VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Abby Wambach and Christine Sinclair have spent the last two weeks chasing each other, chasing history and chasing a place in the London Olympics.
Part three has been accomplished. Wambach and the U.S. women's soccer team qualified for the Summer Games on Friday night by beating Costa Rica. Sinclair and the Canadians punched their ticket a couple of hours later with a win over Mexico.
Now for a little competitive fun. The United States and Canada play each other Sunday in the championship game of the qualifying tournament. With the Olympic berths settled, the game is essentially for bragging rights between neighboring rivals.
"You try telling the players it's a glorified friendly when they play against the U.S.," Canada coach John Herdman said. "Nah. The sleeves are off straightaway."
The teams feature the two most prolific active goal-scorers in the world, and they have been putting on a show at BC Place.
Wambach and Sinclair played on alternate nights during the group phase of the tournament, and it almost seemed as if one was trying to top the other. Sinclair opened with four goals against Haiti; Wambach followed with a pair against the Dominican Republic. Sinclair got one against Cuba; Wambach notched two against Guatemala.
Wambach then went silent ? scoreless against Mexico and Costa Rica ? while Sinclair added two more against both teams.
Where do they stand now? It's a tie. They have 129 career goals apiece. They've both passed Germany's Birgit Prinz to move into third place all-time, one behind Kristine Lilly and still quite a few behind Mia Hamm's world-record 158.
"I think it's just going to be a matter of time whenever Sincy or I end up breaking Mia's record," Wambach said. "Obviously we want to stay healthy and contribute to goals scored for our team. But, quite honestly, I've said this from the beginning ? I'd give away every record, individual, that I've ever won for a world championship, and I think that Sincy would probably say the same thing.
"But it's cool, it's amazing to be alongside such a fantastic soccer player like her. She's the essence of the blue-collar worker, coming from a country who generally speaking hasn't competed well in the world championships."
Wambach didn't stop there. She also called Sinclair "the most underrated player in the whole world" and "probably the best all-around player."
This is a goal-scoring race flush with mutual respect.
"I actually think that mostly likely neither of us think about it too much," Sinclair said. "We both play on successful national teams, and we both play forward for that team, and we're expected to score goals. Usually when the U.S. or Canada is winning, it involves us scoring."
They have different playing styles. Wambach is always hanging around the goal, and has the best header in the women's game. Sinclair has been playing a more withdrawn position to give her more versatility on the attack.
Their personalities are different as well. Wambach has the gift of gab, while Sinclair is more of a reluctant star. For many years, she was just about the only reason to watch the Canadian women's team, although the talent around her has improved considerably in recent years.
"Canada is a very good side ? with the exception of Sinclair," Mexico coach Leonardo Cuellar said. "She's in another world."
It seemed out of character when Sinclair appeared on a scoreboard video throughout the tournament proclaiming: "Some say I'm one of the best. But to be the best, you have to win something big."
She didn't write that script ? it was a video promoting Canadian soccer ? but she doesn't argue with the second sentence. Canada has been to World Cups and Olympic Games, but its best finish is a fourth at the 2003 World Cup.
"This is a team sport, where, yeah, individuals can do some great things and score some goals, but until your team actually wins or gets on the podium on whatever the case may be, it's hard to say that you're the best," Sinclair said. "It's at the point where we're all done with the participation, and we want to get something out of it."
First comes Sunday's little tussle with the Americans. This will be the 51st meeting between the countries. Canada has won only three. Five have been draws.
The rest? Well, suffice it to say the Americans have a world power for more than two decades, while Canada has been trying to catch up.
"They don't frighten us," Herdman said. "But they're a team that we'd love to tip over on home side. They don't come up here very often, and I hope the whole of Vancouver rock on and give us a hand beating the Americans."
___
Joseph White can be reached at http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Brooklyn-born actor Nick Santino committed suicide Wednesday, The New York Post reports.
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The soap opera star was wracked with grief after his beloved pit bull Rocco was euthanized Tuesday ? the same day Santino turned 47.
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"Today I betrayed my best friend and put down my best friend," Santino wrote in a suicide note, according to close friend Stuart Sarnoff. "Rocco trusted me and I failed him. He didn't deserve this."
The actor, who appeared on seven episodes of "All My Children" and six episodes of "Guiding Light," had been feeling "harassed" by his building management company, according to his neighbor Lia Pettigrew.
PHOTOS: Stars' soap opera beginnings
He was allegedly threatened with a $250 fine for having a barking dog, but according to neighbor Kevan Cleary, "the dog was not a barker, but somebody complained that the dog would bark."
Santino phoned a former girlfriend at 2 a.m. Wednesday. Police found Santino's body in his bedroom later that afternoon. The actor had overdosed on pills.
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The actor's pet Rocco has been cremated; friends tell The New York Post Santino's remains will also be cremated.
LAGOS, Nigeria ? A U.S. citizen kidnapped by gunmen in Nigeria's oil-rich southern delta has been freed after a week in captivity, the U.S. Embassy said.
U.S. Embassy spokeswoman Deb MacLean told The Associated Press on Friday that the man had been released after being kidnapped in Warri in Delta state on Jan. 20. MacLean declined to offer any other details, citing privacy rules. Delta state police spokesman Charles Muka said he had not been informed about the man's release, as his company refused to cooperate with local authorities.
The freed hostage was identified as William Gregory Ock, 50, of Bowdon, Georgia, by his sister, Dee Dee Patterson.
Patterson told the AP on Friday that the family had no details of his release.
"The only thing we know is that he is safe and he is in a secure location," Patterson said by telephone.
She had no information on when Ock would return home to Georgia.
It was not immediately clear whether a ransom had been paid to secure his release, though many companies working in the region carry kidnap insurance and simply pay a negotiated price to see their employees freed. Kidnappers had made contact with authorities previously and demanded a $333,000 ransom.
The attack Jan. 20 occurred outside a bank branch in Warri, one of the main cities in nation's Niger Delta, a region of mangroves and swamps where foreign oil companies pump 2.4 million barrels of crude oil a day. The gunmen attacked Ock as he came outside, shooting his police escort to death before abducting him, Muka said.
Investigators believe the gunmen trailed him for some time before the attack, Muka said.
Foreign firms have pumped oil out of the delta for more than 50 years. Despite the billions flowing into Nigeria's government, many in the delta remain desperately poor, living in polluted waters without access to proper medical care, education or work.
In 2006, militants started a wave of attacks targeting foreign oil companies, including bombing their pipelines, kidnapping their workers and fighting with security forces. That violence waned in 2009 with a government-sponsored amnesty program promising ex-fighters monthly payments and job training. However, few in the delta have seen the promised benefits and criminal gangs still roam the region, increasingly targeting middle-class Nigerians.
In 2011, there were five reported kidnappings of U.S. citizens in Nigeria, according to a recent U.S. State Department travel warning about the country. The most recent occurred in November when two U.S. citizens and a Mexican were kidnapped from a Chevron Corp. offshore oil field and held for about two weeks, the State Department said.
A German working in the city of Kano in north Nigeria was abducted Thursday by unknown gunmen, authorities have said.
___
Associated Press writer Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia, contributed to this report.
___
Jon Gambrell can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
LONDON ? British lawmakers say Prime Minister David Cameron should complain to the United States over a Jay Leno routine which joked about the holiest site in the Sikh religion.
In a motion published at Parliament on Thursday, two legislators said Leno had shown a complete misunderstanding of the Sikh faith.
Leno made a joke on Jan. 19 on the "Tonight Show" in the U.S., when he showed a photo of an impressive gold building and claimed it was Republican Mitt Romney's summer home.
The site was actually the Golden Temple, a revered Sikh site.
British opposition Labour Party lawmakers Virendra Shrama and John McDonnell proposed a motion demanding Cameron call on the U.S. to show more respect toward Sikhs.
The move does not compel Cameron to take any action.
LYNN HAVEN, Fla. ? A Florida man has been arrested for allegedly hacking to death a Connecticut man and eating the victim's eye and part of his brain, police said Wednesday.
Tyree Lincoln Smith, 35, was arrested Tuesday night on a Connecticut warrant for murder, according to police in Lynn Haven, Fla.
A property inspector discovered the body of Angel L. Gonzalez on Friday on the third floor of an abandoned home in Bridgeport, Conn., according to that city's police department. A medical examiner determined that the cause of death was blunt head trauma and ruled Gonzalez's death a homicide.
On Monday a cousin of Smith's in Connecticut contacted the Bridgeport police about Gonzalez's death. She told detectives that Smith had arrived at her house Dec. 15 and said he wanted to "get blood on his hands" before going to a park and then to the abandoned home, where he used to live, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
The next day, Smith returned to the cousin's house with blood on his pants, hands and an axe, the affidavit said. Smith's cousin said he told her that he was sleeping on a porch at the abandoned home when we was awakened by a Hispanic man and invited inside. Then Smith described beating the man's face and head with the axe and collecting one of his eyes, a piece of his skull some of his brain matter, which he consumed in a nearby cemetery, the affidavit said.
The cousin told detectives she called Smith's mother, who notified police on Dec. 16 that they may want to check the abandoned home and that her son had "mental issues," the affidavit said.
Smith had left Connecticut for Florida on Friday on a Greyhound Bus, the cousin told detectives. Police and Smith's relatives reached Smith by telephone, and in a recorded call Smith admitted that he had been at the abandoned house and that he told a relative that he had killed the man, according to the affidavit.
Federal, state and local law enforcement officers took Smith into custody at an apartment Tuesday night without incident, Lynn Haven police said.
It was not immediately clear whether Smith had an attorney.
Research finds newer radiation therapy technology improves patients' quality of lifePublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dorsey Griffith dorsey.griffith@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu 916-734-9118 University of California - Davis Health System
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- Patients with head and neck cancers who have been treated with newer, more sophisticated radiation therapy technology enjoy a better quality of life than those treated with older radiation therapy equipment, a study by UC Davis researchers has found.
The findings, presented today at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Phoenix, is the first of its kind to measure long-term quality of life among cancer patients who have undergone radiation therapy for advanced cancers of the throat, tongue, vocal cords, and other structures in the head and neck.
Allen Chen, assistant professor and director of the residency and fellowship training program in the UC Davis Department of Radiation Oncology, reported that the use of intensity-modulated radiation therapy, or IMRT, was associated with fewer long-term side effects, which led to a better quality of life. Standard radiation therapy to the head and neck has been known to affect a patient's ability to produce saliva, taste, and even chew food. These side effects historically have resulted in permanent disabilities.
"With the newer machines using IMRT, physicians are skillfully able to deliver higher doses of radiation to the tumor and lower doses to surrounding normal tissues than ever before," Chen said. "I wanted to see if this theoretical advantage resulted in any tangible improvements in quality of life for patients."
For the study, Chen used the University of Washington Quality of Life instrument, a standardized, previously validated questionnaire that patients complete after radiation therapy. The survey was administered prospectively to 155 patients at UC Davis Cancer Center diagnosed with head and neck cancers, 54 percent of whom were initially treated with IMRT and 46 percent of whom were treated with other radiation therapy technologies. All of the patients receiving IMRT also underwent image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), which has been available at UC Davis since 2006 and is used to increase accuracy by taking a high-quality scan of the tumor daily.
Chen and his colleagues found that the early gains observed in quality of life became magnified over time for those who received IMRT treatment. For example, one year after treatment, 51 percent of the IMRT patients rated their quality of life as very good or outstanding, compared to 41 percent of non-IMRT patients. But two years after treatment, the percentages changed to 73 percent and 49 percent respectively.
John Torres of Sacramento was diagnosed in early 2010 with a large tumor at the base of his tongue on the right side of his throat. Fearing that surgery might result in the loss of his voice box, Torres opted for IMRT with IGRT and had 33 treatments.
Torres, now 73 and in remission, points out that the treatments were "no walk in the park," but said he is faring much better than he expected. Although his mouth is often dry and he has lost some taste sensation, he is enjoying an active life.
"I golf a couple of time a week," he said. "My wife and I like to socialize. We go out, and we dance. And we are planning to take a cruise through the Panama Canal in next two or three months. Life has gotten back to pretty much exactly what it was."
Chen acknowledged that quality of life is difficult to measure because of its subjective nature. Nonetheless, he said the findings support the more widespread use of IMRT in radiation clinics throughout the country.
"There has been some reluctance to utilize it because it is expensive, resource intensive, and takes on average 10 to 12 hours to prepare a single patient's treatment," he said. "I think this is further evidence that our investment in developing newer technologies is really paying off."
###
Chen, whose findings will be highlighted at a symposium press briefing on Friday, Jan. 27, received no outside funding for the research. Other investigators who collaborated on the study were Gregory Farwell, Quang Luu, Esther Vazquez, Derick Lau, and James Purdy, all from the UC Davis Cancer Center.
UC Davis Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute- designated center serving the Central Valley and inland Northern California, a region of more than 6 million people. Its top specialists provide compassionate, comprehensive care for more than 9,000 adults and children every year, and offer patients access to more than 150 clinical trials at any given time. Its innovative research program includes more than 280 scientists at UC Davis and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The unique partnership, the first between a major cancer center and national laboratory, has resulted in the discovery of new tools to diagnose and treat cancer. Through the Cancer Care Network, UC Davis is collaborating with a number of hospitals and clinical centers throughout the Central Valley and Northern California regions to offer the latest cancer-care services. For more information, visit http://www.cancer.ucdavis.edu.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Research finds newer radiation therapy technology improves patients' quality of lifePublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dorsey Griffith dorsey.griffith@ucdmc.ucdavis.edu 916-734-9118 University of California - Davis Health System
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- Patients with head and neck cancers who have been treated with newer, more sophisticated radiation therapy technology enjoy a better quality of life than those treated with older radiation therapy equipment, a study by UC Davis researchers has found.
The findings, presented today at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium in Phoenix, is the first of its kind to measure long-term quality of life among cancer patients who have undergone radiation therapy for advanced cancers of the throat, tongue, vocal cords, and other structures in the head and neck.
Allen Chen, assistant professor and director of the residency and fellowship training program in the UC Davis Department of Radiation Oncology, reported that the use of intensity-modulated radiation therapy, or IMRT, was associated with fewer long-term side effects, which led to a better quality of life. Standard radiation therapy to the head and neck has been known to affect a patient's ability to produce saliva, taste, and even chew food. These side effects historically have resulted in permanent disabilities.
"With the newer machines using IMRT, physicians are skillfully able to deliver higher doses of radiation to the tumor and lower doses to surrounding normal tissues than ever before," Chen said. "I wanted to see if this theoretical advantage resulted in any tangible improvements in quality of life for patients."
For the study, Chen used the University of Washington Quality of Life instrument, a standardized, previously validated questionnaire that patients complete after radiation therapy. The survey was administered prospectively to 155 patients at UC Davis Cancer Center diagnosed with head and neck cancers, 54 percent of whom were initially treated with IMRT and 46 percent of whom were treated with other radiation therapy technologies. All of the patients receiving IMRT also underwent image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT), which has been available at UC Davis since 2006 and is used to increase accuracy by taking a high-quality scan of the tumor daily.
Chen and his colleagues found that the early gains observed in quality of life became magnified over time for those who received IMRT treatment. For example, one year after treatment, 51 percent of the IMRT patients rated their quality of life as very good or outstanding, compared to 41 percent of non-IMRT patients. But two years after treatment, the percentages changed to 73 percent and 49 percent respectively.
John Torres of Sacramento was diagnosed in early 2010 with a large tumor at the base of his tongue on the right side of his throat. Fearing that surgery might result in the loss of his voice box, Torres opted for IMRT with IGRT and had 33 treatments.
Torres, now 73 and in remission, points out that the treatments were "no walk in the park," but said he is faring much better than he expected. Although his mouth is often dry and he has lost some taste sensation, he is enjoying an active life.
"I golf a couple of time a week," he said. "My wife and I like to socialize. We go out, and we dance. And we are planning to take a cruise through the Panama Canal in next two or three months. Life has gotten back to pretty much exactly what it was."
Chen acknowledged that quality of life is difficult to measure because of its subjective nature. Nonetheless, he said the findings support the more widespread use of IMRT in radiation clinics throughout the country.
"There has been some reluctance to utilize it because it is expensive, resource intensive, and takes on average 10 to 12 hours to prepare a single patient's treatment," he said. "I think this is further evidence that our investment in developing newer technologies is really paying off."
###
Chen, whose findings will be highlighted at a symposium press briefing on Friday, Jan. 27, received no outside funding for the research. Other investigators who collaborated on the study were Gregory Farwell, Quang Luu, Esther Vazquez, Derick Lau, and James Purdy, all from the UC Davis Cancer Center.
UC Davis Cancer Center is the only National Cancer Institute- designated center serving the Central Valley and inland Northern California, a region of more than 6 million people. Its top specialists provide compassionate, comprehensive care for more than 9,000 adults and children every year, and offer patients access to more than 150 clinical trials at any given time. Its innovative research program includes more than 280 scientists at UC Davis and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The unique partnership, the first between a major cancer center and national laboratory, has resulted in the discovery of new tools to diagnose and treat cancer. Through the Cancer Care Network, UC Davis is collaborating with a number of hospitals and clinical centers throughout the Central Valley and Northern California regions to offer the latest cancer-care services. For more information, visit http://www.cancer.ucdavis.edu.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission recently ruled that Rogers Communications, one of the largest internet service providers in Canada, has violated federal net neutrality rules. Last year, I wrote a few Lawbringers about the subject, which discussed what Rogers had to actually do to escape violation of certain internet traffic throttling complaints. Basically, Rogers was making WoW players' internet access slower because WoW looked like peer-to-peer traffic on their network.
Rogers is finally going to have to answer for the throttling issues, even after all of the requests and demands to change their packet inspection protocols. The communications company has until Feb. 3 at noon to respond to the complaints about internet throttling or face a hearing with the CRTC board.
Hopefully, the same type of rules can make their way to America, where internet service is abysmally slow and throttled like crazy. Prior to the Cataclysm launch, Blizzard released the new WoW client, which used a peer-to-peer system to upload and download information, patches, data, and all that jazz. This data accidentally triggered internet service providers' bandwidth alerts for torrent traffic and was subsequently throttled to lower speeds. After realizing that many users were experiencing lag issues with the new launcher and their ISPs, Blizzard began its outreach to ISPs in order to work together to fix the problem. A year later, people are still having problems, and Rogers in Canada has admitted to throttling WoW bandwidth.
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Public release date: 26-Jan-2012
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