Cate Blanchett in negotiations for evil stepmother in Disney’s Cinderella film
Label: LifestyleLOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Cate Blanchett is in negotiations to play the evil stepmother in Disney‘s re-imagining of the classic fairytale Cinderella, the “Untitled Cinderella Story,” an individual with knowledge of the situation told TheWrap.
Blanchett would be the first to be cast in the live-action film. It is being directed by Mark Romanek for the studio based on a script by Chris Weitz.
The film is being produced by Simon Kinberg, who is best-known for the “X-Men” series.
The feature was first set up at Disney in May 2010 based on a pitch by Aline Brosh McKenna (“Devil Wear Prada.”), who wrote the initial draft.
Disney set the project up in the wake of its success with “Alice in Wonderland,” an adaptation of the Lewis C. Carroll book that starred Johnny Depp.
Disney representatives could not be reached for comment.
Blanchett can next be seen on screen in “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” on December 14. She was recently confirmed for George Clooney’s upcoming film “The Monuments Men.” She will also be seen in “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” and “The Hobbit: There and Back Again.”
Cinderella has been adapted for the big screen dozens of times. In Andy Tennant’s 1998 version “Ever After: A Cinderella Story,” Angelica Houston played the evil stepmother. In the TV movie “Cinderella” in 1997, the role was played by Bernadette Peters. Sigourney Weaver voiced the character in “Happily N’Ever After” in 2006. Disney‘s 1950 version featured Eleanor Audley in the voice role of Lady Tremaine, the wicked stepmother.
Movies News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Numbers drawn for record Powerball jackpot
Label: BusinessCHICAGO (AP) -- The numbers have been drawn for the record Powerball jackpot and the wait for winners — if any — has begun.
The numbers drawn Wednesday night are: 5, 16, 22, 23, 29 and Powerball of 6.
A lottery official said late Wednesday that the jackpot increased to $579.9 million by the time of the drawing, making the cash option $379.8 million.
Americans went on a ticket-buying spree in recent days, the big money enticing many people who rarely, if ever, play the lottery to purchase a shot at the second-largest payout in U.S. history.
Among them was Lamar Fallie, a jobless Chicago man who said his six tickets conjured a pleasant daydream: If he wins, he plans to take care of his church, make big donations to schools and then "retire from being unemployed."
Tickets were selling at a rate of 130,000 a minute nationwide — about six times the volume from a week ago. That meant the jackpot could climb even higher before the Wednesday night drawing, said Chuck Strutt, executive director of the Multi-State Lottery Association.
The jackpot had already rolled over 16 consecutive times without a winner, but Powerball officials said earlier Wednesday they believed there was a 75 percent chance the winning combination will be drawn this time.
If one ticket hits the right numbers, chances are good that multiple ones will, according to some experts. That happened in the Mega Millions drawing in March, when three ticket buyers shared a $656 million jackpot, which remains the largest lottery payout of all time.
Yvette Gavin, who sold the tickets to Fallie, is only an occasional lottery player herself, but the huge jackpot means she'll definitely play this time. As for the promises she often gets from ticket purchasers, Gavin isn't holding her breath.
"A lot of customers say if they win they will take care of me, but I will have to wait and see," she said.
In the hours before Wednesday's drawing, Associated Press photographers across the nation sought out ticket buyers and asked about their lottery fantasies. Here's a look at what they found:
___
When Atlanta barber Andre Williams buys scratch-off tickets, he typically does a dance in his shop for good luck. As a first-time Powerball player, he plans to reprise the dance — and buy a few extra tickets to enhance his chances.
I don't even know if I'll look at it," said Williams, who bought his ticket at a newsstand. "If I win, I might pass out."
Paralegal Pat Powell was buying her first Powerball ticket at another store in Atlanta, even though she acknowledged her odds were probably "zero to zero."
Still, Powell has specific plans should she win: start an Internet cafe in the West Indies and a learning center in Georgia.
"I've been thinking about winning this money and what I'd do with it," Powell said. "There's no ritual, but it's just been on my mind. So it's like, let me just join the hype and just do it."
Atlanta accountant Benita Lewis, who had never played the lottery before, didn't want to be the only one left in her office without a ticket.
"I did feel nervous buying it like I could be the one," she said. "I'm going to retire and pay off all my family's debt."
___
In Philadelphia, seafood salesman Billy Fulginiti bought 50 Powerball tickets with co-workers and a few more with a small group. He said he only plays when the jackpot is especially large.
"You go to bed at night wishing you wake up a millionaire," Fulginiti said. He planned to take a long vacation and "help a lot of people, a lot of charities," if any of his tickets turn out to be winners.
___
Powerball purchases at the Canterbury Country Store in Canterbury, N.H., have been so steady that the manager has been working extra evening hours to keep up.
Horticulturist Kevin Brags buys tickets at the store two to three times a month. He says he usually picks numbers higher than 32 because so many people use numbers 31 and lower, largely because of birthdays.
The birthday theory didn't scare off Paul Kruzel, a retired doctor who chooses the days his children were born.
Both, however, have the same plans for winning: "make a lot of people happy."
John Olson has a more elaborate idea: He'd like to buy an island.
___
At a downtown Detroit convenience store, Ceejay Johnson purchased five Powerball tickets. If she strikes it rich, the analyst from Southfield, Mich., said she would buy a home for her sister in Florida. Then she would "go into hiding" and take care of her family.
"And the IRS," she added.
___
Associated Press photographer Jim Cole reported from Canterbury, N.H.
___
Associated Press photographers Paul Sancya in Detroit, David Goldman in Atlanta and Matt Rourke in Philadelphia, and AP writers David Pitt in Des Moines, Iowa, and Jeff McMurray in Chicago contributed to this report.
Rapper PSY wants Tom Cruise to go ‘Gangnam Style’
Label: WorldBANGKOK (AP) — The South Korean rapper behind YouTube’s most-viewed video ever has set what might be a “Mission: Impossible” for himself.
Asked which celebrity he would like to see go “Gangnam Style,” the singer PSY told The Associated Press: “Tom Cruise!”
Surrounded by screaming fans, he then chuckled at the idea of the American movie star doing his now famous horse-riding dance.
PSY’s comments Wednesday in Bangkok were his first public remarks since his viral smash video — with 838 million views — surpassed Justin Bieber‘s “Baby,” which until Saturday held the record with 803 million views.
“It’s amazing,” PSY told a news conference, saying he never set out to become an international star. “I made this video just for Korea, actually. And when I released this song — wow.”
The video has spawned hundreds of parodies and tribute videos and earned him a spotlight alongside a variety of superstars.
Earlier this month, Madonna invited PSY onstage and they danced to his song at one of her New York City concerts. MC Hammer introduced the Korean star at the American Music Awards as, “My Homeboy PSY!”
Even President Barack Obama is talking about him. Asked on Election Day if he could do the dance, Obama replied: “I think I can do that move,” but then concluded he might “do it privately for Michelle,” the first lady.
PSY was in Thailand to give a free concert Wednesday night organized as a tribute to the country’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who turns 85 next month. He paid respects to the king at a Bangkok shopping mall, signing his name in an autograph book placed beside a giant poster of the king. He then gave an outdoor press conference, as screaming fans nearby performed the pop star’s dance.
Determined not to be a one-hit wonder, PSY said he plans to release a worldwide album in March with dance moves that he thinks his international fans will like.
“I think I have plenty of dance moves left,” he said, in his trademark sunglasses and dark suit. “But I’m really concerned about the (next) music video.”
“How can I beat ‘Gangnam Style’?” he asked, smiling. “How can I beat 850 million views?”
___
Associated Press writer Thanyarat Doksone contributed to this report.
Asia News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Arizona declines to set up state-based health insurance exchange
Label: HealthPHOENIX (Reuters) – Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said on Wednesday she was rejecting a major provision of President Barack Obama‘s healthcare reform law that calls for creating state-based health insurance markets where consumers can purchase private, federally subsidized coverage.
Citing lingering questions about the plan and operating costs she said would be passed on to families and small businesses, Brewer, a Republican, said Arizona would join at least 16 other states in opting instead for a federally run health insurance exchange.
Such networks are designed to function as online insurance markets where the uninsured can shop for private health plans offered at federally subsidized rates, and are an integral provision of the Affordable Care Act, a centerpiece of Obama’s first term in office.
Brewer, along with many other Republicans, has been an outspoken critic of Obama’s healthcare overhaul initiative, calling it an “overreaching and unaffordable assault on states’ rights and individual liberty.”
Under a newly extended deadline, states have until December 14 to notify the U.S. Health and Human Services Department whether they intend to comply with the insurance exchange mandate or leave it to the federal government to set up and operate exchanges for them.
Seventeen states plus the District of Columbia have told the Obama administration they intend to move ahead with their own exchanges, while Arizona became the latest of 17 states to reject the plan outright in favor of a federally based exchange, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, which has closely tracked the issue.
Most of those opting out are states in the Midwest or South. Six more states have sought to join with HHS in setting up a hybrid federal-state network, and 10 states remain undecided, the foundation said.
CALLS OPPOSITION ‘UNWAVERING’
“My opposition to the Affordable Care Act is unwavering, as is my belief that it should be repealed and replaced,” Brewer said in a statement announcing her decision. Republican Mitt Romney, who lost to Obama in the November 6 presidential election, had vowed to repeal the law if elected.
Acknowledging that the law had been upheld as constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court, and despite her advocacy of greater local control, Brewer said her state would be better off ceding management of a system she said would be dominated by the federal government in any case.
“I have come to the conclusion that the state of Arizona would wield little actual authority over its ‘state’ exchange,” she said.
Although startup costs of exchanges are to be borne by the federal government, Brewer said Arizona stood to incur $ 27 million to $ 40 million in operating expenses starting in 2015, and that those costs would be passed along in the form of higher premiums to policy holders.
Brewer, who has clashed sharply with the Obama administration on a number of issues, especially immigration policy, made her intentions known in a one-page letter to HHS on Wednesday.
The state, which also has a Republican-controlled Legislature, had spent millions of dollars in federal grant money over the past several months laying the groundwork for the possible creation of a healthcare exchange.
Brewer faced heavy lobbying from some conservative Republicans who opposed setting up a state-run exchange, while a number of business groups and healthcare organizations favored creating one. State Democrats also strongly support a state-run exchange.
One top Democratic lawmaker criticized Brewer for “an irresponsible decision” that wasted millions of dollars already spent preparing for a state-run exchange.
“The governor is going to throw that all away so she can push an extremist agenda,” state House of Representatives Minority Leader Chad Campbell said. “We’ve come to expect political grandstanding from her, but this is a whole new level.”
Campbell said in a statement the state exchange that Brewer rejected would be a plus for consumers, giving them more of a say over their healthcare decisions.
“The governor just signed over a lot of power to the federal government,” he added.
(Reporting by David Schwartz; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Peter Cooney)
Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Samsung takes aim at Japanese rivals with Android camera
Label: TechnologySEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co is taking aim at its Japanese rivals with an Android-powered digital camera that allows users to swiftly and wirelessly upload pictures to social networking sites.
The Galaxy camera lets users connect to a mobile network or Wi-Fi to share photographs and video without having to hook up the camera to a computer.
While it’s not the first to the market, Samsung‘s financial and marketing clout suggest it could be the biggest threat to Japanese domination of a digital camera industry which research firm Lucintel sees growing to $ 46 billion by 2017 and where big brands include Canon Inc, Sony Corp, Panasonic Corp, Nikon Corp and Olympus Corp.
“Samsung has a tough row to hoe against the likes of Canon and Nikon in the camera brand equity landscape,” said Liz Cutting, senior imaging analyst at research firm NPD Group. “Yet as a brand known more in the connected electronic device arena, Samsung has a unique opportunity to transfer strength from adjacent categories into the dedicated camera world.”
The Korean group, battling for mobile gadget supremacy against Apple Inc, is already a global market leader in televisions, smartphones and memory chips.
Samsung last year brought its camera and digital imaging business – one of its smallest – under the supervision of JK Shin, who heads a mobile business that generated 70 percent of Samsung’s $ 7.4 billion third-quarter profit.
“Our camera business is quickly evolving … and I think it will be able to set a new landmark for Samsung,” Shin said on Thursday at a launch event in Seoul. “The product will open a new chapter in communications – visual communications,” he said, noting good reviews for the Samsung Galaxy camera which went on sale in Europe and the United States earlier this month.
AIMING AT ‘PRO-SUMERS’
The Galaxy camera, which sells in the United States for $ 499.99 through AT&T with various monthly data plans, features a 4.8-inch LCD touchscreen and a 21x optical zoom lens. Users can send photos instantly to other mobile devices via a 4G network, access the Internet, email and social network sites, edit photos and play games.
The easy-to-use camera, and the quality of the pictures, is aimed at mid-market ‘pro-sumers’ – not quite professional photographers but those who don’t mind paying a premium for user options not yet available on a smartphone – such as an optical, rather than digital, zoom, better flash, and image stabilization.
The appeal of high picture quality cameras with wireless connection has grown as social media services such as Facebook Inc drive a boom in rapid shoot-and-share photos.
“At a price point higher than some entry-level interchangeable-lens cameras, the Galaxy camera should appeal to a consumer willing to pay an initial and ongoing premium for 24/7 creative interactivity,” said Cutting.
Traditional digital camera makers are responding.
Canon, considered a leader in profitability in corporate Japan with its aggressive cost cutting, saw its compact camera sales eroded in the most recent quarter by smartphones, and has just introduced its first mirrorless camera to tap into a growing market for small, interchangeable-lens cameras that rival Nikon entered last year.
Nikon has also recently introduced an Android-embedded Wi-Fi only camera.
($ 1 = 1086.4000 Korean won)
(This story fixes typing error in paragraph 9)
(Additional reporting by Dhanya Skariachan in NEW YORK; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)
Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Robbie Williams aims to seal solo legacy with tour
Label: LifestyleLONDON (Reuters) – Still famous as the in-again/out-again member of chart-topping boyband Take That, British singer Robbie Williams says it is time to get serious as a solo artist and prove his place at the top of the pop pile.
Williams told reporters on Monday he planned a 15-date European stadium tour kicking off in Manchester on June 19, 2013 and concluding in Tallinn, Estonia on August 20.
“I’m buzzing. I’m ready to go. I haven’t done a tour of this size since 2006,” he said in London.
“I think it’s legacy time, because I’m venturing into getting my handicap down at golf and all that business.
“I’m nearly 40, that’s what I’m trying to say. I want to go and seal my place in pop history and go off and deliver a tour of great magnitude while I still can.”
The 38-year-old in fact enjoyed major success after leaving Take That in 1995, producing a string of hit albums and singles including “Angels” and “Millennium” and signing a contract with EMI in 2002 reportedly worth tens of millions.
But by the time his 2006 album “Rudebox” came out followed by “Reality Killed the Video Star” in 2009, he was seen as a dwindling force in British pop who had failed to break the key U.S. market.
Williams rejoined Take That in 2010 and they recorded the hit album “Progress” before touring together in 2011, and the singer said the experience had helped give him confidence to tour large venues again as a solo artist.
“I just ran out of ideas and ran out of a bit of creativity and ran out of energy and did the textbook ‘burnt out’,” he said of the late 2000s.
“But I’ve been working really hard and I needed to do something else, and fortunately it came in the shape of my old band. A lot of demons were vanquished from the past. A lot of wrongs were put to rights.
“That tour last summer was just absolutely incredible. It kick-started my professional career.”
Earlier this month, Williams returned to the top of the album charts with “Take the Crown”.
Asked whether he would consider rejoining Take That again, he replied: “I haven’t officially left … What I do know is that … if we all remain healthy then I will definitely be a part of Take That at some point. It’s joyful being around them.”
Williams conceded it may be too early to talk about his legacy at 38, but added he wanted to “put my stamp down.
“The fact that 40 is looming plays on my mind more than it does on anybody else’s mind. Pop stars cease to be pop stars at 40 and start being old people singing, don’t they?
“There is a forum for a male solo star to get up there in stadiums and own the place and I want that to be me, so I’ve kind of been lethargic for the last couple of albums.”
Williams recently became a father, and said his daughter would accompany him on tour. Olly Murs, who rose to fame on “The X Factor” reality TV show, will support Williams on his tour.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Protesters pack Tahrir Square, dispute Morsi
Label: BusinessCAIRO (AP) — The same chants used against Hosni Mubarak were turned against his successor Tuesday as more than 200,000 people packed Egypt's Tahrir Square in the biggest challenge yet to Islamist President Mohammed Morsi.
The massive, flag-waving throng protesting Morsi's assertion of near-absolute powers rivaled some of the largest crowds that helped drive Mubarak from office last year.
"The people want to bring down the regime!" and "erhal, erhal" — Arabic for "leave, leave" — rang out across the plaza, this time directed at Egypt's first freely elected president.
The protests were sparked by edicts Morsi issued last week that effectively neutralize the judiciary, the last branch of government he does not control. But they turned into a broader outpouring of anger against Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood, which opponents say have used election victories to monopolize power, squeeze out rivals and dictate a new, Islamist constitution, while doing little to solve Egypt's mounting economic and security woes.
Clashes broke out in several cities, with Morsi's opponents attacking Brotherhood offices, setting fire to at least one. Protesters and Brotherhood members pelted each other with stones and firebombs in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla el-Kobra, leaving at least 100 people injured.
"Power has exposed the Brotherhood. We discovered their true face," said Laila Salah, a housewife at the Tahrir protest who said she voted for Morsi in last summer's presidential election. After Mubarak, she said, Egyptians would no longer accept being ruled by an autocrat.
"It's like a wife whose husband was beating her and then she divorces him and becomes free," she said. "If she remarries she'll never accept another day of abuse."
Gehad el-Haddad, a senior adviser to the Brotherhood and its political party, said Morsi would not back down on his edicts. "We are not rescinding the declaration," he told The Associated Press.
That sets the stage for a drawn-out battle that could throw the nation into greater turmoil. Protest organizers have called for another mass rally Friday. If the Brotherhood responds with demonstrations of its own, as some of its leaders have hinted, it would raise the prospect of greater violence after a series of clashes between the two camps in recent days.
A tweet by the Brotherhood warned that if the opposition was able to bring out 200,000 to 300,000, "they should brace for millions in support" of Morsi.
Another flashpoint could come Sunday, when the constitutional court is to rule on whether to dissolve the assembly writing the new constitution, which is dominated by the Brotherhood and its Islamist allies. Morsi's edicts ban the courts from disbanding the panel; if the court defies him and rules anyway, it would be a direct challenge that could spill over into the streets.
"Then we are in the face of the challenge between the supreme court and the presidency," said Nasser Amin, head of the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession. "We are about to enter a serious conflict" on both the legal and street level, he said.
Morsi and his supporters say the decrees were necessary to prevent the judiciary from blocking the "revolution's goals" of a transition to democracy. The courts — where many Mubarak-era judges still hold powerful posts — have already disbanded the first post-Mubarak elected parliament, which was led by the Brotherhood. Now it could also take aim at the Islamist-led upper house of parliament.
Morsi's decrees ban the judiciary from doing so and grant his decisions immunity from judicial review. Morsi also gave himself sweeping powers to prevent threats to the revolution, stability or state institutions, which critics say are tantamount to emergency laws. These powers are to remain in effect until the constitution is approved and parliamentary elections are held, not likely before spring 2013.
Opponents say the decrees turn Morsi — who narrowly won last summer's election with just over 50 percent of the vote — into a new dictator, given that he holds not only executive but also legislative powers, after the lower house of parliament was dissolved.
Tuesday's turnout was an unprecedented show of strength by the mainly liberal and secular opposition, which has been divided and uncertain amid the rise to power of the Brotherhood over the past year. The crowds were of all stripes, including many first-time protesters.
"Suddenly Morsi is issuing laws and becoming the absolute ruler, holding all powers in his hands," said Mona Sadek, a 31-year-old engineering graduate who wears the Islamic veil, a hallmark of piety. "Our revolt against the decrees became a protest against the Brotherhood as well."
"The Brotherhood hijacked the revolution," agreed Raafat Magdi, an engineer who was among a crowd of some 10,000 marching from the Cairo district of Shubra to Tahrir to the beat of drums and chants against the Brotherhood. Reform leader Mohammed ElBaradei led the march.
"People woke up to (Morsi's) mistakes, and in any new elections they will get no votes," Magdi said.
Many in the crowd said they were determined to push ahead with the protests until Morsi retreats. A major concern was that Islamists would use the decree's protection of the constitutional assembly to drive through their vision for the next charter, with a heavy emphasis on implementing Shariah, or Islamic law. The assembly has been plagued with controversy, and more than two dozen of its 100 members have quit in recent days to protest Islamist control.
"Next Friday will be decisive," protester Islam Bayoumi said of the upcoming rally. "If people maintain the same pressure and come in large numbers, they could manage to press the president and rescue the constitution."
A fellow protester, Saad Salem Nada, said of Morsi: "I am a Muslim and he made me hate Muslims because of the dictatorship in the name of religion. In the past, we had one Mubarak. Now we have hundreds."
Even as the crowds swelled in Tahrir, clashes erupted nearby between several hundred protesters throwing stones and police firing tear gas on a street leading to the U.S. Embassy. Clouds of tear gas hung over the area, where clashes have broken out for several days, fueled by anger over police abuses.
A photographer working for the AP, Ahmed Gomaa, was beaten by stick-wielding police while covering the clashes. Police took his equipment and Gomaa was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Rival rallies by Morsi opponents and supporters turned into brief clashes in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, where anti-Morsi protesters broke into the local office of the Muslim Brotherhood, throwing furniture out the windows and trying unsuccessfully to set fire to it. Protesters also set fire to Brotherhood offices in the city of Mansoura.
Morsi's supporters canceled a massive rally planned for Tuesday in Cairo, citing the need to "defuse tension." Morsi's supporters say more than a dozen of their offices have been ransacked or set ablaze since Friday. Some 5,000 demonstrated in the southern city of Assiut in support of Morsi's decrees, according to witnesses there.
So far, there has been little sign of a compromise. On Monday, Morsi met with the nation's top judges and tried to win their acceptance of his decrees. But the move was dismissed by many in the opposition and the judiciary as providing no real concessions.
Saad Emara, a senior Muslim Brotherhood member, said Morsi will not make any concessions, especially after the surge of violence and assaults on Brotherhood offices.
Emara accused the opposition "of resorting to violence with a political cover," claiming that former ruling party and Mubarak-era businessmen were hiring thugs to attack Brotherhood offices with the opposition's blessing.
"The story now is that the civilian forces are playing with fire. This is a dangerous scene."
___
Associated Press writer Hamza Hendawi in Cairo contributed to this report.
Rugby-England add flyhalf Burns to squad for All Blacks’ test
Label: WorldLONDON, Nov 27 (Reuters) – England called up uncapped Gloucester flyhalf Freddie Burns on Tuesday to their squad for Saturday’s test against New Zealand in place of the injured Toby Flood.
Flood sustained ligament damage to a big toe during the 16-15 loss to South Africa at Twickenham last Saturday.
Owen Farrell, whose last start was in the first test in South Africa this year, is set to replace Flood in the starting XV against the world champions.
Lock Courtney Lawes, who missed England’s first three tests of the November series because of a knee injury, has also been included in the 23-man squad. Two other locks, Mouritz Botha and Tom Palmer, have been omitted.
After beating Fiji in their opening match, England have lost to Australia and the Springboks and now face a daunting match against the All Blacks who are unbeaten in 20 tests since the start of their victorious World Cup campaign last year.
“For those in Saturday’s squad the message is clear – last week we went toe to toe with the second best team in the world and felt we should have won,” England head coach Stuart Lancaster said in a statement.
“Now we have a chance to take on the number one side in front of a passionate Twickenham crowd, who have been fantastic throughout the Internationals, and it is a challenge we will meet head on.” (Reporting by John Mehaffey; Editing by Ken Ferris)
Australia / Antarctica News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Flu Symptoms Drove Boston Mayor to Hospital
Label: HealthWhen Boston Mayor Thomas Menino ended his vacation in Italy short this fall and checked into a Boston hospital complaining of a respiratory infection, it led doctors to find and treat a blood clot in his leg, a fracture in his back, an infection around the fracture and type 2 diabetes.
Cold and flu symptoms from respiratory infections can be a hassle, but sometimes that fever and cough can be good for just getting people to the doctor.
“That’s why every patient needs a careful evaluation because every once in a while, what the patient thinks is the flu or reports as the flu is not,” said Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. “I would say 99 percent of people who present to the emergency room and doctor’s office with symptoms of influenza – that is cough, fever and the like – are certainly going to have influenza.”
Click here to read about cold- and flu-fighters.
Menino, 69, arrived at Brigham and Women’s Hospital on Oct. 25, complaining of fatigue and a cough, and doctors described him as “extremely washed out” with some “malaise.” In addition to the respiratory infection, doctors found a blood clot that traveled from Menino’s leg to his lungs.
Respiratory illnesses, like the one that initially drove Menino to seek medical attention, can often range from mild to severe, Schaffner said.
“He was feeling poorly enough to end what was supposed to be a very pleasant vacation, and when he got here, he was very weak and very washed out,” Dr. Dale Adler, Menino’s doctor, said during a press conference in mid-November.
Doctors can usually tell whether flu-like symptoms are the result of a respiratory infection or something else soon after the patient is admitted. If not, they can perform a series of tests to find out.
Click here to read about flu fact and fiction.
(The flu can lead to other ailments, the most common of which is pneumonia, or an infection of the lungs, Schaffner said.
About 1.1 million pneumonia patients were hospitalized and discharged in 2009, according to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On average, they stayed in the hospital 5.2 days.)
Weeks later, Menino was still in the hospital. Although his illness and clot had been resolved, he was complaining of back pain, which doctors discovered was the result of a compression fracture and an infection around the fracture.
Finally, doctors discovered that Menino had underlying type 2 diabetes, which may have contributed to the infection, Menino’s doctor said during a press conference on Monday.
It’s not clear how Menino’s initial flu-like symptoms tied into his other ailments, but doctors said they are positive about his prognosis. The mayor relocated to a rehabilitation center on Monday.
“It is a run of bad luck,” Morris said of Menino. “He will rebound from this.”
Also Read
Diseases/Conditions News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Copyright © News desk. All rights reserved.
Design 
And Business Directories
