May 22, 2013 ? A study published in the June issue of Anesthesiology represents an important first step in establishing new therapeutic options targeting specific genetic areas that influence the occurrence and severity of sepsis -- a life-threatening, whole-body response to infection.
Researchers at the Clinic for Anesthesiology and Intensive Medicine, and Institute for Physiology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, are the first to study the regulation of hypoxia-inducible-factor-1 (HIF-1) in sepsis patients.
"Clinicians frequently encounter situations where two very similar patients with sepsis have vastly different outcomes," said lead study author Simon T. Schafer, M.D. "One patient might die, while the other survives. We still have no idea how to explain these differences in the outcome. Patient outcome seems to rest heavily on the body's response to the infection, which can range from uncontrolled immune system-driven inflammation to nearly shutting down of the immune system. This work suggests that HIF-1 is critical to that immune regulation."
HIF-1, a protein that binds to certain DNA sequences, allows immune cells in the body to function when oxygen is decreased or when bacterial infections occur. This upregulation of HIF-1 protects cells from the resulting build-up of acid in the blood and other conditions related to a lack of oxygen. In essence, the body's immune cells respond to a lack of oxygen by activating HIF-1.
When Dr. Schafer and his research team studied 147 patients at their institution (99 septic patients and 48 healthy volunteers), they found that:
? In septic patients, as early as 24 hours after diagnosing sepsis, HIF-1 was decreased by 67 percent in white blood cells compared to the healthy 48 volunteers and was associated with increased severity of illness.
? When observing the immune response in the laboratory, short-term administration of lipopolysaccharides (large molecules that elicit immune response in humans) to immune cells caused HIF-1 expression to increase. But when lipopolysaccharides were administered long-term, HIF-1 expression and HIF-1 protein were suppressed.
These results could indicate that the immune state of the septic patients, despite meeting the clinical criteria for severe sepsis or septic shock, had already shifted to an immunosuppressive pattern (as opposed to an inflammatory response), resulting in decreased HIF-1 expression.
"Understanding the mechanisms that shift the immune response from the pro-inflammatory reaction to an immunosuppressive state will be important in improving patient outcomes through personalized therapies in the intensive care unit," said Dr. Schafer. "Our research helps to understand the underlying mechanisms in severe sepsis associated with HIF-1 and genetic variations of key regulators of the immune system. This can help us to predict the chances for surviving sepsis, and may give us new treatment options."
May 22, 2013 ? In the long run, encouraging a baby to finish the last ounce in their bottle might be doing more harm than good. Though the calories soon burn off, a bad habit remains.
Brigham Young University sociology professors Ben Gibbs and Renata Forste found that clinical obesity at 24 months of age strongly traces back to infant feeding.
"If you are overweight at age two, it puts you on a trajectory where you are likely to be overweight into middle childhood and adolescence and as an adult," said Forste. "That's a big concern."
The BYU researchers analyzed data from more than 8,000 families and found that babies predominantly fed formula were 2.5 times more likely to become obese toddlers than babies who were breastfed for the first six months.
But, the study authors argue, this pattern is not just about breastfeeding.
"There seems to be this cluster of infant feeding patterns that promote childhood obesity," said Gibbs, lead author of the study that appears in Pediatric Obesity.
Putting babies to bed with a bottle increased the risk of childhood obesity by 36 percent. And introducing solid foods too soon -- before four months of age -- increased a child's risk of obesity by 40 percent.
"Developing this pattern of needing to eat before you go to sleep, those kinds of things discourage children from monitoring their own eating patterns so they can self-regulate," Forste said.
Forste said that the nature of breastfeeding lends itself to helping babies recognize when they feel full and should stop. But that same kind of skill can be developed by formula-fed infants.
"You can still do things even if you are bottle feeding to help your child learn to regulate their eating practices and develop healthy patterns," Forste said. "When a child is full and pushes away, stop! Don't encourage them to finish the whole bottle."
Breastfeeding rates are lowest in poor and less educated families. Sally Findley, a public health professor at Columbia University, says the new BYU study shows that infant feeding practices are the primary reason that childhood obesity hits hardest below the poverty line.
"Bottle feeding somehow changes the feeding dynamic, and those who bottle feed, alone or mixed with some breastfeeding, are more likely to add cereal or sweeteners to their infant's bottle at an early age, even before feeding cereal with a spoon," said Findley.
The next project for Gibbs and Forste is to reevaluate the link between breastfeeding and cognitive development in childhood. Forste has previously published research about why women stop breastfeeding.
"The health community is looking to the origins of the obesity epidemic, and more and more, scholars are looking toward early childhood," Gibbs said. "I don't think this is some nascent, unimportant time period. It's very critical."
May 20, 2013 ? NOAA presented to the U.S. Coast Guard today a new report that finds that 36 sunken vessels scattered across the U.S. seafloor could pose an oil pollution threat to the nation's coastal marine resources. Of those, 17 were recommended for further assessment and potential removal of both fuel oil and oil cargo.
The sunken vessels are a legacy of more than a century of U.S. commerce and warfare. They include a barge lost in rough seas in 1936; two motor-powered ships that sank in separate collisions in 1947 and 1952; and a tanker that exploded and sank in 1984. The remaining sites are 13 merchant marine ships lost during World War II, primarily along the Atlantic Seaboard and Gulf of Mexico. To see a list of the ships and their locations, visit: http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/protect/ppw/.
The report, part of NOAA's Remediation of Underwater Legacy Environmental Threats (RULET) project, identifies the location and nature of potential sources of oil pollution from sunken vessels. Knowing where these vessels are helps oil response planning efforts and may help in the investigation of reported mystery spills--sightings of oil where a source is not immediately known or suspected.
"This report is the most comprehensive assessment to date of the potential oil pollution threats from shipwrecks in U.S. waters," said Lisa Symons, resource protection coordinator for NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries. "Now that we have analyzed this data, the Coast Guard will be able to evaluate NOAA's recommendations and determine the most appropriate response to potential threats."
"The Coast Guard is pleased to receive these risk assessments from our partner agency NOAA and looks forward to our continued coordination on the matter of potential pollution associated with sunken vessels in U.S. waters," said Capt. John Caplis, the Coast Guard's chief of marine environmental response. "Coast Guard federal on-scene coordinators receiving the risk assessments will carefully review the data and incorporate it into their area contingency plans."
In 2010, Congress appropriated $1 million for NOAA to develop a list of the most significant potentially polluting wrecks in U.S. waters, including the Great Lakes, specifically addressing ecological and socio-economic resources at risk. Those funds were not intended for oil or vessel removal.
NOAA maintains the internal Resources and UnderSea Threats (RUST) database of approximately 30,000 sites of sunken material, of which 20,000 are shipwrecks. The remaining items are munitions dumpsites, navigational obstructions, underwater archaeological sites, and other underwater resources.
Initial screening of these shipwrecks revealed 573 that could pose substantial pollution risks, based on the vessel's age, type, and size. This includes vessels built after 1891, when U.S. vessels began using fuel oil; vessels built of steel; vessels over 1,000 gross tons, and any tank vessel.
Additional research about the circumstances of each vessel's loss narrowed that number to 107 shipwrecks. Of those, some were deemed navigational hazards and demolished, and others were salvaged. Most of the 107 wrecks have not been directly surveyed for pollution potential, and in some cases little is known about their current condition.
To prioritize and determine which vessels are candidates for further evaluation, NOAA used a series of risk factors to assess the likelihood of substantial amounts of oil remaining onboard, and the potential ecological and environmental effects if that oil spills. Risk factors include the total oil volume onboard as cargo or fuel, the type of oil, and the nature of the sinking event. For example, a vessel that was struck by multiple torpedoes would likely contain less oil than a vessel that sank in bad weather.
After this third level of screening, 87 wrecks remained on the list developed for the Coast Guard's area contingency plans. Among this group, NOAA determined that 36 shipwrecks are candidates for a "Worst Case" discharge event in which the shipwreck's entire fuel oil and oil cargo would be released simultaneously, and recommended that 17 of these wrecks be considered for further assessment and feasibility of oil removal.
Six wrecks are potential candidates for a "Most Probable" discharge event, where a shipwreck could lose approximately 10 percent of its fuel oil or oil cargo. To date, known oil discharges from shipwrecks are typically in the "Most Probable" category or smaller.
The report, including 87 risk assessments, is not intended to direct Coast Guard activities, but rather provide the Coast Guard with NOAA's scientific and technical assessment and guidance as a natural resource and cultural heritage trustee.
The Coast Guard, as the federal On-scene Coordinator for mitigating oil spills in the coastal marine environment, the Regional Response Teams, and local Area Committees, as established under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, will review and incorporate the assessments into regional and area marine environmental response contingency plans. The individual risk assessments not only highlight concerns about potential ecological and socio-economic impacts, but also characterize most of the vessels as historically significant and many of them as grave sites, both civilian and military.
Funding for any assessment or recovery operations determined to be necessary is dependent upon the unique circumstances of the wreck. If a wreck still has an identifiable owner, that owner is responsible for the cost of cleanup. Coast Guard officials say that if no responsible party exists, the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund would likely be accessed.
To view the report, 2012 Risk Assessment for Potentially Polluting Wrecks in U.S. Waters, visit http://sanctuaries.noaa.gov/protect/ppw/.
Most helicopters are designed to either carry a lot of cargo at the expense of maneuverability?like the Chinook?or be quick and nimble while sacrificing armament and transport capabilities, like the Huey. Russia's Mi-24 HIND multi-mission gunship isn't "most helicopters."
Few ballroom outfits will top the atrocities that were Marie Osmond's doll outfit or Bristol Palin's gorilla suit, but nevertheless, it seems the costume department at "Dancing With the Stars" tries each season.
We get that it's a tough gig -- the designers and seamstresses have to whip out multiple outfits a week, practically at the pace of "Project Runway's" challenges. They can't all look awesome! But can't they look a little bit better?
Here's a look at some of the more questionable costumes from the season. (Note: Kudos to whoever is dressing co-host Brooke Burke this season! She's never looked better!)
The FCC may have spoiled the surprise, but Sony's now gone official with yet another smartphone and this one's for its native Japan. The Xperia UL appears to be a slightly thicker riff on the Xperia Z, matching the display of the company's early-2013 flagship, with a quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro (APQ8064) ticking behind the 5-inch 1080p screen. It's worth noting that it's a substantial resolution bump from the similar-looking 720p NTT DoCoMo Xperia A. Although it's not the Snapdragon 600 rumored, Qualcomm's S4 Pro flexes its muscle through Exmor RS 13-megapixel camera sensor, offering up the ability to capture 15 frames in a second. NFC, naturally, is already in attendance as well as the Felica wireless payment system. You'll also get the benefits of both a physical camera button and water (IPX5/8) and dust resistance (IP5X) -- two features in tandem that should help separate it from Sony's pair ofexisting 5-inch 1080p smartphones. The Xperia UL will launch on KDDI's au network in white, black and hot pink colors on May 25th. Check out the obligatory close-up ad after the break.
Update: The Xperia UL runs on an S4 Pro processor, not the Snapdragon 600 initially stated.
May 18, 2013 ? What happened the last time a vegetated Earth shifted from an extremely cold climate to desert-like conditions? And what does it tell us about climate change today?
John Isbell is on a quest to coax that information from the geology of the southernmost portions of the Earth. It won't be easy, because the last transition from "icehouse to greenhouse" occurred between 335 and 290 million years ago.
An expert in glaciation from the late Paleozoic Era, Isbell is challenging many assumptions about the way drastic climate change naturally unfolds. The research helps form the all-important baseline needed to predict what the added effects of human activity will bring.
Starting from 'deep freeze'
In the late Paleozoic, the modern continents were fused together into two huge land masses, with what is now the Southern Hemisphere, including Antarctica, called Gondwana. During the span of more than 60 million years, Gondwana shifted from a state of deep freeze into one so hot and dry it supported the appearance of reptiles. The change, however, didn't happen uniformly, Isbell says.
In fact, his research has shaken the common belief that Gondwana was covered by one massive sheet of ice which gradually and steadily melted away as conditions warmed. Isbell has found that at least 22 individual ice sheets were located in various places over the region. And the state of glaciation during the long warming period was marked by dramatic swings in temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels.
"There appears to be a direct association between low CO2 levels and glaciation," he says. "A lot of the changes in greenhouse gases and in a shrinking ice volume then are similar to what we're seeing today."
When the ice finally started disappearing, he says, it did so in the polar regions first and lingered in other parts of Gondwana with higher elevations. He attributes that to different conditions across Gondwana, such as mountain-building events, which would have preserved glaciers longer.
All about the carbon
To get an accurate picture of the range of conditions in the late Paleozoic, Isbell has traveled to Antarctica 16 times and has joined colleagues from around the world as part of an interdisciplinary team funded by the National Science Foundation. They have regularly gone to places where no one has ever walked on the rocks before.
One of his colleagues is paleoecologist Erik Gulbranson, who studies plant communities from the tail end of the Paleozoic and how they evolved in concert with the climatic changes. The information contained in fossil soil and plants, he says, can reveal a lot about carbon cycling, which is so central for applying the work to climate change today.
Documenting the particulars of how the carbon cycle behaved so long ago will allow them to answer questions like, 'What was the main force behind glaciation during the late Paleozoic? Was it mountain-building or climate change?'
Another characteristic of the late Paleozoic shift is that once the climate warmed significantly and atmospheric CO2 levels soared, the Earth's climate remained hot and dry for another 200 million years.
"These natural cycles are very long, and that's an important difference with what we're seeing with the contemporary global climate change," says Gulbranson. "Today, we're seeing change in greenhouse gas concentrations of CO2 on the order of centuries and decades."
Ancient trees and soil
In order to explain today's accelerated warming, Gulbranson's research illustrates that glaciers alone don't tell the whole story.
Many environmental factors leave an imprint on the carbon contained in tree trunks from this period. One of the things Gulbranson hypothesizes from his research in Antarctica is that an increase in deciduous trees occurred in higher latitudes during the late Paleozoic, driven by higher temperatures.
What he doesn't yet know is what the net effect was on the carbon cycle.
While trees soak in CO2 and give off oxygen, there are other environmental processes to consider, says Gulbranson. For example, CO2 emissions also come from soil as microbes speed up their consumption of organic matter with rising temperatures.
"The high latitudes today contain the largest amount of carbon locked up as organic material and permafrost soils on Earth today," he says. "It actually exceeds the amount of carbon you can measure in the rain forests. So what happens to that stockpile of carbon when you warm it and grow a forest over it is completely unknown."
Another unknown is whether the Northern Hemisphere during this time was also glaciated and warming. The pair are about to find out. With UWM backing, they will do field work in northeastern Russia this summer to study glacial deposits from the late Paleozoic.
The two scientists' work is complementary. Dating the rock is essential to pinpointing the rate of change in the carbon cycle, which would be the warning signal we could use today to indicate that nature is becoming dangerously unbalanced.
"If we figure out what happened with the glaciers," says Isbell, "and add it to what we know about other conditions -- we will be able to unlock the answers to climate change."
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Two men arrested in the fatal beating of the grandson of U.S. civil rights activist Malcolm X were sent to prison on Saturday to await trial, a Mexico City court spokesman said.
David Hernandez and Manuel Perez, waiters at the Palace nightclub near Mexico City's popular Garibaldi Square, face charges of murder and robbery, the official said.
Malcolm Shabazz, who police have said was 29, died May 9 at the Palace after a dispute over a $1,200 bill. Hernandez and Perez were arrested on Monday.
Shabazz, who was convicted of manslaughter as a 12-year-old for setting a fire that killed his grandmother and went to prison as an adult for attempted robbery, was in Mexico City to visit Miguel Suarez, an immigration activist who was recently deported from the United States. Shabazz
On the night of May 8 Shabazz and Suarez visited the run-down area around Plaza Garibaldi, a popular tourist area where Mariachi music groups play on the streets amid seedy strip clubs, dive bars and bordellos.
Despite its proximity to the city's grand colonial center, the area is infamous for petty crime.
Malcolm X was a civil rights activist and leader of the black Muslim movement in the United States. He was shot to death before a speaking appearance in New York City in 1965.
(Reporting by Elinor Comlay; Editing by Bill Trott)
[unable to retrieve full-text content]Hurricane Sandy left the parks department with the onerous task of having the beach ready for a Memorial Day weekend opening.
CANNES, France (AP) ? The Weinstein Company's fall slate of awards contenders will feature a glamorous Grace Kelly, a brawny Nelson Mandela and a mysterious J.D. Salinger.
Harvey Weinstein previewed some of his company's most anticipated upcoming releases at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday. He's made a habit of such previews, doing the same in 2012 for the Oscar-winning films "Django Unchained" and "Silver Linings Playbook." Last year, Weinstein said, was "as good as any year at Miramax" ? the first film company run by Weinstein and his brother Bob.
Nicole Kidman, a jury member at the festival, was on hand to introduce footage of "Grace of Monaco," in which she stars as Kelly after wedding Prince Rainier III (played by Tim Roth). It looks to be the kind of grand, alluring performance that often leads to an Oscar nomination.
"She has to go to a jury meeting to hopefully decide which of my movies wins the Palme d'Or," joked Weinstein before Kidman departed.
Weinstein has two films in competition at Cannes: the Bangkok noir "Only God Forgives" with Ryan Gosling and Kristen Scott Thomas, and the period film "The Immigrant" with Marion Cotillard and Joaquin Phoenix. He added, referring to jury head Steven Spielberg: "I've certainly given Steven enough money over the years."
Weinstein also showcased the Salinger documentary, "Salinger," which is being advertised like a kind of detective tale about the reclusive author. Weinstein made no bones about his strong interest in making a "Catcher in the Rye" film, noting that he was told by Salinger's estate that the decades-long list of suitors begins not with him, but Elia Kazan and Mike Nichols.
The long-awaited "Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom," starring Idris Elba, places Mandela almost in an action film context. The South African revolutionary appeared in footage shown Friday as a muscly firebrand, with hip-hop as part of the score.
"This is not your daddy's HBO version of Mandela," said Weinstein. "This is the kickass version of Mandela."
One of Weinstein's biggest releases for this fall is "August: Osage County," based on the acclaimed Tracy Letts play. It stars Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts. Also with Oscar ambitions is the company's "The Butler," from "Precious" director Lee Daniels. Forrest Whitaker plays a long-serving White House butler in a sentimental tale through history likely to draw comparisons to "Forrest Gump."
Following the Weinstein Co.'s recent announcement that it will make a sequel to 2000's Oscar-winning "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon," Weinstein said he plans to make a franchise out of it. The Ang Lee film was based on a book in a series of five by Wang Dulu. Weinstein plans to make films of all of them.
Whether the fall collection of films will add up to the Oscar gold Weinstein covets remains to be seen. But Cannes has often been where he launches those aspirations. In 2011, he had at Cannes the eventual best picture winner, the French ode to silent film, "The Artist."
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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jake_coyle
A change in how the state calculates business taxes is making some restaurant owners nervous, afraid their profit margins will take a devastating hit.
That?s because the New Hampshire Department of Revenue is asking them to pay more under the business enterprise tax. The tax is based on the compensation paid to employees.
As of Jan. 1, the department has included servers? tips when determining how much restaurants should pay.
The New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association heard concerns from so many restaurateurs around the state, it decided to fight the collection, according to president and CEO Mike Somers.
Some restaurant owners saw their tax assessments double or triple, he said. Many restaurant owners received letters from the state, asking they pay four years of back taxes, Somers said. Those requests were later rescinded when his organization intervened, he said.
Four years ago, there were administrative rule changes that allowed the taxes to be based on tips, but they were not collected, Somers said. Tips had been exempt since the business enterprise tax was implemented in 1993.
The DRA sent Somers a letter in March, outlining the taxation of tips. No one from the department was available for comment yesterday.
?For all intents and purposes, this is a new tax for us,? Somers said.
The association, which represents approximately 700 restaurants and hotels, received support in its fight from Sens. Robert Odell, R-Lempster, and Jeb Bradley, R-Wolfeboro.
They drafted an amendment to House Bill 520, heard Tuesday by the Senate Ways and Means Committee, that would eliminate the change in collection. HB 520 has already passed the House and remains under review.
?We?re trying to change this,? Somers said yesterday. ?Tips the employees receive always were exempt because it was not something paid by the business.?
At Janie?s Uncommon Cafe in Londonderry, co-owner Jane Tuerck is concerned.
She said it will increase her tax payment from $2,600 to $3,600.
?It?s definitely going to affect us and the bottom line,? Tuerck said yesterday. ?For a small business like ours, it?s going to hurt.?
Another concerned restaurateur is Tom Boucher ? owner of eight restaurants, including the T-Bones chain. T-Bones has restaurants in Derry and Salem.
Boucher said the change won?t affect his restaurants as much as many smaller businesses. But it?s certainly been a topic of discussion throughout the industry, he said.
?It?s a very contentious issue among all the restaurants,? Boucher said. ?Most restaurants operate on pennies on a dollar as far as profit margins. This is going to hit them very hard.?
Boucher said the state is looking to boost its coffers at the expense of New Hampshire restaurants.
?Obviously, the state is looking for revenue and this is a way they are looking to get it,? he said.
Harmonia axyridis, a colorful beetle that is turning into an invasive species (Image: Wikipedia Commons)
When the Europeans discovered the ?New World?, they infamously brought with them diseases which that world had never before encountered. Infectious agents like smallpox, typhus and cholera were generously shared with the local population ? often deliberately so ? and were responsible for significantly decimating the natives? numbers. It?s a common theme; a species colonizes an ecosystem occupied by another and whether by accident or design, spreads invasive pathogens which quickly overwhelm the untrained immune system of the native species. Whether it?s humans or ladybugs, invasive pathogens have always been a reliable weapon to bring about genocide.
And speaking of ladybugs, something similar is being observed with the colorful species named Harmonia axyridis. Everyone likes beetles ? I regularly caught them and observed their life cycle as a teenager ? but it seems they don?t necessarily like everyone. At the beginning of the twentieth century, a species of ladybug named Harmonia was introduced from Russia and Central Europe into parts of Europe and the United States as a pest control agent. Farmers relished its ability to destroy aphids and other scale insects which fed on valuable crops. Thought to have disappeared in the 1920s, Harmonia reemerged in Louisiana in the late 80 and was encouraged to spread elsewhere. Not surprisingly, since then the Law of Unintended Consequences has taken over and assured collateral damage. While the ladybugs are taking care of invasive aphids, they have turned invasive themselves, killing off several other species of ladybugs and insects and especially a dominant species named Cocinella which is an important part of ecosystems.
In order to find out what was killing the native species, researchers from the University of Giessen took samples of the clear fluid called hemolymph that is secreted from the bugs? legs. Chemical separation and analysis revealed the presence of a molecule which was named harmonine. Harmonine is a simple compound; chemists would recognize it as a diamine. It seemed the puzzle was solved; not only was harmonine thought to kill off Cocinella, but it most intriguingly proved fatal to the tuberculosis bacterium and the malarial parasite. In a theme that has been gratifyingly repeated throughout history, a chemical weapon from an insect?s armamentarium gave rise to a promising lead against human disease.
Except for one glitch. While the hemolymph itself did kill the Cocinella ladybugs, pure, synthetic harmonine made in a laboratory did nothing to them. The implication was clear; there must be something else in the hemolymph besides harmonine that was destroying Harmonia?s competitors. In a recent report in Science the same group has found the culprit. An obligate fungus ? technically called a microsporidium ? proliferates throughout the hemolymph. The fungal spores cause no harm to Harmonia probably because through time Harmonia has acquired resistance to them. In fact Harmonia seems to have made its peace with the fungus so well that the researchers located it in both the eggs and larvae of the beetle.
The fungus is catastrophic to Cocinella, however. Harmonia?s? eggs and larvae kill Cocinella competitors when they hungrily snack on them. Injection of fungal spores into the rival beetle causes death within two weeks. This time the authors were careful to eliminate other factors; injection of hemolymph in which the microsporidia was eliminated caused no ill effects, confirming the causal role of the fungus. In addition the researchers found the dying Cocinella beetles swarming with fungal spores (poor bastards).
The study shows that over the ages Harmonia has started to wield a pathogenic fungus like a finely honed biological weapon. One interesting aspect which the researchers don?t explore in this study is whether the co-evolution of the beetle and fungus began when it was introduced widely as a pest control agent or whether the two have been friends from early on in Harmonia?s evolutionary history. But whatever the history between these two symbionts, it?s clear that nature has been using biological weapons since much before we ever thought of putting anthrax spores in an envelope.
Reference:?Invasive Harlequin Ladybird Carries Biological Weapons Against Native Competitors,?Vilcinskas et al. Science, 2013, 340, 862.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is pledging to eliminate the "scourge" of sexual assault in the military while cautioning that it will take a long and sustained effort by all military members.
"There is no silver bullet to solving this problem," Obama said Thursday after meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and the top brass from all the military services.
"We will not stop until we've seen this scourge, from what is the greatest military in the world, eliminated," he told reporters.
Senior military officers are speaking about the problem with increasing bluntness and expressions of regret. Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on Wednesday called it a "crisis" in the ranks, and on Thursday the Army chief of staff, Gen. Ray Odierno, publicly acknowledged his service's efforts are "failing."
"They care about this and they are angry about it," Obama said.
"Not only is it a crime, not only is it shameful and disgraceful, but it also is going to make and has made the military less effective than it can be," the president said.
Those summoned to the White House by Obama included not just Hagel, Dempsey and the chiefs of each military service but also the civilian heads of each service and senior enlisted advisers.
"I heard directly from all of them that they are ashamed by some of what's happened," Obama said.
The president added that because assault victims may be more likely now to come forward with complaints, the number of reported assaults may increase in the short run.
"I then want those trend lines to start going down because that indicates that we're also starting to fix the problem and we've highlighted it, and people who are engaged in despicable behavior, they get fully punished for it," Obama said.
The problem, which has plagued the military for decades, has been thrust to the fore by recent cases, including that of an Air Force officer who headed a sexual assault prevention office but was himself arrested for sexual battery.
On Thursday, Army officials said the manager of the sexual assault response program at Fort Campbell, Ky., had been relieved of his post after his arrest in a domestic dispute with his ex-wife. The program he managed was meant to prevent sexual harassment and assault and encourage equal opportunity.
Hagel has said resolving the problem of sexual assault in the military is one of his top priorities, as did his predecessor, Leon Panetta. Hagel is expected to make public in coming days a written directive that spells out steps the Pentagon will take to retrain, rescreen and recertify those who lead the military's sexual assault prevention and response programs.
Earlier Thursday, Odierno, the Army chief, issued a public message to all soldiers in which he said the "bedrock of trust" between soldiers and their leaders has been violated by a recent string of misconduct cases.
He said the Army demonstrated competence and courage through nearly 12 years of war. "Today, however, the Army is failing in its efforts to combat sexual assault and sexual harassment," he wrote.
"It is time we take on the fight against sexual assault and sexual harassment as our primary mission," Odierno said.
Allegations of sexual assault in the military have triggered outrage from local commanders to Capitol Hill and the Oval Office. Yet there seem to be few clear solutions beyond improved training and possible adjustments in how the military prosecutes such crimes.
The Pentagon had scheduled a briefing for journalists Thursday with Hagel and Dempsey, but after the White House meeting was announced, the Pentagon news conference was postponed until Friday.
A Pentagon report last week estimated that as many as 26,000 military members may have been sexually assaulted last year, based on survey results, out of 1.4 million in the services.
That report, and a recent series of arrests and other sexual assault problems across the military, have triggered a rush of initiatives from the Pentagon and proposed legislation on Capitol Hill.
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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Donna Cassata contributed to this report.
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Follow Robert Burns on Twitter: https://twitter.com/robertburnsAP
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DETROIT (AP) ? Shares of General Motors reached an important milestone on Friday, topping their initial public offering price of $33 for the first time in more than two years.
The automaker's stock, which has been on a tear since January, reached $33.58 Friday morning before slipping back to $33.52, up 3.5 percent, around midday. The auto giant sold shares to the public for $33 in a November 2010 IPO, but they hadn't traded above that price since May 4, 2011.
The rally is good news for the U.S. Treasury, which has been selling off its GM holdings. Taxpayers still own 241.7 million shares, as a result of the government's $49.5 billion bailout of the company in 2008 and 2009.
GM two weeks ago reported strong first-quarter earnings on sales in North America and China. The shares have gained almost 14 percent this year.
Friday's increase was likely due to general market gains and better prospects in Europe, where GM has lost money for more than a dozen years. The European automakers association said Friday that registrations rose last month for the first time in 18 months. European Union sales were up 1.7 percent, but GM sales fell 4.5 percent.
Traders gather at the post of specialist Ronnie Howard, center, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, April 29, 2013. Enthusiasm on Wall Street sparked by another positive report on the U.S. economy helped push most Asian stock markets higher Wednesday May 15, 2013. But lower-than-expected German economic growth disappointed investors elsewhere. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Traders gather at the post of specialist Ronnie Howard, center, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, April 29, 2013. Enthusiasm on Wall Street sparked by another positive report on the U.S. economy helped push most Asian stock markets higher Wednesday May 15, 2013. But lower-than-expected German economic growth disappointed investors elsewhere. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
NEW YORK (AP) ? A report of slowing manufacturing is getting the stock market off to weak start Wednesday.
News that Europe's economic slump dragged France into a recession also weighed on markets.
A half-hour after the opening bell, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 30 points at 15,186, down 0.1 percent.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell two points to 1,648, also down 0.1 percent. Both the Dow and the S&P 500 closed at all-time highs on Tuesday.
The Nasdaq composite rose three points to 3,465.
U.S. factories cut back sharply on production in April, as automakers produced fewer cars and most other industries scaled back. The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that manufacturing output dropped 0.4 percent in April from March, the third drop in four months and the biggest since October.
Macy's rose 2 percent, or 90 cents, to $48.31 after reporting a 20 percent profit increase. The department-store chain also raised its quarterly dividend by a nickel to 25 cents and announced plans to buy an additional $1.5 billion of its own stock.
Deere & Co. slumped 4 percent. The maker of farm and construction equipment reported earnings that beat analysts' expectations, but it warned that cool spring temperatures and tepid demand for construction equipment will hinder sales growth this year.
In the market for U.S. government bonds, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note sank to 1.92 percent from 1.98 percent late Tuesday. Traders bought Treasurys, pushing yields down, as they shifted money into lower-risk assets.
ASUS' GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU Mini graphics card first broke cover in April without a price or concrete release date, but now Newegg has dished out just those details along with extra specs. Loaded with 1,344 CUDA cores and 2GB of 256-bit GDDR5 RAM, the silicon boats a base clock of 928Mhz and a boost speed of 1,006MHz. The 6.7-inch-long hardware bound for diminutive -- or even full-size -- PCs rings up at $399, and is slated for availability on May 20th. Click the source link below to pre-order the dual-slot dwarf or head past the break for the retailer's unboxing video.
Cancer diagnosis puts people at greater risk for bankruptcyPublic release date: 15-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dean Forbes dforbes@fhcrc.org 206-667-2896 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Study also shows younger cancer patients are most vulnerable to financial stress
SEATTLE People diagnosed with cancer are more than two-and-a-half times more likely to declare bankruptcy than those without cancer, according to a new study from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Researchers also found that younger cancer patients had two- to five-fold higher bankruptcy rates compared to older patients, and that overall bankruptcy filings increased as time passed following diagnosis.
The study, led by corresponding author Scott Ramsey, M.D., Ph.D., an internist and health economist at Fred Hutch, was published online on May 15 as a Web First in the journal Health Affairs. The article will also appear in the journal's June edition.
Ramsey and colleagues, including a chief judge for a U.S. Bankruptcy Court, undertook the research because the relationship between receiving a cancer diagnosis and bankruptcy is less well understood than the much-studied link between high medical expenses and likelihood of bankruptcy filing.
"This study found strong evidence of a link between cancer diagnosis and increased risk of bankruptcy," the authors wrote. "Although the risk of bankruptcy for cancer patients is relatively low in absolute terms, bankruptcy represents an extreme manifestation of what is probably a larger picture of economic hardship for cancer patients. Our study thus raises important questions about the factors underlying the relationship between cancer and financial hardship."
For this study, researchers analyzed data from a population-wide registry of individuals over age 21 who lived in western Washington and who were diagnosed with cancer between Jan. 1, 1995 and Dec. 31, 2009. They were compared to a randomly sampled age-, sex-, and ZIP code-matched population of people without cancer. Cancer cases were identified using the Cancer Surveillance System of Western Washington, a population-based cancer registry based at Fred Hutch that is part of the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Program (SEER).
The cancer and control cohorts were both linked with the records of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington. The court serves 19 counties in western Washington, including all 13 counties represented in the Cancer Surveillance System of Western Washington. Researchers included Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings only.
"This is the strongest evidence we have between a disease and risk for severe financial distress," Ramsey said. "I've not seen other studies that linked databases of this quality."
Ramsey directs the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR), which is dedicated to health economics and cancer outcomes research. Its mission is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of cancer prevention, early detection and treatment to reduce the economic and human burdens of cancer. HICOR is believed to be the first of its kind among comprehensive cancer centers nationwide.
Among the study's key findings:
Between 1995 and 2009 there were 197,840 people in western Washington who were diagnosed with cancer and met the inclusion criteria for the study. Of those, 4,408 (2.2 percent) filed for bankruptcy protection after diagnosis. Of the matched controls who were not diagnosed with cancer, 2,291 (1.1 percent) filed for bankruptcy.
Compared to cancer patients who did not file for bankruptcy, those who did were more likely to be younger, female and nonwhite. The youngest age groups had up to 10 times the bankruptcy rate as compared to the older age groups. The authors noted that because cancer is generally a sudden and unexpected event, the risk of bankruptcy is influenced by factors such as debt load before diagnosis, assets, presence and terms of health and disability insurance, number of dependent children, and incomes of others in the household at the time of the cancer diagnosis.
"The youngest groups in the study were diagnosed at a time when their debt-to-income ratios are typically highest often unavoidably, because they are paying off student loans, purchasing a home, or starting a business," the authors wrote. "All working-age people who develop cancer face loss of income and, in many cases, loss of employer-sponsored insurance, both of which can be devastating for households in which the patient is the primary wage earner."
In contrast, people age 65 or older generally have Medicare insurance and Social Security benefits. These older people are likely to have more assets and possibly more income than working-age people. "However, it is likely that having stable insurance (specifically, coverage not tied to employment) plays a major role in mitigating the risk of bankruptcy for those over age sixty-five," the authors wrote.
The proportion of cancer patients who filed for bankruptcy within one year of diagnosis was 0.52 percent, compared to 0.16 percent within one year for the control group. For bankruptcy filings within five years of diagnosis, the proportion of cancer patients was about 1.7 percent, compared to 0.7 percent for the control group.
The incidence rates for bankruptcy at one year after diagnosis, per 1,000 person-years, for the cancers with the highest overall incidence rates were as follows: thyroid, 9.3; lung, 9.1; uterine, 6.8; leukemia/lymphoma, 6.2; colorectal, 5.9; melanoma, 5.7; breast, 5.7; and prostate. 3.7. The incidence rate for all cancers combined was 6.1.
The high bankruptcy incidence rate for those with thyroid cancer may be because thyroid cancer affects younger women more often than other cancers do according to the researchers. "Compared to men, younger women are more likely to live in single-income households and to have lower wages and lower rates of employment, and therefore less access to high-quality health insurance leaving them more financially vulnerable," the authors wrote.
###
The National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health funded the research. Co-authors included Karen Overstreet, chief judge of the U.S Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Washington; and researchers from the University of Washington; University of Utah School of Medicine; and University of Bristol (U.K.).
Editor's note: Please contact Dean Forbes in Fred Hutch media relations to schedule interviews with the authors. To obtain an embargoed copy of the paper, "Washington Cancer Patients Found to be at Greater Risk for Bankruptcy than People without a Cancer Diagnosis," please contact Sue Ducat at Health Affairs, sducat@projecthope.org,or 301-841-9962.
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel laureates, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. Fred Hutch's pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system to treat cancer with minimal side effects. An independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, Fred Hutch houses the nation's first and largest cancer prevention research program, as well as the clinical coordinating center of the Women's Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. Private contributions are essential for enabling Fred Hutch scientists to explore novel research opportunities that lead to important medical breakthroughs. For more information visit http://www.fredhutch.org or follow Fred Hutch on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.
CONTACT
Dean Forbes
206-667-2896
dforbes@fhcrc.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Cancer diagnosis puts people at greater risk for bankruptcyPublic release date: 15-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dean Forbes dforbes@fhcrc.org 206-667-2896 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
Study also shows younger cancer patients are most vulnerable to financial stress
SEATTLE People diagnosed with cancer are more than two-and-a-half times more likely to declare bankruptcy than those without cancer, according to a new study from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Researchers also found that younger cancer patients had two- to five-fold higher bankruptcy rates compared to older patients, and that overall bankruptcy filings increased as time passed following diagnosis.
The study, led by corresponding author Scott Ramsey, M.D., Ph.D., an internist and health economist at Fred Hutch, was published online on May 15 as a Web First in the journal Health Affairs. The article will also appear in the journal's June edition.
Ramsey and colleagues, including a chief judge for a U.S. Bankruptcy Court, undertook the research because the relationship between receiving a cancer diagnosis and bankruptcy is less well understood than the much-studied link between high medical expenses and likelihood of bankruptcy filing.
"This study found strong evidence of a link between cancer diagnosis and increased risk of bankruptcy," the authors wrote. "Although the risk of bankruptcy for cancer patients is relatively low in absolute terms, bankruptcy represents an extreme manifestation of what is probably a larger picture of economic hardship for cancer patients. Our study thus raises important questions about the factors underlying the relationship between cancer and financial hardship."
For this study, researchers analyzed data from a population-wide registry of individuals over age 21 who lived in western Washington and who were diagnosed with cancer between Jan. 1, 1995 and Dec. 31, 2009. They were compared to a randomly sampled age-, sex-, and ZIP code-matched population of people without cancer. Cancer cases were identified using the Cancer Surveillance System of Western Washington, a population-based cancer registry based at Fred Hutch that is part of the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Program (SEER).
The cancer and control cohorts were both linked with the records of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Washington. The court serves 19 counties in western Washington, including all 13 counties represented in the Cancer Surveillance System of Western Washington. Researchers included Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy filings only.
"This is the strongest evidence we have between a disease and risk for severe financial distress," Ramsey said. "I've not seen other studies that linked databases of this quality."
Ramsey directs the Hutchinson Institute for Cancer Outcomes Research (HICOR), which is dedicated to health economics and cancer outcomes research. Its mission is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of cancer prevention, early detection and treatment to reduce the economic and human burdens of cancer. HICOR is believed to be the first of its kind among comprehensive cancer centers nationwide.
Among the study's key findings:
Between 1995 and 2009 there were 197,840 people in western Washington who were diagnosed with cancer and met the inclusion criteria for the study. Of those, 4,408 (2.2 percent) filed for bankruptcy protection after diagnosis. Of the matched controls who were not diagnosed with cancer, 2,291 (1.1 percent) filed for bankruptcy.
Compared to cancer patients who did not file for bankruptcy, those who did were more likely to be younger, female and nonwhite. The youngest age groups had up to 10 times the bankruptcy rate as compared to the older age groups. The authors noted that because cancer is generally a sudden and unexpected event, the risk of bankruptcy is influenced by factors such as debt load before diagnosis, assets, presence and terms of health and disability insurance, number of dependent children, and incomes of others in the household at the time of the cancer diagnosis.
"The youngest groups in the study were diagnosed at a time when their debt-to-income ratios are typically highest often unavoidably, because they are paying off student loans, purchasing a home, or starting a business," the authors wrote. "All working-age people who develop cancer face loss of income and, in many cases, loss of employer-sponsored insurance, both of which can be devastating for households in which the patient is the primary wage earner."
In contrast, people age 65 or older generally have Medicare insurance and Social Security benefits. These older people are likely to have more assets and possibly more income than working-age people. "However, it is likely that having stable insurance (specifically, coverage not tied to employment) plays a major role in mitigating the risk of bankruptcy for those over age sixty-five," the authors wrote.
The proportion of cancer patients who filed for bankruptcy within one year of diagnosis was 0.52 percent, compared to 0.16 percent within one year for the control group. For bankruptcy filings within five years of diagnosis, the proportion of cancer patients was about 1.7 percent, compared to 0.7 percent for the control group.
The incidence rates for bankruptcy at one year after diagnosis, per 1,000 person-years, for the cancers with the highest overall incidence rates were as follows: thyroid, 9.3; lung, 9.1; uterine, 6.8; leukemia/lymphoma, 6.2; colorectal, 5.9; melanoma, 5.7; breast, 5.7; and prostate. 3.7. The incidence rate for all cancers combined was 6.1.
The high bankruptcy incidence rate for those with thyroid cancer may be because thyroid cancer affects younger women more often than other cancers do according to the researchers. "Compared to men, younger women are more likely to live in single-income households and to have lower wages and lower rates of employment, and therefore less access to high-quality health insurance leaving them more financially vulnerable," the authors wrote.
###
The National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health funded the research. Co-authors included Karen Overstreet, chief judge of the U.S Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Washington; and researchers from the University of Washington; University of Utah School of Medicine; and University of Bristol (U.K.).
Editor's note: Please contact Dean Forbes in Fred Hutch media relations to schedule interviews with the authors. To obtain an embargoed copy of the paper, "Washington Cancer Patients Found to be at Greater Risk for Bankruptcy than People without a Cancer Diagnosis," please contact Sue Ducat at Health Affairs, sducat@projecthope.org,or 301-841-9962.
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel laureates, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. Fred Hutch's pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system to treat cancer with minimal side effects. An independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, Fred Hutch houses the nation's first and largest cancer prevention research program, as well as the clinical coordinating center of the Women's Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. Private contributions are essential for enabling Fred Hutch scientists to explore novel research opportunities that lead to important medical breakthroughs. For more information visit http://www.fredhutch.org or follow Fred Hutch on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.
CONTACT
Dean Forbes
206-667-2896
dforbes@fhcrc.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
If you missed the One Show in Portland this past February, you're not alone and that's OK. Here's a nice little recap of some of the show's best. But if you skip to the 1:30 minute mark, you'll find an interesting and all together nerdy custom built with parts from a Mac.
What's left of the Nohmul pyramid after a construction crew virtually destroyed the 2,300-year-old Mayan structure.
Jaime Awe/Associated Press
What's left of the Nohmul pyramid after a construction crew virtually destroyed the 2,300-year-old Mayan structure.
Jaime Awe/Associated Press
A construction crew in Belize in search of gravel to use as road filler used its backhoes to level one of the country's largest Mayan pyramids.
"It's a feeling of incredible disbelief because of the ignorance and the insensitivity ... they were using this for road fill," Jaime Awe, the head of the Belize Institute of Archaeology, said of the destruction at the 2,300-year-old Nohmul pyramid, located in the Orange Walk/Corozal area of Belize.
"It's like being punched in the stomach. It's just so horrendous," Awe said Monday of the destruction thought to have occurred last week.
"There is absolutely no way that they would not know that these are Maya mounds," John Moore, also of the Belize Institute, said.
The BBC says only a "small core" of the pyramid was left standing. It said prosecutors were considering criminal charges against the construction company.
Awe noted the ironic tragedy that the swift destruction of the pyramid with modern equipment came after "ancient Maya acquired all this building material to erect these buildings, using nothing more than stone tools ... and carried this material on their heads."
"It's mind-boggling," he said.
According to Past Horizons, the pyramid had already been damaged by a road crew in 1940:
"... one structure was partially demolished to provide road material for the San Pablo to Douglas highway. At least three burial chambers were uncovered during its demolition and while some of the contents were recovered by the authorities, most were either smashed or looted."
The family of Kendrick Johnson is demanding a federal investigation into his death.
The body of the 17-year-old was found in a rolled up mat in the gym of Lowndes High School, where he was a student.
While the Georgia Bureau of Investigation has ruled the death an accident, his family disagreed, believing that Johnson was murdered at the school.
According to a story on ABC local station WALB News 10, officials believe Johnson, who died in January, ?was in the gym alone, reached into the mat to get something he dropped, and got stuck.?
The final autopsy report ruled the death accident as a result of ?positional asphyxia.?
The family is not convinced. A Facebook page and organizations like Atlanta's National Action Network have brought attention to the case, claiming that it was bungled: The coroner's office wasn't notified until hours after Johnson's death, and the body was moved and his clothes misplaced.
The sheriff denies that the body or clothes were moved, but the coroner's office has expressed anger at not being contacted sooner.
"We want an independent investigation, let's just say by an agency with higher credentials than Lowndes County," chapter president Marcus Coleman told WALB.
"There's been a number of what we feel are inconsistencies, are mishandlings, and for that very reason is why we want another set of eyes," he added.
The family has organized community protests in Valdosta. One was attended by the civil rights activist Al Sharpton.
The reverend started a fund for which he contributed $500 to give to anyone who had evidence that would prove the student's death was not accidental.
"It puts Valdosta on the map for real,? Johnson?s aunt, Susie Kier, said. She added, ?It lets the people of Valdosta, Georgia, know that Kendrick Johnson's life stood for something. Let them know that he was a great little boy. That we loved him dearly."
According to the Examiner, the family has requested a coroner?s inquest, and Lowndes County Coroner Bill Watson agreed to proceed.
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Public release date: 15-May-2013
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