Bears get past Cowboys 34-18 with defense, Cutler

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) ? Lance Briggs plucked the ball out of the air and started rumbling down the field. As the Chicago linebacker approached the end zone, he fully extended his left arm over his head with the ball in his hand.

Briggs and the rest of those 30-something Bears defenders showed Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys how much they can still play.

Charles Tillman, another of the five defensive starters in their 30s, also returned an interception for a touchdown in the Bears' 34-18 victory Monday night.

"A lot of our older guys are playing really well right now because we understand everything so much more," said Briggs, whose 74-yard run was his first interception return for a TD since 2005. "Whether we've lost a step or some people believe we've lost a step, we make up for it in knowledge."

Though Romo was only sacked once, on the game's first series, he was pressured relentlessly and threw five interceptions. That matched his career high, first done five years ago in his first full season as a starter.

"Just outstanding play by our defense," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "It seemed like everybody had a say in it. How about Lance Briggs? You guys didn't know he could run that fast."

Briggs' interception came in a wild two-play exchange of turnovers midway through the third quarter.

Bears quarterback Jay Cutler was nearly flawless after halftime, when he completed 11 of 12 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns. That included a 34-yard score to Devin Hester to start the half and a 31-yarder to Brandon Marshall with 6? minutes left.

Cutler was 18 of 24 overall for 275 yards. Marshall had seven catches for 138 yards.

Major Wright, who returned an interception for a touchdown in Chicago's last game, had two of the five interceptions. D.J. Moore has nine career interceptions, three of them against Romo after getting another one Monday night.

"We have a pretty good feel for what their front is going to do, what their pressures were, what their coverages were," Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said. "They're just very good at it. It's not very exotic."

Chicago's first fumble of the season came when Cutler was sacked by DeMarcus Ware and Victor Butler recovered at the Bears 27.

On the very next play, Romo was trying to escape pressure when he was hit from behind by Henry Melton. The ball popped forward into the air and Briggs grabbed it and scored to put the Bears (3-1) ahead 24-7.

"I haven't run that long in a long time, that far," Briggs said.

Once again, the Cowboys (2-2) are a .500 team. They are also one of the lowest-scoring teams in the NFL with only 65 points going into their bye week, and then play four of their next five games on the road.

"This has to be a wakeup call for us. I don't say that nonchalantly. It has to be," Cowboys tight end Jason Witten said. "You can't bounce back and forth like this and try to compete come December-time. You can't do it. We have been in that situation before. You cannot do it. And we know that, and we'll get better."

Since the start of the 1997 season, Dallas is 122-122 in regular-season games. They have won only one playoff game in that span after three Super Bowl titles in a four-year span in the first half of the 1990s.

Romo finished 31 of 43 for 307 yards and a touchdown. When the Cowboys got the ball back in the final 3 minutes, Kyle Orton got his first action since the veteran quarterback signed a free agent deal during the offseason to be Romo's backup.

Orton threw a 5-yard TD pass to Witten with 34 seconds left, capping a 10-play, 89-yard drive.

Witten, the seven-time Pro Bowl tight end who uncharacteristically had several drops the first three games after missing most of the preseason with a lacerated spleen, had 13 catches for 112 yards.

The regular referees wrapped up the first weekend of games since returning to work. It was a week after that disputed Monday night ending that gave the Seattle Seahawks a victory over the Green Bay Packers.

Referee Walt Anderson had to go under the hood to review three plays in the Bears-Cowboys game, but none that will cause the kind of uproar from a week earlier.

Chicago opened the second half with a 73-yard drive capped by Cutler's 34-yard TD pass to Hester, who raced passed rookie cornerback Morris Claiborne and had to make a lunging catch at the goal line.

Despite a screen shot frozen on the huge video board over the field that raised the question of whether the ball might have hit the ground as Hester rolled over, Anderson confirmed the on-field ruling of touchdown after reviewing the play.

Later in the third quarter, when Alshon Jeffery was going down after a catch, Claiborne stripped the ball and started running the other way. It was originally ruled a fumble, but the replay showed the receiver still controlled the ball when his elbow hit the ground.

In the fourth quarter, Dallas contended that the ball had been tipped before a pass interference call in the end zone. That was confirmed by replay, bringing up fourth down for Robbie Gould's second field goal.

The interception by Tillman in the second quarter, on a ball thrown right into his hands by Romo when intended receiver Dez Bryant was still running down the field, came on the third play a 43-yard field goal by Gould.

"Tony saw it one way," Garrett said. "Dez saw it another way."

Bryant had eight catches for 105 yards.

Dallas responded to that quick 10-point surge by going 80 yards on nine plays, capped by Romo's 10-yard TD pass to Miles Austin with 14 seconds left in the half.

Pro Bowl running back Matt Forte returned to the Bears lineup after missing the last game with a sprained right ankle and being limited in practice all week. He had 13 carries for 52 yards.

NOTES: Chicago is 8-2 in Monday night games under Smith. ... Cowboys punter Chris Jones was out with a sprained left knee after being hit during the win over Tampa Bay last week. Veteran Brian Moorman, signed after being released by Buffalo, punted three times, two of them downed at his 6. ... The roof and huge glass doors were both open at Cowboys Stadium for the first time since a Monday night game against the New York Giants two years ago. Dallas also lost that game.

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bears-past-cowboys-34-18-defense-cutler-034714207--spt.html

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Effectiveness & Need of Cosmetic Surgery Procedures and Clinics ...

Related eBooks

Cosmetic surgery deals with the art of beauty enhancement, such as breast augmentation, tummy tucks, weight loss plastic surgery, facelift etc. It is a kind of surgery in which one has to take a step forward with high risks. This surgery involves number of complicated procedures. The most important thing before moving ahead with a cosmetic surgery is that you should have all the answers, the doubts cleared, and a very clear picture of what would be done on your body.

After having all information regarding the cosmetic surgery, another step is to find the best cosmetic surgery clinic in UK which suits your demands and requirements. All types of cosmetic plastic surgeries are practiced with nationally renowned and experienced cosmetic plastic surgeons in well-known cosmetic surgery clinics. In such cosmetic surgery clinics, patients are guided with a thorough explanation of the procedure. Patients are shown pictures and are presented with a wide variety of suggestions for the most suitable procedures. Reputed plastic surgery centers are provides extreme care and comfort to the patients.

Earlier, the goal of the cosmetic surgery clinics was to describe surgical techniques and treatments that have proven successful and beneficial for the patients. Plastic Surgery Clinics featured colored photographs and illustrations which for patients to have a view of the results. It even offered the opportunity to all plastic surgeons who have mastered a unique technique to find the better way to solve an existing problem.

There exists a kind of cosmetic surgery in UK known as Elective cosmetic surgery for men and women and also a reconstructive breast surgery for women which is the biggest growth factor for the cosmetic surgery clinics in UK. Surgeries like chin-tightening, face and bottom lifts, tell- tale fingers are in demand. The large numbers of patients are looking forward for such augmentations in their body at some good cosmetic surgery clinics. Another new surgery is the ?hand-lifts? surgery, which is becoming popular day by day among people who are at the doorsteps of 40. This surgery converts wrinkled, bony hands with prominent veins into plump and healthy looking hands. All this is done through the highly experienced cosmetic plastic surgeons at cosmetic surgery clinics.

Number of patients being involved in such kind of treatments is definitely going up. This makes it more important than ever that people who have started thinking about cosmetic surgery. With increased technological advancements in instruments, physicians are now well equipped to perform cosmetic plastic surgery in their offices or in primarily ambulatory clinics and surgical centers, or surgicenters.

Mark Burns is a Business Development Manager in UCompare Cosmetic Surgery, which is a part of the rapidly expanding UCompare network that provides relevant information and offerings on Cosmetic Surgery from the major cosmetic surgery clinics within that market or sector.

Author: Mark Burns
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Related Reading:

Breast Reduction Surgery Tips: What You Need To Know Before You Have Breast Reduction SurgeryMillions of women every day are looking in the mirror and watching gravity take its toll. What can be done to help turn back the hands of time?
Extremely large breasts are more of a burden than a blessing. Whether you are 18 or 80, breast reduction surgery might just be what you need to give you a new lease on life.
The excessive weight from huge or pendulous breast has been causing adverse health conditions for women throughout the centuries. Modern research and technology has made it possible for women to overcome this problem.
Migraines, back, neck and shoulder pain, pinched nerves, excoriation below the breasts and some breathing problems can be resolved just by having your breasts size reduced.
Dawn Falcon, RN, has attempted to sufficiently cover enough information to get you started in the right direction. The hope is that by incorporating some of her own personal experience and humor, you can approach this subject with a somewhat ?different? point of view.
You will have to do some serious "soul searching" and decide for yourself that breast reduction is what you truly want to do. In most cases it shouldn't be a difficult decision, be it for health reasons or for vanity. It is your body and your choice.
In this book, the author endeavors to help you gain various bits of knowledge about such things as how to "screen" plastic surgeons and not to choose one because the "price" is right. Do you know one important factor that will determine the cost of breast reduction surgery in your locale?
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Falcon has covered the top 5 reasons for having this procedure done along with the most commonly performed methods that plastic surgeons typically use. The appearance of your breasts will be a determining factor as to what technique can be used to suit your particular problem.
Preoperative advice is given concerning anesthesia (local or general), medication, antibiotics, and what you should do to insure you are ready for surgery.
Signs and symptoms of infection are included along with postoperative care to minimize scarring and unnecessary discomfort.
Also included in this book are some helpful tips to make your recovery less traumatic and the author has attempted to prepare you for what you will see when your dressings are removed.
It is with great pleasure that Zacate Press and Dawn Falcon present you with this book and it is sincerely hoped that the book will answer the majority of your questions regarding breast reduction surgery. Dermatologic and Cosmetic Procedures in Office Practice: Expert Consult - Online and Print, 1e

Dermatologic and Cosmetic Procedures in Office Practice, by Drs. Richard Usatine, John Pfenninger, Daniel Stulberg, and Rebecca Small, provides you with the clear, step-by-step guidance you need to provide these options to your patients. Full-color photographs and drawings in combination with high-definition narrated videos clearly demonstrate key procedures, including skin biopsies, cryosurgery, electrosurgery, botulinum toxin injections, and more. Access to the full text, and a downloadable image bank online at www.expertconsult.com make this an ideal reference for performing key dermatologic and cosmetic procedures in your practice.

• Access the fully searchable contents and downloadable image bank online at www.expertconsult.com.
• Incorporate key dermatologic and cosmetic procedures into your practice with coverage of using dermoscopy to more accurately detect skin cancer, the latest information on lasers, botulinum toxin injections and dermal fillers, the diagnosis and treatment of benign and malignant lesions, and more.
• Master dermatologic and cosmetic procedures thanks to more than 40 narrated, high-definition videos on DVD, demonstrating skin biopsies, cryosurgery, electrosurgery, and excision of skin cancers, cysts, and lipomas.
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Enhance your practice with step-by-step guidance to perform virtually any skin procedure in the office setting

The Smart Woman's Guide to Plastic Surgery

Whether it is for augmentation, liposuction, or a lift, women often go into plastic surgery without being aware of all the aspects. This book, written by a female plastic surgeon, gives an objective, knowledgeable overview of the different procedures and includes topics such as decision making, smart questions to ask, expectations, possible complications, and recovery.

Source: http://www.jackiesbazaar.com/womensinterests/cosmetic-surgery/effectiveness-need-of-cosmetic-surgery-procedures-and-clinics-in-todays-environment-42

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Romney presses foreign policy criticism anew

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney arrives for services at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Belmont, Mass., Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney arrives for services at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in Belmont, Mass., Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama, center, appears with the musical group Mana at campaign event at Desert Pines High School on Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012 in Las Vegas. Obama is spending three days in Henderson, Nevada to prepare for the first presidential debate on Oct. 3 in Denver against GOP challenger Mitt Romney. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney leaves his campaign headquarters in Boston, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama greets supporters on the tarmac upon his arrival at McCarran International airport, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2012 in Las Vegas. Obama traveled to Las Vegas for a campaign rally then will be staying in Henderson, Nev., to prepare for the first Presidential debate against Republican rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

BURLINGTON, Mass. (AP) ? Amid violent flare ups in the Middle East, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is trying to prove his own readiness to be commander in chief and force President Barack Obama to answer for turmoil in places like Libya, where terrorists killed the U.S. ambassador on the anniversary of 9/11.

Romney advisers argue that the stepped-up foreign policy criticism dovetails with a key piece of his central argument: Obama is in over his head, and the country will be worse off if he gets a second term.

Yet, there's a disconnect between what Romney and his team are talking about nationally and what he is running on in the states, where his TV advertising is largely focused on the economy and jobs ? voters' No. 1 issue ? ahead of Wednesday's presidential debate. All that's leaving Romney open to criticism that his campaign is searching for a winning pitch just one month before the election and with voting under way in many states.

"Our country seems to be at the mercy of events rather than shaping them. We're not moving them in a direction that protects our people or our allies. And that's dangerous," Romney wrote in a column published Monday in the Wall Street Journal.

The Obama campaign reacted forcefully, calling Romney's foreign policy stances "incoherent" and "reckless, erratic and irresponsible."

Romney running mate Paul Ryan piled on, telling radio host Laura Ingraham that Obama's administration hasn't given the public the full story on the circumstances that led to the death of U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens in Benghazi.

"It's really indicative of a broader failure of this administration's foreign policy and the crisis that is taking place across the Middle East," Ryan said. "It is clear the administration's policy unraveled."

Romney's intense focus on foreign policy is intended to undercut what the Obama campaign has seen as the president's ironclad international affairs credentials ? and send a message to voters that they can trust the Republican on foreign policy despite limited experience. To that end, Romney's advisers said he's planning a major foreign policy speech, to be delivered sometime after Wednesday's debate.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki was dismissive.

"There is no op-ed or no speech which we've heard he may or may not give at some point that is going to change the view of the American people that he has been reckless, erratic and irresponsible on foreign policy issues every time he has had an opportunity to speak to them," Psaki told reporters in Henderson, Nev., where Obama is preparing for Wednesday's debate.

Foreign policy is the latest in a series of political openings that Romney has tried to exploit in recent weeks, as he has fallen behind the president in polls both in key battleground state. National surveys show the president ahead in a tight contest. In recent weeks, Romney also has castigated Obama on the coal industry, defense cuts, wealth redistribution and the president's comment that it's not possible to change Washington from the inside.

But unlike some of those issues, Romney's campaign hasn't put serious money behind the foreign policy line of criticism.

Paid TV ads in key states don't largely mention international affairs. The third-party group American Crossroads has a produced a Web video assailing Obama's foreign policy, but it's not on the air. Polls show foreign policy far down on the list of voters' concerns and Obama leads Romney on the issue.

Romney's campaign had spent much of the year focusing its argument against Obama's handling of the economy.

Then came Sept. 11, and as unrest flared in the Middle East, Romney issued a late-night statement assailing Obama before it was clear that Stevens and three other Americans had been killed in the terrorist attack on the consulate in Benghazi, Libya. The timing of Romney's initial response prompted heartburn within the GOP. Yet, Romney pressed ahead with his criticism that Obama was a weak leader whose posture abroad was hurting U.S. interests, and congressional Republicans have piled on about the administration's changing statements on the Libya attack.

Romney campaign aides said internal polls showed the criticism of Obama's foreign policy resonating with voters in the days after Stevens' death. But any traction Romney was getting on that front was stunted when a video surfaced of Romney telling donors that 47 percent of Americans believe they are victims entitled to government assistance. Obama has highlighted that comment repeatedly in TV ads and at campaign rallies, building on his post-convention momentum.

Since then, the administration's statements on Libya have evolved, with officials struggling to explain just what happened in Benghazi.

White House adviser David Plouffe seemed to struggle Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" when pressed on the matter.

"This was an event obviously, a complex event. We're only talking about a matter of weeks here," Plouffe said. "So as information was arrived at, as determinations were made, that was shared with the American people. And I think again the focus needs to be how do we make sure that our facilities and our ambassadors and our personnel are secure going forward."

Republicans have looked to capitalize, raising questions about why the consulate in Benghazi wasn't better protected and why the ambassador wasn't traveling with more security.

"It was either willful ignorance or abysmal intelligence to think that people come to spontaneous demonstrations with heavy weapons, mortars, and the attack goes on for hours," Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., told CNN on Sunday.

__

AP White House Correspondent Ben Feller, AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in Washington and Associated Press writer Julie Pace in Henderson, Nev., contributed to this report.

__

Follow Kasie Hunt on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/kasie

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-10-01-Presidential%20Campaign/id-0d96fe9dc44648a6a4f6ddb641eef421

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Online Business Ideas and Home Business Tips: Be Successful Online

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Source: http://online-business-tips-and-news.blogspot.com/2012/10/be-successful-online.html

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MyJournals.org - Science - 'A study of Iranian immigrants ...

Background: Immigration is not a new phenomenon but, rather, has deep roots in human history. Documents from every era detail individuals who left their homelands and struggled to reestablish their lives in other countries. The aim of this study was to explore and understand the experience of Iranian immigrants who accessed Canadian health care services. Research with immigrants is useful for learning about strategies that newcomers develop to access health care services. Methods: The research question guiding this study was, `What are the processes by which Iranian immigrants learn to access health care services in Canada?` To answer the question, a constructivist grounded theory approach was applied. Initially, unstructured interviews were conducted with 17 participants (11 women and six men) who were adults (at least 18 years old) and had immigrated to Canada within the past 15 years. Eight participants took part in a second interview, and four participants took part in a third interview. Results: Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, `tackling the stumbling blocks of access` emerged as the core category. The basic social process (BSP), becoming self-sufficient, was a transitional process and had five stages: becoming a stranger; feeling helpless; navigating/seeking information; employing strategies; and becoming integrated and self-sufficient. We found that `tackling the stumbling blocks of access` was the main struggle throughout this journey. Some of the immigrants were able to overcome these challenges and became proficient in accessing health care services, but others were unable to make the necessary changes and thus stayed in earlier stages/phases of transition, and sometimes returned to their country of origin. Conclusion: During the course of this journey a substantive grounded theory was developed that revealed the challenges and issues confronted by this particular group of immigrants. This process explains why some Iranian immigrants are able to access Canadian health care effectively while others cannot. Many elements, including language proficiency, cultural differences, education, previous experiences, financial status, age, knowledge of the host country`s health care services, and insider and outsider resources work synergistically in helping immigrants to access health care services effectively and appropriately.

Source: http://www.myjournals.org/index.php?nr=228335

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Climate change could cripple southwestern U.S. forests: Trees face rising drought stress and mortality as climate warms

ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2012) ? Combine the tree-ring growth record with historical information, climate records, and computer-model projections of future climate trends, and you get a grim picture for the future of trees in the southwestern United States. That's the word from a team of scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory, the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Arizona, and other partner organizations.

If the Southwest is warmer and drier in the near future, widespread tree death is likely and would cause substantial changes in the distribution of forests and of species, the researchers report this week in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Southwestern forests grow best when total winter precipitation is high combined with a summer and fall that aren't too hot and dry.

The team developed a Forest Drought-Stress Severity Index that combines the amount of winter precipitation, late summer and fall temperatures, and late summer and fall precipitation into one number.

"The new 'Forest Drought-Stress Index' that Williams devised from seasonal precipitation and temperature-related variables matches the records of changing forest conditions in the Southwest remarkably well," said co-author Thomas W. Swetnam, director of the UA Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research.

"Among all climate variables affecting trees and forests that have ever been studied, this new drought index has the strongest correlation with combined tree growth, tree death from drought and insects, and area burned by forest fires that I have ever seen."

A. Park Williams of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico is the lead author of the paper, "Temperature as a potent driver of regional forest drought stress and tree mortality." Six of the paper's 15 authors are at the UA. A complete list of authors is at the bottom of this release.

To figure out which climate variables affect forests, the researchers aligned some 13,000 tree core samples with known temperature and moisture data. The team also blended in events known from tree-ring, archaeological and other paleorecords, such as the late 1200s megadrought that drove the ancient Pueblo Indians out of longtime settlements such as those at Mesa Verde, Colo.

By comparing the tree-ring record to climate data collected in the Southwest since the late 1800s, the scientists identified two climate variables that estimate annual southwestern tree-growth variability with exceptional accuracy: total winter precipitation and average summer-fall atmospheric evaporative demand, a measure of the overall dryness of the environment.

Williams said, "Atmospheric evaporative demand is primarily driven by temperature. When air is warmer, it can hold more water vapor, thus increasing the pace at which soil and plants dry out. The air literally sucks the moisture out of the soil and plants."

Finding that summer-fall atmospheric evaporative demand is just as important as winter precipitation has critical implications for the future of southwestern forests, he said.

These trends, the researchers noted, are already occurring in the Southwest, where temperatures generally have been increasing for the past century and are expected to continue to do so because of accumulating greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

There still will be wet winters, but increased frequency of warmer summers will put more stress on trees and limit their growth after wet winters, the study reports.

"We can use the past to learn about the future," Williams said. "For example, satellite fire data from the past 30 years show that there has been a strong and exponential relationship between the regional tree-ring drought-stress record and the area of southwestern forests killed by wildfire each year. This suggests that if drought intensifies, we can expect forests not only to grow more slowly, but also to die more quickly."

The study points out that very large and severe wildfires, bark-beetle outbreaks and a doubling of the proportion of dead trees in response to early 21st-century warmth and drought conditions are evidence that a transition of southwestern forest landscapes toward more open and drought-tolerant ecosystems may already be underway.

And while 2000s drought conditions have been severe, the regional tree-ring record indicates there have been substantially stronger megadrought events during the past 1,000 years.

The strongest megadrought occurred during the second half of the 1200s and is believed to have played an important role in the abandonment of ancient Puebloan cultural centers throughout the Southwest. The most recent megadrought occurred in the late 1500s and appears to have been strong enough to kill many trees in the Southwest.

"When we look at our tree-ring record, we see this huge dip in the 1580s when all the tree rings are really tiny," Williams said. "Following the 1500s megadrought, tree rings get wider, and there was a major boom in new trees. Nearly all trees we see in the Southwest today were established after the late-1500s drought, even though the species we evaluated can easily live longer than 400 years. So that event is a benchmark for us today. If forest drought stress exceeds late 1500 levels, we expect that a lot of trees are going to be dying."

Will future forest drought-stress levels reach or exceed those of the megadroughts of the 1200s and 1500s?

Using climate-model projections, the team projected that such megadrought-type forest drought-stress conditions will be exceeded regularly by the 2050s. If climate-model projections are correct, forest drought-stress levels during even the wettest and coolest years of the late 21st century will be more severe than the driest, warmest years of the previous megadroughts.

The study forecasts that during the second half of this century, about 80 percent of years will exceed megadrought levels.

The current drought, which began in 2000, is a natural case study about what to expect from projected climate scenarios. While average winter precipitation totals in the Southwest have not been exceptionally low, average summer-fall evaporative demand is the highest on record.

And trees, Williams says, are paying the price. The team concluded forest drought stress during more than 30 percent of the past 13 years, including 2011 and 2012, matched or exceeded the megadrought-type levels of the 1200s and 1500s. The only other 13-year periods when megadrought-type conditions were reached with such frequencies in the past 1,000 years were during the megadroughts themselves.

UA co-author Daniel Griffin said, "This research is distinctly different from work done in a similar vein in two ways: One, it puts these projections for the future in a concrete historical context, and two, it shows that the impacts on the forests will not be restricted to one species or one site at low elevation, but in fact will take place at forests across the landscape."

Griffin is a doctoral candidate in the UA School of Geography and Development.

Co-author Craig D. Allen, a research ecologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, said, "Consistent with many other recent studies, these findings provide compelling additional evidence of emerging global risks of amplified drought-induced tree mortality and extensive forest die-off as the planet warms."

Los Alamos National Laboratory, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation funded the research.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Arizona, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. A. Park Williams, Craig D. Allen, Alison K. Macalady, Daniel Griffin, Connie A. Woodhouse, David M. Meko, Thomas W. Swetnam, Sara A. Rauscher, Richard Seager, Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Jeffrey S. Dean, Edward R. Cook, Chandana Gangodagamage, Michael Cai, Nate G. McDowell. Temperature as a potent driver of regional forest drought stress and tree mortality. Nature Climate Change, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1693

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/cTim15xB4Ag/120930142106.htm

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Mailed Kits May Prompt Parents to Protect Kids From Sun - Drugs.com

SUNDAY Sept. 30, 2012 -- Mailing sun-protection kits, which contain information about the dangers of exposure to the sun's harmful UV rays and skin cancer, as well as swim shirts, hats and sunscreen, increases the number of people who take steps to protect their children from sun exposure, according to a new study.

Researchers from the Colorado School of Public Health and the University of Colorado Cancer Center found that the kits prompted more people to provide their kids with sun-protective clothing, hats and sunscreen. The kits also encouraged more people to avoid midday sun.

The investigators noted that because the kits were inexpensive and delivered by mail, they could be widely distributed.

"This is a low-cost, effective intervention that could be an important component in efforts to reduce sun exposure in children during the years that they acquire much of their risk for skin cancer," the study's first author, Lori Crane, investigator at the Cancer Center and chair of the department of community and behavioral health at the Colorado School of Public Health, said in a news release from the center.

The study involved 676 children, all 6-year-olds, and their parents. All participants were surveyed to assess their level of sun-protective behaviors as well as parents' knowledge about melanoma and their understanding of their child's lifetime risk for this form of skin cancer. Skin exams also revealed the children's level of tanning and number of potentially dangerous moles they had. Half of the participating families were randomly selected to receive sun-protection kits in the mail in April and May of 2005, 2006 and 2007.

The study, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, revealed that those who received the sun-protection kits gained more awareness about sun exposure and had greater adherence to sun-protective behaviors. The most significant behavioral changes the people reported were those emphasized in each yearly kit, the researchers noted.

"After we emphasized long clothing in the spring of 2005, we saw a difference in clothing behavior in the summers of 2005 and 2006, not in 2007. Then after emphasizing hats in 2006, we saw a difference in hat use that year. And then after highlighting shade in 2007, we saw a corresponding increase in parents' awareness and use of shade as a sun-protective behavior," Crane explained in the news release.

More research is needed to determine how the kits affect children's risk for skin cancer and if it changes behavior in the long term, the study authors added.

The researchers warned in the news release that children and teens who develop a blistering sunburn have a more than doubled risk of skin cancer in adulthood, and long-term sun exposure accumulated over many years may be equally harmful.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about sun protection.

Posted: September 2012

Source: http://www.drugs.com/news/mailed-kits-may-prompt-parents-protect-kids-sun-40639.html

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