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Showing posts from February, 2009

Secretary Salazar and Secretary Vilsack Pledge Coordinated Federal Response to California Drought

Washington, DC - Today Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the creation of a Federal Drought Action Team that will work cooperatively to respond to communities facing significant drought. With California currently facing one of its worst droughts in decades, the Drought Action Team will work with Governor Schwarzenegger's state drought response team to minimize the social, economic, and environmental impacts of the current drought. The announcement follows last Friday's announcement by the Department of the Interior's Bureau of Reclamation that, based on water forecasts, initial Water Year (WY) 2009 allocations for the Federal Central Valley Project (CVP) will be significantly limited for agricultural, municipal, industrial, and environmental uses. "The drought situation in California is dire," said Secretary Salazar. "Farms, ranches, and communities across the Central Valley are withering on the vine and in n

Human Ancestors Put Best Foot Forward 1.5M Years Ago

Fossils thought to be oldest evidence to date of an essentially modern foot. "Finding footprints in the early stage of human evolution is very rare. They're very fragile and they don't often preserve," explained study co-author John W.K. Harris, a professor of anthropology at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, N.J. "This is only the second finding in 30 years." "This is not the first time that a footprint has been found that has shouted to us through time, but it certainly is one of the most important," added Jeffrey T. Laitman, distinguished professor and director of anatomy and functional morphology and of gross anatomy at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. Laitman was not involved with the study. The features of the footprints indicate that they belonged to the hominid Homo ergaster, or early Homo erectus. These are the oldest footprints that can be linked to mankind's genus, Homo, according to an accompanying perspective art

Lowering BP in Dialysis Cases Cuts Heart Risks

Study says drugs could prevent 2 of 10 deaths expected in every 100 patients per year. Those studies assessed the effects of lowering blood pressure in a total of 1,679 adult dialysis patients who experienced 495 cardiovascular events. The review authors found that treatment with blood pressure-lowering drugs reduced the risk of cardiovascular complications, cardiovascular deaths, and death by all other causes. Data from seven studies showed that average systolic blood pressure was 4.5 mm HG lower and diastolic blood pressure was 2.3 mm HG lower in patients who received blood pressure-lowering drugs than in untreated patients. The protective effects of a wide range of blood pressure-lowering drugs were similar regardless of hypertension and other health conditions. The review authors also found that blood pressure-lowering treatment was tolerated well by patients. "If our data are applied to a broad population of patients on dialysis with an annual mortality rate of about 10 perce

Space Shuttle Program Completes New Plan for Next Launch

WASHINGTON -- NASA's Space Shuttle Program has established a plan that could support shuttle Discovery's launch to the International Space Station, tentatively targeted for March 12. An exact target launch date will be determined as work progresses with the shuttle's three gaseous hydrogen flow control valves. At NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, technicians have started removing Discovery's three valves, two of which will undergo detailed inspection. Approximately 4,000 images of each valve will be reviewed for evidence of cracks. Valves that have flown fewer times will be installed in Discovery. Engineering teams also will complete analysis and testing to understand the consequences if a valve piece were to break off and strike pressurization lines between the shuttle and external fuel tank. Hardware modifications may be made to the pressurization lines to add extra protection in the unlikely event debris is released. NASA and contractor teams have been work

Iodine in Prenatal Vitamins Varies Widely

Labeling doesn't always reflect content, which is crucial to fetal neurological development, researchers note. WEDNESDAY, Feb. 25 (Health Day News) -- Most prenatal vitamins marketed in the United States don't contain as much iodine as is stated on the label, researchers report. The variance is troubling, they say, since iodine is critically important to the health of a developing fetus. In a letter appearing in the Feb. 26 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, the team also noted that the actual levels of iodine found in the supplements were typically below those recommended by the American Thyroid Association (ATA). "Iodine nutrition is critically important in pregnancy," explained Dr. Elizabeth Pearce, co-author of the letter and an assistant professor of medicine at Boston University Medical Center. "Women who are deficient in pregnancy have children often with lower IQs or neurocognitive delays. Iodine deficiency is the leading cause of preventable m

Summits and Afghanistan on EU agenda

The General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC) is meeting on 23-24 February. The Czech Presidency will present the agenda for the summits on 1 March and 19-20 March while the foreign ministers will discuss Afghanistan and other issues. Sweden will be represented by Minister for Foreign Affairs Carl Bildt and Minister for EU Affairs Cecilia Malmström.

The story of the economic recovery package (photos)

As President Obama says, the economic recovery package is just one of three "legs of the stool" -- a milestone, but an early one, the very beginning of the long process of fixing the economic crisis we inherited. Tomorrow we'll mark the end of that beginning, as President Obama travels to Denver, CO to sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that the House and Senate approved last Friday. Over the past few weeks, the President spent some time with Americans across the country who are hurting because of this crisis. And the team has been working around the clock, meeting with House members, Senators, and governors -- Democratic and Republican alike -- to build and pass the recovery package. Along the way, White House photographer Pete Souza, whose job it is to visually document everything the President does, has captured some pretty incredible behind-the-scenes images. It’s a glimpse of the President and of the White House that you don’t usually get to see. Flip th

Sudden Cardiac Death Rare in Young Athletes

Risk is similar to that of being killed by lightning, study finds. The rate of young athletes in the United States dying of sudden cardiac failure is relatively rare, on par with the same age group being involved in a lightning-related death, researchers say. According to a study published in the journal Circulation, 1,866 U.A. athletes, ages 8 to 39, died suddenly or survived cardiac arrest from 1980 to 2006. Cardiovascular disease killed more than half those athletes, with one in three being linked to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition that results in an enlarged heart that can often be detected by a routine electrocardiogram (ECG). While ECGs are used regularly in pre-screening athletes in Europe, particular in Italy, debate has been ongoing as to whether the United States should call for more rigorous and broad health screening of athletes. The American Heart Association recommends deeper examination only if a first-line physical and family history raises questions or issues.

Skin Cells Turned Into Working Heart Muscle

Research could lead to new treatments for organ's diseases that have genetic cause. (SOURCE: University of Wisconsin-Madison, news release, Feb. 12, 2009) THURSDAY, Feb. 12 (HealthDay News) -- It may be possible to use skin cells to create stem cells that can repair damaged hearts, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison report. In late 2007, UW-Madison researchers showed that skin cells could be turned back into stem cells. In this new study, these induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells were used to create working heart-muscle cells (cardiomyocytes). The research was published in the Feb. 12 issue of Circulation Research. "It's an encouraging result, because it shows that those cells will be useful for research and may someday be useful in therapy," lead researcher Tim Kamp, a professor of medicine at the UW Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, said in a university news release. "If you have a heart failure patient who is in dire straits -- and

NASA To Hold Briefing About Upcoming Kepler Exoplanet Mission

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media briefing on Thursday, Feb. 19, at 1 p.m. EST, to discuss the upcoming Kepler mission. Kepler is the first spacecraft with the ability to find Earth-size planets orbiting stars like our sun in a zone where liquid water could exist. The televised briefing will take place in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St. S.W., Washington. Kepler is scheduled to launch March 5 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Participants are: -- Jon Morse, director, Astrophysics Division, NASA Headquarters -- William Borucki, principal investigator for Kepler science, NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. -- Jim Fanson, Kepler project manager, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. -- Debra Fischer, professor of Astronomy, San Francisco State University Reporters also may ask questions from participating NASA locations or by telephone. To reserve a telephone line, contact J.D. Harrington by e-mail

Mediterranean Diet Aids the Aging Brain: Study

Eating plan seems to reduce the risk of cognitive impairment, dementia. (SOURCES: Nikolaos Scarmeas, M.D., assistant professor, neurology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York City; Alice Lichtenstein, D.Sc., Gershoff Professor of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University, Boston; Gary Kennedy, M.D., director, geriatric psychiatry, Montefiore Medical Center, New York City; February 2009, Archives of Neurology) TUESDAY, Feb. 10 (HealthDay News) -- Chalk up another endorsement for the so-called Mediterranean diet: The eating regimen, which is rich in fruits, vegetables, fish and olive oil, may help the brain stay sharp into old age, a new study suggests. Following the healthful diet reduced the risk of getting mild cognitive impairment -- marked by forgetfulness and difficulty concentrating. And it also cut the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease if cognitive impairment was already present, said study lead author Dr. Nikolaos Scarmeas, an assistant professor of neurol

MESSENGER Continues Hunt for Ever-Elusive Vulcanoids

MESSENGER reaches its orbital perihelion today and passes within 0.31 astronomical units (AU) of the Sun (one AU is nearly 150 million kilometers or 93 million miles). The mission's imaging team is taking advantage of the probe's proximity to the fiery sphere to continue their search for vulcanoids - small, rocky asteroids that have been postulated to circle the Sun in stable orbits inside the orbit of Mercury. Vulcanoids are named after Vulcan, a planet once proposed to explain unusual motions in Mercury's orbit. Scientists have long suspected that these small, faint "space rocks" exist. There is a gravitationally stable region between the orbit of Mercury and the Sun, which means that any objects that originally formed there could have remained for billions of years and might still be there today. All other such regions in the solar system are occupied by some type of debris (e.g., Trojan asteroids at stable points along the orbits of Jupiter and Neptune and Kui

Closing of Guantanamo Bay is Subject of Feb. 18 Panel at the Library of Congress

On January 22, 2009, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order directing the Central Intelligence Agency to close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba within a year. Some individuals and groups view this as a risky step because the facility known as "Gitmo" is perceived as a secure location to conduct trials of terrorist suspects. Others welcome the move, but believe it could take longer than one year to accomplish. The Law Library of Congress will sponsor a panel discussion titled "Looking Beyond Gitmo: U.S. and Foreign Approaches Toward Legal Treatment of Terrorist Suspects." The 90-minute program will be held at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 18, in the Mumford Room, located on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building at 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C. The event is free and open to the public but seating is limited and advance reservations are suggested at (202) 707-9834. Panelists include Charles D. Stimson, senior legal fellow at the He

Brain Protein May Have Potential Against Alzheimer's

Study in animals finds memory improvements and less cell degeneration. SUNDAY, Feb. 8 (HealthDay News) -- A naturally occurring brain protein appears able to slow or stop Alzheimer's disease in recent studies done on animal models. The brain's entorhinal cortex, which supports memory, normally produces brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF); however, its production appears to decrease when Alzheimer's is present. When researchers injected BDNF in lab animals that either were aged, had entorhinal cortex damage or were genetically altered to have Alzheimer's-like symptoms, they found that the animals had improved memory and cognitive skills and that cell degeneration and death was prevented or reversed. "The effects of BDNF were potent," researcher Dr. Mark Tuszynski, professor of neurosciences at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine, said in a news release issued by the school. "When we administered BDNF to memory circuits in the b

Here Comes Lulin

In 1996, a 7-year-old boy in China bent over the eyepiece of a small telescope and saw something that would change his life--a comet of flamboyant beauty, bright and puffy with an active tail. At first he thought he himself had discovered it, but no, he learned, two men named "Hale" and "Bopp" had beat him to it. Mastering his disappointment, young Quanzhi Ye resolved to find his own comet one day. And one day, he did. Fast forward to a summer afternoon in July 2007. Ye, now 19 years old and a student of meteorology at China's Sun Yat-sen University, bent over his desk to stare at a black-and-white star field. The photo was taken nights before by Taiwanese astronomer Chi Sheng Lin on "sky patrol" at the Lulin Observatory. Ye's finger moved from point to point--and stopped. One of the stars was not a star, it was a comet, and this time Ye saw it first. Comet Lulin, named after the observatory in Taiwan where the discovery-photo was taken, is now app

Iron on its Route to the Sea-Floor: A New Path

"Dust" from iron can float up from hydrothermal vents Iron dust, the rarest nutrient for most marine life, can be washed down by rivers or blown out to sea or--a surprising new study finds--float up from the sea floor in the material spewed from hydrothermal vents. The discovery, published online Feb. 8, 2009, in a paper in the journal Nature Geoscience, connects life at the surface to events occurring at extreme depths and pressures. The two worlds were long assumed to have little interaction. A team from the University of Minnesota, University of Southern California, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory took samples from the East Pacific Rise, a volcanic mid-ocean ridge. The group found that organic compounds capture some iron from hydrothermal vents, enabling it to be carried away in seawater, according to scientist Brandy Toner of the University of Minnesota, lead author of the Nature Geoscience paper. Iron trapped in this way doe