U.S. Task Force's Recommendations Stoke Debate over Calcium and Vitamin D Supplements

News | Health

A task force found insufficient evidence to recommend supplements to healthy people to prevent broken bones or cancer, but this could overlook several categories of people

By Melinda Wenner Moyer ?| July 2, 2012?|

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Ragesoss

If you are healthy, living at home, and take calcium and vitamin D supplements to prevent broken bones or cancer, you may want to reconsider, according to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). The group's new draft recommendations, published online on June 12, add more fervor to the ongoing debate about the benefits and risks associated with these popular supplements.

The USPSTF based its recommendations on a meta-analysis of 136 clinical trials, observational studies and a systematic review evaluating the effects of supplementation on fracture and cancer risk. It concluded that postmenopausal women should not take supplements containing less than 400 international units (IU) of vitamin D and 1,000 milligrams of calcium, noting that there is not enough evidence to evaluate the effects of taking more than those amounts. There was also insufficient data for the task force to determine whether or not healthy younger women and men of any age should take the supplements.

There's no question that "vitamin D and calcium are essential nutrients for a healthy diet," says task force member Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, an epidemiologist and biostatistician at the University of California, San Francisco. The heart, muscles and nerves cannot work properly without the minerals, and deficiency can also cause bone loss, osteoporosis and tooth damage. Vitamin D is crucial in part because it helps the body to absorb calcium from food. In May the USPSTF recommended that people over 65 take vitamin D supplements if they have an increased risk of falls, for instance because of mobility problems or a history of falling.

But for healthy people the benefits are less clear-cut, Bibbins-Domingo says. Part of the problem is that trials involving vitamin D and calcium are inconsistent?they test different doses for varying lengths of time in diverse populations, which "makes it extra tricky when you try to put them all together and come up with a final analysis," says Erin LeBlanc, an endocrinologist at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland, Ore. Earlier this week LeBlanc and her colleagues published a study online in the Journal of Women?s Health suggesting that women over 65 with higher blood vitamin D levels gain less weight over time than women with lower amounts.

Despite the difficulty of making firm conclusions about the data, some experts find the USPSTF recommendations, which are open for public comment until July 10, misleading and potentially dangerous. "I think they went too far," says Susan Ott, a bone specialist at the University of Washington School of Medicine. For one thing, "they ignored a lot of people who are getting really no calcium in their ordinary diet."

Indeed, the recommendations only apply to healthy people who are not deficient in either nutrient. (The task force did not evaluate the benefits of supplementation in people with osteoporosis, but the National Osteoporosis Foundation recommends that people with the bone disease consume at least 1,200 milligrams of calcium and 800 to 1,000 IUs of vitamin D daily through food or supplements.) Although the Institute of Medicine maintains that most Americans get enough vitamin D from food and sunlight, the organization notes that nearly 75 percent of American women between the ages of 31 and 50 do not get the recommended 1,000 milligrams of calcium from their food every day, and that a similar percentage of women older than 50 fail to consume their recommended 1,200 milligrams. (To eat 1,000 milligrams without supplementing, a person would have to eat 16 cups of cooked broccoli or drink three and a third glasses of skim milk daily.) "There are a lot of people out there who are only getting half of what we recommend," Ott says, and the USPSTF recommendations do not apply to them.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=819e8b07fe63510c397371cffd831f0f

nba news florida gators hope solo hope solo texas high school football fugazi fugazi

China court: Apple pays $60M to settle iPad case

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2012 file photo, a man walks by an advertisement of Apple's iPad 2 in Shanghai, China. Apple has agreed to pay China's Shenzhen Proview Technology $60 million to settle a dispute over ownership of the iPad name, a court announced Monday, July 2, 2012, removing a potential obstacle to sales of the popular tablet computer in the key Chinese market. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2012 file photo, a man walks by an advertisement of Apple's iPad 2 in Shanghai, China. Apple has agreed to pay China's Shenzhen Proview Technology $60 million to settle a dispute over ownership of the iPad name, a court announced Monday, July 2, 2012, removing a potential obstacle to sales of the popular tablet computer in the key Chinese market. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

BEIJING (AP) ? Apple has paid $60 million to settle a dispute in China over ownership of the iPad name, a court announced Monday, removing a potential obstacle to sales of the popular tablet computer in the key Chinese market.

Apple's dispute with Shenzhen Proview Technology highlighted the possible pitfalls for global companies in China's infant trademark system. It also posed a challenge for the communist government, which wants to attract technology investors to develop China's economy.

Apple Inc. says it bought the global rights to the iPad name from Proview in 2009 but Chinese authorities say the rights in China were never transferred. A Chinese court ruled in December that Proview still owned the name in China. Proview, which is struggling financially, asked Chinese authorities to seize iPads in an apparent effort to pressure Apple to settle.

"The iPad dispute resolution is ended," the Guangdong High People's Court said in a statement. "Apple Inc. has transferred $60 million to the account of the Guangdong High Court as requested in the mediation letter."

China is Apple's second-largest market after the United States and the source of much of the Cupertino, California-based company's sales growth.

Proview hoped for more money but felt pressure to settle because it needs to pay debts, said a lawyer for the company, Xie Xianghui. He said Proview sought as much as $400 million and might still be declared bankrupt in a separate legal proceeding despite the infusion of settlement money.

"This is a result that is acceptable to both sides," Xie said.

The dispute centered on whether Apple acquired the iPad name in China when it bought rights in various countries from a Proview affiliate in Taiwan for 35,000 British pounds ($55,000). The December court ruling said Proview, which registered the iPad trademark in China in 2001, was not bound by that sale, even though it was part of the same company.

The settlement should be good news for both Apple and its customers because it clears a potential obstacle for the company to start selling the new iPad 3 in China, said You Yunting, a lawyer for the DeBund Law Office in Shanghai.

"It is a good deal for Apple, because sales of iPads, which are in great demand, can compensate for this $60 million cost," You said.

Apple has yet to announce a China release date for the iPad 3 but the country's telecommunications equipment certification agency approved the tablet in May.

The case gave Chinese authorities a chance to show that their courts could impartially resolve intellectual property disputes but also raised the possibility that technology investors might be put off by a negative outcome for Apple. Chinese regulators said Proview clearly owned the mainland name rights under Chinese rules.

Without a formal ruling, it will be hard for companies to draw lessons about how Chinese courts will handle such disputes in the future, said Stan Abrams, an American lawyer who teaches intellectual property law at Beijing's Central University of Finance and Economics.

"It's such an atypical case," he said. "Certainly, the details and specifics of this kind of commercial dispute aren't going to give us any long-term lessons."

The outcome reflects Chinese courts' preference for encouraging adversaries in commercial disputes to settle instead of pushing for a ruling, Abrams said. He said the relatively small size of the settlement by Apple's standards suggested Proview gave in, possibly under pressure from either its creditors or the court.

All of Apple's iPads are made in China by Foxconn Technologies Group, which employs more than 1 million people in sprawling factories. Brazil's government says Taiwan-based Foxconn plans to open factories there to produce iPads and other products.

Shenzhen Proview Technology is a subsidiary of LCD screen maker Proview International Holdings Ltd., headquartered in Hong Kong.

A Hong Kong court ruled in July that Proview and the Taiwan company both were "clearly under the control" of the same Taiwanese businessman, Yang Long-san, and had refused to take steps required to transfer the name under the agreement. The judge said the companies acted together "with the common intention of injuring Apple."

However, that judgment had no automatic force in the mainland case because Hong Kong, while Chinese territory, has a separate legal system.

Apple also ran into a trademark dispute before it launched the iPhone in 2007.

Cisco Systems Inc., the maker of networking hardware, had owned the trademark since 2000 and used it for a line of Internet-connected desk phones. After Cisco sued, the companies reached an undisclosed settlement and the phone launch went off as planned.

The dispute came amid complaints Beijing is failing to stamp out rampant unlicensed Chinese copying of goods ranging from music and Hollywood movies to designer clothing and pharmaceuticals.

But unlike "trademark squatters" who register names of products already sold abroad and then demand foreign companies pay for the Chinese rights, Proview registered the iPad name long before Apple planned its tablet computer.

"The only thing companies really should take form this case is, be careful when you do transactions, be careful with your contracts," Abrams said. "Be careful you're doing it the right way or you could pay a lot for your mistakes."

___

AP researcher Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-07-02-China-Apple-iPad%20Dispute/id-8a61fb3af248488fbf7e02dc34584f54

Don Grady ann curry nhl obamacare Nexus 7 euro 2012 dominion power

Palfrey ends Cuba-Florida swim amid strong current

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) ? Endurance swimmer Penny Palfrey has abandoned her effort to become the first woman to swim unassisted from Cuba to the Florida Keys, ending her odyssey after almost 41 hours in the water and about three quarters of the way through the more than 100-mile swim, her support team said early Sunday.

Andrea Woodburn, one of the team members, said by phone that the British-born Australian marathon swimmer halted her effort around midnight about 26 miles south of Key West because of a strong ocean current working against her.

"She is fine," Woodburn said from Florida's Key West, without giving further details on Palfrey's condition. Woodburn said she had been in contact with Palfrey's boat and was told the swimmer had to get out of the water when she encountered the too-strong current in the treacherous Florida Straits.

The waters in the area are notorious for fickle ocean currents, including the powerful Gulf Stream. But further details of whether she had encountered the Gulf Stream or a side eddy of that current or some other were not immediately available.

Earlier in the day, Palfrey had been swimming steady and strong and reported no physical complaints other than jellyfish stings more than halfway into the swim, according to her support crew.

At about 8:30 p.m. EDT (0030 GMT) roughly 37.5 hours into the swim, the 49-year-old grandmother was 76 miles (122.31 kilometers) from her starting point at a marina in the Cuban capital, according to her website's GPS tracking report. At the time she was positioned about 30 miles (61.15 kilometers) south, southwest of Key West.

Previously, her personal best was 67 miles (108 kilometers) when she swam between Little Cayman and Grand Cayman islands last year, according to Woodburn, part of her support team in the Keys.

Palfrey had reapplied sunscreen and grease to prevent chafing and said the water conditions had been excellent other than the extreme heat on the first two days of the swim. She even spotted a few hammerhead sharks and dolphin pods. Crew members said she was in full control of the effort at the time, instructing team members who are accompanying her on kayaks and a catamaran as she kept up a torrid pace.

She is "physically and mentally strong," Woodburn said on Saturday.

Hours earlier, Woodburn had said the conditions appeared ideal with bathwater-warm waters reported to be calm as the swimmer took aim for the Florida Keys. And the 20-year veteran of distance swimming has been no stranger to jellyfish stings, which forced her to abort two past swims in Hawaii.

Palfrey set off from Havana early Friday. A member of her crew was tweeting to fans, while a webpage updated her location every 10 minutes or so based on data from a GPS device worn by the swimmer.

The daunting effort has been commonly reported as a 103-mile (166-kilometer) swim, however the GPS coordinates suggest it is more like 107 miles (172 kilometer).

Multiple challenges loomed for Palfrey on her second day in the water Saturday, including the prospect of physical and mental fatigue and fending off dehydration, hypothermia and potentially dangerous marine life. At the rate she had been swimming, it had been estimated the crossing would have taken more than 56 hours to complete, slightly above her initial estimates. That would have put her on track for a Florida Keys' arrival sometime on Sunday if she had kept going.

Palfrey had been aiming for the record books to become the first woman to swim from Cuba to the Keys without the aid of a shark cage. Instead she had been relying on equipment that surrounded her with an electrical field to deter the predators. Her support team consisted of more than a dozen navigators, handlers and medical personnel escorting her on the 44-foot (13-meter) catamaran Sealuver.

Woodburn said that Palfrey was hydrated on the swim every half-hour with a liquid concoction containing electrolytes and carbohydrates.

Australian Susie Maroney made the crossing in 1997 at age 22, but with a shark cage. American Diana Nyad made two unsuccessful cageless attempts last year on either side of her 62nd birthday, but had to call them off due to a debilitating asthma attack and painful Portuguese man o' war stings. She has announced plans to try again this summer.

Nyad's twitter feed displayed several messages focused on Palfrey's effort.

"I'm sure our team will learn from her crossing," one tweet reported. "Just as, I'm sure, Penny's team has learned from Diana's attempts"

Palfrey began the swim in a regular sporting swimsuit, but put on a porous, non-buoyant Lycra bodysuit Friday night to provide cover down to the wrists and ankles to fend off jellyfish stings. But as the sun rose Saturday morning, she changed back to the sport swimsuit.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/palfrey-ends-cuba-florida-swim-amid-strong-current-053758548--spt.html

wiz khalifa and amber rose oh the places you ll go blunt amendment justin bieber birthday read across america vikings stadium breitbart dead

Iran feels pinch of new EU oil sanctions

FILE - In this Tuesday, April 15, 2008 file photo, Iranian oil technician Majid Afshari makes his way to the oil separator facilities in Iran's Azadegan oil field southwest of Tehran. Iran has stored up imported goods and hard currency for a "battle" against EU sanctions targeting the country's vital oil sector that went into effect Sunday, officials said. They acknowledged though that the measures, which aim at pressuring the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, may cause economic disruptions. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, April 15, 2008 file photo, Iranian oil technician Majid Afshari makes his way to the oil separator facilities in Iran's Azadegan oil field southwest of Tehran. Iran has stored up imported goods and hard currency for a "battle" against EU sanctions targeting the country's vital oil sector that went into effect Sunday, officials said. They acknowledged though that the measures, which aim at pressuring the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, may cause economic disruptions. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009 file photo, Iranian Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, right, accompanies President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his departure ceremony as he leaves Tehran's Mehrabad airport for Copenhagen to attend the U.N. Climate Summit. Iran has stored up imported goods and hard currency for a "battle" against EU sanctions targeting the country's vital oil sector that went into effect Sunday, officials said. Rahimi said the country has stockpiled necessities to reduce the impact of the embargo hitting the oil and banking sectors. "Today, we are facing the heaviest of sanctions and we ask people to help officials in this battle," Rahimi was quoted by state television's website as saying at a religious conference. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Nov. 17, 2007 file photo, Iranian workers make repairs to a unit at Tehran's oil refinery. Iran has stored up imported goods and hard currency for a "battle" against EU sanctions targeting the country's vital oil sector that went into effect Sunday, officials said. They acknowledged though that the measures, which aim at pressuring the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program, may cause economic disruptions. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? As new European Union sanctions targeting Iran's vital oil industry took effect Sunday, Tehran acknowledged the measures aimed at reining in its disputed nuclear program were taking a toll. The vice president said authorities had stockpiled imported goods and hard currency to help cushion the blow to the economy.

The ban by the 27-member EU on the purchase of Iranian oil dealt the Islamic Republic its second economic setback in days, following fresh U.S. sanctions that prohibit the world's banks from completing oil transactions with Iranian banks. Combined, the measures significantly ratchet up the pressure on an Iranian economy already squeezed by previous rounds of sanctions.

"Today, we are facing the heaviest of sanctions, and we ask people to help officials in this battle," Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi was quoted as saying on state television's website.

He said the "dastardly sanctions" might cause "occasional confusion" in the domestic market. Iran reacted furiously when the U.S. and EU sanctions were announced, threatening to block the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway used to ship about one-fifth of the world's oil. On Sunday Iranian officials appeared to be backing away from that threat, which roiled international oil markets at the time.

Rahimi also said Tehran has stocked up on some imported goods to reduce the embargo's impact, without saying what specifically.

The EU, which accounted for around 18 percent of Iran's oil exports, said earlier this week that all contracts for importing Iranian oil will have to be terminated from Sunday. Also, European companies will no longer be involved in insuring Iranian oil.

In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney welcomed the EU oil embargo. He said in a statement that the U.S. and EU "are committed to holding Iran accountable for failing to meet its international obligations," showing "the seriousness with which the international community views the challenge of Iran's nuclear ambitions."

Carney said Iran has a "clear choice between isolation and meeting its obligations." He said Iran must take "concrete steps" to resolve international concerns over its nuclear program.

Iran is the second largest OPEC oil producer, producing about 4 million barrels of oil a day. The country's recoverable oil reserves are estimated at more than 137 billion barrels, or 12 percent of the world's overall reserves. The country relies on oil exports for about 80 percent of its public revenues. However, most of Iran's crude production is used domestically.

The sanctions are the latest move in the West's standoff with Iran over its disputed nuclear program, which the U.S. and its allies suspect is aimed at developing atomic weapons. Iran denies the charges and insists its program is designed solely for peaceful purposes, such as energy and producing medical isotopes.

Three rounds of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers, including the U.S., have failed to produce a breakthrough, prompting some critics to charge that Tehran is merely dragging out the negotiations to buy time to further advance its suspected weapons program. The U.S. and Israel have left the door open to a possible military strike if no agreement is reached.

In the meantime, Washington and its allies have used sanctions to target Iran's oil sector ? the nation's primary revenue source ? and there are already indications that previous rounds of sanctions have started to bite.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Iranian crude exports have dropped to 1.5 million barrels a day from 2.5 million barrels last year, which comes out to almost $32 billion in revenue lost over a year.

The Iranian rial has slumped against international currencies, with the unofficial rate spiking at around 21,000 to the dollar this week, up from around 19,000. That's down from a high of around 23,000 in January, but still far above the rate of around 11,000 about 18 months ago.

The price of staples has skyrocketed as well. Since the EU first announced its embargo in January, Iranian government figures show the prices of bread, milk and meat have risen around 20 percent, while the price of chicken has jumped some 80 percent.

Fully aware of the burden this places on families, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, an adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said last week that the price hikes are "a matter of pain" for Iran. But he also urged people not to complain, telling them: "If you say ouch, the arrogant ones will say they have achieved their goal. So be patient, and make them regret it."

So far, the Iranian public has proven patient, in part because of widespread support for the nation's nuclear program, which is a source of pride for many in Iran, regardless of their political leanings.

"Westerners said the sanctions have aimed at halting nuclear activities. But they have targeted our families and children," said Abbas Heidar, a 32-year-old teacher in Tehran. "The government is continuing its nuclear activities and I do not expect it stop."

Iranian officials, meanwhile, scrambled Sunday to present the government as actively working to ease any hardship the sanctions might bring.

Central bank governor Mahmoud Bahmani told the semiofficial Mehr news agency that Iran has "plans" to deal with the embargo and enough hard currency to meet its import needs.

"We have not remained passive. To confront the sanctions, we have plans in progress," Bahmani said without elaborating.

Iran's Oil Minister Rostam Ghasemi ordered his staff to "mobilize" against the sanctions, according to Mehr. It did not elaborate.

Ghasemi also sought to boost public morale, telling state television late Saturday that Iran has weathered previous rounds of sanctions.

"I do not see it as a problem that enemies have imposed an embargo today," he said. "They have imposed similar sanctions years ago, and nothing happened."

He said Iran has already halted oil sales to many EU countries, and had found new buyers to replace them.

"Developing countries and countries with fast economic growth have no alternative to oil. Fortunately, because of the quality of our country's oil, all are interested in using it," he said.

Mehr published its own analysis listing measures that Iran could take to counter the sanctions, including shutting the vital Strait of Hormuz. The semiofficial news agency's editorials sometimes reflect views held by top Iranian officials who do not wish to state them publically.

On Sunday, however, Iran's Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi made statements to the official IRNA news agency about the strait in which he did not mention any plans to close it ? remarks that suggest that Iran is playing down the threat in dealings with the West.

Vahidi said Iran is the main protector of the waterway, and that Tehran "has confronted anybody who tried to endanger the Strait."

Mehr also suggested that Iran could make use of hard currencies other than the U.S. dollar and the euro, form its own insurance syndicate to replace foreign companies that withdraw from the market, store up oil in tanks for later sale so as not to cut production, or simply reduce oil production to save its reserves for the future.

___

Lucas reported from Cairo.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-07-01-Iran-Oil/id-4e5aa48025414aa8bc83f1ceef4a6274

49ers news saint louis university leprechaun night at the museum pope shenouda bolton muamba sxsw

Local Parks and Rec teams dominate Saturday ? Local Sports ...

VALDOSTA ? Two All-Star teams from the Valdosta-Lowndes County Parks and Recreation Authority dominated their games on Saturday at the Dizzy Dean Baseball state tournaments.

The VLPRA 11-year-old All-Stars defeated the Northside Youth Organization Bandits 11-4 at the 11-year-old state tournament in Rock Springs. The 9-year-old All-Stars hammered the Shaw Park Outlaws 14-4 in their state tourney in Canton.

The 9-year-old All-Stars call their team the Valdosta Attack, and on Saturday, they attacked the Outlaws right away and never let up. They scored multiple runs in every inning, and ended the game in the fourth inning, due to the mercy rule.

?It was just an all-around great performance,? Attack head coach Jason Hamsley said. ?We got great defense, great pitching and great hitting.

?We jumped on them early, and scored three or four runs every inning. ... The whole team hit the ball.?

Austin Hancock pitched the first three innings, and was the winning pitcher. Colby McGee pitched the final inning.

The 9-year-olds are now 2-0 at the tournament. They will face Bartow at 3 p.m. today in Canton. If they win, they are guaranteed to finish in the top three in the state tournament.

The 11-year-old VLPRA All-Stars stayed alive in their state tournament with an 11-4 victory over the Northside Youth Organization Bandits.

The All-Stars fell behind early in the game, but rallied for the win.

?It was an all-around good game,? head coach Scott Willis said. ?We hit the ball, and had good pitching and good defense.?

The Bandits grabbed the early lead, but the All-Stars cut that lead to 4-3 in the third inning. Then the Valdostans exploded in the fourth, scoring six runs to take a 9-4 lead. They would add two more runs later in the game, making the final score 11-4

Seth Weeks and Seth Kipper pitched three innings apiece for the VLPRA All-Stars. Kipper shut out the Bandits over the final three innings.

The pitchers were helped by a defense that only committed one error in the game.

The game was played in temperatures that reached 105 degrees at one point in Rock Springs.

With the win, the All-Stars stayed alive in the loser?s bracket. They will play again today at 10 a.m. If they win their game this morning, they will play again later in the day.

Source: http://valdostadailytimes.com/sports/x1501684289/Local-Parks-and-Rec-teams-dominate-Saturday

clay aiken zambrano orange bowl tim howard goal ben gibbard nfl playoff schedule tim howard scores

Islamist Morsi sworn in as Egypt president

Mohammed Morsi officially became the president of Egypt on Saturday, as a new era of government takes shape. NBC's Kate Snow reports.

By NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin and msnbc.com news services

Egypt's first Islamist president, Mohammed Morsi, took his oath of office on Saturday, ending six decades of rule by former military men although the generals in charge since Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year have already curbed his powers.?

Morsi was sworn in before the Supreme Constitutional Court, rather than parliament as is usual. The Islamist-led lower house was dissolved by the same court shortly before this month's run-off presidential election.??

---

"I swear by Almighty God that I will sincerely protect the republican system and that I respect the constitution and the rule of law," Morsi said, after making the same declaration a day earlier in front of tens of thousands of people in Tahrir Square.

Egypt, Mother of the World, turns new page; citizens await results

"I will look after the interests of the people and protect the independence of the nation and safety of its territory," he said before the head of the constitutional court Farouk Soltan and other judges.?

'The will of the people'
He was speaking in the court building next to the Cairo hospital where the jailed former president has been moved.?

Morsi said a civilian and constitutional state had been "born today," in his comments after swearing the oath. The ceremony was broadcast by state media.?

As Morsi takes office, many fear the 'Islamization of Egyptian society'

One of the judges, Maher Sami, began the ceremony by saying that event had "no parallel in all of Egypt's history and was created by the will of the people."?

In his inaugural address to the nation,?Morsi began by paying tribute to the martyrs of the revolution and vowed to honor their sacrifices through his work and the administration's work.

He reiterated points he has made repeatedly before about working to strengthen Egypt's economy and restarting investment and trade.?

Israel treaty safe
He also said Egypt would abide by all of its international treaties and obligations -- meaning the 33-year-old peace treaty with Israel -- and promised to work to make Egypt a modern civil state that upholds laws and abides by the constitution.

"We carry a message of peace to the world," Morsi said in a segment intended to reassure the world that his tenure posed no threat to regional order.

New York-area politicians condemn Egypt's new leader over bid to free terrorist

He struck a rather defiant tone by saying on more than one occasion that the Egyptian people had democratically elected a parliament and that the will of the people must be respected.

He promised the state would be made up of democratic institutions and that the military would return to its bases and its role of defending the country. He promised to strengthen and develop the Armed Forces and?to keep Egypt's judiciary independent.

On foreign policy, Morsi said he we would stand with the Palestinian people until they achieved their legitimate rights and sovereignty over their land.?He added that he would work to help Palestinian national reconciliation.

Huge crowds are expected to gather to see Egypt's new president Mohammed Morsi take an oath of office on Saturday. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

Morsi said Egypt stood with the people of Syria and that the bloodshed must end. In a nod to Arab monarchies, he promised Egypt would not attempt to export its revolution to other countries and that Egypt would not accept other countries interfering in its domestic affairs.?

On Friday, Morsi defied the ruling generals by reading a symbolic oath of office in Tahrir Square, where Egypt's revolution was born.?

"Everybody is hearing me now. The government ... the military and the police. ... No power above this power," he told the tens of thousands of mostly Islamist supporters packing the square. "I reaffirm to you I will not give up any of the president's authorities. I can't afford to do this. I don't have that right."?

Post-revolution Egyptians to US: Stay out

At one point, Morsi opened his jacket to show the crowd he was not wearing a bulletproof vest, then declared he "fears no one but God."?

"We love you Morsi!" the crowd roared in response as the 60-year-old U.S.-trained engineer left the podium to get closer to the cheering crowd.?

AFP - Getty Images

An image grab taken from Egypt's Nile TV shows Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi taking the oath of office during a swearing-in ceremony at the Constitutional Court in Cairo Saturday.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Follow World News on msnbc.com on Twitter and Facebook

?

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/30/12495556-islamist-mohammed-morsi-sworn-in-as-egypt-president?lite

lenny dykstra super tuesday epidemiology total eclipse of the heart jionni lavalle earthquake san francisco donald payne

A 5 Inch Living Worm Removed from Eye of 75-year-old Man in India

We have come across so many cases of worm invasion in human body, but this time it?s the eye of a 75-year-old person that becomes the target of worm attack. Dr. V. Seetharaman, an eye specialist in Mumbai?s Fortis Hospital examined the eyes of P.K Krishnamurthy and become shocked by discovering that a 5 inch long parasite is writhing in his eyes. Krishnamurthy was suffering from severe eye irritation and pain from around two weeks and when the pain becomes unbearable he came to Fortis Mumbai for consulting with the doctor.

Dr Seetharaman said the media, ?The parasite was wriggling there under the conjunctiva. It was the first time in my career of 30 years that I had seen such a case?. After a proper examination of the eye, the threadlike creature was being identified by the doctors as the cause of redness and irritation in the eye of Krishnamurthy. This also left the patient with a disturbed and confused mind.

The operation took around 15 minutes; Dr. Seetharaman removed the worm by making a small opening in the conjunctiva of the eye. The wife of the patient, Mrs. Saraswati observed the whole operation and expressed her views as, ?It just kept moving and jumping; it was scary for a bit?.

Dr. Seetharaman suggested that the worm either have entered the body from a cut in the foot of the patient or from eating raw and improperly cooked foods. After the operation, the patient got immediate relief from the eye irritation.

"If the worm was not removed it could have gone into the layers of the eye and caused visual loss," said Dr. Seetharaman. "It could have entered the brain and caused major neurological problems too."

Source: http://www.information-online.com/node/535715

angela corey zimmerman charged bonobos charles manson actuary elon musk anderson cooper