Marine pleads guilty to assault fellow Marine

Allen Lew, father of Lance Cpl. Harry Lew and Rep. Judy Chu of California, speak to members of the press outside the courtroom of the Legal Services Center of Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Lance Cpl. Jacob D. Jacoby, Sgt. Benjamin Johns, and Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III are accused of hazing fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Harry Lew who later committed Suicide. (AP Photo/Kent Nishimura)

Allen Lew, father of Lance Cpl. Harry Lew and Rep. Judy Chu of California, speak to members of the press outside the courtroom of the Legal Services Center of Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Lance Cpl. Jacob D. Jacoby, Sgt. Benjamin Johns, and Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III are accused of hazing fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Harry Lew who later committed Suicide. (AP Photo/Kent Nishimura)

Allen Lew, father of Lance Cpl. Harry Lew and Rep. Judy Chu of California, speak to members of the press outside the courtroom of the Legal Services Center of Marine Corps Base Hawaii on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Lance Cpl. Jacob D. Jacoby, Sgt. Benjamin Johns, and Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III are accused of hazing fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Harry Lew who later committed Suicide. (AP Photo/Kent Nishimura)

Lieutenant John Battisti, followed by Lance Cpl. Jacob D. Jacoby walks in the Legal Services Center at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Lance Cpl. Jacob D. Jacoby, Sgt. Benjamin Johns, and Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III are accused of hazing fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Harry Lew who later committed Suicide. (AP Photo/Kent Nishimura)

Marine Sgt. Benjamin Johns walks to the courtroom of the Legal Services Center of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Lance Cpl. Jacob D. Jacoby, Sgt. Benjamin Johns, and Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III are accused of hazing fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Harry Lew who later committed Suicide. (AP Photo/Kent Nishimura)

Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III walks to the courtroom of the Legal Services Center of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. Lance Cpl. Jacob D. Jacoby, Sgt. Benjamin Johns, and Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III are accused of hazing fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Harry Lew who later committed Suicide. (AP Photo/Kent Nishimura)

KANEOHE BAY, Hawaii (AP) ? A Hawaii-based Marine accused of hazing a fellow Marine who later killed himself in Afghanistan pleaded guilty Monday to assault as part of an agreement with prosecutors.

Lance Cpl. Jacob Jacoby admitted in a special court-martial that he punched and kicked Lance Cpl. Harry Lew. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors withdrew charges that Jacoby humiliated and threatened Lew.

Jacoby said he acted out of anger and frustration that his fellow Marine had repeatedly fallen asleep while on watch while looking for Taliban fighters. That put the lives of his squad members in danger, Jacoby said.

Lew committed suicide on April 3 at a patrol base in Helmand province, shortly after the abuse. The 21-year-old was a nephew of U.S. Rep. Judy Chu.

Two other Marines also are accused of hazing Lew before he shot himself with his machine gun in his foxhole. Sgt. Benjamin Johns, the leader of the squad the Marines belonged to, and Lance Cpl. Carlos Orozco III will have their own separate courts-martial later.

Both Marines watched the court proceedings Monday.

Lew's father, Allen Lew, said his family wants to see what sentence is given to Jacoby.

"We just couldn't believe (his) own peers would do something like that to their own people. Very sad," he told reporters. "It's a tragedy for us. Never able to repair our broken heart."

Chu, D-Calif., attended the hearing. "I want to make sure that there is justice for Harry. And I want to support these brave persons, his parents," she said.

The attorney representing Johns said he was concerned the presence of a politician will taint the process and interfere with justice.

"How do I get a fair jury? What implicit message is she trying to send to those panel members?" said Tim Bilecki, a defense attorney who specializes in military clients.

Chu said that wouldn't be the case. "I'm not going to be saying anything in the trial. All I'm doing is being here. I'm here for the family to support them," she said.

The case involves the actions of Marines at an isolated patrol base the U.S. was establishing to disrupt Taliban drug and weapons trafficking in Helmand province.

At an Article 32 hearing ? the equivalent of a grand jury hearing for civilians ? Marines testified in September that Lew repeatedly fell asleep while he was on watch duty and patrol looking for attacking insurgents. Squad members and officers had tried different methods to get him to stay awake, including referring him up the chain of command for discipline and taking him off patrols so he could get more rest.

But on Lew's last night, when he fell asleep again, those efforts escalated into alleged acts of violence and humiliation, according to charges outlined at the hearing. The Marines were accused of punching and kicking him, making him do push-ups and pouring sand in his face.

A significant share of the questions raised at the Article 32 hearing focused on whether the accused intended to humiliate and harm Lew or discipline him so he would stop falling asleep while on watch duty.

Before Lew put the muzzle of his machine gun in his mouth and pulled the trigger, he scrawled a note on his arm: "May hate me now, but in the long run this was the right choice I'm sorry my mom deserves the truth."

A Marine commander in retrospect speculated Lew may have been nodding off because he suffered from depression or some other medical condition.

Chu discussed her nephew's death during a House Armed Services hearing on suicide prevention in September, held at the same time as the Article 32 hearing. She told military witnesses that Lew was "a very popular and outgoing young man known for joking and smiling and break dancing."

Chu also issued a statement saying no one deserves being "hazed and tortured" like her nephew was, and that the military justice system must hold "any wrongdoers accountable."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-30-Marines-Alleged%20Hazing/id-ead098fa372d400d9f891e411de09079

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Djokovic wins Australian Open in longest final (AP)

MELBOURNE, Australia ? Novak Djokovic ripped off his shirt and let out a primal scream, flexing his torso the way a prize fighter would after a desperate, last-round knockout.

This was the final act in Djokovic's 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 victory over Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final ? a sweat-drenched, sneaker-squeaking 5 hour, 53-minute endurance contest that ended at 1:37 a.m. Monday morning in Melbourne.

Djokovic overcame a break in the fifth set to win his fifth Grand Slam tournament and third in a row. None, though, quite like this. This one involved tears, sweat and, yes, even a little blood. It was the longest Grand Slam singles final in the history of pro tennis and it came against Nadal, the player who built a career on his tenacity ? on outlasting opponents in matches like these.

"It was obvious on the court for everybody who has watched the match that both of us, physically, we took the last drop of energy that we had from our bodies," Djokovic said. "We made history tonight and unfortunately there couldn't be two winners."

When the drama was finally over at Rod Laver Arena, the 24-year-old Djokovic joined Laver, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer and Nadal as the only men who have won three consecutive majors since the Open Era began in 1968. Nadal was his vanquished opponent in all three.

Djokovic will go for the "Nole Slam" at Roland Garros in May.

As the players waited for the trophy presentation, Nadal leaned on the net, while Djokovic sat on his haunches. Eventually, a nearby official took pity and they were given chairs and bottles of water.

Nadal held his composure during the formalities, and even opened his speech with a lighthearted one-liner.

"Good morning, everybody," he said.

A few minutes earlier, after hugging Nadal at the net, Djokovic tore off his sweat-soaked black shirt and headed toward his players' box, pumping his arms repeatedly as he roared. He walked over to his girlfriend, his coach and the rest of his support team and banged on the advertising signs at the side of the court.

"I think it was just the matter of maybe luck in some moments and matter of wanting this more than maybe other player in the certain point," Djokovic said. "It's just incredible effort. You're in pain, you're suffer(ing). You're trying to activate your legs. You're going through so much suffering your toes are bleeding. Everything is just outrageous, but you're still enjoying that pain."

The match was full of long rallies and amazing gets. Djokovic finished with 57 winners, along with 69 unforced errors. Nadal had 44 winners against 71 unforced errors.

Laver was part of the 15,000-strong crowd when the players walked on at 7:30 p.m. Sunday to flip the coin and start the warmup. He was still there, along with most of the crowd, after 2 a.m. for the trophy presentations.

Djokovic called it the most special of his five Grand Slam wins.

"This one I think comes out on the top because just the fact that we played almost six hours is incredible, incredible," he said. "I think it's probably the longest finals in the history of all Grand Slams, and just to hear that fact is making me cry, really.

"I'm very proud just to be part of this history."

It went so long because Nadal refused to yield. He was trying to avoid becoming the first man to lose three consecutive Grand Slam finals ? and seeing his losing streak in finals stretch to seven against Djokovic, who beat him for the Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles and took his No. 1 ranking last year.

After a grueling four-set loss to Djokovic at Flushing Meadows last year, Nadal said that, indeed, he may have found a slight opening ? a glimmer of hope for next time against the player who dominated the 2011 season and had dismantled him time and again over the year.

This one was, in fact, closer, though not necessarily because of any strategic changes, but rather, because Rafa summoned up the heart to take this one the distance.

Nadal stayed in the contest for almost every point, sprinting from one side of the court to the other, chasing down balls and making Djokovic work extra time for the victory. But in the end, the same man was holding the trophy.

Nadal thought his win in the 2008 final against Federer was the best match he's played, but gave Sunday's match a top place in his personal rankings nonetheless.

"This one was very special," he said. "But I really understand that was a really special match, and probably a match that's going to be in my mind not because I lost, no, because the way that we played."

Djokovic had his off moments during this two-week tournament Down Under. He appeared to struggle for breath in his quarterfinal win over No. 5 David Ferrer and again during his five-set semifinal win over No. 4 Andy Murray. He blamed it on allergies, and he managed to control it better against Nadal.

Yet, at times in the final, he looked as if he couldn't go on.

When Nadal fended off three break points at 4-4 in the fourth set to win the game, spectators jumped to their feet and chanted "Rafa, Rafa, Rafa, Rafa!" Djokovic had lost the momentum. Play was stopped moments later when rain started to fall and a suddenly animated Nadal threw his arms up in disbelief and walked slowly back to his chair. The stadium roof was then closed.

Djokovic picked up his game after a 10-minute break and his pockets of supporters waved their Serbian flags again and started their own competing chant of "Nole, Nole, Nole" ? inserting Djokovic's nickname where "Ole" belongs in the tune and rhythm of the Spanish soccer chant.

It wasn't enough to get him through the tiebreaker in the fourth set, though, when Nadal won the last four points to finish it in 88 minutes. Nadal dropped to his knees on the baseline and pumped his arms at that point, celebrating as if he'd won the final. All he'd done was prolong it. This pair had never gone to five sets.

Just as he did during the first set, Djokovic took off a white shirt and replaced it with a black one.

It didn't seem to help immediately as he went down a break and a defeat loomed.

The match clock hit 5 hours with the score 2-2 in the fifth. Nadal won the next point and Djokovic started to stumble slightly, unsteady on his feet.

Nadal held that game without losing a point and then broke Djokovic for a 4-2 lead.

The turning point came in the next game, when Nadal had an open court but knocked a backhand volley wide down the line. He challenged the call, but the ball was clearly out. Instead of being up 40-15 and one point from a 5-2 lead, the game score became 30-30.

Djokovic found energy again and got a break point with a backhand that forced an error from Nadal. He pounced on a Nadal second serve to convert the break as the match clock ticked to 5:15, confirming it as the longest match in the history of the Australian Open. Nadal had that record, at 5:14, in his five-set semifinal win over fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in 2009.

This match had already long surpassed Mats Wilander's win over Ivan Lendl at the 1988 U.S. Open, in 4:54, as the longest final in the terms of duration.

Djokovic started to look better physically and Nadal started to make some unforced errors, giving the Serbian some extra seconds between points to get his heavy breathing under control. After getting back on serve at 4-4, Djokovic kissed the crucifix around his neck twice.

With Nadal serving, the pair engaged in a 31-shot rally that Nadal finally won when Djokovic committed a backhand error. The Serb fell flat on his back on the court, fully stretched out, arms over his head, while Nadal doubled over on his side of the court, hands perched on his knees.

It appeared Djokovic was ready to throw in the towel, but he said he never thought about staying down.

"At that point I was just thinking of getting some air and trying to recover for next point," he said. "Thousand thoughts going through the mind. Trying to separate the right from wrong. Trying to prioritize the next point. I'm playing against one of the best players ever ? the player that is so mentally strong. He was going for everything or nothing."

When Djokovic got the break to go up 5-4, the Serbian fans jumped up with their flags and screamed while the rest of the crowd sat in stony silence.

After kissing the crucifix around his neck repeatedly in the later games, Djokovic openly prayed out loud and looked upward as he got within points of sealing his victory.

"I was trying find every possible help and energy that I possibly can," he said. "It paid off I guess."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_sp_te_ga_su/ten_australian_open

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Taking the long view on the world's energy supplies

Read more: "Power paradox: Clean might not be green forever "

BACK in 1896, the Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius realised that by burning coal we were adding carbon dioxide to the air, and that this would warm the Earth. But he mentioned the issue only in passing, for his calculations suggested it would not become a problem for thousands of years. Others thought that the oceans would soak up any extra CO₂, so there was nothing much to worry about.

That this latter argument has persisted to this day in some quarters highlights our species' propensity to underestimate the scale of our impact on the planet. Even the Earth's vast oceans cannot suck up CO₂ as quickly as we can produce it, and we now know the stored CO₂ is acidifying the oceans, a problem in itself.

Now a handful of researchers are warning that energy sources we normally think of as innocuous could affect the planet's climate too. If we start to extract immense amounts of power from the wind, for instance, it will have an impact on how warmth and water move around the planet, and thus on temperatures and rainfall (see "How clean is green?").

Just to be clear, no one is suggesting we should stop building wind farms on the basis of this risk. Aside from the huge uncertainties about the climatic effects of extracting power from the wind, our present and near-term usage is far too tiny to make any difference. For the moment, any negative consequences on the climate are massively outweighed by the effects of pumping out ever more CO₂. That poses by far the greater environmental threat; weaning ourselves off fossil fuels should remain the priority.

Even so, now is the time to start thinking about the long-term effects of the alternative energy sources we are turning to. Those who have already started to look at these issues report weary, indifferent or even hostile reactions to their work.

That's understandable, but disappointing. These effects may be inconsequential, in which case all that will have been wasted is some research time that may well yield interesting insights anyway. Or they may turn out to be sharply negative, in which case the more notice we have, the better. It would be unfortunate, to put it mildly, to spend countless trillions replacing fossil-fuel energy infrastructure only to discover that its successor is also more damaging than it need be.

These climatic effects may even be beneficial. The first, tentative models suggest that extracting large amounts of energy from high-altitude jet streams would cool the planet, counteracting the effects of rising greenhouse gases. It might even be possible to build an energy infrastructure that gives us a degree of control over the weather: turning off wind turbines here, capturing more of the sun's energy there.

We may also need to rethink our long-term research priorities. The sun is ultimately the only source of energy that doesn't end up altering the planet's energy balance. So the best bet might be to invest heavily in improving solar technology and and energy storage - rather than in efforts to harness, say, nuclear fusion.

For the moment, all of this remains supposition. But our species has a tendency to myopia. We have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, by taking the long view for a change.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Space Station Dodges Debris From Destroyed Chinese Satellite (SPACE.com)

The International Space Station fired its thrusters Saturday (Jan. 28) in order to steer clear of orbital debris from China's 2007 anti-satellite test.

The dodging maneuver was required to avoid space junk from the Chinese satellite Fengyun 1C, which peppered low-Earth orbit with an estimated 3,000 pieces of shrapnel when it was intentionally destroyed by China five years ago. The remaining debris has required several similar avoidance maneuvers by the space station in recent years.

Rocket thrusters on the space station's Russian-built Zvezda service module fired at 6:50 p.m. EST (2350 GMT) in a 1-minute, four-second burn to slightly raise the laboratory's orbit, leaving it on a path that reaches just over 251 miles (404 kilometers) above Earth at the highest point, NASA officials said in an update.

Saturday's maneuver was "designed to place the station at the correct altitude and trajectory for future visiting vehicle activities and to avoid a repetitive coincidence of possible conjunctions with a piece of Chinese Fengyun 1C satellite debris," NASA officials explained.

A conjunction is what scientists call instances in which space debris will fly close enough to the station to cause concern. Since the space station orbits Earth at about 17,500 mph (28,164 kilometers per hour), even a small piece of orbital debris can cause serious damage if it hits. [Photos: Space Debris & Cleanup Concepts]

The Fengyun 1C satellite debris had the potential to cause seven conjunctions with the space station, so steering the $100 billion safely into the clear was required, according to an earlier NASA update.

The space station is currently home to a six-man crew that includes three Russians, two Americans and one Dutch astronaut. NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston typically orders a dodging maneuver when debris is expected to fly inside a safety perimeter, which is shaped like a pizza box, that extends about 15 miles (25 km) around the space station, as well as a half-mile (0.75 km) above and below the orbiting lab.

When there is not enough time to plan a dodging maneuver, station astronauts can take shelter inside the Russian Soyuz vehicles that ferry them to and from the station until a piece of space junk has safely zoomed by. The Soyuz capsules, two of which are docked at the station now, each seat three people and can double as lifeboats.

Maneuvers to avoid space junk conjunctions are not uncommon for the space station and other satellites orbiting Earth.? Earlier this month, the space station fired its thrusters to avoid debris from a 2009 satellite crash between an U.S. and Russian spacecraft.

Space junk poses an ongoing threat to astronauts on the space station , as well as other satellites in orbit. To date, there are about 6,000 tons of space junk orbiting Earth ranging from tiny bolts and paint chips to huge spent rocket stages and dead satellites.

More than 500,000 pieces of space junk are currently tracked every day by NASA and the U.S. military's Space Surveillance Network in order to avoid collisions in orbit.

You can follow Tariq Malik on Twitter?@tariqjmalik.?Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20120129/sc_space/spacestationdodgesdebrisfromdestroyedchinesesatellite

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Romney, Gingrich Address Foreclosures, Joblessness (ContributorNetwork)

Jobs and housing are key issues on the minds of Florida Republican primary voters, the New York Times reported. That's because Florida suffers 9.9 percent unemployment and feels the brunt of the foreclosure crisis. One in 360 Florida homes is in foreclosure, the Times noted. While unemployment is down from its record-breaking 12 percent of December 2010, Florida's tied for sixth highest jobless numbers in the nation.

Here's what the two leading candidates, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, tell Florida voters they will do about joblessness and foreclosures:

Joblessness

* Gingrich told CBS News he would change the unemployment system, requiring workers to undergo training to qualify. Business would fund the programs. "We'd be paying you to improve human capital; we wouldn't be paying you to sit around and do nothing," he said.

* "It's fundamentally wrong to give people money for 99 weeks for doing nothing," Gingrich said.

* Gingrich's jobs platform would make temporary tax relief permanent; cut capital gains taxes; cut corporate income tax to 12.5 percent; allow 100 percent new equipment expensing; repeal Sarbanes-Oxley, the Community Reinvestment Act and Dodd-Frank; develop U.S. energy sources; replace health care laws with a "pro-jobs, pro-responsibility" health plan; and reform entitlement programs.

* If president, "?my highest priority would be worrying about your job, not saving my own," Romney said.

* "We have all been distressed by the policies that this administration has put in place over the last two years," Romney said in June. "We have seen the most anti-investment, antigrowth, anti-job strategy in America since Jimmy Carter. The result has been it's harder and harder for people to find work."

* Romney's jobs platform would lower corporate taxes to 25 percent; promote new trade agreements; maximize leasing of existing open energy reserves and evaluate opening new ones; and consolidate worker retraining programs, turning administration over to states.

Foreclosures

* Romney would scale back Dodd-Frank, making it easier for banks to restructure foreclosures, the Kansas City Star reported.

* Gingrich would repeal Dodd-Frank, Business Week noted. "If they would repeal it tomorrow morning, you would have a better housing market the next day," Gingrich said.

* Gingrich told voters Romney profited from their homes losses, the Washington Post reported.

* Romney retorted a blind trust decides his investments. He noted Gingrich took paychecks from Freddie Mac, a lender implicated in the foreclosure crisis.

* Romney opposes government intervention to forestall foreclosure, telling struggling homeowners if a lender won't work with them, they may have to walk away from mortgage debt and start over. He likened foreclosure threat to banks facing going out of business, saying the solution to both is to hit reset, take the loss, and move on.

* Gingrich said the GOP is trying to drown him in mud raised with money from people and companies who foreclosed on Floridians. He said the power structure in Washington would rather manage decay than make changes.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120129/pl_ac/10900295_romney_gingrich_address_foreclosures_joblessness

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Sarah Costa: Pregnant and Displaced: Double the Danger

"There were no means of transport, so they prepared a bicycle. She lost a lot of blood and when she arrived at the district hospital, she wasn't paid much attention. Around 6 a.m., both the mother and baby died. I witnessed it. The woman was 38 years-old." These are the words of a man from the Kisumu district in Kenya, describing a pregnant woman in his community who had died while giving birth during the post-election violence that rocked the country in early 2008.

This kind of scenario plays out every day, around the world; more than 350,000 women die during pregnancy and childbirth every year. Ninety-nine percent of these deaths occur in developing countries, where the lack of access to quality health care and information results in high fertility rates and closely spaced births, increasing women's and girls' risk of death and disability. Indeed, pregnancy can be a matter of life or death for women and girls in these places; and, their infants' lives are in jeopardy as well.

Not surprisingly, the overwhelming majority of the countries with the highest rates of maternal death are conflict-affected. In countries like Somalia, maternal and reproductive health systems were severely limited even before disaster hit, and now, services are even weaker and scarcer. In this environment, those displaced and uprooted by conflict or disaster are at heightened risk of life-threatening complications during pregnancy and childbirth. And pervasive sexual violence, including rape, increases the likelihood of unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. In crisis situations, sex work tends to escalate out of necessity -- with women forced to exchange sex for money or food to support their families -- and this further raises their risk of unwanted pregnancy and unsafe pregnancies and births.

To address the critical maternal and reproductive health needs of women and girls in such settings, the Women's Refugee Commission advocates for implementation of a set of priority lifesaving reproductive health activities at the very onset of humanitarian crises, known as the Minimum Initial Services Package (MISP) for Reproductive Health in Crisis Situations. This compendium outlines the priority services that must be provided to prevent death and disability, particularly among women and girls. We advocate for international aid agencies and local health organizations to ensure that basic emergency obstetric care is available at all times, clinical services for survivors of sexual assault are provided and contraceptives are accessible to meet demand. Once the situation in the country stabilizes, the full array of maternal health and family planning services should be made available.

The international community has made significant progress over the last 10 years in improving reproductive health care in emergency situations. Services are now more widely available, and these standards have been worked into international frameworks and action plans. Yet, there is much more to be done to ensure that all women and girls -- especially those uprooted by crisis -- can access high-quality reproductive health services and safely deliver their babies.

For example, meeting with maternal health care providers on the front lines in crisis-affected areas we found that many of them reported feeling isolated and unsupported in their work. Recognizing that there was a need for health providers from different conflict- and disaster-affected areas to share their experiences and knowledge, the Women's Refugee Commission created the initiative Mama: Together for Safe Births in Crises. Using social networking, Mama links doctors, nurses and midwives to each other and to experts so they can access the latest information from the field, share ideas and support one another.

Maternal health care providers obviously have a huge role to play in improving services. We have to better equip, train and support them, but they're not the only ones who can effect change. It's time we all step up our efforts to ensure that women and girls everywhere can decide freely if and when they want to have children, that all mothers can deliver their babies safely and that services are available for women who have suffered gender-based violence. From famine-ravaged Somalia to earthquake-devastated Haiti, sexual and reproductive health care has been one of the most neglected areas of humanitarian assistance. We cannot let women and girls pay the price any longer.

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-costa/maternal-health-care_b_1235005.html

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911 call reveals frantic efforts to help Moore (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? A 911 recording revealed frantic efforts by friends of Demi Moore to get help for the actress who was convulsing as they gathered around her and tried to comfort her.

Moore was "semi-conscious, barely," according to a female caller on the recording released Friday by Los Angeles fire officials.

The woman tells emergency operators that Moore, 49, had smoked something before she was rushed to the hospital on Monday night and that she had been "having issues lately."

"Is she breathing normal?" the operator asks.

"No, not so normal. More kind of shaking, convulsing, burning up," the friend says as she hurries to Moore's side, on the edge of panic.

Another woman is next to Moore as the dispatcher asks if she's responsive.

"Demi, can you hear me?" she asks. "Yes, she's squeezing hands. ... She can't speak."

When the operator asks what Moore ingested or smoked, the friend replies, but the answer was redacted.

Asked if Moore took the substance intentionally or not, the woman says Moore ingested it on purpose but the reaction was accidental.

"Whatever she took, make sure you have it out for the paramedics," the operator says.

The operator asks the friend if this has happened before.

"I don't know," she says. "There's been some stuff recently that we're all just finding out."

Moore's publicist, Carrie Gordon, said previously that the actress sought professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. She would not comment further on the emergency call or provide details about the nature or location of Moore's treatment.

The past few months have been rocky for Moore.

She released a statement in November announcing she had decided to end her marriage to fellow actor Ashton Kutcher, 33, following news of alleged infidelity. The two were known to publicly share their affection for one another via Twitter.

Moore still has a Twitter account under the name mrskutcher but has not posted any messages since Jan. 7.

Meanwhile, Millennium Films announced Friday that Sarah Jessica Parker will replace Moore in the role of feminist Gloria Steinem in its production of "Lovelace," a biopic about the late porn star Linda Lovelace. A statement gave no reason for the change. The production, starring Amanda Seyfried, has been shooting in Los Angeles since Dec. 20.

During the call, the woman caller says the group of friends had turned Moore's head to the side and was holding her down. The dispatcher tells her not to hold her down but to wipe her mouth and nose and watch her closely until paramedics arrive.

"Make sure that we keep an airway open," the dispatcher says. "Even if she passes out completely, that's OK. Stay right with her."

The phone is passed around by four people, including a woman who gives directions to the gate and another who recounts details about what Moore smoked or ingested. Finally, the phone is given to a man named James, so one of the women can hold Moore's head.

There was some confusion at the beginning of the call. The emergency response was delayed by nearly two minutes as Los Angeles and Beverly Hills dispatchers sorted out which city had jurisdiction over the street where Moore lives.

As the call is transferred to Beverly Hills, the frantic woman at Moore's house raises her voice and said, "Why is an ambulance not on its way right now?"

"Ma'am, instead of arguing with me why an ambulance is not on the way, can you spell (the street name) for me?" the Beverly Hills dispatcher says.

Although the estate is located in the 90210 ZIP code above Benedict Canyon, the response was eventually handled by the Los Angeles Fire Department.

By the end of the call, Moore has improved.

"She seems to have calmed down now. She's speaking," the male caller told the operator.

Moore and Kutcher were wed in September 2005.

Kutcher became a stepfather to Moore's three daughters ? Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle ? from her 13-year marriage to actor Bruce Willis. Moore and Willis divorced in 2000 but remained friendly.

Moore can be seen on screen in the recent films "Margin Call" and "Another Happy Day." Kutcher replaced Charlie Sheen on TV's "Two and a Half Men" and is part of the ensemble film "New Year's Eve."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_en_mo/us_people_demi_moore

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Venezuelan gets 14 months in Conn. fraud cover-up (AP)

BRIDGEPORT, Conn. ? A real estate manager who tried to cover up a Connecticut-based pyramid scheme involving hundreds of millions of dollars from a Venezuela state pension fund has been sentenced to 14 months in prison.

Forty-one-year-old Juan Carlos Horna Napolitano is a citizen of Venezuela and Italy living in Pembroke Pines, Fla. He pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to obstruct a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of hedge fund adviser Francisco Illarramendi (EE'-yah-rah-mehn-dee).

At sentencing Friday in federal court in Bridgeport, Horna was ordered to forfeit $935,000 prosecutors said Illarramendi gave him to fake documents. A co-conspirator was sentenced in December to 14 months and ordered to forfeit $315,000 he received.

Illarramendi is a Venezuelan-American financier living in New Canaan (KAY'-nuhn). He pleaded guilty last year to fraud and conspiracy to obstruct justice and awaits sentencing.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_us/us_hedge_fund_venezuela

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Free Android Wallpaper of the day - Over the Rockies

Here's a nice one from reader ThreeofNine, who snagged this shot from an airplane while over the Rocky Mountains.

• Download this wallpaper
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/VTCBPO1ofis/story01.htm

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Obama turns attention to energy in key states

President Barack Obama waves as he exits Air Force One in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/John Gurzinski)

President Barack Obama waves as he exits Air Force One in Las Vegas, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. (AP Photo/John Gurzinski)

President Barack Obama speaks about manufacturing and jobs during a visit to Intel Corporation's Ocotillo facility Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, in Chandler, Ariz. In 2011 Intel announced a more than $5 billion investment to build the new chip manufacturing facility, called the Fab 42, bringing thousands of construction and permanent manufacturing jobs to Intel's Arizona site.(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? President Barack Obama was returning Thursday to two western states key to his re-election, Nevada and Colorado, promoting his energy agenda while grabbing some of the political spotlight ahead of his Republican rivals.

Obama promoted the sale of new oil and gas drilling leases in the Gulf of Mexico and the promise of cars running on natural gas, defending his energy agenda against critics who say his policies have stifled domestic energy production.

The White House is portraying Obama as willing to seek the middle ground on energy after Republicans and the industry criticized him for the moratorium put in place after the Gulf disaster, the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, and other policies they say have hampered production, jobs and national energy security.

"We need an all-out, all-in, all-of-the-above strategy that develops every source of American energy ? a strategy that's cleaner and cheaper and full of new jobs," Obama said at a Nevada UPS center, flanked by large trucks bearing the delivery company's logos.

The parcels the Obama administration is putting up for lease in June are part of an offshore drilling plan for 2007-12 put in place by President George W. Bush. But after the massive BP oil spill led to an overhaul of the government's oversight of offshore exploration and production, some of those areas were re-evaluated for the environmental risks associated with drilling, in some cases delaying the original auction date.

Later, speaking at Buckley Air Force Base in Colorado, Obama was expected to highlight the expanded use of clean energy by the Defense Department. The Air Force is installing a one-megawatt solar array on the base, and it tested jets last year that are powered by advanced biofuels.

Both Nevada and Colorado hold their presidential caucuses within the next two weeks ? events that have grown in importance as the Republican contest for the White House appears to narrow to a choice between former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich.

Obama kicked off his post-State of the Union address to Congress tour on Wednesday in Iowa and Arizona, pushing for tax incentives for manufacturers. His three-day trip concludes Friday in Michigan.

Obama won both Nevada and Colorado in the 2008 presidential election ? a contest that is a state-by-state battle for electoral votes. He visited both states in late October, using that trip to launch a phase of his campaign to jump-start the economy. With economic indicators improving, he now visits on a higher note.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-26-Obama/id-b8b415dffbad47af8bb0b33792aa92b2

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Summary Box: WellPoint 4Q profit sinks 39 percent (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS ? EARNINGS DROP: Insurer WellPoint Inc. said Wednesday it earned $335.3 million, or 96 cents per share, in the three months that ended Dec. 31. That's down from $548.8 million, or $1.40 per share, in the final quarter of 2010. The performance was below Wall Street expectations.

WHAT HAPPENED: WellPoint said it took a $50 million hit from a Northern California Medicare Advantage plan it has since discontinued.

2012 FORECAST: The insurer expects to earn at least $7.60 per share on about $62.1 billion in revenue. Analysts expect earnings of $7.76 per share on $63 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_wellpoint_summary_box

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Nokia Announces 1.5 Billion S40 Phones Sold

Does the term S40 mean anything to you? It's a mobile operating system built by Nokia for its feature phones back in 1999, and first appeared on the 7110. Well, apparently a lady over in S?o Paulo, Brazil has today purchased the 1.5 billionth phone running the operating system in the form of the Nokia Asha 303. Nokia is calling it "one of the most significant milestones" in company history.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/fdsDCO2wQq0/

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Groups sue over Navy sonar use off Northwest (AP)

SEATTLE ? A group of conservationists and Indian tribes is suing over the Navy's expanded use of sonar in training exercises off the Washington, Oregon and California coasts, saying the noise can harass and kill whales and other marine life.

In a lawsuit being filed Thursday, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Earthjustice and other groups claim the National Marine Fisheries Service was wrong to approve the Navy's plan for the expanded training. They say the regulators should have considered the effects repeated sonar use can have on those species over many years.

They want certain restrictions on where and when the Navy can conduct sonar and other loud activities to protect orcas, humpbacks and other marine mammals.

Instead, the Navy is only required to look around and see if whales are present before they conduct the training.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_us/us_navy_whales

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Protein in the brain could be a key target in controlling Alzheimer's

Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Preston M. Moretz
pmoretz@temple.edu
215-204-4380
Temple University

A protein recently discovered in the brain could play a key role in regulating the creation of amyloid beta, the major component of plaques implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers at Temple University's School of Medicine.

A group led by Domenico Pratico, professor of pharmacology and microbiology and immunology at Temple, discovered the presence of the protein, called 12/15-Lipoxygenase, in the brain three years ago.

"We found this protein to be very active in the brains of people who have Alzheimer's disease," said Pratico. "But three years ago, we didn't know the role it played in the development of the disease."

Following two years of study, the Temple researchers have found that the protein is at the top of a pathway and controls a biochemical chain reaction that begins the development of Alzheimer's. They have published their findings, "Transcriptional Regulation of secretase-1 by 12/15 Lipoxygenase Results in Enhanced Amyloidogenesis and Cognitive Impairments," in the journal Annals of Neurology.

Pratico said that their research has shown that 12/15-Lipoxygenase controls Beta secretase (BACE-1), an enzyme that is key to the development of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's patients.

"For reasons we don't yet know, in some people, 12/15-Lipoxygenase starts to work too much," he said. "By working too much, it sends the wrong message to the Beta secretase, which in turn starts to produce more amyloid Beta. This initially results in cognitive impairment, memory impairment and, later, an increase of amyloid plaque."

BACE-1 has long been a biological target for researchers seeking to create a drug against Alzheimer's disease, said Pratico. But because little has been known about how it functions, they have been unsuccessful developing a molecule that could reach the brain and block it.

"We now know much better how Beta secretase works because we have found that the 12/15-Lipoxygenase protein is a controller of BACE functions," he said. "You don't need to target the Beta secretase directly because the 12/15-Lipoxygenase is really the system in the brain that tells BACE to work more or work less."

Pratico said that they have validated 12/15-Lipoxygenase as a target for a potential Alzheimer drug or therapy.

"By modulating BACE levels and activity through controlling the 12/15-Lipoxygenase, we can potentially improve the cognitive part of the phenotype of the disease, and prevent the accumulation of amyloid beta inside the neurons, which will eventually translate into less of those plaques," he said. "This is a totally new mechanism for controlling BACE."

Pratico said his group has looked at an experimental compound that blocks 12/15-Lipoxygenase function as a potential therapy to inhibit BACE function in the brain. In their lab, using animal models, they saw the drug's ability to restore some cognitive function, as well as improve learning and memory ability.

"There is an opportunity here to study this molecule and develop an even stronger molecule to target 12/15-Lipoxygenase function in the brain," he said.

###

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer's Association.

Copies of this study are available to working journalists and may be obtained by contacting Preston M. Moretz in Temple's Office of University Communications at pmoretz@temple.edu.

---

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?

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.

Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Preston M. Moretz
pmoretz@temple.edu
215-204-4380
Temple University

A protein recently discovered in the brain could play a key role in regulating the creation of amyloid beta, the major component of plaques implicated in the development of Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers at Temple University's School of Medicine.

A group led by Domenico Pratico, professor of pharmacology and microbiology and immunology at Temple, discovered the presence of the protein, called 12/15-Lipoxygenase, in the brain three years ago.

"We found this protein to be very active in the brains of people who have Alzheimer's disease," said Pratico. "But three years ago, we didn't know the role it played in the development of the disease."

Following two years of study, the Temple researchers have found that the protein is at the top of a pathway and controls a biochemical chain reaction that begins the development of Alzheimer's. They have published their findings, "Transcriptional Regulation of secretase-1 by 12/15 Lipoxygenase Results in Enhanced Amyloidogenesis and Cognitive Impairments," in the journal Annals of Neurology.

Pratico said that their research has shown that 12/15-Lipoxygenase controls Beta secretase (BACE-1), an enzyme that is key to the development of amyloid plaques in Alzheimer's patients.

"For reasons we don't yet know, in some people, 12/15-Lipoxygenase starts to work too much," he said. "By working too much, it sends the wrong message to the Beta secretase, which in turn starts to produce more amyloid Beta. This initially results in cognitive impairment, memory impairment and, later, an increase of amyloid plaque."

BACE-1 has long been a biological target for researchers seeking to create a drug against Alzheimer's disease, said Pratico. But because little has been known about how it functions, they have been unsuccessful developing a molecule that could reach the brain and block it.

"We now know much better how Beta secretase works because we have found that the 12/15-Lipoxygenase protein is a controller of BACE functions," he said. "You don't need to target the Beta secretase directly because the 12/15-Lipoxygenase is really the system in the brain that tells BACE to work more or work less."

Pratico said that they have validated 12/15-Lipoxygenase as a target for a potential Alzheimer drug or therapy.

"By modulating BACE levels and activity through controlling the 12/15-Lipoxygenase, we can potentially improve the cognitive part of the phenotype of the disease, and prevent the accumulation of amyloid beta inside the neurons, which will eventually translate into less of those plaques," he said. "This is a totally new mechanism for controlling BACE."

Pratico said his group has looked at an experimental compound that blocks 12/15-Lipoxygenase function as a potential therapy to inhibit BACE function in the brain. In their lab, using animal models, they saw the drug's ability to restore some cognitive function, as well as improve learning and memory ability.

"There is an opportunity here to study this molecule and develop an even stronger molecule to target 12/15-Lipoxygenase function in the brain," he said.

###

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Alzheimer's Association.

Copies of this study are available to working journalists and may be obtained by contacting Preston M. Moretz in Temple's Office of University Communications at pmoretz@temple.edu.

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/tu-pit012512.php

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Romney paid $3M in federal income tax in 2010 (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid about $3 million in federal income taxes in 2010, having earned more than seven times that from his investments and making him among the wealthiest of American taxpayers.

At the same time, Romney gave nearly $3 million to charity ? about half of that amount to the Mormon Church ? which helped lower his effective tax rate to a modest 14 percent, according to records his campaign released early Tuesday.

For 2011, he'll pay about $3.2 million with an effective tax rate of about 15.4 percent, the campaign said. Those returns haven't yet been filed yet with the Internal Revenue Service.

The former Massachusetts governor had been under pressure in recent weeks to release his tax returns, his GOP opponents casting him as a wealthy businessman who slashed jobs in the private sector. Rival Newt Gingrich made public his returns on Saturday, showing he paid almost $1 million in income taxes ? a tax rate of about 31 percent.

Romney's campaign confirmed the details of his tax information after several news organizations saw a preview of the documents. He had said planned to release his returns in full Tuesday morning, and campaign officials would be prepared to discuss them in detail with reporters.

"You'll see my income, how much taxes I've paid, how much I've paid to charity," Romney said during Monday night's debate in Tampa. "I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more. I don't think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes."

Romney's 2010 returns show the candidate is among the top 1 percent of taxpayers. The returns showed about $4.5 million in itemized deductions, including $1.5 million to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Before the tax records were released, Romney's old investments in two controversial government-backed housing lenders stirred up new questions at the same time his campaign targeted Gingrich for his work for Freddie Mac.

Gingrich earned $1.6 million in consulting fees from Freddie Mac even though Romney has as much as $500,000 invested in the U.S.-backed lender and its sister entity, Fannie Mae.

The dimensions and the sources of Romney's wealth, which he has estimated to be as much as $250 million, have become pivotal issues in the roiling GOP primary campaign. For months, Romney dismissed calls to release his personal income tax records. But after mounting criticism from his rivals and others, coupled with his stinging weekend loss to Gingrich in the South Carolina primary, Romney agreed to release his 2010 return and 2011 estimate.

Romney already has acknowledged that his current tax rate is about 15 percent, a level far lower than standard rates for high-income earners and similar to the capital gains rate. "I'm proud of the fact that I pay a lot of taxes," Romney said.

The current lowest rate for long-term capital gains is 15 percent, but a higher rate of 20 percent had been in effect since 1981 until President George W. Bush signed into law a massive tax cut program in 2001.

Romney's vast investments contain other funds than the ones he profited from as a Bain Capital executive. But it was unclear whether he had any direct role in handling the investments in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that appear on his 2012 presidential disclosure.

One investment, listed as a "Federated Government Obligation Fund" and worth between $250,000 and $500,000, was a mutual fund that included both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac assets among a larger pool that included other government securities.

The holding was not listed in Romney's blind trust, which led some Democratic Party activists to suggest that the investment was under his direct control.

"He is relentlessly attacking Newt Gingrich over his ties to Freddie Mac despite the fact that he personally invested up to a half a million dollars in both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac," said Ty Matsdorf, a senior adviser with American Bridge 21st Century, a PAC associated with Democratic Party and liberal causes.

Former GOP Rep. J.C. Watts, a Gingrich supporter, said Monday that Romney was on a slippery slope calling his opponent a lobbyist and raising doubts about Gingrich's work for Freddie Mac. But he did not directly address Romney's investments with the lender or with Fannie Mae.

"Some might see it as splitting hairs. But Newt Gingrich was not walking the halls of House and Senate," Watts said on a conference call arranged by the campaign. "He was never doing the hand-to-hand combat doing the lobbying, consulting, whatever you want to call it."

A Romney campaign official who insisted on anonymity to discuss that investment in greater detail said that Romney's trustee had bought the government investment fund in 2007, before the housing crisis broke.

The Romney official said that the government fund was purchased through a charity trust that does not appear in Romney's presidential disclosure but will show up on his income tax return for 2010. That trust, called a Charitable Remainder Unitrust, is a standard tax strategy among the wealthy that provides investors with a fixed payout each year. What remains in the account at a later date, or when the investor dies, is turned over to charity, the official said.

Romney does not directly control the investment account, Romney campaign senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom said earlier on Monday. "His investments are controlled by a trustee," Fehrnstrom said.

Separately, Romney's IRA retirement account lists both a Fannie Mae and a Freddie Mac security, each worth between $100,000 and $250,000. But because those are in Romney's IRA, they also appear to be under control of the trustee.

Tax experts said Romney's income tax returns may contain other charity structures and tax strategies designed to both boost his income and charity donations, while minimizing his involvement because of his presidential ambitions.

___

Associated Press writers Kasie Hunt and Brian Bakst in Tampa contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_el_pr/us_romney_s_wealth

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Complaints of workplace bias reach an all-time high

By Allison Linn

The government received more complaints of worker discrimination its last fiscal year than ever before, but it was only a slight increase over 2010.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Tuesday that it received 99,947 complaints of worker discrimination during its 2011 fiscal year, which ended in September. That?s an increase of 25 complaints over the 2010 fiscal year.

Discrimination complaints surged in the 2008 fiscal year, when the agency received 95,402 complaints as the Great Recession was getting under way. They number of complaints fell somewhat in 2009, the year the recession officially ended, but they rose again in 2010 as the economy was?recovering slowly.

Justine Lisser, a spokeswoman for the EEOC, said the agency can?t?say for certain that the weak job market has caused the spike in complaints, although there may be a correlation.

The unemployment rate remains unusually high, at 8.5 percent, more than two years after the recession officially ended and the economy began?growing again.

Lisser also noted the agency has been working harder to inform employees and employers about its claims process, and?has made it easier to research claims criteria on its website.

In 2011, about 35 percent of the workers complained of race discrimination, according to the EEOC. Gender discrimination accounted for about 29 percent of the complaints, while age discrimination complaints made up about 24 percent.

About 26 percent charged employers with discriminating on the basis of a disability.

Many people charge more than one form of discrimination, so the percentages exceed 100 percent.

The government also said it resolved 112,499 complaints in fiscal year 2011. About 18 percent of those claims received a ?merit resolution,? meaning the person received some sort of settlement.

About two-thirds of those were found to have no reasonable cause for auction. Another 16 percent were closed for administrative reasons, such as that the person who charged discrimination didn?t respond to further requests from the EEOC.

Related:

Age bias complaints surge in weak economy

{"contentId":"10225036","totalVotes":"15002"}

Do you think employee discrimination has become more commonplace since the recession began?

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/24/10225036-discrimination-complaints-reach-all-time-high

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Multiple partners not the only way for corals to stay cool

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Recent experiments conducted at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) produced striking results, showing for the first time that corals hosting a single type of "zooxanthellae" can have different levels of thermal tolerance ? a feature that was only known previously for corals with a mix of zooxanthellae.

Zooxanthellae are algal cells that live within the tissue of living coral and provide the coral host with energy; the relationship is crucial for the coral's survival. Rising ocean temperatures can lead to the loss of zooxanthellae from the coral host, as a consequence the coral loses its tissue colour and its primary source of energy, a process known as 'coral bleaching'. Globally, coral bleaching has led to significant loss of coral, and with rising ocean temperatures, poses a major threat to coral reefs.

It was previously known that corals hosting more than one type of zooxanthellae could better cope with temperature changes by favouring types of zooxanthellae that have greater thermal tolerance. However, until now it was not known if corals hosting a single type of zooxanthellae could have different levels of thermal tolerance.

Results recently published in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature Climate Change, showed corals that only host a single type of zooxanthellae may in fact differ in their thermal tolerance. This finding is important because many species of coral are dominated by a single type of zooxanthellae.

PhD student, Ms Emily Howells from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) at James Cook University, Townsville, together with scientists from AIMS and CoECRS, collected two populations of a single type of zooxanthellae (known as C1) from two locations on the Great Barrier Reef. The population collected from Magnetic Island near Townsville experiences average ocean temperatures 2?C higher than the population collected from the Whitsunday Islands. In experiments at AIMS, young corals were treated with one or other of the two different populations of zooxanthellae, and exposed to elevated water temperatures, as might occur during bleaching events.

The results were striking. Corals with zooxanthellae from the warmer region coped well with higher temperatures, staying healthy and growing rapidly, whilst corals with zooxanthellae from the cooler region suffered severe bleaching (loss of the zooxanthellae) and actually reduced in size as they partly died off.

Madeleine van Oppen, ARC Future Fellow at AIMS, says the research results will likely have a major impact on the field, as until now corals associating with the same type of zooxanthellae have been viewed as physiologically similar, irrespective of their geographical location.

"Our research suggests that populations of a single type of zooxanthellae have adapted to local conditions as can be seen from the remarkably different results of the two populations used in this study. If zooxanthellae populations are able to further adapt to increases in temperature at the pace at which oceans warm, they may assist corals to increase their thermal tolerance and survive into the future." says Emily Howells.

"However, we do not yet know how fast zooxanthellae can adapt, highlighting an important area of future research", says Bette Willis, Professor from the CoECRS at James Cook University.

Research at AIMS is therefore currently assessing whether zooxanthellae can continue to adapt to increasing temperatures and at what rate. This work in progress will provide insights into the capacity of zooxanthellae to adapt to future climate change.

###

ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies: http://www.coralcoe.org.au/

Thanks to ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116912/Multiple_partners_not_the_only_way_for_corals_to_stay_cool_

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Neuropathy patients more likely to receive high-cost, screening instead of more effective tests

Public release date: 23-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Mary F. Masson
mfmasson@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System

U-M researchers found more efficient diagnostic tools are not always used, results reported in Archives of Internal Medicine

Researchers at the University of Michigan analyzed the tremendous cost of diagnosing peripheral neuropathy and found that less expensive, more effective tests are less likely to be used.

Almost one-quarter of patients receiving neuropathy diagnoses undergo high-cost, low-yield MRIs while very few receive low-cost, high-yield glucose tolerance tests, according to the study that will be published Jan. 23 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The research was led by Brian Callaghan, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Patients diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy typically are given many tests but physicians are highly variable in their approach, says Callaghan.

"We spend a lot of money to work up a diagnosis of neuropathy. The question is whether that money is well spent," Callaghan says.

For patients with peripheral neuropathy, the nerves that carry information to and from the brain don't work property. This commonly leads to tingling or burning in arms or legs and loss of feeling and the symptoms can go from subtle to severe.

Diabetes is the most common cause of this type of nerve problem. Peripheral neuropathy is found in about 15 percent of those over age 40.

Researchers used the 1996-2007 Health and Retirement Study to identify individuals with a diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy. They focused on 15 relevant tests and examined the number and patterns of tests six months before and after the initial diagnosis.

"Our findings, that MRIs were frequently ordered by physicians, but a lower-cost glucose tolerance test was rarely ordered, show that there is substantial opportunity to improve efficiency in the evaluation of peripheral neuropathy," Callaghan says.

"Currently no standard approach to the evaluation of peripheral neuropathy exists . We need more research to determine an optimal approach.

"We do a lot of tests that cost a lot of money, and there's no agreement on what we're doing."

The climbing rates of diabetes in the U.S. make this research even more important, says co-author Kenneth M. Langa, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of Internal Medicine at U-M, a Research Scientist at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System's Center for Clinical Management Research, and Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research.

"We know more and more people may develop peripheral neuropathy because it is commonly caused by diabetes. Our study suggests that the work-up currently used for neuropathy isn't standardized and tests that are less useful and more expensive may be used too often," says Langa. "We need a more efficient way to handle this increasingly common diagnosis."

###

Journal reference: Arch Intern Med. 2012; 172[2]:127-132.

Funding: National Institutes of Health, Katherine Rayner Program and A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute. The Health and Retirement Study is supported by the National Institute on Aging.

Additional authors: Ryan McCammon, Kevin Kerber, M.D., Xiao Xu, Ph.D., and Eva Feldman, M.D., Ph.D.; all of the University of Michigan.

About the University of Michigan's Department of Neurology: The department is an academic medical department with a full range of activities in patient care, education and research. The Neurology inpatient service provides care for acutely ill patients with neurologic disease and includes a dedicated intensive care unit, a separate stroke unit, and inpatient epilepsy monitoring beds. Our faculty also investigate the causes, treatments, natural history and phenotypic spectrum of inherited neurologic disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. Our studies range from describing novel inherited neurologic syndromes; to family studies including genetic mapping; discovering genes for neurologic diseases; and the creation and analysis of laboratory animals of neurologic disease.

---

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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.

Public release date: 23-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Mary F. Masson
mfmasson@umich.edu
734-764-2220
University of Michigan Health System

U-M researchers found more efficient diagnostic tools are not always used, results reported in Archives of Internal Medicine

Researchers at the University of Michigan analyzed the tremendous cost of diagnosing peripheral neuropathy and found that less expensive, more effective tests are less likely to be used.

Almost one-quarter of patients receiving neuropathy diagnoses undergo high-cost, low-yield MRIs while very few receive low-cost, high-yield glucose tolerance tests, according to the study that will be published Jan. 23 in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

The research was led by Brian Callaghan, M.D., assistant professor of neurology at the University of Michigan Medical School.

Patients diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy typically are given many tests but physicians are highly variable in their approach, says Callaghan.

"We spend a lot of money to work up a diagnosis of neuropathy. The question is whether that money is well spent," Callaghan says.

For patients with peripheral neuropathy, the nerves that carry information to and from the brain don't work property. This commonly leads to tingling or burning in arms or legs and loss of feeling and the symptoms can go from subtle to severe.

Diabetes is the most common cause of this type of nerve problem. Peripheral neuropathy is found in about 15 percent of those over age 40.

Researchers used the 1996-2007 Health and Retirement Study to identify individuals with a diagnosis of peripheral neuropathy. They focused on 15 relevant tests and examined the number and patterns of tests six months before and after the initial diagnosis.

"Our findings, that MRIs were frequently ordered by physicians, but a lower-cost glucose tolerance test was rarely ordered, show that there is substantial opportunity to improve efficiency in the evaluation of peripheral neuropathy," Callaghan says.

"Currently no standard approach to the evaluation of peripheral neuropathy exists . We need more research to determine an optimal approach.

"We do a lot of tests that cost a lot of money, and there's no agreement on what we're doing."

The climbing rates of diabetes in the U.S. make this research even more important, says co-author Kenneth M. Langa, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of Internal Medicine at U-M, a Research Scientist at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System's Center for Clinical Management Research, and Research Professor at the Institute for Social Research.

"We know more and more people may develop peripheral neuropathy because it is commonly caused by diabetes. Our study suggests that the work-up currently used for neuropathy isn't standardized and tests that are less useful and more expensive may be used too often," says Langa. "We need a more efficient way to handle this increasingly common diagnosis."

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Journal reference: Arch Intern Med. 2012; 172[2]:127-132.

Funding: National Institutes of Health, Katherine Rayner Program and A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute. The Health and Retirement Study is supported by the National Institute on Aging.

Additional authors: Ryan McCammon, Kevin Kerber, M.D., Xiao Xu, Ph.D., and Eva Feldman, M.D., Ph.D.; all of the University of Michigan.

About the University of Michigan's Department of Neurology: The department is an academic medical department with a full range of activities in patient care, education and research. The Neurology inpatient service provides care for acutely ill patients with neurologic disease and includes a dedicated intensive care unit, a separate stroke unit, and inpatient epilepsy monitoring beds. Our faculty also investigate the causes, treatments, natural history and phenotypic spectrum of inherited neurologic disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease. Our studies range from describing novel inherited neurologic syndromes; to family studies including genetic mapping; discovering genes for neurologic diseases; and the creation and analysis of laboratory animals of neurologic disease.

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/uomh-npm012312.php

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