Posted: July 19, 2012
The senate is set to pass a UN treaty on July 26th that will remove the rights of parents of disabled children to choose their child's medical treatment and educational options. At any time a UN social worker will have the right to trump the parents' choices for their child's well-being. This will directly impact a parent's right to refuse vaccines and other medical practices they feel is harmful to their child. If this is passed it will open the door for them to create another treaty that will strip away parental rights for ALL parents! So far only two Senators are opposing this.
Senator John Kerry announced that he plans to pass the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities before July 26. This is an unprecedented attempt to jam a binding international treaty through the Senate without proper time for debate or consideration.
Something must be done to stop this.
Read more here: http://www.hslda.org
Posted: July 19, 2012
The level of a cancer-causing chemical in Sauk Village's water supply has risen to a point that residents, by state law, must be notified about the increase.
But the Illinois Department of Public Health said Tuesday the level still is below the federal limit, and the water is "safe to drink."
A crowd of about 250 turned out Tuesday night at a village board committee meeting, seeking answers and demanding that village officials take action to improve the quality of the drinking water. After meeting in closed session for about an hour with village trustees, Mayor Lewis Towers faced hostile questioning as he tried to reassure residents that the water is safe to drink.
Some residents broke into tears, while most attacked the village for allowing the chemical in the drinking water to reach a level to cause concern. One woman was escorted out of the meeting by village and Cook County police screaming, "Don't drink the water." All wanted to know whether it was safe to drink the water and how the village planned to correct the problem.
Read the full story here: http://southtownstar.suntimes.com
Posted: July 19, 2012
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- San Francisco, the city that regulated Happy Meal toys and banned plastic grocery bags, has a new target in its health-conscious, eco-friendly crosshairs: plastic water bottles.
City officials are considering an ordinance that would require owners of new and renovated buildings with water fountains to install special bottle-filling taps. The law's designed to encourage thirsty people to refill containers instead of reaching for another bottle of Evian or Aquafina.
Read the full story here: http://hosted.ap.org
Posted: July 19, 2012
Virginia Tech researchers have discovered that abscisic acid has anti-inflammatory effects in the lungs as well as in the gut.
Building on previous work with the botanical abscisic acida, researchers in the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML) have discovered that abscisic acid has anti-inflammatory effects in the lungs as well as in the gut. The results will be published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.
"While the immune effects of abscisic acid are well understood in the gut, less was known about its effects in the respiratory tract. We've shown definitively that not only does abscisic acid ameliorate disease activity and lung inflammatory pathology, it also aids recovery and survival in influenza-infected mice," said Raquel Hontecillas, Ph.D., study leader, assistant professor of immunology at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, and co-director of NIMML.
Read the full story here: http://www.eurekalert.org
Posted: July 19, 2012
ScienceDaily (July 18, 2012) - The largest oil spill on open water to date and other environmental factors led to the historically high number of dolphin deaths in the Gulf of Mexico, concludes a two-year scientific study released July 19.
A team of biologists from several Gulf of Mexico institutions and the University of Central Florida in Orlando published their findings in the journal PLoS ONE.
For the past two years, scientists have been trying to figure out why there were a high number of dolphin deaths, part of what's called an "unusual mortality event" along the northern Gulf of Mexico.
Read the article here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120719105255.htm
Posted: July 19, 2012
(Reuters) - An Oregon man who contracted a rare case of bubonic plague, a disease that ravaged Europe during the Middle Ages, is expected to lose his fingers and some toes, but should be well enough to leave the hospital within weeks, his family said on Wednesday.
Paul Gaylord, 59, spent almost a month in intensive care, most of it on life support after he was infected while trying to take a rodent from the mouth of his cat on June 2. The choking cat bit his hand and scratched him.
Read the full story here: http://www.reuters.com
Posted: July 19, 2012
(Reuters Health) - Chain restaurants in the Seattle area seem to have made small changes for the better since a 2009 law forced them to put nutrition information on their menus, a new study finds.
Eighteen months after the law went into effect in King County, Washington, calorie counts were a bit lower, the study found. "Sit down" chain restaurants did better than fast-food joints: their entrees were an average of 73 calories lighter, versus a small, 19-calorie reduction at fast-food places.
There were also some improvements in sodium and saturated fat content.
Whether the changes happened because of the label law is not clear. "We can't say the menu labeling was the cause, because we could only look at restaurants in our jurisdiction," said lead researcher Barbara Bruemmer, of the University of Washington in Seattle.
Read the full article here: http://www.reuters.com
Posted: July 19, 2012
LOS ANGELES (CN) - California says U.S. Bank National Association neglects hundreds of foreclosed properties and uses shady practices to evict hundreds of tenants from rental units, making it "one of the largest slumlords in the City of Los Angeles."
Los Angeles prosecutors, on behalf of the state, sued dozens of U.S. Bank trusts that hold title to more than 1,500 foreclosed properties in the city.
In a news release, the city attorney's office said U.S. Bank could be liable for hundreds of millions of dollars for allegedly allowing more than 170 properties to fall into disrepair.
Read the full story here: http://www.courthousenews.com
Posted: July 19, 2012
Drinking even "moderate" amounts of alcohol increases dementia risk, US research suggests.
The findings, presented at an international conference, challenge the notion that some alcohol could be good for ageing brains.
People who stick to recommended alcohol limits are still at risk, as well as bingers and heavy drinkers, according to the work.
The study tracked the health over 20 years of 1,300 women in their mid-60s.
Read the full story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18856658
Posted: July 19, 2012
German material scientists from Kiel University and the Hamburg University of Technology have created the world's lightest material, dubbedaerographite. One cubic centimeter of aerographite weighs just 0.2 milligrams, which is four times lighter than the previous record holder, 5,000 times less dense than water, and six times lighter than air.
Aerographite, as you can see from the picture above, is a mesh of carbon tubes, each around 15nm in diameter, interwoven at the micro- and nano-scale level. It is electrically conductive, ductile, jet black (non-transparent), and can withstand high compression and tensile loads. Aerographite can be compressed to a 30th of its original size, gaining extra strength and conductivity in the process, and spring back without any damage to its structure - or it can carry up to 40,000 times its own weight.
Just as carbon is already used to filter water, aerographite might excel at both water and air filtration. The scientists report that by changing the process - the temperature of the oven, how quickly the hydrogen is added - the structure of aerographite can be modified, perhaps to tailor it for each use-case.
Read the full story here: http://www.extremetech.com
Posted: July 19, 2012
NEW YORK (AP) - A New York City hospital is making changes to its procedures following the death by septic shock of a 12-year-old boy.
NYU Langone Medical Center said Wednesday emergency doctors and nurses will be "immediately notified of certain lab results suggestive of serious infection."
The patient, Rory Staunton, died April 1, three days after he was sent home with fever and a rapid heart rate.
Read the full story here: http://www.sfgate.com
Posted: July 18, 2012
(Reuters) - Galena Biopharma said its breast cancer vaccine received a patent granting it exclusivity until 2028, sending its shares up as much as 35 percent.
The vaccine, NeuVax, gives immunity against the relapse of breast cancer in patients who have low-to-intermediate levels of HER2 -- a protein that can affect the growth of cancer cells.
NeuVax is being tested in a late-stage study under a special protocol assessment agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Read the full story here: http://www.reuters.com
Posted: July 18, 2012
(Reuters) - Massachusetts will launch an urgent campaign of aerial spraying after numerous mosquito samples collected in the southeast of the state tested positive for the killer Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus, health officials said on Tuesday.
A bite from an infected mosquito can transmit the EEE virus, triggering a potentially deadly inflammation of the brain that can also leave survivors with significant brain damage.
Read the full story here: http://www.reuters.com
Posted: July 18, 2012
Attention anyone that feeds their pets raw meat food or manufacturers of raw meat pet foods: the AVMA is about to vote on a policy against the feeding of raw meat pet food. If you want to protect your rights to feed a raw meat pet food, it is suggested you take action before this gets approved.
Read more and take action here: http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com
Posted: July 18, 2012
(Reuters Health) - Hospital food often contains much more sodium than dietary guidelines recommend, a new study from Canada suggests.
Researchers found that almost four in five patients not on a sodium-restricted diet ordered hospital meals that exceeded the Institute of Medicine's maximum recommendation of 2,300 milligrams of salt per day. And almost half of all patients who were supposed to be watching their salt intake were served food with sodium levels above their prescribed limit.
"Hospitals are now using more prepared and outsourced meals on their menu, which tend to be higher in sodium," said JoAnne Arcand, a nutrition researcher from the University of Toronto, who led the new study.
Read the full story here: http://www.reuters.com
Posted: July 18, 2012
Campbell Soup Co., Camden, N.J., on July 9 announced an agreement to acquire Bolthouse Farms from a fund managed by Madison Dearborn Partners LLC, a private equity firm, for $1.55 billion in cash.
Founded in 1915, Bolthouse, headquartered in Bakersfield, Calif., is a vertically integrated food & beverage company. It has both fresh produce, primarily carrots, and vegetable-based premium beverages, as well as a growing presence in refrigerated salad dressings.
The acquisition will give Campbell a new platform in packaged fresh foods, as well as beverages complementary to Campbell's V8 beverage business. It should provide Campbell with healthy beverage sales of approximately $1.2 billion annually.
Read the full story here: http://www.foodprocessing.com
Posted: July 18, 2012
Watch out, Americans: Your thrifty, socialist neighbors to the north have stealthily become richer than you.
Over the past five years, the average net worth of Canadian households has exceeded that of American households. So for the the first time in history, Canadians are wealthier than Americans - by more than $40,000, on average. In 2011, the average net worth of a Canadian household was $363,202, compared to $319,970 in the U.S., according to Environics Analytics WealthScapes data published in the Globe and Mail. ('Average net worth' measures the total combined value of a household's liquid and real estate assets, minus debt.)
Read the full story here: http://newsfeed.time.com
Posted: July 17, 2012
BROOKLYN (CN) - A Belarusian oil company controlled by President Alexander Lukashenka conspired with the KGB to kidnap two U.S. citizens, a freelance reporter and a New York attorney, in a failed attempt to influence U.S. foreign policy, the former hostages claim in court.
Vladlena Funk, the reporter, and attorney Emanuel Zeltser sued Belneftekhim aka Belneftekhim Concern and Belneftekhim USA, in Kings County Supreme Court.
"This action relates to the widely reported kidnapping, unlawful detention and torture of American citizens, Emanuel Zeltser and Vladena Funk, by the Belarusian KGB at the instigation of the defendants and at the direction of Belarusian dictator, Alexander Lukashenka, in a failed criminal effort designed by the defendants and the Byelorussian government to force hand of the United States Government to lift economic sanctions imposed against the defendants," the complaint begins.
Read the full story here: http://www.courthousenews.com
Posted: July 17, 2012
ScienceDaily (July 16, 2012) - Forest fires and emission of air pollutants, which include fumes from vehicles running on diesel and slow burning of coal and charcoal, release isocyanic acid in the troposphere. In 2011, scientists first detected isocyanic acid in the ambient atmosphere at levels that are toxic to human populations; at concentrations exceeding 1 parts-per-billion by volume (ppbv), human beings could experience tissue decay when exposed to the toxin.
For the first time, using a chemical transport model designed to estimate the distribution and budget of isocyanic acid in the troposphere, Young et al. show that in several parts of the world, local emissions may increase the concentration of isocyanic acid in ambient atmosphere, thereby exposing large populations to potentially toxic levels of the acid.
Read the full article here: http://www.sciencedaily.com
Posted: July 17, 2012
(CNN) -- Researchers at the Brazilian Center for Coastal Studies at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul in southern Brazil believe that 745 penguins found washed up along the state's coastline since June 15 have died of natural causes.
The center, known as Ceclimar, said in a release this week that it reached the conclusion after analyzing the conditions in which the animals were found. Most of the birds were young, according to biologist Mauricio Tavares. The lean birds showed no signs of external injury or oil in their plumes.
"Birds in the first year of life are inexperienced," he said, adding that the pattern of dead birds is common for this time of year and that the deaths are a result of "the process of natural selection."
Read the full story here: http://www.cnn.com
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