Simple measures cut infections caught in hospitals

CHICAGO (AP) — Preventing surgery-linked infections is a major concern for hospitals and it turns out some simple measures can make a big difference.

A project at seven big hospitals reduced infections after colorectal surgeries by nearly one-third. It prevented an estimated 135 infections, saving almost $4 million, the Joint Commission hospital regulating group and the American College of Surgeons announced Wednesday. The two groups directed the 2 1/2-year project.

Solutions included having patients shower with special germ-fighting soap before surgery, and having surgery teams change gowns, gloves and instruments during operations to prevent spreading germs picked up during the procedures.

Some hospitals used special wound-protecting devices on surgery openings to keep intestine germs from reaching the skin.

The average rate of infections linked with colorectal operations at the seven hospitals dropped from about 16 percent of patients during a 10-month phase when hospitals started adopting changes to almost 11 percent once all the changes had been made.

Hospital stays for patients who got infections dropped from an average of 15 days to 13 days, which helped cut costs.

"The improvements translate into safer patient care," said Dr. Mark Chassin, president of the Joint Commission. "Now it's our job to spread these effective interventions to all hospitals."

Almost 2 million health care-related infections occur each year nationwide; more than 90,000 of these are fatal.

Besides wanting to keep patients healthy, hospitals have a monetary incentive to prevent these infections. Medicare cuts payments to hospitals that have lots of certain health care-related infections, and those cuts are expected to increase under the new health care law.

The project involved surgeries for cancer and other colorectal problems. Infections linked with colorectal surgery are particularly common because intestinal tract bacteria are so abundant.

To succeed at reducing infection rates requires hospitals to commit to changing habits, "to really look in the mirror and identify these things," said Dr. Clifford Ko of the American College of Surgeons.

The hospitals involved were Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles; Cleveland Clinic in Ohio; Mayo Clinic-Rochester Methodist Hospital in Rochester, Minn.; North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System in Great Neck, NY; Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago; OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, Ill.; and Stanford Hospital & Clinics in Palo Alto, Calif.

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Online:

Joint Commission: http://www.jointcommission.org

American College of Surgeons: http://www.facs.org

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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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Wall Street advances on budget progress, mood cautious

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose in late morning trading Thursday on optimism that the Congress was progressing toward a budget agreement that would avert a possible recession, though trading was volatile as investors remained cautious.

There have been tentative signs that Congressional leaders are moving closer to a fiscal agreement. Indeed, investors' hopes for a pact have risen as Republican resolve against raising tax rates for the wealthy has weakened, and amid optimism by President Obama and top House Republican John Boehner that a fiscal crisis can be averted.

The S&P 500 has gained nearly 5 percent after dropping almost 8 percent following the U.S. election in November. But investors remain wary that ad hoc statements from policymakers can spark quick reversals in the market.

"When the sentiment is that nothing is going to get done, it does create a lot of anxiety and selling pressure. If there's any sense of progress, then the market seems to rally," said Eric Kuby, chief investment officer at North Star Investment Management in Chicago. "I think we're hostage to this for the rest of the year."

U.S.-listed shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion surged 6.6 percent to $11.83 after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to "buy" from "neutral," saying it was optimistic ahead of the launch of the BlackBerry 10 smartphone.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 44.62 points, or 0.34 percent, to 13,029.73. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> rose 6.71 points, or 0.48 percent, to 1,416.64. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> added 20.87 points, or 0.70 percent, to 3,012.65.

Discussions are ongoing in Congress over avoiding big spending cuts and tax hikes, known as the "fiscal cliff," beginning in January. Indeed, equity markets may retreat, as they did Tuesday, if the upbeat negotiation environment in Washington deteriorates.

Top retailers said weak sales in early November, after superstorm Sandy, were a drag on the month. Target fell 1.1 percent to $62.10 percent and Kohl's Corp dropped 8.5 percent to $46.83.

The economy grew faster than initially thought in the third quarter as businesses restocked, but consumer and business spending were revised lower in a sobering reminder of the economic recovery's underlying weakness.

Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.7 percent annual rate in the quarter, the Commerce Department said, as export growth helped offset the weakest consumer spending and first drop in business investment in more than a year.

Tiffany shares slumped 7.6 percent to $58.93 after the upscale jeweler reported quarterly results and cut its full-year sales and profit forecasts.

Although domestic events largely dominated investors' attention, the euro zone is still on the radar. The yield on Italy's 10-year bonds fell to the lowest in two years at an auction, amid relief that international lenders reached agreement this week to reduce Greece's debt by more than 40 billion euros.

"The fact that the bond sales in Europe went well suggest confidence is beginning to reenter some of the peripheral nations and that is a good sign," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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Bombings Are Said to Kill Dozens Near Syria’s Capital

Francisco Leong/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Rebels celebrated on top of a downed Syrian jet in Daret Azzeh, 20 miles west of Aleppo, on Wednesday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Syrian state media said on Wednesday that 34 people and possibly many more had died in twin car bombings in a suburb populated by minorities only a few miles from the center of Damascus, the capital, as the civil war swirls from north to south claiming ever higher casualties. One estimate by the government’s opponents put the death toll at 47.

There were also reports from witnesses in Turkey and antigovernment activists in Syria that for the second successive day insurgents had shot down a government aircraft in the north of the country, offering further evidence that the rebels are seeking a major shift by challenging the government’s dominance of the skies. It was not immediately clear how the aircraft, apparently a plane, had been brought down.

Video posted on the Internet by rebels showed wreckage with fires still burning around it. The aircraft appeared to show a tail assembly clearly visible jutting out of the debris. Such videos are difficult to verify, particularly in light of the restrictions facing reporters in Syria. However, the episode on Wednesday seemed to be confirmed by other witnesses.

“We watched a Syrian plane being shot down as it was flying low to drop bombs,” said Ugur Cuneydioglu, who said he observed the incident from a Turkish border village in southern Hatay Province. “It slowly went down in flames before it hit the ground. It was quite a scene,” Mr. Cuneydioglu said.

Video posted by insurgents on the Internet showed a man in aviator coveralls being carried away. It was not clear if the man was alive but the video said he had been treated in a makeshift hospital. A voice off-camera says, “This is the pilot who was shelling residents’ houses.”

The aircraft was said to have been brought down while it was attacking the town of Daret Azzeh, 20 miles west of Aleppo and close to the Turkish border. The town was the scene of a mass killing last June, when the government and the rebels blamed each other for the deaths and mutilation of 25 people. The video posted online said the plane had been brought down by “the free men of Daret Azzeh soldiers of God brigade.”

On Tuesday, Syrian rebels said they shot down a military helicopter with a surface-to-air missile outside Aleppo and they uploaded video that appeared to confirm that rebels have put their growing stock of heat-seeking missiles to effective use.

In recent months, rebels have used mainly machine guns to shoot down several Syrian Air Force helicopters and fixed-wing attack jets. In Tuesday’s case, the thick smoke trailing the projectile, combined with the elevation of the aircraft, strongly suggested that the helicopter was hit by a missile.

Rebels hailed the event as the culmination of their long pursuit of effective antiaircraft weapons, though it was not clear if the downing on Tuesday was an isolated tactical success or heralded a new phase in the war that would present a meaningful challenge to the Syrian government’s air supremacy. In Damascus, the official SANA news agency said the explosions in Jaramana outside the city at around 7 a.m. were the work of “terrorists,” the word used by the authorities to denote rebel forces seeking the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad. Photographs on the SANA Web site showed wreckage and flames in what looked like a narrow alleyway with cars covered in chunks of debris from damaged buildings. The agency said the bombings were in the main square of Jaramana, which news reports said is largely populated by members of the Christian and Druse minorities. Residents said the neighborhood was home to many families who have fled other parts of Syria because of the conflict and to some Palestinian families. The blasts caused “huge material damage to the residential buildings and shops,” SANA said.

The photographs on the Web site showed shattered windows at the Abou Samra coffee house and gurneys laden with injured people clogging what seemed to be a hospital corridor.

SANA said two bombings in other neighborhoods caused minor damage. Activists reported that there were four explosions and said they were all “huge.”

Footage broadcast on Syria’s private Addounia channel and state television showed damage scarring gray six-story apartment houses above tangles of wrecked cars as ambulances arrived to transport the wounded and rescuers spraying rubble with fire hoses. The camera panned over bloodstained sidewalks.

The blasts seemed initially at least to shift the focus of the fighting from the north, where insurgents have claimed string of tactical breakthroughs in recent days, to areas ringing Damascus.

In the north in recent days, the insurgents also claimed to have seized air bases and a hydroelectric dam, apparently seeking both to expand their communications lines and to counter the government’s supremacy in the air.

The death toll from Wednesday’s bombings was not immediately confirmed. An activist group, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, initially said that 29 people had died but revised the figure later to 47, of whom 38 had been identified. Of the 120 injured, the rebel group said, 23 people were in serious condition, meaning that the tally could climb higher.

The explosions reflected the dramatic shift since Syria’s uprising began in March 2011 as a peaceful protest centered on the southern town of Dara’a. It has since spread across the land in a full-blown civil war pitting government forces against a rebel army of Army defectors, disaffected civilians and what the authorities say are foreign jihadists.

Hala Droubi reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Alan Cowell from Paris. Sebnem Arsu contributed reporting from Istanbul, and Hania Mourtada from Beirut, Lebanon.

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Seattle police plan for helicopter drones hits severe turbulence

SEATTLE (Reuters) – One of the latest crime-fighting gadgets to emerge on the wish lists of U.S. law enforcement agencies – drone aircraft – has run into heavy turbulence in Seattle over a plan by police to send miniature robot helicopters buzzing over the city.

A recent push for unmanned police aircraft in several cities is being driven largely by grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including more than $ 80,000 the city of Seattle used to buy a pair of drone choppers in 2010.

But getting aerial drones off the ground has run into stiff opposition from civil libertarians and others who say the use of stealth airborne cameras by domestic law enforcement raises questions about privacy rights and the limits of police search powers.

The aircraft would never carry weapons, but the use of drones for even mundane tasks raises ire among some because of the association of pilotless crafts with covert U.S. missile strikes in places such as Pakistan and Yemen.

In Seattle last month, a community meeting where police officials presented plans to deploy their two remote-controlled helicopters erupted into yelling and angry chants of “No drones!”

“My question is simple: What’s the return policy for the drones?” said Steve Widmayer, 57, one of numerous citizens who spoke out against the unmanned aircraft. He predicted the City Council would commit “political suicide” if it backed the plan.

Seattle City Councilman Bruce Harrell said he hoped the council would set strict drone policies by January.

Police in Seattle, along with Florida’s Miami-Dade County and Houston, are among a handful of big-city law enforcement departments known to have acquired aerial drones. But those cities have not started operating the robot aircraft.

FEAR OF FLYING ROBOTS

In Oakland, California, this month, an Alameda County sheriff’s application for a federal grant to buy an aerial drone to help monitor unruly crowds and locate illegal marijuana farms drew opposition at a Board of Supervisors meeting.

“I do not want flying spy robots looking into my private property with infrared cameras,” Oakland resident Mary Madden said. “It’s an invasion of my privacy.”

County Board President Nate Miley said the issue would be taken up by the supervisors’ Public Protection Committee.

The two Draganflyer X6 remote-controlled miniature helicopters purchased by Seattle have so far been mostly grounded, restricted to training and demonstration flights.

Equipped to carry video, still and night-vision cameras, they can remain aloft for only 15 minutes at a time before their batteries run out, police said.

Assistant Police Chief Paul McDonagh said the aircraft would not be used in Seattle for surveillance or for monitoring street protests. Instead, his department’s plans to deploy drones to search for missing persons, pursue fleeing suspects, assist in criminal investigations and for unspecified “specific situations” subject to McDonagh’s approval.

Seattle City Councilman Bruce Harrell said he hoped the council would set strict drone policies by January.

Months ago in Texas, Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office raised eyebrows by saying he hoped to equip his department’s drones with rubber bullets and tear gas, though he told Reuters his thinking on armed aircraft has since evolved.

“From a law enforcement standpoint, that’s never going to happen,” he said. McDaniel said his office received Federal Aviation Administration clearance earlier this month to begin operational drone flights but has not yet had occasion to do so.

Actual U.S. domestic use of law-enforcement drone aircraft remains extremely limited.

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Department in Colorado has been operating two small drones, also bought with Homeland Security funds, since 2010.

It uses them largely to create three-dimensional images of crime scenes, said Benjamin Miller, director of the department’s drone program. They are not used for surveillance, he said.

In North Dakota, the Grand Forks police department last year called in a high-flying Predator drone operated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to monitor a tense standoff with a rancher over alleged stolen cattle.

The rancher, Rodney Brossart, and five family members are believed to be the first Americans nabbed by police with drone assistance – with the possible exception of operations along the southwest border with Mexico.

The use of drones there by the Customs and Border Protection agency – a part of Homeland Security – led to 7,500 arrests and the seizure of thousands of pounds of drugs up to the end of last year.

The nationality of those arrested in drone assisted operations in the borderlands is not clear, nor is if Customs and Border Protection partnered with local forces in any of those arrests.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Jackie Frank)

Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Wow! Adriana Lima Bares Her Growing Baby Bump for Charity

Mom & Babies
Celebrity Baby Blog

11/28/2012 at 11:00 AM ET

Steve McCurry/Pirelli

Adriana Lima is the latest celebrity mom to dare to bare her bump in print.

Posing in a cropped top and flowing skirt, the Victoria’s Secret Angel (who has since welcomed daughter Sienna) shows off her baby belly in Pirelli‘s 2013 calendar.

Known for their famous calendar’s sexy spreads featuring nude models, the tire company decided to take a much more modest approach for this year’s Brazilian-themed photo shoot, which captures a more covered-up Lima and 10 other bombshells including Petra Nemcova and Isabeli Fontana amidst the country’s natural beauty.

“When I told the models there would be no nudity, some of them were disappointed,” casting director Jennifer Starr told New York.

But since each model was chosen to recognize their charitable efforts (including fighting for women’s rights), Pirelli feared full-fledged nudity would ”dilute the message.”

Since the shoot, Lima is already back to showing off her fabulous body. The new mom-of-two recently shed the baby weight — and her clothes! — to walk in Victoria’s Secret annual fashion show, which airs Tuesday, Dec. 4.

– Anya Leon

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CDC: HIV spread high in young gay males

NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say 1 in 5 new HIV infections occur in a tiny segment of the population — young men who are gay or bisexual.

The government on Tuesday released new numbers that spotlight how the spread of the AIDS virus is heavily concentrated in young males who have sex with other males. Only about a quarter of new infections in the 13-to-24 age group are from injecting drugs or heterosexual sex.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said blacks represented more than half of new infections in youths. The estimates are based on 2010 figures.

Overall, new U.S. HIV infections have held steady at around 50,000 annually. About 12,000 are in teens and young adults, and most youth with HIV haven't been tested.

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Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns

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Wall Street cuts losses on Boehner "fiscal cliff" comment

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks sharply pared losses on Wednesday after U.S. House Speaker John Boehner said he was optimistic that a deal on the "fiscal cliff" to avert large tax hikes and spending cuts could be reached.

After falling nearly 1 percent, the S&P 500 pared losses to trade near flat after Boehner said that Republicans were willing to put revenues on the table if Democrats agreed to spending cuts.

For weeks now, the market has been swinging back and forth on headlines out of Washington regarding the ongoing U.S. budget talks.

Later in the day, President Barack Obama will meet at the White House with chief executives from top corporations including Goldman Sachs , Deloitte LLP, and Caterpillar Inc , to discuss U.S. fiscal problems.

"While there's little that the president and vice president could do at today's meeting to improve moods in America's corner office, we still believe a legislative compromise will be reached before 'fiscal cliff' detonates," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank.

"In the meantime, we expect daunting headlines and emotional market volatility."

One possible result of the deficit reduction talks is a rise in the tax rate on dividends, prompting some firms to issue special dividends or move up plans for dividends.

The latest example is retailer Costco Wholesale Corp , which said it will pay a special $3 billion dividend to investors. The company posted monthly same-store sales that beat forecasts. The stock rose 4.7 percent to $101.07.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 3.38 points, or 0.03 percent, at 12,881.51. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 1.73 points, or 0.12 percent, at 1,397.21. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 5.10 points, or 0.17 percent, at 2,962.69.

Earlier, the S&P 500 fell nearly 1 percent on data that showed U.S. single-family home sales fell in October, casting a shadow over what has been one of the brighter spots in the U.S. economy.

Knight Capital Group Inc shares jumped 10 percent to $3.27 on news that Getco LLC has sent a proposal for a merger between Getco and Knight Capital at a price of $3.50 per share, according to a regulatory filing.

On the downside, Apple Inc shares fell 1.3 percent to $576.80, weighing heavily on the overall market.

(Reporting By Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

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Changing of the Guard: Chinese Communists, New Leaders Chosen, Prepare for Next Round

BEIJING — When American diplomats in China scanned the political landscape this year for officials on a fast track to the Communist Party’s top ranks, one name jumped out: Hu Chunhua.

So in June, the United States ambassador, Gary F. Locke, traveled to Inner Mongolia, the coal-rich region of grasslands and boom cities, where Mr. Hu is party chief. At a banquet in Hohhot, the regional capital, Mr. Hu proudly opened a bottle of local liquor, and Mr. Locke joined in a toast.

Mr. Hu’s rising star got brighter this month when he was named one of 15 new members on the party’s 25-seat Politburo. Political analysts say he could be on track to ascend to the Politburo’s elite Standing Committee at the next party congress, in 2017. That would put him in the running for the top party job — and the mantle of leader of China — when Xi Jinping, the new party chief, steps down after his expected two five-year terms.

Mr. Hu is the most prominent of a clutch of political stars known as China’s “sixth generation.” They were handpicked by party leaders and elders years ago to succeed Mr. Xi’s fifth generation (the first generation was that of Mao Zedong). Now, those politicians are being slotted into some of the most important posts across China.

Political insiders say Mr. Hu will probably be sent soon to Guangdong, a coastal province that is central to China’s export economy. His closest rival, Sun Zhengcai, whom Mr. Locke also met this year, was posted earlier this month to Chongqing, the booming southwest municipality of 31 million once run by Bo Xilai, the disgraced party aristocrat.

If Mr. Hu and Mr. Sun both make it onto the Standing Committee in 2017, they would be in position to vie for the top two party posts in 2022, which would confer on them the state titles of president or premier.

Even as prominent voices across China are calling for greater political openness and a more democratic selection process, the promotions suggest that party leaders want to institutionalize the path to power that elders laid out in back-room deals for Mr. Xi and the new second-ranking party member, Li Keqiang. The two were the only fifth-generation officials selected for the Standing Committee in 2007, putting them ahead of their peers.

Mr. Hu and Mr. Sun, both 49, are the youngest members of the Politburo, and their new postings would be aimed at giving them exposure to the economic engines of China’s main industrial centers before they ascended further.

“The fact that they’re in the Politburo makes them far more competitive than others,” said Cheng Li, a scholar of Chinese politics at the Brookings Institution. “They’ll be tested in their current positions, but the tests work in their favor unless something terrible happens.”

Mr. Hu and Mr. Sun grew up during the Cultural Revolution; they were in their formative teenage and young adult years during the dawn of Deng Xiaoping’s “reform and opening” era in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when China experimented with market-economy policies and gradually opened to the world. The two men are better educated than most older leaders: Mr. Hu has a degree in Chinese literature from Peking University; Mr. Sun received a doctorate from China Agricultural University. While earning that degree, Mr. Sun studied in Britain for a half-year.

By some accounts, they are on opposite sides of the two competing patronage networks that have dominated Chinese politics in the post-Deng era. In broad terms, the main power centers revolve around Hu Jintao, 69, who just stepped down as party chief and civilian head of the military, and Jiang Zemin, his predecessor. A third pole is expected to emerge, as Mr. Xi, 59, who became the new party chief with the strong support of Mr. Jiang, tries to consolidate his power and move allies into important posts.

This year, Mr. Jiang, 86, though retired, quietly exerted enormous influence during the leadership transition to ensure that five of his allies got on to the seven-member Standing Committee. A central question in the coming years is how long Mr. Jiang will stay in decent health; last year, he suffered a severe illness.

Five Standing Committee members are expected to retire in 2017 because of an age limit. That means negotiations for those seats are already starting in earnest. Hu Jintao is expected to push hard for the younger Mr. Hu, who is no relation but is known as “Little Hu,” to get on the committee in the next round. Mr. Sun, meanwhile, is said by Mr. Li and several other analysts to be a protégé of Jia Qinglin, who recently stepped down from the Standing Committee and is close to Mr. Jiang. But there is also talk that Wen Jiabao, who is scheduled to retire as premier in March, could be another patron of Mr. Sun.

As Mr. Xi builds his power base, he may have as much say as Mr. Hu and Mr. Jiang over committee seats and other senior posts. That could throw a wrench into the current maneuvering by elders to secure prime jobs for the younger Mr. Hu, Mr. Sun and other sixth-generation stars, like Zhou Qiang, the party chief of Hunan Province and another protégé of Hu Jintao.

“Whether or not they’ll be able to take power and rule China is still a question mark,” said an editor of a party publication, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of security concerns. “The question for these leaders isn’t whether or not they’re capable. The key is whether or not Xi likes them.”

He added: “If Xi likes someone, this person won’t have any problems. But if Xi doesn’t like him, then one crisis could end his prospects of a top job.”

Jonathan Ansfield contributed reporting. Patrick Zuo and Amy Qin contributed research.

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Nintendo says more than 400,000 Wii Us sold in US

NEW YORK (AP) — Nintendo has sold more than 400,000 of its new video game console, the Wii U, in its first week on sale in the U.S., the company said Monday.

The Wii U launched on Nov. 18 in the U.S. at a starting price of $ 300. Nintendo said the sales figure, based on internal estimates, is through Saturday, or seven days later.

The Wii U is the first major game console to launch in six years. It comes with a new touch-screen controller that promises to change how people play games by offering different people in the same room a different experience, depending on the controller used.

Six years ago, Nintendo Co. sold 475,000 of the original Wii in that console’s first seven days in stores, according to data from the NPD Group. The original Wii remains available, and Nintendo said it sold more than 300,000 of them last week, along with roughly 250,000 handheld Nintendo 3DS units and about 275,000 of the Nintendo DS.

At this early stage, demand isn’t the only factor dictating how many consoles are sold. Supply is, too. This means it’s likely that more people wanted to buy the Wii U in the first week than those who were able to. The original Wii was in short supply more than a year after it went on sale.

As of Monday afternoon, the website of Best Buy Co. was sold out of the Wii U. Video game retailer GameStop Corp. said there was at least a three day wait for a deluxe Wii U, which costs $ 350, has more memory and comes with a game called “Nintendo Land.” GameStop still had the basic, $ 300 version available.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter estimates that Nintendo will ship 1 million to 1.5 million Wii Us in the U.S. through the end of January.

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Miranda Kerr Strips Down for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show

Stylewatch
Style News Now

11/27/2012 at 09:00 AM ET

Courtesy Victoria’s Secret

Just because Miranda Kerr didn’t wear the $2.5 million Victoria’s Secret ‘Fantasy Bra’ in the brand’s fashion show this year doesn’t mean she didn’t get nervous before walking the runway.

“I think there is just as much pressure if you’re wearing it or not because you’re in underwear in front of millions of people,” Kerr tells PEOPLE. “I try to enjoy it and have fun.”

PEOPLE got its hands on an exclusive backstage photo of Kerr getting ready to stun at the VS fashion show in a super-sexy white-and-black ensemble (above). And though the supermodel might make looking that hot look effortless, it obviously takes work, she admits.

“I’ve amped up my training,” she shares. “[I've been] doing a lot of Pilates, yoga, boxing and working my core, butt and legs. I also drink healthy green juices everyday, and protein shakes.”

But memories of the tough training somehow fade away when Kerr hits the catwalk — this year alongside superstars Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Bruno Mars.  ”I love feeling the music when I come down the runway,” she shares. “The energy is incredible.”

Catch Kerr and the rest of the Victoria’s Secret Angels in action when the show airs Tuesday, Dec. 4 on CBS. Tell us: Will you be tuning in to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show?

–Jennifer Cress

PHOTOS: SEE MORE GORGEOUS WOMEN IN ‘LAST NIGHT’S LOOK’

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