Mentally Ill,Die Younger?

Cynthia Scott is your average health conscious 56-year-old. She watches what she eats, drinks lots of water and takes a multivitamin every morning. She goes for frequent walks and visits her doctor regularly for check-ups, including cholesterol and diabetes screenings.

Scott also has schizoaffective bipolar disorder, a mental illness she keeps in check with a low dose of Zyprexa. If you ask Scott, she would say she is overall a healthy person. So she was shocked when the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMPHD) published a study two years ago called, “Morbidity and Mortality in People with Serious Mental Illness.” The report analyzed data from 16 states, and found that, on average, people with severe mental illness die 25 years earlier than the general population. “Hearing that made me so sad,” says Scott.

The findings were a bombshell for the rest of the mental health community. “The study jarred the field,” says Dr. Bob Glover, the executive director of NASMPHD. After the 2006 report came out, many mental health agencies in the U.S. made it an immediate priority to figure out why their patients die sooner, and how to improve their longevity. Says Glover, “Mental health has been late to the dance in terms of looking at the connections between mental health and physical health. It may be moot what you’re doing for mental health needs if people are dying so early from physical causes.”

Indeed, the causes of physical illness and death among psychiatric patients are much the same as those in other groups — cigarette smoking, obesity, diabetes — and treatable. The problem is that people with serious mental illness tend to be low on the socioeconomic totem pole and don’t often get the best available health care. Often, their own doctors pay little heed to their patients’ physical health. “Medical doctors think, ‘Well, they’re crazy,’ so don’t take their concerns seriously,” says Wendy Brennan, executive director of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in New York City. “Their very real physical symptoms are often dismissed.”

One of the commonest contributors to early death among mentally ill patients, for instance, is smoking. While about 22% of the general population smokes, more than 75% of people with severe mental illness are tobacco dependent. According to Glover, a study conducted by NASMPHD after it published the mortality study found that 44% of all cigarettes in the United States are consumed by people with psychiatric histories. “I used to run state hospitals and we’d use cigarettes as reinforcement — ‘You did good, you get a cigarette,’” he says. “When people didn’t do well, we took away their tobacco privileges. We were part of the problem.” The agency is now working to make state mental hospitals smoke-free by 2011.

Obesity is another big risk factor. People with depression or bipolar disorder are about twice as likely to be obese as the general population; in people with schizophrenia, that risk spikes to three times higher. This is in part because so many psychotropic medications cause weight gain. At many state hospitals, says Glover, “you’d see a woman be admitted at 120 lbs. Three to six months later, she’d weigh 200.”

Obesity-related illnesses like diabetes are so prevalent among the mentally ill that health officials call it an epidemic within an epidemic — for example, about 13% of schizophrenic adults in their 50s have been diagnosed with diabetes, compared to 8% of the general population of the same age. In October, the NASMPHD released another report with recommendations for treating the particular problem of obesity, including giving those with severe mental illness better access to dietary consultations and promoting the prescription of low weight gain antipsychotics. They are currently working on creating a toolkit for federal health-care providers to better inform them on the issue.

At NAMI-New York City, health workers held focus groups, after reading the 2006 mortality report, to assess their patients’ health concerns. There were many — foremost among them, the simple desire to feel deserving of good health. “The most shocking thing was that people really wanted to be healthy, but there was a disconnect,” says program associate Katie Linn, who ran the focus groups. “A lot of it came down to self worth — they didn’t feel like they were worthy of taking care of themselves.”

Based on the participants’ responses, NAMI created a program called Six Weeks to Wellness, a once-a-week class that teaches everything from proper nutrition to controlling anxiety through yoga and meditation. “It’s been wildly popular,” says Linn. “It helps to say, ‘Your health is important to us.’ They’ve never heard that before.”

For the NASMPHD, the next logical step is to educate the doctors who care for the mentally ill. This month, the agency will release guidelines for standardizing the medical tests, assessments and care given to mental health patients in the public system. The recommendations include taking regular measurements of patients’ height and weight, checking their glucose levels and carefully evaluating their medication history. Psychiatrists, likewise, are not exempt. According to Mental Heath America, based in Virginia, a recent survey of people with schizophrenia revealed that they rarely discussed physical health with their psychiatrists. So, the organization is now working on an initiative, with the American Psychological Association, to better educate mental health specialists about the physical concerns facing patients with serious mental illness.

As for Cynthia Scott, for the past two years, she’s taken her health consciousness to a whole new level, regularly attending NAMI’s yoga workshops in New York. “I’m big on taking care of myself,” she says.

The Auto Bailout,Wind Up On Obama’s Plate

President-elect Barack Obama’s administration-in-waiting is quietly exploring options for negotiating a bailout of the ailing auto industry when the Democrat takes office in January.There is a sense that a comprehensive solution is unlikely to come from whatever legislative action Congress may take before the end of the year.

For the moment, the CEOs of the Big Three car companies are focused on getting help from Washington sooner rather than later. Later this week, they return to Capitol Hil to make the case for why their companies deserve $34 billion in bridge loans to help rebound from staggering debt loads and enormous losses. Having failed to convince Congress last month, Ford’s Alan Mulally, General Motors’ Rick Wagoner and Chrysler’s Robert Nardelli are scheduled to testify this Thursday and Friday to present detailed plans on how the American automobile industry can survive the current economic woes and even thrive into the future.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said two weeks ago that if the Banking Committees in both chambers approve the Big Three’s recovery plans, they would consider reconvening the full Congress for a vote. But hashing out terms of what would amount to an unofficial Chapter 11 reorganization is highly unusual and unwieldy for Congress, especially a lame duck one. The executive branch is better built to handle such talks, and the incoming Obama administration is looking at all options: using money from the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, as many Democrats have been unsuccessfully arguing for; taking funds from the Federal Reserve; or tapping emergency monies similar to the stabilization fund Treasury used in the 1994 Mexico bailout.

Obama senior staff has been in contact with senior executives at all three car companies since October, the Obama aide said. The talks consist of phone calls, e-mails and meetings, and the companies have given a power-point presentation on their internal financials. “We’re not negotiating with the auto companies; we’re not saying to them, here’s our plan,” the Obama aide said. “We’re just trying to listen and understand and study a range of options so that we’re ready to move quickly and immediately.”

What’s unclear is if the Big Three, particularly GM, can last that long. While Ford, in the recovery plan it submitted Tuesday, said it can survive through 2009 without a loan — provided neither one of its two competitors go bankrupt and drag down the industry’s entire supplier network — Chrysler asked for $7 billion in loans and GM said it would need $4 billion by the end of this month and upwards of another $14 billion next year to survive. All told, the companies have asked the federal government for $34 billion (including a $9 billion emergency line of credit Ford requested) — $9 billion more than they said they needed last month. When pressed about what would happen if GM runs out of money between now and Inauguration Day on January 20, the Obama aide repeatedly refused to discuss hypothetical events.

Obama’s team isn’t the only one who recognizes the executive branch could have an easier team pulling off such a rescue operation. On Tuesday Pelosi made it clear that the Bush administration has the authority to act at any time without Congress, saying that “an intervention will happen either legislatively or from the Administration…I think it’s pretty clear that bankruptcy is not an option.” Until now President Bush has been unwilling to consider such an approach. But on Tuesday, the same day the auto makers reported the worst month of sales in 26 years, the White House did not rule anything out.

“We’ll want to take a look at their plans in detail and see if they meet a credible test for viability,” deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said. “We’re pleased to see that everyone is now on board with what we’ve been saying for some time — that a credible plan for financial viability is necessary if we’re even to consider taxpayer assistance.”

Democrats had been looking to divert $25 billion of the $700 billion bank bailout funds allocated in September to help the auto makers, a move opposed by many Republicans critical of an industry that has long resisted tighter fuel efficiency standards, continued to invest in gas guzzling trucks and SUVs even as oil prices soared and given its union unsustainably generous deals on salary and benefits. “I don’t believe this is a good idea to take $25 billion and give it to the three major car companies, which I think have a business plan that’s doomed to fail,” Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, told Fox News Sunday, adding that Republican members are not wild about the Democrats’ demand that the Big Three present their plans to Congress. “The idea that you would take three failed car companies, bring [a plan] to 535 members of Congress and let us pass judgment on it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I don’t know how to run a car company.”

The GOP, for its part, has proposed using the $25 billion appropriated earlier this year in the energy bill to modernize the industry, a move opposed by Dems as forcing Detroit to choose between its present and future. Giving the automakers a second pass at convincing Congress does nothing to resolve this ideological disagreement. What it does do is give them a chance to repair their beaten-down image. In what became an infamous public relations disaster, the executives flew in on private jets last month to beg for money. Then, in two hearings before the Banking Committees, the three appeared to blame everyone but themselves for their current predicaments. Two of the three refused to give up their salaries and a few members openly called for all three CEOs to resign.

This time around all three are making a symbolic gesture by driving hybrid cars from Detroit. Ford and GM have pledged to sell at least some of their jets and all three CEOs said they would forgo salaries if they get the help they need, though that may not satisfy critics who claim the companies need entirely new management. More significantly, GM has pledged to consolidate its sprawling number of brands (focusing on Chevrolet, Cadillac, Buick and GMC), cut more than 20% of its remaining jobs, shutter almost a quarter of its factories, and try to reduce crippling labor costs by reopening negotiations with the United Auto Workers. Ford, in its plan, stated that it would roll out all-electric models within two years.

Yet the future of the Big Three companies rests in their ability to win over not just the lawmakers but also the public. When Congress was debating on whether to bailout Wall Street, public opinion began to turn when folks lost half their 401k investments practically overnight. Though the failure of just one of the Big Three could have similar repercussions on the stock market, the public is not feeling the pressure just yet to support such a move. A recent USA Today/Gallup poll found that 47% of Americans believe that providing relief to the industry is not very important.

Best Crime Of The Century:12 of 25

THE SON OF SAM, 1977

New York seemed to be going to hell in the summer of 1977. Already in perpetual fiscal crisis the city was plunged into a 25-hour blackout on July 13 that saw massive looting and arson. And the Son of Sam killer was still out there after more than a year, waiting to kill again, sending his perverse missives to the police and to New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin. The killer had called himself the Son of Sam in his letters, which spoke of Papa Sam as a drinker of blood and master of Satanic mayhem. And on July 31, the Son of Sam struck again, shooting a young woman, who was killed, and her male companion, who would be blinded. But it would be the last attack. A witness on the night of that shooting saw a man in the neighborhood remove a parking ticket from a Ford Galaxie. The police tracked their records and found 24-year-old David Berkowitz, a dweeby, pudgy employee of the U.S. Postal Service. Trained as a sharpshooter with the M16 rifle in the U.S. Army, he had used a .44 pistol in all the shootings, killing six and wounding seven. Who was Sam? Sam, said Berkowitz, was a cantankerous former neighbor. But Berkowitz said he was the devil and that he transmitted his orders through the infernal and incessant barkings of his dog, Harvey.

Yahoo’s Stock Jumps,Report Of Buyout Interest

SAN FRANCISCO — It takes only a glimmer of hope to excite  Yahoo shareholders these days.

Investors bid up shares in Yahoo by 7 percent on Tuesday after The Wall Street Journal reported that Jonathan Miller, the former chief executive of AOL, had been talking to private equity and sovereign wealth funds to raise $28 billion to $30 billion to buy Yahoo. That would work out to $20 to $22 a share; Yahoo’s stock closed up 76 cents at $11.50.

People in private equity circles said Mr. Miller had discussed possible options for Yahoo on and off since he left AOL two years ago. (Mr. Miller, now a partner at Velocity Interactive Group, a venture capital firm, did not respond to a request for comment.)

But they also said that a private buyout of Yahoo was highly unlikely, given the daunting environment for deal-making and the amount of debt that such a large deal would require.

“I would think this would be a very hard number to raise even in an effervescent financial market,” said Roger McNamee, a co-founder of Elevation Partners, a private equity firm in Silicon Valley. “In the current market, where there does not appear to be any debt available for any cause, let alone Yahoo, I think this has to be viewed as a long shot.”

This is not the first time in recent weeks that the ears of investors have perked up at the whisper of a possible conclusion to Yahoo’s long and twisted corporate story. There have been repeated rumors that Microsoft might rekindle efforts to buy some or all of Yahoo, but Microsoft has mostly debunked these.

Last weekend, The Times of London reported that Mr. Miller was working on a deal with Microsoft to buy Yahoo’s search business. All parties denied that report.

Jerry Yang, Yahoo’s co-founder and chief executive, announced last month that he would step aside once a new chief is found. Yahoo has told at least one major shareholder that it hoped to conclude its search and announce Mr. Yang’s replacement by the end of the year, but that is an ambitious goal.

A Yahoo spokesman, Brad Williams, would not discuss the timing of the search for a chief executive, and said of the report on Mr. Miller’s efforts that the company would not comment on rumors.

Though Yahoo shareholders and analysts say that a private buyout remains unlikely, they do find elements of that prospect appealing. Yahoo could easily sell off parts of itself, like its search business or its Japanese division, to immediately pay off debt.

Mr. Miller, who remains a popular and well-known figure in Internet circles, could probably marshal the support of large Yahoo shareholders, many of whom are desperate for a change in management. Mr. Miller was the principal architect of AOL’s transformation from a dial-up Internet service provider to an online advertising company, which is generally considered to have been a success.

In the ’90s, he was an executive at media outlets like USA Broadcasting, Nickelodeon and Paramount, which could give him the background to create a future for Yahoo in the rapidly changing media business.

One potential hitch is that Mr. Miller has a noncompete agreement with his former employer, Time Warner, that extends through March. Mr. Miller was forced to withdraw his name from consideration for Yahoo’s board over the summer after Time Warner indicated it would enforce the measure.

Sandeep Aggarwal, an Internet analyst at Collins Steward, said that even talk of Mr. Miller’s involvement was good for Yahoo and might motivate Microsoft to get off the sidelines.

“Microsoft has had no reason to hurry up and make a move,” Mr. Aggarwal said. “If Microsoft sees another strategic alternative developing, that might pressure them to move faster. It creates option value for Yahoo, and options never hurt.”

But Yahoo continues to face challenges that could discourage anyone courageous enough to think about taking over the business. Though it has one of the world’s most popular Web sites, it continues to lose market share in the profitable search business to Google, a relentless opponent. And the market for display advertisements, where Yahoo is strong, is suffering amid the general downturn in advertising.

All these factors, said Mr. McNamee of Elevation Partners, are poison to any potential Yahoo deal makers. “Private equity investors hate uncertainty, and the business situation at Yahoo is uncertain enough that it is bound to scare off many deep pocketed investors,” he said.

Burnley 2-0 Arsenal,Kevin McDonald,Carling Cup

Two goals from Burnley midfielder Kevin McDonald sent Arsenal’s young side crashing out of the Carling Cup.

McDonald opened the scoring after just six minutes, tapping home from close range after keeper Lukasz Fabianski had spilled the ball into his path.

The second came shortly into the second half with McDonald curling the ball past Fabianski from a tight angle.

Arsenal had several chances but found Burnley keeper Brian Jensen in fine form on a memorable night at Turf Moor.

Striker Nicklas Bendtner in particular endured a frustrating evening missing several decent chances for the Premier League outfit.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger kept true his promise to again field his youngsters who had been so impressive in their path to the quarter-finals of the competition.

Paul Rodgers, 19, was handed a debut while Arsenal also included 16-year-old Jack Wilshere and 17-year-old Aaron Ramsey.

Despite their lack of experience, Arsenal played with composure and elegance and at times were breathtaking in their play.

But as is so often the case with Arsenal, wastefulness in front of goal cost them dear as they came up against an organised and clinical Burnley side.

It was Arsenal who had the first chance of the game with Bendtner calling Jensen into an early save but the Danish striker fired straight at the legs of the Burnley keeper.

Just 80 seconds later, Burnley had the lead.

Chris Eagles created it, sending in a low cross from the right which keeper Fabianski spilled under pressure from Martin Paterson and McDonald was on hand to tap the ball home from six yards.

Arsenal had chances to equalise, several of them in fact, but Wenger’s side, who had been clinical in front of goal in previous rounds, were in wasteful mood.

Bendtner missed the first opportunity to level, again firing straight at the body of Jensen following a decent flick-on from Carlos Vela.

Despite having the lead Burnley continued to press for the second goal with Paterson and Eagles in particular causing the Arsenal defence problems.

And Fabianski made sure the score stayed at 1-0 saving well with his feet from Paterson’s low shot.

Shortly after, Bendtner’s clever little flick found Mark Randall with just the keeper, but Jensen again came out on top with another fine save.

Again Bendtner turned provider this time playing in Vela with a header that split the Burnley defence but the Mexican striker failed to beat Jensen.

It was the final opportunity Arsenal had to level in what had been a highly entertaining and open first half.

Arsenal started the second period brightly with Fran Merida, who had a quiet first half, jinking his way past three Burnley defenders before curling the ball past the post.

But with Arsenal pressing for an equaliser they were caught with a sucker punch falling further behind after 56 minutes.

And it was McDonald who scored it claiming his second goal of the game with a fine finish.

The striker out-muscled Randall to Eagles’ throw and curled the ball home with the outside of his right foot from 15-yards.

Soon after Paterson almost made it 3-0 but he headed straight at Fabianski from close range.

Jensen again prevented Bendtner from six yards out as Arsenal’s frustration grew.

And late on Bendtner missed from close range with Jensen again using his legs to deny the Arsenal striker.

It was the last real chance Arsenal would have and summed up a frustrating night for the Premier League giants as Championship Burnley celebrated a famous victory and marched into the semi-finals.

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Burnley: Jensen, Duff, Carlisle, Caldwell, Jordan, Alexander, Blake (Elliott 77), McDonald (Gudjonsson 61), McCann, Eagles, Paterson (Akinbiyi 74).
Subs Not Used: Penny, Mahon, Rodriguez, MacDonald.

Goals: McDonald 6, 57.

Arsenal: Fabianski, Hoyte, Silvestre, Ramsey, Gibbs, Rodgers (Lansbury 46), Randall (Bischoff 72), Merida, Wilshere (Simpson 63), Bendtner, Vela.
Subs Not Used: Mannone, Coquelin, Steer, Frimpong.

Booked: Randall, Merida.

Att: 19,045

Ref: Andre Marriner (W Midlands).

Actor Brad Pitt Visits New Orleans Project,Updated

Actor Brad Pitt has visited the New Orleans neighbourhood where families are moving into six homes built by his charity following Hurricane Katrina.

The star said he was pleased for them, but was thinking of those people who have yet to settle into new houses.

“The excitement is that it’s being proven, but the frustration is that it’s a long way to go,” he said.

Pitt’s Make It Right foundation is planning to build 150 eco-friendly houses in the area devastated in 2005.

‘Rich home’

The actor says it is “amazing” that the city’s Lower 9th ward, which was one of New Orleans’ most deprived areas, is destined to become one of the largest green neighbourhoods in the US.

One of the residents, Inez Converse, said she is pleased to have returned to the neighbourhood she lived in for 35 years before Katrina struck, and thanked Pitt in person.

“He didn’t have to do this. I’m just grateful that he is,” said the 71-year-old.

Later on Tuesday, Pitt appeared on NBC’s Today programme and said spoke about the six children he has with partner Angelina Jolie.

“It’s a rich home, and each one of them offers so much to the mix,” he said, but added: “Six kids is not as easy as you’d think.”

When asked if he and Oscar-winning actress Jolie would consider marriage, he said: “If we feel it’s important to our kids, we’ll do so.”

The couple have a home in New Orleans which was recently refurbished to accommodate their growing family.

On Monday night, a special screening of Pitt’s latest film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button took place in the city, where it was filmed.

Pitt has called the movie “a love letter to New Orleans”.