national-center

Global Warming Causing Food Prices To Rise

by The Huffington Post on May 5, 2011

Huffington Post…

Over the last few decades, global warming has hindered the world’s food production causing prices to rise, new research reveals. The study, which NewScientist says is the first “to demonstrate a link between global crop yields and climate change,” not only tracks the link between rising temperatures and its effect on food production, but highlights the importance of finding new ways to adapt farming methods to the changing climate. From The Guardian : The drop in the productivity of crop plants around the world was not caused by changes in rainfall but was because higher temperatures can cause dehydration, prevent pollination and lead to slowed photosynthesis. According to David Lobell, a Stanford University scientist and an author of the report, “This is tens of billions of dollars a year in lost productivity because of warming,” The Washington Post reports. To conduct the study, Lobell and his colleagues gathered data dating from 1980 to 2008 for growing regions around the world, including their temperature, rain fall, and crop production. Then, they compared annual yields of four staple crops — corn, wheat, rice and soy beans — from every country in the world to what production would have been given precipitation and temperature remained the same since 1980, calculating the predictions with statistical models. Corn yields were 5.5 percent lower than the predictions showed they would have been if the environmental factors remained constant, and wheat yields were 3.8 percent lower. Wheat production in Russia showed the biggest drop, with yields 15 percent lower than what they could’ve been. Soy beans and rice were relatively unaffected due to being grown in areas not experiencing as much warming and thriving in higher temperatures, respectively. “Agriculture as it exists today evolved over 11,000 years of reasonably stable climate, but that climate system is no more,” Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, told The Guardian . Not everyone agrees with the findings. Ken Cassman, a professor of systems agronomy at the University of Nebraska, told The Washington Post , “It’s not clear how well these analyses are capturing how well farmers can respond, and have been responding, to changing temperatures.” Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado told NewScientist that the results were undermined by using a purely statistical model. Food prices have reached a record high this year , fueling unrest in regions like North Africa and the Middle East. A recent study presented at 2010′s UN climate summit in Cancun predicted that global warming could double grain prices by 2050 and leave millions more malnourished. This latest research, “Climate Trends and Global Crop Production Since 1980,” was published in Thursday’s issue of the journal Science .

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Global Warming Causing Food Prices To Rise

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Teenage Boys’ Fear of Getting Girls Pregnant Drops, CDC Says

by on June 2, 2010

By Ellen Gibson June 2 (Bloomberg) — Teenage boys are becoming less worried about getting a girl pregnant, with a quarter saying they would be pleased if it happened. A higher percentage of boys ages 15 to 19 also agreed that it’s acceptable for unmarried girls to have babies, according to a report released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that compared teens’ attitudes toward sex in 2006 to 2008 to those in a survey six years earlier. The report also showed an increase in the number of teens using the unreliable “ rhythm method ,” which leads a quarter of users to get pregnant within a year. The boys’ attitudes and the increased use of risky ways to avoid pregnancies contrasts with the trend observed between 1988 and 2002, when the researchers saw a steady decline in so-called “sexual risk behaviors,” the report said. Overall, the number of teens having sex and their use of contraceptives was unchanged from the earlier survey, according to the data. “Anytime you see a loss of momentum compared to the straightforward improvements of the past, you think that efforts to motivate teens to use contraception need to be redoubled,” said Joyce Abma , a social scientist at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics and the paper’s lead author. “On the other hand, there could be a point at which you’ve reached a lot of teens and the ones left are the hardest to reach.” National Survey The data in the report, known as the National Survey of Family Growth, was collected through in-person interviews with 2,767 teenagers ages 15 to 19. The survey is taken every six to seven years. Among never-married females, 42 percent reported having sex at least once. The proportion of males in that age group who have had sex was 43 percent. Among those who abstained, the most common reason they cited was that sex was “against religion or morals.” The number of boys who chose “don’t want to get female pregnant” as the reason for avoiding sex fell by half to 12 percent from the last survey. Childbearing outside of marriage was acceptable to 64 percent of males in the current survey, up 14 percent from 2002, the Atlanta-based agency said. Those attitudes show boys are less worried about an unwanted pregnancy, Abma said in a telephone interview. The current study showed a handful of improvements in teens’ sex behavior since 2002. The use of more than one form of birth control — in most cases, the condom and the pill — increased 73 percent. Females also experimented with a wider variety of contraceptive methods: 11 percent said they’d tried patches such as Johnson & Johnson ’s Ortho Evra, while 7 percent had used vaginal rings such as Merck & Co. ’s NuvaRing. In addition, the percentage of unmarried males who reported using a condom during their first sexual experience rose to 82 percent in the latest study from 71 percent in 2002. The higher use may have more to do with increased awareness of sexually- transmitted diseases than pregnancy prevention, the CDC said. To contact the reporters on this story: Ellen Gibson in New York at egibson9@bloomberg.net ;

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Teenage Boys’ Fear of Getting Girls Pregnant Drops, CDC Says

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Study: Older, Unmarried, Educated Moms On Rise

May 6, 2010

New mothers in the U.S. are increasingly older and better educated than they were two decades ago, according to a study on the state of American motherhood released Thursday by the Pew Research Center. But that doesn’t mean women are waiting for the right moment: The study also found that half of mothers surveyed said parenthood “just happened.” While most women giving birth are doing it within the context of marriage, researchers said a record 41 percent of births were to unmarried women in 2008. That’s up from 28 percent in 1990, according to the study, “The New Demography of American Motherhood.” The trend crossed major racial and ethnic groups. Nearly 14 percent of mothers of newborns were 35 or older two years ago – and only about 10 percent were in their teens. The age trend was reversed in 1990, when teens had a 13 percent share of births. “I think everyone will welcome a decline in births to teens,” said D’Vera Cohn, a senior writer on the study. “It’s notable that the population of teens is larger than it used to be, so there were more who could have become teen mothers.” Today, one in seven babies is born to a mother at least 35 years old. In 1990, one in 11 had a mother in that age group. Most mothers of newborns (54 percent) had at least some college education in 2008, an increase from 41 percent in 1990. Among mothers 35 or older, 71 percent had at least some college education. Improvements in medical care and fertility treatment, along with marriage and childbearing postponed to seek additional education, all factor into the shifts. “The rise in women’s education levels has changed the profile of the typical mother of a newborn baby,” the report said. Cohn added that a lower share of mothers ended their education after high school, “so some of those mothers who would have been high school graduates in 1990 have some college education today.” The report is based on data from the National Center for Health Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau, along with a telephone survey in April 2009 of about 1,000 parents, likely parents and other adults of both genders. Overall, there were 4.3 million births in the U.S. in 2008, compared with 4.2 million in 1990. The number had risen each year from 2003 to 2007, then dipped in an apparent link to the economic downturn, the researchers said. When American parents are asked why they decided to have a child, most cite “The joy of having children,” the study said. For nearly half of parents, though, an important explanation is: “It wasn’t a decision; it just happened.” Women surveyed were more likely than men to cite “it just happened” as somewhat or very important in their decision to give birth the first time. Stephanie Coontz, director of research and public education for the nonprofit Council on Contemporary Families and a writer who teaches history and family studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., said the rise of single motherhood is significant. “It’s yet another nail in the coffin in the hope that we can solve the challenges facing us today by shoehorning everyone back into marriages,” she said. “One of the big problems with that at this point is very often kids do worse if their mother rushes into a marriage that may be unstable.” Multiple births associated with the trend toward older motherhood were up sharply, including a 70 percent increase in the twin birth rate from 1980 to 2004. “Not only are women in their 30s more likely than younger women to conceive multiples on their own, they also are more likely to undergo fertility treatments, which are linked to births of multiples,” the researchers said.

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Genital Herpes Virus Infects One in Six Americans, Study by U.S. CDC Finds

March 9, 2010

By Tom Randall March 9 (Bloomberg) — Genital herpes, a condition that produces painful sores and increases transmission of AIDS, has infected one in six Americans, according to a U.S. survey that shows prevention efforts haven’t stopped outbreaks. The study, conducted from 2005 through 2008, found the infection rate didn’t change significantly from a previous report from 1999 to 2004. It was released today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. There’s no cure for herpes, which has two forms. Herpes simplex virus type 1 typically causes blisters known as cold sores near the mouth. Type 2 forms blisters near the genitals. Most infected people don’t know they have the virus and spread it to partners through sexual contact even when they’re not experiencing symptoms, according to the CDC . “This study serves as a stark reminder that herpes remains a common and serious health threat,” said Kevin Fenton , director of the CDC’s National Center for STD Prevention. “We are particularly concerned about persistent high rates of herpes among African-Americans, which is likely contributing to disproportionate rates of HIV in the black community.” The data were taken from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a federal report that draws from questionnaires and medical records. GlaxoSmithKline Plc’s Valtrex pill, approved to treat symptoms and reduce the frequency of outbreaks, had sales of $1.29 billion last year. The London-based company also makes an over-the-counter cream called Abreva, which shortens healing time and soothes infections. The amino acid lysine, available as a dietary supplement, has been found in studies to reduce symptoms and outbreaks. To contact the reporter on this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net .

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Sanofi Speeds Swine Flu Vaccine Expirations to Mid-February After Recall

February 5, 2010

By Tom Randall Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) — Sanofi-Aventis SA shortened the expiration of its 12 million pre-filled swine flu shots by as much as 16 months to ensure the potency of the vaccine doesn’t decline. The shots should be administered by Feb. 15, according to a Web site run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The vaccines previously had expiration dates that varied from March to June 2011. Paris-based Sanofi in December recalled 800,000 doses of the shot for H1N1 influenza, known as swine flu, and AstraZeneca Plc withdrew 4.7 million spray vaccines, after tests showed the potency was too low. Flu rates in the U.S. have declined since peaking in late October, and the H1N1 virus is no longer widespread in any state, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported today. More than 70 million people have received a swine flu vaccine, the Atlanta-based CDC said. The December recalls were made after routine tests showed declining potency in some batches. “The FDA and the manufacturers are really looking into this,” Anne Schuchat , head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, said today during a conference call. The declining potency of pre-filled syringes is “a special focus of attention to understand mechanically what may have been going on and to learn from that.” U.S. Vaccines The shortened expiration date only affects shots in the U.S., said Len Lavenda , a spokesman for Sanofi in Swiftwater, Pennsylvania, in a telephone interview. The shots don’t affect vaccine the company is donating to the Geneva-based World Health Organization because the donated shots are in multidose vials, not pre-filled syringes, he said. Most of the shots were shipped early in the season, and the number of unused doses that are affected by the shortened shelf life is low, said Richard Quartarone, a spokesman for the CDC, in an e-mail. All pre-filled syringes “should now be administered by Feb. 15, 2010, regardless of the expiration imprinted on the package,” according to the U.S. Web site. Sanofi’s decreased vaccine potency may have been due to the key ingredient, antigen, clinging to the wall of the syringe over time, Schuchat said after the December recall. Different Doses Multidose vials, the most common form of the vaccine, aren’t affected by the expiration change. The single-dose syringes are sometimes used for convenience and because they don’t require thimerosal, a preservative that has been shown to be safe in studies though remains controversial. Sanofi shares declined 1.74 Euros, or 3.3 percent, to close at 51.68 in Paris trading . Swine flu continues to circulate in the U.S., though at rates below average for seasonal flu in previous years, the CDC’s Schuchat said. Pneumonia and flu deaths remain at an epidemic level, above average for the season, she said. “We aren’t seeing signs of a major increase in H1N1, but we are seeing persistent transmission,” Schuchat said today. “It’s really easy to be vaccinated now, and we hope that people will take advantage of that.” The U.S. government ordered 229 million doses of antigen. About 155 million doses have been made available in the U.S., and 124 million doses have shipped throughout the country, Schuchat said. To contact the reporters on this story: Tom Randall in New York at trandall6@bloomberg.net

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Sickle Cell Breakthrough Allows Marrow Transplants in Adults, Study Finds

December 9, 2009

By Ellen Gibson Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) — Sickle cell disease, which affects 70,000 Americans, was reversed in 9 of 10 patients given bone marrow transplants using a new technique, according to a study that may expand the therapy to adults. People with the disease have misshapen red blood cells. While doctors have long used transplants to replace those cells in children, the treatment has been too toxic for adults. A study in today’s New England Journal of Medicine found that replacing only a portion of the cells can work. Recipients were sickle cell-free 30 months later. None had a common reaction in which immune cells in the donor marrow attack the host’s body. The inherited blood disorder affects 1 in 500 black Americans, causing symptoms that include wheezing, pain, stroke and organ failure, researchers said. The new regimen should be used only when patients can’t be treated in other ways, said Matthew Hsieh, the lead author and a researcher at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. “Sickle cell is a devastating illness that puts people in and out of hospitals their whole lives,” said Ira Bragg-Grant, executive director of the American Sickle Cell Anemia Association, in Cleveland. “For more adults to be freed of this chronic illness by transplants would be a phenomenal development.” Red blood cells are typically smooth and disk-shaped. In sickle-cell disease, they take the form of a crescent and clump together, causing blockages in the vessels that carry oxygen- rich blood to limbs and organs. A Better Regimen Hsieh and colleagues at the National Institutes primed patients with radiation. To weaken the patients’ immune systems so their bodies wouldn’t reject the incoming cells, the researchers gave them Campath, a drug made by Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Genzyme Corp. that destroys certain white blood cells. Patients received bone marrow containing stem cells, to make healthy red blood cells, from a sibling. After the transplant, the study participants went on an immunosuppressive medication called sirolimus, sold as Rapamune by New York-based Pfizer Inc. ’s Wyeth unit. Hsieh’s goal was to get a favorable mix of donor cells and recipient ones. The study’s results suggest they have the right mix, he said. “Our study is important in two ways,” Hsieh said, “One, we were able to transplant adults and have them be sickle cell- free more than a year later. The other remarkable result was that none of the patients had graft-versus-host disease,” a common complication of bone marrow transplants. More Choices In stem-cell transplantation, the donor’s immune cells sometimes attack the organs in the patient’s body. These reactions are more common in adults than children. The high risk of graft-versus-host disease is one reason Hsieh sought to devise a less-toxic transplant regimen, he said. Currently adult patients with severe sickle cell disease have two treatment choices, said Stuart Orkin, a pediatrics professor at the Harvard Medical School in Boston. The first is hydroxyurea, an anti-tumor drug that is approved for treating pain in sickle cell disease. The problem with hydroxyurea, said Orkin, is that it doesn’t work in all patients. It can also cause infertility. The other is blood transfusions to suppress the production of sickle cells. The trouble is, some people develop iron overload that makes further transfusion impossible. No Cure “Unlike transplantation, these options are purely supportive,” Orkin said. “They don’t cure anything.” While stem-cell transplants are curative, doctors must weigh the risk of infection or even death, said Orkin. They must also consider the amount of existing organ damage and whether it’s reversible, he said. Highly damaged organs can complicate a transplant. On the other hand, people who have had a stroke or organ failure “have more to lose if you don’t act,” said Hsieh, the study author. According to Hsieh, the main drawback of transplantation is that it is hard to find a suitable donor. In his study, he was looking for patients who had siblings with matching white blood cells. Of the 112 eligible patients whose blood type was tested during recruitment, only 24 had qualifying siblings. Furthermore, when doctors go to a bone marrow registry to find compatible donors, it turns out “African Americans are much harder to match because they’re underrepresented,” said Eugene Orringer , a professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 75,000 Hospitalizations People with sickle cell disease have about 75,000 hospitalizations a year, for a total cost of $475 million, according to data gathered by the National Center for Health Statistics, a U.S. agency. The life expectancy can be as low as 42 years for males who inherit the sickle gene from both parents, according to a study out of the Harvard Medical School. While scientists say that someday soon gene therapy may knock out the disease, transplantation offers the possibility of an immediate cure. At this stage, Hsieh said he is reluctant to use the word “cured” to describe the patients in his study. Still, he is very encouraged by the number of them who are disease-free more than a year after their grafts. Said Hsieh: “We’ve had very good results so far. Our hope is that with more patients and longer follow-up, these patients will remain sickle cell-free.” To contact the reporters on this story: Ellen Gibson in New York at Egibson9@bloomberg.net ;

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Fed Regional Appointments Probe by Congress Would Get Geithner’s Support

December 5, 2009

By Craig Torres Dec. 5 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner broke ranks with his former central bank colleagues and said he would support moves by Congress to take a look at how regional Federal Reserve bank presidents are appointed. “I think it is very appropriate, and I would be completely supportive of the Congress taking a look at that broader governance structure” of regional Fed banks , Geithner said yesterday in an interview for Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital With Al Hunt,” airing this weekend. “You do not want to have any public institution in the position where its judgments, the judgments of their executives, are viewed through the prism of concern they are subject to influence of the financial community,” Geithner said. While that was “never the case,” he added, limiting such concerns would help protect the Fed, he said. Federal Reserve spokeswoman Michelle Smith wasn’t immediately available for comment. The Treasury Secretary commented a day after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke defended the regional structure of the central bank as Congress considers the biggest overhaul of Fed powers since the 1930s. Lawmakers say private-sector banks have too much influence at the Fed, and that the regional bank presidents focus too much on inflation at the expense of job growth. ‘Incestuous Relationships’ Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd told Bernanke Dec. 3 that the regional Fed board structure leads to conflicts of interest and an “incestuous financial relationship” detrimental to the Fed. The remarks came at a hearing on Bernanke’s nomination to a second four-year term. Bernanke told Dodd that Fed directors are chosen from “a wide representative cross-section” of community leaders. Congress may be “overemphasizing the influence of reserve bank boards,” said Robert McTeer , former president of the Fed bank of Dallas, a city where he is now a distinguished fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis. “They just don’t have that much power and influence.” McTeer said regional Fed bank presidents help provided an independent perspective to the Washington-based Board of Governors. “The beauty of the Fed is that it is not just another Washington institution,” McTeer said. “It has this regional presence.” Under a draft bill released Nov. 10 by Dodd, each regional Fed board chairman would be subject to White House appointment and Senate approval. House Democrats have called for an exploration of how the Fed is governed. Board of Governors “I doubt very much that by a year from now Fed presidents are going to have as big a role as they now have,” Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank told reporters after a Nov. 17 vote in favor of limiting some of the regional Fed bank officials’ powers to participate in decisions by the Washington- based Board of Governors. Frank said the presidents are “private citizens” who shouldn’t have “governmental powers.” St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said last month that subjecting the presidents to Senate confirmation would be a “blatant politicization” of the institution. Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said Nov. 17 that the mix of private and public influence has “helped us keep focused on long-run objectives.” “I wouldn’t want to see the reserve bank governance mechanism politicized in any way,” Lacker, 54, told reporters after a speech. Asked if Dodd’s plan would politicize the process, Lacker said: “I think it could.” The presidents of Richmond, St. Louis or any other Fed bank haven’t had the interactions with the largest financial institutions as did Geithner, who served as president of the Fed Bank of New York starting in November 2003. Organized Rescues During his tenure at the New York Fed, Geithner and Bernanke helped organize rescues of Bear Stearns Cos. and American International Group Inc. using emergency lending powers that have prompted additional congressional scrutiny of the Fed. The Fed assistance to AIG “transferred tens of billions of dollars of cash” to AIG counterparties, paying creditors in full, a November report from the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program said. Geithner was confirmed as Treasury secretary by the Senate in January. To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Torres in Washington at ctorres3@bloomberg.net .

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CVS, Walgreen Have Spot Shortages of Seasonal-Flu Vaccine on Demand Surge

October 10, 2009

By Carol Wolf and Tom Randall Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) — CVS Caremark Corp. and Walgreen Co., the two largest U.S. drugstore chains, are experiencing spot shortages of seasonal-flu vaccines because of increased demand. CVS MinuteClinics in Austin, Texas, and New York ran out of the seasonal-flu vaccine within the past week before restocking, according to calls to 13 stores by Bloomberg News. Calls to eight Walgreen stores in Manhattan on Oct. 5 determined none had it at the time. There are also shortages in the South and Southeast, said James Cohn , a Walgreen spokesman. Demand for seasonal-flu vaccinations has soared because of public awareness of the H1N1 virus, known as swine flu, Cohn said. Walgreen administered twice as many doses in September as in the entire 2008 flu season, he said. CVS’s clinics have vaccinated a “significantly higher number of people” than last year, said Michael DeAngelis , a spokesman. “We are experiencing very high demand for seasonal-flu shots and we are working closely with multiple suppliers to meet this demand on a day-to-day basis,” DeAngelis said in an e-mail yesterday. “When we experience isolated shortages of vaccine supply, we do all we can to replenish these locations.” Seasonal-flu vaccines don’t prevent swine flu, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . The first doses of swine flu vaccine in the U.S. were given to health-care workers and children this week. Walgreen administered 2.5 million seasonal-flu vaccine doses last month, more than twice the 1.2 million it gave out from Oct. 1, 2008, through Feb. 28, Cohn said. Working With Suppliers “We are encouraging consumers to get vaccinated early,” Cohn said by telephone. CVS, based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, rose 29 cents to $36.48 yesterday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Deerfield, Illinois-based Walgreen, the second-biggest drugstore chain, fell 19 cents to $39.45. Rite Aid Corp., the third- biggest, declined 4 cents to $1.56. CVS shares have gained 27 percent this year, compared with a gain of 60 percent for Walgreen and a more than fivefold jump for Camp Hill, Pennsylvania-based Rite Aid. While Rite Aid hasn’t had any seasonal-flu vaccine shortages, it also hasn’t yet received all its ordered doses, Cheryl Slavinsky , a company spokeswoman, said by telephone. Shortages at doctors’ offices and health clinics have also been reported in Arizona, Illinois, Minnesota, North and South Dakota and Vermont, according to the Web sites of local newspapers including the Addison County Independent in Vermont, the Grand Forks Herald of North Dakota and the Star Tribune in Minneapolis. A Few Weeks Behind Paris-based Sanofi-Aventis SA , a supplier of seasonal-flu vaccines in the U.S., said delays are causing shortages in some areas. Sanofi is “a few weeks” behind schedule, and has distributed more than 30 million of its allocated 50.5 million doses to the U.S., spokeswoman Donna Cary said. “Everyone wants their vaccine now,” Cary said by telephone. “Whether everybody is trying to get the vaccine early this year or if there’s truly an increase in demand has yet to be determined. “Every single customer that we have has gotten at least their initial shipment from us.” Five vaccine suppliers — Sanofi, London-based AstraZeneca Plc and GlaxoSmithKline Plc , Basel, Switzerland-based Novartis AG and CSL Ltd. of Australia — are making 114 million seasonal- flu doses and 251 million swine flu doses for the U.S., according to the Health and Human Services Department. More Vaccine Available “The good news is that we have more seasonal-flu vaccine out than we typically would this time of year,” Anne Schuchat , head of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC, said on a conference call yesterday. “The bad news is that more people want it than can seem to be able to get it.” More doses are being shipped, and over the next few weeks, there will be enough for everyone who wants to get vaccinated, she said. “We wish we had more vaccine for everybody who’s looking for it and for providers who are trying to get it,” said Schuchat. Some manufacturers have shifted their efforts to focus on making the swine flu vaccine available, Schuchat said. Almost all of the flu circulating in the U.S. is the pandemic H1N1 strain, the CDC reported on its Web site. Swine flu continued to sweep across the country last week, with widespread illness reported in 37 states, the CDC reported. About 4,500 people have died of swine flu since the virus emerged in April, the World Health Organization said yesterday. The first H1N1 vaccinations this week were administered as part of the world’s biggest influenza prevention program. About 6.8 million doses were available as of Oct. 8, the CDC said. To contact the reporters on this story: Carol Wolf in Washington at cwolf@bloomberg.net ; Tom Randall in New York at Trandall6@bloomberg.net .

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