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Providence captures Conant Invitational

Providence had something else to celebrate Saturday night.

The Celtics' top-ranked wrestling team, missing six members whoplayed on the school's Class 4-A championship football team Fridaynight in Normal, swept the Conant Invitational in Hoffman Estates.

Ryan Meagher (112) and sophomore Ben Gerdes (125) won individualtitles as Providence scored 188 1/2 points in a meet that featuredfour top 10 teams. No. 8 Marist, which also won two titles, wassecond in the 15-team field with 165 points. No. 3 Naperville Northwas third with 164. St. Charles had 132 1/2 while No. 5 Conant,which had three winners, had 131.

The New Lenox school sent eight wrestlers into …

Oil rises as Greece moves to salvage bailout

SINGAPORE (AP) — Oil prices hovered above $94 a barrel Monday in Asia after Greek leaders agreed to a coalition government that will likely approve an European Union-led bailout package.

Benchmark crude for December delivery was up 5 cents at $94.31 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 19 cents to settle at $94.26 in New York on Friday.

Brent crude was up 53 cents at $112.50 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.

Greece's embattled prime minister and main opposition leader agreed Sunday to form an interim government to ensure the country's new European debt deal, capping a week of …

Report: Sainz says return to cycling is 'natural'

A former team director arrested in cycling's biggest doping investigation says he may return to the sport.

Manuel Sainz was team director for Liberty Seguros when he was among five people arrested in May 2006 in the blood-doping scandal known as Operation Puerto that implicated more than 50 riders.

Sainz said in Saturday's …

Big stars' records rarely become collectibles

Q. I purchased the box-set CD "Garth Brooks the LimitedSeries." I would like to know if this set is expected to increase invalue and eventually become a collector's item.

A. The key word you use is "eventually." If we heed the lessonsof the past, there is every reason to believe this set willeventually show some increase in value.

Keep in mind, though, that albums and CDs that sell millions ofcopies, such as most of Brooks', are seldom scarce enough to fetchpremium prices.There are many recording artists with impressive sales to theircredit who simply fail to inspire the collectors market. Brooks isone in that category.To further illustrate this point, acts …

La Pluma y la Espada

La Pluma y la Espada: El Presidente Clinton y Su Triunfo Contra el Congreso

Por Euripides Riera Hernandez

CADA ANALISTA tiene el derecho de expresar sus comentarios, sobre el escandalo del Presidente Clinton, con aprovechada Monica.

Mi opinion sobre este poco edificante proceso amoroso tiene muchos angulos y facetas, tienen puntos divergentes y convergentes.

Desde luego, la Casa Blanca, siempre tuvo el criterio politico, de que su Presidente, nunca le paso por sumente, el pesismismo de la derota.

Mi opinion personal, es que no existio en ningun momento una solida cohesion entre los republicanos en ambas Camaras Legislativas.

Es indiscutible, …

Nadal hopes for Olympic win

Rafael Nadal has two major achievements so far this year _ he took the Wimbledon title by beating Roger Federer in an epic final and stacking up enough wins to unseat the Swiss star atop the rankings.

Now the 22-year-old Spaniard is aiming for Olympic glitter to his trophy room which already brims with the laurels of 30 titles including five grand slam events and 12 Masters series victories.

"I'm going to really enjoy the Olympic atmosphere, I'm sure, and I'm out to try and win a medal," Nadal told The Associated Press in an exclusive telephone interview Sunday. "It's an honor to represent your country and I look forward to taking part," …

Derby win puts Larks top

Toolstation Division 1 Larkhall Athletic reclaimed pole positionin the Toolstation Division 1 table after beating local rivals OddDown in the first Western League meeting between the sides in 15years.

The Larks' groundstaff had worked miracles to get the Boxing Daygame on and, although a difficult surface did not help either side,the hosts went close three times in the first five minutes throughDave Cooper, Ben Highmore and Dave Bailey.

It looked like the Downers had weathered the early storm when top-scorer Highmore latched on to a poor back pass and calmly roundedthe keeper to finish.

Adam Sheppard made a good save to protect Larks' lead and it was2-0 at …

RECLISTINGS; register

8TH ANNUAL CURT RECLA MOONLIGHT GOLF TOURNAMENT - Glow sticks and illuminated golf balls will help guide participants in this fundraiser for Adventure, a Boise Parks & Recreation Department program that offers recreation, fitness programs, sports and social activities to children and adults with disabilities. Golfers tee off at 6 p.m. Entry fees for the four-person scramble includes green fees, cart for the first nine holes, glow-in-the dark equipment, dinner and door prizes. Participation is limited to only 18 teams; registrations are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Entry forms are available at Fort Boise Community Center, 700 Robbins Road north of the Idaho Elks …

Swiss chemicals company Clariant cuts 1,000 jobs

Specialty chemicals company Clariant AG said Tuesday it is cutting 1,000 jobs this year.

Clariant said the job cuts are the result of a sharp decline in customer demand for its products in the textile, leather, automotive and …

Grogan's passing ignites the Patriots

Steve Grogan completed 17 of 22 passes for 277 yards and threetouchdowns, including an 80-yard bomb to Stanley Morgan on thePatriots' first play from scrimmage Saturday, and New England (1-2)held on for a 38-27 NFL pre-season victory over the Minnesota Vikings(1-2) at Minneapolis.

Vikings quarterback Tommy Kramer had problems in his 1987 debutafter spending 28 days in treatment for alcohol abuse. He was3-for-10 for 53 yards and fumbled four times, losing two in thesecond quarter when the Patriots rallied from a 14-10 deficit.Kramer left the game with 7:11 remaining in the third quarter with apinched nerve in his neck.

Jets 30, Giants 23: Ken O'Brien threw a …

Frustrated World Powers Send Iran to U.N.

PARIS - Frustrated world powers agreed Wednesday to send Iran before the United Nations Security Council for possible punishment, saying the Iranians had given no sign they would bargain in earnest over their disputed nuclear program.

The move amounted to calling Iran's bluff. Diplomats said recent meetings with Iran's nuclear negotiator have gone nowhere and it was clear Tehran hoped to play for time or exploit potential divisions among the six powers that have offered new talks.

The United States and other nations wanted Iran to say by Wednesday whether it would meet terms to begin negotiations on a package of economic and energy incentives in exchange for at least a …

8 die in Pakistan building collapse

Police say a two-story apartment building has collapsed in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, killing eight people, including a toddler.

Police officer Akhtar Rashid Butt says the building collapsed before dawn …

Webber says Red Bull will face No. 1 driver choice

Mark Webber thinks the time is approaching for Red Bull to prioritize its drivers and choose a No. 1 with six Formula One races left this season.

Webber's second-place finish at the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday moved him 28 points clear of teammate Sebastian Vettel and three points back of overall leader Lewis Hamilton of McLaren.

"It's still too early at the moment but not too far away," Webber said. "I think it depends on how hungry we are to try and do that."

Webber has won four races this season, two more than Vettel.

But a No. 1 tug-of-war has been an unwanted distraction for the Austrian team ever since a collision between the pair in Turkey, when Vettel crashed out after attempting a poor overtaking move. Vettel never apologized and appeared to suggest Webber was at fault.

Among the leading teams, only Ferrari has made a No. 1 pick as it goes with Fernando Alonso over Felipe Massa down the stretch. Alonso trails Hamilton by 41 points while Massa is 73 back.

Despite Webber's comments, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner has no intention yet of choosing between the 34-year-old Webber and Vettel _ the 23-year-old driver many expect to be a champion.

"It's still a long way to go. In reality, it's nothing _ there is still 150 points available," Horner said. "Lewis and Mark have pulled away a little bit from the pack but that can change very quickly."

Hamilton doesn't expect McLaren to prioritize either with defending F1 champion Jenson Button in fourth place _ 35 points behind.

"You have seen in the last few races how quickly things can change so we still have a long way to go, and many points to be grabbed by any of us drivers fighting for the championship," Hamilton said. "The closest rival to me at the moment in terms of points is Mark but I still think the championship is open."

Hometown Heroes Honored // Lyons High School Remembers 14 Who Died in Vietnam War

The flag outside Lyons Township High School flew at half-staffTuesday morning, tugged by a raw wind, under a lowering sky. An AirForce color guard presented the colors, and a student bugler blew"Taps."

As the mournful notes sounded, the clock in the school towerstruck the half hour.

On other mornings, four decades ago, a teenager named Wayne E.Pearson must have looked up often at that tower clock as he hurriedtoward the school in southwest suburban La Grange.

On this day in 1994, Dennis G. Kelly talked about Pearson - andabout 13 other young men who will never grow old.

"They were our friends," said Kelly, superintendent of District204. "They were our brothers, our husbands and our fathers. Theylived just down the street from us. They attended our churches.They shopped in the same stores we do. And they walked the corridorsof Lyons Township High School."

Tuesday's ceremonies were the result of a story that Tom Thomkaread in the Chicago Sun-Times last Oct. 20.

The story reported that the remains of Air Force Maj. Wayne E.Pearson had been found in a Laotian jungle where his Phantom F-4attack fighter went down after being hit by ground fire during astrafing attack on an antiaircraft emplacement on Feb. 22, 1969.They were to be returned to the United States for burial in ArlingtonNational Cemetery.

Pearson had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross,posthumously, for that 60th and final mission. His plane carried aback-seat weapon systems officer, Michael E. Heenan. As the Phantomrushed toward flaming destruction, Pearson pushed a button thatejected Heenan, who was picked up by a helicopter rescue team.

There was no time left for Pearson to eject himself.

In 1969, Tom Thomka was a GI serving with the Second Field Forcein Long Binh. Now 47 and a Chicago architect, Thomka is president ofLoop Chapter 242, Vietnam Veterans of America.

Inspired by the newspaper story, and reading that Pearson hadbeen a Lyons Township graduate, Thomka contacted Kelly and asked ifthe school would accept a memorial from his chapter honoring Pearson.Kelly enthusiastically agreed - and secured funds from his schoolboard for a second memorial honoring all 14 former Lyons Townshipstudents who had died in Vietnam.

And so two memorial plaques were dedicated at the school Tuesday, to be displayed on a wall in one of those hallways wherethe 14 had walked. They honor Wayne E. Pearson (class of 1955);George E. Jones (1960); Anton J. Jecmen (1961); Kevin J. Woods(1962); John A. Gillen, Michael P. Reilly and James D. Stevenson(1963); Gary E. Becker and James C. McPhillips (1966); George Botes,John H. Brancato and Ronald E. Schmidt (1967); Thomas P. Cadieux(1968), and Daniel J. Davidenko (1969).

"A lot has been said about the true mission of the American GIin Vietnam," Thomka said. "But for each man and woman, facing theenemy, it really boiled down to one simple task - whatever it took,to get your buddy home."

And that's what it says on the plaque detailing Pearson's lastflight: "He Got His Buddy Home."

Questionable Research Conclusions/Reply

Dear Editor:

I was disappointed to see an article 1 in the April 2010 issue of The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry that I believe is not well founded.

It is hard to see how the associations drawn by the authors could follow from the data that they use. In that case, it is unfortunate that the authors have approached a newspaper to distribute their conclusions, suggesting abortions cause mental problems.

The main problems with the paper are as follows: the research is a re-analysis of data from the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Drug Abuse in the United States. The authors have no control or knowledge of the quality of the data. In addition, the organizations in the United States were following their own special interests.

Second, the American women in the study sample were chosen ". . . including all respondents who met criteria for a lifetime mental disorder . . .'"�?3 Hence this was very far from a representative sample of women, and many of the subjects were already predisposed to mental problems. The authors presented their findings as being generally applicable to all women.

Third, the study was retrospective, therefore the mental state of each woman was assessed by interviewers at the time of the interview but not before or soon after her abortion. This means the interviewers presumably relied on each woman's memory and self-assessment of her mental state of an abortion that may have occurred years or decades previously. Such data are likely to be extremely inaccurate.

Fourth, to have credibility, this study should have compared the abortion group with a control group of women in similar circumstances. A possible control group could be women who had an unintended pregnancy but did not have an abortion. However, the authors appear to compare the abortion group with all other women in the survey, whether or not they went through any pregnancy, unwanted or otherwise.

Fifth, the authors completely neglect all other factors, not connected with the abortion itself, that might result in a poor mental state of a woman who has an abortion (probably the dataset did not contain such information). Such factors include that before the abortion she: was pressured into it by a partner, had been raped, had other illnesses or disabilities, had very difficult economic circumstances (perhaps a single mother), was a sex trade worker, and so on.

Finally, the authors apply statistical analysis to the data that makes it look very scholarly or scientific, but the lack of high-quality relevant data surely ensures that the analysis is of little value.

References

1. Mota NP, Burnett M, Sareen J. Associations between abortion, mental disorders, and suicidal behaviour in a nationally representative sample. Can J Psychiatry. 2010;55(4):239-247.

Peter Aitchison, BSc, MA, PhD

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Reply

Re: Questionable Research Conclusions

Dear Editor:

We would like to thank Dr Aitchison for his comments regarding our recent study. However, a few clarifications need to be made regarding certain statements made in his letter.

The author suggests that we approached a newspaper for the purposes of claiming that "abortions cause mental problems." First, it should be noted that we did not approach any media. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry selects a few studies in each issue to include in a media advisory, and our study was one paper highlighted in the April 2010 issue. Further, in talking to the media, we took great care to emphasize that only associations, and not causal links, had been identified between abortion and mental disorders in our study.1

Dr Aitchison states correctly that the sample of women we used included all respondents from Part I of the National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R) who had been assessed as having a lifetime mental disorder. However, he inaccurately draws the conclusion that the sample was not representative of women in the US population. Part II of the NCS-R also included a probability subsample of the remaining respondents and specific weights were applied to the entire sample to render it representative of individuals in the United States.2

Dr Aitchison mentions that the "authors completely neglect all other factors, not connected with the abortion itself, that might result in a poor mental state of a woman who has an abortion." We completely agree that the NCS-R did not assess for many of the factors mentioned by Dr Aitchison, and that many of these factors, as well as others, can contribute to the relation between mental illness and abortion. However, we feel that we appropriately adjusted for several of the potential confounding variables highlighted by Dr Aitchison in our statistical models, including rape, household income, and marital status.

Please see our response to another "Letter to the Editor"3 for further details.

Natalie P Mota, MA

Margaret Burnett, MD, FRCPC

Jitender Sareen, MD, FRCPC

Winnipeg, Manitoba

References

1. Cosh C. Science-reporting smell test of the week [Internet]. Toronto (ON): Maclean's; May 4, 2010 [cited 2010 May 21]. Available from: http://www2.macleans.ca/tag/natalie-mota/.

2. Kessler RC, Berglund P, Chi� WT, et al. The US National Comorbidity Survey Replication (NCS-R): design and field procedures. Int J Methods Psychiatr Res. 2004;13:69-92.

3. Mota NP, Burnett M, Sareen J. Re: yet another flawed study. Can J Psychiatry. 2010;56(1):72.

Scholars analyze election online

The Supreme Court's decision in Bush vs. Gore ending the chaoticpresidential campaign of 2000 may have also created the largestprotection for voting rights since the historic one person-one voterulings of the mid-20th century.

That is the conclusion of University of Chicago law Professor CassR. Sunstein in a unique collection of views on the consequences ofthe Supreme Court's actions last December.

In the first online publishing venture of the University ofChicago Press, Sunstein and another 10 legal scholars offer theiropinions on the legitimacy of the high court's rulings in theelection controversy.

Sunstein, who with University of Chicago Law School interim DeanRichard Epstein edited The Vote, said one feature of the decision wasa spelling out of an equal protection claim.

If a vote is not counted in one area when it would be in another,something is amiss, said Sunstein. For example, he asks readers tosuppose that "in one county a vote will not count unless the stylusgoes all the way through, whereas in another county, a vote countsmerely because it contains a highly visible `dimple.'

"This means people are being treated unequally with respect to thevote, just as in the one person-one vote cases," Sunstein told theChicago Sun-Times.

However, he said it is too early to predict "what the court willdo in future cases to expand or contract this principle."

In another essay, 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge RichardA. Posner outlines why, even if the hand recounts had been completed,Gore would have lost the election, and in another piece, Universityof Chicago law Professor David A. Strauss details how the SupremeCourt acted by illegitimate means to prevent the Florida SupremeCourt from giving the election to Gore.

In his introduction, Sunstein provides a general chronology of theevents in the long post-election struggle and a glance at the legalissues. He observed that reactions to the court's ruling are sharplydivided on political grounds.

"To oversimplify: Gore supporters tend to think that the Court waswrong, even ludicrously wrong: Bush supporters tend to think that theCourt's decision was defensible, right, perhaps even heroic, amongspecialists and nonspecialists," said Sunstein, who voted for Gorebut says he ultimately felt that Bush should be named president "forthe good of the country."

The University of Chicago Press is offering advance online accessto a draft version of The Vote, to be published in the fall. AfterApril 16, the $18 book can be pre-ordered at www.thevotebook.com.Those who order the book will be given a password for the onlineversion.

Iraqi lawmakers agree to bill reinstating ex-supporters of Saddam's Baath party

Iraq's parliament passed a benchmark law Saturday to allow lower-ranking former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party to reclaim government jobs.

The seismic piece of legislation had been demanded by the United States since November 2006 and represented the first legislative payoff for U.S. President George W. Bush's decision to deploy 30,000 additional troops to the country to quell violence.

Traveling in Manama, Bahrain, Bush hailed the law as "an important step toward reconciliation."

"It's an important sign that the leaders of that country understand that they must work together to meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people," he said.

In announcing the so-called troop "surge" more than a year ago, Bush said it would provide the Iraqi government "breathing space" to begin tackling legislation designed to reconcile Iraq's Shiite and Sunni Arabs as well as Kurds.

It was not immediately clear how many former Baathists would benefit from the new legislation, titled the Accountability and Justice law. But the move was seen as a key step in the reconciliation process.

Before the party was outlawed _ the first official act of L. Paul Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority _ its membership was estimated at between 2 million and 6 million. The leadership cadres drew primarily from the Sunni Muslim community, reflecting Saddam's sectarian base _ a minority in Iraq.

Because advancement in government and professional circles during the Saddam era depended on Baath Party membership, majority Shiites also made up a large portion of the party rank-and-file.

The bill, approved by an unanimous show of hands on each of its 30 clauses, was the first major piece of U.S.-backed legislation adopted by the 275-seat parliament. Other benchmarks languish, including legislation to divvy up the country's vast oil wealth, constitutional amendments demanded by the Sunni Arabs and a bill spelling out rules for local elections.

The measure seeks to relax restrictions on the rights of former party members to fill government posts. It also would allow reinstatement of thousands of lower-ranking Baathists dismissed from government jobs on Bremer's order in the first month after Baghdad fell to invading American forces.

The strict implementation of so-called de-Baathification rules meant that many senior bureaucrats who knew how to run ministries, university departments and state companies were fired after 35 years of Baath party rule.

Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority order No. 1 of May 16, 2003, had effectively stripped key government ministries, the military and top economic institutions of centuries of cumulative experience.

The order also was blamed for fueling the Sunni-dominated insurgency that took root in the late summer of 2003, under the leadership of ousted Sunni Baathists who sought vengeance against what they saw as their American tormentors.

Ali al-Lami, a senior official who has worked on the new legislation, said 3,500 former high-ranking Baathists would be offered retirement and pensions. He said 13,000 lower-ranking Baathists would be offered reinstatement. Also, 7,000 people now holding government jobs but who had been members of Saddam's security service would be retired and given pensions.

Iraq's military had already worked through the Baath Party problem, declaring that anyone who had served above the rank of major in Saddam's time would be automatically retired and put on pension. Those who held the rank of major or below were allowed to return to the military if qualified.

The Bush administration had initially promoted de-Baathification as a worthy and necessary goal, but later claimed that Iraqi authorities went beyond even what the Americans had contemplated to keep Saddam's supporters out of important jobs.

With the Sunni insurgency raging and political leaders making little progress in reconciliation, the Americans switched positions and urged the dismantling of de-Baathification laws.

Later, enacting and implementing legislation reinstating the fired Baath supporters became one of 18 so-called benchmark issues the U.S. sought as measures for progress in national reconciliation.

The legislation can become law only when approved by Iraq's presidential council. The council, comprised of Iraq's president and two vice presidents, is expected to ratify the measure.

___

Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.

New Zealand makes 1 change to squad for final

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand will rely on the same starting XV which beat Australia in the semifinals to try to end its long Rugby World Cup drought in Sunday's final against France.

Graham Henry made only one change in the 22-man squad — bringing Adam Thomson onto the bench at Victor Vito's expense — on Friday for the final at Eden Park, where New Zealand will attempt to win the William Webb Ellis Trophy for the first time since 1987.

Thomson has battled ankle and knee injuries throughout the tournament but has been passed fit this week. Henry said the change was no reflection on Vito but Thomson had greater experience in big test matches.

"One of the guys has been there before, played big test matches. The other one hasn't had that experience very often," he said.

Richie McCaw, playing his 103rd test, will lead a starting XV which has a combined 708 test caps. He will combine with Kieran Read and Jerome Kaino in the backrow for the 21st test, an All Blacks record for a loose forward trio.

Keven Mealamu will earn his 92nd test cap in the final, equaling the All Blacks' record for a hooker set by 1987 World Cup winner Sean Fitzpatrick.

"It's pretty surreal," Mealamu said. "Sean was my manager in the New Zealand under-20s.

"He was a great leader and a true professional and I'm pretty amazed to be able to play the same number of tests as him."

Henry possibly named his last All Blacks team on Friday because he is thought likely to step down after Sunday's final, ending his seven year tenure as New Zealand coach. Asked if that was the case, he replied: "Who knows?"

Henry said he believed the All Blacks had prepared well for Sunday's match but "finals football" was a new experience for the current group of players.

"This is our 12th test match in 14 weeks," he said. "I don't think that has ever happened before so it's pretty demanding, the constant rugby and the toll that takes on the body and the mind probably.

"We have to make sure we dovetail what we're doing to that situation. We can't be over-physical at training and we haven't been so we've just got to prepare accordingly because of the situation.

"Quite a few of the boys know they've played 12 test matches in the last 14 weeks or will do after Sunday."

Aaron Cruden was retained at flyhalf, starting back-to-back tests at No. 10 after being drafted into the squad when star playmaker Dan Carter was ruled out with a tournament-ending groin injury. The 22-year-old Cruden will be making his 9th test appearance.

All Blacks great Grant Fox was playing only his seventh test in the 1987 victory over France, when scored 17 points in the 29-9 win and finished the inaugural tournament with a record 126 points. Fox's mark still stands as the highest individual tally at a World Cup tournament.

The All Blacks beat No. 2-ranked Australia 20-6 last Sunday and have been in dominant form in the tournament, including a 37-17 win over France in the pool stage.

"I've been with a lot of these guys for a long time and, though they may be the leading team in the world, they've never been world champions," Henry said. "It would be just marvelous to have that title because they've had every other title that's going apart from this one.

"So for Richie (McCaw) and the boys I think it would be fantastic. You don't deserve that title until you do the job. I think they're good enough. That would be the icing on the cake, really."

France comes into the final in patchy form, following scrappy wins over Japan and Canada with losses to New Zealand and Tonga in the group stage. The French produced their best rugby to beat England in the quarterfinals, but struggled to hold off a 14-man Wales 9-8 in the semifinals.

After beating France in the 1987 final, the All Blacks have lost knockout matches to the French, including the semifinals in 1999 and the quarterfinals four years ago.

France coach Marc Lievremont has stuck with the same starting lineup for the entire knockout round.

_______

New Zealand: Israel Dagg, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Richard Kahui, Aaron Cruden, Piri Weepu; Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (captain), Jerome Kaino, Sam Whitelock, Brad Thorn, Owen Franks, Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock. Reserves: Andrew Hore, Ben Franks, Ali Williams, Adam Thomson, Andy Ellis, Stephen Donald, Sonny Bill Williams.

Federer beats Hewitt to reach quarterfinals

Roger Federer improved his six-year winning streak to 15 matches against Lleyton Hewitt with an overpowering 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 victory in the fourth round at the Australian Open on Monday.

The top-ranked Federer, beaten in last year's final at Melbourne Park by Rafael Nadal, hasn't lost to Hewitt since the Australian beat him in a Davis Cup match in the same Rod Laver Arena in late 2003.

The Swiss star has reached the semifinals or better here every year since winning the 2004 title, his first of three in Australia. He improved to 17-8 against Hewitt, and their 25 head-to-head matches is the most among active players.

Federer broke Hewitt's serve in the ninth game of the third set with a stinging cross-court forehand that left Hewitt standing in the middle of the court. Federer held service in his next game, setting up match point with an ace and clinching it with a service winner.

"When I saw the draw and saw Lleyton floating around, it's not something I like to see," Federer said.

As usual, Federer rose to the occasion.

"Hardly made any unforced errors," Federer said. For the record, he made 30 to go with his 49 winners.

"If there were some, they were at moments I can live with. I was really able to press on the offensive, serve well when I had to, and I moved well as well. Overall I'm extremely happy."

Hewitt agreed that Federer played "special" tennis.

"He hit the ball extremely clean, and I just couldn't get into his service games, which made it tough," Hewitt said.

The win advanced Federer to a quarterfinal against Nikolay Davydenko, who beat 2009 semifinalist Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 7-5, 4-6, 6-7 (5), 6-3 earlier Monday to extend his winning streak to 13.

In other matches, 2008 champion Novak Djokovic beat Poland's Lukasz Kubot 6-1, 6-2, 7-5 and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, who lost to Djokovic in the 2008 final, beat Nicolas Almagro of Spain 6-3, 6-4, 4-6, 6-7 (6), 9-7.

Djokovic, who will play Tsonga in the quarterfinals, is hoping to end his drought in Grand Slam tournaments since he won his only major title at Melbourne Park.

"They are two different persons, physically I'm much stronger and able to get through the tough matches," the Serbian player said. "The 2008 Australian Open is by far the best tournament I ever played. ... I believe I can play the same this year."

Like Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport before them, Venus and Serena Williams did their part earlier Monday to ensure a 34-year-record at the Australian Open remained intact.

The Williams sisters won their fourth-round matches, extending a mark in which an American woman has been in the quarterfinals every year since 1977.

Venus Williams beat Francesca Schiavone 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 and Serena defeated Sam Stosur of Australia 6-4, 6-2 in just over an hour.

Navratilova, born in Czechoslovakia but who became an American citizen in 1981 _ the same year she won her first Australian title _ won here three times. Evert and Capriati captured it twice each and Davenport and Barbara Jordan once.

Monica Seles won the Australian Open four times, but only once as an American citizen _ in 1996 _ after she changed her citizenship officially from Yugoslavian.

Serena Williams has most recently had four wins at Melbourne Park, while Venus lost to Serena in the 2003 final.

Serena broke Stosur in the opening game of the second set Monday. The American faced two break points in her next service game, but fought back to deuce with an ace and a service winner, then served another ace on game point.

Stosur, who beat Serena the last time the pair met in California last year, set up break point in the seventh game with a double fault, then Serena hit a forehand winner to go up 5-2. Serena then held serve in the next game to take the match.

"It's important when you're playing a local girl to not let the crowd get too involved or else they'll kill you," Serena said.

Serena could add to her Grand Slam total, and Venus could win the Australian Open for the first time, but they can't meet in the final. They're in the same half of the draw and will meet in the semifinals if they win their next matches.

"I think it's challenging because we're both so good," Venus said of the Williams family matchups. "We both want to win. It's just difficult I think for us to play against each other because I think we have so much respect for each other's game."

Venus, who has won seven singles majors, struggled to hold serve in the first set against Schiavone but was in command by the end, when she won the last six games after the 29-year-old Italian broke her to open the third set.

Williams advanced to the Melbourne Park quarterfinals for the seventh time to set up a meeting with Li Na, who helped make Chinese history. For the first time at a major, there's two Chinese players in the quarterfinals.

Li, who beat No. 4-seeded Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-3, joins Zheng Jie, the 2008 Wimbledon semifinalist, in the last eight. Serena Williams will play Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who won the final 10 games in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 victory over Russian Vera Zvonareva.

Nadal takes on Andy Murray and Andy Roddick plays Marin Cilin in quarterfinals on Tuesday. Comeback player Justine Henin takes on Nadia Petrova _ Henin leads the head-to-head matchups 12-2 _ and Maria Kirilenko plays Zheng in women's quarterfinals.

Charities expecting to bag deer this season

DAILY MAIL STAFF

There will likely be more than a quarter-million deer killed inWest Virginia in the current and upcoming hunting seasons, but mostof the hunters won't be able to eat all of what they take from thewoods.

And most hunters believe that wasting what you kill isn't huntingfor sport, it's something to be ashamed of.

But charities that get the meat from hunters into food pantriesand soup kitchens are helping the state's sportsmen enjoy more daysin the field and less concern about a freezer full of uneatenvenison.

With a deer herd about 1 million strong and new opportunities tohunt this season, which will allow the most committed hunters to takeas many as eight animals legally, the charities are expecting to seea banner year.

"It's gone up every year that we've been doing it, and I thinkthis is going to be the best one yet," said Jim Miller, a Martinsburg-area hunter who started the state chapter of Farmers and HuntersFeeding the Hungry in 2000. "I think this is the year that we'regoing to have to put a limit on. I hate to say it, but I don't thinkwe're going to be able to handle everything that comes in."

The problem is that butchering and packing deer costs money andhas to be done in a certified processing center.

A small, faith-based organization like Miller's struggles to paythe $35 to $50 it costs to handle a deer, even when its totalcollections number 174 animals, as they did last year. While eachdeer represents about 50 pounds of usable meat, getting 8,700 poundsof venison to the needy is an expensive undertaking.

"We'd like to do more - the hunters are there and the deer sureare there, it's just the money that's the hard part," Miller said."If we had more processors, we could do more."

Imagine then the challenge for the Hunters Helping the Hungryprogram, sponsored by the state Division of Natural Resources, whichcollected 2,520 deer throughout the central and southern parts of thestate last year.

That translated into 80,390 pounds of ground deer meat, mostlydistributed through the Mountaineer Food Bank. But that meat costalmost $105,000 to get from car bumpers to soup pots.

"The big challenge for us is that the law won't allow us to putany money from the DNR into the actual program - feeding people isn'tunder our job description," said Marshall Snedegar, who oversees theprogram for the state. "So we rely on other people to provide thefunding."

Grant money from the DHHR covers some of the cost and the programraises enough to cover the rest, but Snedegar said that they could doso much more.

"We've only got processing centers in 19 counties. We should be inat least 40 counties," Snedegar said. "There's still a lot of peopleout there that we could be helping."

The organizations that take the meat typically run out byspringtime. Organizations like the Mountaineer Food Bank could holdthe meat in large freezers and keep individuals and soup kitchensstocked until summer.

With more than 300,000 West Virginian's living in poverty, theleaders of the outreaches think there is still plenty of demand.

"My grandfather came up in the Depression and he always taught usthat it is a sin to waste food - if you can't use what you've got getit to somebody who can," Miller said. "That's all this is, justcommon sense."

To contact Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Hungry about a donationor setting up a county chapter, call Miller at (304) 263-2983 orvisit the group's Web site at www.fhfh.org and follow the links forthe West Virginia chapter.

To donate to Hunters Helping the Hungry contact Snedegar at 558-2771 or visit the program's Web site at www.wvdnr.gov/Hunting/HHH.shtm.

Writer Chris Stirewalt can be reached at 348-4824 or by e-mail atcstire@dailymail.com.

Today in History

Today is Thursday, Jan. 5, the fifth day of 2012. There are 361 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On Jan. 5, 1972, President Richard Nixon announced that he had ordered development of "an entirely new type of space transportation system," the reusable space shuttle. (The first operational shuttle, Columbia, was launched in 1981.)

On this date:

In 1589, Catherine de Medici (MEHD'-uh-chee) of France died at age 69.

In 1781, a British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burned Richmond, Va.

In 1809, the Treaty of the Dardanelles, which ended the Anglo-Turkish War, was concluded by the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire.

In 1895, French Capt. Alfred Dreyfus, convicted of treason, was publicly stripped of his rank. (He was ultimately vindicated.)

In 1896, an Austrian newspaper, Wiener Presse, reported the discovery by German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen (RENT'-gun) of a type of radiation that came to be known as X-rays.

In 1925, Nellie T. Ross of Wyoming became America's first female governor.

In 1933, the 30th president of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, died in Northampton, Mass., at age 60.

In 1949, in his State of the Union address, President Harry S. Truman labeled his administration the Fair Deal.

In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower proposed assistance to countries to help them resist Communist aggression; this became known as the Eisenhower Doctrine.

In 1970, Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, was found murdered with his wife and daughter at their Clarksville, Pa., home. (UMWA President Tony Boyle and seven others were convicted of, or pleaded guilty to, the killings.) "All My Children" premiered on ABC-TV.

In 1994, Thomas P. "Tip" O'Neill, former speaker of the House of Representatives, died in Boston at age 81.

In 1998, Sonny Bono, the 1960s pop star-turned-politician, was killed when he struck a tree while skiing at the Heavenly Ski Resort on the Nevada-California state line; he was 62.

Ten years ago: Charles Bishop, a 15-year-old student pilot, deliberately crashed a small plane into a skyscraper in Tampa, Fla., killing himself. Italy's foreign minister, Renato Ruggiero (roo-jee-EHR'-oh), resigned after a spat with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi over the government's lukewarm reception of the euro.

Five years ago: The White House announced a shuffling of U.S. military leaders in the Iraq war. Adm. William Fallon ended up replacing Gen. John Abizaid as top U.S. commander in the Middle East; Army Lt. Gen. David Petraeus succeeded Gen. George Casey as top American general in Iraq; Casey replaced retiring Gen. Peter Schoomaker as Army chief of staff.

One year ago: John Boehner was elected speaker as Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives on the first day of the new Congress. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs announced he was stepping down. Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Today's Birthdays: Former Vice President Walter F. Mondale is 84. Actor Robert Duvall is 81. Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll is 80. King Juan Carlos of Spain is 74. Talk show host Charlie Rose is 70. Actress-director Diane Keaton is 66. Actor Ted Lange (lanj) is 64. Rhythm-and-blues musician George "Funky" Brown (Kool and the Gang) is 63. Rock musician Chris Stein (Blondie) is 62. Former CIA Director George Tenet is 59. Actress Pamela Sue Martin is 59. Actor Clancy Brown is 53. Singer Iris Dement is 51. Actor Ricky Paull (correct) Goldin is 47. Actor Vinnie Jones is 47. Rock musician Kate Schellenbach (Luscious Jackson) is 46. Dancer-choreographer Carrie Ann Inaba is 44. Actress Heather Paige Kent is 43. Rock singer Marilyn Manson is 43. Actor Bradley Cooper is 37. Actress January Jones is 34. Actress Brooklyn Sudano is 31.

Thought for Today: "It is easy to be tolerant of the principles of other people if you have none of your own." — Herbert Samuel, English political leader (1870-1963).

(Above Advance for Use Thursday, Jan. 5)

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Olympic baseball qualifying results

Results from the last of seven rounds in the Olympic qualifying baseball tournament played Friday in Taichung and Yunlin, Taiwan. The top three teams qualify for the Beijing Olympic Games.

Mexico 2, Spain 1.

Australia 13, South Africa 9.

South Korea 4, Taiwan 3.

Canada 2, Germany 1.

Win-loss standings: Canada 6-1, South Korea 6-1, Taiwan 5-2, Australia 4-3, Mexico 4-3, Germany 2-5, Spain 1-6, South Africa 0-7.

Fed Not Likely to Change Interest Rates

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve has gone a year since it last changed interest rates and it could be another year before the Fed moves off the sidelines.

That is the betting of many private economists who think Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are perfectly content to sit back and watch economic developments unfold according to their script.

Fed officials, wrapping up a two-day meeting on Thursday, were expected to announce that for the eighth consecutive time they will leave the federal funds rate unchanged at 5.25 percent.

"It looks like the Fed is going to stay on hold for as far as the eye can see," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. "They are not going to ease as long as unemployment is as low as it is and they are not going to tighten while they are faced with an unraveling housing market."

While Bernanke acknowledged recently that the housing slump is lasting longer than Fed officials had expected, in most other respects the economy is performing exactly according to the Fed's desires.

The central bank pushed the funds rate up a record 17 consecutive times over a two-year period with the final quarter percentage-point move occurring on June 29, 2006. The Fed's goal was to increase rates enough to slow the economy and relieve rising inflation pressures.

The economy has certainly slowed with growth in the first three months of the year coming in at the weakest pace in more than four years.

But that slowdown is cooling off inflation. The Fed's preferred measure of inflation, excluding volatile energy and food prices, rose by just 2 percent for the 12 months ending in April, at the top end of the Fed's 1 percent to 2 percent comfort zone.

There has been talk that the central bank may decide to switch the focus from core inflation, which excludes energy and food, to overall inflation. The argument for such a move would be that it would toughen the Fed's anti-inflation fighting credentials by acknowledging that energy prices and food costs need to be watched closely because they have been rising at uncomfortably high rates.

But such a move could jolt financial markets, which have had a long time to become accustomed to a central bank that sets policy by watching core prices that exclude volatile food and energy costs.

"Switching their inflation target would hurt the Fed's credibility and confuse markets," said David Jones, head of DMJ Advisors, a private consulting firm. "It would leave everyone in the lurch."

Other economists believe that what the Fed might do at this week's meeting is stop describing the inflation risk as "elevated," which would acknowledge that there has been a lessening of inflation pressures since their last meeting on May 9. But even if they drop that word, economists believe they will continue to stress that inflation remains the biggest threat to the economic expansion.

While financial markets had until recently been hoping that the Fed would start cutting rates later this year, that expectation has faded away because of the emerging signs of an economic rebound and continued emphasis on the part of Bernanke and other Fed officials about lingering inflation fears.

However, these analysts said rate cuts could be quickly put back on the table should the deep slide in housing start to worsen further, triggered by rising mortgage defaults which would dump even more homes back on a glutted market.

"I am quite concerned about the reverberations from the subprime mortgage market spreading through the economy," said economist Sung Won Sohn, who is president of Hanmi Bank in Los Angeles. "I think it is going to be larger than people realize."

But as long as housing does not threaten to derail the economy, the Fed will be content to leave rates unchanged, said Lyle Gramley, senior economist at the Schwab Washington Research Group.

"Unless the economy behaves differently than I anticipate, I think the next Fed move is a ways off," he said. "I think they will stay on hold until the middle of next year."

---

On the Net:

Federal Reserve: http://www.federalreserve.gov

Oil giant shell to shed jobs

Oil giant Shell is to axe thousands of jobs to cut costs andsimplify its structure.

Shell also plans to reorganise departments and use contractcompanies.

The biggest change will be in the information technologydivision, where around 3,600 staff could be affected.

It was reported that Shell will start meetings with staff nextweek to outline further details.

No one at Shell could be contacted today.

The company was said to be looking to streamline its operationlike rival BP.

In October BP announced it was axing 350 jobs at its Aberdeenheadquarters in Dyce to "secure a long-term future for the company'soil and gas business in the UK".

University Science Students' Knowledge of Fats

Abstract

Purpose: Students entering university often lack knowledge about fats; whedier students gain such informarion during four years at university is unclear. Students' knowledge of fat in the first and fourth years was measured and compared. The effect of a nutrition course on knowledge was also examined.

Methods: A total of 215 science students at a small undergraduate university completed a 15-item, closed-ended questionnaire concerning knowledge of fats in the diet.

Results: Fourth-year science students have greater nutrition knowledge of fats than do first-year science students (p<0.005). Given diat die majority of first-year students reside on campus and the majority of fourth-year students reside off campus, die purchasing of food and preparation of meals may explain die senior students' greater knowledge of fat. Students who have taken a nutrition course know more about fats dian do those who have not (p<0.001).

Conclusions: Taking even one course in nutrition greatly increases nutrition knowledge. Universities could encourage undergraduate students to take a basic nutrition course, which should emphasize the identification and understanding of different types of dietary fats.

(Can J Diet Prac Res 2007;68:154-159)

(DOI: 10.3148/68.3.2007.154)

R�sum�

Objectif. Les �tudiants nouvellement admis � l'universit� manquent souvent de connaissances sur les lipides et on ne sait pas s'ils obtiennent cette information au cours de leurs quatre ann�es d'�tudes. On a mesur� et compar� les connaissances des �tudiants sur les lipides en premi�re et en quatri�me ann�e. L'effet d'un cours en nutrition sur les connaissances a �galement �t� examin�.

M�diodes. Au total, 215 �tudiants en sciences d'une petite universit� de premier cycle ont rempli un questionnaire de 15 items � questions ferm�es sur leurs connaissances en mati�re de lipides alimentaires.

R�sultats. Les �tudiants de quatri�me ann�e poss�dent une meilleure connaissance nutritionnelle des lipides que ceux de premi�re ann�e (p<0,005). Comme la majorit� des �tudiants de premi�re ann�e r�sident sur le campus et la majorit� de ceux de quatri�me ann�e habitent hors campus, l'achat des aliments et la pr�paration des repas peuvent expliquer que les �tudiants plus avanc�s aient de meilleures connaissances. Les �tudiants qui ont pris le cours en nutrition en savent plus long sur les lipides que ceux qui ne l'ont pas pris (i??,???).

Conclusions. Prendre ne serait-ce qu'un cours en nutrition accro�t consid�rablement les connaissances en cette mati�re. Les universit�s devraient encourager les �tudiants de premier cycle � prendre un cours de base en nutrition qui expliquerait les diff�rents types de lipides alimentaires.

(Rev can prat rech di�t�t 2007;68:154-159)

(DOl: 10.3148/68.3.2007.154)

INTRODUCTION

Overweight and obesity are major public health problems in North America and beyond; in 2004, approximately 15% of Canadian adults were obese and 33% were overweight (1,2). Factors that contribute to overweight include physical inacdvity, energy intake exceeding energy expenditure, genet�cs, family influences, an abundance of high-fat foods, and socioeconomic status (3,4). Because of this alarming trend, many investigators have looked at nutrition knowledge as it relates to consumer knowledge or education (5-9). More specifically, investigators have examined people's basic knowledge about fat and have concluded that they are unwilling or unable to understand key information (10-12).

The overweight/obesity pandemic is also disturbing because it has spread to younger populations. In Canada in 2004, 29% of adolescents aged 12 to 17 were overweight, and 9% were obese (13). For this reason, we decided to look at knowledge of fats in a segment of the university population. Numerous research papers have focused on university or high school students' nutrition knowledge (14-16), behaviour (17), and education (18,19), but no study has been conducted specifically to determine their knowledge of fat. While one study group looked at changes in weight, exercise, and dietary patterns between first year and fourth year in university (20), no one has looked at whether, after four years, senior students know more than first-year students about fat in the diet.

At St. Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia, the majority of first-year students reside and dine on campus (n=742). Apart from preparing snack foods in residence (21,22), firstyear students do limited cooking of their own food. By the time they reach fourth year, most students have moved off campus and are responsible for purchasing, preparing, and cooking their own meals. Whether students gain any knowledge of fats during those years is unclear. We also do not know if students who have taken a nutrition course in the university human nutrition department have greater knowledge of fats.

We measured students' knowledge of fat, and examined whether taking a nutrition course would enhance this knowledge. We chose science students as our study group because they were more likely to have taken at least one nutrition course during their undergraduate years. Our hypothesis was twofold: first, that fourth-year science students would have greater knowledge of dietary fats than did first-year science students, and second, that science students who had taken at least one nutrition course would have greater knowledge of fats than did science students who had not.

METHODS

The sample was taken from the population registered as undergraduate science students at St Francis Xavier University. The total full-time university population was 4,579: 600 were first-year science students and 465 were fourth-year science students. A convenience sampling method was used, which allowed us to sample approximately 120 subjects from each year.

A previously developed and validated closed-ended questionnaire was used (12). We modified it slightly by removing all questions requiring written answers to make it shorter for the students; this was verified by two faculty nutritionists. The questions chosen were based on relevant, general nutrition knowledge of fats and nutrition terms relevant to purchases of dietary fats. It was divided into two sections: ten multiple-choice questions and five true-or-false questions.

We gave the participants a package at the beginning of a lecture, and asked them to complete the questionnaire within 15 minutes. The package included a cover letter providing information on why this study was being performed and the importance of the participants' involvement, a consent form, and a copy of approval from the Human Nutrition Department Research Ethics Committee. All questionnaires were completed during December 2004 and January 2005. Students were asked to fill out information about their degree and major, as well as their year of study, before beginning the survey.

Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences for Windows (version 12, SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, 2005). We analyzed the data for normality with the Komolgorov-Smirnov test (23) . Because most variables departed significandy from normality, the Mann-Whitney U test (23) was used to compare first- and fourth-year students' level of knowledge about fats and the difference in knowledge of fats between students who had taken at least one nutrition course and those who had not. Fisher's exact test (23) was used to determine whether the proportion of students in first year who had taken a nutrition course differed from the proportion of students in fourth year.

RESULTS

The surveys were distributed to 310 students in 10 classes. Ninety-five questionnaires were eliminated from the study because of various factors, including an indication that the participant was not working toward a science degree (n=16), failure to provide any of the information about degree or year of study, failure to sign the consent form (n=51 ), and not being in either the first or fourth year of study (n=28) . Responses were received from students registered in aquatic resources (n=2), biology (n=44), chemistry (n=6), computer science (n=2), human kinetics (n=36), human nutrition (n=ll), mathematics (n=7), nursing (n=93), or an undeclared major (n=14).

Of those who answered the questionnaire fully, 53% were from first year and 47% were from fourth year (Table 1 ) . Fewer first-year than fourth-year students had taken a nutrition course (p<0.005). The questionnaire and percentages of correct and incorrect responses are shown in Table 2. The overall proportion of correct responses identifying fats was higher than the proportion of correct answers to questions on understanding types of fats.

Fourth-year students had more correct answers than did first-year students (p<0.005) (Figure 1). Similarly, students who had taken at least one nutrition course had higher scores for a significantly greater number of questions in comparison with students without a nutrition course (p<0.001) (Figure 2) . No significant difference was evident, however, between scores for either first-year or fourth-year students who had taken at least one course in nutrition (p=0.870) , and no difference was seen between students either in first or fourth year who had not taken at least one nutrition course (p=0.816).

DISCUSSION

Various reasons may explain why fourth-year students have a greater knowledge of fats than do first-year students. First-year students tend to concentrate more on changes in social and physical environments, and less on health issues such as the foods they eat (16,24). First-year students tend to live on campus and have more access to fried and fast foods than do those living off campus (21), and this may be a contributor to first-year weight gain (25). In comparison, fourth-year students tend to be older, live off campus, buy foods, and cook meals, which may improve general nutrition knowledge (26,27). Whether this greater knowledge translates into better food choices is unknown, given that fourth-year students still subsist on small budgets.

Students who had taken at least one nutrition course scored better than those who had not. This finding confirms the role of nutrition education. Even a short course in nutrition greatly increases nutrition knowledge (15); students become more familiar with food terms, such as those pertaining to different types of fats. Although filis study did not include measurement of the impact of nutrition knowledge on food behaviour, previous research suggests that these informed students are more likely to improve their diets and select lower-fat foods (14,15,19,20,28). An encouraging finding was the lack of a significant difference in scores between first-year and fourth-year students who had taken a nutrition course. This suggests that a single course in nutrition is effective at improving nutrition knowledge, and that this improvement does not depend on the student's age or maturity. Because we do not know when the fourth-year students last took a nutrition course, we cannot rule out the possibility that life experiences such as preparing their own meals had contributed to their retention of nutrition knowledge.

We chose a convenience sample of science students to obtain a reasonable proportion who had taken a nutrition course (Table 1). A more representative sample would include students from all disciplines, but very few non-science students take a nutrition course. Of course, our results may not apply to all university students, but there is no reason to expect that students at St. Francis Xavier University are exceptional in terms of nutrition knowledge.

RELEVANCE TO PRACTICE

Previous investigators have suggested that students who are not majoring in nutrition should take a short nutrition course, which may increase awareness of their own dietary choices (15,16). An optional course offered at Canadian universities that teach nutrition would help first-year sUidents understand dietary concepts, instruct them in how to make health-conscious choices, show them how to make more informed decisions with the restricted food choices available on campus, and indicate how they can separate facts from fallacies. Universities could also offer web-based nutrition courses; some students may prefer to work this way rather than take a formal course (29,30). Whether such a computer course would translate into nutrition knowledge, however, is unknown and needs to be verified. Future research should include an examination of whether the differences in knowledge of fats observed here translate into changes in food behaviours among students who have taken a nutrition course. A deeper examination of the nutritional impacts of living off campus would also be worthwhile.

[Reference]

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Registrar's Office, St. Francis Xavier University, for providing us with data on student enrollment, and Dr. Barry Taylor, Department of Biology, St. Francis Xavier University, for his statistical expertise.

This study was funded by the Department of Human Nutrition, St. Francis Xavier University.

References

1 . Roth J, Ojang X, Maraban SL, Redelt H, Lowell BC. The obesity pandemic: where have we been and where are we going? Obes Res 2004;12:88S-101S.

2 Statistics Canada. Obesity: a growing issue. Ottawa: Health Analysis and Measurement Group; 2005. Cat. no. 82-618-MWE2005003.

3. Popkin BM, Gordon-Larsen P. The nutrition transition: worldwide obesity dynamics and their determinants. Int J Obes 2004;28:S2-S9.

4. Bjorntorp P. Obesity. Lancet 1997;350:423427.

5. Drichoutis AC, Lazariisdis P. Nutrition knowledge and consumer use of nutritional food labels. EurJ Agr Economics 2005;32(1):93-118.

6. Sullivan AD. Determining how low-income food shoppers perceive, understand, and use food labels. Can J Diet Prac Res 2003;64:25-27.

7. Higginson CS, Rayner MJ, Draper S, Hirk TS. How do consumers use nutrition label information? Nutr Food Sci 2002;32(4-5):145-153.

8. Nayga RM, Lipinski D, Savur N. Consumers' use of nutritional labels while food shopping and at home. J Consum Afiairs 1998;31 ( 1 ) :106-120.

9. Shine A O'Reilly S, O'Sullivan K. Consumers' attitude to nutrition labeling. Br Food J 1997;97:283-291.

10. Schwartz NE, Borra ST. What do consumers really think about dietary fat? J Am Diet Assoc 1997;97:S73S76.

II. Macaskill L, Paul A, Pitcher B. Consumer acceptance of lower fat foods. J Nutr Educ 1998;30:410412.

12. Coleman LM, Wilson MA Consumers' knowledge and use of fat modified products. J Fam Consum Sci 2002;93:26-34.

13. Statistics Canada. Overweight Canadian children and adolescents. Findings from the Canadian Community Health Survey, 2005. Ottawa: Statistics Canada; 2005. Cat. no. 82-620-MIE/200500I.

14. Chapman P, Toma RB, Tuveson RV, Jacob M. Nutrition knowledge among adolescent high school female athletes. Adolescence 1997;32:437-447.

15. Washi S. Demographic characteristics, knowledge and nutritional related behaviour of students majoring in nutrition at King Saudi University in Riyadh. Ahfad J 2000;17:38-47.

16. Buder SM, Black DR Blue CL, Gretebeck RJ. Change in diet, physical activity, and body weight in female college freshmen. Am J Health Behav 2004;28:24-33.

17. Green JS, Grant M, Hill KL, Brizzolata J, Belmont B. Heart disease risk perception in college men and women. J Am Coll Health 2003;51:207-212.

18. Reading KJ, McCargar LJ, Marriage BJ. Adolescent and young adult male hockey players: nutrition knowledge and education. Can J Diet Prac Res 1999;60:166-170.

19. Matvienko O, Lewis DS, Schafer E. A college tutti ilion science course as an intervention to prevent weight gain in female college freshmen. J Nutr Educ 2001 ;95-102.

20. Racette SB, Deysinger SS, Strube MJ, Highstein GR, Deusinger RH. Weight changes, exercises, and dietary patterns during freshman and sophomore years of college. J Am Coll Health 2005;53:245-252.

21. Brevard PB, Ricketts C. Residence of college students affects dietary intake, physical activity, and serum lipid levels. J Am Diet Assoc 1998;96:3541.

22. Buscher LA, Martin KA Crocker S. Point-of-purchase messages framed in terms of cost, convenience, taste, and energy improve healdiful snack selection in a college food service setting. J Am Diet Assoc 2001;191:909-914.

23. Zar JH. Biostatistical analysis. 3rd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Inc.; 1996.

24. Bray SR Born HA. Transition to university and vigorous physical activity: implications for health and psychological well-being. J Am Coll Health 2004;52:181-189.

25. Levitsky DA, Halbmaier CA, Mrdjenovic G. The freshman weight gain: a model for the study of the epidemic of obesity. Int J Obes 2005;28:1435-1442.

26. Wilkins JL, Bowdish E, Sobal J. University student perceptions of seasonal and local foods. J Nutr Educ 2000;32:261-269.

27. Morrone M, Rathbun A. Healdi education and food safety behavior in the university setting. J Environ Health 2003;65:9-16.

28. Hertzler AA, Frary RB. Family factors and fat consumption of college students. J Am Diet Assoc 1996;96:711-715.

29. Cheadiam M, Boosalis MG, Boissonneault GA Use of computer tutorial on nutritional assessment by three different groups of health professions students. J Allied Health 2002;31:252-256.

30. Flanagan N, Waltz-Hill M, Lewis NM, Eskridge K Computer-assisted nutrition education. J Am Diet Assoc 2002:102:1751.

[Author Affiliation]

MJ. PATRICIA MAZIER, PhD, SHEENA L. McLEOD, BSc (Hon), RD,

Department of Human Nutrition, St. Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, NS

Clunkers by the numbers

The popular "cash-for-clunkers" trade-in program will get the funding approval it needs from the Senate to stay alive, Majority Leader Harry Reid declared Tuesday.

"We'll pass cash-for-clunkers before we leave here," Reid said after Democrats lunched at the White House with President Obama, who has pushed hard for the Senate to go along with the House in adding $2 billion to the program's original $1 billion.

The vote will come before senators head home Friday, Reid said. Because the House already has recessed for August, any change by the Senate would effectively interrupt the rebate program until Congress returns in September.

Buyers of new cars and trucks have swamped formerly deserted auto dealers to claim their rebates -- up to $4,500 when they trade in older models that get significantly worse gas mileage. The older vehicles are then scrapped.

Buyers so far have chosen the most fuel-efficient cars on the market, according to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration data.

Cash for clunkers by the numbers:

- 157,000 transactions with rebates of $664 million were recorded by Tuesday.

- The program's first $1 billion is expected to fund sales of 250,000 vehicles. The additional $2 billion should fund 500,000.

- 83 percent of the vehicles traded in were trucks or SUVs.

- 60 percent of the vehicles purchased were passengers cars.

- The average increase in fuel efficiency so far is 61 percent.

- Illinois ranks sixth among states in the number of cash-for-clunker dollars going to buyers: $2.44 million. It follows No. 1 Michigan ($3.4 million), Ohio ($2.93 million), California ($2.64 million), Minnesota ($2.62 million) and Texas ($2.5 million).

TOP 10 CLUNKERS

MAKE MODEL MPG RANGE CITY/HWY.*

1 Ford Explorer 4WD 13-14/19

2 Ford F150 Pickup 2WD 10-16/11-20

3 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4WD 12-17/12-22

4 Jeep Cherokee 4WD 9-19/12-24

5 Dodge Caravan/Grand Caravan 2WD 11-17/17-24

6 Chevrolet Blazer 4WD 11-14/13-18

7 Ford Explorer 2WD 13-15/20

8 Ford F150 Pickup 4WD 10-14/10-17

9 Chevrolet C1500 Pickup 2WD 9-13/10-18

10 Ford Windstar FWD Van 15-16/22

* mpg based on range of city and highway driving for the model

TOP 10 PURCHASES

MAKE MODEL MPG RANGE CITY/HWY.

1 Ford Focus fwd 22-23/34

2 Toyota Corolla 26/34-35

3 Honda Civic 25-40/34-45

4 Toyota Prius 51/48

5 Toyota Camry 22/32-33

6 Ford Escape FWD 30-34/27-31

7 Hyundai Elantra 23-24/33

8 Dodge Caliber 19-24/25-30

9 Honda Fit 27-28/33-35

10 Chevrolet Cobalt 22-25/30-35

Newton working to mitigate effects of lockout

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Cam Newton says he's can't worry about the NFL lockout putting him behind the learning curve in his pro career.

The NFL's top overall draft pick by the Carolina Panthers says he was fortunate to get a play book and is spending long days studying and working out.

Newton was in New Orleans on Friday to accept the Manning Award, which he received as the nation's top college quarterback last season. The Heisman Trophy winner flew in from Bradenton, Fla., where he's been working out at the IMG Institute and refining his game with former NFL quarterback Chris Weinke.

The award is named for Archie Manning, who attended the ceremonies and says the lockout probably will hinder new coaches and quarterbacks alike next season.

Vince Carter: Choose Your Course

Vince Carter: Choose Your Course by Vince Carter with Greg Brown Positively for Kids! May 2004 $15.95, ISBN 0-963-46502-3

The NBA All-Star veteran spells out his personal and professional choices in life for young readers to comprehend and reflect upon.

Vividly …

Plane carrying 152 crashes in Pakistan

A passenger jet carrying 152 people crashed into the hills surrounding Pakistan's capital on Wednesday morning, officials said. Rescuers were trying to reach the scene amid rain and difficult roads.

The cause of the Airblue crash was not immediately clear, said Pervez George, a civil aviation official. He said the plane was flying from Karachi to Islamabad and was trying to land during difficult weather.

"The plane was about to land at the Islamabad airport when it lost contact with the control tower, and later we learned that the plane had crashed," George said.

Guards with the forestry service said they had found some wreckage and …

HBCUs get few R&D dollars, leaders say. (Washington Update).(historically black colleges and universities)(Brief Article)

The share of federal research dollars flowing to Black colleges is going down instead of up, says one HBCU leader who is urging Congress to focus more attention on the issue.

Of the $14 billion awarded government-wide to colleges and universities for research and development, less than 1 percent--or $164 million--is going to historically Black colleges, says Dr. Frederick Humphries, president of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Education (NAFEO).

Worse yet, the dollars to HBCUs are going down, Humphries told a House Education and the Workforce subcommittee in February. Using National Science Foundation (NSF) data, Humphries said the $164 …

Crash.

THE Banbury Guardian has received reports of a crash …

A PRIMER ON CAPITAL REGION.(CAPITAL REGION)

Byline: MARC CAREY Staff writer -

COLONIE Capital Region, discover thyself.

That's the theory behind a six-session program being presented by the Capital Leadership Association of the Albany Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The program, ``Discover the Magic of New York's Capital Region,'' is based on a similar one in Syracuse, said to Jan Quitzau, vice president of the Albany County Convention and Visitors Bureau, who is a member of the chamber's Capital Leadership Association.

A colleague told Quitzau of the program. ``I knew the Capital Leadership Association was looking for some program it could undertake,'' he said. ``I …

Volleyball championship to go ahead in Mexico

A high-profile women's volleyball championship will go ahead this summer in Mexico despite concerns about the recent outbreak of swine flu.

The outbreak has been blamed for 68 deaths in Mexico and 10 elsewhere.

The FIVB, volleyball's governing body, said Monday that its women's junior world championship would be played in the border cities of Tijuana and Mexicali on July 16-25, as scheduled.

"The FIVB's crisis management unit has been closely monitoring the situation regarding the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, in Mexico and elsewhere around the world and …

BIODIESEL FUEL AND WIND POWER TEAM UP IN AURI TEST

The Agricultural Utilization Research Institute (AURI) is pairing two renewable energy sources - wind and biodiesel - to produce electricity even when the wind isn't blowing. The demonstration project links seven wind turbines with a 2,800 hp diesel engine fueled by 100 percent biodiesel. The goal is to guarantee two megawatts of renewable electricity. Cogeneration would also provide soybean growers with another market for biodiesel, while helping Minnesota meet its ecopower …

Apotex Augments Operations in U.S.(Brief Article)

WESTON, Fla. -- Apotex Inc., which takes its name from the words apothecary (Apo) and technology (tex), has been producing generic drugs since 1974.

Based in Toronto, Apotex is Canada's largest domestically owned pharmaceutical company. Its operation in the United States, Apotex Corp., is among its newest ventures, having entered the market in mid-1997. It is also just one of several Apotex subsidiaries around the world.

The company's U.S. headquarters here houses a full-service sales and marketing operation. Domestic research and development is done in Vernon Hills, Ill.

Despite having a U.S. operation for only a little over three years, Apotex …

AN ACT TO FOLLOW.(Opinion)

This rather odd thought dawns as the state Legislature convenes for a special session today:

Eric DiBartolo for Senate majority leader. Or Assembly speaker.

Oh, it won't happen. Mr. DiBartolo isn't even a member of the Legislature. He's the Yorktown highway superintendent down in Westchester County. And we'd want to vet him a bit more.

But if nothing else, Mr. DiBartolo seems to understand the nature and consequences of such hard times. He does so in a way that Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and, for that matter, Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith and Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco apparently don't. …

SALE OF KIDS `R' US STORES CUTS LOSSES AT TOYS `R' US.(BUSINESS)

NEW YORK -- Toys ``R'' Us Inc., the nation's second biggest toy retailer, reported a narrower third-quarter loss as a gain on the sale of Kids ``R'' Us stores boosted results despite a sales decline.

Company officials, meanwhile, said Monday that the company expects to separate its Toys ``R'' Us business from its fast-growing Babies ``R'' Us operations in the first half of 2005. Babies ``R'' Us stores sell furniture, apparel and accessories.

Toys ``R'' Us, second only to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in toy sales, reported it lost $25 million, or 12 cents a share, in the three months ended Oct. 30. That compared with a loss of $46 million, or 22 cents a share, in the …