Allergies Linked to Higher Cancer Risk: Study

Jun 3, 2012 12:01am

By KARLYN MARTIN, M.D.

Can allergies increase your risk of cancer? A new study out of University of Washington Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center suggests this may be the case.

Specifically, the study found that patients with allergies may have a higher risk of developing blood cancers than those who don?t suffer from allergies. The study included more than 64,000 patients who were asked about allergy and asthma symptoms. The patients were then evaluated seven years later to see if they had been diagnosed with a blood cancer.

Those who had allergies ? specifically allergies to plants, grass, and trees ? had a slightly increased incidence of blood cancers.? Patients with asthma did not have an increased risk of blood cancer.

?As studies like this demonstrate, there may be an increased incidence of certain cancers if you have these types of conditions,? said Dr. Edward Kim, assistant professor in the department of thoracic/head and neck medical oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas.

While allergies don?t cause blood cancer, the researchers propose that perhaps the same inflammation that causes allergy symptoms may lead to an overactive immune system ? and that this overactivity, in turn, can lead to blood cancers.

Those who suffer from allergies, however, probably need not be alarmed.? The added risk is so small that no new screening guidelines are currently planned. Moreover, the lead author of the study, Dr. Mazyar Shadman of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center at University of Washington, stated there is, ?no need for any type of change? at this point.? Rather, Shadman said he hopes that the results of these studies will help researchers uncover the mechanism of blood cancers by studying patients with allergies. But, he added, he doesn?t think there is ?any indication for change in terms of treatment and medical follow up? at this point.

So what does this mean for patients with allergies?

?It means one can be more vigilant in seeing their doctor and going to their yearly physicals,? Kim said.

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Auto Financing and Making the Most of Your Credit - TypePad

Are you looking for a new car? Chances are that you'll be financing that new vehicle. The rising cost of new vehicles has made it increasingly difficult for consumers to purchase a car outright. Financing is a valuable tool that allows you to drive the car that you need and pay for it over time. However, not all lenders are created equal. Likewise, not all consumers are given the same interest rate on their auto loan. Being an informed consumer puts the power in your hands. By knowing the game being played, you can control that game. Here are a few tips to help you maximize your buying experience and get the best loan possible.

o Know Thy Self - When you apply for a loan, the first thing that prospective lender does is pull a copy of your credit report. This report (and the associated credit score) determines the loan that you will get, or even if you will get a loan. Knowing what the lender will see will take the surprise out of the process. You are entitled to a free copy of your credit report each year. Use this tool to your advantage. If your report is less than stellar, take steps on your own, such as paying off debts, remaining current on payments and negotiating payment arrangements with delinquent accounts.

o What's Your Score - While your credit report is an incredibly valuable tool, you'll also need your credit score. This is not included in the credit report, which comes as a surprise to many consumers. Be warned; you will have to pay for you credit score from each of the credit bureaus.

o Know Thy Friends - Know the lenders with whom you are applying. Applying for an auto loan blindly is an easy way to be taken for a ride. Apply with prime lenders first, as you will get the best deals through them. Only if you have exhausted the pool of prime lenders, should you consider using a subprime lender. In addition, there are other tools at your disposal. If you are a member of a credit union, apply through them. If you have been a long-standing member of a local bank, consult the loan officer. Never limit your options to auto lenders.

o Know Thy Enemy - In this case, the enemy is the dealership. While they provide the automobile that you need, they mask the true cost of the vehicle behind a screen of dollar signs. By getting the consumer to focus solely on the monthly payments, they hide the true cost of the vehicle. Financing through a dealership may be a viable option, but it is often a poor decision. Dealer-financed loans are frequently some of the most expensive in the industry. Find out what fees (in addition to tax, tag and title) are listed in the contract, as well as the interest rate charged by the F&I office. By knowing their tactics, you can avoid being hit with sticker shock when you sign your loan papers.

Dealers nationwide are searching for special finance auto leads in order to help them through the tough economy. The auto makers in a hurried frenzy trying to keep pace with the diminishing demand of gas guzzling SUVs. In the meantime, consumers are turning to online shopping and web inventories to do their research and shopping. Online automobile finance leads are gaining ground in this ever changing economy.

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?Articles Source :?http://special-finance-leads9876.blogspot.in/2012/06/auto-financing-and-making-most-of-your.html?

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300 hanging wires form buzzing, wiggling arch

Catenary (from the Latin catena, or chain) is the name given to the curve formed when you hang a piece of chain from two points. That?s exactly the process pre-modern builders used to determine the angle necessary for a cathedral?s arch to support its own weight. Even Gaudi used the chain method to form his iconic vaults, well into the 20th century, though generally we associate the process with Medieval architects.

Berlin-based artist David Letellier pays homage to the age-old engineering trick with Caten, a kinetic sound installation in a 14th-century cathedral in Caen, France. Caten, which closed last month, demonstrates the concept of the catenary arch with 300 wires hung from the mezzanine of the church?s nave. At each point, a motorized arm slowly lifts and lowers the inverted vault, mirroring the 500-year-old stone vaults above it.

There?s also an audio element to Caten. In pre-Medieval times, proper tuning was determined with a hymn called "Ut Queant Laxis" (listen here). The notes we know today ? the "Do, Re, Mi, Fa"of the Von Trapp children ? are determined by each verse of the hymn.

Letellier has rigged a rotating arm to emit a single note from "Ut Queant Laxis" at each interval. The low-frequency sounds resonate through the vaults, buzzing and reverberating like a Gregorian chant. The sounds "emphasize the transcendental character of a place once dedicated to faith,? explains Letellier on his website.

A similar catenary ? without kinetic or aural elements ? was installed by under the missing dome of a Rococo church in Belgium in 2010.

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Copyright ? 2012 Mansueto Ventures LLC. All rights reserved.

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Philippine massacre witness dismembered: lawyer

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Is Facebook Down? Yes. Outage Has Lasted An Hour And Counting

"Let me tell you the difference between Facebook and everyone else, we don't crash EVER!" - 'Mark Zuckerberg', The Social Network. Not quite. Facebook has been offline or slow to load for some users around the world for an hour now. Reports started flooding in to Twitter at roughly 4:26pm PST today with many users quipping that "Facebook is down. Just like it's stock price." One hour later and DownForEveryoneOrJustMe confirms the outage continues. We're awaiting a response from Facebook.

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See how The Game trained for ?End of an Era?

All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2012 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2012 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.

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My Panama Lawyer: Germany Becomes Tax Haven for Firms and ...

09/02/2009

By Beat Balzli and Michaela Schiessl

Part 2: 'The State Is Lagging Hopelessly Behind'

Methods like the Malta loophole work in part because of international double taxation agreements, or DTAs. In these agreements, two countries stipulate in which of the two taxes will be assessed, so as to avoid double taxation. Providers of closed investment funds have discovered the benefits of DTAs. They offer investments in British life insurance, Romanian forestry operations and Spanish solar plants. Thanks to DTAs, German investors only pay taxes on their foreign investments in the respective countries.

The finance committee in the German parliament, the Bundestag, is kept informed about all DTAs, but this does little to address the underlying problem. "Under most tax savings models, the state is lagging hopelessly behind," says Axel Troost, a financial expert with Germany's Left Party.

One of the biggest tax scandals in postwar history illustrates how expensive it can get when politicians are hoodwinked by the machinations of high finance. The process was known as "EX/CUM trade" in bankers' jargon. The trick was so daring that it even made officials at the Association of German Banks queasy.

On Dec. 20, 2002, the bankers alerted the Finance Ministry about the problem. They described a systemic error in the sale of borrowed shares near the ex-dividend date of German corporations. Because of a blind spot in the market transaction system, the original owners of the shares and the buyers receive a statement on the capital gains tax from the respective custodian banks. This enables both parties to claim a refund on the tax, even though it was only paid once.

Out of Reach

Despite this obvious problem, it took a long time for Berlin to react. For another four years, the proprietary trading departments of German banks and wealthy private customers, in particular, fraudulently obtained additional tax statements and submitted them to the tax authorities so that they could claim tax refunds. The German Finance Ministry did not close the loophole until the fall of 2006. According to the ministry, "the current administration, immediately after coming into office in early 2006, drafted legislation to address the issue, which came into effect at the end of 2006."

But this had only solved the problem at the national level. The bank association's warnings that sales through foreign institutions remained "out of reach" were ignored. As a result, the game went merrily along through foreign banks -- until a fired executive of the US investment bank J.P. Morgan allegedly disclosed the full scope of the tricks to officials in Berlin this spring.

A loss totaling in the billions, which had apparently accumulated over several years, was later mentioned in the Bundestag finance committee. Nevertheless, it took the Finance Ministry until May to issue a directive requiring auditors to certify that submitted tax statements were clean.

'Excessive' Requirements

But can the government even win this constant cat-and-mouse game? How can the tax officials be brought up to speed with the highly specialized tax model wizards?

One method, common in the United States and Britain, is to introduce a reporting requirement for tax savings models. This would give the tax authorities advance notice of potential loopholes and enable them to react immediately. The subject was given favorable attention in the Bundestag's finance committee in 2007. "But then the proposal suddenly disappeared," says Green Party Bundestag member Christine Scheel, the champion of the early warning system. Members of Steinbr?ck's staff justified dropping the proposal by claiming that the reporting requirement contradicted "the goals of reducing bureaucracy."

Tax expert Hanno Berger is extremely pleased with the outcome. He believes that a reporting requirement would be "excessive." In fact, Berger feels that many things are excessive, including Steinbr?ck's primitive method of amending laws retroactively.

He cites the example of foreign family foundations. Steinbr?ck wants to amend a paragraph in the German Foreign Transaction Tax Act so that negative income can no longer be claimed to reduce tax liability -- and he wants to do so retroactively, spanning several decades. Even Franz Wassermeyer, a former judge on the Federal Tax Court, says: "This is a catastrophe. It's scandalous."

The Finance Ministry takes a different view of the issue: "Only if the retroactive application is required only in exceptional cases and is consistent with the rulings of the Federal Constitutional Court will it be included in the draft legislation."

Customized Models

The truth is that the retroactive application of laws eliminates all legal certainty. Besides, by constantly issuing new directives the Finance Ministry is practically playing the role of lawmaker, thereby circumventing the separation of powers. "This is unconstitutional," Berger complains. "When it comes to tax law, we are living in a banana republic," he says, referring to laws that he claims have been put together in dilettantish ways.

Such laws do in fact exist. For instance, the new Paragraph 15b of the Income Tax Act prohibits "tax deferral models" which are based on a ready-made approach. But this provision likely applies only to standardized financial products for small investors. The ultra-rich have models customized to suit their needs and, according to a decision by the tax court in the southwestern state of Baden-W?rttemberg, are not subject to the new paragraph of the law. The Finance Ministry, for its part, argues: "It does not follow from the cited decisions that Paragraph 15b of the Income Tax Act should be inapplicable."

Such inadequacies abound in the complicated German tax system. Only a drastically simplified system without significant deduction options, as Heidelberg tax professor Paul Kirchhof advocates, would truly hurt Berger's industry.

...

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

Full text in http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,646558-2,00.html

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