Posted: July 25, 2012
When the next outbreak of Sars or Swine flu hits, New York's John F Kennedy airport and Los Angeles's airports will likely be the key spreaders of disease, according to a new study. But while the influence of these super-hubs may not come as much of a surprise, the third most outbreak-friendly airport in the states is far smaller, and far less obvious - Honolulu International.
In a paper published Monday in the journal PLoS One, a team of researchers from MIT outlined a new computer model that predicts how the 40 largest American airports may contribute to the diffusion of contagious disease within the first few days of a potential epidemic.
They looked at which hubs may be key "early spreaders" because knowing where epidemics may begin is key to stemming an outbreak, Marta Gonzalez, professor in the department of civil and environmental engineering at MIT, and one of the contributors to the new model, told the Guardian.
Read the full story here: http://www.guardian.co.uk
Posted: July 25, 2012
The heat wave that lit up a vast swathe of the mid-west could not have come at a worse time for this year's corn. Or delivered more of a shock to farmers. All signs had been pointing to a bumper crop this year.
A mild winter, a balmy spring - most farmers elected to plant some of their fields a few weeks earlier than usual. Mike Buis, who farms in west-central Indiana, put some of his corn in on 9 April. Some farmers didn't even hold on that long, planting as early as March.
By 1 June, the early corn was shoulder high. But corn, it turns out, is a sensitive creatures. June's combination of extreme heat and long dry spell proved a deadly combination.
Read the full article here: http://www.guardian.co.uk
Posted: July 25, 2012
We need your help to stop the Monsanto riders. Unless a citizen's army of farmers and consumers can stop them, Congress is likely to ram these dangerous riders through any day now.
So-called 'Monsanto riders,' quietly slipped into the multi-billion dollar FY 2013 Agricultural Appropriations bill, would require - not just allow, but require - the Secretary of Agriculture to grant a temporary permit for the planting or cultivation of a genetically engineered crop, even if a federal court has ordered the planting be halted until an Environmental Impact Statement is completed. All the farmer or the biotech producer has to do is ask.
Click here to learn more and sign the petition if you haven't already: http://signon.org
Posted: July 24, 2012
Apples genetically engineered not to turn brown when sliced or bruised. And new, unnatural proteins are being created in the process. Action Alert!
The "Arctic Apple," engineered by the British Columbia-based Okanagan Specialty Fruits, thinks the non-browning apples could improve industry sales the way "baby carrots" did for carrot sales. Of course, as most people now realize, "baby carrots" are not young, tender carrots at all, but are simply specially shaped slices of peeled carrots, invented as a use for carrots that are too twisted or knobbly for sale as full-size carrots.
Read more here: http://www.anh-usa.org
Posted: July 24, 2012
America's drought threatens a recurrence of the 2008 global food crisis, when soaring prices set off riots and unrest to parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, food experts warn.
Corn prices reached an all-time high on Friday, as the drought expanded across America, trading at $8.24 a bushel on the Chicago exchange. Soybeans were also trading at record levels.
The US department of agriculture meanwhile predicted there would be less corn coming onto global markets over the next year, because of a sharp drop in US exports.
Read the full story here: http://www.guardian.co.uk
Posted: July 24, 2012
PITTSBURGH (CN) - Del Monte subsidiary Milo's Kitchen sells Chicken Jerky Dog Treats made in China that kill dogs and make them sick, a sad dog-owner claims in a federal class action.
Lead plaintiff Lisa Mazur says her healthy 7-year-old dog, Riley Rae, suffered kidney failure and had to be euthanized after being given the treats from time to time for about one month.
She says the only change in Riley Rae's diet that month was the addition of Milo's treats, which says "were unsafe, defective, dangerous, culpably misrepresented as safe and healthy, and did not conform to applicable implied and express warranties."
Read the full article here: http://www.courthousenews.com
Posted: July 24, 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) - The ranks of America's poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net.
Census figures for 2011 will be released this fall in the critical weeks ahead of the November elections.
The Associated Press surveyed more than a dozen economists, think tanks and academics, both nonpartisan and those with known liberal or conservative leanings, and found a broad consensus: The official poverty rate will rise from 15.1 percent in 2010, climbing as high as 15.7 percent. Several predicted a more modest gain, but even a 0.1 percentage point increase would put poverty at the highest level since 1965.
Read the full article here: http://m.yahoo.com
Posted: July 24, 2012
LOS ANGELES (CN) - Kirstie Alley plugs bogus Organic Liaison weight-loss supplements with false claims that they helped her lose 100 lbs., but the products "are nothing more than run-of-the-mill fiber and calcium supplements," a class action claims in Superior Court.
Lead plaintiff Marina Abramyan sued Organic Liaison LLC, Organic Liaison Management and Kirstie Alley, claiming they use deceptive before-and-after pictures of the former "Cheers" star to push their ineffective drugs.
"Ms. Alley's weight loss is not due to the Organic Liaison Program, but rather, is the result of an above average exercise regimen and extremely low calorie diet, including her time on the television program 'Dancing with the Stars' ('DWTS'), where she spent five to seven hours a day exercising as part of the competition," the complaint states.
Read the full story here: http://www.courthousenews.com
Posted: July 24, 2012
A row has erupted within the Australian medical community over ways to handle the growth in alternative and complementary medicine, with claims that some doctors are exploiting their power and trying to censor others.
A group of high-profile scientists, dubbed ''Friends of Science in Medicine'', has been calling for universities to dump courses on ''pseudo sciences'' that they say are not supported by valid scientific research.
The targets include homeopathy, naturopathy, iridology and chiropractic and osteopathy courses, although they acknowledge the last two have evidence for musculo-skeletal treatments.
Led by John Dwyer, emeritus professor of medicine at the University of New South Wales, the group has also been campaigning for the federal government and health insurance providers to stop funding complementary and alternative medicine unless evidence is found to back them.
Read the full story here: http://www.sott.net
Posted: July 24, 2012
U of S researchers have discovered the chemical pathway that Cannabis sativa uses to create bioactive compounds called cannabinoids, paving the way for the development of marijuana varieties to produce pharmaceuticals or cannabinoid-free industrial hemp. The research appears online in the July 16 early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
U of S adjunct professor of biology Jon Page explains that the pathway is an unusual one, involving a specialized version of one enzyme, called hexanoyl-CoA synthetase, and another enzyme, called olivetolic acid cyclase (OAC), that has never before been seen in plants.
"What cannabis has done is take a rare fatty acid with a simple, six-carbon chain and use it as a building block to make something chemically complex and pharmacologically active," Page says.
Read the whole article here: http://www.eurekalert.org
Posted: July 23, 2012
ScienceDaily (July 23, 2012) - With widespread hunger continuing to haunt developing nations, and obesity fast becoming a global epidemic, any number of efforts on the parts of governments, scientists, non-profit organizations and the business world have taken aim at these twin nutrition-related crises. But all of these efforts have failed to make a large dent in the problems, and now an unusual international collaboration of researchers is explaining why.
Publishing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers argue that while hunger and obesity are caused by a perfect storm of multiple factors acting in concert, the efforts to counter them have been narrowly focused and isolated. Overcoming the many barriers to achieving healthy nutrition worldwide, the researchers argue, will instead require an unprecedented level of joint planning and action between academia, government, civil society and industry.
Read the full story here: http://www.sciencedaily.com
Posted: July 23, 2012
(Reuters) - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a warning to patients and physicians about the increased risk of seizures in multiple sclerosis patients taking the drug Ampyra.
The drug was developed by Acorda Therapeutics Inc to improve walking ability in patients with multiple sclerosis. Biogen Idec Inc has rights to the drug in Europe where it is sold under the brand name Fampyra.
The FDA said that based on reports, it recently evaluated seizure risk in MS patients taking Ampyra and noted that the majority of seizures happened within days to weeks after starting the recommended dose and occurred in patients with no history of seizures.
Read the full story here: http://www.reuters.com
Posted: July 23, 2012
(Reuters) - Nearly 15 tons of ground beef have been recalled by a unit of agriculture conglomerate Cargill Inc in connection with a seven-state outbreak of salmonella across the northeast and Virginia, the United States Department of Agriculture said.
Cargill Meat Solutions, based in Wichita, Kansas, voluntarily recalled 29,339 pounds of fresh ground beef products produced at its Wyalusing, Pa., plant that may be contaminated with salmonella, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service announced late Sunday.
The products were produced on May 25, 2012, and shipped to distribution centers in Connecticut, Maine and New York. The recalled meat was sold in Hannaford supermarket stores in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont, said the USDA.
Read the full story here: http://www.reuters.com
Posted: July 23, 2012
(Reuters Health) - Older patients having a hip or a knee replaced have a higher risk of heart attack in the two weeks after the procedure compared to those who don't need joint surgery, according to a new study.
People having joint surgery had up to 31 times the risk of a heart attack shortly afterward - but still, no more than one in 200 had heart trouble.
Although it's not clear the hip and knee procedures, themselves, triggered the heart attacks, researchers said it's reasonable to think they would have some role.
Read the full story here: http://www.reuters.com
Posted: July 20, 2012
FALL RIVER - Conventional wisdom says an apple a day keeps the doctor away. But through Saint Anne's Hospital's soon-to-launch produce prescription program, a patient will be able to receive a physical and fresh fruit in the same visit.
After recently starting a weekly farmers market on-site in Fall River, Saint Anne's is striking partnerships with select area doctors to offer prescriptions for fresh produce.
Funded through the hospital's community benefits program, the vouchers are redeemable at the market for one serving of fruits or vegetables, per day per person, for up to four family members throughout the market's season, according to Susan Oldrid, vice president for mission and community partnerships. Oldrid said she was inspired in the charge by the nonprofit organization Wholesome Wave.
Read the full story here: http://www.southcoasttoday.com
Posted: July 20, 2012
JACKSON, Miss. (CN) - Seven students claim in court that Virginia College, which got $293 million in federal student loan aid last year, lures minorities into its medical assistance program at up to $20,000 a pop for "worthless degrees."
Lead plaintiff Tiffeny Anderson sued Virginia College and the Education Corporation of America, in Federal Court. Both defendants are based in Birmingham, Ala.
Read the full story here: http://www.courthousenews.com
Posted: July 20, 2012
The FBI is requesting information from across the country on collections of tattoos and their affiliations. The data would be added to the Bureau's Biometric Center of Excellence, which currently creates and improves databases of biometric data like fingerprints, DNA and irises.
The FBI did not immediately respond to our questions about the scope and intent of the program, but we presume a database could be compiled that would help investigators understand and cross-reference common gang-related body art, or possibly associate it with a specific location or tattoo artist.
The BCOE is publicly working to build "multimodal biometric search capability," and also to build domestic and international relationships in order to achieve its goals. In other words, it's in charge of collecting and organizing what data it can get, and arranging access to others' data.
Read the full story here: http://www.technolog.msnbc.msn.com
Posted: July 20, 2012
A 24-year-old Marysville woman has been arrested on an attempted assault charge for allegedly putting a prescription medication into her father's drink and later telling officers she had wanted to kill him, the Marysville Police Department said Thursday. He got only a headache.
On July 13,police said, the 51-year-old father reported receiving a text message from a number he did not recognize stating not to drink his usual alcohol beverage when he got home from work. The man told police later he thought it was a prank and drank his customary drink. He then felt ill with a headache and went to bed.
Read the full story here: http://www.q13fox.com
Posted: July 20, 2012
(CNSNews.com) - Since Jan. 1 of this year, according to congressional testimony presented Thursday by the Government Accountability Office, the Federal Aviation Administration has authorized 106 federal, state and local government "entities" to fly "unmanned aircraft systems," also known as drones, within U.S. airspace.
"We are now on the edge of a new horizon: using unmanned aerial systems within the homeland," House Homeland Security Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Michael McCaul (R.-Texas) said as he introduced the testimony.
Read the full story here: http://cnsnews.com
Posted: July 20, 2012
Energy-saving light bulbs might be good for the environment but they can fry your skin, a new study claims.
Researchers at Stony Brook University in New York State examined the impact of the efficient compact fluorescent bulbs - or CFL bulbs - on human skin cells prompted by a similar study undertaken in Europe.
They discovered that healthy skin exposed to light from the environmentally-friendly globes - which use a quarter of the energy of ordinary bulbs to produce the same amount of light - experienced the same kind of damage that is found with ultraviolet (UV) radiation.
Read the full article here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
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