As you know, I'm fairly excited about the prospect of possibly having baby #2. Whether you're having a little one yourself, or are planning a shower for a friend, I hope you enjoy this guest post by Rachael McAdams. Happy reading!
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Source: http://kyfirewife.blogspot.com/2013/03/guest-post-what-youll-need-for-that.html
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A celebration of culinary talent, word play, and classic literature takes place every year in countries around the world.
French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin would be proud of the Edible Book Festival celebrated worldwide every year on his birthday.
EnlargeFounded in 2000 to celebrate the life of French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, the International Edible Books Festival is held every year around the world on April 1st. Festival participants create cooked dishes and baked goods designed to look like books, share these images online, and then dine on them.
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Ben Frederick is a contributor to The Christian Science Monitor.
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According to the official website, there are only three rules for participation:
1. The event must be held on April 1st (or close to that date).
2.?All edible books must be "bookish" through the integration of text, literary inspiration or, quite simply, the form.
3.?Organizations or individual participants must register with the festival?s organization and share images on the international festival website (www.books2eat.com).
The sheer range of style in the entries is impressive. Some participants design pastries to look like books; others use a normal cake base, but illuminate a passage, or draw a picture from a favorite book in frosting. Still others use EBF as an opportunity to sculpt flour, eggs, and sugar. The best creations, however, tend to be culinary slapstick efforts that rely heavily on puns.
At some sites, there is voting to determine favorite entries. In 2012, festival winners selected at the University of Texas in Austin included "Tart of Darkness"? and "War and Piece of Cake."
Other fantastically horrible EBF puns have included "Cavity's Rainbow" (Skittles organized by color in a glass case) and an empty blender next to a mint-flavored drink ("The Last of the Mojitos").
Every local festival seems to have its own categories for evaluation of the dishes ? from Best in Show to Punniest to Best Depiction of a Book/TV series ("Game of Scones"). But the highlight at most festivals occurs after the awards are handed out when participants get to eat their creations.
Francis Bacon got it right when he said, "Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested."
Ben Frederick is a Monitor contributor.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/RpzebRYwzus/Edible-Book-Festival-YUM
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In 370 million-year-old red sandstone deposits in a highway roadcut, scientists have discovered a new species of armored fish in north central Pennsylvania.
Fossils of armored fishes like this one, a phyllolepid placoderm, are known for the distinctive ornamentation of ridges on their exterior plates. As with many such fossils, scientists often find the remains of these species as impressions in stone, not as three-dimensional versions of their skeletons. Therefore, in the process of studying and describing this fish's anatomy, scientists took advantage of a technique that may look a lot like it was stolen from crime scene investigators.
In the video, Dr. Ted Daeschler shows the fossil and a rubber cast made by pouring latex into its natural impression in the rock. Once the latex hardened, Daeschler peeled it out and dusted its surface with a fine powder to better show the edges of the bony plates and the shapes of fine ridges on the fish's bony armor ? a lot like dusting for fingerprints to show minute ridges left on a surface. With this clearer view, Daeschler and colleagues were better able to prepare a detailed scientific description of the new species.
This placoderm, named Phyllolepis thomsoni, is one of two new Devonian fish species described by Daeschler in the Bicentennial issue of the Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, with different co-authors. The other new species is a lobe-finned fish discovered in northern Canada. This discovery is described at http://drexel.edu/now/news-media/releases/archive/2013/March/Fossil-Species-from-Fish-Eat-Fish-World/.Both the Pennsylvania placoderm and the Canadian lobe-finned fish species are from the late Devonian period, at a time long before dinosaurs walked the Earth ? but, geologically speaking, not long before the very first species began to walk on land. Daeschler studies Devonian species in particular to help describe the evolutionary setting that gave rise to the first vertebrate species with limbs. He has dug for Devonian species in Pennsylvania since 1993, and in northern Canada since 1999.
Honoring A Rich History of Pennsylvania Paleontology
Daeschler, a vice president and associate curator at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, and an associate professor in Drexel's College of Arts and Sciences, and co-author Dr. John A. Long, a leading authority on placoderms from Flinders University in Australia, named the species in honor of Dr. Keith S. Thomson.
Thomson, the Executive Officer of the American Philosophical Society, has been a mentor and colleague to many Devonian fossil researchers, including Daeschler. Thomson has formerly held positions including President and CEO of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Director of the Oxford University Museum, and Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Yale University.
Asked for comment on the discovery named in his honor, Thomson noted his long professional connection with the Devonian fossil beds in Pennsylvania that Daeschler studies:
"The Devonian beds around Renovo PA were worked extensively by my old professor at Harvard, Alfred Sherwood Romer and his associates, in the 1950s. They got some very good material of fishes but gave up on the site as a potential source of the very earliest four-legged vertebrates. In 1965 Romer suggested that I have a go but there had been no major erosion on the sites and therefore nothing much new had become exposed. I moved on to other things, but [in 1993] when Ted asked about possible projects in PA I gave him all the old notebooks, including mine, and off he went. In the intervening period there had been some major roadwork, new exposures were made, and on the Sunday evening of his very first weekend trip Ted came to the house and showed me a part of the shoulder of a tetrapod. Once we had looked at every which way and decided there was no other explanation, he causally reached into his bag and said "in that case, I have another one." The rest is history -- a history of very hard, careful, work, a whole team of collectors, some local, and brilliant discoveries of superb material particularly of fishes of every kind. So I am delighted by the success of this work over the past twenty years and flattered to become associated with it by having a species named after me. (There is a certain symmetry to this as long ago I named one of the species that had been collected by Romer after my wife!)"
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Drexel University: http://www.Drexel.edu/
Thanks to Drexel University for this article.
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Noise, not age is the leading cause of hearing loss. Unless you take steps now to protect to your ears, sooner or later many of you ? and your children ? will have difficulty understanding even ordinary speech.
Tens of millions of Americans, including 12 percent to 15 percent of school-age children, already have permanent hearing loss caused by the everyday noise that we take for granted as a fact of life.
?The sad truth is that many of us are responsible for our own hearing loss,? writes Katherine Bouton in her new book, ?Shouting Won?t Help: Why I ? and 50 Million Other Americans ? Can?t Hear You.? The cause, she explains, is ?the noise we blithely subject ourselves to day after day.?
While there are myriad regulations to protect people who work in noisy environments, there are relatively few governing repeated exposure to noise outside the workplace: portable music devices, rock concerts, hair dryers, sirens, lawn mowers, leaf blowers, vacuum cleaners, car alarms and countless other sources.
We live in a noisy world, and every year it seems to get noisier. Ms. Bouton notes that the noise level inside Allen Fieldhouse at the University of Kansas often exceeds that of a chain saw.
After poor service, noise is the second leading complaint about restaurants. Proprietors believe that people spend more on food and drink in bustling eateries, and many have created new venues or retrofitted old ones to maximize sound levels.
When I?m told about a new restaurant, my first question is, ?Is it noisy?? My friends and I will never return to one in which the racket makes it impossible to converse with tablemates. Perhaps the young diners the restaurateurs covet ?talk? by texting.
The ears are fragile instruments. When sound waves enter the ear, they cause the eardrum to vibrate. The vibrations are transmitted to the cochlea, in the inner ear, where fluid carries them to neatly organized rows of hair cells. These in turn stimulate auditory nerve fibers, each attuned to a different frequency. These impulses travel via the auditory nerve to the brain, where they are interpreted as, say, words, music or an approaching vehicle.
Damage to this delicate apparatus results from both volume and length of exposure to sound. Very loud noises, or chronic exposure to sound even when it is not particularly loud, can wreak havoc on hair cells, causing them to become disarranged and to degenerate.
We are born with a fixed number of hair cells; once they are dead, they cannot be replaced, and auditory sensitivity is permanently lost. Usually, sensitivity to high-frequency sounds is first to go, followed by an inability to hear the frequencies of speech.
Furthermore, the effects of noise exposure are cumulative, as Robert V. Harrison, an auditory specialist at the University of Toronto, noted recently in The International Journal of Pediatrics. Although we start out with a redundancy of hair cells, with repeated noisy insults, enough are destroyed to impair hearing. Thus, damage to hair cells incurred early in life, as has happened to many rock musicians and rock concert aficionados, can show up in midlife as difficulty understanding speech.
Sound volume is measured in decibels (dB), and the level at which noise can cause permanent hearing loss begins at about 85 dB, typical of a hair dryer, food processor or kitchen blender.
Dr. Michael D. Seidman, the director of otolaryngology at Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital in Michigan, told me to use ear plugs when I dry my hair or mow my lawn with a gas-powered mower, and to cover my ears when an emergency vehicle passes with siren blasting. Ear protection is a must for people who shoot guns as well as those who ride motorcycles or use snow blowers, leaf blowers, hand or pneumatic drills or chain saws.
But even noisier than many of these is the maximum output of some portable music players, which can exceed occupational safety levels and produce sound levels in the ear on a par with that of a jet taking off. If you listen to music with earbuds or headphones at levels that block out normal discourse, you are in effect dealing lethal blows to the hair cells in your ears, Dr. Seidman said.
A national study in 2006 by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association found that among users of portable music devices, 35 percent of adults and up to 59 percent of teenagers reported listening at loud volumes.
Dr. Harrison urges purchasers of such ?personal entertainment devices? to read and heed the warnings and practical advice on package inserts. Too often people turn up the volume to overcome surrounding noise. A better plan is to set a maximum volume while in a quiet environment and never go above that.
In general, if other people can hear what you?re listening to, the volume is turned up too high. Many times I?ve had to change my seat on the subway or bus because the rider next to me was using a music player as if it were a boombox.
Some portable listening devices come with the ability to set a maximum volume, which may be worth the added cost to parents concerned about protecting their children?s ears.
At a given volume level, earbuds deliver higher noise levels than over-the-ear headphones. If earbuds are used, Dr. Harrison suggests selecting ones that fit loosely and never inserting them tightly into the ear canal. Alternatively, when you are alone and not at risk of missing important environmental cues, like an approaching vehicle, consider using noise-canceling over-the-ear headphones that block out background noise and enable you to listen at a lower volume.
Even toys meant for young children can generate ear-damaging levels of noise. The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association lists as potential hazards cap guns, talking dolls, vehicles with horns and sirens, walkie-talkies, rubber squeaky toys, musical instruments and toys with cranks. According to the association, some toy sirens and squeaky rubber toys can emit sounds of 90 dB, as loud as a lawn mower.
It suggests that parents with normal hearing test new toys before giving them to a child. ?If the toy sounds loud, don?t buy it,? is the recommendation. For noisy toys already bought, consider removing the batteries or taping over the speaker.
Additional protective information can be found online. Check out It?s a Noisy Planet; Keep It Hear; Listen to Your Buds; Hear-It Youth; and Dangerous Decibels.
Source: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/25/what-causes-hearing-loss/?partner=rss&emc=rss
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A scene from "Our Nixon" (via Dipper Films)
More than 40 years after Watergate, historians are still combing through the more than 2,300 hours of audio from former President Richard Nixon?s secret White House taping system. A paranoid indulgence for a president obsessed with documentation, the tapes ultimately helped drive the 37th president from office in a scandal that still haunts the country today.
But it turns out it wasn?t just Nixon who had a fondness for documentation in his White House. Locked away in the National Archives for decades were more than 200 reels of home movies featuring Nixon shot by the a trio of his former top aides whose names have become synonymous with the Watergate scandal.
The reels of Super 8 film?shot by former Nixon chief of staff H.R. Haldeman, domestic policy adviser John Ehrlichman and Dwight Chapin, Nixon?s personal aide, all of whom were convicted for their roles in the Watergate conspiracy?are the subject of a new documentary, ?Our Nixon.?
The movie, which closes out the New Directors/New Films festival sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and Museum of Modern Art on March 31, draws from the roughly 35 hours of Super 8 footage shot by Nixon?s confidants as well as the president?s audio recordings and other archival footage to offer a different side of the Nixon administration as it sunk into scandal.
Fueled in part by the paranoid tone of the so-called Watergate tapes, Nixon?s former aides have long been defined as ruthless political operatives willing to do anything to get their boss re-elected. But the home movies paint a lighter, more complex portrait of Nixon and his staffers, showing they had a lighter, ?almost dorky? side, as Penny Lane, the film?s director puts it.
?There was this idea that everybody working for Nixon was sort of a grim, humorless gray man. That?s how these guys were written about in the news media,? Lane says. ?But that?s so not what we see in the home movies. And the more we got to know them in looking over interviews and reading their memoirs, and I was like, wow, they really weren?t like that.?
Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Chapin filmed their boss and each other during key moments of the Nixon administration, including big events like Nixon?s 1972 trip to China; the 1969 Apollo Moon landing; protests over the Vietnam War and the 1971 wedding of Nixon?s daughter Tricia at the White House.
They also captured more random moments during Nixon?s White House years, including celebrities like Johnny Cash and actress Raquel Welch at the White House and Nixon lounging around poolside with foreign policy adviser Henry Kissinger?footage that is accompanied by audio of the president and his aides fretting about Kissinger?s many girlfriends at the time.
The Super 8 footage was confiscated by the FBI during the Watergate investigation before it was transferred to the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, Calif., where it remained largely unnoticed until about a decade ago.
Brian L. Frye, a University of Kentucky law professor and producer of ?Our Nixon,? first heard about the footage from an acquaintance who had been hired by the National Archives to help preserve the film. Intrigued by what might be on the home movies, Frye and Lane fronted nearly $20,000 to make a video transfer of the footage with the goal of possibly making an art film.
?We had no idea what we would find, what story these movies wanted to tell,? Frye recalled. ?It was a big risk.?
What they found was hours of never-before-seen silent footage of Nixon and his former aides, whom Frye and Lane knew little about. They quickly began researching the people and sights in the movies, trying to figure out what they were looking at. At the same time, they launched a fundraising drive via Kickstarter to help raise money to complete the film, ultimately bringing in more than $15,000 from supporters all over the country.
The result is a movie that is part nostalgia and part tragedy. While the film is called ?Our Nixon,? the documentary focuses less on Nixon himself and more on the close friendship of Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Chapin as they navigated the bizarre life of being a top White House aide.
There is footage of flights on Air Force One and of motorcades overseas and at home, where Nixon was greeted like a rock star during campaign stops for his 1972 re-election bid. The soundtrack is pure nostalgia, including ?Nixon Now,? a cheesy jingle commissioned for the president?s 1972 campaign.
But the aides? happy faces are soon contrasted with snippets of audio from Nixon?s White House tapes?which reveal their loyalty to a president who was plagued by insecurity and paranoia about his political opponents and who, in the end, seemed willing to do anything to save himself politically, even if that meant sacrificing his loyal aides.
?In a way, (the film) is really not about Nixon. It?s about Nixon through the eyes of the people who supported him, who cared about him, who believed him and who, ultimately, were betrayed by him,? Lane says.
The film is based entirely on ?found footage??including audio of interviews Haldeman, Ehrlichman and Chapin gave after they served time for their Watergate offenses. While Haldeman and Ehrlichman died many years ago, the filmmakers reached out to Chapin to see if he might help clarify what was happening in the Super 8 footage, but he declined.
In an email, Chapin, who is now a business consultant in East Hampton, N.Y., said he has seen the film and told Yahoo News the ?home movie footage brings back many wonderful memories.? But Chapin suggested the film was a hit job because of the decision to blend those home movies with archival footage of interviews and Oval Office tapes that ?have nothing to do with the film we shot.?
?It is like mixing oranges and apples,? Chapin said in an email. ?Taking the Oval Office tapes of President Nixon and mixing that sound with our home movies creates pure fiction. A viewer cannot discern truth when the substance is made in the editing room by people who were not even present for the event.?
But Lane and Frye argue the point of their film wasn?t to make a Watergate movie or to offer judgment on what Nixon and his former aides did four decades ago. Their goal, they say, was to present a more complex picture of Nixon and his aides and to remind the public that, in the end, they were just human beings.
?It?s very easy to have a caricature of someone who becomes a historical villain as a cigar-smoking, bourbon-drinking person conspiring behind the scenes,? Frye said. ?There may have been some of that going on, but? there are no villains in home movies. Everybody is happy and cheerful. They were human beings, and they had lives. Ultimately, they were just people.?
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Contestants channel Motown's greatest on Wednesday's Detroit-themed episode.
By Adam Graham
Janelle Arthur on "American Idol"
Photo: Fox/Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704483/american-idol-recap-top-eight.jhtml
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama on Tuesday named veteran Secret Service agent Julia Pierson as the agency's first female director, signaling his desire to change the culture at the male-dominated service, which has been marred by scandal.
Pierson, who most recently served as the agency's chief of staff, will take over from Mark Sullivan, who announced his retirement last month. The agency faced intense criticism during Sullivan's tenure for a prostitution scandal during preparations for Obama's trip to Cartagena, Colombia, last year.
The incident raised questions within the agency ? as well as at the White House and on Capitol Hill ? about the culture, particularly during foreign travel. In addition to protecting the president, the Secret Service also investigates financial crimes.
"Over her 30 years of experience with the Secret Service, Julia has consistently exemplified the spirit and dedication the men and women of the service demonstrate every day," Obama said in a statement announcing Pierson's appointment, which does not require Senate confirmation.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also praised Obama's "historic decision" to name Pierson as the service's first female director.
Pierson, 53, has held high-ranking posts throughout the Secret Service, including deputy assistant director of the office of protective operations and assistant director of human resources and training. She has served as chief of staff since 2008.
That same year, Pierson was awarded the Presidential Meritorious Executive Award for superior performance in management throughout her career.
She joined the Secret Service in 1983 as a special agent and previously worked as a police officer in Orlando, Fla.
"Julia is eminently qualified to lead the agency that not only safeguards Americans at major events and secures our financial system, but also protects our leaders and our first families, including my own," Obama said. "Julia has had an exemplary career, and I know these experiences will guide her as she takes on this new challenge to lead the impressive men and women of this important agency."
Thirteen Secret Service employees were caught up in last year's prostitution scandal. After a night of heavy partying in the Caribbean resort city of Cartagena, the employees brought women, including prostitutes, to the hotel where they were staying. The incident became public after one agent refused to pay a prostitute and the pair argued about payment in a hotel hallway.
Eight of the employees were forced out of the agency, three were cleared of serious misconduct and at least two have been fighting to get their jobs back.
The incident took place before Obama arrived in Colombia and the service said the president's safety was never compromised. But news of the scandal broke during his trip, overshadowing the summit and embarrassing the U.S. delegation.
Sullivan issued a new code of conduct that bans employees from drinking within 10 hours of starting a shift or bringing foreign nationals back to their hotel rooms.
Sullivan apologized for the incident last year during testimony before a Senate panel.
___
Associated Press writer Alicia Caldwell contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-gives-secret-1st-female-director-200139194--politics.html
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Public release date: 25-Mar-2013
Share ] Contact: Byron Spice
bspice@cs.cmu.edu
412-268-9068
Carnegie Mellon University
Robots already vacuum our floors, help dispose of bombs and are exploring Mars. But in his new book, "Robot Futures," Illah Nourbakhsh, professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, argues that robots are not just wondrous machines, but a new species that bridges the material and digital worlds. The ramifications for society are both good and bad, he says, and people need to start thinking about that.
In the book, published by MIT Press, Nourbakhsh contemplates what might happen in the not-so-distant future as robots become both ubiquitous and highly capable. Some robots no doubt will display annoying behaviors what he calls "robot smog." Robots, in turn, will bring out the worst in some people, who will see robots as targets for bullying and other abuse. Robots will serve as physical avatars, enabling people to interact simultaneously with others in farflung locations and circumstances. They may even enable people to assume new and different forms. Robots may well change perceptions of what it means to be human.
Nourbakhsh interweaves fictional scenarios illustrating the possible futures that robots may create with explanations of the real technology that underlies those scenarios. In much the same way as the Internet has sometimes coarsened society and shifted power, robots could reduce accountability of individuals and strengthen the power of corporations and other large institutions, he says. But he also lays out his vision for using robots to empower individuals and communities and counteract many of robots' unwanted side effects.
"My hope is that this book will help us envision, discuss and prepare for change, so that people and communities can influence how the robot future unfolds," Nourbakhsh said.
In a companion blog to the book, http://www.robotfutures.org, Nourbakhsh tracks and comments on news stories regarding robotics.
Nourbakhsh is director of the Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment (CREATE) Lab and head of the Robotics Masters Program in Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. He formerly led the Robotics Group at NASA's Ames Research Center. A CMU faculty member since 1997, his research includes educational and social robotics and the use of robotic technologies to empower individuals and communities.
###
The Robotics Institute is part of Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science. Follow the school on Twitter @SCSatCMU.
About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 12,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon's main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California's Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. The university is in the midst of "Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University," which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements.
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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-Mar-2013 Share ] Contact: Byron Spice
bspice@cs.cmu.edu
412-268-9068
Carnegie Mellon University
Robots already vacuum our floors, help dispose of bombs and are exploring Mars. But in his new book, "Robot Futures," Illah Nourbakhsh, professor of robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, argues that robots are not just wondrous machines, but a new species that bridges the material and digital worlds. The ramifications for society are both good and bad, he says, and people need to start thinking about that.
In the book, published by MIT Press, Nourbakhsh contemplates what might happen in the not-so-distant future as robots become both ubiquitous and highly capable. Some robots no doubt will display annoying behaviors what he calls "robot smog." Robots, in turn, will bring out the worst in some people, who will see robots as targets for bullying and other abuse. Robots will serve as physical avatars, enabling people to interact simultaneously with others in farflung locations and circumstances. They may even enable people to assume new and different forms. Robots may well change perceptions of what it means to be human.
Nourbakhsh interweaves fictional scenarios illustrating the possible futures that robots may create with explanations of the real technology that underlies those scenarios. In much the same way as the Internet has sometimes coarsened society and shifted power, robots could reduce accountability of individuals and strengthen the power of corporations and other large institutions, he says. But he also lays out his vision for using robots to empower individuals and communities and counteract many of robots' unwanted side effects.
"My hope is that this book will help us envision, discuss and prepare for change, so that people and communities can influence how the robot future unfolds," Nourbakhsh said.
In a companion blog to the book, http://www.robotfutures.org, Nourbakhsh tracks and comments on news stories regarding robotics.
Nourbakhsh is director of the Community Robotics, Education and Technology Empowerment (CREATE) Lab and head of the Robotics Masters Program in Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute. He formerly led the Robotics Group at NASA's Ames Research Center. A CMU faculty member since 1997, his research includes educational and social robotics and the use of robotic technologies to empower individuals and communities.
###
The Robotics Institute is part of Carnegie Mellon's School of Computer Science. Follow the school on Twitter @SCSatCMU.
About Carnegie Mellon University: Carnegie Mellon is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology and business, to public policy, the humanities and the arts. More than 12,000 students in the university's seven schools and colleges benefit from a small student-to-faculty ratio and an education characterized by its focus on creating and implementing solutions for real problems, interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation. A global university, Carnegie Mellon's main campus in the United States is in Pittsburgh, Pa. It has campuses in California's Silicon Valley and Qatar, and programs in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Mexico. The university is in the midst of "Inspire Innovation: The Campaign for Carnegie Mellon University," which aims to build its endowment, support faculty, students and innovative research, and enhance the physical campus with equipment and facility improvements.
[ | 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/2013-03/cmu-nbb032513.php
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Mar. 25, 2013 ? Until now most experimental vaccines against the highly lethal H5N1 avian influenza virus have lacked effectiveness. But a new vaccine has proven highly effective against the virus when tested in both mice and ferrets. It is also effective against the H9 subtype of avian influenza. The research is published online ahead of print in the Journal of Virology.
The strength of the new vaccine is that it uses attenuated, rather than "killed" virus. (Killed viruses are broken apart with chemicals or heat, and they are used because they are safer than attenuated viruses.) Killed virus vaccines against avian influenza are injected into the bloodstream, whereas this vaccine is given via nasal spray, thus mimicking the natural infection process, stimulating a stronger immune response.
The danger of current attenuated virus vaccines is that they might exchange dangerous genetic material with garden variety influenza viruses of the sort that strike annually, potentially rendering a lethal but very hard to transmit influenza virus, such as H5, easily transmissible among humans. To mitigate those dangers, the study authors, led by Daniel Perez of the University of Maryland, came up with an ingenious design. Influenza viruses carry their genetic material in eight "segments," explains coauthor and University of Maryland colleague Troy Sutton. When viruses reassort, they exchange segments. But each segment is unique, all eight are needed, and the viruses are unfit if they contain more than eight segments.
The vaccine is based on an attenuated version of the H9 virus, with an H5 gene added into one of the H9 virus' segments, to confer immunity to the H5 virus. Segment 8, which is composed of the so-called NS1 and NS2 genes, was split apart, and the NS2 gene was moved into segment 2, adjacent to the polymerase gene, which copies the virus' genetic material during replication. Placing NS2 next to the polymerase gene slowed its function, interfering with the virus' replication. That makes the vaccine safer.
The next step was to engineer the H5 gene into the vaccine. It was inserted into segment 8, where the NS2 gene had been.
Another aspect of the new vaccine's design makes it safer still, by rendering successful reassortment less likely. Both NS1 and NS2 are needed for viral replication. Since the two genes are now separated into different segments, any reassortment will have to include both segments, instead of just segment 8, in order for a reassortant virus to be viable. This greatly reduced the probability of successful reassortment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes avian influenza subtypes H5, H7, and H9 as potential pandemic viruses, because they all have in rare instances infected humans, and because they circulate in wild birds. Single reassortants could be sufficient to breach the species barrier, and since they do not circulate among us, we lack any immunity. Moreover, H5 is unusually lethal, having killed roughly half of those few it is confirmed to have infected.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/mfBeja0RPaM/130325125649.htm
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Dear Real Estate Adviser,
I own a house outright that's worth a little less than $50,000. I've had it since 1977 and rented it out in recent years but have grown tired of the upkeep. I want to donate it to my church. How do I go about that? What amount can I write off as a tax deduction?
-- R. Williams
Dear R.,
I applaud your altruistic intent! It can be a win-win scenario to donate your home, enabling you to quickly divest yourself of the hassles of selling a depreciating asset (and the related fees), not to mention losing the property-tax obligation and those pesky upkeep chores, while giving a worthy nonprofit substantial resources to further its cause. Plus a tax deduction. So far so good.
This type of donation, however, is not always the optimal scenario from a tax-savings perspective. Realize that such a tax deduction comes off your taxable income, not your overall tax bill. For example, if you're in the 33 percent tax bracket, you'd get around $16,000 credit at most for your just-under-$50,000 donation and probably less, depending on your other deductions and their impact on your total adjusted gross income. Moreover, if your income subjects you to the alternative minimum tax, your gift might be further minimized. You can, however, carry forward a portion of your gift up to five tax years in many instances. For these and other reasons, a consultation with a financial planner, tax accountant, attorney or similarly qualified pro is strongly suggested.
You will also need to get an independent appraisal of your home to establish value when you donate it. Appraisals by receiving charities are not valid in establishing fair-market value in the gifts of homes, according to the Internal Revenue Service. Your church, however, may be able to recommend an independent appraiser.
Though you own your home outright, it's worth mentioning to other potential donors out there who still have mortgages that they would be donating only the equity they have. In fact, some charities won't take encumbered donations (for example, houses with mortgages) because they can require a quick resale to settle the debt.
Since there is no debt on your home, you'll need only to sign over a warranty deed to fully convey it to the church. A quitclaim deed would be used if you still owed money on the house.
There is one other important consideration. In the case of home or other building donations, charities typically refurbish and resell them. But if you have an emotional attachment to the house, know that there's no guarantee the old place will remain intact after you donate it. Many smaller, older donated homes such as yours are demolished to make way for redevelopment.
All those considerations aside, your largesse will no doubt be much appreciated by your church. You will always have what you give.
Source: http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/donate-home-to-church-get-tax-deduction.aspx
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Stocks closed lower on Wall Street Thursday?after Oracle's weak sales results weighed down big US technology stocks. Traders are also worried about Cyprus running out of time to avoid bankruptcy.
Traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange, Thursday. All three major indexes felt the drag from technology stocks after Oracle reported an unexpected decline in sales in its fiscal third quarter.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
EnlargeStocks?closed lower on Wall Street Thursday after Oracle's weak sales results weighed down big U.S. technology companies. Traders also worried about Cyprus running out of time to avoid bankruptcy.
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Major indexes followed European markets lower at the open and remained solidly negative all day. The Dow Jones industrial average fell as much as 129 points by mid-afternoon before paring the loss to close down 90 points.
All three major indexes felt the drag from technology?stocks?after Oracle reported an unexpected decline in sales in its fiscal third quarter. Oracle's results have an outsized impact on other technology?stocks?because it reports earlier than most of its peers.
European markets had closed sharply lower. The main indexes in Paris and Frankfurt fell 1.4 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively, on fear that the crisis in Cyprus will intensify. The European Central Bank has threatened to end emergency support of the nation's banks next week unless leaders can secure more funding.
Cyprus must raise about $7.5 billion in the next four days to avoid bankruptcy. Several plans have failed, including a proposal to tax deposits held by the nation's banks. If the Mediterranean banking haven is unable to secure a bailout, its banks will fail and it could be forced to leave the euro currency. Worries about that scenario first hit?stock?markets Monday.
"It's amazing how quickly things can turn back to Cyprus and Europe," said Oliver Cross, director of research with Carolinas Investment Consulting LLC in Charlotte, N.C. Cross spent his day focused on headlines from Europe, rather than digesting happier news about hiring and home sales in the U.S.
Oracle was the biggest decliner in the S&P 500 index; Juniper Networks also fell steeply. The S&P 500 closed down 12.91 points, or 0.8 percent, at 1,545.80.
The Dow dropped 90.24 points, or 0.6 percent, to 14,421.49. Cisco was the Dow's biggest loser, followed by H-P. IBM also lost ground.
The Nasdaq, which is weighted heavily toward tech?stocks, fell a full percentage point. It closed down 31.59 points at 3,222.60.
Despite being down for the week, the Dow remains near a record high. Its run-up has been powered by optimism about the U.S. economy and the Federal Reserve's easy-money policies. The Dow is up 2.6 percent this month. The S&P 500 has gained 2.1 percent in March, and is 20 points from its own all-time high set in October 2007.
Given the market's recent strength, many analysts have been anticipating a sharp decline at the first sign of bad news ? whether from Europe, corporate America or the U.S. economy.
The pullback has not materialized, said Troy Logan, managing director and senior economist at Warren Financial Service in Exton, Penn. He said today's losses could have been much worse.
"We thought Cyprus would be the perfect opportunity for the market to step back, but it looks like the market has shrugged it off," Logan said.
Many of his firm's customers are seeking higher-risk investments with higher potential returns, Logan said ? an indication that?stocks?may keep rising.
The U.S. job and housing markets continue to improve gradually, according to economic reports released Thursday morning. The Labor Department said the number of people claiming new unemployment benefits last week was roughly flat near a five-year low. Sales of existing homes rose in February to a three-year high, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell to 1.92 percent from 1.96 percent earlier Thursday as demand increased for ultra-safe investments.
In the tumbling tech sector, Oracle fell $3.47, or 9.7 percent, to $32.30. Juniper dropped 42 cents, or 2.2 percent, to $18.89. Cisco list 83 cents, or 3.8 percent, to $20.84. H-P declined 60 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $22.32. And IBM declined $2.80, or 1.3 percent, to $212.26.
Outside of technology, here are some?stocks?that made big moves:
? Struggling drug company AstraZeneca jumped after saying it would cut 2,300 more jobs worldwide and overhaul its research operations. That brings to 11,000 the number of job cuts announced in the past 13 months. Shares rose $1.77, or 3.8 percent, to $47.95.
? Publisher Scholastic Corp. plunged after shrinking demand for its best-selling "The Hunger Games" books forced it to cut its guidance for the year. The company's fiscal third-quarter loss nearly doubled. Shares fell $4.32, or 13.9 percent, to $26.75.
? Movado Group Inc. dropped after the luxury watchmaker said its fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell 26 percent. The?stock?dropped $3.89, or 10.5 percent, to $33.23.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/kxWc5H1B3vs/Stocks-fall-on-weak-Oracle-sales-Cyprus-fears
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ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group declared a "formal and clear ceasefire" with Turkey on Saturday after the rebels' jailed leader this week ordered a halt to the decades-long armed campaign for autonomy.
"Since March 21 and from now on, we as a movement, as the PKK ... officially and clearly declare a ceasefire," said Murat Karayilan, the PKK's field commander, in a video message apparently taped at a rebel holdout in northern Iraq.
His comments were translated from Kurdish in the video posted on Firat News, a website with links to the militants.
Abdullah Ocalan, held in an island prison since his 1999 conviction for treason, called on the PKK to cease fire and withdraw from Turkey in a letter read to hundreds of thousands of supporters in the main Kurdish city of Diyarbakir on March 21, the Kurds' traditional new year holiday.
Ocalan, called Apo for short, has been in negotiations with state officials from his prison cell since October to end the conflict that has claimed 40,000 lives since it began in 1984.
"The decision by our leader Apo is all of ours. We accept this decision, we agree with it," Karayilan said in the video, flanked by female and male fighters dressed in baggy green fatigues.
"We see it as historic, correct and very important and as the start of a new period."
Karayilan said his rebels would complete a withdrawal if the government and parliament "fulfilled their responsibilities and created the foundation for a withdrawal," without elaborating further.
The declaration from Karayilan, who is based in the remote mountains of northern Iraq from where he directs the PKK insurgency against Turkey, had been expected but was still an important sign the outlawed PKK will abide by Ocalan's orders.
Despite his 14 years in captivity, Ocalan still wields enormous clout over PKK militants as well as millions of nationalist Kurds.
RISKS
However, there are still dangers of division over the terms of a peace deal or between the figures negotiating it. The process could also be complicated by the ambitions of other Kurdish groups across the border in Syria, Iran and Iraq.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has taken a considerable political risk in allowing negotiations with Ocalan to unfold in such a public way. Previous efforts conducted behind closed doors over the decades to resolve the conflict have all failed.
Ocalan is reviled by many Turks for leading an insurgency that threatened to partition Turkey in its earlier days.
The government has agreed on a commission of "wise men" to facilitate the peace process, Turkish media reported on Saturday.
The commission will consist of 30 well-known figures including writers Yashar Kemal and Hasan Cemal to ensure the process runs smoothly and has public support, NTV news channel said.
Kurds, who make up about 20 percent of Turkey's population of 75 million people, want greater cultural and political rights.
Many say they do not see their future in an independent Kurdistan but in Turkey, the world's 18th-biggest economy and a candidate for European Union membership.
The United States and the EU, along with NATO member Turkey, consider the PKK a terrorist organization.
(Reporting by Ayla Jean Yackley; Additional reporting by Seyhmus Cakan in Diyarbakir; Editing by Sophie Hares)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kurdish-rebels-declare-formal-ceasefire-turkey-180247226.html
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Print | Subscribe Viejas Band ready to welcome visitors to $36M casino hotelThursday, March 21, 2013Filed Under: California | Openings and Closing More on: hotels, viejas ? Tweet ? |
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The Viejas Band of
Kumeyaay Indians in California is hosting a grand opening for its $36 million casino hotel tonight.
The 128-room, five-story hotel sits next to the Viejas Casino. The tribe hopes to attract locals and reward frequent gamblers with the facility.
?The primary focus is as an amenity for our current gaming customers,? spokesperson Robert Scheid told The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Get the Story: VIEJAS WANTS LOCALS TO STAY (The San Diego Union-Tribune 3/21) Related Stories: Viejas Band expects to open $36M casino hotel in March 2013 (11/14) |
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SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea issued an air raid warning on Thursday, South Korea's Unification Ministry said quoting a radio broadcast monitored in Seoul. A news report said the warning appeared to be part of a defence drill.
The warning was issued at 12:32 a.m. British time and carried a message to military units to stand ready, but the action appeared to be a drill under an air raid scenario, Yonhap news agency said.
An official at the Unification Ministry, which handles ties with the North and monitors North Korea's news broadcasts, confirmed air raid warning on Thursday morning.
The official could not confirm whether the warning was part of a drill. The two Koreas remain technically at war under a truce that ended their 1950-53 conflict. Tensions have been high with the rivals exchanging verbal barbs.
North Korea has been conducting large-scale military drills coinciding with annual exercises by the South Korean and U.S. forces running to the end of April. The allies have stressed the drills are strictly defensive in nature.
(Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by David Chance)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-issues-aid-raid-warning-seen-drill-005352549.html
By Matt Spetalnick
TEL AVIV (Reuters) - President Barack Obama arrived in Israel on Wednesday without any new peace initiative to offer disillusioned Palestinians and facing deep Israeli doubts over his pledge to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.
Making his first official visit here as president, Obama hopes to use the trip to reset his often fraught relations with both the Israelis and Palestinians in a choreographed three-day stay that is high on symbolism but low on expectations.
He was met at Tel Aviv airport by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Shimon Peres after Air Force One stopped next to a huge red carpet laid out down the tarmac.
Obama will hold lengthy talks with Netanyahu later in the day, with the two set to hold a news conference at 8:10 p.m. (2.10 p.m. EDT). He will travel to the occupied West Bank on Thursday to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
U.S. officials say Obama will try to coax the Palestinians and Israelis back to peace talks. He will also seek to reassure Netanyahu he is committed to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear bomb and discuss ways of containing Syria's civil war.
However, the White House has deliberately minimized hopes of any major breakthroughs, a reversal from Obama's first four years in office when aides said he would visit the Jewish state only if he had something concrete to accomplish.
Workers have hung hundreds of U.S. and Israel flags on lamp posts across Jerusalem, as well as banners that boast of "an unbreakable alliance." But the apparent lack of any substantial policy push has bemused many diplomats and analysts.
"This seems to me to be an ill-scheduled and ill-conceived visit," said Gidi Grinstein, president of the Reut Institute, a Tel Aviv-based think tank.
"On the Iranian situation, Israel and the U.S.A. don't seem to have anything new to say to each other. On Syria, the Americans don't have a clear outlook, and on the Palestinian issue, they are taking a step back and their hands off."
NEW BEGINNINGS
With both Obama and Netanyahu just starting new terms and mindful that they will have to work together on volatile issues for years to come, they will be looking to avoid the kind of public confrontation that has marked past encounters.
"To tell the truth, they can't stand one another," a commentator for Israel's Channel 10 television said in a live broadcast from the airport as Air Force One came to a halt.
Signaling the emphasis being placed on symbolic gestures, the U.S. president will inspect an Iron Dome anti-missile battery at Tel Aviv airport before flying up to Jerusalem by helicopter for the start of his official meetings.
The White House has touted the U.S.-funded system, which has helped protect Israelis from Hamas rocket attacks from Gaza, as a prime example of Obama's commitment to Israel's security - a message likely to be rammed home during the trip.
Annual U.S. military aid to Israel is put at $3 billion.
Seeking to connect directly with an often skeptical Israeli public, Obama will make a speech to a group of carefully screened students on Thursday afternoon where he is expected to touch on major topics of concern, including Iran.
Israel and the United States agree that Iran should never get a nuclear bomb, dismissing Tehran's assertion that its atomic program is peaceful. However, the two allies are at odds over how fast the clock is ticking down on the need for preventative military action should diplomacy fail.
U.S. officials say Obama, the fifth sitting U.S. president to travel to Israel, will urge further patience, with Washington worried that a threatened Israeli unilateral strike might drag the United States into another Middle East war.
Obama, who has said he is coming to listen, will fly by helicopter the short distance between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah to meet Abbas, avoiding having to cross the Israeli separation barrier that divides the two entities.
Direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in 2010 over the issue of Jewish settlement building in the West Bank, and Abbas's allies have expressed bitter disappointment over the lack of fresh U.S. moves.
"It's not a positive visit," said Wasel Abu Yousef, a senior official in the Palestine Liberation Organization, led by Abbas.
In Ramallah on Tuesday, Palestinian police scuffled with scores of demonstrators protesting against Obama's visit.
Although Netanyahu repeated this week that he was ready to make "a historic compromise" to achieve peace, his new cabinet has several pro-settler ministers fervently opposed to halting building on land Palestinians want to establish their state.
Dennis Ross, Obama's former Middle East adviser, said the president was right to tread cautiously when peace prospects were dim and Israelis are more focused on what they see as greater threats presented by Iran and the war in Syria.
"What you don't want to do at a time when there's enormous disbelief on the part of both parties is to do something that will fail," Ross said.
(Writing by Crispian Balmer and Matt Spetalnick; Additional reporting by Noah Browning in Ramallah and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Editing by Jeffrey Heller)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-heads-israel-amid-low-expectations-005157680.html
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Some diseases are caused by single gene mutations. Current techniques for identifying the disease-causing gene in a patient produce hundreds of potential gene candidates, making it difficult for scientists to pinpoint the single causative gene. Now, a team of researchers led by Rockefeller University scientists have created a map of gene "shortcuts" to simplify the hunt for disease-causing genes.
The investigation, spearheaded by Yuval Itan, a postdoctoral fellow in the St. Giles Laboratory of Human Genetics of Infectious Diseases, has led to the creation of what he calls the human gene connectome, the full set of distances, routes (the genes on the way), and degrees of separation, between any two human genes. Itan, a computational biologist, says the computer program he developed to generate the connectome uses the same principles that GPS navigation devices use to plan a trip between two locations. The research is reported in the online early edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"High throughput genome sequencing technologies generate a plethora of data, which can take months to search through," says Itan. "We believe the human gene connectome will provide a shortcut in the search for disease-causing mutations in monogenic diseases."
Itan and his colleagues, including researchers from the Necker Hospital for Sick Children, the Pasteur Institute in Paris, and Ben-Gurion University in Israel, designed applications for the use of the human gene connectome. They began with a gene called TLR3, which is important for resistance to herpes simplex encephalitis, a life-threatening infection from the herpes virus that can cause significant brain damage in genetically susceptible children. Researchers in the St. Giles lab, headed by Jean-Laurent Casanova, previously showed that children with HSE have mutations in TLR3 or in genes that are closely functionally related to TLR3. In other words, these genes are located at a short biological distance from TLR3. As a result, novel herpes simplex encephalitis-causing genes are also expected to have a short biological distance from TLR3.
To test how well the human gene connectome could predict a disease-causing gene, the researchers sequenced exomes ? all DNA of the genome that is coding for proteins ? of two patients recently shown to carry mutations of a separate gene, TBK1.
"Each patient's exome contained hundreds of genes with potentially morbid mutations," says Itan. "The challenge was to detect the single disease-causing gene." After sorting the genes by their predicted biological proximity to TLR3, Itan and his colleagues found TBK1 at the top of the list of genes in both patients. The researchers also used the TLR3 connectome ? the set of all human genes sorted by their predicted distance from TLR3 ? to successfully predict two other genes, EFGR and SRC, as part of the TLR3 pathway before they were experimentally validated, and applied other gene connectomes to detect Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and sensorineural hearing loss disease causing genes.
"The human gene connectome is, to the best of our knowledge, the only currently available prediction of the specific route and distance between any two human genes of interest, making it ideal to solve the needle in the haystack problem of detecting the single disease causing gene in a large set of potentially fatal genes," says Itan. "This can now be performed by prioritizing any number of genes by their biological distance from genes that are already known to cause the disease.
"Approaches based on the human gene connectome have the potential to significantly increase the discovery of disease-causing genes for diseases that are genetically understood in some patients as well as for those that are not well studied. The human gene connectome should also progress the general field of human genetics by predicting the nature of unknown genetic mechanisms."
###
Rockefeller University: http://www.rockefeller.edu
Thanks to Rockefeller University for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127355/Researchers_create_map_of__shortcuts__between_all_human_genes
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Now that some of the frenzy over Lance Armstrong?s recent admissions has died down, I thought it might be a good time for me to weigh in. You see, I hold the title of LIVESTRONG Global Envoy (really, it's on their website and everything). As such, I am asked to use my paltry celebrity and limited influence to spread awareness of the LIVESTRONG Foundation?s programs. (LIVESTRONG is the foundation that Lance founded to help cancer patients and survivors, among others.)
It?s become clear to me in recent weeks that I have not done a very good job.
I am tired to the bone of the criticisms people continue to hurl toward the LIVESTRONG Foundation, based on crimes Lance committed as a cyclist. Whether the LIVESTRONG Foundation does good work, uses its donated resources responsibly and efficiently, and benefits the people its mandate directs it to are separate issues from whether Lance ever cheated, or lied, or lied about cheating. Still, every article I read about Lance is followed by vitriolic attacks on LIVESTRONG, by people who don?t know what they?re talking about. In fact, it?s obvious they?ve made no effort to inform themselves.
The Real Costs of Cancer (Infographic)
?
There are numerous organizations that are devoted to investigating charities. One only has to want to learn. These groups have already looked into LIVESTRONG and found it to be one of the best-run, most efficient, and most effective charities in existence. My favorite is CharityNavigator.org, which gives the LIVESTRONG Foundation its highest four-star rating. They determine that 82 percent of incoming funds go directly into program expenses, with 6.1 percent going toward administrative expenses; both percentages are better than national averages for similar charities. LIVESTRONG has a fundraising efficiency of $0.14 spent for each dollar in donations received, which is slightly less efficient than the most desirable category possible. So the worst thing Charity Navigator has to say about the LIVESTRONG Foundation is that they are operating with fundraising efficiency that is just about as good as it can be. There?s far too much data available to quote here, but I encourage everyone to look. I can?t imagine why anyone would give to any charity without taking at least a peek.
But what is LIVESTRONG? What do they do that?s so special that I would take on this debate? It?s simple: LIVESTRONG provides free services to help anyone affected by cancer. The Foundation helps patients gain access to appropriate medical treatments. They find assistance for the uninsured and underinsured. And they directly intercede with insurers and advocate for those facing insurance denials and appeals.
Want more? LIVESTRONG helps handle debt and financial management issues related to cancer diagnoses. They help people apply for federal and state programs such as Medicaid, Social Security, and Disability. The Foundation also offers counseling, support groups, classes, and peer-to-peer connections. The Foundation helps people understand risks and options related to cancer treatments and fertility (something doctors are notoriously lax about), helps access discounted rates for fertility preservation, and helps people find local fertility-related resources. LIVESTRONG offers free help in understanding treatment options, in seeking second opinions, and in identifying clinical trials that would be most beneficial and appropriate.
We Can't Let Cancer Be a Death Sentence in Poorer Countries
Take another look at that last clause. ??identifying clinical trials that would be most beneficial and appropriate.? When I was 25 years old, newly in remission from leukemia that was expected to quickly return, the world-renowned hospital treating me in New York never informed me of any clinical trials going on anywhere else. Doctors encouraged me to have a bone marrow transplant there, even though they had no dedicated bone marrow transplant unit, almost no nursing experience with bone marrow transplantation, and had attempted only two such transplants at that point.
Meanwhile, less than 200 miles away, Johns Hopkins Hospital had already published a study in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrating better long-term leukemia survival rates after the type of bone marrow transplant I needed than anyone had ever achieved. The study was made up of more than 100 patients, each of whom had been treated at the Johns Hopkins Bone Marrow Transplant Unit?which, since the study?s completion, had performed nearly a hundred more.
What Group Gets Cervical Cancer Twice as Often?
Two institutions, only a car ride apart. One offering experience and documentation of unprecedented success, the other pressuring me to become part of their experiment. In order to discover this, I had to travel from New York City to Seattle, where a kind doctor told me about what they were doing at Johns Hopkins; then to Baltimore for a consultation; and then back to New York?all while unwell, and under extraordinary time pressure to make a choice before the leukemia recurred. If LIVESTRONG had existed then, the whole campaign could have been conducted by phone. And it would have been free of charge.
Who Pays the Highest Price When It Comes to Breast Cancer?
Most profoundly, LIVESTRONG has been a spearhead in the massive cultural shift toward pride in survivorship, and away from the stigmatization previously associated with cancer diagnoses. Their quarterly LIVESTRONG Challenge bike rides and runs each draw thousands of people. These events place emphasis on the continuation of life, on setting goals and accepting challenges, on maintaining and improving physical fitness throughout a cancer diagnosis, throughout treatment, and throughout the life that follows. I have attended these events and been inexpressibly moved. The volume of humanity, either physically present or represented by names scrawled on vests and placards, is a devastating indictment of our culture?s refusal to eliminate, or simply reduce, many of the known causes of these illnesses. The determination of those present is a testament to human beings? abilities to turn tragedies, which can never be erased, into triumphs that will also always be remembered.?
Have Cancer but No Insurance? No Problem?You Can Pay With Your Life
I fear the misinformation will continue. Some people prefer lashing out to learning. I wish instead they would log online and learn about LIVESTRONG. If they learned that the Foundation does good work, and does it well, then I wish they?d make a donation. Then they?d have done something good, instead of just complaining about something we can all agree is bad.
I sent a donation to LIVESTRONG this morning. It?s the least I could do. They have been there for me every time I?ve called, and for everyone I?ve ever sent their way. It?s their job. And they do it very well.
Related Stories on TakePart.com
? How Many Cancer Myths Do You Still Believe?
? We're All Created Equal?But Not When It Comes to Health
? The 10 Most Common Types of Cancer in the United States
Evan Handler?is an actor and author best known from HBO's Sex and the City, as well as Showtime's current Californication. Handler has also played significant roles in such films and television shows as Ransom, Taps, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Lost, The West Wing, and It?s Like, You Know? Evan is the author of two highly regarded books,?Time On Fire: My Comedy of Terrors, and?It?s Only Temporary: The Good News and the Bad News of Being Alive. Learn more at?EvanHandler.com. ??
A more detailed examination of this issue by Evan Handler is currently available at?HuffingtonPost.com.
? 2013 Evan Handler
These are solely the author's opinions and do not represent those of TakePart, LLC or its affiliates.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/op-ed-love-livestrong-165610245.html
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