Republican Presidential candidate, Herman Cain campaigns in Talladega, Ala., Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
Republican Presidential candidate, Herman Cain campaigns in Talladega, Ala., Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
Republican Presidential candidate, Herman Cain campaigns in Talladega, Ala., Friday, Oct. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
BIRMNGHAM, Ala. (AP) ? Presidential candidate Herman Cain is full of confidence about his 2012 prospects.
It's been weeks since he's set foot in first-voting Iowa or New Hampshire, yet he said Saturday he said expects to finish first or second in each state.
He's also predicting victory in South Carolina, which will hold the South's first presidential contest in 2012.
"And then, look out," Cain said Saturday before plunging into a crowd of football tailgaters at Samford University, a Baptist-affiliated school in Alabama.
That win, he says, will set the stage for him to capture the GOP nomination.
Cain, however, said he plans to "dial back" his campaign and media appearances in order to avoid missteps. Since climbing in the polls, he has had a series of fumbles, forcing him to clarify comments on abortion, immigration and terrorism suspects.
Cain has chalked up the mistakes to a grueling campaign schedule jammed with media interviews. Such itineraries are standard fare on the presidential campaign trail and it is unclear how aggressively he will restrict his schedule.
A former pizza magnate who has never held elected office, Cain is adapting from a longshot candidate hustling for any media attention to a front-runner who must be more selective with his time and disciplined in his message.
"When you're too tired you're not on your 'A game,'" the 65-year-old Georgia businessman told a throng of reporters who greeted the arrival of his bus on the Samford campus.
He said it was a mistake to schedule interviews immediately following debates. Cain maintained he did not flip-flop on issues, but simply did not hear questions properly.
The blunt-spoken Cain has been more cautious lately. At a campaign stop at the Alabama Republican Party headquarters on Friday, Cain paused then asked a reporter to repeat a complicated two-part question on immigration.
"I don't want to have to clarify," he said with a laugh.
Not everyone thinks walking back a misstatement is a sign of weakness.
"I like that if he says something, he's not afraid to turn around and admit he's wrong," said Phil Andrews, of Birmingham, who tried without success to reach the candidate and have him sign his Cain t-shirt.
"He's human and that's just fine."
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Follow Shannon McCaffrey at www.twitter.com(backslash)smccaffrey13
LONDON ? The Guardian newspaper says British ministers have asked for Prince Charles's consent on a dozen pieces of legislation over the past six years, effectively giving him a right of veto.
The newspaper said Monday a freedom of information request showed the heir to the British throne was consulted on topics such as the London Olympics, economic development and coroners.
Prime Minister David Cameron's office declined to say whether any planned legislation had been blocked or amended as a result of objections from the prince.
It said it was usual constitutional practice to consult Charles in areas where he has a formal role or private interests.
Anti-monarchy group Republic called for a change to the "constitutional loophole."
Charles' mother, Queen Elizabeth II, must give assent to all legislation, but that is considered a formality.
DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - Halloween can be a very scary time of the year for people and for pets. The Humane Society of Greater Dayton recommends taking some common sense precautions to keep you and your family pets safe this Halloween season.
Trick or Treat is for people, not pets. As much as your dog or cat may beg for some Halloween candy, always remember that chocolate can be very dangerous for dogs and cats! If you think that your pet has ingested any candy, please call your veterinarian; or the Care Center (937-428-0911); or the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at 888-426-4435.
Holiday decorations such as carved pumpkins, electrical cords, plants, decorative corn, etc. should be kept away from your pets.
Don't leave any lighted candles or Jack-O-Lanterns out where they could be knocked over by a swinging tail or by a curious cat. Not only could your pet start a fire but they could severely burn themselves in the process.
Some pets really don?t seem to mind being dressed up in a costume while others find it very stressful. Please don't put your dog or cat in a costume unless you are certain that they can tolerate it. Also, please make sure that a costume is safe and does not constrict your pet?s movement or their ability to breathe freely.
Pets can be scared by children and adults in a costume. In addition, the frequent opening and closing of your front door to give out treats is an opportunity for your family pet to get out. Be cautions when opening and closing the door for ?trick or treaters?! Dogs and cats should be kept in a separate room where they are not exposed to strangers and scary costumes.
If you are having an indoor party, make sure that you put your dog or cat in a room where they won't be disturbed. Even if your pet is ?really friendly? and typically doesn't mind loud noises, music and lots of people, you should keep them separate for the night.
Please make sure that ALL of your pets have an ID tag in case they get out! A collar, ID tags and a microchip can save your pets life, and will dramatically increase the chances that he or she will be returned to you quickly.
?These tips are simple, effective ways to ensure your pet stays safe and healthy during Halloween,? said Brian Weltge, President & CEO, Humane Society of Greater Dayton. ?We always encourage pet owners to follow these guidelines so that Halloween is great family experience for your two-legged and four-legged family members.
For additional safety tips, please contact the Humane Society of Greater Dayton at 937/268-PETS or visit us online at www.hsdayton.org .
The Meadows Racetrack & Casino and its community of harness racing horsemen and horsewomen stood up to cancer Saturday with two special races to help fund breast cancer awareness.
The track and the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association, which coordinated the event, donated all commissions from the races to the Magee Women?s Hospital Breast Cancer Program. Funds raised Saturday will enhance the more than $12,000 already provided by The Meadows and the MSOA through previous events.
In the Breast Cancer Awareness Trot, which featured female drivers, Cherie Keith guided Sweet Elly Mae to victory while Danita Harvey and her daughter Nikki Harvey finished second and third, respectively, with Yankee Elizabeth and Stiletto.
Dean Zaimes captured the Breast Cancer Awareness Pace, which was limited to drivers with fewer than 50 wins this year at The Meadows, behind Captain Greg. Tyler Stillings (Odds On BP) and Brad Provost (Therealshowstopper) completed the ticket.
Tony Hall won seven of the remaining 11 races on the card, including five in a row beginning with Race 7.
BAGHDAD (AP) ? Iraq's prime minister said Saturday that 615 people have been detained in a security sweep targeting members of the former ruling Baath party.
Arrests on this scale are likely to alarm Sunni Arabs, who consider use of the term "Baathists" by Iraq's Shiite-dominated government to be a coded way to refer to Sunni politicians, army officers, and other prominent members of their community.
Sunnis say that Baghdad sometimes uses crackdowns on Baathists as a tool to exert political pressure. The arrests coincide with a recent autonomy push by a mostly-Sunni province in north-central Iraq, the latest bone of contention between Sunni political blocs and the Baghdad government.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki revealed the size of the sweep in comments released Saturday by the state-run Iraqiya TV channel during which he defended the detentions.
He said officials had reason to believe the people arrested were a threat to security but he gave no further details. He did not say when the sweep took place, but a Ministry of Interior statement Thursday said about 500 people had been arrested in recent days.
"The recent arrests, which were carried out by the security forces and were based on information and evidence, were aimed at those who threaten the state security and the state stability. There were 615 detained people," al-Maliki said.
"The Baath Party is prohibited by the Constitution, because it is a criminal party that led to the fall of the national sovereignty and it targeted the Iraqi people through the mass graves, chemical weapons," he said.
The Baath Party ruled Iraq under Saddam Hussein but now is outlawed under Iraqi law, and the prime minister has often accused ex-Baathists of planning terrorist attacks across the country.
Many Sunnis, who were disproportionately represented in the party leadership, feel the attacks against Baathists are a thinly veiled way to go after Sunnis.
A leading Sunni lawmaker, Hamid al-Mutlaq, said the arrests would heighten tensions in Iraq and called the allegations of undermining security "science fiction." He called on the government to move forward instead of arresting people for their past connections to the Baath Party.
"Such acts by the government will anger a lot of people in Anbar, Salahuddin and other Iraqi provinces and this might even threaten the unity of the country and might revive the calls for dividing Iraq," he said, referring to Sunni-majority provinces in western and central Iraq.
"It is the worst time to make these arrests ahead of the U.S. withdrawal," he said.
All American forces are to leave Iraq by the end of this year. Many Sunnis are worried that they will come under increased pressure from the Shiite-led government once the Americans, who they feel have often played a moderating influence, are gone.
De-Baathification, a concept started under the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority which ruled Iraq after the invasion, is an Iraqi government policy of trying to purge important government jobs and positions of former mid- and high-ranking members of the Baath Party. Sunnis have criticized the policy as a way to sideline them from policy decisions and prevent them from ever regaining power.
The prime minister also criticized officials in Salahuddin province, which is a mainly Sunni area north of Baghdad, for a vote they took pushing to establish an autonomous region.
Provincial officials Thursday voted to start the process of creating an autonomous region in Salahuddin, akin to the Kurdish autonomous region in northern Iraq.
Provincial officials and residents have complained that their needs aren't being met by the Shiite-led government in Baghdad and that they could do a better job providing for their own security.
The Iraqi constitution allows provinces to establish autonomous regions but it requires numerous procedural hoops making it unlikely the Salahuddin vote would be anything more than a ceremonial protest.
Al-Maliki said the Baath Party is trying to use Salahuddin province as a "safe haven."
__
Associated Press writer Sameer N. Yacoub contributed to this report.
LONDON ? If Will and Kate's first child is a girl, it's now clear that she'll probably become queen one day ? and not even getting a little brother can mess that up.
The Commonwealth countries agreed Friday to change centuries-old rules of succession that put sons on the throne ahead of any older sisters. So that hypothetical daughter of Prince William and Kate Middleton ? now known as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge ? would have a prime place in history: the first princess to beat out any younger brothers and accede to the throne.
Had these rules been in place in the 1500s, Henry VIII would have just been a rather large historical footnote.
The move is a baby step: Before taking effect, the changes still must be approved by the legislatures of the 16 nations where Queen Elizabeth II is head of state. Still, the agreement, which was reached at a meeting of Commonwealth nations in Perth, Australia, represents a triumph over practices now considered outdated and sexist in much of the world.
Nations including Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway have already taken similar steps.
Will and Kate's lavish April wedding renewed a decades-long debate over succession.
Middleton told a well-wisher in Canada this summer that she hopes to start a family. William has said the same.
Once their honeymoon was over, baby talk started, adding urgency to the dialogue, although officials insist that talk of a pregnancy is premature.
Historians think it's about time.
"You shouldn't muck around too much with the constitution, but it's a good idea to change this at this time," said royal expert Hugo Vickers. "It's much better to have it sorted out before any babies come along."
The new rules would only apply to future heirs and would have no impact on the current line of succession.
William is second in line to the throne after his father, Prince Charles, who is the queen's firstborn child. Charles' sister, Anne, is lower in the line of succession than her younger brothers Andrew and Edward by virtue of their male gender.
Charles had only sons, William and Prince Harry, so the issue of gender was never raised.
In 2009, the government of then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown considered a bill that would end the custom of putting males ahead of females in the succession line. It also would lift a ban on British monarchs marrying Roman Catholics. The government did not have time to pursue it before Brown left office.
The rule has kept women from succeeding to the throne in the past. Queen Victoria's first child was a daughter ? also called Victoria ? but it was her younger brother who became King Edward VII.
If Queen Victoria had been able to pass her crown to her firstborn, Britain's Princess Victoria would have had a brief reign before her death in 1901.
That would have made her son ? Wilhelm II, who at that time was the German Kaiser ? king. With Wilhelm II ruling both Germany and Britain, there may not have been two world wars.
Earlier history might also have been drastically different if women had had equal rights to the throne.
Neither Henry VIII nor Charles I would have been king because both had older sisters who, under the new rules, would have been monarch.
As king, Henry VIII set in motion the creation of the Church of England. His six marriages left an insecure succession ? one sickly son and two princesses, according to the monarchy's official website. Charles I's reign in the 17th century led to a bloody civil war.
Prince William and his wife have been credited with freshening up a staid monarchy, and new succession rules seem to fit right in.
"In this day and age, why should a royal son be more important than a royal daughter?" said Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine.
The same goes for the decision Friday in Perth to lift a ban on monarchs marrying Roman Catholics. Critics had called the rule blatantly discriminatory since royals are free to wed Jews, Muslims, Hindus or members of any other religion. "Britain is no longer the religious country that it once was," Little said. "While not denigrating the importance of religion, it plays much less of a role now then it did 60 years ago."
Still, some Britons are wary of a Catholic monarch.
"The pope is responsible for some horrors," said Anna Marsh, 73, who was cycling in London.
Her biking buddy Jill Gregory, 71, was fine with the idea ? and also fully in favor of giving firstborn girls an equal right to the throne.
"In terms of ability, I don't think women are any different than men," Gregory said, pointing to the queen and her late mother.
Elizabeth II succeeded her father, King George VI, because he had no sons. If she had had a younger brother, he would have jumped above her in the line of succession.
Prime Minister David Cameron had pushed for the changes, calling it a matter of equality.
New Zealand will now chair a working group of Commonwealth countries to discuss how to accomplish the reforms. It's not a simple process. Getting all 16 countries to begin the legislative changes is what has held them up for decades.
However long it takes, Patricia Wager of London said it would clear up something that should not be an issue in the modern world.
"It's a good idea, and a long time coming," she said.
___
Associated Press writer Danica Kirka contributed to this report.
An early ironclad warship makes an appearance (in a slightly fanciful etching): CSS Virginia, also called the Merrimac, 1861 Image: SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, VOL. V, NO. 19; NOVEMBER 9, 1861
NOVEMBER 1961
Teaching Machines
?Like all useful machines, the teaching machines developed slowly from the need to do a job more effectively than it could be done otherwise. They have evoked all the reactions, including the hostile ones, that we have learned to expect from a new kind of machine. Some people see the machines as a threat to the teacher, which they are not. Some fancy that they will make education a cold, mechanical process. Others fear that they will turn students into regimented and mindless robots. Such fears are groundless. The purpose of a teaching machine can be simply stated: to teach rapidly, thoroughly and expeditiously a large part of what we now teach slowly, incompletely and with wasted effort on the part of both student and teacher. ?B. F. Skinner?
NOVEMBER 1911
Got a Match?
?It has been estimated that, for each minute of time, the civilized nations of the world strike three million matches. The importance of the industry which turns out the little splinters of wood tipped with sulphur is only rec?ognized when the average smoker tries to contemplate his predicament if he had to go back to the time when he had to coax a spark from a tinder-box.?
Edison on City Lights
?I noted that the lighting of the leading European cities does not compare with that of New York. Berlin and Paris are about equally well lighted; but Berlin is continually putting in more light, and before long she will greatly surpass Paris in this regard. Night life in Berlin is increasing very rapidly. It was observable that throughout Europe the night life is on the increase in those cities which have cheap water power, and there seems to be a correlation between the night life and the industrial activity of the people. In towns where the people have cheap and plenti?-ful light, they keep later hours, and this seems to have the effect of mitigating the phlegmatic character of their temperament. ?Thomas A. Edison?
Marie Sklodowska Curie
?Only a few days ago we heard the news that Mme. Curie has been honored with the Nobel prize a second time, on this occasion in the division of chemistry. The list of medals and prizes which have been awarded to Mme. Curie in foreign countries is too long to quote. In addition to the numerous researches in radio-activity which she made in collaboration with her husband, Mme. Curie has pub?lished a great may independent papers, and a volume, ?Investigations of Radio-Active Substances,? in which the results of their co-operative researches, includ?ing the epoch-making discovery of radium, are set forth.? The complete article on Curie is at www.ScientificAmerican.com/nov2011/curie
NOVEMBER 1861
The Mighty Merrimac
?The accompanying engraving of the Merrimac is from a sketch furnished by a mechanic who came from Norfolk under a flag of truce. He says that he worked on her and is of course familiar with her appearance. The Merrimac was partially burned and then sunk at the time of the destruction of the Gosport Navy Yard last spring. We have had accounts from time to time that the secessionists had suc?ceeded in raising the Merrimac and were repairing her. The mechanic who fur?nishes the sketch says that her hull has been cut down to within three feet of her light-water mark, and a bomb-proof house built on her gun deck. Her bow and stern have been steel clad with a projecting angle of iron for the purpose of piercing a vessel.? Four months later this warship, renamed the CSS Virginia, battled the Union ship Monitor in the world?s first duel between armor-clad vessels.
Ghost Photo
?The London Review, in an article on the tendency in modern literature to the re?vival of ghost stories, suggests to the wri?ters that as a veri?fication they obtain photographs of their spectral visitors. It says: ?Now, if the specter can ask the favor let science do it a good turn. Let optics and chemistry catch this modern ghost and photograph it! It can fix the tails of comets and the atmosphere of the sun; a ghost can hardly be less material. The photographer?s plate is liable to no de?lusions, has no brains to be diseased, and is exact in its testimony.??
The Nokia 2110 was somewhat unremarkable on the surface when it first appeared in 1994. It wasn't impossibly pint-sized, nor did it have an overly complex industrial design. But it had something that no other phone at the time had: software. More »
UPDATE: It?s official, as the Twins announced that they?ve declined Nathan?s option and hope to re-sign him at a lesser salary.
==========
No surprise, but Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that ?all signs point to the Twins declining Joe Nathan?s $12.5 million option for 2012.?
Nathan missed all of 2010 following Tommy John elbow surgery and struggled upon returning this year, but pitched very well down the stretch after a stint on the disabled list.
However, the decision between a $12.5 million option or $2 million buyout is a no-brainer for the Twins even if they?re interested in having Nathan back in 2012.
He threw 29 innings with a 3.38 ERA and 28/5 K/BB ratio from late June through the end of the season, but Nathan?s velocity was below his pre-surgery levels and he?s a 37-year-old entering a market saturated with veteran closers.
NIH awards group $4.5 million for smart artificial pancreas technologyPublic release date: 26-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Melissa Van De Werfhorst melissa@engineering.ucsb.edu 805-893-4301 University of California - Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, Calif. -- The National Institutes for Health (NIH) have awarded $4.5 million to a group of international diabetes researchers to engineer an artificial pancreas system that will monitor and adapt to the body's complex real-time changes in behavior and physiology. This collaboration between physicians and engineers aims to merge three key aspects of type 1 diabetes management human behavior, physiology, and medical technology and ultimately to transition their artificial pancreas technology into clinical practice.
"This is a groundbreaking project that assembles the world's leaders in artificial pancreas technology to not only expand in-clinic methods for control of blood sugar, but to pioneer the development of outpatient solutions that can bring improved quality of life to patients in their natural environment," said Professor Frank Doyle of UC Santa Barbara, Principal Investigator for this study. "It is a unique team with interdisciplinary strengths that range from control engineering to medical practice to behavioral science."
Setting their study apart is the focus on developing a more sophisticated program, or algorithm, which acts as the "brain" of the artificial pancreas. Called a closed-loop control (CLC) system, this algorithm is informed by the numerous physiological changes such as hormones, meals, stress, exercise and sleep and mimics the insulin creation function of a healthy pancreas. A CLC system that treats type 1 diabetes must be responsive to all daily challenges in life, and able to accurately predict blood glucose levels in advance.
"This is medically-inspired engineering, or engineering-inspired medicine," commented Doyle, a Chemical Engineering professor at UCSB who holds the Mellichamp Chair in Process Control. "One of the great advantages we have is that we are collaborating to mutually understand what is needed in both the research and clinical environments to make the artificial pancreas technology a reality."
UCSB is playing the lead role in organizing this international consortium of prominent diabetes researchers, an assembly of world leaders in the fields of computer modeling, control systems, simulation and clinical research. The artificial pancreas research group includes Professor Doyle, Howard Zisser of the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute, Boris Kovatchev of University of Virginia, Ananda Basu of the Mayo Clinic, and Claudio Cobelli of University of Padova, Italy.
In the United States, as many as 3 million people are living with type 1 diabetes, with more than 30,000 youth and adults diagnosed every year. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease wherein the body's immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. For someone with type 1 diabetes, regulating their blood sugar level currently involves a daily regimen of multiple insulin injections or an insulin pump, in addition to blood sugar testing 8 10 times a day.
"Our final goal of an ambulatory artificial pancreas has the potential to make a tremendous impact on the health and lives of people with type 1 diabetes," said Howard Zisser, co-Principal Investigator and Director of Clinical Research at Sansum Diabetes Research Institute.
In recent years, Doyle and Zisser have collaborated to launch the Artificial Pancreas Program at SDRI and UCSB, and have been testing their system in inpatient clinical trials at SDRI. The development of CLC technology has made significant strides over the last five years, but the research consortium understands the challenges faced in gaining FDA approval for an artificial pancreas system.
"The typical research-to-clinical process can be slow because the academic research must be complete and approved before clinical trials can begin," explained Zisser. "Our study will be an example of translational medical research, or research conducted in the lab and safely in a clinical setting in a complementary way, continuously informing each process of what is successful or not. That is the strength of our collaboration."
Their ambulatory artificial pancreas project is supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and administered by the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies at UCSB.
###
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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.
NIH awards group $4.5 million for smart artificial pancreas technologyPublic release date: 26-Oct-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Melissa Van De Werfhorst melissa@engineering.ucsb.edu 805-893-4301 University of California - Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, Calif. -- The National Institutes for Health (NIH) have awarded $4.5 million to a group of international diabetes researchers to engineer an artificial pancreas system that will monitor and adapt to the body's complex real-time changes in behavior and physiology. This collaboration between physicians and engineers aims to merge three key aspects of type 1 diabetes management human behavior, physiology, and medical technology and ultimately to transition their artificial pancreas technology into clinical practice.
"This is a groundbreaking project that assembles the world's leaders in artificial pancreas technology to not only expand in-clinic methods for control of blood sugar, but to pioneer the development of outpatient solutions that can bring improved quality of life to patients in their natural environment," said Professor Frank Doyle of UC Santa Barbara, Principal Investigator for this study. "It is a unique team with interdisciplinary strengths that range from control engineering to medical practice to behavioral science."
Setting their study apart is the focus on developing a more sophisticated program, or algorithm, which acts as the "brain" of the artificial pancreas. Called a closed-loop control (CLC) system, this algorithm is informed by the numerous physiological changes such as hormones, meals, stress, exercise and sleep and mimics the insulin creation function of a healthy pancreas. A CLC system that treats type 1 diabetes must be responsive to all daily challenges in life, and able to accurately predict blood glucose levels in advance.
"This is medically-inspired engineering, or engineering-inspired medicine," commented Doyle, a Chemical Engineering professor at UCSB who holds the Mellichamp Chair in Process Control. "One of the great advantages we have is that we are collaborating to mutually understand what is needed in both the research and clinical environments to make the artificial pancreas technology a reality."
UCSB is playing the lead role in organizing this international consortium of prominent diabetes researchers, an assembly of world leaders in the fields of computer modeling, control systems, simulation and clinical research. The artificial pancreas research group includes Professor Doyle, Howard Zisser of the Sansum Diabetes Research Institute, Boris Kovatchev of University of Virginia, Ananda Basu of the Mayo Clinic, and Claudio Cobelli of University of Padova, Italy.
In the United States, as many as 3 million people are living with type 1 diabetes, with more than 30,000 youth and adults diagnosed every year. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease wherein the body's immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. For someone with type 1 diabetes, regulating their blood sugar level currently involves a daily regimen of multiple insulin injections or an insulin pump, in addition to blood sugar testing 8 10 times a day.
"Our final goal of an ambulatory artificial pancreas has the potential to make a tremendous impact on the health and lives of people with type 1 diabetes," said Howard Zisser, co-Principal Investigator and Director of Clinical Research at Sansum Diabetes Research Institute.
In recent years, Doyle and Zisser have collaborated to launch the Artificial Pancreas Program at SDRI and UCSB, and have been testing their system in inpatient clinical trials at SDRI. The development of CLC technology has made significant strides over the last five years, but the research consortium understands the challenges faced in gaining FDA approval for an artificial pancreas system.
"The typical research-to-clinical process can be slow because the academic research must be complete and approved before clinical trials can begin," explained Zisser. "Our study will be an example of translational medical research, or research conducted in the lab and safely in a clinical setting in a complementary way, continuously informing each process of what is successful or not. That is the strength of our collaboration."
Their ambulatory artificial pancreas project is supported by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and administered by the Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies at UCSB.
###
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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.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 25, 2011) ? A tiny difference in the coding pattern of a single gene significantly affects the rate at which men's intellectual function drops with advancing age, investigators at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System have learned.
In a study to be published online Oct. 25 in Translational Psychiatry, the researchers tested the skills of experienced airplane pilots and found that having one version of the gene versus the other version doubled the rate at which the participants' performance declined over time.
The particular genetic variation, or polymorphism, implicated in the study has been linked in previous studies to several psychiatric disorders. But this is the first demonstration of its impact on skilled task performance in the healthy, aging brain, said the study's senior author, Ahmad Salehi, MD, PhD, clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford.
The study also showed a significant age-related decline in the size of a key brain region called the hippocampus, which is crucial to memory and spatial reasoning, in pilots carrying this polymorphism.
"This gene-associated difference may apply not only to pilots but also to the general public, for example in the ability to operate complex machinery," said Salehi, who is also a health-science specialist at the VA-Palo Alto.
The gene in question codes for a well-studied protein called brain-derived neurotropic factor, or BDNF, which is critical to the development and maintenance of the central nervous system. BDNF levels decline gradually with age even in healthy individuals; researchers such as Salehi have suspected that this decline may be linked with age-related losses of mental function.
Genes, which are blueprints for proteins, are linear sequences of DNA composed of four different chemical units all connected like beads on a string. The most common version of the BDNF gene dictates that a particular building block for proteins, called valine, be present at a particular place on the protein. A less common -- though far from rare -- variation of the BDNF gene results in the substitution of another building block, methionine, in that same spot on the protein. That so-called "val/met" substitution occurs in about one in three Asians, roughly one in four Europeans and Americans, and about one in 200 sub-Saharan Africans. Such a change can affect a protein's shape, activity, level of production, or distribution within or secretion by cells in which it is made.
It appears that the alternative "met" version of BDNF doesn't work as well as the "val" version. This variant has been linked to higher likelihood of depression, stroke, anorexia nervosa, anxiety-related disorders, suicidal behavior and schizophrenia.
So Salehi and his colleagues decided to look at whether this polymorphism actually affected human cognitive function. To do this, they turned to an ongoing Stanford study of airplane pilots being conducted by two of the paper's co-authors -- Joy Taylor, PhD, clinical associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and Jerome Yesavage, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences -examining a wide array of neurological and psychiatric questions.
For this new research, Salehi and his colleagues followed 144 pilots, all healthy Caucasian males over the age of 40, who showed up for three visits, spaced a year apart, spanning a two-year period. During each visit, participants -- recreational pilots, certified flight instructors or civilian air-transport pilots -- underwent an exam called the Standard Flight Simulator Score, a Federal Aviation Administration-approved flight simulator for pilots.
This test session employs a setup that simulates flying a small, single-engine aircraft. Each participant went through a half-dozen practice sessions and a three-week break before his first visit. Each annual visit consisted of morning and afternoon 75-minute "flights," during which pilots confronted flight scenarios with emergency situations, such as engine malfunctions and/or incoming air traffic. Resulting test scores pooled several variables, such as pilots' reaction times and their virtual planes' deviations from ideal altitudes, directions and speed. A pilot's score represented the overall skill with which he executed air-traffic control commands, avoided airborne traffic, detected engine emergencies and approached landing strips.
Blood and saliva samples collected on the pilots' first visits allowed the Stanford investigators to genotype all 144 pilots, of whom 55 (38.2 percent) turned out to have at least one copy of a BDNF gene that contained the "met" variant. In their analysis, the researchers also corrected for pilots' degree of experience and the presence of certain other confounding genetic influences.
Inevitably, performance dropped in both groups. But the rate of decline in the "met" group was much steeper.
"We saw a doubling of the rate of decline in performance on the exam among met carriers during the first two years of follow-up," said Salehi.
About one-third of the pilots also underwent at least one round of magnetic resonance imaging over the course of a few years, allowing the scientists to measure the size of their hippocampi. "Although we found no significant correlation between age and hippocampal size in the non-met carriers, we did detect a significant inverse relationship between age and hippocampal size in the met carriers," Salehi said.
Salehi cautioned that the research covered only two years and that the findings need to be confirmed by following participants over a multiyear period. This is now being done, he added.
No known drugs exist that mimic BDNF's action in the brain, but there is one well-established way to get around that: Stay active. "The one clearly established way to ensure increased BDNF levels in your brain is physical activity," Salehi said.
The National Institute of Aging and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs funded the study. First authorship was shared by Martha Millan Sanchez, MD, postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Devsmita Das, MD, a VA-Palo Alto visiting scholar. VA-Palo Alto health-science specialist Arthur Noda also was a co-author.
Information about Stanford's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, which also supported this work, is available at http://psychiatry.stanford.edu.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center. The original article was written by Bruce Goldman.
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Journal Reference:
M Millan Sanchez, D Das, J L Taylor, A Noda, J A Yesavage, A Salehi. BDNF polymorphism predicts the rate of decline in skilled task performance and hippocampal volume in healthy individuals. Translational Psychiatry, 2011; 1 (10): e51 DOI: 10.1038/tp.2011.47
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
When things go wrong, we have to keep smiling. When everything goes wrong -- morbidly, tragically wrong -- we can always blame a curse. I've had days like that myself, and I'm reasonably sure that someone had put a curse on me on all of those occasions. That's the only rational explanation.
Other so-called "curses," however, are just plain ridiculous. Here is the proof.
The Curse of Tutankhamun
1?of?8
Probably the most famous curse - and unlike some of the others on this list, there's not even any circumstantial evidence for this one. The famous idea of a cursed Egyptian tomb was invented by a young English novelist, Jane Loudon Webb, in her 1828 novel, The Mummy. Ten years after Mary Shelley invented one of the great horror monsters in her novel Frankenstein, Webb invented another: the walking mummy, returning to life to seek vengeance.
The idea of walking mummies was popular among writers of horror stories, so when explorer Howard Carter led an expedition to discover Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (a great believer in the supernatural, and - when not penning Sherlock Holmes stories - a writer of horror yarns) warned of "a terrible curse". When the tomb was opened, the Cairo correspondent of London's Daily Express wrote that Carter's team had seen an inscription that, translated from Hieroglyphics, stated: "They who enter this sacred tomb shall swiftly be visited by the wings of death."
This story was complete nonsense, but it still found its way into the New York Times and other respected newspapers. It won extra credence a few weeks after the tomb was opened, when Carter's sponsor, the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, died from a septic mosquito bite.
Believers of this curse blame it for twenty-six deaths, but despite the warning that visitors to the tomb would "swiftly" face their death, only six of the deaths occurred within the next decade. Carter himself lived for another 17 years (which, for Tutankhamun, was almost a whole lifetime). Still, the "curse" story still seems to be mentioned whenever someone happens to get food poisoning within a week of looking at an ancient Egyptian artefact at a museum. It was a hoax, people. A hoax!
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The Curse of Tutankhamun
Probably the most famous curse - and unlike some of the others on this list, there's not even any circumstantial evidence for this one. The famous idea of a cursed Egyptian tomb was invented by a young English novelist, Jane Loudon Webb, in her 1828 novel, The Mummy. Ten years after Mary Shelley invented one of the great horror monsters in her novel Frankenstein, Webb invented another: the walking mummy, returning to life to seek vengeance.
The idea of walking mummies was popular among writers of horror stories, so when explorer Howard Carter led an expedition to discover Tutankhamun's tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (a great believer in the supernatural, and - when not penning Sherlock Holmes stories - a writer of horror yarns) warned of "a terrible curse". When the tomb was opened, the Cairo correspondent of London's Daily Express wrote that Carter's team had seen an inscription that, translated from Hieroglyphics, stated: "They who enter this sacred tomb shall swiftly be visited by the wings of death."
This story was complete nonsense, but it still found its way into the New York Times and other respected newspapers. It won extra credence a few weeks after the tomb was opened, when Carter's sponsor, the fifth Earl of Carnarvon, died from a septic mosquito bite.
Believers of this curse blame it for twenty-six deaths, but despite the warning that visitors to the tomb would "swiftly" face their death, only six of the deaths occurred within the next decade. Carter himself lived for another 17 years (which, for Tutankhamun, was almost a whole lifetime). Still, the "curse" story still seems to be mentioned whenever someone happens to get food poisoning within a week of looking at an ancient Egyptian artefact at a museum. It was a hoax, people. A hoax!
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Based on years of experience teaching and writing supplemental materials for more traditional precalculus texts, Reva Narasimhan takes a functions-focused approach to teaching and learning algebra and trigonometry concepts. This new series builds up relevant concepts using functions as a unifying theme, repeating and expanding on connections to basic functions. Visualization and analysis motivate the functions-based approach, enabling students to better retain the material for use in later calculus courses.
DUSHANBE, Tajikistan ? The United States will continue to support Iraq as it moves toward democracy, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Saturday as she wrapped up a weeklong overseas trip.
Without mentioning Iran by name, Clinton warned Iraq's neighbors against meddling and said the U.S. and Iraq would remain close allies.
"As we open this new chapter in a relationship with sovereign Iraq, to the Iraqis we say: America is with you as you take your next steps in your journey to secure your democracy," she said.
"And to countries in the region, especially Iraqi's neighbors, we want to emphasize that America will stand with our allies and friends, including Iraq, in defense of our common security and interests."
She said the United States would have a "robust, continuing presence throughout the region, which is proof of our ongoing commitment to Iraq and to the future of that region."
U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday declared the more than eight-year Iraq war will be over by the end of the year and said that virtually all U.S. troops will be brought home. Some 200 troops will remain to provide security at the U.S. Embassy and other offices.
Critics of the president warn that by withdrawing its troops, the U.S. is giving Iran an opening to increase its influence in Iraq.
Clinton is due back in Washington on Sunday after stops in North Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
WASHINGTON -- Despite a campaign-style push this week by President Barack Obama, the Senate on Thursday scuttled pared-back jobs legislation aimed at helping state and local governments avoid layoffs of teachers and firefighters.
Obama's three-day bus tour through North Carolina and Virginia - states crucial to his re-election race next year - didn't change any minds among Senate Republicans, who filibustered Obama's latest jobs measure to death just as they killed his broader $447 billion jobs plan last week.
The 50-50 vote came in relation to a motion to simply take up the bill. Some Democrats who voted with the president, like Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, however, said they couldn't support the underlying Obama plan unless it's changed.
Thursday's $35 billion measure combined $30 billion for state and local governments to hire teachers and other school workers with $5 billion to help pay the salaries of police officers, firefighters and other first responders. The White House says the measure would "support" almost 400,000 education jobs for one year. Republicans call that a temporary "sugar high" for the economy.
Despite the negative vote, Obama and his Democratic allies are acting like they've found a winning issue in repeatedly pressing popular ideas such as infrastructure spending and boosting hiring of police officers and firefighters. The sluggish economy and lower tax revenues have caused many teachers' jobs to be cut over the past several years.
"In the coming school year, many school districts will have to make another round of difficult decisions that will cost jobs and put the education of the nation's children at risk," a White House policy statement said.
After the failure of the jobs measure last week, Democrats vowed to try to resurrect it on a piece by piece basis, even though the strategy doesn't seem to have any better chance of success. But Democrats are trying to win a political advantage through repeated votes.
They're also pressing for passage of a poll-tested financing mechanism - a surcharge on income exceeding $1 million.
An AP-GfK poll taken Oct. 13-17 found 62 percent of respondents favoring the surcharge as a way to pay for jobs initiatives. Just 26 percent opposed the idea.
Republicans say the president is more interested in picking political fights with them than seeking compromise. Still, they don't seem to be afraid of a politically weakened Obama. Not a single Republican backed the president in last week's vote
"The fact is we're not going to get this economy going again by growing the government. It's the private sector that's ultimately going to drive this recovery," Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. "Look, if big government were the key to economic growth, then countries like Greece would be booming right now."
At the same time, several Democrats opposed the underlying measure, even though they voted in favor of at least allowing debate to begin.
"This bill fails to give taxpayers any guarantee that this money would actually be used to hire teachers and invest in our schools," Tester said. "States would get loads of money with little guidance that they spend the money on teachers."
And Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., said the stimulus-style jobs bill spends money the country doesn't have and takes revenues away from a special "supercommittee" charged with cutting the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the coming decade.
According to the AP-GfK poll, Obama's party has lost the faith of the public on handling the economy. In the new poll, only 38 percent said they trust Democrats to do a better job than Republicans in handling the economy, the first time Democrats have fallen below 40 percent in the poll. Some 43 percent trust the Republicans more.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, speaking the day after Obama returned from bus tour, said the president's plan has the advantage of providing an immediate kick to the economy.
"The Republicans don't have proposals that would help the economy grow or help it create jobs now," Carney said. "That's the comparison."
Republicans want to roll back government regulations that they say choke job growth. They backed free-trade pacts with South Korea, Colombia and Panama that were ratified this month. They also back extending tax breaks for businesses that buy new equipment and favor offering a $4,800 tax credit to companies that hire veterans.
Democrats and the White House, meanwhile, are confident that other elements of Obama's larger jobs bill, including extending cuts in Social Security payroll taxes, will pass. A 2 percentage point payroll tax cut enacted last year expires at the end of the year. Obama has proposed cutting it by an additional percentage point and extending the cut to the first $5 million of a company's payroll.
WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama's doctrine of dealing with American enemies just got another test ? and, for him, another vindication.
The death of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi reinforces Obama's style of dealing with enemies without immersing the United States in war.
Even skeptics offered grudging support.
For Obama, the outcome allowed him to stand victorious in the Rose Garden on Thursday, taking note also of the death this year of prominent al-Qaida leaders at the hands of the United States. His message: The United States showed it can help rally an international campaign to protect Libyans and rid the world of a killer without a single U.S. troop dying.
His vice president, Joe Biden, went further.
"This is more of the prescription for how to deal with the world as we go forward than it has been in the past," Biden said in New Hampshire, as the administration sought again to distance itself from an era of politics once dominated by the Iraq war.
For Obama, the larger story is of an administration with deepening credibility on how to handle bad actors or international tinderboxes without immersing the United States in war.
It is not expected to impact his re-election chances; 2012 will be the economy election.
But it burnishes his standing on how to protect the country and work with the rest of the world.
As Obama likes to remind Americans, he is the president who hastened the end of the war in Iraq, and he is now winding down the one in Afghanistan after expanding it greatly. And in a span of months, the country has seen the demise of infamous men who either had killed Americans or haunted the United States by targeting it for terror attacks.
Obama ordered a daring special forces raid in Pakistan in May that led to the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, the architect of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
Last month, a U.S. drone strike in the mountains of Yemen killed Anwar al-Awlaki, an American citizen and prominent al-Qaida figure who was deemed as having an operational role in plots against the U.S. The plots included two nearly catastrophic attacks on U.S.-bound planes ? an airliner on Christmas 2009 and cargo planes last year.
And then came the confirmed reports Thursday that Gadhafi was dead. There were conflicting accounts on how he died, but little doubt he suffered a grisly end.
Libyans celebrated and Obama spoke of a victorious revolution for those who had suffered under Gadhafi's rule.
"The dark shadow of tyranny has been lifted," Obama said. He spoke of Gadhafi as a man who beat and killed his people and who for decades robbed a nation of its potential.
What the president didn't note was the criticism he faced from some members of Congress earlier in the campaign, long before rebels got their foothold in overthrowing Gadhafi. Obama had gotten heat on various fronts ? acting too slowly in the first place, acting without sufficient consent from Congress, acting in a way that left the United States vulnerable to endless trouble.
One top Republican, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said Thursday that replacing Gadhafi with a representative democracy in Libya will be "worth its weight in gold in terms of our national security." He added that fellow Republicans who "wanted the War Powers Act invoked would not have asked for it if President Obama wasn't the president."
GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, asked in Iowa whether Obama deserved credit for killing Gadhafi, answered, "Yes, absolutely."
Obama's opponent in the 2008 election, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, told CNN that the Obama administration should be credited but could have accelerated Gadhafi's fall by acting earlier and more expansively.
The U.S. and NATO allies launched a bombing campaign in Libya on March 19 after the United Nations authorized military action in order to protect civilians from attacks perpetrated by Gadhafi loyalists.
The U.S. took the initial lead in the campaign, launching an air and sea assault on Gadhafi's forces in order to protect civilians and provide cover to the Libyan rebels.
By the end of March, the U.S. assumed a secondary role in Libya, with the French and the British carrying out the bulk of the bombing missions. U.S. assets turned their focus toward support and intelligence.
When asked if the outcome was a vindication of his strategy, Obama said: "We did exactly what we said we were going to do in Libya."
Obama's response to Gadhafi's death allowed him to keep the focus on Libyan civilians and not face charges that he was seeking unseemly political gain by declaring victory.
Yet he wasn't silent on that. He offered credit to the united effort of intervention when Gadhafi was threatening what Obama warned would be a massacre.
"The United States and our friends and allies stopped Gadhafi's forces in their tracks," Obama said.
And he put Libya in his own context of Iraq, Afghanistan and the targeted death of al-Qaida leaders this way: "We see the strength of American leadership across the world."
Biden on Thursday suggested the U.S. approach to Libya was the new way of waging war ? less cost, less risk to Americans. In short, not Iraq.
"I think we'll let analysts make observations about that comparison," Obama spokesman Jay Carney said when asked about it later. "The president simply believes that the action that he took, that this administration took, working with our allies, working with NATO, working with our partners in the Arab world, was the right action for Libya."
Foreign affairs remains Obama's strong suit in the public's eyes, with 59 percent approving of how he handles relationships with other countries and 64 percent approving his handling of terrorism, far outpacing his overall approval rating, according to a new AP-GfK poll.
But these issues are much less important to most Americans than the economy and unemployment.
Gadhafi's death likely will have a fleeting impact on domestic politics, but a lasting one on a part of the world that matters to American interests.
And, as Obama said, to the Libyan people.
___
Associated Press writers Julie Pace, Erica Werner and Donna Cassata in Washington, Kasie Hunt in Iowa and AP Deputy Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. speaks during a news conference to urging the passage of the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011, on Capitol Hill in Washington. He is joined by Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin of Ill., right, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., second from right, and others. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nev. speaks during a news conference to urging the passage of the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011, on Capitol Hill in Washington. He is joined by Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin of Ill., right, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., second from right, and others. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama and his allies in the Senate promise to press ahead with separate votes on pieces of his failed $447 billion jobs measure despite unanimous opposition from Republicans. But there also are signs of slippage among Democrats and evidence the strategy isn't working with voters.
Future votes on individual pieces of the measure, however, aren't likely to fare better than a pared-back jobs measure designed to boost hiring of teachers and first responders that Republicans and a handful of Democrats scuttled on Thursday.
Obama's revised plan failed on a 50-50 test vote that fell well short of the 60 needed to break a filibuster. Three Democrats abandoned Obama on the vote and two more who voted with the president said they couldn't support the underlying Obama plan unless it's changed.
Thursday's $35 billion measure combined $30 billion for state and local governments to hire teachers and other school workers with $5 billion to help pay the salaries of police officers, firefighters and other first responders. The White House says the measure would "support" almost 400,000 education jobs for one year. Republicans call that a temporary "sugar high" for the economy and say it's a taxpayer-funded bailout of state and local governments.
Obama and his Democratic allies are acting like they've found a winning issue in repeatedly pressing popular ideas such as infrastructure spending and boosting hiring of police officers and firefighters. The sluggish economy and lower tax revenues have caused many teachers' jobs to be cut over the past several years.
"For the second time in two weeks, every single Republican in the United States Senate has chosen to obstruct a bill that would create jobs and get our economy going again," Obama said in a statement after the vote. "Every American deserves an explanation as to why Republicans refuse to step up to the plate and do what's necessary to create jobs and grow the economy right now."
"We cannot afford to be bailing out local governments, and we can't afford stimulus 2.0," countered Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
Democrats haven't said which piece they'll resurrect next as an individual bill, but there's widespread support among party members for spending on highway and bridge projects, as well as for a poll-tested financing mechanism ? a surcharge on income exceeding $1 million.
An AP-GfK poll taken Oct. 13-17 found 62 percent of respondents favoring the surcharge as a way to pay for jobs initiatives. Just 26 percent opposed the idea.
More ominously for Democrats, the poll shows that Obama's party has lost the faith of the public on handling the economy. In it, only 38 percent said they trust Democrats to do a better job than Republicans in handling the economy, the first time Democrats have fallen below 40 percent in the poll. Some 43 percent trust the Republicans more.
"The fact is we're not going to get this economy going again by growing the government. It's the private sector that's ultimately going to drive this recovery," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. "Look, if big government were the key to economic growth, then countries like Greece would be booming right now."
Democrats Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Independent Joe Lieberman of Connecticut broke with Obama on Thursday's vote. Two Democrats who voted with the president, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Jon Tester of Montana, said they couldn't support the underlying Obama plan unless it's changed.
"This bill fails to give taxpayers any guarantee that this money would actually be used to hire teachers and invest in our schools," Tester said. "States would get loads of money with little guidance that they spend the money on teachers."
Immediately after the vote on Obama's plan, Democrats turned the tables and filibustered Republican-backed legislation that would prevent the government from withholding 3 percent of payments to government contractors. The legislation failed to get the 60 votes needed to end the filibuster on a 57-43 vote, even though 10 Democrats voted to advance it.
Many Democrats and Obama support the idea but opposed it Thursday because it would be paid for with $30 billion in cuts from domestic agency spending. Advocates of repealing the withholding requirement say it will help create jobs, especially from contractors on large projects with smaller profit margins.
The withholding law was passed in 2006 by a GOP-controlled Congress. Then, the idea then was to make sure contractors couldn't duck their taxes and was imposed after government investigators found that thousands of federal contractors owed taxes.
The GOP-controlled House is likely to pass the measure next week and Reid promised that the Senate would revisit the issue, though there's likely to be a split between the House and Senate over how to pay for the cost of repealing the withholding rule.
After voting on the competing jobs measures, the Senate worked past midnight on a $128 billion spending bill covering five Cabinet departments.
Early Friday, the Senate voted 84-15 to end direct payments to farmers whose annual incomes exceed $1 million.
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Public release date: 26-Oct-2011
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