NORTHERN GULF OF MEXICO (AP) ? Scientists from several universities are working to learn whether a gas well that blew wild last week off the Louisiana coast is polluting the Gulf of Mexico.
Joseph Montoya, a biology professor with Georgia Tech, was performing tests aboard a vessel near the site of the 2010 BP oil spill when the Hercules 265 well blew Tuesday and caught fire. All 44 people on the rig were evacuated and not hurt.
"We organized a rapid response cruise to get some of our scientists out here," he said Saturday while near the Hercules rig.
A 10-member crew used buckets, hoses and various canisters to collect water samples to measure levels of methane gas, radon gas, metabolic activity and bacteria, among other things. They did so about 5 miles away because that's as close as the Coast Guard would let them get.
They also released long cylinders that will drift with the current, tracking the likely path of any contamination. The "drifters" have global positioning devices and transmitters.
As the researchers worked, federal and private vessels could be seen coming and going from the site.
Federal officials said natural gas detectors and high-capacity water hoses were being installed on the burned rig. Another rig was being readied to dig a relief well for a permanent plug. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said it approved Walter Oil's permit to drill a relief well, and crews were preparing the Rowan EXL-3 rig for drilling. Once the drill gets into the original pipe, drilling mud and then cement will be pumped in as a permanent seal.
There was still a slight sheen on the water, but the bureau said it was dissipating quickly.
Because the well was natural gas, not oil, experts said the pollution threats were far less than those posed by some previous accidents.
"People don't seem to get excited about natural gas the way they do about oil, because you can't see it, you can't smell it, and it doesn't wash up all over your beaches," he said. "But it's a very potent gas."
BSEE and the Coast Guard are investigating the blowout.
Authorities believe sand and sediment clogged the well late Wednesday, shutting off the gas flow.
Scientists were focusing on surface water since methane and hydrocarbons are less dense and rise to the surface.
While the BP blowout happened in deep waters, the Hercules well leak provided an opportunity to study hydrocarbon transport in shallower waters, said Nathan Laxague, a researcher with the University of Miami.
"They may wash ashore in a matter of days or be taken out to sea depending on these shallow water air-sea dynamics," he said.
Saturday's research was funded through the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative launched with roughly $112 million pledged by BP after the 2010 oil spill for the study of the effect of oil and gas on the gulf's ecosystem.
ROME (AP) ? A tour bus filled with Italians returning home after an excursion plunged off a highway into a ravine in southern Italy on Sunday night after it had smashed into several cars that were slowed by heavy traffic, killing at least 37 people, said police and rescuers.
Flashing signs near Avellino, outside Naples, had warned of slowed traffic ahead along a stretch of the A116 autostrada, a major highway crossing southern Italy, before the crash occurred, said highway police and officials, speaking on state radio early Monday. They said the bus driver, for reasons not yet determined, appeared to have lost control of his vehicle.
Hours after the crash, firefighters said that they had extracted 37 bodies ? most of the dead were found inside the mangled bus, which lay on its side , while a few of the victims were pulled out from underneath the wreckage, state radio and the Italian news agency ANSA reported..
The radio report said 11 people were hospitalized with injuries, two of them in very critical condition. It was not immediately known if there were other survivors or any missing.
Rescuers wielding electric saws cut through the twisted metal to better probe the interior of the bus, stopping occasionally in silence to listen for any cries for help, even as the bodies were put into coffins to be taken to a morgue.
Reports said as many as 49 people had been aboard the bus when it ripped through a guardrail after slamming into several cars, then plunged some 30 meters (100 feet) off the highway and into a ravine near a wooded area. In its plunge, the bus tore away whole sections of concrete barriers as well as guardrail. The concrete lay in large chunks in a clearing in a wooded area where the bus landed.
State radio quoted Avellino police as saying the bus driver was among the dead.
Occupants of cars which were hit by the bus stood on the highway near their vehicles. One car's rear was completely crumpled, while another was smashed on its side. It was not immediately known if anyone in those cars had been injured.
The highway links western and eastern Italy across the south.
Early reports said the passengers had spent the day in Puglia, an area near the Adriatic on the east coast famed for religious shrines. But on Monday, a state radio reporter at the scene said authorities told him that the bus had been bringing the passengers home after an outing to a thermal spa area near Benevento, a town not far from Avellino. Others at the scene said the passengers might have visited a town near Benevento that was the early home of Padre Pio, a late mystic monk highly popular among Catholics in Italy.
Passengers came from small towns near Naples, and relatives streamed to the crash site.
The bus dove off the highway near the town of Monteforte Irpino in Irpinia, a largely agricultural area about 40 miles (60 kilometers) inland from Naples and about 250 kilometers (160 miles) south of Rome.
A reporter for Naples daily Il Mattino, Giuseppe Crimaldi, told Sky TG24 TV from the scene that some witnesses told him the bus had been going at a "normal" speed on the downhill stretch of the highway when it suddenly veered and started hitting cars. He said some witnesses thought they heard a noise as if the bus had blown a tire.
A local prosecutor arrived at the crash scene to begin an investigation into the cause of the crash.
___
Photographer Salvatore Laporta contributed to this report.
Diseases/Conditions News Headlines - Yahoo! Newshttp://news.yahoo.com/diseases/ Get the latest Diseases/Conditions news headlines from Yahoo! News. Find breaking Diseases/Conditions news, including analysis and opinion on top Diseases/Conditions stories, photos and more.en-USCopyright (c) 2013 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reservedTue, 23 Jul 2013 14:37:30 -04005Diseases/Conditions News Headlines - Yahoo! Newshttp://news.yahoo.com/diseases/ http://l.yimg.com/a/i/us/nws/th/main_142c.gifFDA cracks down on illegal diabetes remedies<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/fda-cracks-down-illegal-diabetes-remedies-160636567.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/iii4QKYagoeONtCmooO7tQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/28429036a3196918380f6a706700dbcd.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="This undated photo provided by The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shows more four of the more than a dozen U.S. and foreign companies that market illegal treatments for diabetes, ranging from bogus dietary supplements to prescription drugs sold online without a prescription. The FDA sent warning letters to 15 companies ordering them to stop selling diabetes treatments which violate U.S. drug laws. ( AP Photo/FDA)" align="left" title="This undated photo provided by The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shows more four of the more than a dozen U.S. and foreign companies that market illegal treatments for diabetes, ranging from bogus dietary supplements to prescription drugs sold online without a prescription. The FDA sent warning letters to 15 companies ordering them to stop selling diabetes treatments which violate U.S. drug laws. ( AP Photo/FDA)" border="0" /></a>WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on more than a dozen companies that market illegal treatments for diabetes, ranging from bogus dietary supplements to prescription drugs sold online without a prescription.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/fda-cracks-down-illegal-diabetes-remedies-160636567.htmlTue, 23 Jul 2013 14:37:30 -0400Associated Pressfda-cracks-down-illegal-diabetes-remedies-160636567<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/fda-cracks-down-illegal-diabetes-remedies-160636567.html"><img src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/iii4QKYagoeONtCmooO7tQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/28429036a3196918380f6a706700dbcd.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="This undated photo provided by The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shows more four of the more than a dozen U.S. and foreign companies that market illegal treatments for diabetes, ranging from bogus dietary supplements to prescription drugs sold online without a prescription. The FDA sent warning letters to 15 companies ordering them to stop selling diabetes treatments which violate U.S. drug laws. ( AP Photo/FDA)" align="left" title="This undated photo provided by The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) shows more four of the more than a dozen U.S. and foreign companies that market illegal treatments for diabetes, ranging from bogus dietary supplements to prescription drugs sold online without a prescription. The FDA sent warning letters to 15 companies ordering them to stop selling diabetes treatments which violate U.S. drug laws. ( AP Photo/FDA)" border="0" /></a>WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on more than a dozen companies that market illegal treatments for diabetes, ranging from bogus dietary supplements to prescription drugs sold online without a prescription.</p><br clear="all"/>FDA warns 15 companies over fraudulent diabetes product claimsBy Toni Clarke (Reuters) - U.S. health regulators are cracking down on 15 companies for selling products they said falsely claim to cure or mitigate the symptoms of diabetes. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent letters last week to 10 domestic and five foreign companies, warning them that their products violate the law. A total of 20 products are covered by the warning letters. In some, treatments are being sold as "natural" when in fact they contain pharmaceutical ingredients, the FDA said. ...http://news.yahoo.com/fda-warns-15-companies-over-fraudulent-diabetes-product-152205952.htmlTue, 23 Jul 2013 11:27:04 -0400Reutersfda-warns-15-companies-over-fraudulent-diabetes-product-152205952Array asthma drug meets main goal in mid-stage study(Reuters) - Array Biopharma Inc said one of its drugs met the main goal of improving lung function in a mid-stage study among patients with mild to moderate persistent allergic asthma. Array shares rose as much as 19 percent to $6.64 ? their highest in nearly five years ? on Tuesday morning. Array said it was seeking a partner to develop the drug and Chief Executive Ron Squarer said there was substantial interest from key players in the field. "In theory, with a partner we may look at higher doses of the drug. ...http://news.yahoo.com/array-asthma-drug-meets-main-goal-mid-stage-150230963.htmlTue, 23 Jul 2013 11:23:15 -0400Reutersarray-asthma-drug-meets-main-goal-mid-stage-150230963Risk of Human-to-Human Spread of Deadly New Bird Flu Virus Higher Than Previously ThoughtRisk of Human-to-Human Spread of Deadly New Bird Flu Virus Higher Than Previously Thoughthttp://news.yahoo.com/risk-human-human-spread-deadly-bird-flu-virus-180000921.htmlThu, 18 Jul 2013 14:00:00 -0400Scientific Americanrisk-human-human-spread-deadly-bird-flu-virus-180000921Celgene to stop blood cancer trial due to high death rates(Reuters) - Celgene Corp said it will stop a late-stage trial of its blood cancer drug, Revlimid, after it observed a higher number of deaths in elderly leukemia patients taking the drug compared with those on another treatment. Revlimid, with 2012 sales of $3.8 billion, is Celgene's flagship blood cancer drug and is already approved for use in various types of blood cancer, including multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma. Celgene shares were down 2.7 percent at $132.98 on Thursday afternoon on the Nasdaq. Over the past 12 months, the shares have nearly doubled. ...http://news.yahoo.com/celgene-stop-blood-cancer-trial-due-higher-death-114839356.htmlThu, 18 Jul 2013 13:43:10 -0400Reuterscelgene-stop-blood-cancer-trial-due-higher-death-114839356Psychiatrists decry mental health care in AfricaKAMPALA, Uganda (AP) ? The drugs given to many of Africa's psychiatric patients are often administered to keep the patients asleep so the hurried nurses can get some rest, and those who can't sleep may have their hands or feet tied up.http://news.yahoo.com/psychiatrists-decry-mental-health-care-africa-105405344.htmlThu, 18 Jul 2013 07:24:40 -0400Associated Presspsychiatrists-decry-mental-health-care-africa-105405344Transition Therapeutics' Alzheimer's drug gets FDA fast-track status(Reuters) - Canadian biopharmaceutical company Transition Therapeutics said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted a fast-track status to its Alzheimer's drug, sending its U.S.-listed shares up 33 percent in post-market trading. A fast track designation by the FDA expedites regulatory review of drugs that aim to treat serious diseases and fill unmet medical needs. The drug, ELND005, currently being tested in a mid-stage trial, treats neuropsychiatric symptoms such as agitation or aggression in Alzheimer's disease. ...http://news.yahoo.com/transition-therapeutics-alzheimers-drug-gets-fda-fast-track-225123056.htmlWed, 17 Jul 2013 18:51:23 -0400Reuterstransition-therapeutics-alzheimers-drug-gets-fda-fast-track-225123056Lung cancer screening most useful in high-risk peopleBy Gene Emery NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Using low-dose CT scans to screen high-risk patients for lung tumors is far more effective at preventing lung cancer deaths than scanning those at low risk, according to a new analysis of over 53,000 volunteers. The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, comes at a time when doctors are struggling to reduce the death rate among lung cancer patients, who account for more than one quarter of all cancer deaths. ...http://news.yahoo.com/lung-cancer-screening-most-useful-high-risk-people-210609706.htmlWed, 17 Jul 2013 17:06:09 -0400Reuterslung-cancer-screening-most-useful-high-risk-people-210609706Bipolar disorder tied to risk of disease, early deathBy Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - In a large new study, people with bipolar disorder were more likely than those without the mental illness to die from a number of causes, and to die almost a decade younger. An expert on the condition, which is best known for including extreme swings in mood and energy levels, said the new findings illustrate a poorly understood point about the physical effects of the disease. "Whatever we're doing, these people are not dying (just) because of suicide. That's not the reason for increased mortality. That's a hard thing to get across," said Dr. ...http://news.yahoo.com/bipolar-disorder-tied-risk-disease-early-death-210533188.htmlWed, 17 Jul 2013 17:05:33 -0400Reutersbipolar-disorder-tied-risk-disease-early-death-210533188New surgical knife can instantly detect cancer<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/surgical-knife-instantly-detect-cancer-180547769.html"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/tBSPjtRz8m6yEfrNGDkQ_Q--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/30ac1cf5e9f6da17370f6a70670074f2.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="A member of 'intelligent knife' development team uses the knife on a piece of animal muscle during a demonstration at St Mary's Hospital in London, Wednesday, July 17, 2013. Surgeons may have a new way to smoke out cancer.An experimental surgical knife can help surgeons make sure they've removed all the cancerous tissue, doctors reported Wednesday. Surgeons typically use knives that vaporize tumors as they cut, producing a sharp-smelling smoke. The new knife analyzes the smoke and can instantly signal whether the tissue is cancerous or healthy.(AP Photo/Sang Tan)" align="left" title="A member of 'intelligent knife' development team uses the knife on a piece of animal muscle during a demonstration at St Mary's Hospital in London, Wednesday, July 17, 2013. Surgeons may have a new way to smoke out cancer.An experimental surgical knife can help surgeons make sure they've removed all the cancerous tissue, doctors reported Wednesday. Surgeons typically use knives that vaporize tumors as they cut, producing a sharp-smelling smoke. The new knife analyzes the smoke and can instantly signal whether the tissue is cancerous or healthy.(AP Photo/Sang Tan)" border="0" /></a>LONDON (AP) ? Surgeons may have a new way to smoke out cancer.</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/surgical-knife-instantly-detect-cancer-180547769.htmlWed, 17 Jul 2013 14:35:50 -0400Associated Presssurgical-knife-instantly-detect-cancer-180547769<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/surgical-knife-instantly-detect-cancer-180547769.html"><img src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/tBSPjtRz8m6yEfrNGDkQ_Q--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/30ac1cf5e9f6da17370f6a70670074f2.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="A member of 'intelligent knife' development team uses the knife on a piece of animal muscle during a demonstration at St Mary's Hospital in London, Wednesday, July 17, 2013. Surgeons may have a new way to smoke out cancer.An experimental surgical knife can help surgeons make sure they've removed all the cancerous tissue, doctors reported Wednesday. Surgeons typically use knives that vaporize tumors as they cut, producing a sharp-smelling smoke. The new knife analyzes the smoke and can instantly signal whether the tissue is cancerous or healthy.(AP Photo/Sang Tan)" align="left" title="A member of 'intelligent knife' development team uses the knife on a piece of animal muscle during a demonstration at St Mary's Hospital in London, Wednesday, July 17, 2013. Surgeons may have a new way to smoke out cancer.An experimental surgical knife can help surgeons make sure they've removed all the cancerous tissue, doctors reported Wednesday. Surgeons typically use knives that vaporize tumors as they cut, producing a sharp-smelling smoke. The new knife analyzes the smoke and can instantly signal whether the tissue is cancerous or healthy.(AP Photo/Sang Tan)" border="0" /></a>LONDON (AP) ? Surgeons may have a new way to smoke out cancer.</p><br clear="all"/>For some, mild slips of memory may be very early Alzheimer'sBy Julie Steenhuysen CHICAGO (Reuters) - For years, doctors have dismissed patients' worries about mild slips of memory as a normal part of aging. Now, as the focus in Alzheimer's research moves toward early diagnosis, researchers are looking for ways to tell whether some of these "senior moments" are an early sign of the disease. The idea is so new that scientists can't even agree on what to call these memory complaints among people who are still cognitively normal. ...http://news.yahoo.com/mild-slips-memory-may-very-early-alzheimers-182847804.htmlWed, 17 Jul 2013 14:28:47 -0400Reutersmild-slips-memory-may-very-early-alzheimers-182847804'Intelligent' surgical knife can sniff out cancer tissue<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/intelligent-surgical-knife-sniff-cancer-tissue-182304102.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/F0fEzMBAiJA71UnZMBCfzA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-07-17T182304Z_1_CBRE96G1F4M00_RTROPTP_2_CANCER-KNIFE.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="Julia Balog demonstrates the Intelligent Knife at St Mary's Hospital in London" align="left" title="Julia Balog demonstrates the Intelligent Knife at St Mary's Hospital in London" border="0" /></a>By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have created an "intelligent" surgical knife that can detect in seconds whether tissue being cut is cancerous, promising more effective and accurate surgery in future. The device, built by researchers at London's Imperial College, could allow doctors to cut back on additional operations to remove further pieces of cancerous tumors. The technology, effectively merging an electrosurgical knife that cuts through tissue using heat with a mass spectrometer for chemical analysis, has also been shown to be able to distinguish beef from horsemeat. ...</p><br clear="all"/>http://news.yahoo.com/intelligent-surgical-knife-sniff-cancer-tissue-182304102.htmlWed, 17 Jul 2013 14:23:04 -0400Reutersintelligent-surgical-knife-sniff-cancer-tissue-182304102<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/intelligent-surgical-knife-sniff-cancer-tissue-182304102.html"><img src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/F0fEzMBAiJA71UnZMBCfzA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9ODU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2013-07-17T182304Z_1_CBRE96G1F4M00_RTROPTP_2_CANCER-KNIFE.JPG" width="130" height="86" alt="Julia Balog demonstrates the Intelligent Knife at St Mary's Hospital in London" align="left" title="Julia Balog demonstrates the Intelligent Knife at St Mary's Hospital in London" border="0" /></a>By Ben Hirschler LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have created an "intelligent" surgical knife that can detect in seconds whether tissue being cut is cancerous, promising more effective and accurate surgery in future. The device, built by researchers at London's Imperial College, could allow doctors to cut back on additional operations to remove further pieces of cancerous tumors. The technology, effectively merging an electrosurgical knife that cuts through tissue using heat with a mass spectrometer for chemical analysis, has also been shown to be able to distinguish beef from horsemeat. ...</p><br clear="all"/>Lundbeck, Otsuka Alzheimer's drug shows improved cognition in study(Reuters) - An experimental drug to treat Alzheimer's disease proved effective in improving cognitive performance in a mid-stage study, Danish pharmaceutical group Lundbeck, one of the drug's two developer's, said on Tuesday. The drug, Lu AE58054, showed statistically significant cognitive improvement in a Phase II clinical trial of patients suffering from moderate Alzheimer's, when used as an add-on to the drug donepezil for six months. Lundbeck is developing the drug jointly with Japan's Otsuka to treat Alzheimer's, a degenerative brain disease that causes progressive memory loss. ...http://news.yahoo.com/lundbeck-otsuka-alzheimers-drug-shows-improved-cognition-study-204704629.htmlTue, 16 Jul 2013 16:47:04 -0400Reuterslundbeck-otsuka-alzheimers-drug-shows-improved-cognition-study-204704629Prostate cancer hormonal therapy tied to kidney risksBy Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who are treated for prostate cancer with hormone-targeted therapy have a higher risk of developing kidney problems, a new study suggests. The treatment, known as androgen deprivation therapy, lowers the risk of death among men with advanced, aggressive prostate cancer. However, researchers said it's increasingly being used to treat possible recurrences among men with less advanced disease - for whom the benefits are less clear, and the risks more worrisome. ...http://news.yahoo.com/prostate-cancer-hormonal-therapy-tied-kidney-risks-200438530.htmlTue, 16 Jul 2013 16:04:38 -0400Reutersprostate-cancer-hormonal-therapy-tied-kidney-risks-200438530Sick Before Their Time: More Kids Diagnosed With Adult DiseasesDiabetes, obesity and elevated blood pressure typically emerge in middle-age, but more young children are showing signs of chronic conditions that may take a toll on their health.http://news.yahoo.com/sick-time-more-kids-diagnosed-adult-diseases-180026362.htmlTue, 16 Jul 2013 14:00:26 -0400Time.comsick-time-more-kids-diagnosed-adult-diseases-180026362Mapping Cancer: Largest Set of Tumor Genomes Could Lead to Better Anticancer DrugsThe latest map of all the genes involved in a set of tumor cells exposes which mutations drive cancer and how to possibly treat them.http://news.yahoo.com/mapping-cancer-largest-set-tumor-genomes-could-lead-094525061.htmlTue, 16 Jul 2013 05:45:25 -0400Time.commapping-cancer-largest-set-tumor-genomes-could-lead-094525061Later retirement linked to lower risk of Alzheimer's, study showsBy Laila Kearney (Reuters) - Workers who postpone retirement are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia known to affect the elderly than those who leave their jobs at age 60, a recent survey of nearly half a million European retirees shows. The study looked at health and insurance records of more than 429,000 former workers in France and found that the risk of developing dementia declined with each additional year worked beyond an average retirement age, said Carole Dufouil, research director at INSERM, a French government agency in charge of the study. ...http://news.yahoo.com/later-retirement-linked-lower-risk-alzheimers-study-shows-012016846.htmlMon, 15 Jul 2013 21:20:16 -0400Reuterslater-retirement-linked-lower-risk-alzheimers-study-shows-012016846Largest cancer gene database made publicBy Deena Beasley (Reuters) - National Cancer Institute scientists have released the largest-ever database of cancer-related genetic variations, providing researchers the most comprehensive way so far to figure out how to target treatments for the disease. Open access worldwide to the new database, based on genome studies, is expected to help researchers accelerate development of new drugs and better match patients with therapies, NCI said in a statement on Monday. "Most anti-cancer drugs that are used today are used based on their empirical activity," Dr. ...http://news.yahoo.com/largest-cancer-gene-database-made-public-232153763.htmlMon, 15 Jul 2013 19:21:53 -0400Reuterslargest-cancer-gene-database-made-public-232153763Long term aspirin use tied to lower colon cancer riskBy Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Low-dose aspirin, even if not taken daily, may reduce a woman's risk of colon cancer over the long term, according to a new study that did not find the same effect for other types of cancer. The apparent benefit came at a cost, as women taking aspirin also had higher rates of stomach bleeding and ulcers. But researchers found that women who took 100 milligrams (mg) of aspirin every other day for at least 10 years ended up with about a 20 percent lower risk of colon cancer after some 18 years of follow up, compared to women who took a placebo. ...http://news.yahoo.com/long-term-aspirin-tied-lower-colon-cancer-risk-211951631.htmlMon, 15 Jul 2013 17:19:51 -0400Reuterslong-term-aspirin-tied-lower-colon-cancer-risk-211951631Past colon cancer tied to future cancer risksBy Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who have had colon cancer are 15 percent more likely to be diagnosed with another cancer than those with no history of the disease, a new study suggests. Using data from cancer registries from nine states, researchers found small intestine, lung, kidney, stomach, bladder and endometrial cancers were all more common among people with a history of colon cancer. ...http://news.yahoo.com/past-colon-cancer-tied-future-cancer-risks-184834969.htmlMon, 15 Jul 2013 14:48:34 -0400Reuterspast-colon-cancer-tied-future-cancer-risks-184834969Pregnancy possible for many after childhood cancerBy Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Despite research indicating that women who had cancer as girls have difficulty getting pregnant, a new study suggests that most can conceive, though it might take longer than usual. Researchers from the U.S. and Canada found that female childhood cancer survivors tended to take longer to conceive than their sisters, but nearly two-thirds of the infertile survivors eventually did get pregnant. "The main message counters what some people have thought, which is if you had cancer you won't be able to get pregnant or have children," said Dr. ...http://news.yahoo.com/pregnancy-possible-many-childhood-cancer-175820944.htmlMon, 15 Jul 2013 13:58:20 -0400Reuterspregnancy-possible-many-childhood-cancer-175820944U.S. sentences man in latest fake cancer drug caseWASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Montana man charged with selling unapproved cancer drugs was sentenced to five years probation and six months of home confinement, U.S. law enforcement authorities said on Friday. He was also forced to forfeit some $6 million in assets. The case is the latest in roughly a dozen brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and Food and Drug Administration against distributors of unapproved pharmaceuticals. Under the latest sentencing, in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Montana, Paul Daniel Bottomley, 48, agreed to forfeit $1. ...http://news.yahoo.com/u-sentences-man-latest-fake-cancer-drug-case-213415099.htmlFri, 12 Jul 2013 17:34:15 -0400Reutersu-sentences-man-latest-fake-cancer-drug-case-213415099Lilly plans big Alzheimer's disease study after prior failuresBy Ransdell Pierson (Reuters) - Despite two failed late-stage trials of its experimental Alzheimer's drug solanezumab, Eli Lilly and Co said on Friday it plans to run yet another study, this time focusing only on mild patients who appeared to respond to the treatment. And the company will take extra steps to ensure it is testing actual Alzheimer's patients by pre-screening them with its imaging agent Amyvid to ensure they have deposits of the protein beta amyloid that is linked with the disease. ...http://news.yahoo.com/lilly-plans-big-alzheimers-disease-study-prior-failures-130413774.htmlFri, 12 Jul 2013 14:56:39 -0400Reuterslilly-plans-big-alzheimers-disease-study-prior-failures-130413774Timing of first solid food tied to child diabetes riskKathryn Doyle NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When babies already at increased risk for type 1 diabetes had their first solid foods before four months of age or after six months, their chances of developing the disorder at least doubled, according to a new study. Four to six months is the recommended age window for all kids to start on solid foods, but the new results suggest timing could be even more important for babies at high risk for type 1 diabetes (T1D) because of genetic susceptibility. ...http://news.yahoo.com/timing-first-solid-food-tied-child-diabetes-risk-183615783.htmlFri, 12 Jul 2013 14:36:15 -0400Reuterstiming-first-solid-food-tied-child-diabetes-risk-183615783Flu may explain seasonal birth differences: studyBy Genevra Pittman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Research has long shown slight health differences among babies born at different times during the year, and a new study suggests seasonal flu may be a contributing factor. In the study of over 600,000 women who each had more than one child, researchers found a dip in average pregnancy length - and thus an increase in premature births - for infants conceived in May. Most of those babies were born at the height of flu season, in early- to mid-winter. ...http://news.yahoo.com/flu-may-explain-seasonal-birth-differences-study-163327203.htmlFri, 12 Jul 2013 12:33:27 -0400Reutersflu-may-explain-seasonal-birth-differences-study-163327203
Maintainance of our existing support and educational systems, and
Creating new support and educational systems.
Because of racism and experiences like T. Martin and Zimmerman, Historically Black education facilities have been built and will continue to be built. Our ?Black Families? also have the right to educate free from intimidation and harassment.? This case, remember is the State of Flordia vs. Zimmerman, and in order to correct civil wrongs, the system that is in place can be used. Also remember, that if the system does not work, then we use the law to?correct this as well.
An example of the importance of maintaining and? creating new educational systems is the school closing of? a historically Black-American College, Bishop College. Many of my family members (Parkers and Singletons)?attended this college in the 1930s & 1940s.
Bishop College was a historically black college, founded in Marshall, Texas, United States, and later moved to Dallas, Texas, that operated from 1881 to 1988. The college was founded by the Baptist Home Mission Society in 1881 as the result of a movement to build a college for African-American Baptists. The movement was started by Nathan Bishop, who had been the superintendent of several major school systems in New England. Baylor University President Rufus C. Burleson secured a pledge of $25,000 from Judge Bishop during a meeting of the National Baptist Education Society meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to start the college. A committee of Baptist ministers from East Texas selected a location in Marshall, on land belonging to the Holcomb Plantation, Wyalucing.[1]?(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_College)
For its first several decades, Bishop?s faculty and administration largely consisted of white people. The first African-American to be president was Joseph J. Rhoads, who assumed the leadership role in 1929 and remained through the
Bishop College Marshall, Texas
Great Depression and World War II.[2] During his presidency, Bishop phased out its high school programs and placed emphasis on its new two-year ministerial program. During the 1930s and 1940s the ministerial program evolved into the Lacy Kirk Williams Institute, which attracted national attention; its attendants included the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Jesse Jackson. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_College)
In 1961, after receiving a grant from the Hoblitzelle Foundation, Bishop moved to a 360-acre (1.5?km2) campus in Dallas. In Dallas, enrollments increased, peaking at almost 2,000 students around 1970.[2]?(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_College)
The college closed in 1988 after a financial scandal led to the revocation of its accreditation, as well as its eligibility to receive funds from charities such as the United Negro College Fund. The campus, purchased in 1990 by Comer S. Cottrell, is now the site of Paul Quinn College.[3]?(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_College)
In 2006, the president of Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky proposed a plan to Bishop College alumni to make Georgetown their adopted alma mater. Georgetown offers scholarships to children or grandchildren of Bishop alumni or students nominated by Bishop alumni. Upon graduation, these students receive diplomas with the name and insignia of Bishop College. Georgetown president William H. Crouch Jr. hopes the program will help the college reach its goal of increasing minority enrollment to 25% by 2012.[4?(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_College)
Civil Rights laws that allow education free from harassment and intimidation in the United States of American also have an International equaliant, International Human Rights Laws from The Writings of African-Americans?: The Four Geneva Conventions of 1949: International Humanitarian?Law. And when issues like these occur, not everyone is an American, and The Responsibility to Protect may also apply to America for Americans. The Writings of African-Americans?: What is Responsibility to Protect (RtoP or?R2P)?
?We also have a personal responsibility to protect our children, spouses, family, and communities.? Many of our ?Black Families? are of African Disporia.
The Historically Black Newspaper The Los Angeles Sentinel?s front page shows this tragedy in full color and black & white. With comments from President Barack
The Historically Black Newspaper The Los Angeles Sentinel?s front page shows this tragedy in full color and black & white. With comments from President Barack
You and I consume; we are consumers. The global economy is set up to enable us to do what we innately want to do?buy, use, discard, and buy some more. If we do our job well, the economy thrives; if for some reason we fail at our task, the economy falters. The model of economic existence just described is reinforced in the business pages of every newspaper, and in the daily reportage of nearly every broadcast and web-based financial news service, and it has a familiar name: consumerism.
Consumerism also has a history, but not a long one. True, humans?like all other animals?are consumers in the most basic sense, in that we must eat to live. Further, we have been making weapons, ornaments, clothing, utensils, toys, and musical instruments for thousands of years, and commerce has likewise been with us for untold millennia.
What?s new is the project of organizing an entire society around the necessity for ever-increasing rates of personal consumption.
This is how it happened
Consumerism arose from a unique historic milieu. In the early 20th century, a temporary abundance of cheap, concentrated, storable, and portable energy in the form of fossil fuels enabled a dramatic increase in the rate and scope of resource extraction (via powered mining equipment, chain saws, tractors, powered fishing boats, and more). Coupled with powered assembly lines and the use of petrochemicals, cheap fossil energy also permitted the vastly expanded manufacture of a widening array of commercial products. This resulted in a serious economic problem known as overproduction (too many goods chasing too few buyers), which would eventually contribute to the Great Depression.
Industrialists found a solution. How they did so is detailed a book that deserves renewed attention, Captains of Consciousness by social historian Stuart Ewen (1976). Ewen traced the rapid, massive expansion of the advertising industry during the 20th century, as well as its extraordinary social and political impacts (if you really want to understand Mad Men, start here). Ewen argued that ?Consumerism, the mass participation in the values of the mass-industrial market . . . emerged in the 1920s not as a smooth progression from earlier and less ?developed? patterns of consumption, but rather as an aggressive device of corporate survival.? In a later book, PR! (1996), Ewen recounts how, during the 1930s, the US-based National Association of Manufacturers enlisted a team of advertisers, marketers, and psychologists to formulate a strategy to counter government efforts to plan and manage the economy in the wake of the Depression. They proposed a massive, ongoing ad campaign to equate consumerism with ?The American Way.? Progress would henceforth be framed entirely in economic terms, as the fruit of manufacturers? ingenuity. Americans were to be referred to in public discourse (newspapers, magazines, radio) as consumers, and were to be reminded at every opportunity of their duty to contribute to the economy by purchasing factory-made products, as directed by increasingly sophisticated and ubiquitous advertising cues.
While advertising was an essential prop to consumerism, by itself it was incapable of stoking sufficient demand to soak up all the goods rolling off assembly lines. In the early years of the last century Americans were accustomed to paying cash for their purchases; but then along came automobiles: not many people could afford to pay for one outright, yet nearly everybody wanted one. In addition to being talked into desiring more products, consumers had to be enabled to purchase more of them than they could immediately pay for; hence the widespread deployment of time payments and other forms of consumer credit. With credit, households could consume now and pay later. Consumers took on more debt, the financial industry mushroomed, and manufacturers sold more products.
Though consumerism began as a project organized by corporate America, government at all levels swiftly lent its support. When citizens spent more on consumer goods, sales tax and income tax revenues tended to swell. After World War II, government advocacy of increased consumer spending was formalized with the adoption of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as the nation?s primary measure of economic success, and with the increasing use of the term consumer by government agencies.
By the 1950s, consumerism was thoroughly interwoven in the fabric of American society. In 1955, economist Victor Lebow would epitomize the new status quo, writing in the Journal of Retailing: ?Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction and our ego satisfaction in consumption. We need things consumed, burned up, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever-increasing rate.?
What could possibly go wrong?
Meanwhile critics had identified a couple of serious problems with consumerism.
First problem: Consumerism, according to the critics, warps human values.
Way back in 1899, when consumerism was barely a glimmer in advertisers? neurons, economist Thorstein Veblen asserted in his widely cited book The Theory of the Leisure Class that there exists a fundamental split in society between those who work and those who exploit the work of others; as societies evolve, the latter come to constitute a ?leisure class? that engages in ?conspicuous consumption.? Veblen saw mass production as a way to universalize the trappings of leisure so the owning class could engage workers in an endless pursuit of status symbols, thus deflecting their attention from society?s increasingly unequal distribution of wealth and from their own political impotence. Later critics of consumerism included German historian Oswald Spengler, who wrote that ?Life in America is exclusively economic in structure and lacks depth?; Mohandas Gandhi, who regarded a simple life free from possessions as morally ennobling; and Scott and Helen Nearing, authors of Living the Good Life and pioneers of the back-to-the-land movement. Social critics of consumerism like Duane Elgin, Juliet Schor, and Vicki Robin have argued that relationships with a product or brand name are dysfunctional substitutes for healthy human relationships and that consumer choice is a soporific stand-in for genuine democracy.
A second and more crucial problem with consumerism, say the critics, has to do with resource limits. Environmental scientists assert that, regardless of whether consumerism is socially desirable, in the long run it is physically impossible to maintain. The math is simple: even at a fraction of one percent per year growth in consumption, all of Earth?s resources would eventually be used up. The consumer economy also produces an unending variety of wastes, of which water, air, and soil can absorb only so much before planetary life-support systems begin unraveling.
In his 1954 book The Challenge of Man?s Future, physicist Harrison Brown envisioned devastating social and environmental consequences from the relentless growth of human population and resource consumption; Brown even managed to foresee the current climate crisis. A few years later a team of researchers at MIT began using a computer to model likely future scenarios ensuing from population expansion, consumption growth, and environmental decline. In the computer?s ?standard run? scenario, continued growth led to a global economic collapse in the mid 21st century. That project?s findings were documented in the pivotal 1972 book, Limits to Growth, which received blistering reviews from mainstream economists but has since been vindicated by independent retrospective analysis. More recently, E. F. Schumacher, Herman Daly, William Rees, and other advocates of ecological economics have pointed out that the consumer economy treats Earth?s irreplaceable capital (natural resources) as if it were income?an obvious theoretical error with potentially catastrophic real-world results.
A self-reinforcing system
Often these critiques have led to a simple personal prescription: If buying ever more stuff is bad for the environment and turns us into vapid mall drones, then it?s up to each of us to rein in our consumptive habits. Buy nothing! Reuse! Recycle! Share!
Yet treating consumerism as though it were merely an individual proclivity rather than a complex, interdependent system with financial and governmental as well as commercial components is both wrong and mostly ineffectual. Consider this simple thought experiment: What would happen if everyone were to suddenly embrace a Gandhian ethic of voluntary simplicity? Commerce would contract; jobs would vanish; pension funds would lose value; tax revenues would shrivel, and so would government services. Absent sweeping structural changes to government and the economy, the result would be a deep, long-lasting economic depression.
This is not to say that personal efforts toward voluntary simplicity have no benefit?they do, for the individual and her circle of associates; however, the system of consumerism can only be altered or replaced through systemic action. Yet systemic action is hampered by the fact that consumerism has become self-reinforcing: those with significant roles in the system who try to rein it in get whacked, while those who help it expand get stroked. Nearly everybody wants an economy with more jobs and higher returns on investments, so for a majority the incentive to shut up and get with the program is overwhelming. Arguments against consumerism may be rationally irrefutable, but few people stop to think about them.
If mere persuasion could dismantle consumerism or replace it with something better, it would have done so by now.
Crisis time
Still, as the critics have insisted all along, consumerism as a system cannot continue indefinitely; it contains the seeds of its own demise. And the natural constraints to consumerism?fossil fuel limits, environmental sink limits (leading to climate change, ocean acidification, and other pollution dilemmas), and debt limits?appear to be well within sight. While there may be short-term ways of pushing back against these limits (unconventional oil and gas, geo-engineering, and quantitative easing), there is no way around them. Consumerism is doomed. But since consumerism now effectively is the economy (70 percent of US GDP comes from consumer spending), when it goes down the economy goes too.
A train wreck is foreseeable. No one knows exactly when the impact will occur or precisely how bad it will be. But it is possible to say with some confidence that this wreck will manifest itself as an economic depression accompanied by a series of worsening environmental disasters and possibly wars and revolutions. This should be news to nobody by now, as recent government and UN reports spin out the scenarios in ever grimmer detail: rising sea levels, waves of environmental refugees, droughts, floods, famines, and collapsing economies.
Indeed, in view of the events since 2007, it?s likely the impact has already commenced, though it is happening in agonizingly slow motion as the system fights to maintain itself.
The happy alternative
It is not too soon to wonder what comes after consumerism. If there is good news to be gleaned from the story just told, it is that this mode of economic existence is not biologically determined. Consumerism arose from a certain set of circumstances; as circumstances change, other economic arrangements will become adaptive.
If we have some idea of the circumstances that are likely to emerge in the decades ahead, we may get some clue as to what those alternative arrangements might look like. As we?ve already seen, the consumerist economy of the 20th century was driven by cheap energy and overproduction. All signs suggest the new century will be shaped by energy limits, environmental sink limits, and debt limits?and therefore by declining production per capita. Under these circumstances, policy makers will surely strive to provide a sufficiency economy. But how do we get from a consumerist economy to a sufficiency economy?
Perhaps the most promising clue comes from the emerging happiness movement. Since the 1970s, the tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has experimented with Gross National Happiness (GNH) as a measure of economic success, and recently convened a meeting at the United Nations to advocate widespread international adoption of GNH. Concurrently, the New Economics Foundation of Britain has begun publishing an annually updated Happy Planet Index (HPI), which ranks nations by the self-reported levels of happiness of citizens and by the size of countries? ecological footprints.
The point of GNH and HPI is to count economic success more by how people feel about their lives and circumstances, and less by measuring consumption (which is what GDP does, in effect). Happiness metrics are kryptonite to consumerism, which has been shown time and again to make people less satisfied with the circumstances of their lives. A wholesale official adoption of GNH or HPI by the world?s nations would ultimately lead to a profound shuffling of priorities. Governments would have to promote policies that lead to more sharing, more equity, more transparency, and more citizen participation in governance, since it is these sorts of things that tend to push happiness scores higher.
The guardians of the consumer economy are not stupid. They will not permit the wholesale introduction of happiness metrics absent necessity. But, as we?ve seen, necessity is coming. As the current consumer economy frays and sputters, policy makers will need increasingly to find ways to pacify the multitudes and give them some sense of direction. Beyond a certain point, promises of a return to the days of carefree shopping will ring hollow. Moreover, upon first consideration, happiness indices appear relatively innocuous: they merely propose an alternative to GDP, which many economists acknowledge is deeply flawed anyway.
The happiness movement cannot solve all our problems. By itself, it can do little directly to address climate change, water scarcity, overpopulation, or a dozen other converging crises?though it could overturn an economic paradigm that tends to exacerbate all of them.
Happiness indices may constitute a collective adaptation that could ease the transition from one economic mode to the next, reducing the trauma that will likely accompany the demise of consumerism. GNH or HPI may be effective packages in which to ?sell? sufficiency to policy makers and citizens; they may also be pathways to a genuinely superior mode of human existence.
Valero Energy Corp. posted a 44 percent decline in second-quarter net income.
San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp.?s second-quarter profits slipped 44 percent as the refiner grappled with higher costs for crude oil and natural gas.
Valero (NYSE: VLO) earned $466 million, or 85 cents per share, compared with $831 million, or $1.50 per share, a year ago. Revenue for the quarter declined 2 percent to $34.03 billion.
The earnings fell short of analyst estimates. On July 11, the company warned of lower second-quarter earnings and forecast a per-share profit of 80 cents to 90 cents.
Valero?s refining throughput margins dropped as it paid higher prices for crude and natural gas. It also faced higher costs for ethanol credits needed to comply with the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard.
Sanford Nowlin covers energy/utilities, transportation/aviation and manufacturing.
If you haven't seen any of Pogo's mesmerizing and melodious film remixes, please please do that now. Once you've been entranced, come back here and watch this video about the man behind the magic.
