With promotions, discounts and doorbusters already well under way on Thanksgiving Day itself, many big-box retailers are making Black Friday stretch longer than ever. The Lede is checking out the mood of American consumers in occasional vignettes Thursday and Friday as the economically critical holiday shopping season kicks off.
Israel and Hamas Maintain Cease-Fire, After Push by the U.S. and Egypt
Label: World
CAIRO — A cease-fire agreed to under intense Egyptian and American pressure between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas to halt eight days of bloody conflict seemed to be holding on Thursday, averting a full-scale Israeli ground invasion of the Gaza Strip without resolving the underlying disputes.
With Israeli forces still massed on the Gaza border, a tentative calm in the fighting descended after the agreement was announced on Wednesday night. Some of the tens of thousands of Israeli reservists called up during the conflagration appeared to be making preparations on Thursday to redeploy away from staging areas along the Gaza border where the Israeli military had mounted a buildup of armor and troops.
The success of the truce will be an early test of how Egypt’s new Islamist government might influence the most intractable conflict in the Middle East.
In southern Israel, the target of more than 1,500 rockets fired from Gaza over the past week, wary residents began to return to routine. But schools within a 25-mile radius of the Palestinian enclave remained closed and thousands of soldiers, mobilized for a possible ground invasion, remained along the Gaza border. The military said that a decision regarding the troop deployment would be made after an assessment of the situation later Thursday.
A rocket alert sounded at the small village of Nativ Haasara near the border with Gaza on Thursday morning, sending residents skeptical from the start about the cease-fire running for shelter. The military said the alert had been a false alarm.
In Gaza, traffic returned to streets that had been deserted, stores and markets opened and workers began the huge task of cleaning up the debris left by days of aerial and naval bombardment. Thousands of Palestinians demonstrated in Gaza in support of the cease-fire as the Hamas leadership emerged from the fighting claiming victory.
Israel Radio said a dozen rockets were fired from Gaza in the first few hours of the cease-fire, but Israeli forces did not respond. In the rival Twitter feeds that offered a cyberspace counterpoint to the exchanges of airstrikes and rockets, the Israel Defense Forces said they had achieved their objectives while the armed Al Qassam Brigades in Gaza said Israeli forces had “raised the white flag.”
After more than a week of nights punctuated by the crash of bombardment and the sound of outgoing missiles, reporters in Gaza said the night had been quiet.
At the same time, Israeli security forces said on Thursday that they detained 55 Palestinian militants in the West Bank after earlier confrontations. The army said the detentions were designed to “continue to maintain order” and to “prevent the infiltration of terrorists into Israeli communities.”
The United States, Israel and Hamas all praised Egypt’s role in brokering the cease-fire as the antagonists pulled back from violence that had killed more than 150 Palestinians and five Israelis over the past week. The deal called for a 24-hour cooling-off period to be followed by talks aimed at resolving at least some of the longstanding grievances between the two sides.
Gazans poured into the streets declaring victory against the far more powerful Israeli military. In Israel, the public reaction was far more subdued. Many residents in the south expressed doubt that the agreement would hold, partly because at least five Palestinian rockets thudded into southern Israel after the cease-fire began.
The one-page memorandum of understanding left the issues that have most inflamed the tensions between the Israelis and the Gazans up for further negotiation. Israel demands long-term border security, including an end to Palestinian missile launching over the border. Hamas wants an end to the Israeli embargo.
The deal demonstrated the pragmatism of Egypt’s new Islamist president, Mohamed Morsi, who balanced public support for Hamas with a determination to preserve the peace with Israel. But it was unclear whether the agreement would be a turning point or merely a lull in the conflict.
The cease-fire deal was reached only through a final American diplomatic push: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton conferred for hours with Mr. Morsi and the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, at the presidential palace here. Hanging over the talks was the Israeli shock at a Tel Aviv bus bombing on Wednesday — praised by Hamas — that recalled past Palestinian uprisings and raised fears of heavy Israeli retaliation. After false hopes the day before, Western and Egyptian diplomats said they had all but given up hope for a quick end to the violence.
Texans playing Lions for a spot in the playoffs
Label: LifestyleDETROIT (AP) — The Houston Texans have put themselves in a position to be the NFL's first team to seal a spot in the playoffs and to move a step closer toward earning home-field advantage in the AFC.
Houston (9-1) has won four straight and is 4-0 on the road this season, giving the Texans a great shot to be in consecutive postseasons for the first time.
"It shows the progress we've made," said tight end Owen Daniels, who has been with the franchise for seven of its 11 years of existence. "A few years ago, it took us until the end of the season to get that ninth win. We're at that ninth win already.
"We're trying to stack 'em up, but it's good that those are possibilities this early in the season."
Houston needs to win at Detroit (4-6) on Thursday and have a handful of teams lose, or tie, to earn a postseason bid by the end of the weekend.
The Lions, meanwhile, will have to pull off a string of upsets against a slew of good teams to reach the franchise's goal of making it to consecutive postseasons for the first time since the mid-1990s.
Just when it looked like Detroit was living up to the hype generated with last year's breakout season by winning three of four games to climb back .500 earlier this month, the Lions lost two in a row. And that has made last season seem more like an aberration than the start of successful run for a floundering franchise that hit rock bottom in 2008 as the NFL's first 0-16 team.
"We're not thinking about playoffs or anything else," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. "We're thinking about the Houston Texans and that's plenty for us to think about right now."
Like all good teams, the Texans have proven they can win even when they don't play well.
Houston trailed the lowly Jacksonville Jaguars last week at home by 14 points in the fourth quarter before rallying for a 43-37 win in overtime.
The Texans' defense, which has been among the NFL's best all year, struggled until it made stops when they were needed. It didn't hurt that quarterback Matt Schaub and receiver Andre Johnson had career-best games.
Schaub connected on 43 passes for 527 yards passing, both totals tying for second most in league history, and Johnson set a personal best with 273 yards receiving. His franchise-record fifth touchdown pass was a screen to Johnson, who did the rest on a 48-yard score for the game-winner.
"You just never know in this league week to week what kind of game you're going to be in and we got caught in a shootout type of game with a lot of offense," Houston coach Gary Kubiak said. "We were fortunate enough to find a way to win."
Detroit did enough to lose 24-20 to the Green Bay Packers last week at home, where it had plenty of opportunities to get a much-needed win. The Lions' woes were made worse by a significant injury and distraction.
Left tackle Jeff Backus couldn't finish the first half because of a hamstring injury, which seemed to be in his right leg, and his 186-game starting streak that includes every game of his career is expected to end Thursday.
"It's hard to replace a rock that's been there for 12 years," said veteran center Dominic Raiola. "It's just different without him out there."
Detroit drafted Riley Reiff with the 23rd pick overall this year, planning to groom him as player to eventually replace Backus. The rookie might have to take on defensive end J.J. Watt, who ranks among NFL leaders with 11½ sacks and leads all defensive linemen in the league with 11 passes defended.
Houston, though, won't have to worry about No. 2 receiver Titus Young taking advantage of one-one-one coverage because the Lions announced Monday he would be inactive because of his "unacceptable" behavior during the game against the Packers.
"When you're a player, it's your job to make the team happy," Schwartz said. "It's not the team's job to make you happy."
Lions fans have not been happy when it comes to Thanksgiving Day results.
Detroit has lost a franchise-record eight straight on the holiday — by an average of three-plus touchdowns — and has only one victory in the last 11 games in its annual showcase after winning nine of 12 games from 1989-2000.
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Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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Follow Larry Lage on Twitter: http://twitter.com/larrylage
Recipes for Health: Apple Pear Strudel — Recipes for Health
Label: Health
Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times
This strudel is made with phyllo dough. When I tested it the first time, I found that I had enough filling for two strudels. Rather than cut the amount of filling, I increased the number of strudels to 2, as this is a dessert you can assemble and keep, unbaked, in the freezer.
Filling for 2 strudels:
1/2 pound mixed dried fruit, like raisins, currants, chopped dried figs, chopped dried apricots, dried cranberries
1 1/2 pounds apples (3 large) (I recommend Braeburns), peeled, cored and cut in 1/2-inch dice
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter for cooking the apples
1/4 cup (50 grams) brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup (30 grams) chopped or slivered almonds
3/4 pound (1 large or 2 small) ripe but firm pears, peeled, cored and cut in 1/2-inch dice
For each strudel:
8 sheets phyllo dough
7/8 cup (100 grams) almond powder, divided
1 1/2 ounces butter, melted, for brushing the phyllo
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment.
2. Place the dried fruit in a bowl and pour on hot or boiling water to cover. Let sit 5 minutes, and drain. Toss the apples with the lemon juice.
3. Heat a large, heavy frying pan over high heat and add 2 tablespoons butter. Wait until it becomes light brown and carefully add the apples and the sugar. Do not add the apples until the pan and the butter are hot enough, or they won’t sear properly and retain their juice. But be careful when you add them so that the hot butter doesn’t splatter. When the apples are brown on one side, add the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and almonds, flip the apples and continue to sauté until golden brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the pears and dried fruit, then scrape out onto one of the lined sheet pans and allow to cool completely. Divide into two equal portions (easiest to do this if you weigh it).
4. Place 8 sheets of phyllo dough on your work surface. Cover with a dish towel and place another, damp dish towel on top of the first towel. Place a sheet of parchment on your work surface horizontally, with the long edge close to you. Lay a sheet of phyllo dough on the parchment. Brush lightly with butter and top with the next sheet. Continue to layer all eight sheets, brushing each one with butter before topping with the next one.
5. Brush the top sheet of phyllo dough with butter. Sprinkle on half of the almond powder (50 grams). With the other half, create a line 3 inches from the base of the dough, leaving a 2 1/2-inch margin on the sides. Top this line with one portion of the fruit mixture. Fold the bottom edge of the phyllo up over the filling, then fold the ends over and roll up like a burrito. Using the parchment paper to help you, lift the strudel and place it on the other parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with butter and make 3 or 4 slits on the diagonal along the length of the strudel. Repeat with the other sheets of phyllo to make a second strudel. If you are freezing one of them, double-wrap tightly in plastic.
6. Place the strudel in the oven and bake 20 minutes. Remove from the oven, brush again with butter, rotate the pan and return to the oven. Continue to bake for another 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from the heat and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes. Serve warm or room temperature.
Yield: 2 strudels, each serving 8
Advance preparation: The fruit filling will keep for a couple of days in the refrigerator. The strudel can be baked a few hours before serving it. Recrisp in a medium oven for 10 minutes. It can also be frozen before baking, double-wrapped in plastic. Transfer directly from the freezer to the oven and add 10 minutes to the baking time.
Nutritional information per serving: 259 calories; 13 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 15 milligrams cholesterol; 34 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 91 milligrams sodium; 4 grams protein
Martha Rose Shulman is the author of “The Very Best of Recipes for Health.”
DealBook: S.E.C. Weighs Suing Aletheia Manager
Label: BusinessFederal regulators are preparing a civil fraud case against a prominent Los Angeles money manager, a government lawyer said at a court hearing on Wednesday.
The manager, Peter J. Eichler Jr., chief executive of Aletheia Research and Management, has received a so-called Wells notice from the Securities and Exchange Commission, an indication that the agency is considering an enforcement action.
Gary Leung, an S.E.C. staff lawyer, disclosed the potential lawsuit during a hearing in United States Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles. Aletheia filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11, and owes as much as $50 million.
A bankruptcy lawyer for Aletheia, Brian Davidoff, said that his client disputed the S.E.C.’s possible claims. A Wells notice typically gives the recipient a chance to dissuade the S.E.C. from proceeding with its case.
Regulators are said to be looking into accusations of improper trading, including whether client accounts were manipulated through the late allocation of trades. It is also examining whether money-losing trades were shifted from client accounts into Aletheia’s accounts, said a person briefed on the case who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Justice Department has also taken an interest in Aletheia’s bankruptcy case. On Monday, prosecutors in the tax division of the United States attorney’s office in Los Angeles made a request with the bankruptcy court that it be notified of all pleadings filed in the case.
The S.E.C.’s warning is the latest setback for Mr. Eichler, who until recently was a highly regarded money manager. At its peak, Aletheia managed nearly $10 billion in assets and had a superior long-term investment track record that handily outperformed the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index. The firm’s flagship growth strategy attracted business from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, which both invested their clients’ money in Aletheia funds. Both banks have terminated their relationships with Aletheia.
Aletheia also drew attention for its involvement in several prominent shareholder fights, including when it teamed up with the billionaire investor Ronald Burkle to wage a proxy battle with the bookseller Barnes & Noble.
Named after the Greek word for “truth and disclosure,” Aletheia was started in 1997 by Mr. Eichler, a former executive at Bear Stearns. He operated the firm out of wood-paneled headquarters at 100 Wilshire Boulevard in Santa Monica, a prestigious office building with commanding views of the Pacific Ocean.
But Mr. Eichler and Aletheia have been under a cloud since 2010, when a senior executive at the firm, Roger B. Peikin, filed an explosive wrongful-termination lawsuit. He depicted Mr. Eichler as a tyrannical boss who ruled Aletheia “with an iron fist” and operated the firm as his “personal fiefdom.” The complaint also accused Mr. Eichler of misconduct related to “general disregard for regulatory controls, wanton expenditure of corporate assets for Eichler’s personal benefit, and overall neglect of the business side of Aletheia’s operations.”
Aletheia has had mounting legal problems in recent years. It already had a dispute with the S.E.C. when, in 2011, it paid the agency $400,000 to settle civil charges related to deficient record-keeping.
The firm is also engaged in a legal fight with Proctor Investment Managers, a private equity firm based in New York, over the terms of a deal in which Proctor took a 10 percent stake in Aletheia.
Despite its legal woes and tepid performance across its funds, Aletheia still managed about $1.4 billion as of Sept. 30, according to securities filings.
A version of this article appeared in print on 11/22/2012, on page B5 of the NewYork edition with the headline: S.E.C. Weighs Suing Aletheia Manager.
Israel and Hamas Reach Cease-Fire
Label: World
CAIRO — Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire on Wednesday after eight days of lethal fighting over the Gaza Strip, the United States and Egypt said after intensive negotiations in Cairo.
The cease-fire, which is to take effect at 9 p.m. local time (2 p.m. E.S.T.), was formally announced by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr of Egypt at a news conference here. It appeared to avert an escalating battle between Palestinians and Israelis that had threatened to turn into wider war.
“This is a critical moment for the region,” Mrs. Clinton, who rushed to the Middle East late Tuesday in an intensified effort to halt the hostilities, told reporters in Cairo. She thanked Egypt’s president, Mohamed Morsi, who played a pivotal role in the negotiations, for “assuming the leadership that has long made this country a cornerstone of regional stability and peace.”
The negotiators reached an agreement after days of nearly nonstop Israeli aerial assaults on Gaza, the Mediterranean enclave run by Hamas, the militant Islamist group, which had fired hundreds of rockets into Israel from an arsenal it has been amassing in the aftermath of the three-week Israeli invasion four years ago.
The agreement came despite fears that a bus bombing in Tel Aviv earlier in the day, which Hamas and other Palestinian militant groups applauded, would scuttle the negotiations. There were also fears that Israeli strikes overnight into Gaza had further dimmed the prospects for success by Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Morsi.
Egyptian and American officials did not immediately divulge details of the agreement, and it was unclear how it would be enforced.
An agreement had been on the verge of completion Tuesday, but was delayed on a number of issues, including Hamas’s demands for unfettered access to Gaza via the Rafah crossing into Egypt and other steps that would ease Israel’s economic and border control over other aspects of life for the more than one million Palestinian residents of Gaza, which Israel vacated in 2005 after 38 years of occupation.
The Hamas Health Ministry in Gaza said the Palestinian death toll after a week of fighting stood at 140 at noon. At least a third of those killed are believed to have been militants. On the Israeli side, five Israelis have been killed, including one soldier.
Around noon on Wednesday in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas government media office, a bomb hit the house of Issam Da’alis, an adviser to Ismail Haniya, the Hamas prime minister. The house had been evacuated. Earlier, a predawn airstrike near a mosque in the Jabaliya refugee camp killed a 30-year-old militant, a spokesman said, and F-16 bombs destroyed two houses in the central Gaza Strip.
There were 23 punishing strikes against the southern tunnels that are used to bring weapons as well as construction material, cars and other commercial goods into Gaza from the Sinai Peninsula.
Within Gaza City, Abu Khadra, the largest government office complex, was obliterated overnight. Businesses were also damaged, including two banks and a tourism office, and electricity cables fell on the ground and were covered in dust.
Separately, a bomb dropped from an F-16 created a 20-foot-wide crater in an open area in a stretch of hotels occupied by foreign journalists. Several of the hotels had windows blown out by the strike around 2 a.m., but no one was reported injured. By morning, the hole in the ground had filled with sludgy water, apparently from a burst pipe, appearing almost like a forgotten swimming hole with walls made of sand and cracked cinder block.
Surveying damage near a government complex, Raji Sourani of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights said Gaza civilians were “in the eye of the storm,” and accused Israel of “inflicting pain and terror” on them. Israeli officials accuse Hamas of locating military sites in or close to civilian areas.
Overnight, as the conflict entered its eighth day, the Israeli military said in Twitter posts that “more than 100 terror sites were targeted, of which approximately 50 were underground rocket launchers.” The targets included the Ministry of Internal Security in Gaza, described as “one of Hamas’s main command and control centers.”
While there was no immediate or formal claim of responsibility for the bus bombing in Tel Aviv, a message on a Twitter account in the name of Al Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip, declared: “We told you IDF that our blessed hands will reach your leaders and soldiers wherever they are, ‘You opened the Gates of hell on Yourselves.’ ” The letters I.D.F. refer to the Israel Defense Forces.
On several occasions since the latest conflagration seized Gaza last week, militants have aimed rockets at Tel Aviv, but they have either fallen short, landed in the sea or been intercepted. Hundreds of rockets fired by militants in Gaza have struck other targets.
But the bombing seemed to be the first time in the fighting that violence had spread directly onto the streets of Tel Aviv.
On Tuesday — the deadliest day of fighting in the conflict — Mrs. Clinton arrived hurriedly in Jerusalem and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to push for a truce.
Her visit to Cairo on Wednesday to consult with Egyptian officials in contact with Hamas placed her and the Obama administration at the center of a fraught process with multiple parties, interests and demands.
Before leaving for Cairo, Mrs. Clinton visited the West Bank to meet Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, which is estranged from the Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip and has increasingly strained ties with Israel over a contentious effort to upgrade the Palestinian status at the United Nations to that of a nonmember state. Mr. Abbas’s faction is favored by the United States, but it is not directly involved in either the fighting in Gaza or the effort in Cairo to end it. Like Israel and much of the West, the United States regards Hamas as a terrorist organization.
The Israelis, who had amassed tens of thousands of troops on the Gaza border, had threatened to invade for a second time in four years to end the rocket fire.
Boxer 'Macho' Camacho critical in Puerto Rico
Label: LifestyleSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hector "Macho" Camacho was clinging to life Wednesday after being shot in the face while in a car, with doctors and his family expected to decide whether to remove the former boxing champion from life support.
Doctors had said Camacho was in critical, but stable condition and expected to survive after he was shot Tuesday night in his hometown of Bayamon. But his condition worsened overnight and his heart stopped at one point, said Dr. Ernesto Torres, director of the Centro Medico trauma center in San Juan.
"He's battling minute to minute. This is the most important fight of his life," Torres told The Associated Press outside the hospital in the Puerto Rican capital.
Torres said doctors were trying to determine the boxer's level of brain activity.
The specialists will then consult with other doctors and Camacho's mother, who flew in Wednesday from New York, to discuss whether he should be removed from life support, said Ismael Leandry, a longtime friend and former manager who was also at the hospital.
"We just have to wait to see if 'Macho' gets better. It's a hard battle," Leandry told AP.
Torres said Camacho's mother, Maria, spent about 20 minutes with her son, one of the most dynamic boxing personalities of his era, and was expected to return for a second visit on Wednesday night.
"His mother came and she is devastated," he said. "She knows the prognosis is not at all favorable."
A godson, Widniel Adorno, said the family has discussed the possibility of organ donation but no final decision has been made.
The 50-year-old Camacho was outside a bar in a parked Ford Mustang with a friend when he was shot in the face. The friend, identified as 49-year-old Adrian Mojica Moreno, was killed. Police said two assailants fled in an SUV but no arrests have been made and no motive has been disclosed.
Camacho was rushed to Centro Medico, where doctors initially said he was fortunate in that the bullet passed through his head and lodged in his shoulder. Torres did warn, however, that the boxer, who was trailed by drug and alcohol problems during a career that included some high-profile bouts, could be paralyzed from the shooting.
Steve Tannenbaum, who has also represented Camacho in the past, said he was told by friends at the hospital that the boxer would make it.
"This guy is a cat with nine lives. He's been through so much," he said. "If anybody can pull through it will be him."
Friends and family members waited anxiously at the hospital, fondly recalling Camacho's high-energy personality and his powerful skills in the ring.
"He was like a little brother who was always getting into trouble," said former featherweight champion Juan Laporte, a fellow Puerto Rican who grew up and trained with Camacho in New York.
Camacho has been considered one of the more controversial figures in boxing.
The fighter's last title bout came against then-welterweight champion Oscar De La Hoya in 1997, a loss by unanimous decision. He last fought in May 2010, losing to Saul Duran. Tannenbaum said they were looking at a possible bout in 2013.
"We were talking comeback even though he is 50," he said. "I felt he was capable of it."
Camacho was born in Bayamon, one of the cities that make up the San Juan metropolitan area
He left Puerto Rico as a child and grew up mostly in New York's Harlem neighborhood, one of the reasons he later earned the nickname "the Harlem Heckler."
He went on to win super lightweight, lightweight and junior welterweight world titles in the 1980s.
Camacho has fought other high-profile bouts in his career against Felix Trinidad, Julio Cesar Chavez and Sugar Ray Leonard. Camacho knocked out Leonard in 1997, ending what was that former champ's final comeback attempt.
Camacho has a career record of 79-6-3.
In recent years, he has divided his time between Puerto Rico and Florida, appearing regularly on Spanish-language television.
Drug, alcohol and other problems have trailed Camacho since the prime of his boxing career. He was sentenced in 2007 to seven years in prison for the burglary of a computer store in Mississippi. While arresting him on the burglary charge in January 2005, police also found the drug ecstasy.
A judge eventually suspended all but one year of the sentence and gave Camacho probation. He wound up serving two weeks in jail, though, after violating that probation.
Twice his wife filed domestic abuse complaints against him, and she filed for divorce several years ago.
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Associated Press writer Ben Fox contributed to this report.
Ask an Expert: Ask and Expert About Alzheimer’s, Part 3
Label: Health
(Some questions published here have been edited, and not all questions can be answered.)
The doctor’s answers are meant for educational purposes and are not meant to be a substitute for advice from your own doctor. Readers should contact their physician before making health care decisions.
Q. What practical steps can a baby boomer take to stave off dementia of any type? — Canoe9, Hawaii
Q. My dad’s family has a history of Alzheimer’s disease: my grandfather and many of his brothers have either passed away from the disease, or are currently suffering from it. The disease can be traced back for many generations. My father has not yet started to show symptoms. Are there any medications he can take as a preventative measure? What are the best diet and lifestyle choices a person can make who has an increased risk of developing the disease? — VB, Canada
Q. Both of my inlaws have Alzheimer’s. What steps can my husband and his brothers take now to delay/prevent the disease? And should he be monitored at an Alzheimer’s center? — lbs, New Jersey
Q. My mother, two older brothers and two older sisters all had progressive mental dementia (I believe Alzheimer’s ) before age of 65. I am 64 and had extensive mental exam that found no symptoms. For prevention I am doing it as follows. 1. Have become a Vegan with very little use of vegetable oils after reading China Study by Campbell and Starch Solution by McDougall. 2. I use lots of turmeric, ginger, cinnamon in my food. 3. I have run 20 to 30 miles a week for the last 10 years. 4. I retired to reduce work related stress. Is there any other preventive measures you recommend? — Jaque, Champaign, Ill.
Q. My mother had a form or dementia, not sure if it was Alzheimer’s, and she lived to 96. And what can I do to improve my chances? I work out and am not overweight and am in good health otherwise. — Mitchellmcg, New York
A. There are dozens of causes of dementia and steps for prevention are different for each one. We have no proven preventive strategies for Alzheimer’s. The decision to monitor people at risk is made on a case by case basis, but I don’t usually recommend any monitoring until someone is about five years within the age their relative developed it; or they note changes in their memory. My top strategies to keep your brain healthy are listed below.
1. Vascular risks: Minimize your risk for strokes, heart disease and diabetes (keep your body weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar in normal range). Studies find strong links between vascular risks and Alzheimer’s.
2. Exercise regularly: Regular aerobic activities, such as walking, may reduce risk for dementia by keeping the brain’s blood vessels healthy, boosting nerve growth chemicals and slowing age-related brain shrinkage.
3. Stimulate your mind: Socialize actively, make new friends, try new activities, travel to new places and be passionate about learning new things. Adult brains can grow new brain cell connections and developing a greater cognitive reserve might help the buffer against dementia pathology.
4. Heart healthy diet: follow a heart healthy diet such as a Mediterranean diet but heed the old Okinawan saying Hari Hachi Bu – eat only till you are 80 percent full; drink in moderation (but not till you cannot remember what happened the prior night!)
5. Minimize your risk for head injury by wearing helmets. (The Hovding is a new invisible helmet that promises to keeps your hair looking pretty and your head safe!)
6. Take part in clinical trials – pros are that trials may offer regular check-ups and you are helping science; cons are that there are safety risks. Our book, The Alzheimer’s Action Plan gives a step-by-step guide to evaluate which clinical trials are best for you. You might enjoy reading the new book, “Super Brain.” It’s coauthored by the dementia scientist Rudolf Tanzi and the mind-body guru, Deepak Chopra.
Q. I can´t find a Spanish version of “The Alzheimer’s Action Plan.” Will we have it soon? — Marisabel Neuman, Orlando, Fla.
A. Not yet, but we are open to it if you know an interested publisher! But your question does highlight the fact that many Spanish only speakers in the United States and elsewhere are often left out of the mainstream of information on Alzheimer’s. Hispanics in the United States may be at a slightly greater risk for Alzheimer’s due to higher rates of heart disease. Gracias por su interes!
Q. Since my mother developed Alzheimer’s in her mid-80’s, presumably I am at greater risk than the general population, should I live to a similar age. What is your best guess about the likelihood of preventative medications or treatments being developed in the next 25 years? — Beth, Singapore
A. The track record of scientists at predicting a “cure” is not very good (about the same as that of stock analysts predicting the market). The last dozen or so experimental medicines for Alzheimer’s (all touted as the next big thing) have not only failed but results have often been the opposite of what was predicted.
That said, in the next 5-10 years, we will have the results from over 25 trials testing a broad range of strategies such as drugs targeting plaques, drugs targeting tangles, drugs boosting brain memory chemicals, aerobic exercise, different types of diets and medical foods, gene therapy, as well as novel devices to stimulate the brain’s memory centers. (You can check clinicaltrials.org or adcs.org for more information). So the odds are quite good that we will have one or more new treatments by 2025. But even if a cure were in a test tube today, it would take ten years to get to the market. That’s why it’s critical that individuals, such as yourself, sign up for clinical trials.
You may be surprised to learn that one type of “cure” is already available. About 10 years ago, a woman with familial early onset Alzheimer’s successfully conceived a healthy baby free of the harmful APP gene mutation through a technique called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) at a fertility clinic run by the doctor, Yuri Verlinski. That baby, who would now be 10 years old, has hopefully been cured of familial Alzheimer’s and will in turn be able to have risk free children.
Q. My father, his mother, his mother’s sister, my maternal grandmother and her sister and my maternal aunt all had or have Alzheimer’s - symptomatic onset at 70 and in the early 80’s. I have just turned 60 and think I’d be a great research subject in terms of lifestyle. Can you suggest any research projects that might use me? I understand that some very important studies are being run through Duke. — Kristin Pop’s daughter, Ithaca.
Q. Kristin’s background, age, concerns, and interest in research studies mirror mine - which I have posted. Please inform us of potential studies. I am willing to travel, even to Duke, which she mentioned in her post. —Mary Christian Madden, East Greenwich, RI
A. Thanks for the offer! Most research studies require people to come for multiple visits over several months/years which would be difficult for people living far away. A university affiliated medical center closer to your home might be more ideal. Clinicaltrials.gov has a listing of all ongoing prevention studies. Many such studies are also advertised in pages of local newspapers. The Alzheimer’s Association chapter in your home town may be able to guide you to find a suitable research study in your town. Don’t sign up for a trial just because you have a spare half day. Make sure you thoroughly research the pros and cons. Fewer than 1 percent of drug trials are positive, but 100 percent of all drug trials carry risks. So the odds of you personally benefiting are the same as in a lottery.
Q. Her whole life my mother drank four cups of tea every day, read two to three books a week, ate mostly vegetables, didn’t smoke, drank wine moderately, and stayed slim. She started showing signs of Alzheimers in her mid 50’s and has been steadly declining for 15 years now. Although a bad lifestyle can cause dementia in many people, it is more complicated than that. — Joseph, Fla.
Blue Laws Curb Consumerism Where Pilgrims Gave Thanks
Label: Business
Charlie Mahoney for The New York Times
The annual Thanksgiving celebration in Plymouth, Mass., is held the weekend before the holiday, so as not to interfere.
PLYMOUTH, Mass. — Here in the birthplace of Thanksgiving, where the Pilgrims first gave thanks in 1621 for their harvest and their survival, some residents are giving thanks this year for something else: the Colonial-era blue laws that prevent retailers from opening their doors on the fourth Thursday of November.
Charlie Mahoney for The New York Times
Participants in Saturday's town parade.
While shoppers in the rest of the country will skip out on Thanksgiving to go to Walmart or Kmart or other big-box stores, William Wrestling Brewster, whose ancestors arrived on the Mayflower and participated in that first Thanksgiving, will limit his activities to enjoying a traditional meal here with his extended family at his parents’ house.
“Thanksgiving is supposed to be about giving thanks for all you have,” said Mr. Brewster, 47, who runs a computer repair business. “I cringe to think what society is doing to itself,” he said of the mercantile mania that threatens one of the least commercial holidays.
Some of the nation’s biggest retailers — Sears, Target and Toys “R” Us among them — announced this month that they would be moving up their predawn Black Friday door-buster sales to Thanksgiving Day or moving up their existing Thanksgiving sales even earlier on Thursday. Walmart, which has already been open on Thanksgiving for many years, is advancing its bargain specials to 8 p.m. Thursday from 10 p.m.
But in Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, the stores will sit dark until the wee hours of Friday. Even Walmart will not open in Maine until just after midnight Friday or in Massachusetts or Rhode Island until 1 a.m.
New England’s blue laws were put down by early settlers to enforce proper behavior on Sundays. (The origin of the term is unclear. Some have said the laws were printed on blue paper, while others have said the word “blue” was meant to disparage those like the “blue noses” who imposed rigid moral codes on others.)
Over decades, many of those laws — which banned commerce, entertainment and the sale of alcohol, among other things — were tossed aside or ignored, or exemptions were granted. In some cases, the statutes were extended to holidays and barred retailers specifically from operating on Thanksgiving or Christmas.
Maine granted an exception to L. L. Bean, whose store in Freeport is open around the clock every day, including Christmas. When the blue laws, which had faded, were revived in the 1950s, the store in Freeport was already operating 24/7, said Carolyn Beem, a spokeswoman. She said that the store, which originally catered to hunters and fishermen who shopped at odd hours, was grandfathered in and allowed to stay open on the holidays.
Nationwide, a protest is developing against Thanksgiving Day sales. Workers at some stores have threatened to strike, saying the holiday openings were disrupting their family time. Online petitions have drawn hundreds of thousands of signatures protesting the move. The stores say that many of their workers have volunteered to work on the holiday, when they will get extra pay, and that consumers wanted to shop early. It is not yet clear what effect the protests might have.
At the same time, this corner of New England is serving as something of a bulwark against the forces of commercialism.
Even the Retailers Association of Massachusetts is treading gently on the notion of Thanksgiving sales.
“There hasn’t been any outcry from our members over the years pushing this,” said Bill Rennie, vice president of the association.
But, as Thanksgiving shopping becomes more common, he said, “it may be time to have a discussion about it.”
Blue laws seem anachronistic when people can shop anytime online, he said.
There is also the case of simple economics. These states are already at risk of losing sales to stores in New Hampshire, which has no sales tax. Now, Mr. Rennie pointed out, they could lose even more in the holiday bargain rush when stores in New Hampshire are open and stores here are closed.
Still, Barry Finegold, a Massachusetts state senator whose district abuts New Hampshire, said that so far, none of the retailers in his district had asked for a change in the law.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: November 20, 2012
An earlier version of this article misstated William Wrestling Brewster’s occupation. He runs a computer repair business, not a computer store.
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