European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 1, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday Aprim 2007 stars and stripes Page 21 astronaut to try by Jimmy Golen the dissociated press Boston zooming through Howearth orbit at Mph Suni Williams completes the Stan Dard Marathon distance every seconds but for this months Boston Marathon the Navy com Mander will run the equivalent distance on a Treadmill 210 Miles above Earth in the International space station and tethered to her track by bungee cords so she does not float away she thought it would be Cool if she gave it a said Williams sister Dina Pandya who will run the race the traditional Way with almost other runners she said ill Call you on Heartbreak although the worlds oldest an Nual Marathon starts at 10 on Earth Williams might not be Able to run at that time because her sleep schedule a fairly arbitrary matter in space is set for the arrival of a soyuz Mission in not sure the timing will be that Shell be Pandya going to be on rus Sian time so there kind of Williams 41 qualified for the Boston race by finishing last Janu Arys Houston Marathon in 3 hours 29 minutes 57 seconds on dec 9 Williams took off on the space shuttle discovery and it be came Clear she was not going to make it to the starting line i considered it a huge Honor to qualify and i didst want my qualification to expire without giving it a Williams told the bos ton athletic association which organizes the race the Baa offered to Send an offi Cial entrants bib and a special finishers medal made without Lead per Nasa orders to the space station but when last months launch of the shuttle at lantis was postponed Williams had to be emailed a bib that she can print out the other souvenirs will have to wait race organizers have cooperated with far Flung endeavours like the Boston Marathon in sending extensive packages of trophies water bottles and even a Fin ish line tape to the Middle East for three years running a similar shipment is headed for Kosovo a this year this is the first race they have Ever had on a satellite new study May help to treat brain disorders by Lauran Neergaard the associated press Washington spot a Bear in the Woods and a different part of your brain will yell pay Atten Tion than if you were studying bears at the zoo new research shows it takes one part of the brain to Start concentrating and another to be distracted this discovery could help scientists develop better treatments for attention deficit disorder this ability to wilfully focus your attention is physically Sepa rate in the brain from distracting things grabbing your said Earl Miller a neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of technology he led the study published in fridays edition of the journal science now we know these two things Are separate it raises the possibility that we can fix them ind Epen Miller said there Are two main ways the brain pays attention top Down or wilful Goa oriented attention such As when you focus to read and Botto up or reflexive at Tention to sensory information loud noises or Bright colors or threatening animals likewise there Are different de Grees of attention disorders deciphering a brain parts of the brain that determine whether someone is concentrating or being distracted Are thought to be Independent of each other parietal cortex signals which recognize automatic attention grabbers believed to originate Here prefrontal cortex signals for focused concentration Are believed to originate Here source centers for disease control and prevention a some people have a harder time focusing while others have a harder time filtering out distractions scientists knew that paying at Tention involved multiple brain re Gions but they did not know How because studies until now have examined one Region at a time Miller hooked painless electrodes onto monkeys to track How two key areas react together when the brain jumps to Atten Tion when the monkeys voluntarily concentrated the so called executive Center in the front of the brain the prefrontal cortex was in charge but when some thing distracting grabbed the monkeys attention that signal originated in the parietal cortex toward the Back of the brain the electrical activity in these two areas began vibrating in synchrony As they signalled each other but it was at different frequencies almost like being at Dif Ferent spots on the radio dial Courtesy of astronaut Suni Williams is tethered As she runs on a Treadmill system aboard the International space station last year study finds smokers take More sick Days than nonsmokers do by Jordan Lite new York daily news new York smokers Are taking timeouts from work be sides cigarette Breaks they aver age More than 25 percent More sick Days a year than their non smoking colleagues a new study has found employees who smoked took an average of 34 sick Days a year compared with nearly 20 by those who had never smoked and 25 by a smokers according to a study of swedish workers in the current Issue of the journal tobacco control that actually worked out to eight extra Days after taking into account characteristics of work ers jobs that might put them at added risk of illness wrote the authors who Analysed insurance data from swedish work ers i dont think that a Surprise i know its not Good for said Wayne Hampton 37 who was Tak ing a smoke break from his Job As a customer service representative in new York Eliya Stein 22 said he cuts Back on cigarettes in the Winter because Hes More Likely to get sick but the Media analyst said its not like i get sick to the Point where i cant go to american workers average far fewer sick Days than the swedes who led the pack in sick Days among eight countries examined i dont think that a Surprise i know its not Good for me w Wayne Hampton 37 smoker customer service representative in a 2002 report but studies have found smokers miss More than nonsmokers too a 2001 study of 300 workers found that smokers averaged four sick Days a year compared with Days for nonsmokers smoking also was associated with poorer work performance according to a study of female Navy enlistees reported in tobacco control smokers were less Likely to in list for eight years than nonsmokers and More Likely to be Dis charged for medical reasons drug abuse and bad behaviour theres some suggestion that people who smoke Are less productive they take More smoke Breaks but also tend to be nonconformist sort of impulsive and higher risk takers so they May do things to get themselves into More trouble and that might not be conducive to moving up in the workplace and being As productive As they could said Terry Conway of san Diego state University author of the Navy study House democrats pass budget ending tax cuts democrats pushed their budget Blue print to passage thursday prom Ising a big surplus in five years by allowing tax cuts passed in presi Dent Bush first term to expire the plan would award spend ing increases next year to both the Pentagon and Domestic pro Grams but it Deci Sions about unsustainable growth in Federal Benefit programs such As medicare the 216210 vote sets up negotiations with the Senate which last month passed a budget blueprint with spending increases similar to the House plan the Senate plan would not generate surpluses since it assumes lawmakers will renew the most popular of the tax cuts due to expire at the end of 2010 the measure reflects a Choice by democrats to increase spend ing on Domestic programs funded each year by appropriations Bills while forestalling binding Deci Sions on what to do when tax cuts expire ousted idol1 contestant considered quitting Greenville Chris Sligh the curl headed Contes Tant from South Carolina who was voted off american idol last week said he considered quitting the show two weeks before View ers sent him packing i never came into this wanting to win Sligh told the Green Ville news on thursday i made the top ten that was my Sligh said he decided not to quit because the top 10 contestants participate in an american idol summer tour that comes with a Nice paycheck i wanted to make the he said i wanted to be Able to make music for my living so i dont have to work at the marketing company that i was working women plead not guilty in i Landrun deaths los Angeles two women in their 70s pleaded not guilty thursday to drugging two transient men and killing them with a car so they could collect nearly million in insurance Money Helen Golay 76 and Olga rut Ter Schmidt 74 pleaded not guilty before Superior court judge David Wesley they have been jailed without bail since their arrests in May they Are charged with two counts each of murder and conspiracy to commit murder for financial gain prosecutors say the women be friended Kenneth Mcdavid and Paul Vados took out insurance policies on their lives then drugged them and ran them Over to make it look like the two Home less men had been killed in i Landrun accidents Mcdavid 50 died on june 21 2005 and Vados 73 on nov 8 1999 investigators say Golay and Rutterschmid collected about million in life insurance and accidental death benefits the Case is scheduled for trial May 23 from the associated press