebook page and discover her likes ... I'm going to buy them all and then she can come steal them. A super f---ing hot thief named Mila Kunis. Mila, please, we have a warehouse full of your favorite s--t to steal."
Cat Power Izabella Miko Xenia Seeberg Melissa Howard Alicia Keys