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SAN FRANCISCO — Say you are in a strange city and need a hotel for the night. You pull out your phone, search for hotels on Google and see a nearby one listed at the top of the rankings, with a little phone icon that says, "Call." You tap it, reach the hotel and ask for a room.
And just like that, Google made money. That icon was a so-called click-to-call ad, and the hotel paid Google for it when you called.
As more of us have access to the Internet and apps through our cellphones and tablets, advertisers are looking for new ways to reach us there.
Some mobile ads remain just miniature versions of ads on Web sites, an echo of the early days of the Internet, when advertisers essentially slapped print ads online. But increasingly, advertisers are tailoring ads to phones by taking advantage of elements like their ability to track location, make a call, show maps with directions and add calendar alerts.
The stakes are significant for an industry that is still finding its way in the mobile world. Advertisers will spend a relatively small amount of money on ads on phones and tablets this year — $2.6 billion, according to eMarketer, less than 2 percent of the amount they will spend over all. Yet that is more than triple what they spent in 2010.Continue reading the main story
"An ever-growing percentage of our ad buy is mobile because that's where the consumer is," said Chris McCann, president of 1-800-Flowers.com, which has run mobile ads urging people to call or walk into a nearby store. "It's the future for us."
Coming up with ads that exploit the smaller mobile screen requires inventiveness from many parties — advertisers; digital publishers like Google, Apple and Facebook that sell ad space; and mobile ad networks like Millennial Media.
"What we're trying to do is think about the on-the-go user," said Jason Spero, leader of global mobile sales and strategy at Google, which dominates advertising online and is far and away the leader in mobile advertising. "What does that user want when she's sitting in a cafe or walking down the street?"
A big challenge for the tech companies is that advertisers pay less for mobile ads than for those online, largely because consumers are less likely to make a purchase on their phones. Though people click on mobile ads more than on desktop ads, advertisers wonder whether that is because of what they call the "fat finger effect" — accidental clicks on tiny touch screens.
And while users' actions can be tracked across Web sites online, it is hard to know whether someone sees a cellphone ad for an offline business and then walks in — so it is difficult for advertisers to judge how effectively they are spending their money.
As Google sells more mobile ads, the average amount it earns from each ad has dived. Facebook's value on Wall Street was halved on fears that it was not making enough money on its mobile users. Apple's mobile ad network, iAd, has been slow to gain traction.
Despite the problems, though, there is evidence that mobile advertising is becoming a meaningful business, and in some cases a bigger business than online advertising.
Facebook executives said last week that in the third quarter, the company earned $150 million from mobile ads, 14 percent of its total revenue. Pandora reported that in the second quarter that ended in July 58 percent of its revenue, or $59 million, came from mobile ads. Twitter executives have said that on certain days, the social network earns a majority of its daily revenue from mobile ads.
Mobile ad networks, which show ads across mobile apps and Web sites, have created new and thriving businesses. The biggest are Millennial Media, Google's AdMob and Apple's iAd.
Google earns 56 percent of all mobile ad dollars and 96 percent of mobile search ad dollars, according to eMarketer. The company said it is on track to earn $8 billion in the coming year from mobile sales, which includes ads as well as apps, music and movies it sells in its Google Play store. But the vast majority of that money comes from ads, it said.
"Whoever does mobile best, they're going to be the next Google, so people are asking, 'Is Google going to be the next Google?' " said Chris Winfield, co-founder of BlueGlass Interactive, a digital advertising agency. "It still is Google's to lose."
Google and others have had success in taking advantage of the fact that mobile phones know a lot more about people than desktop computers do — most important, their location. And with a phone in hand, a customer is probably more likely to be ready to buy something.
People searching on a computer for jeans, for instance, most likely want to research styles and colors, while people doing the same search on a phone want the nearest place to buy a pair, said Mr. Spero at Google.
In addition, Google has benefited from the fact that one main way people use Google on phones is to search for nearby businesses, a prime source of advertising. Thirty percent of restaurant searches and 25 percent of movie searches are done on mobile devices, according to Google.
One of Google's most successful mobile ad types is the click-to-call ad. After running these ads, Starwood Hotels' mobile bookings grew 20 percent in a month.
Google also shows ads on the mobile version of YouTube, including video ads like movie trailers before YouTube videos. If someone watches the movie trailer, Google makes money.
The company has also hinted that it could show ads through other services like Google Now, which sends unprompted alerts to cellphones. It coaches advertisers on how to do things like build mobile Web pages.
Larry Page, Google's chief executive, told analysts this month that thinking about mobile ads versus desktop ads is the wrong approach.
"We want a seamless experience that goes across mobile, desktop and TV, and that's what we're building," he said.
Pandora, the Internet radio service, is second only to Google in mobile ad revenue, according to eMarketer, which predicts it will bring in $229 million in mobile ad revenue this year from both audio and on-screen ads.
An audio ad, for example, told Pandora listeners to tap the screen for the location of the nearest Whole Foods and a sushi lunch special. StubHub, the online ticket marketer, recently ran an ad on Pandora's app. Those who clicked on it received reminders for coming concerts to their cellphone calendars.
Gaining traction in mobile advertising is particularly critical for Facebook; 60 percent of its users log in on phones. But making the transition to the small screen has been a challenge: most Facebook ads appeared on the right side of the Web page, so there was nowhere to show them on a mobile device.
That is one reason Facebook started running ads in the newsfeed, like sponsored stories, which are notices that a friend likes a certain brand. It is also starting a mobile ad network to show ads on other cellphone apps, based on things Facebook knows about a user, such as what they like and where they live.
Twitter has inserted ads labeled "promoted" in its newsfeed from the beginning. On advertisers' behalf, Twitter can show ads only to people using mobile devices, like ads to download a mobile app.
Samsung showed an ad just to people using its Galaxy Note device, directing them to search and download Android apps for the phone.
Next, these companies must figure out how to persuade advertisers to spend more than 2 percent of their budgets on mobile devices.
"It's reminiscent of the Web in 1996, '97," said Michael Moritz, an investor at Sequoia Capital who financed companies like Google and LinkedIn. "People weren't interested in ads, and prices were low. But advertisers don't have a choice. They've got to go where audiences are."Continue reading the main story


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Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common sensorimotor disorder whose incidence is not known. The aim of the study was to determine the incidence and correlates of RLS in a population-based sample.
We obtained data from the Tucson Cohort of the Sleep Heart Health Study, a prospective multicenter study. This cohort included 535 participants aged ≥ 40 years, who answered questions regarding RLS on the 2002 and 2006 sleep surveys. For this study, RLS was defined as the presence of all 4 International RLS Study Group criteria, with symptoms occurring ≥ 5 days/month and associated with at least moderate distress.
Mean age of the predominantly Caucasian (90.8%) participants on the 2002 survey was 59.8 ± 9.7 years; 52.2% were women. RLS prevalence was 4.1% in 2002 and 7.7% in 2006. The yearly incidence of RLS was 1.7% (6.6% over 4 years). Multivariate analyses demonstrated that estrogen use (OR = 2.5, 95% CI: 1.17-5.10) and self-reported obstructive lung disease (OR = 2.8, 95% CI: 1.37-5.83) were independent risk factors predicting incident RLS. Incident RLS was associated with higher prevalence of insomnia (26.5% vs. 7.6%, p = 0.001), increased sleepiness (38.2% vs. 22%, p = 0.036); and higher sleeping pill use in 2006 (23.5% vs. 9.7%, p = 0.019).
The incidence of RLS in this population sample was 1.7% per year. Use of estrogen and history of obstructive lung disease were associated with a significantly higher incidence of RLS. RLS, in turn, was associated with insomnia and increased sleepiness.
Budhiraja P; Budhiraja R; Goodwin JL; Allen RP; Newman AB; Koo BB; Quan SF. Incidence of restless legs syndrome and its correlates. J Clin Sleep Med 2012;8(2):119-124.
Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a common neurological sensorimotor disorder characterized by an urge to move the legs during periods of rest or inactivity. The International Restless Legs Syndrome Study Group (IRLSSG) has described 4 mandatory clinical features to establish the diagnosis of RLS, namely: (i) an urge to move the legs, usually accompanied or caused by uncomfortable and unpleasant sensations in the legs; (ii) these symptoms begin or worsen during periods of rest or inactivity such as lying or sitting; (iii) are partially or totally relieved by movement; and (iv) symptoms are worse in the evening or nighttime.1
A commentary on this article appears in this issue on page 125.
The prevalence of RLS varies, depending on the selection criteria that are used to define RLS. The prevalence of RLS based on the above-mentioned IRLSSG criteria has been reported between 7% and 24%.2–7 The RLS epidemiology, symptoms, and treatment (REST) study reported a prevalence rate of 11.1% for RLS, with 9.6% reporting at least weekly symptoms, and 2.4% having symptoms that occurred at least twice weekly and affected the quality of life.5 Despite several studies evaluating prevalence, the incidence of this disorder is yet to be ascertained.
RLS can either be primary (idiopathic) or associated with other factors (secondary RLS). Persons with idiopathic RLS develop symptoms at a significantly younger age (≤ 35 years), tend to have positive family history and have slower progression of symptoms. Those with secondary RLS have later onset and faster progression.8 RLS has been associated with diverse conditions such as pregnancy, end-stage renal disease, and iron deficiency.1 Another factor potentially associated with RLS is estrogen. While estrogen has been hypothesized to be the etiology of pregnancy-related RLS, whether estrogen use is associated with a higher incidence of RLS is not known. Similarly, some studies have suggested an association between pulmonary disorders such as COPD, pulmonary hypertension, and sarcoidosis; whether the presence of these disorders bodes a higher incidence of RLS is yet to be elucidated.
Current Knowledge/Study Rationale: Restless legs syndrome is a common neurological disorder. Several studies have looked at the prevalence of RLS but the incidence and correlates of RLS still need to be elucidated. The aim of the current study was to assess the incidence of RLS and its correlates in a prospective community-based cohort.
Study Impact: The study demonstrates a relatively high annual incidence of RLS and its association with estrogen use and obstructive lung disease. An awareness of this relationship would facilitate early diagnosis and management of RLS in these patient groups, which may, in turn, lead to a decrease in insomnia and sleeping pill use.
The aim of the current study was to assess the incidence of RLS and its correlates in a community-based cohort. We were especially interested in whether estrogen use or presence of obstructive pulmonary disorders results in a higher incidence of RLS. We used the data from the Tucson cohort of the Sleep Heart Health Study.
The Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS) is a multicenter, prospective cohort study implemented by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, primarily aimed at elucidating the relationship between sleep disordered breathing and cardiovascular diseases in participants aged ≥ 40 years in the United States.9 In the second examination cycle of the SHHS (SHHS-2) in 2002, questionnaire data were obtained regarding RLS symptoms. Approximately 4 years later in the Tucson cohort of SHHS, participants self-completed their follow-up survey which included these same questions. There were 535 participants who answered questions regarding RLS on both the surveys, and these were included in the analysis. The SHHS protocol was approved by the institutional review boards of all participating centers.
Participants were asked specific questions to determine the presence and severity of RLS ( Table 1). We defined RLS as presence of all 4 IRLSSG criteria, with symptoms occurring ≥ 5 days/month and associated with at least moderate distress. These questions attempted to ensure that participants met IRLSSG criteria and had persistent and distressing symptoms. Participants whose responses suggested possible alternate diagnoses (discomfort from leg cramps/pain while exercising [claudication]) were excluded to decrease false positives.4 Participants who had RLS based on these criteria in 2006, but not on first survey on RLS in 2002, constituted the incident RLS group.
Questions used to diagnose and measure the severity of RLS symptoms
(1a) "An urge to move your legs?" (yes / no / do not know)
(1b) "Unpleasant or uncomfortable feelings in your legs?" (yes / no / do not know)
(5a) "If both day and night, do they get worse at night?" (yes / no / do not know)
[i] Subjects were instructed to check one best answer. In accordance with IRLSSG criteria, a yes response was required to the first 3 questions. The symptoms had to be present during resting, sitting, or lying down positions (question 4) and had to occur primarily during the evening, nighttime, or bedtime (question 5). If the participant's response was "both day and night" (question 5), then the symptoms had to be worse at night (question 5a). For the current study, RLS was defined as present if in addition to participants meeting the above criteria; the symptoms occurred at least 5 days a month (question 7) and were associated with at least moderate distress (question 6).
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The participants also underwent overnight polysomnography in their homes, using a portable sleep-monitoring device that collected data on 12 channels, using electrodes attached to the head, face, and chest. Polysomnography was done during survey 1 (SHHS-2, 2002) only. Data obtained from polysomnography included: total sleep time, sleep onset latency, wake time after sleep onset, sleep efficiency, arousal index, and the apnea-hypopnea index. Sleep efficiency was defined as the percentage total time asleep divided by the total time in bed after lights off to the time of final awakening. The arousal index was defined as the total number of arousals in sleep divided by the total sleep time. Arousals were identified as abrupt shifts ≥ 3 sec in electroencephalogram frequency. Apneas were defined if airflow was absent or nearly absent for ≥ 10 sec; hypopneas were considered to be present if there was ≥ 30% reduction in airflow for ≥ 10 sec and were associated with ≥ 4% decrease in oxyhemoglobin saturation. The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) was defined as the number of apneas plus hypopneas per hour of sleep.
Data regarding sleep habits was obtained during both surveys 1 (SHHS-2, 2002) and 2 (2006). For insomnia responses, the following 3 questions were used: Do you "Have trouble falling asleep," "Wake up during the night, and have difficulty getting back to sleep," and "Wake up too early in the morning and be unable to get back to sleep." Response options were categorized into never, rarely (once a month or less), sometimes (2-4×/month), often (5-15×/month), and almost always (16-30×/month). Insomnia was defined as a present if the subjects answered "almost always" to any of these questions. In order to determine the daytime consequences of insomnia, subjects were asked if they "Feel unrested during the day no matter how many hours of sleep you had" or "Feel excessively (overly) sleepy during the day." Adverse daytime consequences were considered to be present if they had any of the above symptoms ≥ 5-15 times a month. Insomnia disorder was defined as presence of any of the insomnia symptoms along with adverse daytime consequences.10 Use of sleeping pills was defined as present if the response to the question "Do you use sleeping pills" was "often (5-15×/month)" or "almost always (16-30×/month)." Finally, participants were asked "How often do you snore?" Responses were classified as "do not snore," "rarely (less than one night a week)," "sometimes (1 or 2 nights a week)," "frequently (3 to 5 nights a week)," "always or almost always (6 or 7 nights a week),"and "don't know." Participants were classified as frequent snorers if they snored ≥ 3 to 5 nights a week. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), an 8-item self-report measure of sleepiness,11 was used to determine the level of daytime sleepiness. Scores range from 0 to 24, and values > 10 are generally considered to indicate excessive sleepiness.
Ethnicity, gender, education, and marital status were obtained from data already collected by the Tucson SHHS cohort. Data regarding medical history, medication use (including estrogen use), BMI, smoking, and alcohol consumption were also obtained from survey 1 done in 2002. Obstructive lung disease was defined as present if patient reported having asthma, chronic bronchitis, COPD, or emphysema.
The primary outcomes were the incidence and correlates of RLS. We evaluated the participants with no RLS at baseline (i.e., on 2002 survey). Among these, the participants who developed RLS on 2006 survey (incident RLS) were compared with those with no RLS on the 2006 survey. We compared baseline (survey 1) demographic factors, tobacco use, alcohol and medication use, presence of medical comorbidities and polysomnographic variables between those with and those without incident RLS using Student's t -test or χ2 test. We then included the variables significant at level p < 0.1 to construct multivariate regression models to determine factors independently associated with incident RLS. We also investigated the relationship between incident RLS, insomnia, daytime consequences of insomnia, sleeping pill use, and daytime sleepiness (ESS score > 10). Statistical significance was defined as 2-tailed p-value < 0.05.
There were 535 participants who answered questions regarding RLS on both surveys. Mean age of the study sample on survey 1 was 59.8 ± 9.7 years; 52.6% of the participants were women. Mean age was 59.4 ± 10.0 for women and 60.1 ± 9.4 for men (p = 0.49). It was a predominantly Caucasian population (90.8%). Mean BMI was 28.7 ± 5.6 kg/m2.
Based on IRLSSG criteria alone, 71 participants (13.3%) had restless leg symptoms on survey 1 and 123 (23%) on survey 2. Prevalence of RLS (IRLSSG criteria, with symptoms occurring ≥ 5 days/month and associated with at least moderate distress) on survey 1 was 4.1% (22/535). Participants with RLS were older (65.09 ± 9.8 vs. 59.53 ± 9.7, p = 0.009), had higher prevalence of insomnia (22.7% vs. 5.7%, p = 0.009), higher sleep latency on PSG (49.47 ± 62.23 min vs. 27.34 ± 32.2 min, p = 0.014), and tendency towards poor sleep efficiency (77.08% ± 13.8% vs. 81.99% ± 10.14%, p = 0.056). Prevalence of RLS on survey 2 was 7.7% (41/535).
The breakdown of incidence based on different frequency and severity criteria is shown in Figure 1. The annual incidence rate for RLS defined by IRLSSG criteria alone was 4.7%. In contrast, the annual incidence of RLS according to our definition which included occurrence ≥ 5 days/month and at least moderate distress was 1.7%. The comparison between the baseline characteristics of participants with and without incident RLS is shown in Table 2. All estrogen users were women. There was a higher prevalence of estrogen use and history of obstructive lung disease at baseline among those who developed RLS (Table 2). Conversely, estrogen users (n = 113) had higher incidence of RLS over 4 years than those who did not use estrogen (11.6% vs. 5.3%, p = 0.029). Similarly, patients with obstructive lung disease had higher incidence of RLS compared to those who did not have obstructive lung disease (12.5% vs. 5.0%, p = 0.009). Multivariable analyses confirmed significantly increased odds of developing RLS in estrogen users or those with a positive history of obstructive lung disorders (Table 3).
Baseline clinical, demographic, and polysomnographic characteristics (Survey 1, done in 2002) of subjects with incident RLS compared to subjects who did not develop RLS
* denotes statistically significant (p < 0.05).
Multiple logistic regression demonstrating odds for development of RLS
Incidence of RLS as defined by different criteria
(A) Incidence for RLS according to frequency of symptoms. (B) Incidence of RLS according to severity of symptoms. Severe distress associated with RLS was defined to be present if subjects reported that symptoms were a lot or extremely troublesome and moderate distress if the symptoms were moderately troublesome.
Participants with incident RLS had higher prevalence of insomnia disorder (insomnia with daytime consequences) and higher use of sleeping pill in the second survey in 2006 (Table 4).
Prevalence of different sleep complaints and sleeping pill use in Survey 2 (done in 2006) in participants with and without incident RLS
To our knowledge, this study is the first community-based study to look at the incidence of RLS and define its correlates. We found an annual incidence of RLS of 1.7%, while the incidence based upon IRLSSG criteria alone without severity measures was 4.7%. Factors associated with increased odds of developing RLS over a period of four years were estrogen use and a history of COPD, both of which conferred an almost three-fold risk of developing RLS. Estrogen use was associated with a significantly elevated risk of developing RLS in the current study. This supports previous literature suggesting an association between estrogen use and RLS. Further evidence of a role of estrogen is provided by the peak prevalence of RLS in pregnancy occurring in the third trimester, when estrogen levels are the highest.12 Dzaja et al. reported an association of elevated estrogen levels, but not other hormone or ferritin levels with RLS in pregnancy.13 Moreover, the prevalence of RLS is higher in parous women and increases with each additional pregnancy.3 While the mechanism of this association is still obscure, it has been postulated that estrogen, by acting directly at the D2 auto receptor or via increased turnover of brainstem noradrenaline, may interfere with dopaminergic transmission in the basal ganglia, thus contributing to RLS pathophysiology.12,14,15
Another novel and important finding of the current study was the higher incidence of RLS in participants with a history of obstructive lung disease. The association between these two disorders was first suggested in 1970 when a case series reported comorbid COPD in eight consecutive patients referred for neurological evaluation for severe RLS.16 Lococo et al. compared 87 COPD patients to 110 age and gender-matched controls, and found a three times higher prevalence of RLS in patients with COPD.17 The severity of RLS symptoms was also higher in COPD patients compared to controls with RLS.17 Another study reported that RLS was more frequent in subjects with COPD, especially those with late stages of COPD, and was associated with more severe airway obstruction, hypercapnia, and hypoxia.18 Furthermore, an increased prevalence of RLS has also been reported in patients with other pulmonary conditions such as sarcoidosis19 and pulmonary hypertension,20 as well as in lung transplant recipients.21
While the nature of the association between COPD and RLS is unclear, it may be hypothesized that hypoxemia is a contributing factor. Notably, recent literature demonstrates that hypoxic pathways may be activated in RLS. Hypoxic pathways may also be involved in the RLS pathophysiology associated with the well-documented brain iron deficiency state.22 The hypoxic pathways, particularly hypoxia inducible factor-1 (HIF-1), increase both tyrosine hydroxylase and the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Both of these changes have been documented in RLS. Connor et al. reported elevated tyrosine hydroxylase and phosphorylated tyrosine hydroxylase, the rate-limiting enzyme in the synthesis of dopamine, in nigro-stratial system in subjects with RLS.23 Another autopsy study demonstrated up-regulation of VEGF expression, as well as the HIF, in the brain microvasculature and substantia nigra neurons of RLS subjects.22 Hypoxic pathway is also activated in diverse cell types in subjects with RLS.22 Increased capillary network and VEGF have also been noted in tibialis anterior muscle of subjects with RLS.24 It is possible that hypoxia associated with COPD or other lung disorders could activate similar pathways and contribute to RLS.
In the current study, participants with incident RLS had a higher prevalence of insomnia ( Table 4). This is consistent with prior studies that demonstrate various sleep disturbances, including increased sleep latency, increased awakenings, difficulty in maintaining sleep, and lower sleep efficiency in RLS.25,26
Incident RLS was also associated with daytime sleepiness and sleeping pill use. Overall, neither the group with or that without incident RLS was sleepy (mean ESS < 10 for both, 7.8 ± 3.2 vs. 6.6 ± 3.9, respectively; p = 0.09). However, the proportion of sleepy people (ESS > 10) was higher in the RLS group (38.2%) than the other group (22%). These results are consistent with past studies, which demonstrate a weighted mean ESS score of 8.4 in RLS population, with 30% of RLS subjects having an ESS score > 10.27 The relatively modest degree of sleepiness is not, however, concordant with the profound sleep loss and insomnia reported by these patients. Sleepiness appears to increase in RLS, but unlike insomnia does not occur for most RLS patients. And when sleepiness occurs, it appears to be less than expected for the degree of sleep loss. We did not find a difference in sleeping pill use between sleepy (ESS > 10) or non-sleepy participants. As suggested by Fulda and Wetter, the factors predicting sleepiness in a subgroup of RLS subjects need to be elucidated.27
Further studies are also needed to understand the potential consequences such as decreased productivity and increased traffic accidents, and the resultant economic and social burden of RLS-related sleep abnormalities. Notably, a recent study showed a decrease in workplace productivity by 20% to 50% in RLS subjects.28
The study has several limitations. Firstly, the participants were predominantly Caucasian, and results may not be generalizable to non-Caucasian populations. Secondly, RLS was diagnosed by questionnaire and not confirmed by physicians. We tried to decrease false positives by excluding participants with symptoms suggestive of an RLS mimic (leg cramp symptoms or with symptoms associated with walking/exercising throughout the day). However, in view of the relatively low positive-predictive value of questionnaire utilizing self report of symptoms, it is likely that false positives were included in the RLS group. Thirdly, we did not have data regarding iron status, renal insufficiency, parity, and family history of RLS in our participants. Notably, altered iron metabolism is well-known correlate of RLS and it is possible that some or many of our findings could be explained by iron deficiency. However, in absence of these data, the contribution of altered iron homeostasis to the results is impossible to predict. Finally, all SHHS participants were older than 40 years of age, and the incidence and correlates of RLS in a younger population may be different.
In conclusion, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first community-based study looking at incidence of RLS. Estrogen use and obstructive lung disease were associated with higher likelihood of developing RLS, which in turn was associated with insomnia, increased daytime sleepiness, and higher use of sleeping pills. Considering the disease burden of RLS, these results have important clinical and public health implications. Further studies need to be designed looking at incidence of RLS in diverse populations, assessing the effect of parity, iron status, family history, and renal function on incident RLS and the socioeconomic burden associated with this condition.
This was not an industry supported study. Dr. Allen serves as a consultant for Pfizer, GlaxoSmithKline, and UCB Pharma. He also has received research support from GlaxoSmithKline. The other authors have indicated no financial conflicts of interest.
[5] After acceptance of this manuscript, the authors note the following recently published papers:Szentkiralyi A, Fendrich K, Hoffmann W, Happe S, Berger K. Incidence of restless legs syndrome in two population-based cohort studies in Germany. Sleep Med 2011;12:815-20 and Kagimura T, Nomura T, Kusumi M, Nakashima K, Inoue Y. Prospective survey on the natural course of restless legs syndrome over two years in a closed cohort. Sleep Med 2011;12: 821-26.
This work was supported by National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute cooperative agreements U01HL53940 (University of Washington), U01HL53941 (Boston University), U01HL53938 (University of Arizona), U01HL53916 (University of California, Davis), U01HL53934 (University of Minnesota), U01HL53931 (New York University), U01HL53937 and U01HL64360 (Johns Hopkins University), U01HL63463 (Case Western Reserve University), and U01HL63429 (Missouri Breaks Research).
Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS) acknowledges the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study (ARIC), the Cardiovascular Health Study (CHS), the Framingham Heart Study (FHS), the Cornell/Mt. Sinai Worksite and Hypertension Studies, the Tucson Epidemiologic Study of Airways Obstructive Diseases (TES) and the Tucson Health and Environment Study (H&E) for allowing their cohort members to be part of the SHHS and for permitting data acquired by them to be used in the study. SHHS is particularly grateful to the members of these cohorts who agreed to participate in SHHS as well. SHHS further recognizes all of the investigators and staff who have contributed to its success. A list of SHHS investigators, staff and their participating institutions is available on the SHHS website, http://www.jhucct.com/shhs.
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Verbraecken J, Hoitsma E, van der Grinten CP, Cobben NA, Wouters EF, Drent M, authors. Sleep disturbances associated with periodic leg movements in chronic sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis Vasc Diffuse Lung Dis. 2004;21:137–46. [PubMed]
Minai OA, Malik N, Foldvary N, Bair N, Golish JA, authors. Prevalence and characteristics of restless legs syndrome in patients with pulmonary hypertension. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2008;27:335–40. [PubMed]
Minai OA, Golish JA, Yataco JC, Budev MM, Blazey H, Giannini C, authors. Restless legs syndrome in lung transplant recipients. J Heart Lung Transplant. 2007;26:24–9. [PubMed]
Patton SM, Ponnuru P, Snyder AM, Podskalny GD, Connor JR, authors. Hypoxia-inducible factor pathway activation in restless legs syndrome patients. Eur J Neurol. 2011;18:1329–35. [PubMed]
Connor JR, Wang XS, Allen RP, et al., authors. Altered dopaminergic profile in the putamen and substantia nigra in restless leg syndrome. Brain. 2009;132:2403–12. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Wahlin-Larsson B, Ulfberg J, Aulin KP, Kadi F, authors. The expression of vascular endothelial growth factor in skeletal muscle of patients with sleep disorders. Muscle Nerve. 2009;40:556–61. [PubMed]
Hornyak M, Feige B, Voderholzer U, Philipsen A, Riemann D, authors. Polysomnography findings in patients with restless legs syndrome and in healthy controls: a comparative observational study. Sleep. 2007;30:861–5. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Winkelman JW, Redline S, Baldwin CM, Resnick HE, Newman AB, Gottlieb DJ, authors. Polysomnographic and health-related quality of life correlates of restless legs syndrome in the Sleep Heart Health Study. Sleep. 2009;32:772–8. [PubMed Central][PubMed]
Fulda S, Wetter TC, authors. Is daytime sleepiness a neglected problem in patients with restless legs syndrome? Mov Disord. 2007;22 Suppl 18:S409–13. [PubMed]
Allen RP, Bharmal M, Calloway M, authors. Prevalence and disease burden of primary restless legs syndrome: results of a general population survey in the United States. Mov Disord. 2011;26:114–20. [PubMed]

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The community boasts 900 acres situated on the south side of Highway 50, with homes ranging from intimate and charming to palatial and majestic. Blackstone is set to include a number of parks, but already boasts miles of trails and 350 acres of open space. In caring for and cultivating the local environment, planners have also incorporated solar features and a recycled water program.
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Located just 25 miles from Sacramento and 60 miles from the shores of Lake Tahoe, Blackstone and its surrounding neighborhoods offer easy access to the region's finest amenities and businesses. From world-class ski slopes to Folsom Lake, and the State Capitol to Intel, El Dorado Hills is the heart of all that's happening in Northern California.
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May 8 ( Bloomberg) -- In the five years that John Silvetz made about $700 million for Deutsche Bank AG by trading corporate bonds and credit derivatives, the amount of his annual bonus paid in cash dropped to 20 percent from almost 70 percent.
The rest, earned by betting on companies from American International Group Inc. to MBIA Inc., was locked up in deferred stock and euros, according to people familiar with the matter, who declined to be identified because they're not authorized to discuss compensation. In September, Silvetz, 37, jumped to hedge fund BlueCrest Capital Management LLP. He was the last of a trio of New York debt traders who departed after making $1 billion for the German lender in two years, the people said.
Wall Street's biggest banks have lost almost two dozen of their most-profitable credit traders in the past 13 months as regulators limit the kind of risk-taking that amplified the housing crisis four years ago. As banks slash or defer pay and reduce the amount they're willing to wager, the traders are seeing better opportunities at hedge funds and investment firms that seek to profit in markets lenders are retreating from.
"People who were contributing quite a bit to the overall profitability of the firms are forced to move on," said Doug Shaener, managing partner at Quest Group, a New York-based executive search consulting firm that specializes in financial services. "You're seeing individuals looking to go to places where they obviously aren't as regulated, where they don't have as many restrictions in terms of their trading."
Responding to Pressure
More than three years after bad bets on housing led to the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and emergency sales of Bear Stearns Cos. and Merrill Lynch& Co., lenders are responding to toughened capital rules that damp risk-taking and make trades costlier.
In the U.S., the so-called Volcker rule, the provision in the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act named for former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, will set limits on risk-taking by depositories with government backing.
Traders are fleeing cash bonuses that were capped last year at 65,000 pounds ($105,000) at U.K. lender Barclays Plc, 100,000 euros ($131,000) at Frankfurt-based Deutsche Bank and $125,000 at Morgan Stanley in New York, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. For some at Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America Corp., cash bonuses were limited to $150,000.
'Buyer's Market'
Hedge funds are offering managing director-level traders salaries of about $200,000 to $250,000, said Michael Karp, managing partner at New York executive recruiter Options Group. Some of the largest hedge funds may pay bonuses of as much as 12 percent of traders' profits, or an even bigger percentage of their earnings after the firm takes a 2 percent cut, according to Options Group.
Unlike the banks, the funds typically pay 50 percent or more of bonuses to their highest earners in cash, according to New York-based compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates Inc. The rest may be locked up in funds the firms manage.
"It's a buyer's market" for the hedge funds, Karp said. "People are figuring out how to trade in this new world."
Silvetz's departure from Deutsche Bank followed those of Prakash Narayanan and Thomas Curran, who together made more than $1 billion for Germany's biggest bank in 2009 and 2010, the people with direct knowledge of the situation said. Silvetz, Narayanan and Curran declined to comment.
Barclays Departures
Brian Maggio left Barclays's credit-trading team in New York in March for Millennium Management LLC, a hedge fund with $15.6 billion invested. In the five years ended in December, the trader made an estimated $375 million for Barclays and Lehman, where he worked until the firm filed for bankruptcy in September 2008, according to two people familiar with the matter. Maggio's exit followed those of Barclays colleagues Jason Quinn and Peter Agnes, both of whom went to Caxton Associates LP in New York.
Maggio and Quinn declined to comment. Agnes, who didn't respond to messages left on his mobile phone, was part of a proprietary-trading group dealing in credit markets that wouldn't be allowed under the Volcker rule and has been shut down, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Barclays is among banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley that have shut proprietary-trading groups.
Goldman Sachs credit traders Matthew Knopman and Philip Ha left the New York firm earlier this year, with Knopman starting at Anchorage Capital Group LLC this month and Ha going to MKP Capital Management LLC, people familiar with the moves said in March. Rob Jackson joined Cyrus Capital Partners LP from Goldman Sachs in February.
TCW Hire
High-yield bond trader Jerry Cudzil departed Morgan Stanley to head U.S. credit trading at TCW Group Inc., which was managing $73.3 billion in fixed-income assets as of March 31. Peter Viles, a spokesman for Los Angeles-based TCW, confirmed the hire.
BlueCrest this month added Deutsche Bank credit trader Stefano Galiani, according to three people familiar with the matter. It brought on Morgan Stanley's Eugene Gokhvat in April, according to BlueCrest spokesman Ed Orlebar, who said he couldn't comment about Galiani.
Representatives of Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America declined to comment.
"Many of the major investment banks just don't have the capital they used to, and a lot of that is because of the Volcker rule," Marc Lasry, co-founder of Avenue Capital Group LLC, said May 2 in an interview with Bloomberg TV's Stephanie Ruhle at the Milken Institute Global Conference.
'Very Different Business'
Regulations limiting banks' proprietary trading "has been great" for his New York-based hedge fund, he said. "Nobody's really competing with you as much as they used to."
Unlike equities, fixed-income trades typically are privately negotiated outside exchanges, increasing the fees traders collect by making bids and offers because they're more difficult to execute.
To make markets in debt securities, banks typically risk their own capital to buy assets from clients before lining up someone else to sell them to, sometimes making bets on the direction of markets. The new rules are curbing that, turning traders more into middlemen.
"It's turning into a very different business than it once was," John Reed, head of credit trading at Kohlberg, Kravis Roberts and Co. in San Francisco, said in a telephone interview.
Reed joined the private-equity firm in 2008 from Bear Stearns, the investment bank that sold itself to JPMorgan that year to avoid collapse.
Implementing Volcker
"The banks have reduced capital allocation to trading desks and cut back traders' ability to take risk," he said.
The 21 primary dealers that trade directly with the Fed have cut holdings of corporate debt due in more than a year to the lowest level in almost a decade. Inventories soared to as high as $235 billion in October 2007, before dropping to as low as $40.4 billion on Feb. 22, Bloomberg data show.
Revenue from trading among the nine-largest U.S. and European investment banks, excluding accounting gains, dropped 16 percent to $120 billion in 2011 amid the escalating European sovereign-debt crisis, Bloomberg data show.
"Trading had a very poor year on Wall Street, so bonuses were down and so many people were cheaper than they would have been a year or two ago," Johnson said. "We probably have not reached equilibrium yet because I don't think anybody knows quite how the Dodd-Frank and the Volcker rules and all that, how that's really going to shake out."
Lenders will have two years to implement the Volcker rule as long as they make a "good faith" effort to comply with the ban on proprietary trading, U.S. regulators said April 19.
Dimon Lobbies
The Volcker rule "matters more" in credit markets "because transactions are typically over-the-counter," said Roger Joseph, co-chair of financial services at law firm Bingham McCutchen LLP.
Chief executives from JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America -- three of the five biggest U.S. banks by assets -- lobbied the Fed on May 2 to soften proposed reforms that might crimp their profits, saying that new rules would harm financial markets.
JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon sent a 38-page letter to shareholders last month, saying that while he agrees with the Volcker rule's intent to eliminate "pure" proprietary trading and ensure market-making won't jeopardize banks, the rule must be written so that it doesn't put U.S. banks at a global disadvantage.
"We cannot and should not be in a position where the rule affects U.S. banks outside the United States but not our foreign competition," Dimon, 56, wrote.
London Whale
Along with its competitors, JPMorgan has shut groups in its investment bank that specialized in speculative bets with the company's own money. At the same time, the bank has kept some of its biggest risk-takers in its chief investment office, with a team that has amassed as much as $200 billion in investments, booking a profit of $5 billion in 2010 alone, a former senior executive, who asked not to be identified because he wasn't authorized to discuss the matter, said last month.
Bruno Iksil, a London-based trader for the group dubbed by some in the market as the London Whale, gained attention this year after moving credit derivatives with trades so large they distorted price relationships, market participants who asked not to be identified said last month.
Financial institutions also are adapting to higher capital requirements set by the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, and a slowdown in the global economy being fueled by Europe's sovereign-debt crisis. Banks reduced employment by more than 120,000 worldwide last year, Bloomberg data show.
Eroded Volumes
While traders have historically headed for hedge funds with the hope of bigger paydays, Wall Street banks previously offered greater job security and a higher volume of business. That's changed, said Gregory Cresci, an executive recruiter at Odyssey Search Partners in New York.
"A lot of these guys were sitting atop a mountain of trading volume and revenue, much of which has eroded beneath them," he said. "So it's logical that they decide to leave or are no longer needed."
Silvetz, who joined Deutsche Bank in 2001, generated about $225 million in profit for the firm in 2009 with trades that included wagers American International Group, the insurer rescued by the U.S. government in 2008, was in better financial condition than its bonds suggested, according to people familiar with the situation who declined to comment because they weren't authorized to discuss the trades.
MBIA Trades
Silvetz also accurately predicted credit-default swaps protecting against a default by bond insurer MBIA would plunge.
Before Silvetz's departure last year, Narayanan and Curran left Deutsche Bank for hedge funds Saba Capital Management LP and Rose Grove Capital Management LLC. Narayanan had been with Deutsche Bank since 2002, and Curran was an employee since 2004, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records show.
Deutsche Bank, which during the credit crisis reported $22.6 billion in losses and writedowns that were less than rivals including Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, saw the departures this year of Scott Martin and C.J. Lanktree, who traded distressed debt. They started working at Solus Alternative Asset Management.
Neil Yaris, who headed high-yield sales and trading at Bank of America, left in February for Luxor Capital Group LP, the New York-based hedge fund run by Christian Leone.
Jefferies Hires
Bank of America, which recorded $115.5 billion of writedowns and losses in the credit crisis, cut pay by 25 percent on average last year, Bloomberg data show.
Smaller investment banks not touched by the Volcker rule are also adding credit traders from the biggest institutions.
Jefferies Group Inc., the New York-based securities firm led by Chairman and Chief Executive Office Richard Handler, hired at least seven corporate debt traders, including Tim Sullivan from UBS AG, Richard Roche and David Murphy from Morgan Stanley, and Sean George from Deutsche Bank. In April, it hired credit trader Ji Pak from JPMorgan, Finra records show.
The best-performing traders are landing hedge-fund jobs even as the industry is in its fourth year of underperforming stocks. Funds returned an average 3.4 percent this year through April, Bloomberg data show, compared with a 12 percent return from the Standard & Poor's 500 Index.
No 'Buffalo' Migration
Investors still poured $16 billion in new capital into hedge funds during the first quarter, boosting assets to a record high of $2.13 trillion, according to Hedge Fund Research Inc., a Chicago-based research firm. Relative-value hedge funds that focus on fixed-income markets received a net $12.4 billion, the most of any strategy.
"Hedge funds don't employ that many people. So I think the migration is not the wild buffalo across the prairie or something," Johnson said.
Financial firms boosted base salaries starting in 2009 as they de-emphasized bonuses, which lawmakers said encouraged bigger-than-average risks that fueled the financial crisis and still make up the bulk of pay packages.
Employees at the largest investment banks got an average salary increase of 3 percent last year, compared with 14 percent at smaller investment banks and 13 percent at fund managers, according to an online survey of 2,860 financial professionals by eFinancialCareers.com.
'Talented Traders'
When year-end bonuses were included, average pay in 2012 fell for workers at companies including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan's investment bank. As bonuses dropped, some banks raised base salaries that in past years contributed a small portion of pay for senior employees.
"They're talented traders, they contributed a lot to the overall performance of the firms, but it's a changing world," Quest Group's Shaener said, referring generally to traders being hired by asset managers.
"In some cases they want to move on, and in some cases it's not necessarily an option because their roles and the businesses they were part of are no longer what the firm is looking to invest in," Shaener said.
--With assistance from Michael J. Moore and Erik Schatzker in New York. Editors: Shannon D. Harrington, Robert Burgess.
To contact the reporters on this story: Lisa Abramowicz in New York at firstname.lastname@example.com; Christine Harper in New York at email@example.com; Saijel Kishan in New York at email@example.com.
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Dave White Profile
Dave White
Your Movies.com Man at the Multiplex
Dave White's first movie review was of the animated feature Snoopy Come Home. He was seven years old...Read full profile
Your Movies.com Man at the Multiplex
Dave White's first movie review was of the animated feature Snoopy Come Home. He was seven years old...Read full profile
I love you. See you later. Read full review
Critics scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.
out of 100
Metascore®Mixed or average reviewsbased on a weighted average of allcritic review scores.
The movie moves at such an agonizingly stately pace that by the end, side effects be damned, Henry's time-traveling gene starts to look mighty appealing.
Read Full Review
A slog rather than the sweeping romance it aspires to be.
German-born director Robert Schwentke ("Flightplan") keep things moving briskly enough so that the leaps in time mostly obscure the leaps in logic.
Bana and McAdams are sweet together, with matching dimples and starry eyes, and we grow eager to see them remain in the same place. In the end, that's all there is to the movie, really. It's a time-travel fantasy in search of a cozy love seat.
See all The Time Traveler's Wife reviews at Metacritic.com
OK for kids 15+
Tearjerker is too gloomy for tweens and younger teens.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this tearjerker, though romantic, may prove too gloomy for tweens and younger teens. The central couple shares a powerful love, but their relationship is constantly tested, sometimes to the breaking point, and there are few moments of levity. Expect some nudity (though primarily in a non-sexual context), swearing ("s--t" is the strongest word used), and a few bloody, though not gory, scenes. There's also discussion of heavy topics like free will, miscarriage, death, and losing a parent.
Messages: Though parts of the film are quite gloomy, there's an overall sense that life is full of meaning and love. Clare adores Henry as he is and not as she imagines him to be, which is admirable.
Role models: Clare and Henry are devoted to each other, despite the huge challenges they face. They do quarrel and pull away from each other at times, but inevitably, love wins out. Henry commits some petty crimes (stealing, breaking and entering, cheating) out of necessity due to his condition -- he doesn't shy away from doing these things, but it's clear that he wishes he didn't have to. You could argue that Henry manipulates Clare's life unfairly, but for the most part she doesn't seem to mind.
Violence: Early in the movie, there are some perilous/fiery scenes of an intense car accident. There's also some fistfighting (with some injuries), and a man is shot and is shown bleeding. Characters hunt with rifles. A woman bleeds heavily during a miscarriage. A man gets slapped after speaking harshly to a woman.
Sex: A couple gets in bed a few times and is shown passionately kissing and caressing each other; they later appear below the sheets with their shoulders bared -- when she gets out of bed, you see her naked from the rear (including buttocks). Several shots of Henry naked from behind/sideways, but the only sensitive body part shown is his buttocks. One scene shows Clare in the bath, but only her stomach and extremities are visible.
Language: Language includes "s--t" (several times, often as a reaction to seeing Henry disappear for the first time...), "a--hole," "damn," "hell," "goddamn," "son of a bitch," and "oh my God."
Consumerism: Not an issue
Drinking, drugs and smoking: Two characters are chided for drinking too much, though both seem to recover/give it up. Some social drinking (wine, beer, etc.) by adults.
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NEW YORK — When Jennifer Aniston heard last month that Jason Sudeikis was exiting "Saturday Night Live," she sent the comic actor a text. "So sad you're leaving — selfishly — but good for you. An enormous life awaits," she wrote.
Her advice in person was a little more portentous.
"Brace yourself for what the next year will feel like," the actress said to Sudeikis as she sipped coffee with him at a downtown hotel last week. Aniston had retired her own signature persona, "Friends" mainstay Rachel Green, after more than a decade, and she knew there was a tendency to underestimate the feelings involved.
PHOTOS: Hollywood backlot moments
"It's an empty, gaping wound that creeps up and hits you out of nowhere," she continued. "You suddenly don't have the structure and the family."
Sudeikis nodded. "But at least when you stopped, you guys shut down the show. I'll be down the street Tuesday night, which is the hardest night at 'SNL' — writing night — phantom-typing on my desk," he said with a hint of moroseness.
New beginnings are on the minds of both actors as they prepare for the release on Wednesday of their comedy "We're the Millers." Sudeikis, 37, and Aniston, 44, each play lost souls — he a down-on-his-luck pot dealer and she a struggling stripper — who enlist a pair of teenagers (Emma Roberts and Will Poulter) to pose as a fake family so they can smuggle a stash of drugs from Mexico in an RV as part of a get-rich-quick scheme. The R-rated film from director Rawson Marshall Thurber ("Dodgeball") — made with the help of a quartet of credited writers and plenty of improvs from Sudeikis — takes the family road-trip comedy pioneered by movies such as "Vacation" and adds a subversive twist.
The film thrusts Sudeikis into a new light. As he prepares to leave the NBC show on which he's toiled as an actor and writer for the last 10 years, he is tackling a lead role in a Hollywood movie for the first time, toggling between a chirpy fake suburban dad and rough-around-the-edges arrested adolescent.
Aniston is experiencing her own shift. After going against type with a supporting part as a sexually aggressive dentist in 2011's "Horrible Bosses," she pushes further here with a lead role involving, among other things, an elaborate exotic dance in lingerie to get her fake family out of trouble.
"I'm always fighting the 'Is this like Rachel?' hanging over my head," Aniston said, citing filmmakers' unwillingness to allow her to break from girl-next-door roles. "I'm doing something like this movie to make things a little more interesting to myself but also to surprise people with elements of what I can do." (She tries once more in September with a role in the harder-edged Elmore Leonard adaptation "Life of Crime," which closes the Toronto International Film Festival.)
Sudeikis and Aniston offer contrasting comedic styles — he the Second City veteran and improv master, she the star of a long-running multicamera sitcom. Though that might seem like a wobbly combination, the pair said it proved a good mix on "Millers."
Sudeikis would draw on his background to line up a series of quick-hit improvs. He helped come up with a raunchy joke in a scene involving a Pictionary game (let's just say a skateboard, male genitalia and famed overseas military mission are involved) and sneakily subbed in the "Friends" theme song during a TLC musical cue to get a rise from Aniston. (The scene winds up in the end-credits.)
He also had to roll with it while Nick Offerman, as a square road-tripper encountered along the way, spontaneously inserted his finger in Sudeikis' ear during an awkward, sexually charged scene. Not missing a beat, Sudeikis began massaging Offerman's privates.
ON LOCATION: People and places behind what's onscreen
"Jason comes at comedy like a boxer," Offerman said. "He's always dancing around, sometimes throwing jabs, sometimes throwing hooks."
Aniston's comedy, meanwhile, is far more low-key — to some critics, even generic. But those who worked on this movie said she brings her own skill to balance Sudeikis' comedic rat-a-tat.
"There's something incredibly difficult about taking a written line and making it seem like the most natural thing in the world," Thurber said. "I don't know if Jen gets enough credit for that."
On-set skills were especially necessary on this movie. The "We're the Millers" script was one of those Hollywood projects that sat on the shelf for nearly a decade, with a revolving door of actors and directors unable to get it off the ground at Warner Bros.' New Line. It was only jumpstarted with the interest of Sudeikis and Aniston, who had worked together on "Bosses" and the lightly seen action comedy "The Bounty Hunter," and whose big-screen stock was rising. Sudeikis' attachment spurred Aniston to do the same, and the project was finally greenlit.
Still, the iterations took their toll. Though the movie has a number of laugh-out-loud set pieces, Aniston acknowledges they were "plugging up holes" right through production — not least because it isn't easy to capture the right tone in a movie about a pot dealer pretending to be a suburban husband so he can smuggle drugs.
"There was a lot of up-to-the-last-minute stuff, and then the clock ran out and we had to start shooting," Aniston said.
"So we did it on the set," Sudeikis added. On the first day of production, a surprise sandstorm blew in and caused a shutdown. "It was like, 'There's a flag on the field,'" Sudeikis said. "It allowed us to huddle up and say, 'OK, how are we going to do this?'"
Sudeikis, deadpan and a little shy in person, says he's found the process of promoting the movie while his "SNL" news has broken tricky, calling the experience, with a mixture of appreciation and caution, "like attending my own funeral."
Still, despite the challenges — plenty of "SNL" veterans don't go on to flourishing film careers, after all — he hopes this role marks the beginning of a new chapter.
It's a hope endorsed by his collaborators. "Jason has this ability on-screen to be really charming but just a little bit of a jerk, like Bill Murray at the height of his power," Thurber said.
That good-guy veneer allows him to play a corrupting influence — a man who, as he has in recent film roles, goads people to kill their boss ("Horrible Bosses"), cheat on their wife ("Hall Pass") and commit major drug felonies.
It's the kind of edgy part he says he likes. But Sudeikis--incidentally on a new personal phase as well with his engagement to Olivia Wilde--also may not mind something a little less odious next time out.
"It would be nice to play someone who's using his charm for a little more good in the world, maybe a pet detective, like Ace Ventura," he said. "Or maybe Fletch. Investigative journalist. Who can argue with that?"


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HTC HD7S is a re-branded version of the HTC HD7. The phone is equipped with a 4.3-inch WVGA Super LCD display which is the largest in the WP7 lineup, but even more intriguing is the fact that the phone will ship with an updated version of Microsoft's platform supporting copy and paste. On the hardware side you get a 1GHz single-core processor, while in the camera department you have a 5-megapixel snapper.


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Review Date: Monday, February 18, 2013
International Hearing Society
ASHA offers two services on this web site to assist you in searching for a speech-language pathologist or audiologist.
Review Date: Tuesday, January 19, 2016
American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Audiologists evaluate, diagnose, treat, and manage hearing loss and balance disorders in adults and children. Find an audiologist in your area.
Review Date: Wednesday, May 28, 2014
American Academy of Audiology
Your baby should have a hearing screening within the first month of life. It's important to detect deafness or hearing loss as early as possible.
Find information about hearing aids, including getting a medical evaluation by an audiologist, available styles, special features, costs and health insurance.
Review Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Answers questions about hearing aids including how hearing aids help, how they work, what to look for when purchasing a hearing aid, and how to take care of a hearing aid.
Review Date: Thursday, February 14, 2013
The information on this page is about hearing instruments on how they enhance life, selecting hearing instruments, types of hearing instruments, and how to maintain hearing instruments.
This fact sheets offers a checklist for hearing loss to help older adults determine if they should see a doctor, and discusses treatments and devices that can help.
Noise is one of the most common causes of hearing loss, and one of the most common occupational illnesses in the United States. Learn what you can do to protect your hearing.
Review Date: Friday, October 31, 2014
Better Hearing Institute
People with hearing loss delay treatment may be unaware that receiving early treatment for hearing loss can transform their lives. Learn how hearing aids, assistive listening devices, hearing loss treatment professionals and counselors can offer you help.
This flow chart is designed to help direct you if hearing loss is a problem for you or a family member. You can check your symptoms to decide on self-care or getting professional help.
Review Date: Thursday, December 18, 2014
American Academy of Family Physicians
Refer to this printable bookmark to learn which noises can cause damage to your hearing. Wear ear plugs when you are involved in a loud activity.
Review Date: Thursday, March 03, 2016
This page links to frequently asked questions about hearing loss in older adults. Questions cover the types of hearing loss, the role noise plays in hearing loss, and more.
NIH National Library of Medicine - NLM
When exposed to harmful noise—sounds that are too loud or loud sounds that last a long time—sensitive structures in our inner ear can be damaged, causing noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Learn what you can do to prevent hearing loss.
This site provides information for parents of children with hearing loss, including helpful information and resources, background on early intervention, the use of technology and other support available to children and their families.
Clearinghouse on Disability Information, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
Presbycusis is the loss of hearing that gradually occurs in most individuals as they grow older. This document discusses causes and strategies to help people with presbycusis..
Use the map or search by zip code to find a board certified hearing health professional near you.
National Board for Certification in Hearing Instrument Sciences
Take this online quiz to determine if you may have a hearing problem and need to have your hearing evaluated further by a medical professional.
For the more than 20 million people in the U.S. with hearing loss, travel can pose particular challenges. Here are some helpful tips to make travel easier and more enjoyable for individuals with hearing impairments.
Learn what assistive listening devices are and how these devices can be used with or without a hearing aid to improve the daily communication challenges faced by the hard-of-hearing.
Review Date: Wednesday, February 06, 2013
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Executive Summary: Intel's technology for safer computing, Intel® Trusted Execution Technology (Intel® TXT), defines platform-level enhancements that provide the building blocks for creating trusted platforms.
Whenever the word trust is used, there must be a definition of who is doing the trusting and what is being trusted. This enhanced platform helps to provide the authenticity of the controlling environment such that those wishing to rely on the platform can make an appropriate trust decision. The enhanced platform determines the identity of the controlling environment by accurately measuring the controlling software (see Section 1.1).
Another aspect of the trust decision is the ability of the platform to resist attempts to change the controlling environment. The enhanced platform will resist attempts by software processes to change the controlling environment or bypass the bounds set by the controlling environment.
What is the controlling environment for this enhanced platform? The platform is a set of extensions designed to provide a measured and controlled launch of system software that will then establish a protected environment for itself and any additional software that it may execute.


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Trying to find a private immigration consulting team with professionals in parts of business, receiving abilities, and loved ones long lasting house visas for Canada might not be effortless, but it should be noted how the malfunction amount for on the web visa app is as high as about 30%, so it is worthy of investing time to search for the best consultants. TX Abogado De Accidentes
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- The first step is surely an immigration analysis. This is why.
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The failing level is due to improper paperwork and technicalities getting presented, which can be repaired by pros. Canada is a leader in trying to find workers utilizing countries, but recent authorities cutbacks have lowered the number of immigration employees at embassies and for that reason increases the trouble for thinking about immigrants to have visas. The increased competition for any limited number of Canada immigration places ensures that only candidates with the greatest equipped apps are allowed in to the nation. ciudadania
The Canada immigration policies and programs can be puzzling which could result in a fallen application caused by a technicality. Typically, embassies summarise the regulations and do no obviously condition the problems. The professionals deal with these immigration respective authorities to obtain the most up-to-date regulations. The professional then works with probable immigrants to correctly submit software for a increased rate of success in Canadian immigration. They also have the capability to publish an application towards the most pertinent expert.
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(visited by Barry Staley and Hugh E Staley)
14-Mar-2002 -- This confluence was just off of I-5 near the Kettleman City
exit. In the small town take the A paved road that goes
down the street and back over the freeway. Just over the
freeway a gate with a no tresspassing sign was there but
the gate was open and a paved road went beyond this point.
A man in a pickup came by from the opposite side of the
gate and asked what we were doing and we told him. He was
a retired oil company worker out inspecting the oil fields.
He said go ahead as the road is on public land. Anyway
someone had broken the locks. We left the car and walked
to the end of the paved road about ¾ mile and the confluence
was just up a ridge from there. It was in a abondened oil field
just across the freeway from the little city of Kettleman City .


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From Williams Sonoma
We designed and developed our exclusive line of stainless-steel kitchen tools by drawing upon more than fifty years of culinary experience. These professional-quality utensils are crafted of heavy-gauge stainless steel and ergonomically shaped for excellent balance and control—for a difference you can really feel in the hand. This pasta fork has one long slot instead of the customary holes—a... Read more


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Warning: The following recap contains big ol' spoilers from the Castle season finale.
As the Castle Season 5 finale drew to a close, Rick and Kate found themselves back at the swings, this time seated facing in opposite directions — was "play time" over?
RELATED | Fall TV: ABC Renews Castle, Revenge, Once Upon a Time and 8 Other Shows
THE CASE | After one resident of a fleabag apartment building takes a literal blood bath (or, well, shower), a fellow tenant is found dead in the rooftop water tank. The vic is at first ID'd as a prostitute dubbed "Crystal Sky," but in actuality she was Erika, an honor student from Harvard, and she was using the building's wi-fi to hack the files of a tony law firm.
Turns out, Erika's friend Pamela — an intern at the firm — had died in a suspicious car crash. One of the firm's politically connected clients, Colin Rigsdale III, had been driving, but it had all been covered up. Erika was to meet a whistleblower on the roof, but instead had been lured there by Rigsdale's thug of a half-brother, who killed her just as he snuffed her contact inside the firm.
We pause here briefly to congratulate parents-to-be Ryan and Jenny!
Beckett squares off with the hired killer in the interrogation room. With a million thoughts about the FBI job she's been offered [see below] rattling around inside her head, she vents, "This room has been my life… and I will not let you sit there and lie to me, in my own home." Confronting him with damning evidence, she argues — in keeping with the episode's larger theme — "How many years are you going to sacrifice for someone else's future?"
Beckett's "last case" closed…?
RELATED | Castle Creator: 'Emotional Cliffhanger' Finale Sets Up a 'Complicated' Season 6
THE CASKETT | Where to start? Kate sneaks down to D.C. for the task force job interview that Tony Almeida set her up with, and while she's at first dismissive of her credentials (being just a homicide detective), she is assured, "The Attorney General wants people who can get the job done." The interviewer notes, "You know that you're headed for bigger things [and] opportunities like this come along once, twice in a lifetime." Her uncertainty quashed, Beckett rebuffs his offer of the door and sticks around to impress his socks off.
When RySpo and Rick catch the case of the water tank girl, Kate arrives last on the scene, keeping her D.C. trip secret, but it visibly weighs on her throughout coming scenes. Ultimately, after learning 1) that Gates gave her the highest recommendation possible to the FBI and 2) that she is on a short list of candidates, Kate confides in Lanie her dilemma: "[Rick and I] are in this relationship but we never talk about where we're going. But if I get that job…" "You're going to have to," Lanie finishes. "Maybe that's not such a bad thing?" Kate, though, frets, "But what if it is?"
The jig is soon enough up when Rick discovers Kate's boarding pass, and no version of "It was just an interview" will soothe the sting he feels. Kate contends, "This isn't about us. This is about me and my life, a chance to do more." "Without me," Rick emphasizes. Driving his point home, he says, "You knew what this could mean and it didn't occur to you to include me. Or worse, it did occur to you, and you chose not to. What's that say about us? Not much, if you ask me." And he walks out.
Rick reviews the situation with his mother, but she offers cold comfort: "You want her to put you first with neither of you knowing where you're going!" Martha points out that her son has never held back in his relationships, except when it comes to Katherine. "Is that because deep down inside, you don't think this is gonna really work?"
Kate meanwhile confabs with her father, who's proud as can be of his girl. "If I take this job, there'll be no time for anyone else." And if she doesn't, there'll be resentment. "Or worse," she muses. "We've been doing this dance for the past five years — what happens when the music stops? What if all we were in love with was the dance?"
Later, after Rick has already said "goodbye" to one of the other women in his life — Costa Rica-bound Alexis, with whom he shares, "There comes a point in life where we have to see things as they really are" [eep!] — he gets a call from Kate, who has just been offered the plum D.C. gig. "We need to talk," she says, cuing up an intense, emotional sitdown at the swings.
THE CLIMAX | "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kept secrets," Kate starts upon taking a seat. "It's who you are, you don't let people in," Rick responds. He then continues, "I've been doing a lot of thinking about us, what we have, where we're headed…. I've decided that I want more. We both deserve more." "I agree," Kate nods. "So whatever happens," Rick says, "whatever you decide…
"Katherine Houghton Beckett — will you marry me?"
What did you think of Rick and Kate's "Watershed" moment? Does this turn of events bode well for the just-renewed series, going into Season 6?


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History of Russian Film Course
Film has a curious way of bringing people together through emotion and storylines of ordinary human issues. Professor Galina Aksenova, a returning Department of Russian artist in residence, shared this interest and dedicated nearly half of spring semester to teaching "History of Russian Film: From Einstein to Tarkovsky and Beyond."
Aksenova is chair of film studies and associate professor of film at the Moscow Art Theater School in Moscow, Russia. She has written scholarly pieces revolving around Russian Film and television and has visited Grinnell on several occasions. This semester's visit was intended to advance the passion of studying film to students with the new course co-taught with Anatoly Vishevsky.
"Film is so vital to teach, especially when we are dealing with an age that is very visual," said Aksenova.
Her zeal for teaching film was evident in her taking time off from her own school in Moscow to teach Grinnell students. The course, taught in English, examined the progression of Russian film from silent adaptations to more contemporary cinema. The class's appeal stemmed from learning how films are indicative of Russian culture.
According to Phillip Brogdon '12, the lectures and readings synthesized the disciplines of history and cinema studies. "Learning from her has been one of the highlights of my Grinnell academic experience thus far," Brogdon said.
Aksenova emphasized the need for her students to identify and value the objectives of a film, the history of film, and overall how films are done.
"I would like them to appreciate film and how it can be distinguished as an art form," said Aksenova. "I want them to understand how the meaning of a film changes through language, how politics use cinema strongly, and to know how the audience is being manipulated."
The class wound up teaching both Aksenova and the students. A community was created, as Aksenova observed the students working together as a collective group to achieve a common goal of studying the significance of film.
"The course itself is ambivalent, however, the students made it clear that there was more to it," Aksenova said. "They went everywhere together. I felt a part of the community that they built through the common interest of film."


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Published Dec 16, 2014
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graduation gift
Two of the young girls I teach at church on Sundays are graduating high school today. In honor of this momentous occasion, I gathered a few of my favorite things from when I was in college and packed them all in a simple tote with their first initial (clearly inspired by here, which I feel badly about, but they are in England, and I needed a cute bag pronto!).
A freezer paper stencil was an easy way to transform the $3 canvas tote bag I bought at the craft store into something a little more special. And it took all of 20 minutes. I won't go into the ins and outs of freezer paper stenciling, but for this project you just need to print out one letter in a nice typeface (I used Bodoni). Trace the letter onto the papery side of your freezer paper and then cut it out carefully with an exacto knife.
Iron the freezer paper onto your bags, taking care to adhere all the edges of your stencil so the ink won't bleed. (The waxy side of the freezer paper will stick to the bag.) Lay a sheet of freezer paper inside your bag as well in case any paint bleeds through. Then paint with fabric paint and let dry overnight.
The next day, peel off your freezer paper and iron your letters to heat set the ink. Then fill with your favorite things (my list included Burt's Bee's lip balm, my favorite Uniball pens, transparent flag post-its for marking text books, thank you cards (a good habit to get into), metal binder clips, and some swedish fish for late night study sessions.
Congratulations Shelby and Ashley! Spread those little wings and fly, fly, fly!


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michaelo needed a new logo design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 120 designs submitted by 41 freelance designers.
We are launching a re-vamped, state of the art B-to-C site selling rooms in vacation rentals, timeshares and condo-hotels and need a supremely cool logo to help establish the site and brand.
A Better Stay
We need the logo as a basic piece of overall brand-building. Our company is a 2nd stage start-up that seeks to establish itself as the leader in the specific market niche of 'specialty lodging', with a strong focus on doing business via the web. We are not looking to copy the corporate models of the Expedias, Vacation.coms and Marriott.coms of the world. The logo will be used on the master B-to-C site as well as microsites and other sub-sites that will carry the same basic design but be targeted at specific regions or market verticals.
- graphic (psd) logo that can but doesn't have to include a visual depiction of beach, mountain, etc,
- modern but not industrial
- fun, informal, welcoming
- green, blue, purple based color scheme
- silver/black/white OK
- globally appropriate
- psd format
- capital letters or rainbows
- red, orange or yellow-based color scheme
- cursive writing
Find out how a design contest works or learn more about our logo design services.


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2011 Shimano Tiagra and Acera – First look
New entry-level road and mountain bike groupsets from the big S
Shimano's entry-level road and mountain bike groupsets have been given a significant facelift as improvements to their higher-end offerings trickle down to the Tiagra and Acera groups for 2011/2012.
Smoother shifting and more gears are the major changes promised for Shimano's "gateway" groupsets. Both groups will be given an additional sprocket on the rear; Tiagra will join its 10-speed siblings, while the new Acera will set a minimum nine-speed standard across the Shimano mountain bike range.
Tiagra gets tricked out for 2012
Shimano's tweaks to Tiagra appear to be part of a push to firmly establish that group among its peers. A plethora of options will be on offer for users, with Tiagra-branded double, compact and triple cranksets set to cater for racing, sportive and touring riders respectively.
Tourers and commuters will also have the option of Tiagra flat-bar shifters (a new non-series R780S shifter is also due for release for 105 and Ultegra flat-bar users). But those making use of STI shifters haven't been neglected.
Shimano have improved the ergonomics of the levers, which will now feature fully-adjustable reach settings to cater for smaller hands. A new pull ratio also makes the new brakes compatible with higher-level groups for the first time in several years.
Significantly, however, external cable routing remains a feature of the junior group. The extra gear on the rear will be accompanied by a new 10-speed chain, although Shimano recommend that triple users stick with the current nine-speed chain.
Acera gets more gears
Improvements to Shimano's entry-level off-road groupset are based largely on features available on its higher end siblings. Its triple crankset will feature replaceable chainrings and a new lower-profile rear derailleur. Though still beefier than the Shadow option offered on higher-end groups, this will help to reduce the risk of rock strikes – and resulting cost – for novice riders.
The increased gear range has necessitated a new shifting unit, which features a clearer gear indicator that will offer better readability regardless of lever angle. The greater range of gears should also result in a smoother shift. The brake levers remain integrated with the shifters, with wheel-end work still carried out by V-brake callipers.
Acera is likely to remain the preserve of entry-level complete bikes, where it will provide a cheaper entry point for nine-speed shifting, rather than being sold aftermarket. It's available in black or silver.
Non-series components
Several entry-level, non-series components have had a busy year of development and production. Despite the push to get even beginner riders onto nine-speed setups, Shimano's aftermarket seven- and eight-speed cassettes have gone on a diet. The company have trimmed around 20g off the weight of the sprocket sets, while also increasing the range of available gear ratios.


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SSIS Data Flow Tuning
During my SSWUG webcast I was asked to give some examples on how to tune the DefaultBufferMaxRows and DefaultBufferSize, so here goes.
When a source is pulling in data, it places them into buffers; one row=one buffer. The default setting for DefaultBufferMaxRows=10,000. This means that the source will collect 10k records and then 'dump' them into the pipeline for processing. Now ignoring asynchronous/synchronous components, until all of these buffers are processed by your destination, no more rows will be pulled in. While this sounds like a batch, and you can think of it like this, don't confuse this with the batching at a destination, they don't have to match. I don't believe there is a stated upper limit (I've done 1M).
DefaultBufferSize tells SSIS how much memory to set aside for those 10k buffers. They are structures (don't know what language SSIS is built in) and they need to have memory allocated, but just how much; 10MB (10485760 bytes). The maximum size is 100MB (104857600 bytes). How this parameter works is as follows. As SSIS starts filling buffers it keeps track of the memory allocated. If you have really wide rows (over 10485760/10000=1048 bytes) then you will reach 10MB right around 10k buffers. If you have a row that is 2096 bytes in size, you will hit the limit around 5k buffers.
Now you've probably had the 'Ah Ha!' moment. Now, how do you use this information to improve the performance of your Data Flow Task?
- Find the avg size of the source record: 523 bytes (e.g.)
- Find how much memory you want to afford this task : 100MB (we'll give it the max)
- How many records can my source pull at any given time: 200492 (always round down)
So given the max memory I can allow per task, setting my DefaultBufferMaxRows>200493 will be a waste. There you have it, a simple mechansm to determine the proper settings. More often than not I set my task to 100MB and reset my buffers to fill it. Yes there is a possibility that if you have many packages running simultaneously and they have many Data Flow Tasks and all of them are at 100MB, you will run out of memory on your SSIS machine rather quickly causing the packages to push buffers to disk. If this happens and you notice performance degrading, but it happens randomly, look to lower this number. While it might seem counter intuitive to pull fewer records in each round, if I don't have to write these buffers to disk, it will be a faster total run time.