Magic mushrooms' effects illuminated in brain imaging studies

ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) ? Brain scans of people under the influence of the psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms, have given scientists the most detailed picture to date of how psychedelic drugs work. The findings of two studies being published in scientific journals this week identify areas of the brain where activity is suppressed by psilocybin and suggest that it helps people to experience memories more vividly.

In the first study, published January 23 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), 30 healthy volunteers had psilocybin infused into their blood while inside magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, which measure changes in brain activity. The scans showed that activity decreased in "hub" regions of the brain -- areas that are especially well-connected with other areas.

The second study, due to be published online by the British Journal of Psychiatry on January 24, found that psilocybin enhanced volunteers' recollections of personal memories, which the researchers suggest could make it useful as an adjunct to psychotherapy.

Professor David Nutt, from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, the senior author of both studies, said: "Psychedelics are thought of as 'mind-expanding' drugs so it has commonly been assumed that they work by increasing brain activity, but surprisingly, we found that psilocybin actually caused activity to decrease in areas that have the densest connections with other areas. These hubs constrain our experience of the world and keep it orderly. We now know that deactivating these regions leads to a state in which the world is experienced as strange."

The intensity of the effects reported by the participants, including visions of geometric patterns, unusual bodily sensations and altered sense of space and time, correlated with a decrease in oxygenation and blood flow in certain parts of the brain.

The function of these areas, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), is the subject of debate among neuroscientists, but the PCC is proposed to have a role in consciousness and self-identity. The mPFC is known to be hyperactive in depression, so psilocybin's action on this area could be responsible for some antidepressant effects that have been reported. Similarly, psilocybin reduced blood flow in the hypothalamus, where blood flow is increased during cluster headaches, perhaps explaining why some sufferers have said symptoms improved under psilocybin.

In the British Journal of Psychiatry study 10 volunteers viewed written cues that prompted them to think about memories associated with strong positive emotions while inside the brain scanner. The participants rated their recollections as being more vivid after taking psilocybin compared with a placebo, and with psilocybin there was increased activity in areas of the brain that process vision and other sensory information.

Participants were also asked to rate changes in their emotional wellbeing two weeks after taking the psilocybin and placebo. Their ratings of memory vividness under the drug showed a significant positive correlation with their wellbeing two weeks afterwards. In a previous study of 12 people in 2011, researchers found that people with anxiety who were given a single psilocybin treatment had decreased depression scores six months later.

Dr Robin Carhart-Harris, from the Department of Medicine at Imperial College London, the first author of both papers, said: "Psilocybin was used extensively in psychotherapy in the 1950s, but the biological rationale for its use has not been properly investigated until now. Our findings support the idea that psilocybin facilitates access to personal memories and emotions.

"Previous studies have suggested that psilocybin can improve people's sense of emotional wellbeing and even reduce depression in people with anxiety. This is consistent with our finding that psilocybin decreases mPFC activity, as many effective depression treatments do. The effects need to be investigated further, and ours was only a small study, but we are interested in exploring psilocybin's potential as a therapeutic tool."

The researchers acknowledged that because the participants in this study had volunteered after having previous experience of psychedelics, they may have held prior assumptions about the drugs which could have contributed to the positive memory rating and the reports of improved wellbeing in the follow-up.

Functional MRI measures brain activity indirectly by mapping blood flow or the oxygen levels in the blood. When an area becomes more active, it uses more glucose, but generates energy in rapid chemical reactions that do not use oxygen. Consequently, blood flow increases but oxygen consumption does not, resulting in a higher concentration of oxygen in blood in the local veins.

In the PNAS study, the volunteers were split into two groups, each studied using a different type of fMRI: 15 were scanned using arterial spin labelling (ASL) perfusion fMRI, which measures blood flow, and 15 using blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI. The two modalities produced similar results, strongly suggesting that the observed effects were genuine.

The studies were carried out with a Home Office licence for storing and handling a schedule 1 drug and were approved by NHS research ethics committees. All the volunteers were mentally and physically healthy and had taken hallucinogenic drugs previously without any adverse response. The research involved scientists from Imperial, the University of Bristol and Cardiff University and was funded by the Beckley Foundation, the Neuropsychoanalysis Foundation, Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, and the Heffter Research Institute.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Imperial College London, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal References:

1. Robin L. Carhart-Harris, David Erritzoe, Tim Williams, James M. Stone, Laurence J. Reed, Alessandro Colasanti, Robin J. Tyacke, Robert Leech, Andrea L. Malizia, Kevin Murphy, Peter Hobden, John Evans, Amanda Feilding, Richard G. Wise, and David J. Nutt. Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, January 23, 2012 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1119598109
2. R Carhart-Harris et al. Implications for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 26 January 2012

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120123152043.htm

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This Week's Top Downloads [Download Roundup]

Jan 21, 2012 5:00 PM 11,005 1

• Boxer is a Free DOS Game Emulator for your Mac (Mac) Computer games have come a long way since the days of Doom, Zork, Tie Fighter, and Castle Wolfenstein, but many of us who grew up with those games would like to replay them. Boxer is a free app that will let you play any DOS game on your Mac.
• iBoostUp Cleans Out Your Mac's System File Clutter in a Minute (Mac) iBoostUp cleans out the crap on your drive and fine-tunes your system for better performance. It's simple, it's quick, and it's free.
• AntiCrop "Uncrops" Your Photos by Extending the Picture's Background (iOS) If you've ever taken a hasty photo on your phone and didn't leave enough room on the outside, AntiCrop is the app can "uncrop" those photos by filling in the edges with just a few swipes.
• Untethered Jailbreak for iPhone 4S and iOS 5 Is Finally Here (iOS) iPhone-hacking group Chronic Dev Team just released the first untethered jailbreak for the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 running iOS 5.0.1. We've explained why a tethered jailbreak can be such a hassle, which is why we've been waiting to recommend jailbreaking your up-to-date iPhone. Luckily, that wait is over.
• Clean My Desktop Sorts Files Into Content Specific Folders (Mac) A desktop filled with hundreds of files in a variety of formats can be a headache to clean up, but Clean My Desktop makes it easy by sorting everything into content specific folders based on the file type.
• MindNode Is a Mind Mapping App that Makes Brainstorming Simple and Easy (Mac/iOS) Regardless of the type of work that you do, brainstorming is an important part of generating new ideas and new approaches to getting your work done more efficiently. Mind mapping is a brainstorming technique that helps you get all of your interconnected thoughts out in a diagram, and there are a number of complicated tools designed to help you do it. MindNode for Mac and iOS is pricey, but it's one of the best tools we've seen for the job.
• Pomodroido Is an Elegant Pomodoro Timer for Your Android Phone (Pomodroido) If you're a fan of the Pomodoro productivity technique, you know that part of the philosophy is to work in short, focused, timed bursts and then take periodic breaks to relax. To do this, you'll need a timer, and Pomodroido is a free app that turns your Android phone into one that follows you everywhere.
• Forismatic Is a Free App that Helps You Relax and Keeps You Inspired Every Day (Mac) Computers are supposed to make our work easier, but in reality they often just bring us more work and stress us out. Give your Mac the opportunity to help you relax for a change with Forismatic, a free app that sits in the menubar until you need a little inspiration to help you keep going, and will remind you to take a break now and again to relax.
• Breathing Zone Guides You Towards Slower Breathing to Help Reduce Stress and Anxiety (Mac/iOS) Breathing Zone is a simple app that helps slow your breathing rhythm to calm you down and make you feel more relaxed. If you're a bit stressed or anxious, it's a good way to help you alleviate those feelings in just a few minutes.
• WatchMe Is a Desktop Timer that Keeps Track of Multiple Alarms at Once (Windows) Unfortunately, few of us have the luxury of only keeping track of one thing at a time. There are plenty of great timers available to help you keep track of how long you've been working or when you need to take a break, but if you need to track multiple times or set more than one timer, you may be out of luck. WatchMe is a timer that allows you to set multiple alerts and multiple timers so you're alerted at different times for different things.

Related Stories

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/94J0DABeIrw/this-weeks-top-downloads

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AP IMPACT: Meth fills hospitals with burn patients

This photo provided Jan. 10, 2012, by the Franklin County Sheriff?s Department shows firefighters battling a blaze from a shake-and-bake meth lab explosion Jan. 29, 2010, at a house in Union, Mo. The crude new method of making methamphetamine, by combining raw and unstable ingredients in a 2-liter soda bottle, poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment _ a burden so costly that it?s contributing to the closure of some burn units. (AP Photo/Franklin County Sheriff?s Department )

This photo provided Jan. 10, 2012, by the Franklin County Sheriff?s Department shows firefighters battling a blaze from a shake-and-bake meth lab explosion Jan. 29, 2010, at a house in Union, Mo. The crude new method of making methamphetamine, by combining raw and unstable ingredients in a 2-liter soda bottle, poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment _ a burden so costly that it?s contributing to the closure of some burn units. (AP Photo/Franklin County Sheriff?s Department )

This photo provided Jan. 10, 2012, by the Franklin County Sheriff?s Department shows shake-and-bake meth ingredients found at house that burned from a meth lab explosion Jan. 29, 2010, in Union, Mo. The crude new method of making methamphetamine, by combining raw and unstable ingredients in a 2-liter soda bottle, poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment _ a burden so costly that it?s contributing to the closure of some burn units. (AP Photo/Franklin County Sheriff?s Department )

This dashboard police video photo provided Jan. 17, 2012, by the Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force shows what authorities say is a mobile shake-and-bake meth lab vehicle burning in August, 2011, in Clarksville, Tenn. The crude new method of making methamphetamine, by combining raw and unstable ingredients in a 2-liter soda bottle, poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment _ a burden so costly that it?s contributing to the closure of some burn units. (AP Photo/Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force)

This photo provided Jan. 19, 2012, by the Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force shows shows the interior of a home in Clarksville, Tenn., damaged by a shake-and-bake meth lab explosion in December, 2011. The crude new method of making methamphetamine, by combining raw and unstable ingredients in a 2-liter soda bottle, poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment _ a burden so costly that it?s contributing to the closure of some burn units. (AP Photo/Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force, Jesse Reynolds)

This photo provided Jan. 17, 2012, by the Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force shows the aftermath what authorities say is a mobile shake-and-bake meth lab vehicle that burned in August, 2011, in Clarksville, Tenn. The crude new method of making methamphetamine, by combining raw and unstable ingredients in a 2-liter soda bottle, poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment _ a burden so costly that it?s contributing to the closure of some burn units. (AP Photo/Tennessee Methamphetamine Task Force)

ST. LOUIS (AP) ? A crude new method of making methamphetamine poses a risk even to Americans who never get anywhere near the drug: It is filling hospitals with thousands of uninsured burn patients requiring millions of dollars in advanced treatment ? a burden so costly that it's contributing to the closure of some burn units.

So-called shake-and-bake meth is produced by combining raw, unstable ingredients in a 2-liter soda bottle. But if the person mixing the noxious brew makes the slightest error, such as removing the cap too soon or accidentally perforating the plastic, the concoction can explode, searing flesh and causing permanent disfigurement, blindness or even death.

An Associated Press survey of key hospitals in the nation's most active meth states showed that up to a third of patients in some burn units were hurt while making meth, and most were uninsured. The average treatment costs $6,000 per day. And the average meth patient's hospital stay costs $130,000 ? 60 percent more than other burn patients, according to a study by doctors at a burn center in Kalamazoo, Mich.

The influx of patients is overwhelming hospitals and becoming a major factor in the closure of some burn wards. At least seven burn units across the nation have shut down over the past six years, partly due to consolidation but also because of the cost of treating uninsured patients, many of whom are connected to methamphetamine.

Burn experts agree the annual cost to taxpayers is well into the tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars, although it is impossible to determine a more accurate number because so many meth users lie about the cause of their burns.

Larger meth labs have been bursting into flame for years, usually in basements, backyard sheds or other private spaces. But those were fires that people could usually escape. Using the shake-and-bake method, drugmakers typically hold the flammable concoction up close, causing burns from the waist to the face.

"You're holding a flame-thrower in your hands," said Jason Grellner of the Franklin County, Mo., Sheriff's Department.

Also known as the "one-pot" approach, the method is popular because it uses less pseudoephedrine ? a common component in some cold and allergy pills. It also yields meth in minutes rather than hours, and it's cheaper and easier to conceal. Meth cooks can carry all the ingredients in a backpack and mix them in a bathroom stall or the seat of a car.

The improvised system first emerged several years ago, partly in response to attempts by many states to limit or forbid over-the-counter access to pseudoephedrine. Since then, the shake-and-bake recipe has spread to become the method of choice.

By 2010, about 80 percent of labs busted by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration were using shake-and-bake recipes, said Pat Johnakin, a DEA agent specializing in meth.

So instead of a large lab that supplies many users, there are now more people making meth for their personal use. The consequences are showing up in emergency rooms and burn wards.

"From what we see on the medical side, that's the primary reason the numbers seem to be going up: greater numbers of producers making smaller batches," said Dr. Michael Smock, director of the burn unit at Mercy Hospital St. Louis.

It's impossible to know precisely how many people are burned while making shake-and-bake meth. Some avoid medical treatment, and no one keeps exact track of those who go to the hospital. But many burn centers in the nation's most active meth-producing states report sharp spikes in the number of patients linked to meth. And experts say the trend goes well beyond those facilities, easily involving thousands of drug users.

The director of the burn center at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, the state that led the nation in meth lab seizures in 2010, said meth injuries are doubly damaging because patients often suffer thermal burn from the explosion, as well as chemical burns. And the medical challenge is compounded by patients' addictions.

"You're not judgmental in this kind of work, but you see it day after day," said Vanderbilt's Dr. Jeffrey Guy. "We've had patients say, 'I'm going out for a smoke,' and they come back all jacked up. It's clear they went out and did meth again."

Few people burned by meth will admit it.

"We get a lot of people who have strange stories," said Dr. David Greenhalgh, past president of the American Burn Association and director of the burn center at the University of California, Davis. "They'll say they were working on the carburetor at 2 or 3 in the morning and things blew up. So we don't know for sure, but 25 to 35 percent of our patients are meth-positive when we check them."

Guy cited a similar percentage at Vanderbilt, which operates the largest burn unit in Tennessee. He said the lies can come with a big price because the chemicals used in meth-making are often as dangerous as the burns themselves.

He recalled the case of a woman who arrived with facial burns that she said were caused by a toaster. As a result, she didn't tell doctors that meth-making chemicals got into her eyes, delaying treatment.

"Now she's probably going to be blind because she wasn't honest about it," Guy said.

In Indiana, about three-quarters of meth busts now involve shake-and-bake. And injuries are rising sharply, mostly because of burns, said Niki Crawford of the Indiana State Police Meth Suppression Team.

Indiana had 89 meth-related injuries during the 10-year period ending in 2009. The state has had 70 in the last 23 months, mostly from shake-and-bake labs, Crawford said.

What's more, meth-related burns often sear some of the body's most sensitive areas ? the face and hands.

"I don't think a lot of these patients will be able to re-enter society, said Dr. Lucy Wibbenmeyer of the burn center at the University of Iowa. "They'll need rehab therapy, occupational therapy, which is very expensive."

Researchers at the University of Iowa found that people burned while making meth typically have longer hospital stays and more expensive bills than other burn patients ? bills that are frequently absorbed by the hospital since a vast majority of the meth-makers lack insurance.

Medicaid provides reimbursement for many patients lacking private insurance, but experts say it amounts to pennies on the dollar.

Doctors at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo, Mich., performed a five-year study of meth patients in the early 2000s, then a follow-up study in 2009-2010. Their investigation concurred with the Iowa findings. The Kalamazoo study also found that meth burn victims were more likely to suffer damage to the lungs and windpipe, spent more time on ventilators and needed surgery more often.

That report also found that only about 10 percent of meth patients had private insurance coverage, compared with 59 percent of other patients. And in many cases, their injuries leave them unable to work.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2012-01-23-Meth-Severe%20Burns/id-c0bd910f1f04435a8092acd8534b2a00

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Mitch Lazenby investing in irrigation for farm's future | Equipment ...

EAST ALABAMA FARMER Mitch Lazenby stands next to a pond that eventually should pump about a foot of water on 30 to 40 acres of land.

East Alabama farmer Mitch Lazenby witnessed unprecedented disasters on his family?s farm in 2009 and 2010, but with an innovative new irrigation plan in the works, he?s keeping his eye on the future.

?In 2009 and in 2010, we had catastrophic crop losses,? says Lazenby, who farms in Lee County, Ala.

?My family has been farming since the late 1800s, and that has never happened here. In those 100-plus years, we?ve always had at least some crop to harvest.?

In 2009, he explains, he planted primarily peanuts, and it began to rain in the fall. ?It never stopped, and we lost the entire crop. Then, in 2010, when we planted mostly cotton, it didn?t rain past May 31, and all the way into the fall. In two consecutive years, we never put any harvest equipment in the field,? he says.

Lazenby normally rotates two-thirds cotton and one-third peanuts with one-third cotton and two-thirds peanuts. ?This past year, we had a yield of approximately 700 to 800 pounds per acre on our cotton, which is phenomenal compared to the previous two years. We?re still behind the eight-ball, because it takes a long time to get those funds built back up. I don?t know how long it?ll take us. We know that nothing is absolute in farming, but we?re still swinging and we?re fighting back,? he says.

One of the ways he?s fighting back is through undertaking an irrigation project aimed at converting under-utilized land into irrigated cropland.

?It?ll still be a very small percentage of our cropland that?s irrigated, but we?re trying to do anything that?ll help,? says Lazenby. ?We?ve done more in the last three catastrophic years that we?ve had on this farm than we?ve ever done before, as far as the amount of resources and the money we?ve spent. So in one sense, it?s amazing that we?ve done as well as we have. As tough as things have been, we?re trying to position ourselves so that we can take advantage when conditions do improve.?

Source: http://southeastfarmpress.com/equipment/mitch-lazenby-investing-irrigation-farm-s-future

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Gingrich wins South Carolina primary (AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Newt Gingrich stormed to an upset win in the South Carolina primary Saturday night, dealing a sharp setback to Mitt Romney and scrambling the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul trailed badly.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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Unruly NFC Championship fans face ouster from game

FILE - In this Dec. 19, 2012 file photo, San Francisco police officers stand on the field during a power outage at an NFL football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Pittsburgh Steelers in San Francisco. The San Francisco 49ers and the NFL have adopted extraordinary security measures for Sunday's NFC championship against the New York Giants after opposing fans complained of harassment by unruly 49ers faithful last week. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 19, 2012 file photo, San Francisco police officers stand on the field during a power outage at an NFL football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Pittsburgh Steelers in San Francisco. The San Francisco 49ers and the NFL have adopted extraordinary security measures for Sunday's NFC championship against the New York Giants after opposing fans complained of harassment by unruly 49ers faithful last week. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 19, 2011 file photo, a San Francisco police officer walks a police dog under the stands at Candlestick Park during the second quarter of an NFL football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Pittsburgh Steelers in San Francisco. The San Francisco 49ers and the NFL have adopted extraordinary security measures for Sunday's NFC championship against the New York Giants after opposing fans complained of harassment by unruly 49ers faithful last week. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, file)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Don't yell obscenities, don't flip the bird ? and don't even think about insulting anyone's mother.

The San Francisco 49ers and the NFL have adopted extraordinary security measures for Sunday's NFC championship against the New York Giants after New Orleans Saints fans complained of harassment by unruly 49ers faithful last week.

Undercover police will be dressed in Giants' garb and on the lookout for nasty fans. Giants ticketholders will be handed a card as they enter Candlestick Park with details on how to contact police if they feel threatened. And more security cameras and undercover police officers will be in place to identify abusive fans.

Season ticketholders have also been warned to follow the NFL Fan Code of Conduct: no foul or abusive language or obscene gestures and no verbal or physical abuse of opposing team fans.

The nail-biting 36-32 win last Saturday for the 49ers was the team's first playoff game in nine years, and a raucous crowd was on hand to enjoy the victory at the expense of the Saints.

"I apologize for any rudeness that may have happened," San Francisco 49ers president and CEO Jed York said. "I think you saw 49ers fans who were very excited about hosting a playoff game for the first time in a long time."

Those fans were so excited that they ruined the day for a shaken Don Moses and his two teenage daughters. Moses, a longtime Bay Area resident who is from New Orleans, said they were wearing the Saints colors and prepared for some good-natured ribbing.

Instead, he tells a horror story of fear and humiliation when his daughters asked him why he didn't do anything to stop the hulking 49ers fans who yelled vulgarities and threw footballs at them, screamed in their faces and called their mother a whore.

"The hostility and threats of violence were a constant throughout our experience," Moses said in a letter to the San Francisco Chronicle, one that launched some soul-searching by city officials and led to some 49ers fans to apologize on behalf of their city.

"Every other word from dozens of fans around us was an f-bomb shouted at the top of their lungs," Moses said. "There were seven or eight large 30- to 35-year-old guys directly behind us who cursed and threatened us the entire game." He turned to ask them to tone it down in front of his girls and they yelled: "Do not turn around again! Do not ever turn around again."

He was afraid that if the fans saw him calling or texting security, the men would harm his daughters.

"Every 49ers fan, the team and its owners should be ashamed and embarrassed to wear the red and gold today," Moses wrote in the letter published Tuesday. "They won the game but are losers in every other way."

NFL security director Jeff Miller told the AP that if the security cameras or undercover police catch such abusive behavior by fans on Sunday, they will be yanked from the stadium.

"We'll be looking early on to identify people trying to do those things in the parking areas and take action to remove them," said Miller, who will be at the game. "We're not going to be warning people inside the stadium. They will be removed."

Authorities are already sensitive about the heartbreaking case of Brian Stow, a paramedic and San Francisco Giants fan who suffered a traumatic brain injury after a beating by two men dressed in Dodgers gear following the home opener against the Giants in Los Angeles on March 31. Medical care for Stow is expected to cost as much as $50 million and the father of two has sued the Dodgers.

Tailgating after kickoff already has been banned from the parking lot at Candlestick Park under security measures introduced after two shootings, a beating and fights broke out during an Aug. 20 pre-season game with across-the-bay rivals Oakland Raiders.

San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr said he heard first-hand how Saints fans were treated last Saturday when he gave three of them a lift from the stadium back into the city after the game. They gave him an earful about how badly they'd been belittled.

"We're all native San Franciscans and, you know, that's not the way we want to represent the team and the city," Suhr said.

He said Mayor Ed Lee instructed him to do whatever it takes to make Giants fans feel safe.

Police officers and team personnel at the ticket gates will be welcoming them with cards that tell them how to contact police.

The 49ers also purchased Giants attire for undercover police officers.

"They'll be seated around the stadium as decoys, if you will, trying to draw out the obnoxious fans and they will be removed immediately," he said.

Then there are the lights.

A good portion of the game will be played under the same stadium lights that blacked out and delayed the nationally televised Monday Night Football game between the 49ers and the Pittsburgh Steelers on Dec. 19.

The city and the Pacific Gas & Electric Co. insist there won't be an embarrassing repeat of the two blackouts at the 51-year-old stadium, which had prompted the mayor to call the night a "national embarrassment."

PG&E spokesman Joe Molica is confident the nearly $1 million in upgrades to the park by the electric utility and the city will prove the old bayside stadium proud.

He said the wire for the electrical circuit that serves the park has been replaced with more than a mile and a half of new wire that is resistant to contact and carries three times the electrical load. A new computer system allows workers to better monitor the circuit.

The command center at the stadium has conducted a string of tests simulating the Dec. 19 blackout and everything tested well.

Will Molica be holding his breath on Sunday about another blackout?

No, he said, "I'll be holding my breath for the 49ers to win."

___

AP Sports Writer Janie McCauley contributed to this report from Santa Clara, Calif.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-20-Niners-Giants-Security/id-9ffeaf14197e49d7951ed84093fd151b

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Video: Newt Gingrich fields questions about his second wife

>>> good evening. in case you looked away for just a moment today, here's what happened today in politics. rick perry got out of the race. he endorsed newt gingrich and it was a mostly good day for gingrich until tonight when an interview with his ex-wife will air. in it, she says he once asked her for an open marriage so he could keep his mistress. as for mitt romney , not only did he not get the perry endorsement, it turns out he didn't win the iowa caucuses thanks to a miscount. rick santorum won in iowa, according to the state party. to top it all off, president owe obama gave a speech today at disney world where he met mickey mouse . something for everyone tonight after one of the wildest days in politics in recent memory. we've got it all covered starting with ron mott covering newt gingrich . good evening.

>> reporter: good evening to you. this may well be the most pivotal day of this gop race so far, especially as it relates to newt gingrich . he is clearly on a roll here in south carolina , but his personal past might slam on the brakes. newt gingrich stepped off the bus today with a big endorsement, surging poll numbers and right into questions about his personal life .

>> help me better wrestle with that topic.

>> i've been very open about my life. i've been very open about the mistakes i made. i've been very open about needing to go to god for forgiveness.

>> reporter: on the day when the gingrich campaign seems to have new traction with the striking distance of mitt romney in late polling, backing of rick piry, the marital record could put that record on the skids. gingrich 's second wife mary ann who has been sharply critical of her ex-husband in the past, claims in an interview on "night line" that he asked her to share him with another woman his third wife calista.

>> he was asking to have an open marriage and i refused. that i accept the fact he has someone else in his life.

>> it comes a point when there is a genuine public persona and a private persona, and if they don't mesh that well, i'm i not sure which one is a real one.

>> reporter: this morning gingrich said this of his ex-wife whom he divorced in 1999 .

>> i'm not going to say anything negative about mary ann . my two daughters, kathy and jackie have sent a letter to the president of abc news saying from a family perspective they think this is totally wrong.

>> reporter: later on the campaign trail, he was more direct.

>> yes, that's my answer.

>> reporter: this couple says gingrich won their support no matter.

>> i would prefer to have a president that has made and acknowledged mistakes and learned from mistakes.

>> we all have a past. to me, it's not that important.

>> reporter: meantime, mitt romney found himself asking prickly questions, as well, about being a member of the nation's richest 1%.

>> how can you support the nation's 99% when you're part of the 1%?

>> let me tell you something, america is a great nation because we are a united nation . those trying to divide our nation as you're trying to do here and our president is doing are hurting this country seriously.

>> reporter: perhaps more pressure on mitt romney tonight. speaker gingrich says he will release his tax records this evening hoping governor romney will do the same, not in april but before south carolina votes on saturday.

>> ron mott starting us off

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46063422/

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