The tournament, in its 35th year, is sponsored by Kentucky Lake Bass Club, and is designed to develop the fishing skills of children and adults who are physically and/or mentally challenged.Pre-registration preferred to make sure adequate supplies are on-hand. For more information call 270.924.2046.

“This is a fun day for the volunteers, parents, caregivers, and especially the anglers,” commented Bob Strode with Kentucky Lake Bass Club. “We encourage everyone to come out and enjoy this special event!” Prizes will be awarded for the heaviest string of fish.

Come Outside and Play at Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area. Managed by the Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Land Between The Lakes provides outdoor recreation and environmental education for the public to enjoy.

Visitors are encouraged to review LBL’s official website at www.lbl.org often for Calendar of Events, updates on programs and policies, safety information, maps, and temporary trail and road closures.

Additional LBL information can be found on the website or by calling 1.800.LBL.7077 or 270.924.2000.

Yonkers, NY – While the vast majority of young drivers aged 16-21 agree that texting, using smart-phone apps, or accessing the Internet while driving is very dangerous, nearly a third (29 percent) admitted in a Consumer Reports survey that they had, in fact, texted while behind the wheel in the past month.

Forty-seven percent reported that they had made a phone call without a headset while behind the wheel, even though nearly two-thirds (63 percent) acknowledged that the behavior was perilous.When Consumer Reports asked the young respondents why they had reduced or stopped distracted driving, 61 percent said it was because they had heard about the dangers of it. Other important reasons were laws banning cell phone use and/or texting in cars (40 percent) and family members urging respondents to stop (28 percent). Nearly 20 percent knew someone who had been in a crash caused by distracted driving.

The Consumer Reports survey also revealed that having peers in the car may help curb distracted driving. Almost half who have driven with friends said they were less likely to talk on a handheld cell phone or text when friends were passengers. Consumer Reports notes that one reason for this may be that many young people are speaking up; almost 50 percent said they had asked a driver to stop using a phone in the car because they feared for their safety.

“Our survey showed that while far too many young people are driving while distracted, they are less likely to do so when their parents, friends, or siblings set a good example,” said Rik Paul, Consumer Reports Auto Editor. “We encourage everyone to stop the car in a safe place if they need to use a cell phone. And if they’re riding with a driver using a handheld phone, ask him or her to put it down and stop gambling with their safety.”

Additional findings from the Consumer Reports survey of 16- to 21-year-olds include:

• 84 percent saw other young people talking on a handheld phone while driving
• 71 percent saw a peer texting while behind the wheel
• 48 percent witnessed their mom or dad talking on a handheld phone while driving
• 15 percent witnessed their mom or dad texting while behind the wheel
• 8 percent operated smart phone apps while driving in the last 30 days
• 7 percent used e-mail or social media while behind the wheel in the last 30 days

The questionnaire was fielded online by Knowledge Networks from November 23rd, 2011 to December 13th, 2011. Knowledge Networks selects households for its panels using address based sampling methods. Analyses were conducted with the sample weighted to reflect national demographics.

A total of 1,049 surveys were completed by adults aged 16 to 21 years. Knowledge Networks received parental or legal guardian consent for all panelists aged 17 or younger. The margin of error is +/- 3.03 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.

The full report can be found in the June 2012 issue of Consumer Reports on sale today and online at www.ConsumerReports.org.

About Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports is the world’s largest independent product-testing organization. Using its more than 50 labs, auto test center, and survey research center, the nonprofit rates thousands of products and services annually. Founded in 1936, Consumer Reports has over 8 million subscribers to its magazine, website and other publications. Its advocacy division, Consumers Union, works for health reform, food and product safety, financial reform, and other consumer issues in Washington, D.C., the states, and in the marketplace.

Being mindful of these points will help ensure that your upcoming vacation is as safe as it is fun!

The State Fire Marshal’s Office asks you to remember the following tips when traveling and staying in hotels this summer:

• Choose a hotel that is equipped with both smoke alarms and fire sprinklers – these often are searchable features on travel websites.
• When you check in, ask the desk clerk what the fire alarm sounds like. If you are deaf or hard of hearing, ask for a room equipped with a smoke alarm and accessories that will awaken you, or for a portable smoke alarm made specifically for people who are deaf or hard of hearing to place in your room. You may want to consider buying one for travel, if one is needed, and bringing it with you.
• Read the escape plan posted in your room. These often can be found on your hotel room’s door.
• Count the number of doors between your room and the nearest two fire exits. Open the exit doors to be sure they are unlocked.
• Bring a flashlight; keep it near your bed.
• Also keep your room key by your bed, and take it with you if there’s a fire. If you cannot escape, you may have to return to your room.
• If you hear an alarm, leave immediately, closing all doors behind you.
• Use the stairs – never use elevators during a fire.
• If you must escape through smoke, get low and go under the smoke to your exit.
• If all escape routes are blocked, return to your room. Shut off fans and air conditioners. Stuff wet towels or bedding in the cracks around the doors and vents. Call the fire department to let them know your location. Wait at a window and signal for help with a flashlight or light-colored cloth.

About the Tennessee State Fire Marshal’s Office

The State Fire Marshal’s Office (www.tn.gov/commerce/sfm/) is a division of the Department of Commerce and Insurance (www.tn.gov/commerce/), which works to protect consumers while ensuring fair competition for industries and professionals who do business in Tennessee. www.tn.gov/commerce/, @TNCommerceInsur (Twitter), http://on.fb.me/uFQwUZ (Facebook), http://bit.ly/ry1GyX (YouTube)

Nashville, TN – A matchmaking site, for ladies only – that could help save their lives?

Go Red Heart Match is a matchmaker with a mission.

The brand-new site is the American Heart Association’s first women’s online patient support program, where women dealing with cardiovascular conditions receive added support by connecting them online with others around the country with similar heart stories – whether that be a heart disease diagnosis, caring for a loved one with heart disease or working to prevent heart disease.

Rolanda Perkins of Smyrna, Tennessee, right, is featured on the American Heart Association’s Go Red Heart Match website.

These women are able to build relationships with other women who understand their journey firsthand. With heart disease as the No. 1 killer of women, affecting more than 42 million women in the United States, there is a huge need for information and emotional support.

“When something as major as heart disease strikes a woman, emotional support from others is most often times the catalyst that helps pull us through – when we’re feeling our lowest and seeking answers,” said Rolanda Perkins from Smyrna, Tennessee, one of Go Red Heart Match’s inaugural participants and a national Go Red For Women spokesperson. “I use it as a way to keep my healthy lifestyle on track – it helps propel me forward.”

Heart Match is also designed to help motivate and encourage adherence to care after diagnosis – including cardiac rehabilitation. Studies show that cardiac rehabilitation/secondary prevention (CR/SP) plays a vital role in the recovery process by restoring individuals to their optimal physiological, psychosocial, nutritional and functional status.

When Perkins had a sudden heart attack before the age of 40, she didn’t know much about cardiovascular health or what to expect next.

“It would have been very helpful to have someone to talk to who was able to understand the many feelings of fear and uncertainty that I experienced after my heart attack,” Perkins says. “I didn’t know anything about the importance of taking medications or maintaining good numbers for blood pressure, cholesterol, or weight for good health. I really just needed someone who could/would listen and share their experience with me as well, in order to ease my fears.”

Cardiac rehab participation rates low

Although millions live with heart disease or experience cardiac events each year, few enroll in follow-up programs, despite the evidence that they should.

Recently, Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association published data which shows that CR/SP programs reduce cardiovascular risk and event rates, foster healthy behaviors and promote active lifestyles. However, of eligible patients, only 14 to 35 percent of heart attack survivors and 31 percent of patients after coronary artery bypass surgery participate in CR/SP programs. The study also noted that female patients have lower participation rates than men and represent a specific high-risk group to be target for referral.

Heart Match is designed to make it easy for enrollees to participate from wherever their computer may be.

The just-launched program, still in its infancy, is already showing definite trends and positive results.

According to a survey of current Heart Match participants, immediately after a heart disease diagnosis, it’s most important for women to (1) get information about their diagnosis, (2) connect with someone who has the same condition. In addition, the survey showed that approximately 40 percent are now exercising more and eating more heart-healthy foods. Another 25 percent started taking blood pressure or cholesterol medication and 8 percent quit smoking. Plus, nearly half of women surveyed encouraged a friend or family member to talk to their doctor about their risk for heart disease.

Perkins believes in the concept and has begun mentoring on the site to help others going through what she went through.

“I know that people have lots of questions after an event such as this, because I did, and I would like to help ease their minds by providing them the support and comfort in knowing that it does get better with time as long as they’re working toward living heart-healthy lifestyles,” she says. “In return, I hope that they share of themselves and their experiences with another Heart Sister who needs that same support. For me, it’s always rewarding when someone starts making changes toward better heart health and they can actually see the fruits of their labor in the changing of their mindset, their physical appearance and their overall well-being.”

Heart Match easy to join online

To join Heart Match, women create a profile on the site and search for other women with similar heart disease experiences. Go Red For Women facilitates the connection so they can build a one-on-one, supportive relationship.

Go Red Heart Match is free and accessible 24/7 at www.GoRedForWomen.org/HeartMatch.

For more information about Go Red For Women or the Go Red Heart Match program, visit GoRedForWomen.org.

The American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women movement is nationally sponsored by Macy’s and Merck & Co., Inc, with additional support from our cause sponsors. The City Goes Red local cause sponsor is Saint Thomas Heart.

Nashville, TN – Eighth-grade students in Tennessee scored higher in science than they did two years prior, according to the latest results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, also known as the Nation’s Report Card.

About 28 percent of students in Tennessee scored at or above proficient in science in 2009, compared to nearly 31 percent in 2011, while the average scale score went up from 148 to 150. Tennessee ranks 32nd out of 50 states and the District of Columbia in NAEP science results.Education commissioner Kevin Huffman said the upward trend was encouraging, since Tennessee’s new accountability model now measures science benchmarks, rather than math and reading only.

“I’m pleased with the direction our science scores are going,” Huffman said. “We certainly still have room for improvement, but we should all be proud of the gains our students are making.”

Economically disadvantaged students in Tennessee also made big gains over their 2009 scores, jumping from an average scale score of 133 in 2009 to 139 in 2011.

Emily Barton, assistant commissioner for curriculum and instruction for the Tennessee Department of Education, said the science gains show the state is headed in the right direction.

“It is critically important for our students to have a strong background in science education,” Barton said. “Through Race to the Top, we’ve invested a lot of money into Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, or STEM, so we’re glad to see our efforts paying off.”

Students in Tennessee took NAEP between January and March of 2011. A representative sample of students from schools across the state is chosen to take a portion of the test. Because the same test is administered in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, NAEP is a way to accurately compare academic progress across the nation.

For more information on NAEP scores in Tennessee and across the country, visit http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/.

For more information, contact Kelli Gauthier at 615.532.7817 or Kelli.Gauthier@tn.gov.

Recalled bicycles, components and accessories can be dangerous and cause an accident, resulting in injury or even death. If you have a recalled product, contact the firm for the remedy. Once that’s taken care of, remember to properly strap on your bike helmet!Check out these recent bicycle-related recalls.

You can find out more about these recalls and others at our website www.cpsc.gov.

Bike Related Recalls

Note: by clicking on any of the images below, you can view a larger version.

Product	Recall Press Release	Hazard	Photos
Bridgeway Bicycles (91,000 units)	11-331	The bicycle chain can break, causing a rider to lose control and fall.
Trek 2012 FX and District bicycles (27,000 units)	12-024	The bolt that secures the seat saddle clamp to the seat post can break posing a fall hazard.
Fuji Saratoga Women’s Bicycles (10,500 units)	12-112	The bicycle’s frame can break in the center of the downtube during use, causing the rider to lose control and fall.
Public Bikes 2010 through 2012 Model Year Bicycles (4,100 units)	12-145	The pedals can crack and break, posing a fall hazard to the rider.
Specialized 2012 bicycles with Advanced Group carbon forks (460 units)	12-096	The brake component housed within the bicycle’s carbon fork can disengage from the fork and allow the brake assembly to contact the wheel spokes while rotating, posing a fall hazard.
Chariot bicycle trailers (44,000 units) and bicycle trailer conversion kits (70,000 units)	12-085	The bicycle trailer’s hitch mechanisms can crack and break, causing the trailer to detach from the bicycle. This poses an injury hazard to children in the bicycle trailer.
Topeak Babyseat® II Bicycle Carrier Seats (40,000 units)	12-143	A child can place his or her fingers in the opening at the grab bar’s hinge mechanism. When the consumer lifts the grab bar to remove the child from the seat, the child’s fingertips can be caught in the hinge mechanism, posing a laceration and fingertip amputation hazard to the child.
Little Tricky Bicycle Helmets (30,400 units)	12-082	Product testing demonstrated that these helmets do not comply with CPSC safety standards for impact resistance. Consumers could suffer impact head injuries in a fall.
GT, Giant and Trek Bicycles with SR Suntour Suspension Forks (17,000 units)	12-149	The suspension fork’s internal support tubes can break and cause the rider to lose control, fall and crash.
Gore Bicycle Brake Cables for Road Bikes (9,700 units)	12-125	When the brake cables are installed on Campagnolo® style brake levers, they can detach, causing the brakes to fail and posing a fall hazard.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is still interested in receiving incident or injury reports that are either directly related to this product recall or involve a different hazard with the same product. Please tell us about your experience with the product on SaferProducts.gov

About the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

CPSC is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of the thousands of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $900 billion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard. CPSC’s work to ensure the safety of consumer products – such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals – contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.

Under federal law, it is illegal to attempt to sell or resell this or any other recalled product.

To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, go online to: SaferProducts.gov, call CPSC’s Hotline at 800.638.2772 or teletypewriter at 301.595.7054 for the hearing and speech impaired. Consumers can obtain this news release and product safety information at www.cpsc.gov. To join a free e-mail subscription list, please go to www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx.

Knowing your blood pressure – and managing it – can help avoid health problems

Nashville, TN – This Thursday, May 17th, is World Hypertension Day. Hypertension, or high blood pressure (HBP), is a disease. More than 76 million U.S. adults have been diagnosed with HBP. It’s sometimes called “the silent killer” because high blood pressure has no symptoms, so you may not be aware that it’s damaging your arteries, heart and other organs.

In Tennessee, almost 34% of all adult Tennesseans have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. The highest rate is in the Upper Cumberland region, with 39.6%. Tennessee inpatient charges for high blood pressure are more than $136 million per year.The American Heart Association urges you to get your blood pressure checked on a regular basis. It takes just one minute. You can check your blood pressure for free at many pharmacies and other locations. There’s also a free risk calculator online to learn your likelihood of heart attack, stroke, heart failure and kidney disease – and how simple changes can make a difference.

Why should you monitor your blood pressure? Possible health consequences that can happen over time when high blood pressure is left untreated include:

Damage to the heart and coronary arteries, including heart attack, heart disease, congestive heart failure, aortic dissection and atherosclerosis (fatty buildups in the arteries that cause them to harden)

• Stroke
• Kidney damage
• Vision loss
• Erectile dysfunction
• Memory loss
• Fluid in the lungs
• Angina

Individuals whose blood pressure is higher than 140/90 mm Hg (140 systolic or above OR 90 diastolic or above) often become patients treated for serious cardiovascular problems.

- 77% of Americans treated for a first stroke have blood pressure over 140/90

- 69% of Americans who have a first heart attack have blood pressure over 140/90

- 74% of Americans with congestive heart failure have blood pressure over 140/90

Through risk reduction and treatment of HBP, you can lower your risk for many diseases. There are eight main ways you can control your blood pressure.

They are:

• Eat a better diet, which includes reducing salt
• Enjoy regular physical activity
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Manage stress
• Avoid tobacco smoke
• Understand hot tub safety
• Comply with medication prescriptions
• If you drink, limit alcohol

Adopting a healthy lifestyle is critical for the prevention of HBP and an indispensable part of managing it. Think of these changes as a “lifestyle prescription” and make every effort to comply with them.

Remember: While there is no cure, high blood pressure is manageable.

More information can be found at www.heart.org.

Dallas, TX – Exercise can counteract muscle breakdown, increase strength and reduce inflammation caused by aging and heart failure , according to new research in Circulation, an American Heart Association journal.

The benefits for heart failure patients are similar to those for anyone who exercises: there’s less muscle-wasting, and their bodies become conditioned to handle more exercise.

Age of the patients didn’t matter, either, researchers found.“Many physicians – and insurance companies – still believe that cardiac rehabilitation does not really help in old age. This study clearly falsifies this belief,” said Stephan Gielen, M.D., lead co-author and Deputy Director of Cardiology at the University Hospital, Martin-Luther-University of Halle, Germany.

Between 2005 and 2008, researchers recruited 60 heart-failure patients and 60 healthy volunteers. Half of each group was 55 years and younger and the other half, 65 years and older, resulting in an average age difference of 20 years between the groups. Half the participants in each age group were randomly assigned to four weeks of supervised aerobic training or no exercise. Researchers took muscle biopsies of all participants before and after the intervention.

In both age groups, four training sessions of 20 minutes of aerobic exercise per day, five days a week plus one 60 minute group exercise session was associated with increased muscle force endurance and oxygen uptake. Heart failure patients 55 and under increased their peak oxygen uptake by 25 percent, while those 65 and over increased it by 27 percent.

Using biopsy results, researchers found that levels of a muscle protein indicating muscle breakdown, known as MuRF1, were higher in participants with heart failure than in their healthier counterparts. However, exercise reduced MuRF1 and reduced muscle inflammation, measured by levels of a protein called TNF-alpha.

The strength of participants’ leg muscles was measured before and after the exercise. Younger and older heart failure patients increased muscle strength after the four-week exercise regimen. Muscle size was unaffected.

[320left]These findings offer a possible treatment to the muscle breakdown and wasting associated with heart failure and suggest that exercise is therapeutic even in elderly heart failure patients. The findings also suggest an avenue for drug development to slow muscle breakdown in heart failure patients.

“Exercise switches off the muscle-wasting pathways and switches on pathways involved in muscle growth, counteracting muscle loss and exercise intolerance in heart failure patients,” Gielen said.

According to the American Heart Association, about 5,700,000 Americans age 20 and older have heart failure.

“Over the last three decades, hospital admissions for heart failure have increased fourfold and will continue to do so, due chiefly to the aging of the population,” Gielen said. Estimates of costs vary, but are in the tens of billions of dollars per year in the United States alone, researchers said.

The lead co-author is Marcus Sandri, M.D. and other co-authors are Irina Kozarez, M.D.; Jurgen Kratzsch, M.D.; Daniel Teupser, M.D.; Joachim Thiery, M.D.; Sandra Erbs, M.D.; Norman Mangner, M.D.; Karsten Lenk, M.D.; Rainer Hambrecht, M.D.; Gerhard Schuler, M.D. and Volker Adams, M.D.

Author disclosures and sources of funding are on the manuscript.

What is heart failure ? Find out about heart failure tools and resources .

Nashville, TN – Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam and Department of Labor and Workforce Development Commissioner Karla Davis today announced a new jobs database to help connect job seekers with Tennessee employers.

Jobs4TN Online is a virtual recruiter, automatically notifying job seekers when jobs they may qualify for are posted and notifying employers when candidates who fit their needs register.

The online database contains positions from job orders placed directly by Tennessee employers, from corporate Internet sites, and from major job search engines. Jobs4TN Online also identifies available green jobs.

“The unemployment rate for Tennessee is at its lowest since November 2008 and has fallen below the national rate, but it is still too high,” Haslam said. The governor committed to developing a new jobs database during his gubernatorial campaign. “With Jobs4TN Online, those without a job will have quicker and better access to job openings related to their skills, and as we work to make Tennessee an even better place to expand and start a business, we want to help employers find the employees they need.”

Jobs4TN Online makes available labor market information, including demand occupations, education requirements and salaries for positions, labor force projections, and training program graduates. Information can be tailored to focus on specific communities, metro statistical areas or statewide. Employers and job seekers are encouraged to log in to Jobs4TN Online at www.jobs4tn.gov.

“This system is much more than a traditional job search engine,” Davis said. “Jobs4TN Online offers extensive information for interviews, lists of local training providers, and the capability to create and send resumes.”

The state’s previous job search site, the Source, included job orders received by Tennessee Career Centers and jobs listed by Fortune 500 companies. Jobs4TN Online uses a more robust search that provides first-run jobs from newspapers, government sites and private job boards, and the amount of jobs listed in Tennessee has gone from 30,000 to more than 85,000.

Jobs4TN Online can be accessed anywhere with a computer and Internet access. Tennessee Career Centers across the state have free computer resource rooms with guidance on job searching. For anyone not comfortable with using a computer, referrals can be provided in person at the center once they have registered for services. To find the nearest Tennessee Career Center visit http://www.tn.gov/labor-wfd/cc/cccounty.shtml.

Also, Tennessee Career Coaches are another available resource. They are mobile career centers with computer workstations and access to the Internet anywhere by satellite. Three mobile units operate in east, west, and middle Tennessee to provide job searching resources to those attending job events or to those that don’t have access to the Internet. The Career Coaches’ schedules can be found at http://www.getonthecoach.tn.gov/.

Among the bags tested, CR found big differences in performance. CR used two tests to measure the bags’ might: In the first test, testers’ placed bags in various trash baskets and filled them with cans of Vienna sausages and barbell weights, then lifted them to see how much weight they could hold before they ripped. In the second test, testers used a pulley contraption to lift aloft bags with increasing numbers of barbell weights until the bags broke.

When the top-rated Glad and Hefty bags were hoisted aloft by the pulley, they and other high-rated bags held about 50 pounds of barbells before stretching like taffy and dropping their load. The lowest-rated bag, Member’s Mark (Sam’s Club), failed with about 35 pounds.

CR’s testers advise consumers not to buy trash bags only based on brand: Although Glad ForceFlex was almost as good as its brandmate, Hefty CinchSak did a bit worse than Hefty The Gripper. Paying more also doesn’t get you a better bag: A 7-cent Kirkland Signature (Costco) bag outscored a 23-cent Ultra Tuf.

Bottom Line: For heavy use, try one of CR’s Recommended bags. If you use bags for light trash, such as in the bathroom, consider the less- pricey Kirkland Signature.

About Consumer Reports

Consumer Reports is the world’s largest independent product-testing organization. Using its more than 50 labs, auto test center, and survey research center, the nonprofit rates thousands of products and services annually. Founded in 1936, Consumer Reports has over 8 million subscribers to its magazine, website and other publications. Its advocacy division, Consumers Union, works for health reform, food and product safety, financial reform, and other consumer issues in Washington, D.C., the states, and in the marketplace.