DUBLIN (AP) ? A paralyzed Irish woman who wants to die cannot legally commit suicide with her partner's help, Ireland's Supreme Court ruled Monday in a case that has moved the nation.
The seven-judge court said nothing in the country's 1937 constitution could authorize the deliberate taking of a life on humanitarian grounds. It said lawmakers could pass such a law to permit 59-year-old Marie Fleming to die at a time of her choosing, but no such statute existed yet.
Fleming, a former University College Dublin lecturer who is unable to move from the neck down because of advanced multiple sclerosis, testified that her life had been reduced to untreatable agony and she feared choking to death because she couldn't swallow.
Her lawyers argued that suicide was not a crime in Ireland, therefore a disabled person unable to end his or her own life should receive that help to be equal under the law. They also contended that Fleming's right to personal autonomy under the European Convention of Human Rights was being violated.
But Chief Justice Susan Denham said EU law permits nations to set their own policies on euthanasia, and the Irish constitution contains "no explicit right to commit suicide or to determine the time of one's own death."
As Denham read the judgment, Fleming's partner, Tom Curran, and the couple's three adult children cried and held hands. Fleming herself could not come to the courthouse because, Curran said, she was battling a chest infection that itself might prove lethal.
Outside the courthouse, Curran said he would help his partner die regardless of criminal penalties if she decided to proceed. After telephoning her to say the verdict was as they both had expected, Curran said the couple was determined to end her life at their home in County Wicklow south of Dublin. If charged and convicted of assisting suicide, Curran would face a maximum prison sentence of 14 years.
"It's very difficult to understand how a person with a disability can be deprived of something that's legally available to everybody else. For that not to be discriminatory under the constitution, that's something we fail to understand. The constitution is there to protect people like Marie and to give them solace that they will be looked after," Curran said.
"We will now go back to Wicklow and live our lives until such time as Marie makes up her mind that she's had enough. And in that case, the court will have an opportunity to decide on my future," he said.
The family's lawyers have kept open the possibility of appealing their case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. But Curran said that might prove to be too much of an ordeal for his partner.
Most of the world has not legalized assisted suicide for terminally ill patients. Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland have legalized the practice as have the U.S. states of Montana, Oregon and Washington, all under restricted circumstances.
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank has "zero tolerance" for customers seeking to evade taxes by holding assets in foreign accounts managed by the lender, Co-Chief Executive Juergen Fitschen told German radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk.
"Tax evasion is a crime," Fitschen said in an interview. "It's unacceptable."
Germany's biggest lender has restrictive policies for dealing with its customers' overseas assets and all employees working in the area are aware of it, Fitschen said.
"We have zero tolerance," he said, adding that if the bank had the slightest indication that foreign assets handled by the bank were not taxed, it would demand that customers prove the assets were legitimate.
Tax evasion has become an election issue in Germany after the shock revelation that Uli Hoeness, the Bayern Munich soccer club president and an associate of Chancellor Angela Merkel, had turned himself into tax authorities over a secret Swiss bank account.
Germany's financial watchdog Bafin plans to take a closer look at banks' business in offshore tax havens.
Fitschen said he was confident the Bafin enquiry would bring a good result. "As in other areas, we have nothing to hide."
Separately, UBS Chairman Axel Weber told Wirtschaftswoche magazine that Switzerland's biggest bank would no longer do business with customers seeking to evade taxes.
"I am confident that we can persuade the affected customers to put their situation with the German tax authorities in order," said Weber, who is a former Bundesbank president.
(Reporting by Jonathan Gould; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
We've been hearing about Jony Ive taking a sand blaster to iOS 7 -- removing a lot of the heavier textures, gradients, shadows, and skeuomorphs that built up at Apple under Steve Jobs and Scott Forstall. According to what I've been hearing), iOS 7 will make fans of the richer design style cry. 9to5Mac's ace reporter, Mark Gurman, calls it Windows Phone-like, and what's more:
In addition to losing the complex interface design characteristics from earlier versions of iOS, Apple has been discussing and testing ways to add more ?glance-able? information and system options panels, like Notification Center, to the software. While it is still uncertain if Apple will end up including such new functionality in iOS 7, or how the Company will implement the potential addition, one of the early ideas was to implement the new panels via swipes from the left and right side of an iOS device?s display. This would be similar to the gesture on Apple?s Mac trackpads for accessing Notification Center in Mountain Lion, but what, specifically, the iOS gesture could access is uncertain.
Gurman also says that iOS 7 is code-named Innsbruck, and includes a full set of newly redesigned icons for the built-in Apple apps. As that suggests, and as I've heard as well, the base Springboard launcher and its grid aren't going anywhere any time soon, so those hoping for an entirely new Home screen experience will be disappointed. That's not to say there won't be, as Gurman alludes to in his post, that Apple won't introduce new or modified sliding panels like Notification Center to add to or enhance functionality, but when you hit Home, currently, you still see Home. That's important for the hundreds of millions of existing iOS users.
What it means for developers and designers, however, will depend on how they've built their apps to date. Those who have stuck to UIKit will get a lot of the new look, including all the new stock interface elements, "for free". Those who have replicated UIKit elements in order to change them more substantially will have to re-replicate them. Those who have completely customized their interfaces, and who want to fit the new aesthetic, will have a lot of graphics to redraw come WWDC.
Ironically, Windows Phone and Android went flat to overcome performance issues. Compositing, masking, and shadow effects takes cycles. Flat interface can be thrown around much faster. Yet, because they've done it more recently, and because it stands in stark contrast to the more elaborate 2007-esque iOS interface, it looks "new". Their constraints brought out a cleanness and modernness that became fashionable, and as a result made Apple look decidedly unfashionable.
It'd be tempting to call the move reactionary -- a new look by new management to deal with new tastes in the market -- but for that new management being headed by Jony Ive. Apple's senior vice president of design has tastes that are well known, minimalist and timeless. He values getting everything, every distraction, out of the way until only the essential nature of the object remains. Now we're seeing that vision, Ive's vision, in charge of software for the first time. That it's such a stark contrast, and likely a welcome change for many from the status quo, could simply be a bonus.
Check out Gurman's article for more on iOS 7's new look, and then come back here and let me know what you think. If Apple goes flat, should they go very flat?
By Mike Collett LONDON, April 29 (Reuters) - Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes that if his team win their last three Premier League games they will qualify for the Champions League, but both Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur could yet scupper his hopes. If Chelsea take at least nine points from their last four games, they will finish on 74 points. If Tottenham win their four remaining games, they would also finish on 74 points. ...
All Critics (90) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (83) | Rotten (7)
The film and its talking head participants paint the picture in both broad strokes and fine detail.
Whatever one's political stripe regarding Israel, it's hard to dispute the impressions and perspective of the film's six eyewitnesses.
The level of candor here may not satisfy hard-liners of either stripe, but it can help viewers begin to formulate new questions about the philosophical, strategic and moral challenges of conflict, in particular "wars on terror."
Ultimately the movie feels evasive, and its flashy, digitally animated re-creations of military surveillance footage unpleasantly evoke the Call of Duty video games.
It offers startlingly honest insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from some of those who called the shots.
As a political testament, the result is revealing and important.
In the end, the accumulated stories in The Gatekeepers offer tremendous insight about the Israeli-Palestinian situation. It feels more like it was prepared as a history document for Shin Bet rookies than a documentary.
...a riveting and sobering documentary about Shin Bet that raises important if unanswerable questions about the morality of state-sanctioned violence in the name of internal security.
[Moreh] asks just the right questions, never prodding these understandably private men too far but getting what he needs.
A riveting but depressing history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It's a depressing movie, yet there is encouragement to be found in the manifest decency and reasonableness of these six honest, articulate men ...
The former heads of Israel's military anti-terrorism agency Shin Bet break their silence in this unnerving, eye-opening documentary.
The film, though based on the exploits of Shin Bet, gives us reason to think about the drones that take out more than just terrorists.
Makes for truly bracing viewing.
A fascinating film offering a startling look inside one of the most tightlipped intelligence agencies on the planet, and providing powerful resonances with the US and UK's "war on terror".
A compelling overview of a modern security agency - bred in a moral grey area, organising state-sanctioned violence, but uncertain of the strength of its political safety net.
While memorable in sometimes unexpected ways (1980 head Avraham Shalom's long unwashed nails), there is always the nagging feeling that any revelations are being pushed or sold a little too hard.
Dror Moreh's Oscar-nominated documentary is riveting, haunting and depressing in equal measure, offering a sobering assessment of the Israel-Palestine conflict from a unique perspective.
[T]he Oscar-nominated documentary in which the six living former heads of Shin Bet, the ultrasecretive Israeli domestic security agency, talk about their antiterrorism work...
Although The Gatekeepers may not be quite theatrical nor dramatic enough for it to be highly recommended as a cinematic experience, this does feel like a film that really should be seen.
Many secrets are revealed and examined in director Dror Moreh's mind-blowingly fine film. If I have a quibble, it's that he never reveals the most tantalizing secret of all: how the hell he pulled it off.
[An] absorbing documentary, which charts the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the Six Day War to the presentday.
Insightful, revelatory and profound, Moreh's Oscar-nominated documentary combines riveting interviews, archive footage and - yes - state-of-the-art photographic effects to offer a unique perspective on the Israel-Palestine issue.
Both journalistic coup and unsettling confirmation of the idea that 'you can't make peace using military means.'
Much like Errol Morris' "The Fog of War," Dror Moreh's film is a sobering inside look inside history, at mistakes made and opportunities missed.
Moreh employs a direct interviewing style, reminiscent of Errol Morris' work, to get the men to talk about their days leading Shin Bet.
Contact: Matthew Swayne mls29@psu.edu 814-865-9481 Penn State
Video game and augmented-reality game players can spontaneously build virtual teams and leadership structures without special tools or guidance, according to researchers.
Players in a game that mixed real and online worlds organized and operated in teams that resembled a military organization with only rudimentary online tools available and almost no military background, said Tamara Peyton, doctoral student in information sciences and technology, Penn State.
"The fact that they formed teams and interacted as well as they did may mean that game designers should resist over-designing the leadership structures," said Peyton. "If you don't design the leadership structures well, you shouldn't design them at all and, instead, let the players figure it out."
Peyton, who worked with Alyson Young, graduate student in information systems, and Wayne Lutters, associate professor of information systems, both at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said that the players quickly adopted a leadership structure that resembled the U.S. military's leadership hierarchy.
"One of the surprising things is that although the people in the game were not related in any way to the military, many of the teams organized along military lines, from designations to filing situation reports," said Peyton.
The researchers, who presented their findings at the 2013 Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Paris today (April 29), examined 54,000 posts of 2,500 players who took part in the I Love Bees game. Microsoft released the game in 2004 as part of a viral marketing campaign to promote the release of the company's Halo 2 video game. The object of the I Love Bees game was to decode messages from a beekeeper's website that was supposedly hacked by aliens. The coded messages revealed geographic coordinates of real pay telephones situated throughout the United States. Players then waited at those payphones for calls that contained more clues.
Because the game did not have a leadership infrastructure, players established their own websites and online forums on other websites to discuss structure, strategy and tactics.
A group of gamers from Washington, D.C., one of the most successful groups in the game, established an organization with a general and groups of lieutenants and privates. The numbers of members in each rank were roughly proportional to the amount of soldiers who fill out ranks in the U.S. military, Peyton said.
The players assigned their own ranks, rather than have ranks dictated to them. The general oversaw the strategy, while lieutenants mostly handled specific tactics for accomplishing the strategy. The privates carried out orders from the lieutenants.
As the game progressed, members researched military terminology and frequently used terms, such as armies, platoons and companies, in their message board posts. Peyton said that the increased militarization after 9/11 may have influenced this choice in terminology.
"The concept of militarization is more of a part of the collective imagination now, post 9/11," Peyton said.
Peyton said the study also shows the power of games to inspire people to work.
"These people did all of this work with no tangible reward, no promise of a free game, or anything," said Peyton. "The strict line between work and leisure is disappearing."
###
The National Science Foundation supported this work.
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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.
Contact: Matthew Swayne mls29@psu.edu 814-865-9481 Penn State
Video game and augmented-reality game players can spontaneously build virtual teams and leadership structures without special tools or guidance, according to researchers.
Players in a game that mixed real and online worlds organized and operated in teams that resembled a military organization with only rudimentary online tools available and almost no military background, said Tamara Peyton, doctoral student in information sciences and technology, Penn State.
"The fact that they formed teams and interacted as well as they did may mean that game designers should resist over-designing the leadership structures," said Peyton. "If you don't design the leadership structures well, you shouldn't design them at all and, instead, let the players figure it out."
Peyton, who worked with Alyson Young, graduate student in information systems, and Wayne Lutters, associate professor of information systems, both at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, said that the players quickly adopted a leadership structure that resembled the U.S. military's leadership hierarchy.
"One of the surprising things is that although the people in the game were not related in any way to the military, many of the teams organized along military lines, from designations to filing situation reports," said Peyton.
The researchers, who presented their findings at the 2013 Annual Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems in Paris today (April 29), examined 54,000 posts of 2,500 players who took part in the I Love Bees game. Microsoft released the game in 2004 as part of a viral marketing campaign to promote the release of the company's Halo 2 video game. The object of the I Love Bees game was to decode messages from a beekeeper's website that was supposedly hacked by aliens. The coded messages revealed geographic coordinates of real pay telephones situated throughout the United States. Players then waited at those payphones for calls that contained more clues.
Because the game did not have a leadership infrastructure, players established their own websites and online forums on other websites to discuss structure, strategy and tactics.
A group of gamers from Washington, D.C., one of the most successful groups in the game, established an organization with a general and groups of lieutenants and privates. The numbers of members in each rank were roughly proportional to the amount of soldiers who fill out ranks in the U.S. military, Peyton said.
The players assigned their own ranks, rather than have ranks dictated to them. The general oversaw the strategy, while lieutenants mostly handled specific tactics for accomplishing the strategy. The privates carried out orders from the lieutenants.
As the game progressed, members researched military terminology and frequently used terms, such as armies, platoons and companies, in their message board posts. Peyton said that the increased militarization after 9/11 may have influenced this choice in terminology.
"The concept of militarization is more of a part of the collective imagination now, post 9/11," Peyton said.
Peyton said the study also shows the power of games to inspire people to work.
"These people did all of this work with no tangible reward, no promise of a free game, or anything," said Peyton. "The strict line between work and leisure is disappearing."
###
The National Science Foundation supported this work.
[ | 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.
This is the recap for Ohio Valley Wrestling TV Episode 714 to air in Louisville on Saturday 4/27. As always the show can also be seen at http://www.ovwrestling.com/tv/714. OUR OVW Announce Team this week is Dean "San Juan" Hill?, ?Anchorman" Gilbert Corsey, and ?Rocky Mountain Mouth" Michael Titus. OUR OVW Ring Announcer is Terry Boddie. Gilbert says that seven OVW superstars were attacked by the Coalition last week.
Speaking of which, the Coalition (One-half of OUR OVW Tag Team Champions "The Washington Generals" Jason Wayne, "Squad Alpha" Jack Black & Joe Coleman, "Squad Bravo" Shiloh Jonze & Raul Lamotta, and the Spanish Moss Guy) come out to the ring without Crimson (the other half of the tag team champs). Wayne commandeers the mic and says that OVW has been attacked and that the mission of the Coalition is to rid OVW of all evildoers so that red-blooded fans can have a group that they can truly be proud of! They are working around the clock to complete this mission-OVW Operation Freedom! They unleashed Shock and Brawl last week which removed Alex Silva, Sam Shaw, "Smooth" Johnny Spade, and James "Moose" Thomas. This brings out OUR OVW Director of Operations Michael (not PS) Hayes comes out appearing to be quite agitated even before having mic problems. Wayne reminds Hayes that he can't touch the Coalition or even throw them out of the building, as Hayes gets all up in their faces. Wayne also mentions that Crimson is in a diplomatic meeting with the OVW Board of Directors. Hayes can't take the Coalition on by himself but does have "people" and brings out OUR OVW TV Champion Rockstar Spud followed by Tony Gunn, "Triple R Superstar" Randy Royal, and "White Kryptonite" Eddie Diamond (all four also were attacked last week). Wayne reminds Hayes that he still has Hayes outnumbered 6 to 4 but then Hayes brings out "Welsh Colossus" Rob Terry! Wayne says it's still 6 on 5 but then Jay Bradley comes out! Bradley says he might not like Hayes' "people" but the Coalition stuck their noses in his business last week by attacking Spade and Moose, so he's going to make a statement on the Coalition tonight! So we have a 12-man tag match in the main event.
Match #1: Lovely Lylah vs OUR OVW Ladies Champion Trina Lylah is a brunette about the same size and build as Epiphany, whom Trina defeated last week to win the title. Titus refers to Epiphany as a "bohemoth" (?). Trina gets all offensive with clotheslines and slams, then finishes Lylah with a full nelson slam to wrap up her first title defense.
Match #2: "The Great" Cliff Compton vs "Best Rudy Ever" Rudy Switchblade Compton shows off his tumbling skills ala Matt Dillinger. Dean is happy that Rudy has broken away from "Mr. Pec-tacular" Jesse Godderz. Rudy tries to lock a Boston crab but Compton kicks him away. Rudy stomps Compton's fingers then goes for a tenpunch but Compton rakes his face. Compton slings Rudy across then legdrops him for 2 before draping him across the top rope and coming off with a forearm, cutting him a flip onto the mat. Compton chinbreakers Rudy for 2 then locks him into a sleeper, taking him down to the mat. Rudy appears to chew his way free and goes for the crab again but Compton again kicks him away. Rudy snaps Compton on the top rope as Coleman and Black run out and attack Rudy for the DQ. Jonze and Lamotta follow but Bradley, Royal (with a 2x4), et al; come out ot clear the ring. Hayes returns and declares that there will be no more of this (run-in attacks) and the 12-man tag is still on. Compton stands in front of the Coalition with the mic and says they are looking to draft the man...and the man is Cliff Compton! However the Coalition decides that Compton is not the man and proceeds to beat him down until the group in the ring chases them away.
In the back, "Diamond Steel" Ryan Howe is warming up as Heidi Lovelace comes over to talk. She asks about the gifts that Howe has allegedly been sending Taeler Hendrix but Howe brushes off the question, saying he doesn't care about that but is caring about getting his hands on Doug Williams and Dylan Bostic tonight. Taeler interrupts and calls Heidi "psychotic" and tells Heidi that Howe belongs to her! Bostic comes over and grabs Taeler, who refers to Bostic as an "overgrown Ken doll" as she is being dragged away by Bostic. Camera pans over to Timmy Danger reading a magazine while Diamond is lying in the arms of his favorite girl, Epiphany. Diamond apologizes to her for costing her the ladies title last week but she says not to worry about it since to her, no goal is more important than him! Bradley walks up and sees this and becomes indignant, reminding Diamond that they are going to war tonight. He tells Diamond to come with him but tells Danger and Epiphany to stay behind. They go over to where Royal, Gunn, and Spud are standing. Spud tells Bradley he doesn't exactly trust Bradley and is keeping both eyes on him. Bradley suggests Spud keep his eyes on his pot of gold, which sets off some sniping among the group particularly Royal reminding Spud that he wants a shot at the TV title. Terry comes up to emphasize to the others that they all need to work together.
Match #3: Dylan "Freakin'" Bostic & Doug Williams vs "Diamond Steel" Ryan Howe & OUR OVW Champion Jamin Olivencia Titus calls Williams the "Guiding Light of OVW". Howe plays us some riffs before Jamin comes out. Howe fires up on Williams a bit before tagging in Jamin, who also gets some action in before missing a splash. Bostic comes in but is greeted with a dropkick and Howe tagging back in. Howe hits a Thesz press on Bostic and peppers him with rights. Williams tags in and whips Howe into a Bostic kick to the back. Williams suplexes Howe then chokes him in the ropes, which begins an extended period of Howe being isolated while ref Josh Ashcraft keeps Jamin from coming in illegally. Williams kicks Howe in the groinular region and Jamin runs in with a full head of steam and attacks Williams. The two scuffle out of the ring and through the curtain as Ashcraft calls for the bell in what appeared to be a countout. Howe and Bostic are duking it out in the ring when Taeler comes into the ring and gets between the two. Taeler tells the guys to stop fighting over her then asks Howe why he got her the gifts. Bostic chimes in that everyone knows it was Howe! An angry Howe takes the mic and says it was not him, adding that he realizes that Taeler is hot but girls like her are a dime a dozen (not sure if hot redheads are a dime a dozen but whatever)! Howe wonders aloud if Bostic bought her the gifts to try to take her mind off fantasizing about Howe. Taeler starts to cry and no one has a Kleenex :( Heidi comes out and says the mysterious gift-giver was her!!! Taeler is stunned.
Back from break Dean, Gilbert, and Titus seem stunned as well. Gilbert plugs a house show in Elizabethtown, KY that Compton may make if the Coalition didn't beat him up too bad, lol.
Match #4: Gunn & Royal & Diamond & Terry & Spud & Bradley vs Wayne & Black & Lamotta & Jonze & Coleman & Spanish Moss Guy Opponents rush the ring and attack the Coalition but then we go to break. Back from break, Jonze drags Diamond over to the corner and tags Spanish Moss Guy. Diamond is able to overcome the moss and tag in Gunn, who flapjacks Jonze. Lamotta runs in and neckbreakers Gunn but Royal comes in to give Lamotta a running knee. Lamotta rolls out and Coleman lariats Royal but here comes Spud! Coleman throws Spud into the wrong corner for some choking in the ropes followed by Wayne and Black taking turns beating on him. Spud gets away and hits a delayed Thesz press on Black then Bradley comes in to give Black a running boot. Wayne attacks Bradley from behind to stop all that but then Terry comes in. Terry splashes Wayne in the corner and prepares to whip him into Bradley, who has the Boomstick ready to go. Black runs in and hits Bradley with a foreign object for the DQ. Coalition brings out the steel rods and its beatdown time! Switchblade and The Mobile Homers (Ted McNaler & Adam Revolver) run out to help but soon feel the wrath as well. Jonze and Lamotta arm themselves and wait at the entrance as the Baxter brothers, Nick Dumeyer, and Elvis Pridemore all come through the curtain and get ambushed. In the ring after hitting Terry upside the head with the belt, Wayne takes the mic and says OVW is going to have to bring more to the table if they want to defeat the Coalition. Wayne then lines up the troops and leads the Coalition pledge as the show goes off.
THOUGHTS: Somebody dared to oppose the Coalition this week, whoda thunk it? Trina had no wardrobe issues this week plus she had the distinction of scoring the only pinfall. Compton/Switchblade and the 4-man tag were pretty good for the action part. And yes, Trent Van Drisse called Heidi as the gift-giver several weeks ago so kudos to him! Epiphany sure seemed happy with Diamond. They should do like Glee and start naming couples (for example, Finn + Rachel="Finchel" and Brittany + Santana= "Brittana?. Not sure what Taeler + Heidi would be). So we get like a six minute beatdown after the main. I kept waiting for the fans to start throwing garbage into the ring. I think this is where I picked up OVW about this time last year with Jo-V-W running over everyone and everything. Maybe this time next year the Baxter, Dumeyer, and Pridemore will be doing a Four Horseman gimmick, I can't wait! Anyway, this still was a slight improvement over the past couple of weeks so I'll give it a "just a hair above the middle" thumbs in the middle.
Fried and fatty foods aren't the only things bad for your arteries -- a new study suggests the air you breathe could play a role, too.
Prolonged exposure to air pollution could be linked to heart attacks and strokes by speeding the hardening of the arteries -- a condition known as atherosclerosis that is linked with heart disease, according to new research.
The study showed a link between higher concentrations of particulate air pollution and faster thickening of the inner two layers of the carotid artery, as well as a link between slowed progression of atherosclerosis with decreasing air pollution.
The findings are published in the journal PLOS Medicine, and are based on data from 5,362 people ages 45 to 84 who came from six U.S. metro areas that were part of the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA Air). Over three years, researchers estimated home air pollution levels of all the study participants, as well as their blood vessel health.
On average, the study participants all experienced an average increase in carotid artery thickness of 14 micrometers each year. However, people who lived in more polluted areas experienced faster thickening, compared with those breathing cleaner air.
"Linking these findings with other results from the same population suggests that persons living in a more polluted part of town may have a 2 percent higher risk of stroke as compared to people in a less polluted part of the same metropolitan area," Sara Adar, an assistant epidemiology professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, said in a statement.
Apr. 24, 2013 ? Clenching your right hand may help form a stronger memory of an event or action, and clenching your left may help you recollect the memory later, according to research published April 24 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Ruth Propper and colleagues from Montclair State University.
Participants in the research study were split into groups and asked to first memorize, and later recall words from a list of 72 words. There were 4 groups who clenched their hands; One group clenched their right fist for about 90 seconds immediately prior to memorizing the list and then did the same immediately prior to recollecting the words. Another group clenched their left hand prior to both memorizing and recollecting. Two other groups clenched one hand prior to memorizing (either the left or right hand) and the opposite hand prior to recollecting. A control group did not clench their fists at any point.
The group that clenched their right fist when memorizing the list and then clenched the left when recollecting the words performed better than all the other hand clenching groups. This group also did better than the group that did not clench their fists at all, though this difference was not statistically 'significant'.
"The findings suggest that some simple body movements -- by temporarily changing the way the brain functions- can improve memory. Future research will examine whether hand clenching can also improve other forms of cognition, for example verbal or spatial abilities," says Ruth Propper, lead scientist on the study.
The authors clarify that further work is needed to test whether their results with word lists also extend to memories of visual stimuli like remembering a face, or spatial tasks, such as remembering where keys were placed. Based on previous work, the authors suggest that this effect of hand-clenching on memory may be because clenching a fist activates specific brain regions that are also associated with memory formation.
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Journal Reference:
Ruth E. Propper, Sean E. McGraw, Tad T. Bruny?, Michael Weiss. Getting a Grip on Memory: Unilateral Hand Clenching Alters Episodic Recall. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (4): e62474 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0062474
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Suppressing protein may stem Alzheimer's disease processPublic release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jules Asher NIMHpress@nih.gov 301-443-4536 NIH/National Institute of Mental Health
Runaway regulator clogs removal of toxic debris -- NIH funded study
Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health have discovered a potential strategy for developing treatments to stem the disease process in Alzheimer's disease. It's based on unclogging removal of toxic debris that accumulates in patients' brains, by blocking activity of a little-known regulator protein called CD33.
"Too much CD33 activity appears to promote late-onset Alzheimer's by preventing support cells from clearing out toxic plaques, key risk factors for the disease," explained Rudolph Tanzi, Ph.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, a grantee of the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Institute on Aging (NIA). "Future medications that impede CD33 activity in the brain might help prevent or treat the disorder."
Tanzi and colleagues report on their findings April 25, 2013 in the journal Neuron.
"These results reveal a previously unknown, potentially powerful mechanism for protecting neurons from damaging toxicity and inflammation," said NIMH Director Thomas R. Insel, M.D. "Given increasing evidence of overlap between brain disorders at the molecular level, understanding such workings in Alzheimer's disease may also provide insights into other mental disorders."
Variation in the CD33 gene turned up as one of four prime suspects in the largest genome-wide dragnet of Alzheimer's-affected families, reported by Tanzi and colleagues in 2008. The gene was known to make a protein that regulates the immune system, but its function in the brain remained elusive. To discover how it might contribute to Alzheimer's, the researchers brought to bear human genetics, biochemistry and human brain tissue, mouse and cell-based experiments.
They found over-expression of CD33 in support cells, called microglia, in postmortem brains from patients who had late-onset Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of the illness. The more CD33 protein on the cell surface of microglia, the more beta-amyloid protein and plaques damaging debris had accumulated in their brains. Moreover, the researchers discovered that brains of people who inherited a version of the CD33 gene that protected them from Alzheimer's conspicuously showed reduced amounts of CD33 on the surface of microglia and less beta-amyloid.
Brain levels of beta-amyloid and plaques were also markedly reduced in mice engineered to under-express or lack CD33. Microglia cells in these animals were more efficient at clearing out the debris, which the researchers traced to levels of CD33 on the cell surface.
Evidence also suggested that CD33 works in league with another Alzheimer's risk gene in microglia to regulate inflammation in the brain.
The study results and those of a recent rat study that replicated many features of the human illness add support to the prevailing theory that accumulation of beta-amyloid plaques are hallmarks of Alzheimer's pathology. They come at a time of ferment in the field, spurred by other recent contradictory evidence suggesting that these presumed culprits might instead play a protective role.
Since increased CD33 activity in microglia impaired beta-amyloid clearance in late onset Alzheimer's, Tanzi and colleagues are now searching for agents that can cross the blood-brain barrier and block it.
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Reference
Alzheimer's disease risk gene CD33 inhibits microglial uptake of amyoid beta. Griciuc A, Serrano-Pozo A, Parrado AR, Lesinski AN, Asselin CN, Mullin K, Hooli B, Choi SH, Hyman BT, Tanzi RE. Neuron, April 25, 2013.
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Suppressing protein may stem Alzheimer's disease processPublic release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jules Asher NIMHpress@nih.gov 301-443-4536 NIH/National Institute of Mental Health
Runaway regulator clogs removal of toxic debris -- NIH funded study
Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health have discovered a potential strategy for developing treatments to stem the disease process in Alzheimer's disease. It's based on unclogging removal of toxic debris that accumulates in patients' brains, by blocking activity of a little-known regulator protein called CD33.
"Too much CD33 activity appears to promote late-onset Alzheimer's by preventing support cells from clearing out toxic plaques, key risk factors for the disease," explained Rudolph Tanzi, Ph.D., of Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University, a grantee of the NIH's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and National Institute on Aging (NIA). "Future medications that impede CD33 activity in the brain might help prevent or treat the disorder."
Tanzi and colleagues report on their findings April 25, 2013 in the journal Neuron.
"These results reveal a previously unknown, potentially powerful mechanism for protecting neurons from damaging toxicity and inflammation," said NIMH Director Thomas R. Insel, M.D. "Given increasing evidence of overlap between brain disorders at the molecular level, understanding such workings in Alzheimer's disease may also provide insights into other mental disorders."
Variation in the CD33 gene turned up as one of four prime suspects in the largest genome-wide dragnet of Alzheimer's-affected families, reported by Tanzi and colleagues in 2008. The gene was known to make a protein that regulates the immune system, but its function in the brain remained elusive. To discover how it might contribute to Alzheimer's, the researchers brought to bear human genetics, biochemistry and human brain tissue, mouse and cell-based experiments.
They found over-expression of CD33 in support cells, called microglia, in postmortem brains from patients who had late-onset Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of the illness. The more CD33 protein on the cell surface of microglia, the more beta-amyloid protein and plaques damaging debris had accumulated in their brains. Moreover, the researchers discovered that brains of people who inherited a version of the CD33 gene that protected them from Alzheimer's conspicuously showed reduced amounts of CD33 on the surface of microglia and less beta-amyloid.
Brain levels of beta-amyloid and plaques were also markedly reduced in mice engineered to under-express or lack CD33. Microglia cells in these animals were more efficient at clearing out the debris, which the researchers traced to levels of CD33 on the cell surface.
Evidence also suggested that CD33 works in league with another Alzheimer's risk gene in microglia to regulate inflammation in the brain.
The study results and those of a recent rat study that replicated many features of the human illness add support to the prevailing theory that accumulation of beta-amyloid plaques are hallmarks of Alzheimer's pathology. They come at a time of ferment in the field, spurred by other recent contradictory evidence suggesting that these presumed culprits might instead play a protective role.
Since increased CD33 activity in microglia impaired beta-amyloid clearance in late onset Alzheimer's, Tanzi and colleagues are now searching for agents that can cross the blood-brain barrier and block it.
###
Reference
Alzheimer's disease risk gene CD33 inhibits microglial uptake of amyoid beta. Griciuc A, Serrano-Pozo A, Parrado AR, Lesinski AN, Asselin CN, Mullin K, Hooli B, Choi SH, Hyman BT, Tanzi RE. Neuron, April 25, 2013.
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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.
Stimulating a region of the brain known to be involved in reward decreases binge eating behavior in mice, according to a study published in the April 24 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. The findings add to a growing body of evidence supporting the role of the brain?s reward system in driving the consumption of palatable food. It could one day pave the way for more effective and lasting treatments for obesity.
The numbers of people worldwide living with obesity continues to climb. Recent studies suggest that the consumption of high calorie foods activates regions of the brain associated with reward. As a result, scientists are increasingly interested in understanding how changes taking place in the brain may be responsible for driving individuals to consume more calories than needed.
In the current study, Tracy Bale, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Pennsylvania set out to see if activating the nucleus accumbens ? a region of the brain involved in the promotion of motivational behaviors ? would alter binge-eating behavior in mice. The researchers used a technique called deep-brain stimulation (DBS) to directly deliver electrical impulses to the nucleus accumbens of mice that regularly binged on their food (ate 25 percent of their daily caloric intake within one hour). While mice that did not receive DBS showed little change in their eating habits, DBS significantly lessened the others? interest in binging on high fat food.
?Little is currently known about the neurobiological mechanisms of binge eating, and there are few effective treatments,? explained Paul Kenny, PhD, who studies addiction at the Scripps Research Institute and was not involved in this particular study. ?This study provides insights into the mechanisms that play a role in binge eating,? he added.
Bale?s group also tested the long-term effects of DBS on obese mice that were given unlimited access to high-fat food. After four days of continuous DBS, the obese mice consumed fewer calories and their body weight dropped.
?Overall, these studies indicate that activity in the reward centers of the brain may be a critical component driving individuals to overeat despite known negative health consequences,? Bale said. ?These results are very exciting as they provide our best evidence yet that we might be able to modify specific behaviors linked with body weight changes and obesity,? she added.
Future clinical trials will need to explore the effectiveness of DBS in reducing obesity in people before researchers know whether or not DBS presents a viable treatment option for the millions worldwide living with obesity. However, as noted by lead study author Casey Halpern, MD, a neurosurgeon at the University of Pennsylvania, DBS targeting other areas of the brain is currently used to treat Parkinson?s disease, and is being tested in clinical trials for the treatment of depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and addiction.
?Once replicated in human clinical trials, DBS could rapidly become a treatment for people with obesity due to the extensive groundwork already established in other disease areas,? Halpern said.
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Society for Neuroscience: http://www.sfn.org
Thanks to Society for Neuroscience for this article.
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Greece has officially declared it will seek reparations from Germany dating back to the Nazi occupation during World War II, which could amount to over ?100 billion, likely putting further strain on relations between the two Eurozone countries.
"We will exhaust every means available to arrive at a settlement," Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos told parliament in Athens on Wednesday. "One can't compare the times, but also one cannot erase the memories."
A Greek Finance Ministry report leaked to local media earlier this month showed that Greece believes that Berlin owes it ?162 billion ? ?108 billion for infrastructure damage during the occupation between 1941 and the end of the war, and ?54 billion as compensation for an interest-free loan Germany took from the country to support its war effort.
If paid in full, the sum would nearly empty the national currency and gold reserves of Germany (?185 billion as of last month), though this would still not be enough to cover Greece?s national debt (over ?350 billion).
Demands for such a reparation scheme have been voiced intermittently by Greek politicians over the past 60 years, but have gained renewed energy amid the recent financial crisis, in which the country has been subjected to tough austerity measures in exchange for largely German-backed loans.
The latest campaign is driven by radical Socialist opposition leader Alexis Tsipras, and is supported by 4 out of 5 Greeks, according to polls.
It remains unlikely that Germany will part with the money voluntarily.
?Instead of misleading the people in Greece [about the possibility of reparations] it would be better to show them the road to reform,? German Finance Minister Wolfgang Sch?uble said when the numbers in question first surfaced several weeks ago. ?The issue was settled a long time ago. Paying reparations is out of the question.?
In his speech, Avramopoulos said the ?Greek people suffered, went hungry and were looted like no other country,? and few contest that alongside the Soviet Union, Poland and parts of the Balkans, Greece was the hardest-hit of the invaded countries during World War II.
Still, the legal avenues open to the Greek government seem limited.
In the aftermath of the war, Greece was awarded provisional reparations amounting to a present-day value of about $2.5 billion.
Later, the 1953 London Debt Agreement ? in which around half of Germany?s external debt was written off ? stipulated that Greece would demand no further reparations until the unification of Germany. When the two German republics finally reunified in 1990, Greece conceded that it had no further claims.
In 1960, Germany also compensated Greeks who suffered under the Nazis.
While anti-German protests ? including some that portray Chancellor Angela Merkel as a mustachioed Nazi ? have become a staple of Greek political life, and set off what the media has labeled a ?new Cold War? between the countries.
The demand for reparations is apparently not just about a thirst for retribution, or even necessarily a chance to retake money from Germany: as numerous historians in both countries have pointed out, the London Debt Agreement was made because Germany couldn?t pay its debts without crippling its future. Forgiving these debts set the scene for Germany?s ?economic miracle? in the following decade.
Similarly, Greece?s current debts are about one-and-a-half times its Gross Domestic Product. Media commentators in Athens have repeatedly pointed to the historic parallels, and say that it is now Germany?s chance to allow Greece a better future, instead of suffocating it with obligations it can never repay.
DHAKA (Reuters) - An eight-story building that housed garment factories and shops collapsed in Bangladesh on Wednesday, killing nearly 100 people and injuring more than a thousand, officials said.
One fireman told Reuters about 2,000 people were in the Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (20 miles) outside Dhaka, when its upper floors slammed onto those below. An official at a control room set up to provide information said 96 people were confirmed dead and more than 1,000 injured.
The building collapse, which follows a November fire at the Tazreen Fashion factory on the outskirts of Dhaka that killed 112 people, has compounded concerns about worker safety and low wages in Bangladesh.
The two major incidents, and a third in January that killed seven people, could taint Bangladesh's reputation as a source of low-cost products and services and call attention to Western retailers and other companies that obtain products from the country.
Edward Hertzman, a textiles broker based in New York, whose clients include clothing manufacturers and retailers like PacSun, Oxford Industries and Fisham-Tobin, said pressure from U.S. retailers to keep a lid on costs continues to foster unsafe conditions.
Rescue workers try to rescue trapped garment workers in the Rana Plaza building which collapsed, in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka April 24, 2013. A block housing garment factories and shops ... more? Rescue workers try to rescue trapped garment workers in the Rana Plaza building which collapsed, in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka April 24, 2013. A block housing garment factories and shops collapsed in Bangladesh on Wednesday, killing nearly 100 people and injuring more than a thousand, officials said.REUTERS/Andrew Biraj (BANGLADESH - Tags: DISASTER BUSINESS) less? Following the Tazreen fire, giant U.S. retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it would take measures to alleviate safety concerns, while Gap Inc. announced a four-step fire-safety program.
Still, U.S. workers' rights groups say the push for low-cost production persists and encourages Bangladeshi factories to cut corners.
"It is going to take much more than retailers issuing press releases or paying compensation to victims," Hertzman said. "They're going to have to stop beating up the factories and start paying higher prices. That will allow the factories to raise wages and standards."
Wal-Mart said Wednesday it still could not determine whether a factory in the building that collapsed was producing goods for the company.
Wal-Mart has been a focus of attention since it emerged that it obtained products from the factory in Tazreen that caught fire in November. The Bangladeshi government subsequently confirmed workers' complaints about unsafe conditions, and also said the factory owner and supervisors prevented staff from leaving the premises after a fire alarm sounded.
The Tazreen accident raised questions about how much control Western brands have over their supply chains for clothes sourced from Bangladesh. Wages as low as $38.50 a month have helped propel the country to no. 2 in the ranks of apparel exporters.
A Wal-Mart supplier had subcontracted work to the Tazreen factory without authorization. Since then, Wal-Mart has said it is trying to get a better handle on its supply chain and to monitor safety at factories that produce its goods.
The website of a company called New Wave - which had two factories in the building - listed 27 main buyers, including firms from Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Canada and the United States.
"It is dreadful that leading brands and governments continue to allow garment workers to die or suffer terrible disabling injuries in unsafe factories making clothes for Western nations' shoppers," Laia Blanch of the U.K. anti-poverty charity, War on Want, said in a statement.
U.S. children's clothing retailer Children's Place said that while New Wave had manufactured clothes for the company in the past, it hadn't at the time of the accident.
At the site of the collapsed Rana Plaza building, a frantic effort was underway to find and rescue victims. Television reports showed young women workers, some apparently semi-conscious, being pulled out by firefighters and troops.
Doctors at local hospitals said they were unable to cope with the number of victims brought in.
CRACKS IN BUILDING
"It looks like an earthquake has struck here," said one resident as he looked on at the chaotic scene of smashed concrete and ambulances making their way through the crowds of workers and wailing relatives.
"I was at work on the third floor, and then suddenly I heard a deafening sound, but couldn't understand what was happening. I ran and was hit by something on my head," said factory worker Zohra Begum.
Mohammad Asaduzzaman, who was in charge of the area's police station, said factory owners appeared to have ignored a warning not to allow their workers into the building after a crack was detected in the block on Tuesday.
Annisul Huq, former president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, told Reuters that the BGMEA noticed these cracks on Tuesday and asked the owner to take corrective steps.
"The owner should not have used the factory while the cracks had developed, but it was a day of 'hartal' yesterday and he probably got no engineers to look at it," Huq said.
Hartals, or strikes, have been a persistent problem in the country, creating uncertainties in the supply chain and bottlenecks for business operations.
Hertzman, the textiles broker, said the Tazreen fire has prompted his clients to pressure agents in the factories to be more accountable for safety.
"I've had two clients in the past two months who have said they need to go and inspect the factories in Bangladesh," said Hertzman. Hertzman did not want to name the clients but said one of them supplies apparel to Costco and the other supplies young men's clothes for retailers like Ross Stores, Sears and Macy's.
"Bangladesh is the longest lead-time country and a difficult country to work in, so the only way it becomes competitive is by offering the lowest (cost). That's the catch-22," he said.
"If the factories want to raise prices to make up for rising wages and costs, the buyers say, 'Oh why do we want to go to Bangladesh if I could go to China, Pakistan, Cambodia etc for a similar price?"
(Additional reporting by Andrew Biraj. Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Jessica Wohl in Chicago; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Andrew Roche and Bernadette Baum)
Gwyneth Paltrow just topped the poll of the “Most Hated Celebrity” last week, but has now been named by People Magazine as their “World’s Most Beautiful Woman” in their annual issue. The actress is talented and fit, but the most beautiful? Gwyneth landed the top spot with other celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, Amanda Seyfried, ...
Flooding from Superstorm Sandy damaged Gordon Fishell's basement lab at NYU in Manhattan. Almost all of his research mice died.
Courtesy of NYU Langone Medical Center
Flooding from Superstorm Sandy damaged Gordon Fishell's basement lab at NYU in Manhattan. Almost all of his research mice died.
Courtesy of NYU Langone Medical Center
When Superstorm Sandy inundated lower Manhattan last year, thousands of lab animals drowned and many scientists lost months or even years of work. One of those scientists is Gordon Fishell, a brain researcher at New York University.
Just hours before Sandy reached New York, Fishell says, he began to worry that animals housed in a basement below his lab were in danger. "I realized Hurricane Sandy and high tide were going to coincide at Battery Park, which is right where my lab is," he says.
But by then, public transportation had shut down and Fishell was stuck at his home in suburban Westchester, N.Y. The next day, as he tried to get back to his lab, his worst fears were confirmed.
"I got through to one of my postdocs who had been there since seven in the morning," Fishell says. "I asked, 'Well, how about the mice?' And he said he was really sorry, but they were gone."
Fishell describes the events and the recovery process in a commentary in the journal Nature.
He says his first concern was for the younger researchers in his lab. Some had lost more than a year of work. But he was also disturbed to learn that thousands of animals had died unnecessarily.
"It is hard to express how close a partnership we have with these animals," Fishell says. "I mean, they really are [the way] we learn about what we care most about, which in our case is brain function. But they're living, breathing individuals."
They also can be very hard to replace. Fishell's lab studies how cells in the brain communicate, and what goes wrong in diseases like epilepsy and bipolar disorder. The research depends on mice that have been genetically altered in very specific ways. He couldn't just order replacements.
? Emails were pouring in from everyone from my very good friends to my very fierce competitors to say, 'What can we do?'
- Gordon Fishell, brain researcher, New York University
Fortunately, Fishell had shared his mice with researchers at other institutions. And when those scientists heard what had happened, he says, they responded.
"Emails were pouring in from everyone, from my very good friends to my very fierce competitors to say, 'What can we do?' " he says. " 'Can we send you mice? Can we take your people and do research here? Can we help you pick up an experiment sooner?' "
Almost immediately, Fishell began rebuilding his research program. He also began thinking about how to prevent something like this from happening again.
That's something places like the University of Texas Health Science Center have been working on since 2001, when a tropical storm flooded downtown Houston.
"We had 12 feet of water in a basement," says Bradford S. Goodwin, a veterinary scientist at the Center. "So every animal in our basement did drown." Animals at other downtown institutions also died, he says, because no one had anticipated an event like that.
In this Jan. 18, 2013, photo provided by the NYU Langone Medical Center, a technician examines mice to determine their health at the hospital's complex in New York.
AP Photo/New York University
In this Jan. 18, 2013, photo provided by the NYU Langone Medical Center, a technician examines mice to determine their health at the hospital's complex in New York.
AP Photo/New York University
"This is not something you learn in veterinary school," Goodwin says. He also says the loss was "devastating" and something he will "never get over." Every year, he says, researchers still hold a memorial for monkeys who died in the flood.
In response to the loss of so many animals, the University of Texas began building a new facility with a different design, Goodwin says. The lower floors are research laboratories. Animals live on the upper floors.
New York University also plans to move its animals to higher floors, Fishell says. In the meantime, his lab is recovering more quickly than he thought possible. He says one reason is something that happened after he'd been told all the mice were dead.
"About four days later," he says, "the relief crews broke through the roof to the top of where the animal colony was, and realized that about 10, 12 percent of all the mice [had] survived."
Fishell says they lived because as Superstorm Sandy approached, the woman in charge of lab animals asked her staff to move some mouse cages to the highest racks possible ? just in case.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) ? The U.N.'s climate chief says talks in 2015 to secure a global warming pact will not fail as they did at the 2009 Copenhagen summit where world leaders, including President Barrack Obama, could not reach an agreement.
Speaking ahead of a climate meeting in Bonn next week, Christiana Figueres told reporters in a teleconference that much had changed, giving her optimism that a global climate pact can be reached in Paris in 2015. Figueres says climate change is worsening and governments have already committed to reaching a deal.
The goal of the talks is to reach a deal involving rich and poor nations that would keep temperatures from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 Celsius), compared to pre-industrial times.
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Public release date: 29-Apr-2013
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Gwyneth Paltrow just topped the poll of the “Most Hated Celebrity” last week, but has now been named by People Magazine as their “World’s Most Beautiful Woman” in their annual issue. The actress is talented and fit, but the most beautiful? Gwyneth landed the top spot with other celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence, Amanda Seyfried, ...