Well: Straining to Hear and Fend Off Dementia

At a party the other night, a fund-raiser for a literary magazine, I found myself in conversation with a well-known author whose work I greatly admire. I use the term “conversation” loosely. I couldn’t hear a word he said. But worse, the effort I was making to hear was using up so much brain power that I completely forgot the titles of his books.

A senior moment? Maybe. (I’m 65.) But for me, it’s complicated by the fact that I have severe hearing loss, only somewhat eased by a hearing aid and cochlear implant.

Dr. Frank Lin, an otolaryngologist and epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, describes this phenomenon as “cognitive load.” Cognitive overload is the way it feels. Essentially, the brain is so preoccupied with translating the sounds into words that it seems to have no processing power left to search through the storerooms of memory for a response.

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Katherine Bouton speaks about her own experience with hearing loss.

A transcript of this interview can be found here.

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Over the past few years, Dr. Lin has delivered unwelcome news to those of us with hearing loss. His work looks “at the interface of hearing loss, gerontology and public health,” as he writes on his Web site. The most significant issue is the relation between hearing loss and dementia.

In a 2011 paper in The Archives of Neurology, Dr. Lin and colleagues found a strong association between the two. The researchers looked at 639 subjects, ranging in age at the beginning of the study from 36 to 90 (with the majority between 60 and 80). The subjects were part of the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. None had cognitive impairment at the beginning of the study, which followed subjects for 18 years; some had hearing loss.

“Compared to individuals with normal hearing, those individuals with a mild, moderate, and severe hearing loss, respectively, had a 2-, 3- and 5-fold increased risk of developing dementia over the course of the study,” Dr. Lin wrote in an e-mail summarizing the results. The worse the hearing loss, the greater the risk of developing dementia. The correlation remained true even when age, diabetes and hypertension — other conditions associated with dementia — were ruled out.

In an interview, Dr. Lin discussed some possible explanations for the association. The first is social isolation, which may come with hearing loss, a known risk factor for dementia. Another possibility is cognitive load, and a third is some pathological process that causes both hearing loss and dementia.

In a study last month, Dr. Lin and colleagues looked at 1,984 older adults beginning in 1997-8, again using a well-established database. Their findings reinforced those of the 2011 study, but also found that those with hearing loss had a “30 to 40 percent faster rate of loss of thinking and memory abilities” over a six-year period compared with people with normal hearing. Again, the worse the hearing loss, the worse the rate of cognitive decline.

Both studies also found, somewhat surprisingly, that hearing aids were “not significantly associated with lower risk” for cognitive impairment. But self-reporting of hearing-aid use is unreliable, and Dr. Lin’s next study will focus specifically on the way hearing aids are used: for how long, how frequently, how well they have been fitted, what kind of counseling the user received, what other technologies they used to supplement hearing-aid use.

What about the notion of a common pathological process? In a recent paper in the journal Neurology, John Gallacher and colleagues at Cardiff University suggested the possibility of a genetic or environmental factor that could be causing both hearing loss and dementia — and perhaps not in that order. In a phenomenon called reverse causation, a degenerative pathology that leads to early dementia might prove to be a cause of hearing loss.

The work of John T. Cacioppo, director of the Social Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Chicago, also offers a clue to a pathological link. His multidisciplinary studies on isolation have shown that perceived isolation, or loneliness, is “a more important predictor of a variety of adverse health outcomes than is objective social isolation.” Those with hearing loss, who may sit through a dinner party and not hear a word, frequently experience perceived isolation.

Other research, including the Framingham Heart Study, has found an association between hearing loss and another unexpected condition: cardiovascular disease. Again, the evidence suggests a common pathological cause. Dr. David R. Friedland, a professor of otolaryngology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, hypothesized in a 2009 paper delivered at a conference that low-frequency loss could be an early indication that a patient has vascular problems: the inner ear is “so sensitive to blood flow” that any vascular abnormalities “could be noted earlier here than in other parts of the body.”

A common pathological cause might help explain why hearing aids do not seem to reduce the risk of dementia. But those of us with hearing loss hope that is not the case; common sense suggests that if you don’t have to work so hard to hear, you have greater cognitive power to listen and understand — and remember. And the sense of perceived isolation, another risk for dementia, is reduced.

A critical factor may be the way hearing aids are used. A user must practice to maximize their effectiveness and they may need reprogramming by an audiologist. Additional assistive technologies like looping and FM systems may also be required. And people with progressive hearing loss may need new aids every few years.

Increasingly, people buy hearing aids online or from big-box stores like Costco, making it hard for the user to follow up. In the first year I had hearing aids, I saw my audiologist initially every two weeks for reprocessing and then every three months.

In one study, Dr. Lin and his colleague Wade Chien found that only one in seven adults who could benefit from hearing aids used them. One deterrent is cost ($2,000 to $6,000 per ear), seldom covered by insurance. Another is the stigma of old age.

Hearing loss is a natural part of aging. But for most people with hearing loss, according to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, the condition begins long before they get old. Almost two-thirds of men with hearing loss began to lose their hearing before age 44. My hearing loss began when I was 30.

Forty-eight million Americans suffer from some degree of hearing loss. If it can be proved in a clinical trial that hearing aids help delay or offset dementia, the benefits would be immeasurable.

“Could we do something to reduce cognitive decline and delay the onset of dementia?” he asked. “It’s hugely important, because by 2050, 1 in 30 Americans will have dementia.

“If we could delay the onset by even one year, the prevalence of dementia drops by 15 percent down the road. You’re talking about billions of dollars in health care savings.”

Should studies establish definitively that correcting hearing loss decreases the potential for early-onset dementia, we might finally overcome the stigma of hearing loss. Get your hearing tested, get it corrected, and enjoy a longer cognitively active life. Establishing the dangers of uncorrected hearing might even convince private insurers and Medicare that covering the cost of hearing aids is a small price to pay to offset the cost of dementia.

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Katherine Bouton is the author of the new book, “Shouting Won’t Help: Why I — and 50 Million Other Americans — Can’t Hear You,” from which this essay is adapted.

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This post has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 14, 2013

An article on Tuesday about hearing loss and dementia misidentified the city in which the Medical College of Wisconsin is located. It is in Milwaukee, not in Madison.

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American, US Airways approve merger

A long-anticipated merger of American Airlines and US Airways is expected to be announced Thursday after weeks of closed-door negotiations, according to people briefed on the deal. The transaction would create the nation's largest carrier and cap an era of consolidation in a troubled industry.

The marriage of American, based in Fort Worth, and its smaller competitor based in Tempe, Ariz., would form an airline valued at $11 billion. The union would be the latest in a string of mergers and acquisitions in an industry struggling to stay airborne amid fluctuating fuel costs, labor strife and economic turbulence.

The new airline would retain the name American, have its headquarters in Fort Worth and be the biggest carrier in eight of the nation's largest airports including Los Angeles, according to the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly. The airline is expected to surpass its competitors in revenue, passengers served and fleet size. In the first few years, the merger could generate savings and increased revenue of up to $1.2 billion, according to Robert Herbst, an industry consultant.

Quiz: Test your knowledge about airport security

But critics say another airline merger would only hurt passengers.

With newly merged airlines eliminating overlapping service, fares are certain to rise and carriers will probably stop serving less-profitable markets, some critics argue. Since 2007, the average domestic airfare has increased 15%, according to federal statistics.

"You don't have to be an economics professor to understand that less competition in the market is going to result in consumers paying more, and airfares are certainly not immune from this simple fact," said Brandon M. Macsata, executive director of the Assn. for Airline Passenger Rights advocacy group.

But industry experts predict the merger of American and US Airways won't lead to significant fare increases because the two airlines rarely compete head to head, and because there are enough other airline competitors in the market.

"Out of all of the major airline mergers we've had in the last decade, this merger has the least amount of overlapping of flights and routes," Herbst said.

In fact, the airlines seem to complement each other in several ways.

US Airways now has a large presence in mid-size markets such as Charlotte, N.C., Philadelphia and Phoenix, while American Airlines dominates in some of the nation's largest airports, with more international destinations.

"American likes to be a presence in big markets, and US Airways likes to be No. 1 in small markets," said Seth Kaplan, a managing partner at Airline Weekly, a trade magazine.

The merger must still be approved by federal regulators, but industry experts don't expect opposition.

The deal would mark the latest in a series of mergers and acquisitions that has narrowed the industry to a handful of mega-airlines and several smaller, regional carriers.

In the last five years, Delta has merged with Northwest Airlines, United has merged with Continental and Southwest has acquired AirTran — resulting in a 10% drop in passenger capacity, according to a study by the International Air Transport Assn., an industry trade group.

The odds of a merger increased when American's parent company, AMR, filed for bankruptcy in November 2011. Many analysts and AMR creditors argued that American could compete against other big airlines only by joining forces with another carrier to reduce costs and expand its service area.

For months, US Airways pushed for the merger, with American's top executive initially resisting until it became clear that the carrier's unions and many of its creditors supported a deal.

Another thorny issue that may have delayed a merger announcement was deciding who would run the new company. Board members for the two airlines have reportedly agreed to name US Airways Chief Executive Doug Parker as CEO of the merged airline. AMR's chief executive, Thomas Horton, will be non-executive board chairman.

The ownership of the new airline will be split 72% for AMR creditors and 28% for US Airways shareholders.

One of the toughest parts about pushing through a merger — the integration of unions and their often conflicting contracts — has been already largely ironed out. The merger must still be approved by the Bankruptcy Court.

hugo.martin@latimes.com

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Christopher Dorner shootout: Body found in burned cabin

There were conflicting reports tonight about whether a body was located inside the burned-out cabin Tuesday night where Christopher Jordan Dorner was believed to have kept law enforcement authorities at bay.

Several sources told The Times and many other news organizations that a body was located in the rubble. But LAPD officials just said that the cabin is still too hot to search and no body has been found.

Another update is expected within the next hour from law enforcement officers near the scene, and officials said they might have an update clarifying the confusion.

PHOTOS: Manhunt for ex-LAPD officer

As authorities moved into the cabin earlier Tuesday, they heard a single gunshot.

According to a law enforcement source, police had broken down windows, fired tear gas into the cabin and blasted over a loud speaker, urging Dorner to surrender. When they got no response, police deployed a vehicle to rip down the walls of the cabin "one by one, like peeling an onion," a law enforcement official said.

By the time they got to the last wall, authorities heard a single gunshot, the source said. Then flames began to spread through the structure, and gunshots, probably set off by the fire, were heard. 

PHOTOS: Manhunt for ex-LAPD officer

As darkness descended on the mountainside, Dorner's body had not been found, authorities said. Police were planning to focus their search in the basement area, the source said.

Earlier Tuesday, a tall plume of smoke was rising as flames consumed the wood-paneled cabin. Hundreds of law enforcement personnel had swooped down on the site near Big Bear after the gun battles between Dorner and officers that broke out in the snow-covered mountains where the fugitive had been eluding a massive manhunt since his truck was found burning in the area late last week.

Law enforcement personnel in military-style gear and armed with high-powered weapons took up positions in the heavily forested area as the tense standoff progressed. 

One San Bernardino County sheriff's deputy died after he and another deputy were wounded in an exchange of gunfire outside the cabin in which hundreds of rounds were fired, sources told The Times. The deputy was airlifted to Loma Linda University Medical Center, where he died of his wounds.

The afternoon gun battle was part of a quickly changing situation that began after Dorner allegedly broke into a home, tied up a couple and held them hostage. He then stole a silver pickup truck, sources said.

Then Dorner was allegedly spotted by a state Fish and Wildlife officer in the pickup truck, sources said. A vehicle-to-vehicle shootout ensued. The officer's vehicle was peppered with multiple rounds, according to authorities.

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Alec Baldwin, wife expecting a baby this summer

NEW YORK (AP) — Alec Baldwin and his wife are expecting their first child together.

Publicist Matthew Hiltzik confirmed Tuesday that Hilaria Baldwin is due late this summer.

Alec Baldwin already is the father of a 17-year-old daughter, Ireland, from his previous marriage to actress Kim Basinger (BAY'-sing-ur). Hilaria Baldwin is a special correspondent for the TV show "Extra." The couple wed last June after a three-month engagement.

Alec Baldwin recently won a SAG Award for best actor in a TV series for the NBC comedy "30 Rock," which concluded its seven-year run two weeks ago.

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Prostate Cancer Study Suggests Shorter Treatments

Men with high-risk prostate cancer treated with only 18 months of hormone therapy live just as long as those treated for a more standard 36 months, a new study has found.

If the study results are applied in practice, it could mean much shorter treatment, sparing men months of unpleasant side effects, researchers said Tuesday.

“This may well change the standard of care,” said Dr. Bruce J. Roth, a prostate cancer specialist at Washington University in St. Louis. “Three years of hormonal therapy was almost picked randomly, and there’s nothing magical about that duration.”

Dr. Roth was not involved in the study, but he moderated a news conference for the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium, which will take place starting Thursday in Orlando, Fla., and is where the results will be presented.

Hormone therapy is essentially chemical castration, in which drugs are used to block the body’s production of testosterone, which fuels prostate tumor growth.

The side effects, including hot flashes, loss of sexual desire, fatigue and the weakening of bones and muscles, make life “quite miserable,” said Dr. Abdenour Nabid of Sherbrooke University Hospital Center in Sherbrooke, Quebec, who was the lead investigator.

The study involved 630 patients with localized but high-risk prostate cancer who were treated with radiation therapy and hormone therapy. While that description fits only a small portion of the 240,000 new cases of prostate cancer diagnosed each year in the United States, the results would still apply to thousands of men, researchers said.

After a median follow-up of about six and a half years, 77.1 percent of the men who received 36 months of therapy were still alive, as were 76.2 percent of the men treated for 18 months.

While slightly more men receiving the longer treatment were alive at five years, the difference was not statistically significant, and for the patients already followed for 10 years, the survival rates were similar. The death rate specifically from prostate cancer was also the same after 10 years.

There were also no statistically significant differences in the rate of biochemical failure — when the P.S.A. marker rises — or in the spread of cancer to the bone, Dr. Nabid said. The difference between the two therapy durations on the quality of the patients’ lives is still being studied.

Dr. David I. Quinn, medical director of the University of Southern California Norris Cancer Hospital, said the results “will change the approach for men who’ve got the worst localized prostate cancer that we see.” He said the results went against some previous studies that suggested that “more is better.”

But Dr. Michael J. Morris, associate professor at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, said that 630 patients might be too few to draw “a relatively sweeping conclusion.” A study meant to prove that two treatments are equivalent may need to be much larger, he said.

Dr. Matthew R. Smith, professor of medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, said it might be “overreaching” to make a conclusion yet because not many trial patients had died. “I think we need longer follow-up,” he said.

Dr. Nabid, the principal investigator, said that patients would be followed for two or three more years but that he was confident the results would hold up.

The trial enrolled patients at 10 hospitals in Quebec from October 2000 to January 2008. The drugs used were bicalutamide and goserelin, sold by AstraZeneca as Casodex and Zoladex, respectively, but now subject to generic competition. AstraZeneca paid for the study.

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Carnival cruise ship being towed to U.S. after engine fire

A cruise ship that lost power because of an engine fire is being towed from the Gulf of Mexico, with many passengers sleeping on the deck to stay cool and standing in lines to get hot meals and use toilets.

The Carnival Triumph, carrying more than 3,000 passengers and more than 1,000 crew members, could reach Mobile, Ala., by Wednesday or Thursday, depending on sea conditions, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

It is the latest cruise mishap for an industry that was hoping to rebound from last year's disastrous wreck of the Costa Concordia off the Italian coast. Miami-based Carnival Corp. owns the parent company that operated the Concordia as well as Carnival Cruise Lines, which owns the Triumph.

"These incidents are really, really rare, but when they happen they make big news," said Jay Herring, who worked on the Triumph for two years as a senior information system manager and wrote a book about the industry, "The Truth About Cruise Ships."

Carnival has already announced that it will issue full refunds to the passengers, plus travel expenses and credit toward a future cruise vacation.

"Every action we are taking is to get our guests home," Gerry Cahill, Carnival Cruise Lines chief executive, said at a news conference Tuesday. "There is no question that conditions on the ship are very challenging."

No one was injured in the engine fire, but it left the ship without propulsion. Two tugboats were dispatched to pull the cruise ship — nearly the size of three football fields — to Mobile. When the ship arrives, investigators from the U.S. Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board will begin an inquiry into the fire.

The ship departed Galveston, Texas, last week on a four-day cruise to Cozumel, an island off Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula.

Messages from passengers on the Triumph, sent to family and friends, say some of the public and cabin toilets are not operating and only limited power is available to run elevators and heat food.

Several of the text messages were printed on Cruisecritic.com, a review site for cruise vacations. The messages said the rooms were so hot without circulating air that some passengers were sleeping in tents on the deck.

The husband of a passenger said he spoke to his wife Sunday by phone. "At the time I spoke to her, there were no toilets. They were using little red bags. And no running water, no lights, except emergency lighting," he said in a message to Cruisecritic.com.

Other family members said passengers were getting cranky and some were hoarding food. Others reported that without enough power, some toilets had begun to overflow.

Greg Magee, commander of the Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous, which was sent to escort the Carnival Triumph to Mobile, said he does not plan to transfer passengers off the cruise ship, which has been listing to one side as waves crash against the hull.

"It's not a very good option. Conducting an at-seas transfer in these conditions carries a lot of risk, and you would probably be delaying their return to home port," he said.

Magee said he was in constant contact with the cruise ship commander, who has been very cooperative. "He has not requested any assistance, so we have not boarded to see conditions inside," he said.

hugo.martin@latimes.com

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Mahony voting for a new pope rankles some Catholics

Nearly two weeks ago, Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez announced he had removed Cardinal Roger Mahony from all public duties amid revelations that he plotted to conceal child molestation by priests from law enforcement.

But Mahony on Monday found himself back at the center of church business, as one of 117 cardinals who will elect a successor to Pope Benedict XVI.

Mahony was quick to weigh in on the papal news — posting a statement on his online blog at 8:38 a.m., two hours before the archdiocese announced that Gomez would issue his own remarks at the midday Mass at the downtown Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels.

In the posting, Mahony called Benedict an "extraordinary" successor to St. Peter and that he intended to participate in choosing the next pontiff.

"I look forward to traveling to Rome soon to help thank Pope Benedict XVI for his gifted service to the Church, and to participate in the Conclave to elect his successor," Mahony wrote.

Benedict's unexpected decision to step down created a seemingly awkward situation in the Los Angeles Archdiocese, which is reeling over newly released documents showing how church leaders handled the abuse cases. Documents show that Mahony and Bishop Thomas Curry worked to shield abusers from police. Both have since issued detailed apologies.

Gomez wrote in a letter to parishioners last month that the priest files were "brutal and painful reading. The behavior described in these files is terribly sad and evil. There is no excuse, no explaining away what happened to these children."

Gomez wrote that Mahony, his predecessor as leader of the archdiocese, "has expressed his sorrow for his failure to fully protect young people entrusted to his care. Effective immediately, I have informed Cardinal Mahony that he will no longer have any administrative or public duties." A church spokesman later clarified that Mahony remained a priest "in good standing" and that he maintained all his powers as a cardinal.

Mahony is one of 11 U.S. cardinals who will vote for the next pope.

Father Thomas Rausch of Loyola Marymount University said Mahony has no choice in the matter: Church law requires him to vote, along with all cardinals under age 80, he said.

"It is a sacred responsibility of every cardinal of the church who is able to attend the conclave to vote," said Tod Tamberg, archdiocese spokesman.

Still, Mahony's role in selecting a pope drew mixed reactions among Catholics in Southern California.

Manuel Vega, a retired Oxnard police officer who as an altar boy was molested from the age of 12 to 15 by Father Fidencio Silva, said Mahony would bring shame on the Catholic Church by going to Rome to vote.

"Mahony is going without clean hands. His hands are dirty ... from covering up years of sexual abuse. How can he be part of the conclave?" Vega asked.

Other Catholics said they were pleased that Mahony would be voting. They said they hoped that he would bring a more liberal and American point of view to the conclave, which will be dominated by the conservative cardinals whom Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI have appointed over the last three decades.

Jane Argento, a parishioner at Holy Family Church in South Pasadena, said she was livid at Mahony when she read about his actions after the archdiocese's release of sex abuse documents. But she said the relatively liberal Mahony reflected her own Catholic convictions about larger roles for women in the church, among other issues. Mahony, she said, was the architect of a pastoral associate program in Los Angeles that had trained several women to run parishes, including her own.

"I'm relieved that Mahony is going," Argento said. "Frankly, it's one more vote for a more progressive church."

Larry Loughlin, 77, a parishioner and social worker, said it was reasonable that Mahony vote, given church rules, and that he was not the only cardinal accused of failing to remove predatory priests from churches and schools. Others include Cardinal Justin Regali, who was accused of ignoring evidence of sex abuse, including rape, in the Philadelphia archdiocese before retiring in 2011.

"Mahony is not the only cardinal to be accused of protecting priests, it is a worldwide crisis," Loughlin said.

Parishioners who attended Monday's midday Mass at the downtown cathedral said they were saddened by news of Benedict's resignation but hailed it as a chance to renew a church still suffering from the repercussions of the abuse scandals. The scandals also appeared to be on the mind of Gomez, who celebrated the Mass and called for prayer "for anyone who has been hurt by a member of the church" and for "the healing for wounds and restoration of trust."

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'Identity Thief' grabs $34.6M to debut at No. 1

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jason Bateman and Melissa McCarthy's "Identity Thief" has made off with the weekend box-office title with a $34.6 million debut.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Hollywood.com are:

1. "Identity Thief," Universal, $34,551,025, 3,141 locations, $11,000 average, $34,551,025, one week.

2. "Warm Bodies," Lionsgate, $11,356,090, 3,009 locations, $3,774 average, $36,481,172, two weeks.

3. "Side Effects," Open Road Films, $9,303,145, 2,605 locations, $3,571 average, $9,303,145, one week.

4. "Silver Linings Playbook," Weinstein Co., $6,425,271, 2,809 locations, $2,287 average, $89,519,510, 13 weeks.

5. "Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters," Paramount, $5,753,165, 3,285 locations, $1,751 average, $43,836,018, three weeks.

6. "Mama," Universal, $4,229,665, 2,677 locations, $1,580 average, $63,951,810, four weeks.

7. "Zero Dark Thirty," Sony, $4,006,860, 2,562 locations, $1,564 average, $83,567,450, eight weeks.

8. "Argo," Warner Bros., $2,375,344, 1,405 locations, $1,691 average, $123,608,957, 18 weeks.

9. "Django Unchained," Weinstein Co., $2,303,495, 1,502 locations, $1,534 average, $154,516,627, seven weeks.

10. "Bullet to the Head," Warner Bros., $2,078,192, 2,404 locations, $864 average, $8,269,214, two weeks.

11. "Top Gun" in 3-D, Paramount, $1,965,737, 300 locations, $6,552 average, $1,965,737, one week.

12. "Lincoln," Disney, $1,873,537, 1,517 locations, $1,235 average, $173,621,006, 14 weeks.

13. "Parker," FilmDistrict, $1,867,411, 2,004 locations, $932 average, $15,848,064, three weeks.

14. "Life of Pi," Fox, $1,745,744, 924 locations, $1,889 average, $108,530,249, 12 weeks.

15. "Les Miserables," Universal, $1,555,550, 1,447 locations, $1,075 average, $143,983,705, seven weeks.

16. "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey," Warner Bros., $1,468,374, 1,001 locations, $1,467 average, $298,333,426, nine weeks.

17. "Parental Guidance," Fox, $1,071,766, 1,219 locations, $879 average, $74,344,256, seven weeks.

18. "Wreck-It Ralph," Disney, $1,065,817, 757 locations, $1,408 average, $184,414,532, 15 weeks.

19. "The Impossible," Summit, $957,594, 739 locations, $1,296 average, $16,668,338, eight weeks.

20. "Quartet," Weinstein Co., $940,930, 244 locations, $3,856 average, $5,000,417, five weeks.

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Online:

http://www.hollywood.com

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

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Bloomberg Lauds Companies for Cutting Salt Content

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, in the midst of a long-running campaign to change the eating habits of New Yorkers and consumers across the country, declared a victory against salt on Monday, as 21 companies, from Kraft and Goya to FreshDirect, said they had met the first stage in reductions in salt content in foods.

After focusing on reducing trans fats and smoking, Mr. Bloomberg turned his attention to salt in 2010, announcing that about 30 companies had signed up to reduce salt in foods by 25 percent within five years, as a way of lowering consumers’ blood pressure and saving lives lost to heart attack and stroke.

“These companies have a huge presence on our shelves and in our diets,” Mr. Bloomberg said at a news conference at City Hall as he announced the results, surrounded by a half-dozen executives of food companies.

The first stage focused on the low-hanging fruit — salsa, dips, bacon, ketchup, barbecue sauce, cold cuts, processed cheese, salad dressing, canned beans and pizza — foods whose salt content is so high that reducing it up to a point probably would not be noticed by many consumers.

Mr. Bloomberg called them “some of America’s most beloved and iconic foods,” suggesting that the cuts might have a disproportionately salutary effect. But Dr. Thomas A. Farley, the city’s health commissioner, said he did not know how much salt the results so far had removed from the average person’s diet.

One side effect of the salt reduction drive is that food companies are looking for salt substitutes to make food taste better.

The main way to do that is to add potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride, said Russ Moroz, vice president for research at Kraft Foods. But because potassium tends to have a bitter, mineral taste, other ingredients have to be added. He said these were proprietary secrets, and he declined to name them.

Potassium is good, Dr. Farley said, because it lowers blood pressure and most people do not get enough of it. It is removed from fruits and vegetable during processing, he said. Mr. Bloomberg said he thought fears of additives were overdone.

But a salt industry scientist said Monday that too much potassium could be bad for the kidneys, and that the “cocktail of chemical constituents” added to balance the bitterness and enhance the salty taste could present unknown risks, as those ingredients were undisclosed.

“They do it with one eye on the lab and the other eye on the label,” said Morton Satin, vice president for science and research at the Salt Institute, a trade association. “They make sure it’s below the level that the F.D.A. requires for it to be on the label.”

Mr. Satin said that the link between high blood pressure and salt was just “a theory,” and that reducing salt too much could have harmful effects, like iodine deficiency in children, a cause of mental retardation, and diabetes.

Some companies said reducing salt proved to be a popular marketing tool. Goya reported that it had reduced salt in its regular canned beans by 5 or 6 percent, without any drop in sales. “We tasted them, and you really wouldn’t notice the difference,” Joseph Perez, senior vice president of Goya Foods, said Monday.

Mr. Bloomberg said it might surprise many people to know that bread and rolls were the “biggest contributor” to salt in the diet. Eating a muffin, he said, could be worse than eating a small bag of Lays potato chips.

Bread makers are hard to spot on the list of companies that have pledged to reduce salt, perhaps, Mr. Satin said, because it is more difficult to make bread without salt. However, some companies, like Au Bon Pain, have reduced salt in some baked goods.

On an irreverent note, Mr. Bloomberg said that he loved Subway sandwiches and would eat his favorite, the Italian B.M.T. — it includes salami, pepperoni and ham — regardless of the salt content, but that he was glad that it now contained 27 percent less.

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Toy makers play up classics and creativity

NEW YORK — A digital Barbie vanity mirror that allows makeup experimentation without the mess. Customizable figurines mounted on spinning tops that battle in a portable arena. New Play Doh Plus that's fluffier and more malleable.

The hippest new toys showcased at the American International Toy Fair this week are interactive, adaptable and, often, more than a bit familiar.

"We're reinventing older brands so that kids can rediscover them as if they were new," said John Frascotti, chief marketing officer for Hasbro Inc., at the show in New York City. "A 5-year-old doesn't know or care that a toy has actually been around for decades."

More than 31,000 attendees — including 1,000 exhibitors — are congregating at the annual event, which is considered to be the start of a yearlong scramble to identify, market and occasionally copy the products expected to dominate the Christmas shopping season.

This year the hunt feels even more urgent. The U.S. toy industry had a lackluster 2012, with revenue falling slightly from the year before to $16.5 billion. Sales dropped even further compared with 2008, when they totaled $21.6 billion, according to research firm NPD Group.

Manufacturers, distributors, importers and buyers crowd the 366,000 square feet of space in the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center to display more than 150,000 products, including action figures, educational activities, bicycles, puppets, video and board games. The fair, the largest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere, began Sunday and lasts through Wednesday.

Toy analysts are already taking bets on likely trends.

One major buzzword? Construction playthings, and not just in the form of boys' building blocks.

Build-your-own robots and action figures and do-it-yourself doll backdrops helped the building sets sector grow 19.7% last year — the largest revenue gain of any toy category, according to NPD. Analysts expect another boost in 2013.

Parents want toys that their children can create themselves and customize instead of the "watch me" products that attempt to entertain kids with the push of a button, said Jim Silver, editor in chief of TimetoPlayMag.com.

"Especially with the economy the way it is, they're looking for toys that offer value through rebuilding, that kids can play with over and over again," he said.

Hasbro showed off Transformers Construct-Bots, which kids can build out from a robot frame foundation using armor, weapons and accessory parts. The company's new Iron Man Assemblers action figures can be compiled using a variety of arm, torso, leg and other body parts into hundreds of combinations.

Hot Wheels, owned by El Segundo company Mattel Inc., will soon enable children to construct their own track sets and create unique toy cars with special molds and accessory stickers.

"We live in a world of youth empowerment, where kids are used to an environment that they can control," Hasbro's Frascotti said. "They can already go to an iPad and design whatever they want, so why can't they do that in an analog world too?"

Toys that cross gender barriers are also gaining traction.

At the New York show, Hasbro debuted a silver-and-black version of its usually pink-and-purple Easy-Bake oven. The company, which was recently petitioned by tens of thousands of people for a boy-friendly Easy-Bake, said it has worked for more than a year on a more gender-neutral version of its 50-year-old cooking toy.

Last year, Zing Toys debuted a pink-and-purple bow-and-arrow set called the Air Huntress. At the show, Hasbro demonstrated its Nerf Rebelle Heartbreaker archery toy, a product packaged with darts covered in funky feminine patterns.

Lego used its small blocks to create life-sized models of girls in soccer uniforms and karate belts to exhibit its female-focused Lego Friends line. Spin Master adopted technology from its popular AirHogs flying toys in its new Flutterbye Fairy, a winged doll that launches off a charger modeled after a jewelry box and follows hand motions to stay aloft.

Mega Bloks stacked a pile of Barbie Build 'n Style play set suites — including blocks made up like kitchens or bedrooms — in a corner of its booth. The girl-centric construction product line launched in December and also includes pool party, fashion boutique and pet shop options along with figurines with interchangeable hair.

The market also is headed toward an "abundance" of old-school products featuring nostalgic, vintage or classic elements — "like the equivalent of bell bottoms or neon colors for toys," said Adrienne Appell, an analyst with fair organizer Toy Industry Assn.

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