Hip implants a bit more likely to fail in women

CHICAGO (AP) — Hip replacements are slightly more likely to fail in women than in men, according to one of the largest studies of its kind in U.S. patients. The risk of the implants failing is low, but women were 29 percent more likely than men to need a repeat surgery within the first three years.

The message for women considering hip replacement surgery remains unclear. It's not known which models of hip implants perform best in women, even though women make up the majority of the more than 400,000 Americans who have full or partial hip replacements each year to ease the pain and loss of mobility caused by arthritis or injuries.

"This is the first step in what has to be a much longer-term research strategy to figure out why women have worse experiences," said Diana Zuckerman, president of the nonprofit National Research Center for Women & Families. "Research in this area could save billions of dollars" and prevent patients from experiencing the pain and inconvenience of surgeries to fix hip implants that go wrong.

Researchers looked at more than 35,000 surgeries at 46 hospitals in the Kaiser Permanente health system. The research, published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine, was funded by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

After an average of three years, 2.3 percent of the women and 1.9 percent of the men had undergone revision surgery to fix a problem with the original hip replacement. Problems included instability, infection, broken bones and loosening.

"There is an increased risk of failure in women compared to men," said lead author Maria Inacio, an epidemiologist at Southern California Permanente Medical Group in San Diego. "This is still a very small number of failures."

Women tend to have smaller joints and bones than men, and so they tend to need smaller artificial hips. Devices with smaller femoral heads — the ball-shaped part of the ball-and-socket joint in an artificial hip — are more likely to dislocate and require a surgical repair.

That explained some, but not all, of the difference between women and men in the study. It's not clear what else may have contributed to the gap. Co-author Dr. Monti Khatod, an orthopedic surgeon in Los Angeles, speculated that one factor may be a greater loss of bone density in women.

The failure of metal-on-metal hips was almost twice as high for women than in men. The once-popular models were promoted by manufacturers as being more durable than standard plastic or ceramic joints, but several high-profile recalls have led to a decrease in their use in recent years.

"Don't be fooled by hype about a new hip product," said Zuckerman, who wrote an accompanying commentary in the medical journal. "I would not choose the latest, greatest hip implant if I were a woman patient. ... At least if it's been for sale for a few years, there's more evidence for how well it's working."

___

Online:

Journal: http://www.jamainternalmed.com

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Attorney killed wife on Italian cruise for her money, police say

A former Orange County attorney allegedly killed his ex-wife for financial gain in 2006 by strangling her and throwing her overboard while on a cruise along the Italian coast, authorities said.

Lonnie Kocontes, 55, a former Mission Viejo resident, was arrested Friday at his home in Safety Harbor, Fla., in connection with the death of his former wife, Micki Kanesaki, 52, of Ladera Ranch, authorities said. He is charged with one felony count of special circumstances for financial gain.

If convicted, he faces a maximum life sentence in state prison without the possibility of parole and is eligible for the death penalty, authorities said. Kocontes, who is being held without bail, also faces extradition proceedings at a date to be determined.

He is accused of financially benefiting from Kanesaki’s death because he was the beneficiary of several of their bank accounts and property and was receiving the proceeds from the sale of their home, authorities said.

The couple divorced in 2001 and were in the midst of a court battle when they decided to put aside their rancor and take a Mediterranean vacation together.

Kocontes is suspected of killing his wife on the night of May 25, 2006, or the morning of May 26, by strangling her and throwing her body overboard, authorities said.

At the time, Kocontes reported his wife missing. He told authorities that the couple had retired to bed when about 1 a.m. Kanesaki stepped out to get a cup of tea to help her relax and never returned.

Her body was found on the morning of May 27 by the Italian coast guard, floating in the sea near Reggio di Calabria.

"I wish I knew what happened," Kocontes was quoted as saying at the time. He told authorities that his former wife had previously talked of suicide.

But an autopsy revealed Kanesaki had been strangled, authorities said.

In 2008, Kocontes is accused of attempting to transfer $1 million between various banks accounts with his new wife, Katherine, authorities said. The FBI began investigating the money transfers for possible illegal activity and the U.S. attorney’s office ultimately seized the money from Kocontes’ bank account.

The Orange County district attorney’s office was contacted and subsequently the Sheriff’s Department relaunched its investigation, authorities said.

On Wednesday, the district attorney filed its murder case against Kocontes.      

The FBI and the Orange County Sheriff's Department are continuing the investigation.

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Riverside officer wounded in Dorner manhunt is identified

Coliseum sues ex-auditor, alleging failure to detect corruption

LAPD's 'protection details' end after Dorner's remains identified

-- Andrew Blankstein

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Death Toll Grows in Pakistan Explosion

Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

A bomb killed scores of people on Saturday at a market in Quetta, Pakistan, in a Shiite minority neighborhood.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Hundreds of Shiite women staged a sit-in in the western city of Quetta on Sunday evening to mourn the 84 people who were killed in an explosion a day earlier in a crowded market there, and they demanded that the government arrest the attackers.

Grieving relatives declined to bury their dead until the government promised to track down those responsible for carrying out brazen attacks against Hazaras, a Shiite ethnic minority, in the city.

Government officials said a team, led by a high-ranking police official, was investigating.

Protests and sit-ins were also held in other major cities on Sunday, as Shiite leaders condemned the government’s inability of the government to curb the killings.

The attack on Saturday took place in Hazara Town, one of two enclaves in Quetta for Hazaras, who have suffered numerous attacks at the hands of Sunni death squads in recent years.

The police said that explosives were hidden in a water-supply truck. It remained unclear how the truck had managed to enter the busy market, avoiding detection by police and intelligence specialists. The police said the bomb was apparently set off by a remote-controlled device, possibly hidden in a rickshaw. The explosion caused a building to collapse, and three other structures were heavily damaged.

Shiite leaders have also called for a strike in Karachi, the southern port city, on Monday. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Karachi’s most powerful political party, said it would support a strike.

The growing sense of insecurity and vulnerability felt by Shiites was evident in angry speeches by leaders across the country on Sunday.

Allama Asghar Askari, a Shiite leader, sharply criticized the country’s law enforcement authorities at a rally here in the nation’s capital. “If the law-enforcement forces had targeted the militant strongholds with real intent, people would not have seen such a day,” Mr. Askari said to hundreds of protesters. One was holding up a placard that said “Stop Shiite genocide.”

Some Shiites have suggested that Army troops should be sent to Quetta to quell the sectarian violence, but for now neither the government nor the military has given any indication of a deployment.

The police in Quetta and the Frontier Corps, a provincial paramilitary force, have come under heavy criticism as violence has escalated and militants belonging to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, the largest sectarian group, have targeted Shiites with impunity in Baluchistan Province, where Quetta is the capital.

“Militants term Hazaras as ‘impure’ and have vowed to ‘cleanse Quetta of their presence,’ ” Tahir Hussain, the city’s representative for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said in an interview.

The killings have forced at least 20,000 Hazaras to leave the city, Mr. Hussain said, adding that militants have a heavy presence in the Mastung district of Baluchistan Province. More than 300 Shiites, many of them Hazaras, have been killed in Baluchistan since 2008, according to Human Rights Watch.

The Frontier Corps and the police have shown little willingness to clamp down on militant strongholds in Mastung, Mr. Hussain said.

“They know who are the perpetrators,” he said. “But apart from giving empty assurances, the high-ups of law-enforcement have not done anything.”

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See The Dress Only Jennifer Lopez Could Wear

Stylewatch
Style News Now

02/15/2013 at 06:00 PM ET

Dave Allocca/Startraks; Amanda Edwards/WireImage; Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

Judging by the red carpet looks seen at the Grammys and the creations sent down the runways at New York Fashion Week, we have a sneaking suspicion we’ll be spotting a lot more navy and a lot more menswear-inspired getups in the coming weeks. But there’s one style you can pretty much write off (and don’t expect to see much of it at the Oscars): Studio 54-esque dresses.

Up: Navy Instead of Black. The LBD and LWD better watch out: There’s another shade gunning for the spotlight. This week everyone from Emmy Rossum and Anne Hathaway to Oprah Winfrey and Miranda Lambert slipped into midnight blue. And we totally understand the appeal of the color. It’s a bit more interesting and unexpected than black, but equally flattering on all shapes and sizes.

Up: Menswear-Inspired Looks. Beyoncé wore a pantsuit to the Grammys and a number of other stars (including Jessica Alba, Julianne Hough and Solange Knowles) quickly followed, well, suit. We doubt that tons of actresses will forgo gowns for dude duds at the Oscars, but our money is on at least one woman in menswear on that red carpet.

Down: Disco Ball Dresses. They had their moment, but that moment seems to have passed. So, take a long look at Jennifer Lopez in her printed sequin Preen dress (sparkly enough to be hung from the ceiling over any dance floor) because as amazing as it is, the creation is probably the last you’ll see of its kind for some time.

For more on which trends to follow check out our thoughts on platforms, polka dots, and furry accents.

Tell us: Which trend do you hope to see more of? Vote in our poll below! 

PHOTOS: SEE OUR FAVORITE DRESSES OF AWARDS SEASON — SO FAR!

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UN warns risk of hepatitis E in S. Sudan grows

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says an outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 111 refugees in camps in South Sudan since July, and has become endemic in the region.

U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says the influx of people to the camps from neighboring Sudan is believed to be one of the factors in the rapid spread of the contagious, life-threatening inflammatory viral disease of the liver.

Edwards said Friday that the camps have been hit by 6,017 cases of hepatitis E, which is spread through contaminated food and water.

He says the largest number of cases and suspected cases is in the Yusuf Batil camp in Upper Nile state, which houses 37,229 refugees fleeing fighting between rebels and the Sudanese government.

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Christopher Dorner supporters organize on Facebook

Several days after Christopher Dorner's death ended his standoff with authorities, some sympathizers have been expressing support for him online and on the street.

Dorner -- accused of the slayings of four people -- has gained some
supporters on the Web who have read his alleged manifesto and believe
its claims that he was unfairly fired by the Los Angeles Police
Department and was a victim of
racism.

Dozens of protesters gathered outside LAPD headquarters in downtown L.A. on Saturday afternoon in an event they said was organized through a
Facebook page called “I support Christopher Jordan Dorner.” The post announcing the protest advised attendees to “keep it PEACEFUL” and
to bring recording equipment.

PHOTOS: Manhunt for ex-LAPD officer

The Facebook page states: “This is not a page about supporting the
killing of innocent people. It’s supporting fighting back against
corrupt cops and bringing to light what they do.”

Those gathered Saturday said they were protesting police corruption and the
way the massive manhunt for Dorner was conducted. Authorities said
Dorner appears to have died from a self-inflected gunshot wound after a
shootout with police in Big Bear on Tuesday, ending a deadly rampage
that stretched across Southern California.

Protesters also said they were appalled by police officers' mistakenly shooting
at passengers in two separate trucks in Torrance, wrongly believing
Dorner might be in the vehicles. One woman was shot in the back and is
still recovering.

FULL COVERAGE: Sweeping manhunt for ex-cop

The protesters emphasized that they did not condone the killings of which Dorner is accused.

Michael Nam, 30, stood at the corner of 1st and Main Streets with a
sign, painted by his girlfriend, showing a tombstone and the words “RIP
Habeas Corpus.” The tombstone was engulfed in flames.

Nam, of Lomita, said he was disturbed by the burning of a mountain
cabin near Big Bear where Dorner barricaded himself with a high-powered
sniper rifle, smoke bombs and a cache of ammo. The blaze started shortly
after police fired "pyrotechnic" tear gas into the cabin; the canisters
are known as "burners" because the intense heat they emit often causes a
fire.

WHO THEY WERE: Victims in the Dorner case

But authorities have maintained that the fire was not intentionally set. 

Dorner, whose charred body was found in the cabin, appears to have died of a single gunshot wound to the head, authorities said.

“How the police handled this -– they were the judge, the jury and the
executioner,” Nam said. “As an American citizen, you have the right to a
trial and due process by law.”

TIMELINE: Manhunt for ex-LAPD officer

Nam, a former Marine and a current member of the Army National Guard,
said he has combat experience from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He said he has been in situations in which a combatant has been
barricaded and successfully waited until the person surrendered,
eventually getting “tired and coming out on their own.”

Nam said it was “pretty obvious” police wanted Dorner dead. “What I
saw was a complete disregard for the Bill of Rights,” Nam said.

San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon, during a news conference
Friday, defended the tactics used by his agency in the shootout at the
mountain cabin, which left one of his deputies dead and another
seriously wounded.

“The bottom line is the deputy sheriffs of this department, and the
law enforcement officers from the surrounding area, did an outstanding
job,” he said. “They ran into the line of fire.”

As the protesters stood Saturday, drivers passing by honked, waved
and gave thumbs up. A handful of officers watched from police
headquarters across the street.

Nam said he spoke to the officers before the protest began about what
the protesters should do to keep the event peaceful. He said the
officers were respectful.

The protesters marched around the block, circling an intersection
near the department headquarters. They chanted, “LAPD, you are guilty.”

Signs expressed anger at police and support for Dorner.

“If you’re not enraged, you’re not paying attention,” one sign read.

“Why couldn’t we hear his side?”

“Clear his name! Christopher Dorner”

Liliana Alaniz, 40, came with her family -– her mother, sister,
nieces and daughters -– from Long Beach to join the protest, which she
said was her first.

“I really, really believe he was innocent in the firing case,” Alaniz said of Dorner.

Alaniz held a sign that read, “Trying to clear your name.”

Her daughter, Andrea Tovar, said Dorner “has his supporters.”

“Murder is never right, but neither is the law when it’s unjust,”
said Tovar, 18. She said police need to know they “can’t get away with
everything.”

ALSO:

Ex-mayor who gambled away $1 billion to pay restitution

Riverside officer wounded in Dorner manhunt is identified

Dorner probably died of self-inflicted gunshot, officials say

-- Hailey Branson-Potts

twitter.com/haileybranson

Photo: Protesters outside LAPD headquarters on Saturday. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

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Karzai to Forbid His Forces to Request Foreign Airstrikes

KABUL, Afghanistan — President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that he would issue a decree forbidding his military forces from turning to NATO or American forces to conduct airstrikes, and he condemned the use of torture on detainees by his security forces.

He made his comments in a speech at the Afghan National Military Academy in Kabul. It was the first time he had dwelt at such length and with such passion on human rights.

His proposed ban on Afghan troops from calling in airstrikes came after a joint Afghan-NATO attack last week in Kunar Province, in eastern Afghanistan, that killed four women, one man and five children, all of them civilians, according to local officials.

Mr. Karzai said Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the commander of the international coalition forces fighting the Taliban and other insurgents in Afghanistan, told him that the airstrike had been requested by the National Directorate of Security, the country’s intelligence service. The attack took place in the Shigal district, an area where two known Taliban commanders were visiting family members, Afghan officials have said.

“Our N.D.S. in their own country calls foreigners to assist them and bombard four or five Al Qaeda or Taliban,” Mr. Karzai said.

“It is very regrettable to hear this,” he added. “You are representing Afghan pride. How do you call for an airstrike from foreigners on your people?”

Civilian casualties in the war on the Taliban has long vexed Mr. Karzai and has been a major point of contention with American and NATO troops. New rules instituted by commanders from the International Security Assistance Force have minimized the loss of life, and the coalition has all but stopped air attacks on populated areas and on homes. The result has been a dramatic drop in civilian casualties caused by foreign forces.

Nevertheless, Afghan troops, who lack their own air support, still turn to foreign forces for help during pitched battles with the Taliban and other insurgents. It was not clear whether there would be exceptions to Mr. Karzai’s decree, but he was clearly dismayed that his own forces would be employing the very techniques he had worked so hard to persuade the West to abandon.

In an unusual move, the Afghan president also publicly acknowledged that torture was a problem in Afghan detention centers and pledged to halt it. In the past, the government has largely deflected charges of torture raised by human rights organizations, contending that any abuse was the work of a few bad actors.

But after a United Nations report released in January detailed abuses or torture at a number of detention sites around the country, Mr. Karzai took a closer and more independent look at the complaints.

He appointed a delegation to investigate the report’s validity, and when the inquiry confirmed many of the allegations, he ordered the security ministries to implement the team’s recommendations. He reiterated that order on Saturday. The recommendations include prosecuting perpetrators of torture, giving detainees access to defense lawyers, providing medical treatment for detainees who are ill or have been beaten, and videotaping all interrogations.

“Not only have foreigners tormented and punished Afghans, but our people have been terrorized and punished by our own sons too,” Mr. Karzai said. “The U.N. report showed that even after 10 years, our people are tortured and mistreated in prisons.”

The United Nations’ human rights office here emphasized the importance of Mr. Karzai’s attention to the issue.

“It is encouraging that the president appears to be personally taking the issue of human rights of all Afghans seriously,” said Georgette Gagnon, the office’s director of human rights. She added that the government should act immediately on the delegation’s recommendations. “We urge them to do so without delay,” she said.

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Make Sheila G. Main's Truffles

02/16/2013 at 06:30 PM EST

Andrew Purcell; Inset: Courtesy Sheila G. Main

Oscar night is just around the corner so start prepping your viewing party menu now! Take inspiration from any of the films nominated or replicate what Sheila G. Main, the creator of the Original Brownie Brittle snack, will serve at studio head Harvey Weinstein's Oscar party!

Brownie Truffles

Makes 22 to 24 truffles

• 6 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into quarters
• 3 large eggs
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• ½ tsp. salt
• 1 cup flour
• 2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1–2 tbsp. Grand Marnier
• 1 oz. (2 tbsp.) champagne

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease an 8x8-in. baking pan. In a bowl, melt chocolates and butter in microwave on high for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Let cool.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt. Stir in the chocolate mixture. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour and cocoa powder. Stir it into the chocolate mixture. Do not over mix. Pour batter into pre-pared pan. Bake for 25 minutes. (Brownies will be slightly underbaked.) Let cool.

3. Cut brownies into pieces and mix in food processor, along with Grand Marnier and champagne until creamy. Chill for at least 1 hour. Use an ice cream scoop to make truffles. Roll into balls, then roll in sanding sugar or a coating of your choice.

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UN warns risk of hepatitis E in S. Sudan grows

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says an outbreak of hepatitis E has killed 111 refugees in camps in South Sudan since July, and has become endemic in the region.

U.N. refugee agency spokesman Adrian Edwards says the influx of people to the camps from neighboring Sudan is believed to be one of the factors in the rapid spread of the contagious, life-threatening inflammatory viral disease of the liver.

Edwards said Friday that the camps have been hit by 6,017 cases of hepatitis E, which is spread through contaminated food and water.

He says the largest number of cases and suspected cases is in the Yusuf Batil camp in Upper Nile state, which houses 37,229 refugees fleeing fighting between rebels and the Sudanese government.

Read More..

Going inside for some 'truckside' taco service

Most restaurant owners shudder when a food truck pulls up outside.

Not Mike Israyelyan. He invited one inside the Hollywood restaurant he calls Calle Tacos.

Israyelyan and partners Robert Vinokur and Dorian and Javier Villaseñor spent $20,000 to have the side of a 22-foot-long food truck measured and an exact copy fabricated out of stainless steel. Then they equipped it with lights and tires, covered it with a colorful vinyl logo wrap and hauled it on a flatbed to Hollywood Boulevard.

It took 20 people to maneuver the truck replica into the restaurant last year, and they had to take a large glass window out of the Playhouse nightclub next door to get it inside. The truck's cab door leads to customer restrooms.

These days, the restaurant's 10 employees dish out burritos, tacos and quesadillas from the mock food truck's serving windows and occasionally sound a horn that beeps "La Cucaracha" to let customers know their orders are ready.

The dining-room walls outside the truck are decorated with colorful graffiti and spray-painted portraits of old Hollywood stars by local artist Hector Rios. Beneath them is a terrazzo floor that resembles the Walk of Fame.

Israyelyan, who admires his mobile competitors, came up with the idea. "There are some very cool food trucks out there," said the Studio City resident.

Javier Villaseñor, who manages Calle Tacos with his wife, said he also appreciates food trucks — within limits. "I'm not against the street trucks. But places like this, actual restaurants, have to pay rent, taxes and utilities. And they have a vested interest in the community they're in," he said.

Actual food truck operators do a double take when they spy the Calle Tacos truck seemingly parked inside the Hollywood Boulevard storefront.

They'll pull to a stop in front and snap photos with their cellphones, Villaseñor said. When food truck workers and customers ask him how he got the van inside, he explains that the truck is merely a silhouette.

The gimmick seems to be working: Customers said the eye-catching spectacle of a truck inside a restaurant is what led them to step up to the eatery's order window.

"It looks real. It stops traffic," said Mark Rodriguez, 26, a software engineer from East Los Angeles. "I like the way the truck's door opens and the restrooms are right there."

Julie Marzouk, 20, a sales clerk from Beverly Hills, said she is convinced the installation is an actual taco truck. "It's real. It's just halfway stuck in a wall," she said, adding: "I'm just glad there's a place here to sit and eat."

Friend Hayley Church, 21, a supermarket clerk from Northridge, also couldn't help comparing the place to a real food truck. Here, she said, "you don't have to sit on the curb and juggle the food on your knee."

Lured inside by the sight of the truck for the first time last week, Santa Barbara college student Paul Carrera, 20, said the restaurant serves as a kind of metaphor for the way food carts and trucks are steppingstones for immigrants and others to become operators of real restaurants.

That's how 2008 Kogi food truck innovator Roy Choi propelled himself into an actual bricks-and-mortar place on the Westside called Chego. "There is no way we could have gone the traditional route" at first, Choi has acknowledged. Trucks operated by Komodo, Coolhaus and Flying Pig have also opened outlets with actual street addresses.

Still, with some 4,000 licensed food vending vehicles in Los Angeles County, food trucks seem to be everywhere. They won't be parking in front of Calle Tacos, however: The curb is painted red there.

bob.pool@latimes.com

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