Toyota recalls more than 1 million Corollas, Lexus IS sedans























































































Toyota


Toyota is recalling 907,000 vehicles, mostly Corolla models, around the world for faulty air bags and another 385,000 Lexus IS luxury cars for defective wipers.
(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images / January 30, 2013)





































































Toyota is recalling 907,000 vehicles, mostly Corolla models, around the world for faulty air bags and another 385,000 Lexus IS luxury cars for defective wipers.


Toyota Motor Corp. spokesman Naoto Fuse said Wednesday there have been no accidents or injuries related to either of those defects, but the Japanese automaker received 46 reports of problems involving the air bags from North America, and one from Japan.


There were 25 reports of problems related to the windshield wipers.





Being recalled for air bags that can improperly inflate are 752,000 Corolla and Corolla Matrix cars in the U.S. as well as thousands of similar vehicles in Japan, Mexico and Canada, manufactured between December 2001 and May 2004.


The problem windshield wipers can get stuck if there is heavy snowfall, according to Toyota.












































































































































































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Mayoral debate focuses on city's troubled finances









In the highest-profile debate so far in the Los Angeles mayoral race, three longtime city officials defended their records Monday night as two long-shot challengers accused them of putting the city on a path to insolvency.


The city's chronic budget shortfalls dominated the event at UCLA's Royce Hall, televised live on KNBC-TV Channel 4. Entertainment lawyer Kevin James and technology executive Emanuel Pleitez sought to maximize the free media exposure, portraying themselves as fresh alternatives to business as usual at City Hall.


James, a former radio talk-show host, described himself as an independent and accused rivals Wendy Greuel, Eric Garcetti and Jan Perry — all veteran elected officials — of being cozy with unions representing the city workforce.





"Bankruptcy doesn't happen overnight," said James, the only Republican in the race. "This happened over a period of time and it happened because of a series of bad decisions."


Pleitez struck a similar note.


"Our politicians in the last decade made decisions on numbers they didn't understand," he said.


"I'm the only one that has worked in the private sector and on fiscal and economic policies at the highest levels," Pleitez said, citing his experience as a special assistant to economist Paul Volcker on President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board.


Greuel, Garcetti and Perry, in turn, pledged to show fiscal restraint as the city grapples with projected budget shortfalls totaling more than $1 billion over the next four years.


City Controller Greuel cited the "waste, fraud and abuse" her office's audits have identified at City Hall, saying they demonstrate her independence.


"As mayor of Los Angeles, I get not only being the fiscal watchdog, and showing where we can find this money, and knowing where the bodies are buried," said Greuel, who served on the City Council for seven years. "I've learned as city controller, you don't always make friends when you highlight what can be done better."


Garcetti, a councilman for more than a decade, said he had a record of "not just talking about pension reform, but delivering on it." When tax collections dried up in the recession, he said, the council and mayor eliminated 5,000 jobs and negotiated a deal with unions requiring some city workers to contribute to their health and pension benefits.


"Those are the things that kept us away from our own fiscal cliff," he said.


Perry also stressed her support for increasing worker contributions to health and retirement benefits.


"This is about long-term survival," she said.


By the normal standards of election campaigns, it was a remarkably genteel debate, at least among the three city officials.


Only Perry attacked her rivals, and even then, not by name.


Recalling her work with Garcetti and Greuel in talks with city unions, she faulted them for engaging in "side meetings and side negotiations," saying she was more transparent.


"As mayor, I will make sure that practice stops, that everything is done on the record — that all employees are treated fairly and all employees are given the same information," Perry said.


Neither Greuel nor Garcetti answered the attack.


As in previous forums, the most obvious contrasts among the candidates Monday night were in biography and style — rather than policy positions.





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Troubled smartphone pioneer RIM prepares to raise the curtain on BlackBerry 10






NEW YORK, N.Y. – After several technical blunders, two unexpected delays and one major shakeup in its leadership, BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion is about to raise the curtain for its new smartphone devices in hopes that consumers share the excitement.


The unveiling of the phones and operating system on Wednesday marks the start of an advertising blitz that will stretch to social media, the Super Bowl and beyond as RIM tries to regain the cool factor that was once firmly in its grasp.






If all goes according to plan, the event will also mark the end of a troublesome 12 months that has seen RIM try to stay afloat while its future was constantly in question by outsiders, and its stock price tumbled to the lowest level in about a decade.


While the first hurdles to overcome on Wednesday are the opinions of tech analysts and investor reaction, the true measure of success — actual sales of the phones — is still weeks away.


As a crowd of thousands gathers Wednesday at Pier 36, a massive entertainment venue on the shores of Manhattan, chief executive Thorsten Heins will step onto the stage holding the BlackBerry that has been at once considered the company’s last hope, but also its biggest hurdle.


Just over a year ago, when Heins took over the top spot at RIM, the smartphone maker was in a state of flux as its marketshare tumbled in North America against growing competition from Apple’s iPhone and various devices on the Android operating system.


Analysts had widely blamed the lack of leadership from former co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis as the reasons that RIM failed to innovate its way out of trouble, but they also said that Heins had much to prove in hardly any time.


The company was in a bubble, insisting that it hadn’t lost its footing in the smartphone industry, even though from the outside their downfall was indisputable.


But as the dust settled from Balsillie’s exit in March 2012, Heins began to face the realities of RIM’s problems and launched a major overhaul of its middle management and deep cuts to its operations.


While Heins preferred to call it removing a “little fat on the hips,” the changes at RIM were a far more strategic and complex surgery.


The company closed some of its manufacturing facilities and announced plans to lay off about 5,000 workers, as it aimed to save $ 1 billion across RIM’s operations by February 2013. Heins reached that savings goal, and he did it three months ahead of schedule.


“He is probably one of the least dogmatic people at RIM,” said Carl Howe, vice-president of consumer research at Yankee Group.


“I think he learned from his predecessors.”


Despite all of the changes, Heins was still up against the fact that development of the BlackBerry 10 operating system was woefully behind schedule. Already delayed from a launch in 2011, the CEO was forced in June to further push the debut into 2013, missing crucial sales periods like the back-to-school and Christmas holiday shopping seasons.


While analysts hated the idea of another delay, it also bought the company some extra time to tweak the software to capitalize on the weaknesses of competitors’ smartphones.


One of those features is the BlackBerry Balance technology, which allows one phone to operate as both a business and personal device entirely separate from each other. Another one lets users seamlessly shift between the phone’s applications like they’re flipping between pages on a desk.


The BlackBerry Messenger chat program will also get an update that includes video chat and screen sharing options.


RIM’s executives also began an aggressive campaign last year to win the developer community. Under its previous leadership, the BlackBerry had practically ignored the growing popularity of smartphone applications for services like Netflix, Skype and Instagram.


A sea of change was coming under its new leaders, and Heins had managed to at least steady a company that was swaying on its pillars by coming up with unconventional ideas.


As the BlackBerry lost steam in North America and Europe, he turned to developing countries like Indonesia and Nigeria to keep revenues flowing in the near term. In those places, consumers were hungry for low-cost smartphones and the BlackBerry was still considered a status symbol.


The decision helped RIM keep its subscriber base steady, and maintain its $ 2-billion cash reserve, which was set aside for emergencies. It will use some of that money to promote the new phones.


“Up until now I think everything (Heins) laid out in terms of his plan … he’s shown that he’s executed on it,” said Richard Tse, an analyst at Cormark Securities Inc.


“In terms of what they’ve done on the development side, in terms of streamlining the operations and preserving the cash, I think he’s done a very good job to date.”


Investors aren’t satisfied with all of his decisions, however, especially when Heins unveiled a rough plan in December that will likely eat into the lucrative service fees charged to BlackBerry subscribers.


Heins told analysts on its most recent earnings conference call that RIM plans to launch an a la carte menu of services where both enterprise customers and casual smartphone users can pick their packages. The change would likely mean reduced revenues in one of the most lucrative areas of its business.


Even on the dawn of the new BlackBerry unveiling, there are still questions about whether RIM will exist in its current form this time next year. Some analysts have said the company will eventually be forced to sell off at least its hardware division, if not more.


“They’re in such a difficult position that I can’t think of a management change that would help them get out of it,” Tim Long of BMO Capital Markets.


“Clearly there are people out there that think the BlackBerry 10 is going to be something that gets them back on the map. We don’t think so.”


Long said his checks within the mobile phone industry have shown that carriers aren’t particularly interested in RIM’s touchscreen smartphone, but they’re more anxious for the keypad version, or QWERTY phone, due sometime after the initial launch.


“We think that’s an issue,” he said.


If the stock price is any sign, RIM’s investors are at least more confident this month then they’ve been in a long time. As of Monday’s closing price, RIM’s shares have risen 167 per cent from its lowest level in about a decade, reached in September, on the Toronto Stock Exchange.


Several analysts have boosted their target prices for the company’s stock in the past two weeks.


Whatever happens after the new BlackBerrys are unveiled, it’s certain that RIM isn’t in the clear yet.


“Product transitions are always pretty ugly,” said Howe.


“The good news is if you can get yourself through to the other side … you have an opportunity to disrupt the market yourself.”


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News




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Rupert Sanders' wife files for divorce in LA


LOS ANGELES (AP) — Rupert Sanders' wife has filed for divorce five months after it was revealed the director had a brief affair with actress Kristen Stewart.


Liberty Ross, Sanders' wife of more than nine years, filed for divorce Friday in Los Angeles citing irreconcilable differences.


Ross' filing cites irreconcilable differences for the couple's breakup. They have two children, an 8-year-old daughter and 6-year-old son.


The model-actress is seeking joint custody of the children and spousal support from her estranged husband, who directed Stewart in "Snow White and the Huntsman."


TMZ, which first reported the filing, stated that Sanders also filed divorce paperwork but it was not available on Monday.


Stewart, who has been dating "Twilight" co-star Robert Pattinson, apologized for her fling with Sanders in July after it was revealed by US Weekly.


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Rescuer Appears for New York Downtown Hospital





Manhattan’s only remaining hospital south of 14th Street, New York Downtown, has found a white knight willing to take over its debt and return it to good health, hospital officials said Monday.




NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, one of New York City’s largest academic medical centers, has proposed to take over New York Downtown in a “certificate of need” filed with the State Health Department. The three-page proposal argues that though New York Downtown is projected to have a significant operating loss in 2013, it is vital to Lower Manhattan, including Wall Street, Chinatown and the Lower East Side, especially since the closing of St. Vincent’s Hospital after it declared bankruptcy in 2010.


The rescue proposal, which would need the Health Department’s approval, comes at a precarious time for hospitals in the city. Long Island College Hospital, just across the river in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, has been threatened with closing after a failed merger with SUNY Downstate Medical Center, and several other Brooklyn hospitals are considering mergers to stem losses.


New York Downtown has been affiliated with the NewYork-Presbyterian health care system while maintaining separate operations.


“We are looking forward to having them become a sixth campus so the people in that community can continue to have a community hospital that continues to serve them,” Myrna Manners, a spokeswoman for NewYork-Presbyterian, said.


Fred Winters, a spokesman for New York Downtown, declined to comment.


Presbyterian’s proposal emphasized that it would acquire New York Downtown’s debt at no cost to the state, a critical point at a time when the state has shown little interest in bailing out failing hospitals.


The proposal said that if New York Downtown were to close, it would leave more than 300,000 residents of Lower Manhattan, including the financial district, Greenwich Village, SoHo, the Lower East Side and Chinatown, without a community hospital. In addition, it said, 750,000 people work and visit in the area every day, a number that is expected to grow with the construction of 1 World Trade Center and related buildings.


The proposal argues that New York Downtown is essential partly because of its long history of responding to disasters in the city. One of its predecessors was founded as a direct result of the 1920 terrorist bombing outside the J. P. Morgan Building, and the hospital has responded to the 1975 bombing of Fraunces Tavern, the 1993 and 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center, and, this month, the crash of a commuter ferry from New Jersey.


Like other fragile hospitals in the city, New York Downtown has shrunk, going to 180 beds, down from the 254 beds it was certified for in 2006, partly because the more affluent residents of Lower Manhattan often go to bigger hospitals for elective care.


The proposal says that half of the emergency department patients at New York Downtown either are on Medicaid, the program for the poor, or are uninsured.


NewYork-Presbyterian would absorb the cost of the hospital’s maternity and neonatal intensive care units, which have been expanding because of demand, but have been operating at a deficit of more than $1 million a year, the proposal said.


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Automakers in alliance to speed fuel-cell development









Ford Motor Co. is joining with Daimler and Renault-Nissan to speed development of cars that run on hydrogen, with hopes of bringing a vehicle to market in as little as four years.


Hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles generate electricity after a chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen is stored in special high-pressure tanks, and the only emissions are water vapor and heat.


Under the alliance, each company will invest equally in the technology. They plan to develop a common fuel cell system that the companies will use to power their own vehicles. The companies also plan to take advantage of their combined size to reduce costs.








Many automakers have been testing the hydrogen fuel-cell vehicles for years but haven't been able to bring costs down enough to sell the vehicles in mass markets. The zero-emissions cars have the potential to cut pollution and reduce the world's reliance on oil for transportation.


"Working together will significantly help speed this technology to market at a more affordable cost to our customers," Raj Nair, Ford's group vice president for global product development, said in a statement issued Monday. "We will all benefit from this relationship, as the resulting solution will be better than any one company working alone."


The companies said engineering work on the individual fuel cells and the overall hydrogen system will be done jointly by the companies at several locations around the world. They also are studying joint development of other parts for fuel-cell vehicles in an effort to bring down costs.


Work will be done at the site of a previous fuel-cell joint venture between Ford and Daimler in Vancouver, Canada, as well as at a Daimler facility in Nabern, Germany, and a Nissan operation in Oppama, Japan, Ford spokesman Alan Hall said. He was not aware of an executive being appointed to run the joint venture.


The automakers each have several years of experience developing fuel-cell vehicles. Their test vehicles have traveled more than 6.2 million miles.


The alliance among Ford of Dearborn, Mich., Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler of Germany, and the joint operations of France's Renault and Japan's Nissan Motor Co. is another example of global automakers combining forces to develop engines and other new technologies. The companies are trying to share expensive development costs yet keep their products different.


Nissan and Renault have had combined operations for years. Toyota Motor Corp. and BMW said this month that they are working together on next-generation batteries for green vehicles called lithium-air. Their collaboration, first announced in late 2011, also is working on fuel cells, with hopes of completing a vehicle by 2020.


French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen and General Motors Co. have a deal to share in purchases of parts and services to cut costs. Toyota has a joint venture with Peugeot Citroen to make small cars in Europe.





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Hillary Clinton's legacy at State: Splendid but not spectacular









WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton leaves her post as secretary of State next month with a split judgment on her diplomatic career: She's won rave reviews from the American public and the president, but maybe not a prominent place in the diplomatic history books.


Job approval ratings for the former senator and first lady are at stratospheric levels, suggesting that her four years as chief U.S. diplomat could be an important asset if she runs for president in 2016.


But scholars and diplomatic insiders say she has never dominated issues of war and peace in the manner of predecessors Dean Acheson or Henry Kissinger, or laid down an enduring diplomatic doctrine.





President Obama has tightly controlled foreign policy in the last four years — more so even than his recent predecessors. Clinton has had a seat at the table on every key issue, officials say, but she did not "own" any of them.


She devoted long hours to signatures issues, including empowerment of women and girls, gay rights, Third World development, health and Internet freedoms. Clinton lent her support to a wide range of new projects and organizations, and she appointed new officials in the State Department to shepherd them. Some of these may eventually have huge effects, but many are at an early stage.


At the same time, the most important and toughest foreign policy issues of the day — Iran, North Korea, Afghanistan-Pakistan, the Arab-Israeli standoff — weren't resolved during the four years. Some grew more intractable. Though none of that may be Clinton's fault, the lack of diplomatic breakthroughs on her watch limits her legacy.


"She's coming away with a stellar reputation that seems to have put her almost above criticism," said Aaron David Miller, a longtime U.S. peace negotiator who is a vice president at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. "But you can't say that she's really led on any of the big issues for this administration or made a major mark on high strategy."


Expectations ran high that Clinton would be a heavyweight — maybe even a "co-president" on foreign policy — from the time Obama picked his bitter rival in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign to take the Cabinet's senior spot. She had star power from 20 years in national life that dazzled foreign audiences and guaranteed worldwide attention to whatever issue she focused on.


"She's the first secretary who's also been a global rock star," said a senior State Department official who was not authorized to be quoted by name. "It's allowed her to raise issues on the global agenda in a way that no one before her has been able to do."


Obama praised her performance Sunday in a joint interview with Clinton that he proposed to CBS' "60 Minutes." Obama described her as "one of our finest" secretaries of State and one of his most important advisors on a range of issues, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Al Qaeda.


In the interview, Clinton brushed aside questions about her future in politics and pronounced her health as good — although she said she had some "lingering effects" from a concussion she suffered in December when she fainted and hit her head after suffering from a virus that left her dehydrated. The concussion led to a blood clot behind her right ear, for which she was hospitalized.


"The doctors tell me that will all recede," she said, referring to the continued symptoms. "And so, thankfully, I'm looking forward to being at full speed."


As secretary of State, Clinton has shared Obama's democratic take on the proper role of American diplomats, believing that the world is no longer a place where a handful of powers can dictate the terms of the world order. Rather, the job of U.S. diplomats is collaborating with dozens of other countries in the "constant gardening and tending" of institutions and projects that advance common goals, the senior State Department official said.


Foreign audiences warmed to this attitude, which they found appealing after eight years of a George W. Bush administration many associated with a go-it-alone approach. As they did, the American image abroad improved.


At the same time, Clinton quickly removed a potential internal stumbling block, insisting on no infighting between her loyalists at the State Department and Obama's team. Former President Bill Clinton's kibitzing on foreign policy never became the problem some had predicted.


A hard worker and team player, Clinton won praise from many in Obama's circle who had initially doubted her.


But as time passed, it became clear that she wouldn't have the lead role on key issues of war and peace.


Clinton's original plan was to have three powerful "special envoys" in charge of key security issues and reporting to her — a flow chart that would have enabled her to tightly control the biggest security issues.


But Richard C. Holbrooke, in charge of the Afghanistan-Pakistan militant threat, was marginalized after clashing with White House officials. Former Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell resigned in May 2011 after the painful collapse of the administration's opening Middle East peace initiative; and diplomat Dennis Ross, the envoy for Iran, moved to the White House in June 2009 to better help manage the range of Mideast problems that were bubbling over.


"She was a fully functioning member of the team," said a former administration official, who asked to remain anonymous speaking about a former colleague. "But not a first among equals."





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'Argo' on a roll with big win at SAG Awards


LOS ANGELES (AP) — A few weeks ago, the Oscar race looked wide open. The stately, historical "Lincoln" seemed like the safe and likely choice, with the provocative "Zero Dark Thirty" and the quirky and inspiring "Silver Linings Playbook" very much in the mix for the Academy Award for best picture.


But now, an "Argo" juggernaut — an "Argo"-naut, if you will — seems to be rolling along and gathering momentum as we head toward Hollywood's top prize.


The international thriller from director Ben Affleck, who also stars as a CIA operative orchestrating a daring rescue during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, received the top honor of best ensemble cast in a movie at Sunday night's Screen Actors Guild Awards, their equivalent of the best-picture Oscar. It's a decent indicator of eventual Academy Awards success, with the two matching up about half the time.


The film, which also stars John Goodman and Alan Arkin as Hollywood veterans who help stage a fake movie as a cover, has received nearly unanimous critical raves and has proven to be a box-office favorite, as well, grossing nearly $190 million worldwide.


But "Argo" also won the Producers Guild of America Award on Saturday night, which is an excellent Oscar predictor, and it earned best picture and director statues from the Golden Globes two weeks earlier. The Directors Guild of America Awards next Saturday will help crystallize the situation even further.


The one tricky thing at work here: Affleck surprisingly didn't receive an Academy Award nomination in the director category, which most often goes hand in hand with best picture. (There are nine best-picture nominees but only five slots for directors.) Only once in modern times has a film won best picture without a directing nomination: 1989's "Driving Miss Daisy." The other two times came in the show's early years, at the first Oscars in 1929 with "Wings" and for 1932's "Grand Hotel."


Asked backstage at the SAG Awards what might happen when the Oscar winners are announced Feb. 24, Affleck said: "I don't do handicapping or try to divine what's going to happen down the road with movies.


"I didn't get nominated as a director and I thought, 'OK, that's that.' Then I remembered that I was nominated as a producer," said Affleck, who already has an original screenplay Oscar for writing 1997's "Good Will Hunting" with longtime friend Matt Damon. "Nothing may happen but it's a wonderful opportunity to be on the ride and I'm really honored."


Many of the usual suspects throughout the lengthy awards season heard their names called again Sunday night, including Daniel Day-Lewis as best actor for his intense, deeply immersed portrayal of the 16th U.S. president in "Lincoln." Accepting the prize on stage, he gave thanks to several of his colleagues including "The Master" star Joaquin Phoenix (who did not receive a SAG nomination), Leonardo DiCaprio and Liam Neeson.


Backstage, Day-Lewis elaborated for reporters that DiCaprio urged him to stick with Steven Spielberg's project, which was in the works for many years.


"He said, 'Don't give up, he's the greatest man of the 19th century,'" Day-Lewis said. "So this is all Leo's fault."


His co-star, Tommy Lee Jones, also won again in the supporting-actor category for his lacerating portrayal of abolitionist Thaddeus Stevens in Spielberg's Civil War epic.


Anne Hathaway, the front-runner for best supporting actress at the Oscars and a winner already at the Golden Globes, won at the SAGs for her performance as the doomed prostitute Fantine in the gritty musical "Les Miserables."


"I'm just thrilled I have dental," Hathaway joked on stage.


But in the already-tight best actress race, Jennifer Lawrence made things a little more interesting in winning for the drama "Silver Linings Playbook." The 22-year-old plays a damaged young widow opposite Bradley Cooper, whose character is fresh out of a mental institution. Jessica Chastain, the winner at the Golden Globes, has been her main competition as a driven CIA operative searching for Osama bin Laden in "Zero Dark Thirty."


Lawrence said on stage that she got her SAG card at 14 — which was only eight short years ago — for a promo for the MTV reality series "My Super Sweet 16," which she said felt like the best day of her life.


"And now I have this naked statue which means that some of you even voted for me, and that is an indescribable feeling," she said.


On the television side, the popular PBS series "Downton Abbey" bested more established shows like "Mad Men" to win the TV drama cast award in just its first nomination. "Modern Family won the comedy cast prize for the third straight year.


And Dick Van Dyke received the guild's life-achievement award, an honor he presented last year to his "The Dick Van Dyke Show" co-star, Mary Tyler Moore.


After receiving a lengthy standing ovation from the audience, he asked his fellow actors, "Aren't we lucky that we found a line of work that doesn't require growing up?"


____


Contact AP Movie Writer Christy Lemire through Twitter: http://twitter.com/christylemire


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Well: Keeping Blood Pressure in Check

Since the start of the 21st century, Americans have made great progress in controlling high blood pressure, though it remains a leading cause of heart attacks, strokes, congestive heart failure and kidney disease.

Now 48 percent of the more than 76 million adults with hypertension have it under control, up from 29 percent in 2000.

But that means more than half, including many receiving treatment, have blood pressure that remains too high to be healthy. (A normal blood pressure is lower than 120 over 80.) With a plethora of drugs available to normalize blood pressure, why are so many people still at increased risk of disease, disability and premature death? Hypertension experts offer a few common, and correctable, reasons:

¶ About 20 percent of affected adults don’t know they have high blood pressure, perhaps because they never or rarely see a doctor who checks their pressure.

¶ Of the 80 percent who are aware of their condition, some don’t appreciate how serious it can be and fail to get treated, even when their doctors say they should.

¶ Some who have been treated develop bothersome side effects, causing them to abandon therapy or to use it haphazardly.

¶ Many others do little to change lifestyle factors, like obesity, lack of exercise and a high-salt diet, that can make hypertension harder to control.

Dr. Samuel J. Mann, a hypertension specialist and professor of clinical medicine at Weill-Cornell Medical College, adds another factor that may be the most important. Of the 71 percent of people with hypertension who are currently being treated, too many are taking the wrong drugs or the wrong dosages of the right ones.

Dr. Mann, author of “Hypertension and You: Old Drugs, New Drugs, and the Right Drugs for Your High Blood Pressure,” says that doctors should take into account the underlying causes of each patient’s blood pressure problem and the side effects that may prompt patients to abandon therapy. He has found that when treatment is tailored to the individual, nearly all cases of high blood pressure can be brought and kept under control with available drugs.

Plus, he said in an interview, it can be done with minimal, if any, side effects and at a reasonable cost.

“For most people, no new drugs need to be developed,” Dr. Mann said. “What we need, in terms of medication, is already out there. We just need to use it better.”

But many doctors who are generalists do not understand the “intricacies and nuances” of the dozens of available medications to determine which is appropriate to a certain patient.

“Prescribing the same medication to patient after patient just does not cut it,” Dr. Mann wrote in his book.

The trick to prescribing the best treatment for each patient is to first determine which of three mechanisms, or combination of mechanisms, is responsible for a patient’s hypertension, he said.

¶ Salt-sensitive hypertension, more common in older people and African-Americans, responds well to diuretics and calcium channel blockers.

¶ Hypertension driven by the kidney hormone renin responds best to ACE inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers, as well as direct renin inhibitors and beta-blockers.

¶ Neurogenic hypertension is a product of the sympathetic nervous system and is best treated with beta-blockers, alpha-blockers and drugs like clonidine.

According to Dr. Mann, neurogenic hypertension results from repressed emotions. He has found that many patients with it suffered trauma early in life or abuse. They seem calm and content on the surface but continually suppress their distress, he said.

One of Dr. Mann’s patients had had high blood pressure since her late 20s that remained well-controlled by the three drugs her family doctor prescribed. Then in her 40s, periodic checks showed it was often too high. When taking more of the prescribed medication did not result in lasting control, she sought Dr. Mann’s help.

After a thorough work-up, he said she had a textbook case of neurogenic hypertension, was taking too much medication and needed different drugs. Her condition soon became far better managed, with side effects she could easily tolerate, and she no longer feared she would die young of a heart attack or stroke.

But most patients should not have to consult a specialist. They can be well-treated by an internist or family physician who approaches the condition systematically, Dr. Mann said. Patients should be started on low doses of one or more drugs, including a diuretic; the dosage or number of drugs can be slowly increased as needed to achieve a normal pressure.

Specialists, he said, are most useful for treating the 10 percent to 15 percent of patients with so-called resistant hypertension that remains uncontrolled despite treatment with three drugs, including a diuretic, and for those whose treatment is effective but causing distressing side effects.

Hypertension sometimes fails to respond to routine care, he noted, because it results from an underlying medical problem that needs to be addressed.

“Some patients are on a lot of blood pressure drugs — four or five — who probably don’t need so many, and if they do, the question is why,” Dr. Mann said.

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First subject: Paying for college

























































































First subject: Paying for college


Several websites can give loan and college cost information to parents. Above, Cal State Long Beach students head to classes as the spring semester gets underway.
(Christina House, For The Times / January 28, 2013)





































































By Reid Kanaley

College acceptance letters are starting to arrive, and families now must figure out how to pay the tuition. Here are some sites that offer guidance to the world of financial aid:


The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A relatively new federal agency, the bureau has a beta site on college finances. One of the bureau's goals is to make students' borrowing costs clearer. Near the top of the page is a college-prep timeline showing the steps from researching schools to repaying college debt. Along the way, one presumably gets an education.





Federal student aid. The first step in requesting federal aid for school is to fill out the Federal Application for Student Aid. You have to do it only once a year, no matter how many colleges you apply to. And the earlier the better. As soon as you file the electronic form, you'll see what is likely to be a shocking ballpark number for the education expenses you're expected to pay out of pocket.


U.S. News & World Report college roundup. The section on paying for an education is meant to explain some of the terminology and procedures that students and families will encounter. Take note of the "overlooked ways to pay for college," which include getting an early start on college savings accounts called 529 plans and digging around for otherwise-overlooked community sources of scholarship money.


College Board. This group, which runs the SAT college-entrance examination system, also offers advice on financing your higher education. This page includes a link to the board's scholarship-search service. Many scholarships have obscure criteria, so how would you even find all the ones that might fit you? Fill out a questionnaire that can help match students to what the board says is $6 billion available in scholarships through 2,200 programs.


Kanaley writes for the Philadelphia Inquirer.






















































































































































































Comments are filtered for language and registration is required. The Times makes no guarantee of comments' factual accuracy. Readers may report inappropriate comments by clicking the Report Abuse link next to a comment. Here are the full legal terms you agree to by using this comment form.
















































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shareDiv.innerHTML = templateHTML;

/* append the new div to the end of the document, which is hidden already with CSS */
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/* Store the div in both a regular JavaScript variable and as a jQuery object so we can reference them faster later */
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return this.each(function() {
if (options) {
$.extend(settings, options);
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/* Function that replaces the HTML in the shareTip with the template we defined at the top */
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var removeLinks = function (){
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/* This is the function that makes the links for the Tweet / Share functionality */

var makeURLS = function (link, message){
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],
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fbURL = fbConstruct.join(''),

newHTML = [
''
],
shareHTML = newHTML.join('');
/* Load in our new HTML */
shareTip.innerHTML = shareHTML;
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/* Since the shareTip will automatically fade out when the user mouses out of an element */
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/* from the element to the shareTip to prevent it from popping out */
$shareTip.hover(function(){
$shareTip.stop(true, true);
$shareTip.show();
checkOpacity();
}, function(){
$(this).fadeOut(settings.speed);
});

/* This function handles the hover action */
$(this).hover(function(){
/* remove the old links, so someone doesn't accidentally click on them */
removeLinks();

/* If there's already an animation running on the shareTip, stop it */
$shareTip.stop(true, true);

var eso = $(this),
message,
/* Store the width and height of the shareTip and the offset of the element for our calculations */
height = eso.height(),
width = eso.width(),
offset = eso.offset(),
link;


link = eso.children('a').attr('href');
message = escape( eso.find('img').attr('alt') ) || eso.attr(settings.message_attr);

if (link.search('http://') === -1){
link = 'http://www.latimes.com' + link;
}
link = encodeURIComponent(link);

/* If it's at the top of the page, the shareTip will pop under the element */
if (offset.top

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