Well: Long Term Effects on Life Expectancy From Smoking

It is often said that smoking takes years off your life, and now a new study shows just how many: Longtime smokers can expect to lose about 10 years of life expectancy.

But amid those grim findings was some good news for former smokers. Those who quit before they turn 35 can gain most if not all of that decade back, and even those who wait until middle age to kick the habit can add about five years back to their life expectancies.

“There’s the old saw that everyone knows smoking is bad for you,” said Dr. Tim McAfee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “But this paints a much more dramatic picture of the horror of smoking. These are real people that are getting 10 years of life expectancy hacked off — and that’s just on average.”

The findings were part of research, published on Wednesday in The New England Journal of Medicine, that looked at government data on more than 200,000 Americans who were followed starting in 1997. Similar studies that were done in the 1980s and the decades prior had allowed scientists to predict the impact of smoking on mortality. But since then many population trends have changed, and it was unclear whether smokers today fared differently from smokers decades ago.

Since the 1960s, the prevalence of smoking over all has declined, falling from about 40 percent to 20 percent. Today more than half of people that ever smoked have quit, allowing researchers to compare the effects of stopping at various ages.

Modern cigarettes contain less tar and medical advances have cut the rates of death from vascular disease drastically. But have smokers benefited from these advances?

Women in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s had lower rates of mortality from smoking than men. But it was largely unknown whether this was a biological difference or merely a matter of different habits: earlier generations of women smoked fewer cigarettes and tended to take up smoking at a later age than men.

Now that smoking habits among women today are similar to those of men, would mortality rates be the same as well?

“There was a big gap in our knowledge,” said Dr. McAfee, an author of the study and the director of the C.D.C.’s Office on Smoking and Public Health.

The new research showed that in fact women are no more protected from the consequences of smoking than men. The female smokers in the study represented the first generation of American women that generally began smoking early in life and continued the habit for decades, and the impact on life span was clear. The risk of death from smoking for these women was 50 percent higher than the risk reported for women in similar studies carried out in the 1980s.

“This sort of puts the nail in the coffin around the idea that women might somehow be different or that they suffer fewer effects of smoking,” Dr. McAfee said.

It also showed that differences between smokers and the population in general are becoming more and more stark. Over the last 20 years, advances in medicine and public health have improved life expectancy for the general public, but smokers have not benefited in the same way.

“If anything, this is accentuating the difference between being a smoker and a nonsmoker,” Dr. McAfee said.

The researchers had information about the participants’ smoking histories and other details about their health and backgrounds, including diet, alcohol consumption, education levels and weight and body fat. Using records from the National Death Index, they calculated their mortality rates over time.

People who had smoked fewer than 100 cigarettes in their lifetimes were not classified as smokers. Those who had smoked at least 100 cigarettes but had not had one within five years of the time the data was collected were classified as former smokers.

Not surprisingly, the study showed that the earlier a person quit smoking, the greater the impact. People who quit between 25 and 34 years of age gained about 10 years of life compared to those who continued to smoke. But there were benefits at many ages. People who quit between 35 and 44 gained about nine years, and those who stopped between 45 and 59 gained about four to six years of life expectancy.

From a public health perspective, those numbers are striking, particularly when juxtaposed with preventive measures like blood pressure screenings, colorectal screenings and mammography, the effects of which on life expectancy are more often viewed in terms of days or months, Dr. McAfee said.

“These things are very important, but the size of the benefit pales in comparison to what you can get from stopping smoking,” he said. “The notion that you could add 10 years to your life by something as straightforward as quitting smoking is just mind boggling.”

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'Gozi' computer virus hit bank accounts, officials say; 3 charged









NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors said they had foiled an international cyber-crime ring that targeted bank accounts in the U.S. and around the globe.


The criminal charges, disclosed Wednesday, highlight the vulnerabilities of online consumer banking, which has become more popular in the digital age. It also comes just months after most every major U.S. bank suffered a relentless round of online attacks by Middle Eastern hackers.


In the case unveiled Wednesday, three men — a Russian, a Latvian and a Romanian — allegedly created and spread a virus they called "Gozi" that infected more than 1 million computers around the globe, including at least 40,000 in the United States.





The virus and other malicious software infected individuals' and businesses' computers, and then stole log-in information for online banking and other accounts. One program even imitated a bank's website, tricking users into giving away their PINs and personal information, such as their mothers' maiden names.


"Their bank heists required neither a mask nor a gun, but a clever computer program and an Internet connection," Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, told reporters Wednesday.


Referencing a quotation often attributed to the notorious bank robber Willie Sutton, Bharara said, "Cyber criminals target banks too because that's where the money still is."


Although the Gozi virus' reach spanned the globe — infecting computers in Turkey, Poland and Finland, among other countries — Bharara could not say how many U.S. customers' accounts had been breached. Nor could he say how much was stolen from the accounts, aside from alleging "tens of millions" of dollars in losses globally. He said the investigation was continuing.


NASA also fell victim to the virus. About 190 of the space agency's computers came down with the bug between 2007 and 2012, according to court documents. Extracted data allegedly included log-in information for a NASA email account, Web browsing histories and Google chat messages.


Gozi's mastermind was Nikita Kuzmin, a Russian programmer who created the virus in 2005, authorities said. The virus infiltrated computers through spam email or seemingly innocuous .pdf document files.


Prosecutors said Deniss Calovskis, a Latvian who went by the nickname Miami, allegedly helped develop "Web injects," such as the phony bank site. Mihai Paunescu, a Romanian known by his online handle Virus, ran what authorities said was essentially an online bazaar for cyber criminals who bought or leased the virus and helped spread it around the world.


Kuzmin was earlier arrested while in the U.S. and has pleaded guilty. He has been cooperating with authorities, Bharara said. Kuzmin's attorney, David Gordon of New York, did not respond to a phone message Wednesday.


Calovskis was arrested in Latvia in December; Paunescu was arrested in Romania in November. Both have been indicted and are awaiting extradition to the U.S.


Bharara, who in interviews and speeches has been increasingly sounding the alarm over cyber threats, said his office would bring similar cases later this year.


"This case should serve as a wake-up call to banks and consumers alike, because cyber crime remains one of the greatest threats we face, and it is not going away any time soon," Bharara said. "It threatens our financial security and our national security."


The alleged scheme is separate from an onslaught of cyber attacks last year against U.S. banking websites that were believed to have been orchestrated by a hacking group based in the Middle East. Those were "distributed denial of service" attacks, which aim to shut down websites. Banks such as Citigroup Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. were victims of the attacks. Although the banks said the attacks did not breach customer accounts, they found their customer-facing websites slowed or briefly crippled.


Marcus Asner, a former federal prosecutor now at the New York law firm Arnold & Porter, said the alleged Gozi ring showed "astonishing sophistication" and highlighted an emerging high-tech challenge for law enforcement and the banking industry.


"It's hard to say who is ahead in the game," Asner said. "It's much more of a Wild West still."


andrew.tangel@latimes.com





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Marijuana still a drug with no accepted medical use, court says









WASHINGTON — Marijuana will continue to be considered a highly dangerous drug under federal law with no accepted medical uses, after a U.S. appeals court Tuesday refused to order a change in the government's 40-year-old drug classification schedule.

The decision keeps in place an odd legal split over marijuana, a drug deemed to be as dangerous as heroin and worse than methamphetamine by federal authorities, but one that has been legalized for medical use by voters or legislators in 20 states and the District of Columbia.

A marijuana advocacy group went to court, arguing that federal officials had a duty to reexamine the medical evidence and reclassify marijuana as a drug that has clear benefits for those who are suffering and in pain. Joe Elford, counsel for Americans for Safe Access, said federal drug officials had a bias against marijuana that caused them to ignore its benefits and to exaggerate its dangers.

But three judges said they had a duty to defer to the judgment of federal health experts who had concluded they needed more evidence before reclassifying marijuana.

"To establish accepted medical use, the effectiveness of a drug must be established in well-controlled, well-designed, well-conducted and well-documented scientific studies [with] a large number of patients. To date, such studies have not been performed," the Drug Enforcement Administration said in defense of its decision. The passage was quoted in Tuesday's opinion.

Judge Harry Edwards, writing for the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, said the judges did not dispute that "marijuana could have some medical benefits." Instead, he said, they were not willing to overrule the DEA because they had not seen large "well-controlled studies" that proved the medical value of marijuana.

"We're disappointed, but not surprised," said Steph Sherer, executive director of Americans for Safe Access. She said more than 1 million patients used marijuana as medicine across the nation.

She said the group would appeal to the Supreme Court. "We are also turning our attention to Congress. It is time we had a conversation about marijuana at the federal level," she said.

In December, President Obama and Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said they were prepared to reconsider federal law that makes possession of small amounts of marijuana a crime. They were reacting to voters in Colorado and Washington who opted to permit recreational users to have an ounce of marijuana at home.

"So, what we're going to need to have is a conversation about how do you reconcile a federal law that still says marijuana is a federal offense and state laws that it's legal," Obama told ABC News.

Leahy said he would consider legislative proposals that could relax federal enforcement against small amounts of marijuana.

david.savage@latimes.com



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Google’s fourth quarter results shine after ad rate decline slows






SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Revenue from Google Inc’s core Internet business outpaced many analysts’ expectations during the crucial holiday quarter and advertising rates fell less than in previous periods, pushing its shares up more than 4 percent.


The world’s largest Internet search company introduced new product listings during the fourth quarter – typically its strongest – and also benefited from business growth in international markets, analysts said.






Excluding traffic-acquisition costs, the business generated net revenue of $ 9.83 billion, up from $ 8.13 billion a year earlier, Google reported on Tuesday. That surpassed a $ 9.6 billion average forecast from six analysts polled by Reuters.


“Business looked really strong, especially from a profitability perspective. They really grew their margins in the core business,” said Sameet Sinha, an analyst with B. Riley Caris. “Most of that strength seems to be coming from international markets which grew revenues quite substantially: up 23 percent year over year, versus the 15 percent growth in the third quarter.”


Average cost-per-click, a critical metric that denotes the price advertisers pay Google, declined 6 percent from a year ago, the fifth consecutive quarter of decline.


Google executives told analysts on a conference call that the company had focused on improving the metric – shoring up margins – while lowering the overall growth rate of paid clicks in the holiday quarter.


“Click prices are still declining, but it’s better than expected,” said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis.


MOTOROLA MOBILITY “STILL LOSING MONEY”


Consolidated net income in the fourth quarter was $ 2.89 billion or $ 8.62 per share, compared with $ 2.71 billion, or $ 8.22 per share, in the year-ago period when Google had not yet acquired Motorola.


Excluding certain items, Google said it earned $ 10.65 per share in the fourth quarter.


“The core business is a great business and the fourth-quarter is always a time for Google to shine. However, Motorola is still losing money and click rates still declined. They only declined 6 percent, but go back four or five quarters and click prices were improving. So mobile is still pressuring click prices,” Gillis said.


The company posted consolidated revenue – which includes its Motorola Mobility mobile phone business but not the television set-top box business it recently agreed to sell – of $ 14.42 billion on Tuesday.


Motorola Mobility had an operating loss of $ 353 million during the quarter.


Shares of Google were up roughly 4.5 percent at $ 734.46 in after-hours trading on Tuesday.


(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Bernard Orr)


Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Shakira gives birth to baby boy


LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shakira is a mama.


A spokeswoman for the 35-year-old Colombian singer says Shakira Mebarak and 25-year-old soccer star Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona welcomed son Milan Pique Mebarak on Tuesday at 9:36 p.m. in Barcelona, Spain.


A statement posted on the pop star's site in English, Spanish and Catalan says that "just like his father, baby Milan became a member of FC Barcelona at birth." The statement also says Milan weighed approximately 6 pounds, 6 ounces, and that "both mother and child are in excellent health."


Shakira asked fans earlier Tuesday on Twitter "to accompany me in your prayers on this very important day of my life."


Milan is the couple's first child.


___


Online:


http://shakira.com/


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Medicaid Patients Could Face Higher Fees Under a Proposed Federal Policy





WASHINGTON — Millions of low-income people could be required to pay more for health care under a proposed federal policy that would give states more freedom to impose co-payments and other charges on Medicaid patients.




Hoping to persuade states to expand Medicaid, the Obama administration said state Medicaid officials could charge higher co-payments and premiums for doctors’ services, prescription drugs and certain types of hospital care, including the “nonemergency use” of emergency rooms. State officials have long asked for more leeway to impose such charges.


The 2010 health care law extended Medicaid to many childless adults and others who were previously ineligible. The Supreme Court said the expansion of Medicaid was an option for states, not a requirement as Congress had intended. The administration has been trying to persuade states to take the option, emphasizing that they can reconfigure Medicaid to hold down their costs and “promote the most effective use of services.”


In the proposed rule published Tuesday in the Federal Register, the administration said it was simplifying a complex, confusing array of standards that limit states’ ability to charge Medicaid beneficiaries. Under the proposal, a family of three with annual income of $30,000 could be required to pay $1,500 in premiums and co-payments.


As if to emphasize the latitude given to states, the administration used this heading for part of the new rule: “Higher Cost Sharing Permitted for Individuals With Incomes Above 100 Percent of the Federal Poverty Level” (that is, $19,090 for a family of three).


Barbara K. Tomar, director of federal affairs at the American College of Emergency Physicians, said the administration had not adequately defined the “nonemergency services” for which low-income people could be required to pay. In many cases, she said, patients legitimately believe they need emergency care, but the final diagnosis does not bear that out.


“This is just a way to reduce payments to physicians and hospitals” from the government, Ms. Tomar said.


With patients paying more, the federal government and states would pay less than they otherwise would. Medicaid covers 60 million people, and at least 11 million more are expected to qualify under the 2010 law. The federal government pays more than half of Medicaid costs and will pay a much larger share for those who become eligible under the law.


In the proposed rule, the administration said it had discovered several potential problems in its efforts to carry out the law.


First, it said, it has not found a reliable, comprehensive and up-to-date source of information about whether people have employer-sponsored health insurance. The government needs such information to decide whether low- and middle-income people can obtain federal subsidies for private insurance.


The subsidies can be used to buy coverage in competitive marketplaces known as insurance exchanges. Under the law, people can start enrolling in October for coverage that starts in January 2014, when most Americans will be required to have health insurance. People who have access to affordable coverage from employers will generally be ineligible for subsidies.


In applying for subsidies, people must report any employer-sponsored insurance they have. But the administration said it could be difficult to verify this information because the main sources of data reflect only “whether an individual is employed and with which employer, and not whether the employer provides health insurance.”


Since passage of the health care law, the administration has often said that people seeking insurance would use a single streamlined application for Medicaid and the subsidies for private coverage. Moreover, the state Medicaid agency and the exchange are supposed to share data and issue a “combined eligibility notice” for all types of assistance.


But the administration said this requirement would be delayed to Jan. 1, 2015, because more time was needed to establish electronic links between Medicaid and the exchanges.


Leonardo D. Cuello, who represents Medicaid beneficiaries as a lawyer at the National Health Law Program, expressed concern.


“Under the proposed rule,” Mr. Cuello said, “many people will be funneled into health insurance exchanges even though they have special needs that are better met in Medicaid. And if you asked the right questions, you would find out that they are eligible for Medicaid.”


The federal government will have the primary responsibility for running exchanges in more than half the states. About 20 states are expected to expand Medicaid; governors in other states are opposed or uncommitted.


The proposed rule allows hospitals to decide, “on the basis of preliminary information,” whether a person is eligible for Medicaid. States must provide immediate temporary coverage to people who appear eligible.


Kenneth E. Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, said this could be a boon to low-income people. “Currently,” he said, “only children and pregnant women are presumed eligible for inpatient admissions under Medicaid in New York.”


The public has until Feb. 13 to comment on the proposed rule. Comments can be submitted at www.regulations.gov.


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Super Bowl spots and Web ads aid surge in L.A. commercial shoots









At the Apache Stages in North Hollywood this month, the Wonderful Pistachios brand filmed South Korean pop star Psy shooting its first Super Bowl commercial, with a riff on Psy's massive "Gangnam Style" YouTube video.


The ad was part of Wonderful Pistachios' "Get Crackin" campaign, which has also featured boxer Manny Pacquiao, rapper Snoop Dogg and other celebrities in various nutty commercials — all of them filmed in Los Angeles.


The flurry of high-profile Super Bowl spots in recent months, along with the proliferation of Web-based commercials, is helping power a surge in commercial shoots in Los Angeles, where the industry is concentrated.





PHOTOS: Hollywood Backlot moments


On-location filming for commercial production reached the highest level on record last year, climbing 25% in the fourth quarter and 14% for the year, according to a recent report from FilmL.A. Inc., the nonprofit group that handles film permits for the city and the county.


In fact, the commercial sector was the single fastest-growing major production category in a year that saw a historic falloff in TV drama production because of competition from other states and Canada.


Brands as varied as Purina, Chevy and Tide are shelling out more money on ad campaigns to promote their products.


That may signal an overall improvement in the economy.


"Commercial production is a really good indicator of where things are going," said Paul Audley, president of FilmL.A. "We're seeing more confidence in the advertising world and the corporate world that things are looking up."


Audley also noted the growth in the number of locally produced Web-based commercials, which accounted for about 8% of all commercial production days in L.A. in 2012, up from just 2% in 2008.


TIMELINE: Best Super Bowl commercials


The increased activity has been a boon to local advertising agencies and producers who are reporting some of their strongest business levels in years.


"With the economy turning around, production has just exploded," said Mike Sheldon, chief executive of ad agency Deutsch LA, adding that his company's revenue climbed 20% last year from a year earlier.


Deutsch this month created locally produced Super Bowl commercials for Volkswagen and a 60-second "Viva Young" spot for Taco Bell, which features a group of retirees acting like teenagers. The ad was shot at various locations in L.A., including Circus Disco in Hollywood and a retirement home in Santa Monica.


The Super Bowl traditionally is a big driver of commercial production in the fourth quarter. As the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday, advertisers are spending record sums for 30-second spots, which have sold for an average of $3.8 million, up 7% from last year. Some are spending more than $7.5 million to run 60-second commercials during the Feb. 3 NFL championship.


"It was probably our busiest year ever for making television commercials," said Frank Scherma, president of Radical Media, which has offices in New York and Los Angeles and has produced spots for Honda, Chevrolet and Jack in the Box. That partly reflects the improved fortunes of automakers and the spread of Web commercials, he said. "There are so many screens now to reach people.... There is so much content that needs to be made across the board."


SPECIAL SECTION: Movie Sneaks 2013


Camille Taylor, president and owner of Crossroads Films, has been busy filming commercials in L.A. for clients including Purina and Tide, and has one coming up for Head & Shoulders. Some work may be flowing back to L.A. because some popular foreign locales such as Cape Town, South Africa and Buenos Aires in Argentina are becoming more expensive to film in.


"Globally, everyone caught on to the fact that they can charge more, so the savings that were once there have been somewhat compromised," Taylor said.


Indeed, L.A. remains the biggest center for commercial production, accounting for 49% of all commercial shoot days by U.S. companies in 2011, down from 54% in 2007, according to a report by the Assn. of Independent Commercial Producers, which has 151 members in the L.A. region.





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A taste of home-kitchen-based business









When Caron Ory's father was diagnosed with diabetes and struggled to stop eating sugar, the trained dietitian told him not to worry.


"I'll create something for you," she promised.


Through two years of research, trial-and-error recipes and taste tests, Ory came up with Eco-BeeCo, a natural sugar alternative with a tad of freeze-dried honey that passed her requirements nutritionally and her father's gustatory muster.





But when Ory wanted to share her product outside of family and friends, she ran into a hurdle.


To sell the product she'd developed in her home kitchen, California law required her to contract with a commercial kitchen to produce it.


Instead of building a small market and gradually making the transition to large-scale distribution, Ory had to invest $35,000 to blend 6,000 pounds of Eco-BeeCo without ever having sold a pouch of it.


"I spent thousands, and it was a big, big, big risk," she said. "I didn't even know my product was a big seller, and here I am blending 6,000 pounds."


But that hurdle recently disappeared.


Last fall, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1616, a law allowing Californians to make and sell certain non-hazardous foods out of their kitchens. Foods that don't include cream or meat, such as bread, fruit, baked goods, jarred goods and dry mixes — like Eco-BeeCo — could all bypass commercial production and be sold straight out of a home kitchen, according to the law.


When Ory learned that the relaxed requirements would start Jan. 1, she looked for a way she could help others get their products off the ground without making the upfront investment she had.


"Everybody has a signature recipe that they make and people rave about," Ory said.


So, on March 2, Ory, a Fountain Valley resident, will teach a class from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa about AB 1616 and the business of starting a cottage industry out of a home kitchen.


She'll outline the new law and guide students through the basic business side of things, including product assessment, pricing and packaging.


After the class, students will still have to apply for a permit and take a basic food-handling course to get state approval. Ory hopes she can be a mentor to her students as they go through that process.


"With the state of California, it's kind of like a moving target right now because it's a new law," she said.


Eco-BeeCo survived the gantlet of commercial production. It's now available at Whole Foods locations in Southern California and other grocers across the country.


"My dream for all of these people is they can do what I did," Ory said. "I just don't want them to do it with the risk I took on."


jeremiah.dobruck@latimes.com





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Sony to sell new Xperia tablet in Japan: Nikkei






(Reuters) – Sony Corp’s Sony Mobile Communications Inc said it will sell the new version of its Xperia tablet in Japan this spring, the Nikkei reported, citing Kyodo News.


The Xperia Tablet Z, whose price has not been announced, has a 10.1-inch display, is 6.9 mm thin and weighs 495 grams, according to the company’s website.






Rival Google Inc’s Nexus 10 tablet is 8.9 mm thick, while Apple Inc’s iPad mini measures 7.9 mm.


Sony halted sales of Xperia in October, a month after launch, after discovering gaps between the screen and the case that made some of the machines susceptible to water damage.


The Nikkei reported on Sunday that Japanese smartphone makers seem to be regaining some market share they lost to companies like Apple and Samsung Electronics Co.


(Reporting by Krithika Krishnamurthy in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das)


Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Michelle Obama wears Wu to the balls again


WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama made it a fashion tradition Monday night, wearing a custom-made Jason Wu gown to the inauguration balls. The ruby-colored dress was a follow-up to the white gown Wu made for her four years ago when she was new to Washington, the pomp and circumstance, and the fashion press.


She now emerged in velvet and chiffon as a bona fide trendsetter.


"I can't believe it. It's crazy," said Wu, reached at his Manhattan studio. "To have done it once was already the experience of my life. To have a second time is tremendous."


President Barack Obama also struck a similar style chord to his first-term inaugural balls: He wore a white tie with his tuxedo.


The red halter dress was the only one Wu, who went from fashion insider to household name on this night in 2009, submitted for Mrs. Obama's consideration. He collaborated with jeweler Kimberly McDonald on the jeweled neckline. "For this occasion, it had to be real diamonds," Wu said.


He said he felt the dress showed how he has grown up as a designer — and how Mrs. Obama's style has evolved to be even more confident.


The first family headed out to inaugural festivities earlier on Monday with Mrs. Obama leading a very coordinated fashion parade in a navy-silk, checkered-patterned coat and dress by Thom Browne that were inspired by a menswear necktie.


The outfit was specifically designed for Mrs. Obama, but Browne said he wasn't 100 percent sure she was going to wear it until she came out with it on at Inauguration. "I am proud and humbled," he said.


The rest of Mrs. Obama's Inauguration Day outfit included a belt from J. Crew, necklace by Cathy Waterman and a cardigan by Reed Krakoff, whose ensemble she also wore to yesterday's intimate, indoor swearing-in ceremony.


Obama wore a blue tie with his white shirt, dark suit and overcoat. Malia Obama had on a plum-colored J. Crew coat with the hemline of an electric-blue dress peeking out and a burgundy-colored scarf, and her younger sister Sasha had on a Kate Spade coat and dress in a similar purple shade.


"It is an honor that Sasha Obama chose to wear Kate Spade New York," said the company's creative director, Deborah Lloyd, in an email to the Associated Press. "She epitomizes the youthful optimism and colorful spirit of the brand. We are so proud to have been a part of this historic moment."


Jenna Lyons, creative director of J. Crew, said it was "a huge point of pride for all of us" to be a part of the day — as the brand was back in 2009 when the girls wore outfits by CrewCuts, its children's label.


"It's amazing to see the evolution of the family. I love the way Michelle looks. She looks beautiful in something so clean and tailored. It's such an elegant choice," Lyons said, "and they all look so sophisticated! You can see how the girls have grown up in the four years, and they're still so alive and vibrant, but more sophisticated."


The vice president's wife, Jill Biden, wore a gray coat and dress by American designer Lela Rose.


Mrs. Obama has worn Browne's designs for other occasions, including a gray dress with black lace overlay to one of the presidential debates last fall, and she honored him last summer at the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards for his contribution to fashion.


Browne made his name in modern — very modern — menswear, but he launched womenswear in 2011. He was in Paris on Monday, just finishing previews for his next menswear collection. The idea to use the tie fabric came to him because he was indeed designing these men's clothes at the same time, he explained.


"I wanted 'tailored' for her. For me, she stands for strength and confidence, and that's what I wanted to design for her," he said.


Simon Collins, dean of the school of fashion at Parsons The New School for Design in New York, said the Obamas dressed in their typical fashion: one that shows pride in their appearance.


"They are a stylish couple and their children look fabulous. Too many people get dressed in the dark," he said. "They show it's good to dress up, take pride in how you look. ... It's a wonderful example for America and the rest of the world."


He also noted that the Obamas seem to understand that the fashion industry is a driving force in the U.S. economy and that its lobby is a powerful one. They don't treat fashion frivolously, he observed.


The first lady "is so supportive of so many American designers," Browne noted.


But Collins said he was a bit surprised the public doesn't pay much attention to the president's wardrobe. He joked that Obama should perhaps try one of Browne's signature shrunken suits — the ones that show a man's ankles.


At the end of the Inaugural festivities, Mrs. Obama's outfit and accompanying accessories will go to the National Archives.


___


Samantha Critchell tweets fashion at (at)AP_Fashion, and can be reached on Twitter at (at)Sam_Critchell.


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