Excess Iron May be Implicated in Alzheimer's Disease

Moderation is usually the best course.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130820135032.htm

Aug. 20, 2013 — Alzheimer's disease has proven to be a difficult enemy to defeat. After all, aging is the No. 1 risk factor for the disorder, and there's no stopping that.

Most researchers believe the disease is caused by one of two proteins, one called tau, the other beta-amyloid. As we age, most scientists say, these proteins either disrupt signaling between neurons or simply kill them.

Now, a new UCLA study suggests a third possible cause: iron accumulation.

Dr. George Bartzokis, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and senior author of the study, and his colleagues looked at two areas of the brain in patients with Alzheimer's. They compared the hippocampus, which is known to be damaged early in the disease, and the thalamus, an area that is generally not affected until the late stages. Using sophisticated brain-imaging techniques, they found that iron is increased in the hippocampus and is associated with tissue damage in that area. But increased iron was not found in the thalamus.
The research appears in the August edition of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

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Myelin is produced by cells called oligodendrocytes. These cells, along with myelin, have the highest levels of iron of any cells in the brain, Bartzokis says, and circumstantial evidence has long supported the possibility that brain iron levels might be a risk factor for age-related diseases like Alzheimer's. Although iron is essential for cell function, too much of it can promote oxidative damage, to which the brain is especially vulnerable.

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We found that the amount of iron is increased in the hippocampus and is associated with tissue damage in patients with Alzheimer's but not in the healthy older individuals -- or in the thalamus. So the results suggest that iron accumulation may indeed contribute to the cause of Alzheimer's disease."

But it's not all bad news from this study, Bartzokis noted.
"The accumulation of iron in the brain may be influenced by modifying environmental factors, such as how much red meat and iron dietary supplements we consume and, in women, having hysterectomies before menopause," he said.

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July 2013: Earth's 6th Warmest July on Record

And we are in a part of the climate cycle that is usually cooler than average.

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2496

Posted by: Dr. Jeff Masters, 3:20 PM GMT on August 21, 2013

July 2013 was the globe's 6th warmest July since records began in 1880, according to NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). NASA rated it the 10th warmest July on record. The year-to-date period of January - July has been the 6th warmest such period on record. July 2013 global land temperatures were the 8th warmest on record, and global ocean temperatures were the 5th warmest on record. July 2013 was the 341st consecutive month with global temperatures warmer than the 20th century average. Global satellite-measured temperatures in July 2013 for the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere were 10th or 8th warmest in the 35-year record, according to Remote Sensing Systems and the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH), respectively. Wunderground's weather historian, Christopher C. Burt, has a comprehensive post on the notable weather events of July 2013 in his July 2013 Global Weather Extremes Summary. The big stories that he highlights are the extraordinary heat waves in the central portion of Russia’s Arctic region and in eastern China. Both heat waves were unprecedented for their respective locations. Extreme heat has killed at least 40 people in China since July 1. Also, Greenland measured its hottest temperature on record July 30th when the mercury hit 25.9°C (78.6°F) at Maniitoq Mittarfia during an unusually strong local wind event called a foehn.

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Six billion-dollar weather disasters hit Earth during July. The most damaging of these were in China: the on-going drought in Central and Eastern China that has cost $6 billion this year, and significant flooding across nearly every section of China between the 7th and 17th, which left 305 people dead or missing, and cost $4.5 billion. The world-wide tally of billion-dollar weather disasters so far in 2013 is nineteen, and the U.S. total is five, according to the July 2013 Catastrophe Report from insurance broker Aon Benfield:

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Get Ready For Food Prices To Go Way Up, Thanks To Climate Change

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/21/2504721/climate-change-grocery-bill/

BY JEFF SPROSS ON AUGUST 21, 2013

Climate change will likely push food prices up 20 to 40 percent, regardless of cuts to future carbon emissions, new research in the journal Climatic Change concluded. Staple crops like rice, wheat, and grains — which make up the vast majority of global diets, especially for the poor — could see the biggest hits, with big costs for global economic welfare.

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The big hits to food production come from altered rainfall patterns and regional soil moisture due to climate change. That in turn changes agriculture and trade patterns for the worst, though the researchers did find crops relying on irrigation fared better than those relying on rain. But in the end, less production means less supply, which means higher prices.

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On the domestic front, America’s corn growers have already seen their bushel yields reduced by one billion in 2011 thanks to drought. In Texas specifically, the heat and lack of water has cut beef and rice production, and squashed the cotton industry by about 50 percent. It could be a prelude of more to come worldwide.

Trouble Holding a Job? Maybe You Were Bullied as a Kid

http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/08/20/Trouble-Holding-a-Job-Maybe-You-Were-Bullied-as-a-Kid.aspx#page1

By STAFF , Futurity.org
August 20, 2013

Kids who are bullied often face a range of health and personal problems later in life, a new study finds.
Serious illness, struggling to hold down a regular job, and poor social relationships are just some of the adverse outcomes. The results, published in the journal Psychological Science, highlight the extent to which the risk of health, wealth, and social problems is heightened by exposure to bullying—and in doing so is one of the first studies to look into the effects beyond just health.

Professor Dieter Wolke of the University of Warwick and William E. Copeland of Duke University Medical Center led the team, looking beyond the study of victims and investigating the impact on all those affected—the victims, the bullies themselves, and those who fall into both categories: “bully-victims.”
Read more at http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/08/20/Trouble-Holding-a-Job-Maybe-You-Were-Bullied-as-a-Kid.aspx#L0Fm5csRjAMB2hHE.99

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The “bully-victims” presented the most significant health risk for adulthood, being over six times more likely to be diagnosed with a serious illness, to smoke regularly, or to develop a psychiatric disorder.

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All of the groups were more than twice as likely to have difficulty in keeping a job or commit to saving, and as such displayed a higher propensity for being impoverished in young adulthood.

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Though there was no real difference in the likelihood of being married or having children, all groups showed signs of having difficulty forming social relationships, particularly when it came to maintaining long-term friendships or good ties with parents in adulthood.

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Democratic North Carolina State Senator Resigns From Office To Help People Get Voter ID

http://www.politicususa.com/2013/08/19/9-term-democratic-north-carolina-state-senator-leaves-office-people-voter-id.html

By: Jason EasleyAug. 19th, 2013

Many Democrats talk about fighting back against voter suppression, but North Carolina state senator Ellie Kinnaird resigned from office today in order to work on a grassroots project to help people obtain voter IDs.

In a statement annoucing her resignation, Sen. Kinnaird said:

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I am working with others on a grass-roots project to make sure everyone in the state has a proper voter ID so that no votes are denied, even though the Voter ID bill is aimed at exactly that – repressing the vote.

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Coasts should prepare for rising seas

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20130819/DA8952BG0.html

Aug 19, 1:09 PM (ET)
By DAVID B. CARUSO and MEGHAN BARR

NEW YORK (AP) - Coastal communities should assume floods are going to happen more frequently and realize that spending now on protective measures could save money later, according to a report issued by a presidential task force charged with developing a strategy for rebuilding areas damaged by Superstorm Sandy.

Most of the report's 69 recommendations focus on a simple warning: plan for future storms in an age of climate change and rising sea levels. It calls for development of a more advanced electrical grid and the creation of better planning tools and standards for storm-damaged communities.

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Study finds only the wealthy get represented in the Senate

Is anybody surprised?

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/19/oligarchic-tendencies-study-finds-only-the-wealthy-get-represented-in-the-senate/

By Eric W. Dolan
Monday, August 19, 2013

Members of the U.S. Senate do not respond equally to the views of all their constituents, according to research to be published in Political Research Quarterly next month. Senators overall represent their wealthiest constituents, while those on bottom of the economic rung are neglected.

“The fact that lower income groups seem to be ignored by elected officials, although not a new finding, remains a troubling observation in American politics,” Thomas J. Hayes of Trinity University wrote in his study.

The study used data from the 2004 National Annenberg Election Survey to compare constituents’ political opinion to the voting behavior of their Senators in the 107th through 111th Congresses. With more than 90,000 respondents, the NAES is the largest public opinion survey conducted during presidential elections.

In all of the five Congresses examined, the voting records of Senators were consistently aligned with the opinions of their wealthiest constituents. The opinions of lower-class constituents, however, never appeared to influence the Senators’ voting behavior.

The neglect of lower income groups was a bipartisan affair. Democrats were not any more responsive to the poor than Republicans.

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Hayes found that middle-class opinion was only represented in two of the Congresses examined. In the 110th and 111th Congresses, when Democrats controlled both the Senate and the House, the voting records of Senators reflected the opinions of middle-class constituents as well as upper-class constituents.

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Voters don't know deficit has gone down

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/opinion/krugman-moment-of-truthiness.html

Moment of Truthiness
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: August 15, 2013

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I wondered on my blog what a similar survey would show today, with the deficit falling even faster than it did in the 1990s. Ask and ye shall receive: Hal Varian, the chief economist of Google, offered to run a Google Consumer Survey — a service the company normally sells to market researchers — on the question. So we asked whether the deficit has gone up or down since January 2010. And the results were even worse than in 1996: A majority of those who replied said the deficit has gone up, with more than 40 percent saying that it has gone up a lot. Only 12 percent answered correctly that it has gone down a lot.

¶ Am I saying that voters are stupid? Not at all. People have lives, jobs, children to raise. They’re not going to sit down with Congressional Budget Office reports. Instead, they rely on what they hear from authority figures. The problem is that much of what they hear is misleading if not outright false.

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A Stark Choice: Extreme Heat or Dirty Fuels

http://www.ipsnews.net/2013/08/a-stark-choice-extreme-heat-or-dirty-fuels/

By Stephen Leahy
Sunday, August 18, 2013

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Aug 15 2013 (IPS) - Two reports released Wednesday reveal the dangerous gap between science and politics. New climate research shows that extreme events such as the severe heat wave in the U.S. last year will double in 2020, increase 400 percent by 2040, and then get far worse without significant carbon reductions.

Meanwhile, an analysis shows Canada cannot meet its weak 2020 carbon emissions reduction target even as it plans to triple the size of its massive tar sands operations in coming decades.

Canada’s has no credible carbon reduction plan and has done virtually nothing on climate since Stephen Harper’s government came to power in 2006, said activists.

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Canada, the United States and other countries pledged to reduce their total carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 17 percent compared to 2005 levels by the year 2020 under what is known as the Copenhagen Accord. Scientists say that target is too weak and will result in global temperatures rising by at least 3.5C, a very dangerous level of climate change.

Those high temperatures will likely produce heat extremes that kill people, animals and crops, and blanket 85 percent of the planet’s land area in summer by 2100, German and Spanish scientists reported late Wednesday.

“That’s what our calculations show for a scenario of unabated climate change,” said co-author Dim Coumou of Germany’s Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

Shockingly, it is already too late to prevent a doubling of heat waves by 2020 and four-fold increase by 2040, concludes the study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

The reason for this is that burning enormous amounts of fossil fuels over the past 50 years has added 40 percent more heat-trapping CO2 gas to the atmosphere. Even if all human sources of CO2 emissions ended today, temperatures will continue to rise from the present 0.8C of additional warming to as much as 1.1. to 1.5C due to a time lag in the climate system, scientists say.

And those temperatures would not decline for a very long time.

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The U.S. is on target to make its meet its Copenhagen reduction pledge. However, Canada’s abysmal environmental record has come to the attention of the Barack Obama administration. President Obama recently said that he would only approve the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline if it “does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution”. The long-delayed Keystone XL would bring 800,000 barrels of tar sands bitumen (heavy oil) to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

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Love and Work Don't Always Work for Working Class in America, Study Shows

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130813101816.htm

Aug. 13, 2013 — The decline and disappearance of stable, unionized full-time jobs with health insurance and pensions for people who lack a college degree has had profound effects on working-class Americans who now are less likely to get married, stay married, and have their children within marriage than those with college degrees, a new University of Virginia and Harvard University study has found.

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"Working-class people with insecure work and few resources, little stability, and no ability to plan for a foreseeable future become concerned with their own survival and often become unable to imagine being able to provide materially and emotionally for others," said Sarah Corse, an associate professor of sociology in U.Va.'s College of Arts & Sciences and the study's lead author. "Insecure work changes peoples' non-work lives."

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According to Corse and Silva, wages for the non-college-educated have fallen dramatically in the United States as manufacturing work has been outsourced to other countries, greatly reducing the number of high-paying union jobs with good benefits.
Increasingly, the jobs available to those without a college degree are service-sector jobs, many of which are short-term and/or part-time and lack benefits, they said.
"These are foundational changes in the labor market for the working class and they broadly affect people's lives," they said. "Our interviewees without college degrees expressed feelings of distrust and even fear about intimate relationships, and had difficulty imagining being able to provide for others."
College-educated middle-class workers, with material, cultural, and intellectual resources, are more resilient, however, when faced with the effects of possible insecure work in tough times, and therefore are more able to commit to marriage and to planning families.

Autism Four Times Likelier When Mother's Thyroid Is Weakened

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130813111730.htm

Aug. 13, 2013 — Pregnant women who don't make nearly enough thyroid hormone are nearly 4 times likelier to produce autistic children than healthy women, report scientists from the Houston Methodist Neurological Institute and Erasmus Medical Centre in an upcoming Annals of Neurology.

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"It is increasingly apparent to us that autism is caused by environmental factors in most cases, not by genetics," said lead author Gustavo Román, M.D., a neurologist and neuroepidemiologist who directs the Nantz National Alzheimer Center. "That gives me hope that prevention is possible."

The researchers also found that autistic children had more pronounced symptoms if their mothers were severely deficient for T4, also called thyroxine. Mild T4 deficiencies in mothers produced an insignificant increase in autistic children's symptoms.
The most common cause of thyroid hormone deficiency is a lack of dietary iodine -- because both the thyroid hormones, T3 and T4, contain that element.

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It is well established that expecting mothers' poor thyroid function (whether caused by poor diet, disease, or genetics) can lead to serious problems with fetal brain development, but only in the last 10 years or so has hypothyroidism been implicated as a possible cause of autism spectrum disorders.

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Six Months of Fish Oil Reverses Liver Disease in Children With Intestinal Failure

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130814101429.htm

Aug. 14, 2013 — Children who suffer from intestinal failure, most often caused by a shortened or dysfunctional bowel, are unable to consume food orally. Instead, a nutritional cocktail of sugar, protein and fat made from soybean oil is injected through a small tube in their vein.

For these children, the intravenous nutrition serves as a bridge to bowel adaptation, a process by which the intestine recovers and improves its capacity to absorb nutrition. But the soybean oil, which provides essential fatty acids and calories, has been associated with a potentially lethal complication known as intestinal failure-associated liver disease, which may require a liver and/or intestinal transplant. Such a transplant can prevent death, but the five-year post-transplant survival rate is only 50 percent.
Previous studies have shown that replacing soybean oil with fish oil in intravenous nutrition can reverse intestinal failure-associated liver disease. However, the necessary duration of fish oil treatment had not been established in medical studies.
Now, a clinical trial conducted at the Children's Discovery and Innovation Institute at Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA has found that, compared with soybean oil, a limited duration (24 weeks) of fish oil is safe and effective in reversing liver disease in children with intestinal failure who require intravenous nutrition. The researchers believe that fish oil may also decrease the need for liver and/or intestinal transplants -- and mortality -- associated with this disease.

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Watermelon Juice Relieves Post-Exercise Muscle Soreness

Tart cherry juice is also helpful.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130814124907.htm

Aug. 14, 2013 — Watermelon juice's reputation among athletes is getting scientific support in a new study, which found that juice from the summer favorite fruit can relieve post-exercise muscle soreness. The report in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry attributes watermelon's effects to the amino acid L-citrulline.

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Children Exposed to Lead Three Times More Likely to Be Suspended from School

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130814190523.htm

Aug. 14, 2013 — Children who are exposed to lead are nearly three times more likely to be suspended from school by the 4th grade than children who are not exposed, according to a new University of Wisconsin-Madison study funded jointly by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Wisconsin Partnership Program Education and Research Committee.

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Skin Cream Ingredient May Stop Effects of Parkinson's On Brain Cells

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130815161447.htm \

Aug. 15, 2013 — The active ingredient in an over-the-counter skin cream might do more than prevent wrinkles. Scientists have discovered that the drug, called kinetin, also slows or stops the effects of Parkinson's disease on brain cells.

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Consuming a High-Quality Diet Is Associated With Lower Risk of Pancreatic Cancer

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130815172335.htm

Aug. 15, 2013 — People who reported dietary intake that was most consistent with the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans had lower risk of pancreatic cancer, according to a new study published August 15 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

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Soft Drinks Linked to Behavioral Problems in Young Children

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130816094628.htm

Aug. 16, 2013 — Americans buy more soft drinks per capita than people in any other country. These drinks are consumed by individuals of all ages, including very young children. Although soft drink consumption is associated with aggression, depression, and suicidal thoughts in adolescents, the relationship had not been evaluated in younger children. A new study scheduled for publication in The Journal of Pediatrics finds that aggression, attention problems, and withdrawal behavior are all associated with soft drink consumption in young children.

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Don’t use Dallas compounding pharmacy products, FDA warns

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/dont-use-dallas-compounding-pharmacy-products-fda-warns-6C10937607

Maggie Fox NBC News
Aug. 16, 2013

The Food and Drug Administration took an unusual step on Friday, warning patients and health care providers to stay away from sterile products made by a Dallas-based compounding pharmacy called NuVision.

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The FDA says its inspections show the sterility of products made by NuVision cannot be guaranteed, but the pharmacy says it doesn’t have to meet FDA standards.

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A cause of bee deaths

Which of course makes one wonder what these poisons are doing to humans.

http://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/scientists-discover-another-cause-bee-deaths-and-its-really-bad-news.html

Jaymi Heimbuch
Science / Natural Sciences
July 26, 2013

Scientists had struggled to find the trigger for so-called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) that has wiped out an estimated 10 million beehives, worth $2 billion, over the past six years. Suspects have included pesticides, disease-bearing parasites and poor nutrition. But in a first-of-its-kind study published today in the journal PLOS ONE, scientists at the University of Maryland and the US Department of Agriculture have identified a witch’s brew of pesticides and fungicides contaminating pollen that bees collect to feed their hives. The findings break new ground on why large numbers of bees are dying though they do not identify the specific cause of CCD, where an entire beehive dies at once.

The researchers behind that study in PLOS ONE -- Jeffery S. Pettis, Elinor M. Lichtenberg, Michael Andree, Jennie Stitzinger, Robyn Rose, Dennis vanEngelsdorp -- collected pollen from hives on the east coast, including cranberry and watermelon crops, and fed it to healthy bees. Those bees had a serious decline in their ability to resist a parasite that causes Colony Collapse Disorder. The pollen they were fed had an average of nine different pesticides and fungicides, though one sample of pollen contained a deadly brew of 21 different chemicals. Further, the researchers discovered that bees that ate pollen with fungicides were three times more likely to be infected by the parasite.

The discovery means that fungicides, thought harmless to bees, is actually a significant part of Colony Collapse Disorder.

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And it is not just the types of chemicals used that need to be considered, but also spraying practices. The bees sampled by the authors foraged not from crops, but almost exclusively from weeds and wildflowers, which means bees are more widely exposed to pesticides than thought.

The authors write, "[M]ore attention must be paid to how honey bees are exposed to pesticides outside of the field in which they are placed. We detected 35 different pesticides in the sampled pollen, and found high fungicide loads.

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Quartz notes, "Bee populations are so low in the US that it now takes 60% of the country’s surviving colonies just to pollinate one California crop, almonds. And that’s not just a west coast problem—California supplies 80% of the world’s almonds, a market worth $4 billion."

Baa! O'Hare turns to goats to clear airfield brush

http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/baa-ohare-turns-goats-clear-airfield-brush-6C10919618

Jason Keyser The Associated Press
Aug. 14, 2013

In a remote corner of O'Hare International Airport, far from its high-profile modernization mega project, a decidedly more low-tech initiative is being carried out by a barnyard band of goats, sheep, llamas and wild burros.

The mission of the roughly two dozen animals: to mow the grass. And lots of it.

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Other airports have similar programs, including at San Francisco International, which uses a company called Goats R Us to clear brush each spring in an effort to protect nearby homes from potential fires. The other airports are in Atlanta and Seattle.

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'American Idol's' Justin Guarini: I skip meals to feed my wife and kids

http://www.today.com/entertainment/american-idols-justin-guarini-i-skip-meals-feed-my-wife-6C10925576

Anna Chan
Aug. 15, 2013

"American Idol's" season one runner-up, Justin Guarini, has learned the hard way that fame is fleeting. In a post on his website, the singer reveals that he's on hard times and sometimes skips meals so his loved ones can eat.

"I have spent days skipping meals in order to make sure I have enough. To make sure my children, and my wife have enough," Guarini wrote.

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"There was a time when I could have thrown down cash for a house, and had any number of lovers in and out the door. A flashy car and clothes to match. An ego to trump them all," he wrote about the height of his fame. "Now I rent a home filled with love. I have a wife whom I love and who loves me (me!) and who lifts me up. Children who give me cherubic-lipped kisses before I leave for work and who are the most delicious morsels of joy and peace and prosperity."

Though he may not have much cash, Guarini told a fan in the comments, "I am a pretty wealthy individual. I have more riches than I can count. Most of them come in the form of smiles and drool ... but they make me feel like a gazillionaire!"

Despite the happiness his family brings to him, the "Idol" alum admits that he's "terrified." "I am struggling to make each day meet the next without breaking down and curling up. Sometimes I envy people who sit at a desk every day (at least you know where your next meal is coming from)."

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Iams, Eukanaba dry pet foods recalled over salmonella fears

http://www.nbcnews.com/health/iams-eukanaba-dry-pet-foods-recalled-over-salmonella-fears-6C10925355

Maggie Fox NBC News
Aug. 15, 2013

Nearly 30 different types of cat and dog food are being recalled by the Procter & Gamble Company because they could possibly be contaminated with Salmonella, the Food and Drug Administration said Thursday.

No human or pet has been reported sick, the FDA says, but says the company is recalling the dry food because it might be contaminated.

“Salmonella can affect animals eating the products and there is risk to humans from handling contaminated pet products, especially if they have not thoroughly washed their hands after having contact with the products or any surfaces exposed to these products,” the FDA said in a statement.

“Pets with Salmonella infections may be lethargic and have diarrhea or bloody diarrhea, fever, and vomiting. Some pets will have only decreased appetite, fever and abdominal pain. Infected but otherwise healthy pets can be carriers and infect other animals or humans. If your pet has consumed the recalled product and has these symptoms, please contact your veterinarian.”

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Comparing U.S. & World Covers for TIME Magazine

Go to the article to see the difference. The ones for the U.S. are illustrations for a lighter-weight topic. The ones for the rest of the world are about an important topic for the world.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/25/1039957/-STUNNING-Comparing-U-S-World-Covers-for-TIME-Magazine?detail=email#

FRI NOV 25, 2011
Writing by David Harris Gershon

Each week, TIME Magazine designs covers for four markets: the U.S., Europe, Asia and the South Pacific. Often, America's cover is quite, well – different.

Man denied life-saving surgery over 26-cent insurance dispute

Many people don't have health insurance to start with.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/-man-denied-life-saving-surgery-over-26-cent-insurance-dispute--212103627.html

Eric Pfeiffer
Aug. 13, 2013

A man seeking treatment for a life-threatening illness had his health further jeopardized when his employer and health insurance company tried to cancel his coverage over a 26-cent dispute.

The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that in January, 33-year-old Sergio Branco was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia. Left untreated, the illness can be fatal.

When the truck driver took time off work to seek treatment under the Family and Medical Leave Act, he was told that treatment for the leukemia required a bone-marrow transplant that would cost about $500,000, even with insurance.

To make matters worse, when Branco returned to work after his federally guaranteed leave time, he was promptly laid off.

Branco and his family weren’t worried, because they knew he was eligible for extended coverage under the government’s COBRA program.

The family also launched a fundraising site for Branco’s leukemia treatments.

The monthly fee for Branco’s COBRA insurance is $518.26. When his wife sent in the first payment, she erroneously made out the check for $518, forgetting to add the 26 cents.

Thus began an extended feud among the family, Branco's former employer Russell Reid, the insurance company handling his COBRA and even the Department of Labor.

Paychex, the company handling the COBRA payments, cashed the check but did not notify the Branco family of the payment error. In the middle of Branco’s treatment, he was informed by the hospital that he didn’t have insurance.

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It took several months, but on Aug. 9, the parties involved finally agreed to put Blanco back on the COBRA coverage. Blanco’s surgery is now scheduled to take place on Friday.

"The Department of Labor said the company will reinstate him from May 'til now," Mara Branco told the paper. "They said the company did it wrong. I am super happy. It’s like a weight has lifted off my shoulder. It’s better than winning the lottery."

If you'd like to donate to the Blanco's medical fund, you can find more information here.

How the railroad owners got rich

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=50-100--150-years-ago-age-of-anxiety&page=2

From Scientific American magazine, March 2013, reprinted from 1931:

“The hours of labor exacted by some of the Brooklyn railroad companies are so many and the work is so severe that it is astonishing that men can perform the labor and live. The Brooklyn Central Railroad Company requires seventeen and a half hours of labor per day, and allows no time for procuring meals; the food necessary to sustain life being eaten in the cars. The compensation for conductors and drivers is $1.35 per day.”

Chemicals That Promote Obesity Down the Generations

http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=13-P13-00032&segmentID=1

Air Date: Week of August 9, 2013

Diet and exercise are seen as the key factors that cause obesity, but new research suggests that certain chemicals called obesogens contribute to the global weight problem. Bruce Blumberg, professor of developmental and cell biology at the University of California at Irvine tells host Steve Curwood that the effects of an obesogenic chemical he studied seem to persist for several generations.

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BLUMBERG: An obesogen, according to us, is a chemical that somehow causes the body to store more fat. And it can do that by making more fat cells, by putting more fat into those cells, or can do that indirectly by changing how the metabolism works or by making you hungrier, or by making you less able to sense that you’ve had enough to eat.

CURWOOD: Bruce Blumberg is a professor of Developmental Biology at UC Irvine. And here’s the startling part of his research. Not only has his team confirmed earlier work showing that certain persistent organic pollutants can act as obesegens, they have found that initial exposures can echo down through at least three generations to make animals fat. This study used the chemical TBT – tributyltin --which was widely used as anti-fouling paint until a few years ago.

BLUMBERG: So we exposed pregnant mice to very low doses of tributyltin, and we knew from our previous work that would give us an effect on the babies that were so exposed - that would be - we would call that the F-1 generation. And we asked the question what happens if we bred those babies and the babies of those babies and checked whether there were subsequent effects.

CURWOOD: And what happened?

BLUMBERG: So what we found is that the effects persisted in the grandchildren and greatgrandchildren. And that some of the effects were actually stronger in the greatgrandchildren who had never been exposed.

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CURWOOD: Now this study is lab mice, how well do you think these findings might translate to humans?

BLUMBERG: 100 percent.

CURWOOD: Really?

BLUMBERG: The reason I say that is because tributyltin - TBT - works through a hormone receptor called PPAR gamma. And we know there are pharmaceutical drugs that target that same receptor that make people fat. So if I have a chemical tributyltin that activates the same receptor, you would expect the same effect.

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CURWOOD: One of the most startling things that’s in your report is your citation of a study that showed eight different species of animals including pets, laboratory animals, and feral rats, living in proximity to humans have become obese in parallel with the human obesity epidemic. And the odds of this being a coincidence was something like 10 million to 1 against.

Dr. Bruce Blumberg (photo: Bruce Blumberg)

BLUMBERG: 10 million to 1. Yes.

BLUMBERG: You can make the argument, if you talk to...the mainstream obesity community will make the argument that it’s all about diet and exercise, calories in and calories out. And I don’t see how you can explain the increase in obesity of animals, including wild animals, by calories in and calories out. It’s got to be something else. It has to be the nature of the calories. It has to be a chemical, an environmental factor, to which they’re exposed to now, that they were not previously exposed to, that underlies that.

CURWOOD: So who’s most susceptible to tributyltin exposure?

BLUMBERG: Tributyltin will make animals and humans fat at any stage of life. We’re particularly concerned with prenatal exposures because that’s where you have the capability to have transgenerational effects. You won’t cause, or we don’t believe that you will...exposing an adult will cause transgenerational effects on their offspring. But we know from our experiments, that exposing embryos to a chemical like tributyltin will cause transgenerational effects.

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BLUMBERG: It says to me that the most important way that we can change obesity is not by treating obese people, but by preventing them from becoming obese in the first place, by preventing these exposures, which can include chemical exposures, but it can also include exposures to improper diet. There’s a fair bit of data that says exposing mom to a high fat or junk food diet makes the babies prefer that kind of food. There’s some kind of a programming event that’s not well understood that’s going on there. So it’s not just chemical exposures. Chemical exposures and dietary factors, and the nature of diet early in life, is the area that needs to be addressed to make inroads into solving this obesity problem that we face today.

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Human and plant evolution

I had a couple of thoughts when I heard this show, related to human evolution related to plants.

(1) Humans evolved along with the plants we eat, including the toxins they contain. If we are exposed to fewer of these toxins, it may be harmful in some ways, similarly to the apparent rise in allergies due to having less contact with germs. Eg., if we make extra amounts of some substance to detoxify a toxin, when the toxin is decreased, it might have harmful effects. If we make extra amounts of a substance to make up for some that the toxin causes to be decreased, when the toxin is decreased, we may end up with too much of that substance.

(2) It has been suggested that cooking helped us develop bigger brains, by making more energy available from a given amount of food. Cooking destroys some plant toxins, so that might have had effects on human health. I would guess that we have been eating cooked food long enough to have reduced any possible negative effects. And if the body no longer needed to use as many resources to deal with toxins in our food, more resources would be available to develop a bigger brain.

http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=13-P13-00032&segmentID=4

How Insects Influence Plant Evolution
Air Date: Week of August 9, 2013

From the spiciness of the chili pepper to horseradish’s bitter bite, many plant traits are evolutionary adaptations to insect attacks. Cornell biologist Anurag Agrawal explains to host Steve Curwood just how speedily plants can evolve and adapt when insect populations change.

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And for millenia, insects - such as the silk worm – have in turn helped guide the evolution and defenses of plants.
A new 5 year study from researchers at Cornell University in Science Magazine focuses on the critical role insects can play in plant evolution, and how speedy that evolution can be.
The lead author is Anurag Agrawal, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell.

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AGRAWAL: Yeah, there’s been a long history of circumstantial evidence that many of the traits plants have are adaptations to insect herbivores. If you think about the things we eat, what makes horseradish spicy? Horseradish is spicy because of a series of compounds called glucosinolates that we believe have evolved by natural selection to ward off insects. You know, the poisons that make milkweed so famous? - you know, same expectation. What’s nicotine? Nicotine is a neurotoxin of tobacco that has evolved by natural selection to ward off insects.

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CURWOOD: Please describe the specifics of your study for us – what were you looking at?

AGRAWAL: Well, what we did is we set out experimental plots here at Ithaca, New York to examine the impact insect herbivores have on the plants, and removed insects from half of the plots using an insecticide treatment, and over a very quick period of time – about five years, five generations of the plants we were studying, the common Evening Primrose, it’s a wildflower – removal of insects resulted in the evolution of two very critical plant traits: How early the plants flower and the production of a toxin in the fruits of those flowers. When we removed insects, the plants were able to relax those defenses. They flowered earlier and they produced less of those toxins in their fruits.

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AGRAWAL: Well, it’s complicated, and I appreciate the question. Insecticides certainly have been a very valuable tool in the production of agricultural crops, and I think that what it tells us is that when we take insects out of the picture – using things like insecticides – we are encouraging plants throughout the evolutionary process to relax their defenses.

And, in fact, this is a story that I think is unfortunately really a big part of worldwide agriculture, and that is that we tend to select varieties of plants to grow that are diminished in their natural defensive capacities. If you take a wild plant that has survived out there for millions of years, it typically has a remarkable array of toxins and defense tactics to ward off pests.

About 10 percent of all plants produce hydrogen cyanide. We know hydrogen cyanide as a very general toxin – an anti-life compound – and it’s hydrogen cyanide that’s in 10 percent of the plants. It has no primary function, it doesn’t help the plant capture sunlight or produce seeds directly, what hydrogen cyanide does is it poisons insects that are trying to eat those plants.

One of the things that I think we do a little too well is we – either on purpose or inadvertently – we breed crops so that they have relaxed defenses and that increases our needs and our usage of pesticides, which I think we can all agree is problematic for the environment.

CURWOOD: Anurag Agrawal is Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University. Thanks so much for taking the time today!

Length of Human Pregnancies Can Vary Naturally by as Much as Five Weeks

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130806203327.htm

Aug. 6, 2013 — The length of a human pregnancy can vary naturally by as much as five weeks, according to research published online August 7 in the journal Human Reproduction.

Normally, women are given a date for the likely delivery of their baby that is calculated as 280 days after the onset of their last menstrual period. Yet only four percent of women deliver at 280 days and only 70% deliver within 10 days of their estimated due date, even when the date is calculated with the help of ultrasound.

Now, for the first time, researchers in the USA have been able to pinpoint the precise point at which a woman ovulates and a fertilised embryo implants in the womb during a naturally conceived pregnancy, and follow the pregnancy through to delivery. Using this information, they have been able to calculate the length of 125 pregnancies.

"We found that the average time from ovulation to birth was 268 days -- 38 weeks and two days," said Dr Anne Marie Jukic, a postdoctoral fellow in the Epidemiology Branch at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (Durham, USA), part of the National Institutes for Health. "However, even after we had excluded six pre-term births, we found that the length of the pregnancies varied by as much as 37 days.

"We were a bit surprised by this finding. We know that length of gestation varies among women, but some part of that variation has always been attributed to errors in the assignment of gestational age. Our measure of length of gestation does not include these sources of error, and yet there is still five weeks of variability. It's fascinating."

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Dementia Risk Tied to Blood Sugar Level, Even With No Diabetes

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130807204835.htm

Aug. 7, 2013 — A joint Group Health-University of Washington (UW) study in the New England Journal of Medicine has found that higher blood sugar levels are associated with higher dementia risk, even among people who do not have diabetes.

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For example, in people without diabetes, risk for dementia was 18 percent higher for people with an average glucose level of 115 milligrams per deciliter compared to those with an average glucose level of 100 mg/dl. And in people with diabetes, whose blood sugar levels are generally higher, dementia risk was 40 percent higher for people with an average glucose level of 190 mg/dl compared to those with an average glucose level of 160 mg/dl.

"The most interesting finding was that every incrementally higher glucose level was associated with a higher risk of dementia in people who did not have diabetes," said first author Paul K. Crane, MD, MPH, an associate professor of medicine at the UW School of Medicine, adjunct associate professor of health services at the UW School of Public Health, and affiliate investigator at Group Health Research Institute. "There was no threshold value for lower glucose values where risk leveled off."

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So should people try to eat less sugar -- or foods with a lower "glycemic index"? Not necessarily, Dr. Crane said: "Your body turns your food into glucose, so your blood sugar levels depend not only on what you eat but also on your individual metabolism: how your body handles your food." But he does suggest that taking walks couldn't hurt: The ACT study has previously linked physical activity to later onset and reduced risk of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.

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How Parents See Themselves May Affect Their Child's Brain and Stress Level

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130809115100.htm

Aug. 9, 2013 — A mother's perceived social status predicts her child's brain development and stress indicators, finds a study at Boston Children's Hospital. While previous studies going back to the 1950s have linked objective socioeconomic factors -- such as parental income or education -- to child health, achievement and brain function, the new study is the first to link brain function to maternal self-perception.

In the study, children whose mothers saw themselves as having a low social status were more likely to have increased cortisol levels, an indicator of stress, and less activation of their hippocampus, a structure in the brain responsible for long-term memory formation (required for learning) and reducing stress responses.

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actual maternal education or income-to-needs ratio (income relative to family size) did not significantly predict cortisol levels or hippocampal activation.

The findings suggest that while actual socioeconomic status varies, how people perceive and adapt to their situation is an important factor in child development. Some of this may be culturally determined, Sheridan notes.

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Why Does the American Middle Class Continue to Struggle Financially?

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130811005338.htm

Aug. 11, 2013

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consumption spending has risen most in four product categories that shape families' health, safety, and economic viability: health care, education, housing, and commuting costs.

• Prices in these four product markets have greatly outpaced both wages and prices in general.

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• Americans may be systematically pressed to overspend on housing because access to better schools, public services, and transportation infrastructure varies considerably across communities, and better-heeled communities often restrict affordable housing developments. Americans may face a relatively high well-being penalty for living in more modestly-priced homes.

• Compared to other highly-developed countries, the U.S. does considerably less to control the personal financial burden borne by households to ensure access to these products and services essential to well-being.

• Soaring tuition and health care costs are not the principal drivers of household financial distress, but they constitute the fastest-growing problem.

• Cohen argues that our penchant to blame household spending problems on wastefulness or frivolities obscures the fact that Americans increasingly face a lose-lose dilemma in which they must choose between sustainable finances and access to quality schools, child care, medical care, public safety, and employment opportunities.

Cohen, a Canadian with a business background who studied at Princeton (Ph.D. sociology, 2007), also examines how other countries tackle the provision of essential services in different and potentially less financially damaging ways. "Canada's policies control the personal financial burden of accessing essential services, which might be why household finances are in better shape there," he says.

Perfect Perseids: How to take advantage of a prime meteor show

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/perfect-perseids-how-take-advantage-prime-meteor-show-6C10883042

Alan Boyle, Science Editor NBC News
Aug. 9, 2013

August's Perseid meteor shower may be one of the most dependable sky shows of the year, but the viewing conditions can be as inconstant as the moon — literally. Fortunately, the moon's glare won't be a factor this year, which means the show should be about as good as it gets over the next few days.

The prime viewing hours should come Sunday night. Or is that Monday night? This year, some say the peak is Aug. 11-12, while others say Aug. 12-13. What's a stargazer to do??

"I can understand the confusion you mention, as the predicted peak is around 3 p.m. EDT on the 12th," Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at Marshall Space Flight Center, told NBC News in an email. "Since it occurs mid-afternoon, arguments can be made for the night of the 11th-12th, or the night of the 12th-13th. I am leaning toward the night of 11th, as there are usually more meteors seen leading up to the peak than after. ... If it were me, I'd go out both nights."

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At its peak, observers could see an average of two flashes per minute, depending on viewing conditions. This is expected to be a better-than-average year because the moon will be just a few days past its new phase. The lunar crescent will be setting early in the evening, leaving glare-free skies during the midnight-to-dawn period that's most favorable for meteor sightings.


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Are You The Blame For Soaring Concert Tickets

http://evolutionofasong.blogspot.com/2013/03/are-you-blame-for-soaring-concert.html

March 22, 2013
by Grady Shuman

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Miles Copeland, owner of Ark 21 Records and former manager of Sting, admits that Sting and other artists have a lot of control over ticket prices. If they seem greedy, Copeland says, it's because they're being ripped off every day — not by Clear Channel, but by their fans.
"Five years, 10 years, 15 years ago … every time you wanted music, you'd go to a record store and you'd have to fork out money to buy records. Well nowadays they say it's just OK to steal," Copeland said.

Steal online, that is. Apparently, many of us simply cannot resist the temptation of downloading music from the Internet. But all that free music is not without a price.

"The public ought to realize as they're complaining about ticket prices, that they're forcing ticket prices up because stealing music from the artists eliminates that source of income.

Updated Firefox brings better security

When I checked to see what version of Firefox I have, clicking on Help/About Firefox, I found that I have version 22, and that Firefox was downloading the new version. I have it set to download updates to Firefox automatically.

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/updated-firefox-brings-brighter-tail-better-security-6C10868293

Suzanne Choney NBC News
Aug. 7, 2013

Firefox 23, the newest version of the Web browser released Tuesday, has an updated look for its well-known fox logo and adds new features, including one that will help protect users from what's known as "man-in-the-middle attacks" and from eavesdroppers on Web pages labeled as secure.

If you've purchased anything online, for example, you know to make sure a Web page starts out with "https" instead of "http" before plunking your money down. The "s" means that the Web page is secure and encrypted. But sometimes https pages include content on them that is not secure. From now on, if you've hit upon such a page, Firefox will block what is known as "mixed content" by default. It's something that Internet Explorer and Chrome does as well.

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Priorities

Seen on Facebook:

If you really think that the environment is less important than the economy, try holding your breath while you count your money. - Dr. Guy McPherson

Emotional Behavior of Adults Could Be Triggered in the Womb

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130806132750.htm

Aug. 6, 2013 — Adults could be at greater risk of becoming anxious and vulnerable to poor mental health if they were deprived of certain hormones while developing in the womb according to new research by scientists at Cardiff and Cambridge universities.

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Study Questions Nature's Ability to 'Self-Correct' Climate Change

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130806203148.htm

Aug. 6, 2013 — Forests have a limited capacity to soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to a new study from Northern Arizona University.

The study, available online in the journal New Phytologist, aimed to explore how rising atmospheric carbon dioxide could alter the carbon and nitrogen content of ecosystems.

By performing tests on subtropical woodland plots over an 11-year period, the researchers found that ecosystem carbon uptake was not significantly increased by the high CO2 treatment—in contrast to expectations. While plants did contain more carbon when CO2 levels were increased, soil actually lost carbon due to microbial decomposition; both factors essentially balanced one another out.

"Nature cannot 'self-correct' entirely against climate change, and the scientific community has been both overestimating the impact of plants and underestimating the impact of soil microorganisms in how they absorb CO2 and ultimately impact global warming," said Bruce Hungate, director of the Center for Ecosystem Science and Society at NAU and lead author on the study.

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An Extra Hour of TV Beyond Recommendations Diminishes Toddlers' Kindergarten Chances

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130807205042.htm

Aug. 7, 2013 — Every hourly increase in daily television watching at 29 months of age is associated with diminished vocabulary and math skills, classroom engagement (which is largely determined by attention skills), victimization by classmates, and physical prowess at kindergarten, according to Professor Linda Pagani of the University of Montreal and the CHU Sainte-Justine children's hospital.

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Hurricanes and Climate Change: Huge Dangers, Huge Unknowns

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2481

Posted by: Dr. Jeff Masters, 9:57 AM GMT on August 05, 2013

Hurricane Sandy's enormous $65 billion price tag put that great storm in third place for the most expensive weather-related disaster in U.S. (and world) history. Indeed, when we look at the list of most expensive U.S. weather-related disasters since 1980, hurricanes dominate, claiming six of the top ten spots. Drought is also a formidable presence, accounting for three of the other top-ten budget-busting disasters. Thus, a critical question for society is: how will our dangerous uncontrolled experiment of dumping massive amounts of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the air affect droughts and hurricanes? For droughts, the answer is relatively straightforward--in general, dry parts of the world like the Southwest U.S. and Southern Europe are predicted to get drier. The worst droughts will get more extreme, wherever they occur, since it will be hotter. But for hurricanes, the uncertainties are greater. Since hurricanes are heat engines that extract heat energy from the oceans to power themselves, hurricane scientists are confident that the very strongest storms will get stronger by the end of the century, when Earth's land and ocean temperatures are expected to warm to levels unmatched since the Eemian Era, 115,000 years ago. Computer modelling work consistently indicates that greenhouse warming will cause the globally averaged intensity of tropical cyclones to shift towards stronger storms, with intensity increases of 2–11% by 2100. But hurricanes are fussy creations, and are sensitive to wind shear and dry air. Although the strongest storms should get stronger when "perfect storm" conditions are present, these "perfect storm" conditions may become less frequent in the future, due to the presence of higher wind shear and/or more dry air. Indeed, the climate models used to formulate the 2007 IPCC report suggested that we might see the strongest hurricanes getting stronger, but a decrease in the total number of hurricanes in the Atlantic (and worldwide) later this century. However, the latest set of models used to formulate the 2013 IPCC report, due out in September, show that the total number of hurricanes both globally and in the Atlantic may increase in both number and intensity, according to a paper published in July 2013 by one of our top hurricane scientists, Dr. Kerry Emanuel of MIT. Hurricane intensity may also increase, leading to a global increase of 40% of Category 3 and stronger hurricanes by 2100. However, the uncertainties in this research are great. We really don't know how global warming will affect the number of hurricanes and their intensity.

Austria and Slovenia Set All-time Heat Records; Record Heat in Shanghai, China

http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2483

Posted by: Dr. Jeff Masters, 11:09 PM GMT on August 08, 2013

A historic heat wave is underway in Central Europe, where both both Austria and Slovenia set all-time national heat records on August 8. Three locations in Austria passed the 40°C (104°F) mark, beating the former national record of 39.9°C (103.8°F) set just last week, on August 3rd at Dellach im Drautal. The hottest spot today (yet to be officially confirmed), was Neusiedl/See, with a 40.6°C (105.1°F) reading. Slovenia also surpassed its national heat record on August 8, with a 40.8°C (105.4°F) reading at Cerklje ob Krki (former record: 40.6°C (105.1°F) at Crnomelj on July 5, 1950.) Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, has now passed its all-time heat record for six consecutive days with the highest reading being 40.2°C (104.4°) on August 8th. Records go back 150 years at this station.

China's most populous city, Shanghai, broke its all-time record for hottest temperature on record for the second time this summer on August 7, when the mercury topped out at 40.8°C (105.4°F). The previous record was set just the day before (40.6°C/105.1°F), and also on July 26th. Prior to this summer, the record for Shanghai was 40.2°C (104.4°F) during the summer of 1934. Records in Shanghai date back to 1872. Today (August 8th), the temperature peaked at 40.2°C (104.4°F), so Shanghai has had its four hottest days in its history this summer. Extreme heat was also experienced over South Korea and Japan today, and wunderground's weather historian Christopher C. Burt has the details in his latest post. Many more all-time heat records may have fallen in both Central Europe and East Asia, and Chris plans to update his post with all the latest records on Friday.

Extensive credit for researching these records goes to weather records researcher Maximiliano Herrera, who maintains a comprehensive set of extreme temperature records on his web site.

Sleep deprivation linked to junk food cravings

http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2013/08/06/poor-sleep-junk-food/

UC Berkeley
By Yasmin Anwar, Media Relations | August 6, 2013

A sleepless night makes us more likely to reach for doughnuts or pizza than for whole grains and leafy green vegetables, suggests a new study from UC Berkeley that examines the brain regions that control food choices. The findings shed new light on the link between poor sleep and obesity.

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“What we have discovered is that high-level brain regions required for complex judgments and decisions become blunted by a lack of sleep, while more primal brain structures that control motivation and desire are amplified,” said Matthew Walker, a UC Berkeley professor of psychology and neuroscience and senior author of the study published today (Tuesday, Aug. 6) in the journal Nature Communications.

Moreover, he added, “high-calorie foods also became significantly more desirable when participants were sleep-deprived. This combination of altered brain activity and decision-making may help explain why people who sleep less also tend to be overweight or obese.”

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‘American Carbon’ Enters World Economy And Atmosphere At Fastest Pace Ever

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/06/2418971/american-carbon-fastest-pace-ever/

By Joe Romm on August 6, 2013

The UK Guardian has a must-read piece for those who believe the shale gas revolution will save us from climate catastrophe, “The rise and rise of American carbon.”

As illustrated in this chart, while U.S. carbon emissions have dropped somewhat in recent years — thanks to energy efficiency, renewables, the recession, and shale gas — America’s contribution to the global problem of ever-rising carbon production and consumption grows unabated.

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Whatever benefit the shale-gas revolution has had in reducing US emissions — a benefit that would appear to be seriously vitiated by huge methane leaks according to yet another major NOAA study — it has also been vitiated by our continued coal extraction for export.

And that is entirely separate from the issue of how much of our carbon emissions we have outsourced to China by virtue of our exploding trade deficit with the biggest carbon polluter in the world. We know in the case of Britain that that “the increase in carbon emissions from goods produced overseas that are then used in Britain are now outstripping the gains made in cutting emissions here.”

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http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/aug/05/us-emissions-extraction-fracking

Duncan Clark
theguardian.com, Monday 5 August 2013

You've probably heard that US carbon emissions have been falling.

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On the other hand, you may also have heard that US coal exports have increased as its domestic emissions have fallen.

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To explore this issue I propose considering an unfamiliar metric: not carbon emissions but carbon extraction. After all, the climate doesn't care where a unit of carbon is burned; just whether it comes out of the ground and enters the atmosphere. It makes sense to ask, therefore, whether the US is now extracting more or less carbon than it was before the shale gas boom. Has coal production fallen enough to offset rising gas production?

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Now let's stack all those fuels on top of each other to see total carbon extraction. The resulting graph shows that that there has been no decline in the amount of carbon the US is taking out of the ground. In fact, the trend is upwards. The latest year for which full data is available – 2011 – is the highest level on record, at 5288 MT of potential CO2, a fraction higher that the previous peak in 2008. Despite or because of the shale gas revolution, 'American carbon' is flowing into the global economy and atmosphere faster than ever.

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Why do so many jobs pay so little?

I suggest reading the whole article at the following link:

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/financial/2013/08/12/130812ta_talk_surowiecki

by James Surowiecki August 12, 2013

A few weeks ago, Washington, D.C., passed a living-wage bill designed to make Walmart pay its workers a minimum of $12.50 an hour. Then President Obama called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage (which is currently $7.25 an hour). McDonald’s was widely derided for releasing a budget to help its employees plan financially, since that only underscored how brutally hard it is to live on a McDonald’s wage. And last week fast-food workers across the country staged walkouts, calling for an increase in their pay to fifteen dollars an hour. Low-wage earners have long been the hardest workers to organize and the easiest to ignore. Now they’re front-page news.

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Still, the reason this has become a big political issue is not that the jobs have changed; it’s that the people doing the jobs have. Historically, low-wage work tended to be done either by the young or by women looking for part-time jobs to supplement family income. As the historian Bethany Moreton has shown, Walmart in its early days sought explicitly to hire underemployed married women. Fast-food workforces, meanwhile, were dominated by teen-agers. Now, though, plenty of family breadwinners are stuck in these jobs. That’s because, over the past three decades, the U.S. economy has done a poor job of creating good middle-class jobs; five of the six fastest-growing job categories today pay less than the median wage. That’s why, as a recent study by the economists John Schmitt and Janelle Jones has shown, low-wage workers are older and better educated than ever. More important, more of them are relying on their paychecks not for pin money or to pay for Friday-night dates but, rather, to support families. Forty years ago, there was no expectation that fast-food or discount-retail jobs would provide a living wage, because these were not jobs that, in the main, adult heads of household did. Today, low-wage workers provide forty-six per cent of their family’s income. It is that change which is driving the demand for higher pay.

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Chinese firm paid insider 'to kill my company,' American CEO says

http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/08/06/19566531-chinese-firm-paid-insider-to-kill-my-company-american-ceo-says?lite

By Carl Sears and Michael Isikoff
NBC News
Aug. 6, 2013

A Chinese energy firm offered big money and access to women to entice an engineer at a U.S. company to launch a cyber raid on his employer, stealing sensitive computer codes and “thereby cheating (the firm) … out of more than $800 million,” according to newly unsealed court documents and internal messages and emails obtained by NBC News.

Federal prosecutors call the alleged cyber theft from American Superconductor (AMSC) in Devens, Mass., one of the most brazen cases yet of Chinese economic espionage in the United States. The techniques the Chinese used to rob the company of three quarters of its revenue, half its workforce, and more than $1 billion in market value were straight out of a “spy novel,” the firm's CEO said in an interview with NBC News.

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The Chinese firm enticed Karabesic to download American Superconductor’s encrypted source codes onto a thumb drive and then send them by email to Sinovel executives in China, according to prosecutors. As inducements, the emails and Skype messages show, it offered Karabasevic a $1.7 million contract, an apartment in Beijing and access to women -- as well as payments wired into the bank account of a girlfriend who was a Vietnamese flight attendant.

"All girls need money. I need girls. Sinovel needs me," read one of Karabasevic’s messages to a Sinovel executive in China.

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The Great Recession made some moms scream at their kids more

http://www.today.com/money/great-recession-made-some-moms-scream-their-kids-more-6C10848933

Allison Linn
Aug. 5, 2013

Here’s another downside to the Great Recession: It made some moms parent their children more harshly.

A research paper released Monday found that some moms reacted to the recession that ran from 2007 to 2009 by yelling at their kids more, and perhaps even doing more physically aggressive things like grabbing or spanking their children.

The harsher responses weren't just among moms who had lost a job or otherwise been personally hit by the recession. Instead, the researchers found that these moms became harsher parents once the general economy started to deteriorate, perhaps because it made them scared that something bad could happen to them.

“It’s the change in the rate of unemployment - the fear of unemployment - that stimulated the harsh parenting,” said Irwin Garfinkel, a professor on contemporary urban problems in the Columbia University’s School of Social Work, and one of the study’s authors.

The silver lining: Those same moms were actually better parents after the economy improved.

“These mothers, while they do worse in poor environments, they do better in good environments,” Garfinkel said.

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This study did not look at dads, so Garfinkel said they don’t know if dads had a similar reaction.

For this finding, the researchers tested whether the moms had a genetic variance that, the researchers believe, makes people generally more sensitive.

It was among the more sensitive moms that Garfinkel said they observed a bigger increase in harsh parenting during the recession, and the subsequent improvement in parenting when the recession improved.

Garfinkel cautions that there also were incidences of harsh parenting among the other moms. But he said that the increase in harsh parenting during the recession was more noticeable among the sensitive moms, who made up about half of those studied.

Nevertheless, he said that even among the more sensitive moms, it was still a minority and most of them weren't harsh parents.

Other research also has shown that moms and dads have a tougher time being good parents when they are having financial problems.

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Stephanie Coontz, a professor of history and family studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and co-chair of the Council on Contemporary Families, said parents who are dealing with chronic stress or economic stress are sometimes more likely to focus on the bad behavior, and not notice the good things their kids or partners do.

“(They) pay attention to the negative and react more strongly to the negative,” said Coontz, who also was not involved in Garfinkel’s research.

Conger said his research has shown that kids in these environments can do worse in school, or have more social and emotional problems.

Still, Coontz said those effects could be mitigated if the stress doesn’t last very long.

“Kids are fairly resilient with parents who are distracted for short periods of time, or parent badly for short periods of time,” Coontz said. “If you’re bouncing back within a year or so, it may not have a long-term effect.”

tags: orchid children, sensitive personality

Injuries from teen fighting deal a blow to IQ

Men have larger fluid-filled spaces in their brains, giving more protection from trauma, which men are more prone to incure, eg., from fights, car accidents, etc.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-08/fsu-ift080213.php

Public release date: 2-Aug-2013
Contact: Kevin Beaver
Florida State University

New study explores connection between physical fights, cognitive decline

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A new Florida State University study has found that adolescent boys who are hurt in just two physical fights suffer a loss in IQ that is roughly equivalent to missing an entire year of school. Girls experience a similar loss of IQ after only a single fighting-related injury.

The findings are significant because decreases in IQ are associated with lower educational achievement and occupational performance, mental disorders, behavioral problems and even longevity, the researchers said.

"It's no surprise that being severely physically injured results in negative repercussions, but the extent to which such injuries affect intelligence was quite surprising," said Joseph A. Schwartz, a doctoral student who conducted the study with Professor Kevin Beaver in FSU's College of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Their findings are outlined in the paper, "Serious Fighting-Related Injuries Produce a Significant Reduction in Intelligence," which was published in the Journal of Adolescent Health. The study is among the first to look at the long-term effects of fighting during adolescence, a critical period of neurological development.

About 4 percent of high school students are injured as a result of a physical fight each year, the researchers said.

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Perhaps not surprisingly, boys experienced a higher number of injuries from fighting than girls; however, the consequences for girls were more severe, a fact the researchers attributed to physiological differences that give males an increased ability to withstand physical trauma.

The researchers found that each fighting-related injury resulted in a loss of 1.62 IQ points for boys, while girls lost an average of 3.02 IQ points, even after controlling for changes in socio-economic status, age and race for both genders. Previous studies have indicated that missing a single year of school is associated with a loss of 2 to 4 IQ points.

The impact on IQ may be even greater when considering only head injuries, the researchers said. The data they studied took into account all fighting-related physical injuries.

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‘Frack Gag’ Bans Children From Talking About Fracking, Forever

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/08/02/2401591/frack-gag-for-kids/

By Andrew Breiner on August 2, 2013

When drilling company Range Resources offered the Hallowich family a $750,000 settlement to relocate from their fracking-polluted home in Washington County, Pennsylvania, it came with a common restriction. Chris and Stephanie Hallowich would be forbidden from ever speaking about fracking or the Marcellus Shale. But one element of the gag order was all new. The Hallowichs’ two young children, ages 7 and 10, would be subject to the same restrictions, banned from speaking about their family’s experience for the rest of their lives.

The Hallowich family’s gag order is only the most extreme example of a tactic that critics say effectively silences anyone hurt by fracking. It’s a choice between receiving compensation for damage done to one’s health and property, or publicizing the abuses that caused the harm. Virtually no one can forgo compensation, so their stories go untold.

Bruce Baizel, Energy Program Director at Earthworks, an environmental group focusing on mineral and energy development, said in a phone interview that the companies’ motives are clear. “The refrain in the industry is, this is a safe process. There’s no record of contamination. That whole claim would be undermined if these things were public.” There have been attempts to measure the number of settlements with non-disclosure agreements, Baizel said, but to no avail. “They don’t have to be registered, they don’t have to be filed. It’s kind of a black hole.”

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It’s not the only time gas exploration companies have gone to great lengths to keep the health problems caused by fracking under wraps. A 2012 Pennsylvania law requires companies to tell doctors the chemical contents of fracking fluids, so long as doctors don’t reveal that information, even to patients they are treating for fracking-related illness.

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Wary of the bad press for putting a lifetime gag order on two minors, Pizzarella told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that “we don’t believe the [Hallowich] settlement applies to children.” This, despite ready availability of the settlement transcript, in which the company’s lawyer states “I guess our position is it does apply to the whole family. We would certainly enforce it.”

Vallari, the Hallowichs’ attorney, doesn’t buy Pizzarella’s retraction via press. “Their lawyers insisted on that language, and they said they wanted it enforced,” he said when reached by phone. “Until they write me a letter or sign a stipulation saying [it doesn't apply to the children], I don’t believe it.” Pizzarella did not respond to requests for interview.

Wilson, the organizer, said that even beyond making political action more difficult, gag orders are causing people direct harm. “When you get a settlement and get gagged, you can’t warn your neighbors,” she said. “Then your neighbors drink the very same water, and have health issues that are probably permanent.”

Climate change may increase violence, study shows

http://www.cnn.com/2013/08/01/us/climate-change-violence/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

By Elizabeth Landau, CNN
updated 6:41 AM EDT, Fri August 2, 2013

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When the temperature rises, so does aggression -- and that can lead to large-scale consequences, considering that climate change is turning up the heat over the entire planet.

A new study in the journal Science shows that shifts in climate historically have been associated with violent conflicts, among both individuals and groups, and that current warming patterns could significantly increase the abundance of human conflict by midcentury.

Researchers' meta-analysis of 60 studies suggest that, consistent with links between conflict and climate shifts in the past, the risk of intergroup conflict around much of the planet would be amplified by 50% in 2050.

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Studies both in laboratory settings and of "natural" human situations have found a connection between heat and violence (PDF), the study said. Higher temperatures have been linked to both innocuous hostile behaviors, such as horn-honking while driving, and more serious behaviors such as domestic violence within households, assault and rape. Police officers are also more likely to use force at higher temperatures, studies have found.

Conflict is also associated with extreme rainfall, particularly in societies dependent on agriculture. Higher rates of personal violence are found in low-income settings, where agriculture income suffers from extremely wet or dry conditions.

The Mayan civilization appears to have collapsed during long periods of drought, Hsiang said. The same global climate event seems to have brought down the Tang dynasty in China -- in fact, according to Hsiang, most Chinese dynasties collapsed during dry spells.

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Shifts in temperature and rainfall influence economic productivity and food prices, which may influence discontent and therefore riots. Climate changes can force the displacement of population, or urbanization, which may lead to clashes over resources.

There's also the mental and physical responses to rising temperatures, which need further scientific investigation. "For instance, climatic events may alter individuals' ability to reason and correctly interpret events, possibly leading to conflicts triggered by misunderstandings," the authors wrote.

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"Military, security, and intelligence analysts are now engaged with the issue, and there's a great deal of thought now being given to the long-term security implications of climate change," Homer-Dixon wrote in an e-mail. "There's very little skepticism within these circles about the reality of climate change, nor about the potential risk climate change poses to national and international security."

The scientific community agrees that human activity -- namely burning coal, oil and natural gas -- has been driving a rapid rise of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. This is analogous to turning the dial up on an electric blanket, says Jim Butler, a senior scientist at NOAA; it takes a little while to warm up, and even if we stop emitting carbon dioxide, temperatures would still rise for a decade or two.

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Fish die as Alaska temperatures continue to break records

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/02/us-usa-heatwave-alaska-idUSBRE97118020130802

By Yereth Rosen
ANCHORAGE, Alaska | Fri Aug 2, 2013

Overheated water has been blamed for large die-offs of hatchery trout and salmon stocks in at least two parts of the state as hot, dry weather has set in, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

Hundreds of grayling and rainbow trout died in June after being placed in a Fairbanks lake, the department reported. An unusually cold spring caused lake ice to linger much longer than normal, before the water quickly became too warm, department biologist April Behr said.

Surface temperatures in the lake rose to about 76 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius), she said. The precise number of dead fish was not yet known. "We picked up several hundred," she said.

A similar incident occurred in mid-July at the Crystal Lake Hatchery south of Petersburg in southeast Alaska.

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Heavy Cell Phone Use Linked to Oxidative Stress

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130729133531.htm

July 29, 2013 — Scientists have long been worried about the possible harmful effects of regular cellular phone use, but studies so far have been largely inconclusive. Currently, radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, such as those produced by cell phones, are classified as possibly carcinogenic to humans (Group 2B) by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). A new Tel Aviv University study, though, may bring bad news.

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Comparing heavy mobile phone users to non-users, they found that the saliva of heavy users showed indications of higher oxidative stress -- a process that damages all aspects of a human cell, including DNA -- through the development of toxic peroxide and free radicals. More importantly, it is considered a major risk factor for cancer.

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'Evolution Will Punish You If You're Selfish and Mean' - updated comment 8/6/2013

I long ago concluded that at least part of the reason large societies tend to disintegrate after a few hundred years is that they enable psychopaths and other takers to proliferate, because once people around them catch on to them, they can move elsewhere. But they depend for their survival on the givers, so when the takers become to large a proportion of society, it cannot survive.

8/6/2013 I realized later that my comment would probably be misunderstood by many. By the takers, I am talking most about people like the executives of drug companies who hide the results of tests that show some of their products are not effective, or are even harmful. Like the people who get ahead by sabotaging their more capable co-workers, and taking credit for others work. By the owners of companies who cheat their workers of their wages.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130801095509.htm

Aug. 1, 2013 — Two Michigan State University evolutionary biologists offer new evidence that evolution doesn't favor the selfish, disproving a theory popularized in 2012.

We found evolution will punish you if you're selfish and mean," said lead author Christoph Adami, MSU professor of microbiology and molecular genetics. "For a short time and against a specific set of opponents, some selfish organisms may come out ahead. But selfishness isn't evolutionarily sustainable."

The paper appears in the current issue of Nature Communications and focuses on game theory, which is used in biology, economics, political science and other disciplines. Much of the last 30 years of research has focused on how cooperation came to be, since it's found in many forms of life, from single-cell organisms to people.

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Salt May Spur Multiple Sclerosis, Autoimmune Disease

There are probably multiple factors working together leading to the development of these diseases. Since most people get way too much salt, it probably wouldn't hurt to try reducing salt intake to see if it would help a person with such a disease.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/780480

Pauline Anderson
Mar 08, 2013

Salt may be a missing link that might explain what's triggering the recent marked increase in the incidence of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases, new research suggests.

As the numbers of new MS cases have risen steadily over the past half century, the diet in western developed countries has included ever-increasing amounts of salt. Although no study has found a direct link between high salt intake and increased incidence of MS, an earlier study by researchers at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg suggested that excessive salt uptake can affect immune system activity.

Now, 3 new studies published online March 6 in Nature provide more evidence of a causative role for salt in MS.

"It's another reason to encourage patients to follow a healthy lifestyle, including a diet that's low in salt," said Bruce Bebo Jr, PhD, associate vice president of discovery research at the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, New York. "From a practical point of view, it's more evidence that there may be additional benefits to reducing salt in the diet."

He stressed, however, that the research is preliminary and "by no means proof" that salt is involved in MS. Numerous other environmental and genetic factors probably play a role, he said.

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Breastfeeding Duration Appears Associated With Intelligence Later in Life

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130729231601.htm

July 29, 2013 — Breastfeeding longer is associated with better receptive language at 3 years of age and verbal and nonverbal intelligence at age 7 years, according to a study published by JAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication.

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"However, the problem currently is not so much that most women do not initiate breastfeeding, it is that they do not sustain it. In the United States about 70 percent of women overall initiate breastfeeding, although only 50 percent of African American women do. However, by six months, only 35 percent and 20 percent, respectively, are still breastfeeding," Christakis continues.

"Furthermore, workplaces need to provide opportunities and spaces for mothers to use them. Fourth, breastfeeding in public should be destigmatized. Clever social media campaigns and high-quality public service announcements might help with that. As with lead, some of these actions may require legislative action either at the federal or state level. Let's allow our children's cognitive function be the force that tilts the scale, and let's get on with it," Christakis concludes.

Exercise May Be the Best Medicine for Alzheimer's Disease

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130730123249.htm

July 30, 2013 — New research out of the University of Maryland School of Public Health shows that exercise may improve cognitive function in those at risk for Alzheimer's by improving the efficiency of brain activity associated with memory. Memory loss leading to Alzheimer's disease is one of the greatest fears among older Americans. While some memory loss is normal and to be expected as we age, a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment, or MCI, signals more substantial memory loss and a greater risk for Alzheimer's, for which there currently is no cure.

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The good news is that these results were achieved with a dose of exercise consistent with the physical activity recommendations for older adults. These guidelines urge moderate intensity exercise (activity that increases your heart rate and makes you sweat, but isn't so strenuous that you can't hold a conversation while doing it) on most days for a weekly total of 150 minutes.

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Sensitive Parenting Can Boost Premature Children's School Performance

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130731104140.htm

July 31, 2013 — Sensitive parenting helps protect against the negative effects of being born prematurely on children's school success, a new study has found.

Children born prematurely are at risk of a variety of neurological impairments which can mean they are more likely to need special educational support when they reach school age.

But a new study led by the University of Warwick shows that parents of very preterm and very low birthweight (VP/VLBW) children can increase their child's academic achievement through sensitive and cognitively stimulating parenting.

Researchers looked at parenting styles of parents of children aged 6 to see what effect they had on those children's school success when they reached the age of 13.

The study found that highly sensitive parenting at age 6 boosted the academic performance of VP/VLBW children when they reached 13 to levels similar to full-term children. A parallel increase was not seen for full-term children.

However, the results also showed that more cognitively stimulating early home environments benefit all children's long-term school success, regardless of whether they were premature or not.

Professor Dieter Wolke of University of Warwick said: "By sensitive parenting, we mean adapting one's parenting to the individual child's behaviour and responses, while clearly remaining the more competent partner and setting age appropriate limits."

"So for example providing gentle feedback and suggesting potential solutions rather than taking over and solving the tasks for the child. [I suggest also asking gentle questions which lead children to figure out the solution for themselves.]

"Cognitively stimulating parenting is where parents include activities designed to get children thinking such as reading to them or doing puzzles together.

"We found that both these styles of parenting have a positive effect in increasing school performance, with sensitive parenting particularly effective at closing the gap in achievement between preterm and low birth-weight children and their full-term counterparts."

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Extreme Wildfires in Western U.S. Likely Fueled by Climate Change

Not surprising, but it is helpful to be reminded that we all need to put some effort into not being wasteful. Eg., turning off your computer at the end of the day takes negligible effort, and is something you can do to help.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130801113148.htm

Aug. 1, 2013 — Climate change is likely fueling the larger and more destructive wildfires that are scorching vast areas of the American West, according to new research led by Michigan State University scientists.

These erratic fires are harder to contain and often result in catastrophic damage and loss of property and life. Although not analyzed in the study, the recent Arizona wildfire that began with a lightning strike and killed 19 firefighters appeared to be such an unpredictable, fast-spreading blaze, according to a state report.

The MSU-led study, which appears in the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, predicts the trend will continue in the western United States.

"Our findings suggest that future lower atmospheric conditions may favor larger and more extreme wildfires, posing an additional challenge to fire and forest management," said Lifeng Luo, MSU assistant professor of geography and lead author on the study.

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Climate Change Occurring Ten Times Faster Than at Any Time in Past 65 Million Years

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/08/130801142420.htm

Aug. 1, 2013 — The planet is undergoing one of the largest changes in climate since the dinosaurs went extinct. But what might be even more troubling for humans, plants and animals is the speed of the change. Stanford climate scientists warn that the likely rate of change over the next century will be at least 10 times quicker than any climate shift in the past 65 million years.

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Although some of the changes the planet will experience in the next few decades are already "baked into the system," how different the climate looks at the end of the 21st century will depend largely on how humans respond.

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"There are two key differences for ecosystems in the coming decades compared with the geologic past," Diffenbaugh said. "One is the rapid pace of modern climate change. The other is that today there are multiple human stressors that were not present 55 million years ago, such as urbanization and air and water pollution."

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For example, the researchers note that, with continued emissions of greenhouse gases at the high end of the scenarios, annual temperatures over North America, Europe and East Asia will increase 2-4 degrees C by 2046-2065. With that amount of warming, the hottest summer of the last 20 years is expected to occur every other year, or even more frequently.

By the end of the century, should the current emissions of greenhouse gases remain unchecked, temperatures over the northern hemisphere will tip 5-6 degrees C warmer than today's averages. In this case, the hottest summer of the last 20 years becomes the new annual norm.

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Some climate changes will be unavoidable, because humans have already emitted greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, and the atmosphere and oceans have already been heated.

"There is already some inertia in place," Diffenbaugh said. "If every new power plant or factory in the world produced zero emissions, we'd still see impact from the existing infrastructure, and from gases already released."

The more dramatic changes that could occur by the end of the century, however, are not written in stone. There are many human variables at play that could slow the pace and magnitude of change -- or accelerate it.

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