CLEARFIELD -- There is more to life in the automotive technician industry than meets the eye.
That's what Ed Schirner has been trying to teach his students for the past 10 years at Clearfield High School.
During an educational trip to Torrance, Calif., in February, a small group of automotive technology students will get to experience what Schirner professes.
Students from 24 high schools will tour Toyota's auto museum and American headquarters, as well as the headquarters of American Honda and Edelbrock Motors. They also have tickets to attend a professional National Hot Rod Association drag race.
"This kind of gets the kids thinking outside the box of automotive technology," Schirner said. "They get to see there is a design world and an advertising world."
Most people, he said, think the only option for automotive technology students is to become a mechanic at a garage or car dealership.
The trip is part of Weber State University's annual Auto Tech Competition. Nearly 70 high schools began competing in December, beginning with a written portion of the contest. The top 24 schools were invited to return to campus for the hands-on competition Feb. 16.
As a bonus, students from those 24 schools are invited to accompany WSU instructors Feb. 8 for the competition's annual California trip. The high school students have to pay their own way, but Schirner said the trip is worth the money.
Chris Bingham, student body president and an automotive technology student at Clearfield High, has been looking forward to this trip for the past two years.
"We'll get to learn a lot about what (the corporations) have to offer and which direction I might want to go, as far as working in a corporate atmosphere," said Bingham, 18, a senior from Syracuse.
Bingham said he spent the summer earning money for the trip by working for his father, Sterling Bingham, who owns Sterling Quality Tires & Service in Clinton.
"I like what he does and how he's a business owner, but I want to do something a little different," Chris Bingham said.
Schirner also said the trip serves as a recruiting trip for WSU, the school where Schirner said he sends more automotive technology students than any other school.
"Because Weber State puts this on for them, the high school students get to mingle with instructors from WSU," Schirner said.
"They can talk to those instructors and get to know them and have a rapport with them."
While the trip serves a recruiting purpose for WSU, the time touring the corporations is also educational for the students.
"The students have an excellent time, and they come back with a whole different picture of what the automotive industry has to offer them," Schirner said. "I've never heard a student complain about it."
MILAN, Italy ? Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, a past president of Italy who held the post during the sweeping corruption scandal of the early 1990s that reshaped the country's post-war political landscape, died Sunday in Rome. He was 93.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano paid tribute to his predecessor as "a protagonist in the democratic political life" and an example of "moral integrity."
"As president of the republic, he firmly and steadfastly confronted one of the most difficult periods of our history," Napolitano said in a statement.
Pope Benedict XVI remembered Scalfaro as "a distinguished" Catholic man of state, who "helped to promote the common good and the perennial ethical and religious values."
Scalfaro was a key figure in postwar Italian politics, helping to write the constitution and to found the former Christian Democrats. He held numerous prominent government posts before becoming Italy's ninth post-war president, a position that is largely ceremonial but carries the significant role of moral compass for the country.
As president from 1992-1999, Scalfaro was often called upon to resolve Italy's recurrent political crises, either choosing a new premier or calling early elections. He once called Italy's volatile political situation "pathological."
The "Clean Hands" investigations launched in the early 1990s uncovered a broad system of bribes that wiped out much of Italy's political class, including key members of the conservative Christian Democrats and the center-left Social Democrats. The scandals deeply eroded Italians' trust in politicians and led to the demise of the two parties that had formed the pillars of post-war Italian politics.
Premier Mario Monti said Scalfaro "consistently defended the values" enshrined in the constitution "bearing witness with his actions and his rigor to all Italians, in particular the young."
A devout Roman Catholic with a law degree from the Catholic University of Milan, Scalfaro spent the World War II years working to help imprisoned anti-Fascists and their families.
Then, in 1946, he won a seat in the assembly that wrote the constitution for the Italian Republic, declared in late 1947 after a popular referendum abolished the monarchy.
Scalfaro, a native of the northern city of Novara, was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in the Italian republic's first general election in 1948 and remained a deputy until he was elected president in 1992.
Scalfaro held junior posts at various ministries through the 1950s and early 1960s. In 1966, he gained his first Cabinet position when Premier Aldo Moro appointed him transportation minister.
In subsequent governments, Scalfaro served two more stints as transport minister and was education minister and interior minister. He was vice president of the Chamber of Deputies from 1976 to 1983.
He became a senator for life after completing his term as president.
He is survived by a daughter, Marianna. A funeral is set for Monday afternoon in Rome.
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stocks edged lower on Monday on stalled Greek debt talks, but an afternoon rally cut losses in a sign of the underlying resilience the market has shown early in the year.
Major indexes had fallen more than 1 percent as negotiations between the Greek government and private bondholders over the restructuring of 200 billion euros of debt failed to reach an agreement before the start of a summit of European leaders.
But by the afternoon those losses were cut sharply. Optimism that the U.S. markets can shrug off Europe's troubles has fueled gains in 2012, with the S&P 500 up 4.7 percent this month. Money managers, some of whom missed the upward move, appear willing to buy on intraday declines.
"The action that we've seen today is very similar to what we've seen throughout most of the year so far," said Ryan Larson, head of equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management in Chicago. "We see the resilience showing in U.S. markets and I think that's a theme that we've seen throughout 2012."
"The U.S. appears to be slowly, slowly in the early stages of a decoupling from the euro zone," he said.
Financial shares were hurt the most by developments in Europe. The sector (.GSPF) lost 1 percent, the biggest drag on the S&P 500. Bank of America (BAC.N) fell 3 percent to $7.06.
Material, technology and telecoms stocks led the turnaround after the close of European markets. The S&P 500 materials sector (.GSPM), which is up over 11 percent already this year, finished barely lower on Monday.
But volume was low at just 6.2 billion shares on the NYSE, Amex, and Nasdaq. That indicated participation was light and likely amplified market movements. The 200-day moving average for volume at those venues is 7.8 billion.
Peter Lee, chief technical strategist at UBS Wealth Management, said many of his clients, who include some big institutional investors, are still cautious after the S&P 500 has climbed over 22 percent from lows in October.
"Some buyers are supporting this market, and we think it may be short-covering," he said. "It gives the market the illusion it is strong."
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dropped 6.74 points, or 0.05 percent, to 12,653.72. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) lost 3.31 points, or 0.25 percent, to 1,313.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) fell 4.61 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,811.94.
European stock markets were down over 1 percent. The FTSEurofirst 300 (.FTEU3), a measure of Europe's biggest companies, fell 1 percent.
Even though the euro zone crisis drags on, the S&P 500 was on track for its best month since October, helped by stronger U.S. economic data and a easing of conditions in Europe's financial system following backing from global central banks.
Technical analysts will take comfort from the fact that the S&P 500 held above the psychologically important 1,300 level after crossing it for the first time in six months earlier in January. The bounce off the level on Monday was to a tee.
Germany sought to tone down reports it was pushing for Greece to give up control over its budget policy to European institutions. Greece was unlikely to accept that scenario, presenting yet another obstacle to a second bailout package for Athens.
Apple (AAPL.O) shares helped cap losses on the Nasdaq after Morgan Stanley said the iPhone maker could add China Telecom (0728.HK) and China Mobile (0941.HK) as distributors over the next year. Apple rose 1.3 percent to $453.01.
Swiss engineering group ABB (ABBN.VX) agreed to buy U.S. electrical components maker Thomas & Betts Corp (TNB.N) for $3.9 billion in cash, sending shares of the company up 23.1 percent to $71.31.
Consumer spending, the main pillar of the U.S. economy, was flat in December as households added to savings after the largest rise in income in nine months. Although the data pointed to a slow start for spending in 2012, economists were cautiously optimistic that an improving labor market will support demand.
Chris Cordaro, chief investment officer at RegentAtlantic Capital, a wealth management firm in Morristown, New Jersey, believes equities will finish sharply higher this year as Europe's problems are resolved and investors buy into stock valuations that were beaten down through much of last year.
"We could definitely end the year much higher on equities," he said. "We have been favoring equities in our portfolio. We have just increased our exposure to emerging markets."
A single entrepreneur alone is vulnerable to shortsightedness, to fatigue. But with a team comes diverse perspective, encouragement, and the wherewithal to push through problems. That's why a group of Stanford computer science and business students started the Andreessen Horowitz-backed Founder Soup program. It's designed to give entrepreneurs with an idea or a fledgling company a chance to pitch, not to raise funding but to recruit co-founders. At its first full-scale event on Thursday night I saw an effective model for fostering startups, and several brilliant ideas in health tech and energy (reviewed here) that could turn into successful companies.
NEW YORK ? Twitter, a tool of choice for dissidents and activists around the world, found itself the target of global outrage Friday after unveiling plans to allow country-specific censorship of tweets that might break local laws.
It was a stunning role reversal for a youthful company that prides itself in promoting unfettered expression, 140 characters at a time. Twitter insisted its commitment to free speech remains firm, and sought to explain the nuances of its policy, while critics ? in a barrage of tweets ? proposed a Twitter boycott and demanded that the censorship initiative be scrapped.
"This is very bad news," tweeted Egyptian activist Mahmoud Salem, who operates under the name "Sandmonkey," Later, he wrote, "Is it safe to say that (hash)Twitter is selling us out?"
In China, where activists have embraced Twitter even though it's blocked inside the country, artist and activist Ai Weiwei tweeted in response to the news: "If Twitter censors, I'll stop tweeting."
One often-relayed tweet bore the headline of a Forbes magazine technology blog item: "Twitter Commits Social Suicide"
San Francisco-based Twitter, founded in 2006, depicted the new system as a step forward. Previously, when Twitter erased a tweet, it vanished throughout the world. Under the new policy, a tweet breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.
Twitter said it will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed, and will post the removal requests it receives from governments, companies and individuals at the website chillingeffects.org.
The critics are jumping to the wrong conclusions, said Alexander Macgilliviray, Twitter's general counsel.
"This is a good thing for freedom of expression, transparency and accountability," he said. "This launch is about us keeping content up whenever we can and to be extremely transparent with the world when we don't. I would hope people realize our philosophy hasn't changed."
Some defenders of Internet free expression came to Twitter's defense.
"Twitter is being pilloried for being honest about something that all Internet platforms have to wrestle with," said Cindy Cohn, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "As long as this censorship happens in a secret way, we're all losers."
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland credited Twitter with being upfront about the potential for censorship and said some other companies are not as forthright.
As for whether the new policy would be harmful, Nuland said that wouldn't be known until after it's implemented.
Reporters Without Borders, which advocates globally for press freedom, sent a letter to Twitter's executive chairman, Jack Dorsey, urging that the censorship policy be ditched immediately.
"By finally choosing to align itself with the censors, Twitter is depriving cyberdissidents in repressive countries of a crucial tool for information and organization," the letter said. "Twitter's position that freedom of expression is interpreted differently from country to country is unacceptable."
Reporters Without Borders noted that Twitter was earning praise from free-speech advocates a year ago for enabling Egyptian dissidents to continue tweeting after the Internet was disconnected.
"We are very disappointed by this U-turn now," it said.
Twitter said it has no plans to remove tweets unless it receives a request from government officials, companies or another outside party that believes the message is illegal. No message will be removed until an internal review determines there is a legal problem, according to Macgilliviray.
"It's a thing of last resort," he said. "The first thing we do is we try to make sure content doesn't get withheld anywhere. But if we feel like we have to withhold it, then we are transparent and we will withhold it narrowly."
Macgilliviray said the new policy has nothing to do with a recent $300 million investment by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Mac or any other financial contribution.
In its brief existence, Twitter has established itself as one of the world's most powerful megaphones. Streams of tweets have played pivotal roles in political protests throughout the world, including the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States and the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia and Syria.
Indeed, many of the tweets calling for a boycott of Twitter on Saturday ? using the hashtag (hash)TwitterBlackout ? came from the Middle East.
"This decision is really worrying," said Larbi Hilali, a pro-democracy blogger and tweeter from Morocco. "If it is applied, there will be a Twitter for democratic countries and a Twitter for the others."
In Cuba, opposition blogger Yoani Sanchez said she would launch a personal Twitter boycott of unspecified length.
"Twitter will remove messages at the request of governments," she tweeted. "It is we citizens who will end up losing with these new rules..."
In the wake of the announcement, cyberspace was abuzz with suggestions for how any future country-specific censorship could be circumvented. Some Twitter users said this could be done by employing tips from Twitter's own help center to alter one's "Country" setting. Other Twitter users were skeptical that this would work.
While Twitter has embraced its role as a catalyst for free speech, it also wants to expand its audience from about 100 million active users now to more than 1 billion. Doing so may require it to engage with more governments and possibly to face more pressure to censor tweets; if it defies a law in a country where it has employees, those people could be arrested.
Theoretically, such arrests could occur even in democracies ? for example, if a tweet violated Britain's strict libel laws or the prohibitions in France and Germany against certain pro-Nazi expressions.
"It's a tough problem that a company faces once they branch out beyond one set of offices in California into that big bad world out there," said Rebecca MacKinnon of Global Voices Online, an international network of bloggers and citizen journalists. "We'll have to see how it plays out ? how it is and isn't used."
MacKinnon said some other major social networks already employ geo-filtering along the lines of Twitter's new policy ? blocking content in a specific jurisdiction for legal reasons while making it available elsewhere.
Many of the critics assailing the new policy suggested that it was devised as part of a long-term plan for Twitter to enter China, where its service is currently blocked.
China's Communist Party remains highly sensitive to any organized challenge to its rule and responded sharply to the Arab Spring, cracking down last year after calls for a "Jasmine Revolution" in China. Many Chinese nonetheless find ways around the so-called Great Firewall that has blocked social networking sites such as Facebook.
Google for several years agreed to censor its search results in China to gain better access to the country's vast population, but stopped that practice two years after engaging in a high-profile showdown with Chain's government. Google now routes its Chinese search results through Hong Kong, where the censorship rules are less restrictive.
Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt declined to comment on Twitter's action and instead limited his comments to his own company.
"I can assure you we will apply our universally tough principles against censorship on all Google products," he told reporters in Davos, Switzerland.
Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, said it was a matter of trying to adhere to different local laws.
"I think what they (Twitter officials) are wrestling with is what all of us wrestle with ? and everyone wants to focus on China, but it is actually a global issue ? which is laws in these different countries vary," Drummond said.
"Americans tend to think copyright is a real bad problem, so we have to regulate that on the Internet. In France and Germany, they care about Nazis' issues and so forth," he added. "In China, there are other issues that we call censorship. And so how you respect all the laws or follow all the laws to the extent you think they should be followed while still allowing people to get the content elsewhere?"
Craig Newman, a New York lawyer and former journalist who has advised Internet companies on censorship issues, said Twitter's new policy and the subsequent backlash are both understandable, given the difficult ethical issues at stake.
On one hand, he said, Twitter could put its employees in peril if it was deemed to be breaking local laws.
"On the other hand, Twitter has become this huge social force and people view it as some sort of digital town square, where people can say whatever they want," he said. "Twitter could have taken a stand and refused to enter any countries with the most restrictive laws against free speech."
___
Associated Press writers Paul Schemm in Rabat, Morocco, Michael Liedtke in San Francisco, Peter Orsi in Havana, Cuba, Cara Anna in New York and Ben Hubbard in Cairo contributed to this story.
BANGOR, Maine ? Presidential hopeful Ron Paul wants other Republicans to know that he and his supporters plan to hang around for a while longer.
The Texas congressman is on a two-day campaign swing through Maine, which holds caucuses starting Feb. 4.
Paul addressed a packed town hall meeting in Bangor on Friday and said he was braving the snowy weather to pick up delegates.
He is skipping Tuesday's presidential primary in Florida to focus on caucus states like Maine. Such states helped Barack Obama accumulate enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination in 2008.
Maine will award 24 delegates this year, compared to 12 four years ago.
Paul placed a weak fourth in South Carolina's primary last Saturday.
LONDON ? The British judge presiding over a wide-ranging inquiry into media ethics and practices has suggested that social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter should be seen differently than traditional publishers.
Lord Justice Brian Leveson said Thursday that there was a distinction between what he described as "pub chatter" between friends on such sites and organizations which publish material for public consumption.
Leveson's inquiry was set up in the wake of Britain's phone hacking scandal and has the power to recommend far-reaching changes to the way the country's media are regulated.
The judge also is considering whether nontraditional forms of media, such as blogs, should be submitted to any eventual new rules.
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. ? Joe Paterno's doctors said Saturday that the former Penn State coach's condition had become "serious," following complications from lung cancer in recent days.
The winningest major college football coach, Paterno was diagnosed shortly after Penn State's Board of Trustees ousted him Nov. 9 in the aftermath of the child sex abuse charges against former assistant Jerry Sandusky. While undergoing treatment, his health problems worsened when he broke his pelvis ? the same injury he sustained during preseason practice last year.
"Over the last few days Joe Paterno has experienced further health complications," family spokesman Dan McGinn said in a brief statement to The Associated Press. "His doctors have now characterized his status as serious. His family will have no comment on the situation and asks that their privacy be respected during this difficult time."
Paterno's sons Scott and Jay each took to Twitter on Saturday night to refute reports that their father had died.
Wrote Jay Paterno: "I appreciate the support & prayers. Joe is continuing to fight."
Quoting individuals close to the family, The Washington Post reported on its website that Paterno remained connected to a ventilator, but had communicated his wishes not to be kept alive through any extreme artificial means. The paper said his family was weighing whether to take him off the ventilator on Sunday.
The 85-year-old Paterno has been in the hospital since Jan. 13 for observation for what his family called minor complications from his cancer treatments. Not long before that, he conducted his only interview since losing his job, with the Post. Paterno was described as frail and wearing a wig. The second half of the two-day interview was conducted from his bedside.
Roughly 200 students and townspeople gathered Saturday night at a statue of Paterno just outside a gate at Beaver Stadium. Some brought candles, while others held up their smart phones to take photos of the scene. The mood was somber, with no chanting or shouting.
"Drove by students at the Joe statue," Jay Paterno tweeted. "Just told my Dad about all the love & support--inspiring him."
Penn State student David Marselles held a candle in his right hand and posed next to a life-sized cardboard cutout of Paterno that he keeps at his apartment. A friend took a photo on the frigid night.
"I came to Penn State because of Joe Paterno. Since I was a little kid, I've been watching the games ... screaming `We Are ... Penn State' because of him. ... He inspired me to go to college," Marselles said. "With such a tragic event like this, I just thought it was necessary to show my support."
The final days of Paterno's Penn State career were easily the toughest in his 61 years with the university and 46 seasons as head football coach.
Sandusky, a longtime defensive coordinator who was on Paterno's staff during two national title seasons, was arrested Nov. 5 and ultimately charged with sexually abusing a total of 10 boys over 15 years. His arrest sparked outrage not just locally but across the nation and there were widespread calls for Paterno to quit.
Paterno announced late on Nov. 9 that he would retire at the end of the season, but hours later he received a call from board vice chairman John Surma, telling him he had been terminated. By that point, a crowd of students and media were outside the Paterno home. When news spread that Paterno had been dumped, there was rioting in State College.
Police on Saturday evening barricaded the block where Paterno lives, and a police car was stationed about 50 yards from his home. Several people had gathered in the living room of the house. No one was outside, other than reporters and photographers.
Trustees said this week they pushed Paterno out in part because he failed a moral responsibility to report an allegation made in 2002 against Sandusky to authorities outside the university. They also felt he had challenged their authority and that, as a practical matter, with all the media in town and attention to the Sandusky case, he could no longer run the team.
Paterno testified before the grand jury investigating Sandusky that he had relayed to his bosses an accusation that came from graduate assistant Mike McQueary, who said he saw Sandusky abusing a boy in the showers of the Penn State football building.
Paterno told the Post that he didn't know how to handle the charge, but a day after McQueary visited him, he spoke to the athletic director and the administrator with oversight over the campus police.
Wick Sollers, Paterno's lawyer, called the board's comments this week self-serving and unsupported by the facts. Paterno fully reported what he knew to the people responsible for campus investigations, Sollers said.
"He did what he thought was right with the information he had at the time," Sollers said.
Sandusky says he is innocent and is out on bail, awaiting trial.
The back and forth between Paterno's representative and the board reflects a trend in recent weeks, during which Penn State alumni ? and especially former players, including Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris ? have questioned the trustees' actions and accused them of failing to give Paterno a chance to defend himself.
Three town halls, in Pittsburgh, suburban Philadelphia and New York City, seemed to do little to calm the situation and dozens of candidates have now expressed interest in running for the board, a volunteer position that typically attracts much less interest.
While everyone involved has said the focus should be on Sandusky's accusers and their ordeals, the abuse scandal brought a tarnished ending to Paterno's sterling career. Paterno won 409 games and took the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and those two national championships, the last in the 1986 season. More than 250 of the players he coached went on to the NFL.
Throughout his coaching years, Paterno maintained that, yes, winning was important, but even more important was winning with honor.
Portuguese science scores high with American funderPublic release date: 24-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ana Godinho agodinho@igc.gulbenkian.pt 351-214-407-959 Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia
5 scientists working in Portugal considered 'world class' by prominent Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Five of the 28 scientists considered "people who, 10 years from now () will be the scientific leaders in their countries", by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, are working in Portugal. The four Portuguese and one American researchers are based at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Cincia (IGC), the Instituto de Tecnologia Qumica e Biolgica (ITQB), the Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM) and the Champalimaud Foundation (Neuroscience Programme).
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is one of the major philanthropies in the world, well-known for its central role in advancing research in such important areas of human health as cancer, AIDS research, heart disease and diabetes. Under the banner 'people, not projects', HHMI supports approximately 330 researchers, including 13 Nobel Prize winners and 147 members of the National Academy of Sciences.
HHMI's newest awardees were chosen from 760 candidates, from 18 countries. Each researcher secures USD650,000 in funding (just over Euro513,000), over a five-year period, to carry out research in such diverse areas as neuroscience, parasitology, ageing and bacterial communication. All have trained in the United States, have been leaders of independent research group for less than seven years (thus being considered 'early career scientists'), have made significant contributions to their fields of research and proposed ambitious and high-impact research programmes in this competition.
Of the twelve countries hosting awardees, Portugal ranks second in terms of number of scientists, ex-aequo with Spain; China is the country with the largest number of awardees (seven). The scientists working in Portugal speak as one in underscoring the resounding success of the 'Portuguese' applications: "For a relatively small scientific community, such as the one in this country, to have five out of 28 awardees is a clear signal of the standing of scientists working in Portugal. Furthermore, it is revealing of our research centres' capacity to compete in the international playing field. It is increasingly evident that it is possible to carry out world-class research in Portugal". The group stresses the need to strengthen ongoing investment in science and technology, in order to maximize the country's competitiveness and sustained development.
Karina Xavier and Miguel Godinho Ferreira have been at the IGC since 2006. Karina is also a researcher at neighbouring ITQB. For a few years they shared an office, but they work in very different fields of research. Karina studies the mechanisms whereby bacteria communicate with other bacteria, either of the same or different species. She hopes to control communication between bacteria that make up the gut flora, so as to manipulate its composition and make the most of its protective properties against infection, inflammation and nutritional imbalances.
Miguel's research goals lie in understanding the mechanisms that underlie the ageing process. Using the zebrafish as a model organism, he plans to target the processes that regulate ageing at the cellular level, thus reducing the incidence of age-related diseases, such as cancer. Miguel is particularly interested in unraveling how the shortening of telomeres (protective structures on the tips of chromosomes) contributes to ageing and cancer.
Lusa Figueiredo, at the Institute for Molecular Medicine, has long been interested in how Trypanosoma brucei, the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness, evades the immune system of animals and humans it infects. Researchers know that the parasite does this by rapidly changing the coat of proteins it displays on its surface. Luisa is now identifying the molecular processes involved in this process, with surprising results.
Rui Costa and Megan Carey are both at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, and both are interested in analysing brain circuits that control behaviour: how they are set up, how they work at the cellular level, and how it all comes together in the very complex brain, to control movement, learning, memory and actions (both learned and prewired).
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Portuguese science scores high with American funderPublic release date: 24-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ana Godinho agodinho@igc.gulbenkian.pt 351-214-407-959 Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia
5 scientists working in Portugal considered 'world class' by prominent Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Five of the 28 scientists considered "people who, 10 years from now () will be the scientific leaders in their countries", by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, are working in Portugal. The four Portuguese and one American researchers are based at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Cincia (IGC), the Instituto de Tecnologia Qumica e Biolgica (ITQB), the Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM) and the Champalimaud Foundation (Neuroscience Programme).
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is one of the major philanthropies in the world, well-known for its central role in advancing research in such important areas of human health as cancer, AIDS research, heart disease and diabetes. Under the banner 'people, not projects', HHMI supports approximately 330 researchers, including 13 Nobel Prize winners and 147 members of the National Academy of Sciences.
HHMI's newest awardees were chosen from 760 candidates, from 18 countries. Each researcher secures USD650,000 in funding (just over Euro513,000), over a five-year period, to carry out research in such diverse areas as neuroscience, parasitology, ageing and bacterial communication. All have trained in the United States, have been leaders of independent research group for less than seven years (thus being considered 'early career scientists'), have made significant contributions to their fields of research and proposed ambitious and high-impact research programmes in this competition.
Of the twelve countries hosting awardees, Portugal ranks second in terms of number of scientists, ex-aequo with Spain; China is the country with the largest number of awardees (seven). The scientists working in Portugal speak as one in underscoring the resounding success of the 'Portuguese' applications: "For a relatively small scientific community, such as the one in this country, to have five out of 28 awardees is a clear signal of the standing of scientists working in Portugal. Furthermore, it is revealing of our research centres' capacity to compete in the international playing field. It is increasingly evident that it is possible to carry out world-class research in Portugal". The group stresses the need to strengthen ongoing investment in science and technology, in order to maximize the country's competitiveness and sustained development.
Karina Xavier and Miguel Godinho Ferreira have been at the IGC since 2006. Karina is also a researcher at neighbouring ITQB. For a few years they shared an office, but they work in very different fields of research. Karina studies the mechanisms whereby bacteria communicate with other bacteria, either of the same or different species. She hopes to control communication between bacteria that make up the gut flora, so as to manipulate its composition and make the most of its protective properties against infection, inflammation and nutritional imbalances.
Miguel's research goals lie in understanding the mechanisms that underlie the ageing process. Using the zebrafish as a model organism, he plans to target the processes that regulate ageing at the cellular level, thus reducing the incidence of age-related diseases, such as cancer. Miguel is particularly interested in unraveling how the shortening of telomeres (protective structures on the tips of chromosomes) contributes to ageing and cancer.
Lusa Figueiredo, at the Institute for Molecular Medicine, has long been interested in how Trypanosoma brucei, the parasite that causes African sleeping sickness, evades the immune system of animals and humans it infects. Researchers know that the parasite does this by rapidly changing the coat of proteins it displays on its surface. Luisa is now identifying the molecular processes involved in this process, with surprising results.
Rui Costa and Megan Carey are both at the Champalimaud Centre for the Unknown, and both are interested in analysing brain circuits that control behaviour: how they are set up, how they work at the cellular level, and how it all comes together in the very complex brain, to control movement, learning, memory and actions (both learned and prewired).
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Quitting smoking is never easy. However, when you're poor and uneducated, kicking the habit for good is doubly hard, according to a new study by a tobacco dependence researcher at The City College of New York (CCNY).
Christine Sheffer, associate medical professor at CCNY's Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, tracked smokers from different socioeconomic backgrounds after they had completed a statewide smoking cessation program in Arkansas.
Whether rich or poor, participants managed to quit at about the same rate upon completing a program of cognitive behavioral therapy, either with or without nicotine patches. But as time went on, a disparity between the groups appeared and widened.
Those with the fewest social and financial resources had the hardest time staving off cravings over the long run. "The poorer they are, the worse it gets," said Professor Sheffer, who directed the program and was an assistant professor with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences at the time.
She found that smokers on the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder were 55 percent more likely than those at the upper end to start smoking again three months after treatment. By six months post-quitting, the probability of their going back to cigarettes jumped to two-and-a-half times that of the more affluent smokers. The research will be published in the March 2012 issue of the American Journal of Public Health and will appear ahead-of-print online under the journal's "First Look" section.
In their study, Professor Sheffer and her colleagues noted that overall, Americans with household incomes of $15,000 or less smoke at nearly three times the rate of those with incomes of $50,000 or greater. The consequences are bleak. "Smoking is still the greatest cause of preventable death and disease in the United States today," noted Professor Sheffer. "And it's a growing problem in developing countries."
Harder to Stay Away
Professor Sheffer suggested reasons it may be harder for some to give up tobacco forever.
Smoking relieves stress for those fighting nicotine addiction, so it is life's difficulties that often make them reach for the cigarette pack again. Unfortunately, those on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale suffer more hardships than those at the top ? in the form of financial difficulties, discrimination, and job insecurity, to name a few. And for those smokers who started as teenagers, they may have never learned other ways to manage stress, said Professor Sheffer.
For people with lower socioeconomic status (SES), it can be tougher to avoid temptation as well. "Lower SES groups, with lower paying jobs, aren't as protected by smoke-free laws," said Sheffer, so individuals who have quit can find themselves back at work and surrounded by smokers. Also fewer of them have no-smoking policies in their homes.
These factors are rarely addressed in standard treatment programs. "The evidence-based treatments that are around have been developed for middle-class patients," Professor Sheffer pointed out. "So (in therapy) we talk about middle-class problems."
Further research would help determine how the standard six sessions of therapy might be altered or augmented to help. "Our next plan is to take the results of this and other studies and apply what we learned to revise the approach, in order to better meet the needs of poor folks," she said. "Maybe there is a better arrangement, like giving 'booster sessions'. Not everybody can predict in six weeks all the stresses they will have later on down the road."
"Some people say [quitting] is the most difficult thing in their life to do," said Sheffer. "If we better prepare people with more limited resources to manage the types of stress they have in their lives, we'd get better results. "
###
City College of New York: http://www2.ccny.cuny.edu
Thanks to City College of New York for this article.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona announced Sunday she intends to resign from Congress this week to concentrate on recovering from wounds suffered in an assassination attempt a little more than a year ago that shook the country.
"I don't remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice," the Democratic lawmaker said on a video posted without prior notice on her Facebook page.
"I'm getting better. Every day my spirit is high," she said. "I have more work to do on my recovery. So to do what's best for Arizona, I will step down this week."
Giffords was shot in the head and grievously wounded last January as she was meeting with constituents outside a supermarket in Tucson, Ariz. Her progress had seemed remarkable, to the point that she was able to walk dramatically into the House chamber last August to cast a vote.
Her shooting prompted an agonizing national debate about super-charged rhetoric in political campaigns, although the man charged in the shooting later turned out to be mentally ill.
In Washington, members of Congress were told to pay more attention to their physical security. Legislation was introduced to ban high-capacity ammunition clips, although it never advanced.
Under state law, Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer must call a special election to fill out the remainder of Giffords' term, which ends at the end of 2012.
President Barack Obama on Sunday called Giffords "the very best of what public service should be."
"Gabby's cheerful presence will be missed in Washington," Obama said. "But she will remain an inspiration to all whose lives she touched ? myself included. And I'm confident that we haven't seen the last of this extraordinary American."
Vice President Joe Biden said he had spoken with Giffords' husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, and told him "the most important thing is Gabby's recovery."
"I know that Gabby will continue to make significant contributions to her state and country, and I stand with her in whatever endeavor she decides to pursue," Biden said.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said he saluted Giffords "for her service and for the courage and perseverance she has shown in the face of tragedy. She will be missed."
In a statement, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California said that "since the tragic events one year ago, Gabby has been an inspiring symbol of determination and courage to millions of Americans."
Democratic officials had held out hope for months that the congresswoman might recover sufficiently to run for re-election or even become a candidate to replace retiring Republican Sen. Jon Kyl.
The shooting on Jan. 8, 2011, left six people dead, a federal judge and a Giffords aide among them. Twelve others were wounded.
A 23-year-old man, Jared Lee Loughner, has pleaded not guilty to 49 charges in the shooting. He has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and is being forcibly medicated at a Missouri prison facility in an effort by authorities to make him mentally ready for trial.
In the months since she was shot, Giffords, 41, has been treated in Houston as well as Arizona as she re-learned how to walk and speak.
She made a dramatic appearance on the House floor Aug. 2, when she unexpectedly walked in to vote for an increase in the debt limit. Lawmakers from both parties cheered her presence, and she was enveloped in hugs.
More recently, she participated in an observance of the anniversary of the shooting in Arizona.
In "Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope," a book released last year that she wrote with her husband, she spoke of how much she wanted to get better, regain what she lost and return to Congress.
She delivers the last chapter in her own voice, saying in a single page of short sentences and phrases that everything she does reminds her of that horrible day and that she was grateful to survive.
"I will get stronger. I will return," she wrote.
Giffords was shot in the left side of the brain, the part that controls speech and communication.
Kelly commanded the space shuttle Endeavour on its last mission in May. She watched the launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Kelly, who became a NASA astronaut in 1996 and made four trips into space aboard the space shuttle, retired in October.
This undated photo provided by Wal-Mart, shows Sam's Club President and CEO Rosalind Brewer. Brewer was named Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 as President CEO of Sam's Club _ the first woman and the first African-American to hold a CEO position at one of the company's business units. She will report to CEO Mike Duke. The moves are effective Feb. 1, 2012.(AP Photo/Wal-Mart Strores Inc.)
This undated photo provided by Wal-Mart, shows Sam's Club President and CEO Rosalind Brewer. Brewer was named Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 as President CEO of Sam's Club _ the first woman and the first African-American to hold a CEO position at one of the company's business units. She will report to CEO Mike Duke. The moves are effective Feb. 1, 2012.(AP Photo/Wal-Mart Strores Inc.)
BENTONVILLE, Ark. (AP) ? Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's biggest retailer, said Friday that it has named Rosalind Brewer as CEO of Sam's Club ? the first woman and the first African-American to hold a CEO position at one of the company's business units.
Brewer, 49, is replacing Brian Cornell, 52, who is leaving the company so he can return to the Northeast for family reasons. He had served in the role since 2009.
Brewer, who will also be president of Sam's Club, was previously president of the retailer's U.S. East business unit. She will report to CEO Mike Duke. The moves are effective Feb. 1.
Wal-Mart has in recent years has been battered by a combination of the slow-growing economy and its own decisions that caused U.S. customers to flee to competitors. But it has refocused on offering the lowest prices and shoppers' favorite goods and that strategy has been paying off. In its third fiscal quarter ended Oct. 28, its net income fell 2.9 percent but it reversed a slump in U.S. namesake business.
Its Sam's Club warehouse club business ? which accounts for about 12 percent of Wal-Mart's annual sales ? has outperformed its namesake stores. Revenue in stores open at least one year rose 5.7 percent at Sam's Club and 1.3 percent at Walmart U.S. stores in its third quarter. The measure is a key gauge of a retailer's financial health.
In its most recent fiscal year ended Jan. 31, 2011, Wal-Mart Stores operated 609 Sam's Clubs in 48 states and Puerto Rico with 47 million members.
Prior to joining Wal-Mart, Brewer held a number of executive positions at Kimberly-Clark Corp.
Wal-Mart also said Friday that it is promoting Gisel Ruiz, 41, to executive vice president and chief operating officer for its U.S. operations. Ruiz has been an executive vice president working on human relations and store innovation issues.
Wal-Mart is also promoting Rollin Ford, 49, to chief administrative officer. Ford was chief information officer. He will be replaced as CIO by Karenann Terrell, 50.
Wal-Mart shares rose 40 cents to $61.01 in afternoon trading Friday.
Multiple partners not the only way for corals to stay cool Public release date: 20-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Emily Howells em.howells@gmail.com 61-747-534-203 ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies
Recent experiments conducted at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) produced striking results, showing for the first time that corals hosting a single type of "zooxanthellae" can have different levels of thermal tolerance a feature that was only known previously for corals with a mix of zooxanthellae.
Zooxanthellae are algal cells that live within the tissue of living coral and provide the coral host with energy; the relationship is crucial for the coral's survival. Rising ocean temperatures can lead to the loss of zooxanthellae from the coral host, as a consequence the coral loses its tissue colour and its primary source of energy, a process known as 'coral bleaching'. Globally, coral bleaching has led to significant loss of coral, and with rising ocean temperatures, poses a major threat to coral reefs.
It was previously known that corals hosting more than one type of zooxanthellae could better cope with temperature changes by favouring types of zooxanthellae that have greater thermal tolerance. However, until now it was not known if corals hosting a single type of zooxanthellae could have different levels of thermal tolerance.
Results recently published in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature Climate Change, showed corals that only host a single type of zooxanthellae may in fact differ in their thermal tolerance. This finding is important because many species of coral are dominated by a single type of zooxanthellae.
PhD student, Ms Emily Howells from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) at James Cook University, Townsville, together with scientists from AIMS and CoECRS, collected two populations of a single type of zooxanthellae (known as C1) from two locations on the Great Barrier Reef. The population collected from Magnetic Island near Townsville experiences average ocean temperatures 2C higher than the population collected from the Whitsunday Islands. In experiments at AIMS, young corals were treated with one or other of the two different populations of zooxanthellae, and exposed to elevated water temperatures, as might occur during bleaching events.
The results were striking. Corals with zooxanthellae from the warmer region coped well with higher temperatures, staying healthy and growing rapidly, whilst corals with zooxanthellae from the cooler region suffered severe bleaching (loss of the zooxanthellae) and actually reduced in size as they partly died off.
Madeleine van Oppen, ARC Future Fellow at AIMS, says the research results will likely have a major impact on the field, as until now corals associating with the same type of zooxanthellae have been viewed as physiologically similar, irrespective of their geographical location.
"Our research suggests that populations of a single type of zooxanthellae have adapted to local conditions as can be seen from the remarkably different results of the two populations used in this study. If zooxanthellae populations are able to further adapt to increases in temperature at the pace at which oceans warm, they may assist corals to increase their thermal tolerance and survive into the future." says Emily Howells.
"However, we do not yet know how fast zooxanthellae can adapt, highlighting an important area of future research", says Bette Willis, Professor from the CoECRS at James Cook University.
Research at AIMS is therefore currently assessing whether zooxanthellae can continue to adapt to increasing temperatures and at what rate. This work in progress will provide insights into the capacity of zooxanthellae to adapt to future climate change.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies are proud sponsors of the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium, Cairns: 9-13 July 2012.
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Multiple partners not the only way for corals to stay cool Public release date: 20-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Emily Howells em.howells@gmail.com 61-747-534-203 ARC Centre of Excellence in Coral Reef Studies
Recent experiments conducted at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) produced striking results, showing for the first time that corals hosting a single type of "zooxanthellae" can have different levels of thermal tolerance a feature that was only known previously for corals with a mix of zooxanthellae.
Zooxanthellae are algal cells that live within the tissue of living coral and provide the coral host with energy; the relationship is crucial for the coral's survival. Rising ocean temperatures can lead to the loss of zooxanthellae from the coral host, as a consequence the coral loses its tissue colour and its primary source of energy, a process known as 'coral bleaching'. Globally, coral bleaching has led to significant loss of coral, and with rising ocean temperatures, poses a major threat to coral reefs.
It was previously known that corals hosting more than one type of zooxanthellae could better cope with temperature changes by favouring types of zooxanthellae that have greater thermal tolerance. However, until now it was not known if corals hosting a single type of zooxanthellae could have different levels of thermal tolerance.
Results recently published in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature Climate Change, showed corals that only host a single type of zooxanthellae may in fact differ in their thermal tolerance. This finding is important because many species of coral are dominated by a single type of zooxanthellae.
PhD student, Ms Emily Howells from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) at James Cook University, Townsville, together with scientists from AIMS and CoECRS, collected two populations of a single type of zooxanthellae (known as C1) from two locations on the Great Barrier Reef. The population collected from Magnetic Island near Townsville experiences average ocean temperatures 2C higher than the population collected from the Whitsunday Islands. In experiments at AIMS, young corals were treated with one or other of the two different populations of zooxanthellae, and exposed to elevated water temperatures, as might occur during bleaching events.
The results were striking. Corals with zooxanthellae from the warmer region coped well with higher temperatures, staying healthy and growing rapidly, whilst corals with zooxanthellae from the cooler region suffered severe bleaching (loss of the zooxanthellae) and actually reduced in size as they partly died off.
Madeleine van Oppen, ARC Future Fellow at AIMS, says the research results will likely have a major impact on the field, as until now corals associating with the same type of zooxanthellae have been viewed as physiologically similar, irrespective of their geographical location.
"Our research suggests that populations of a single type of zooxanthellae have adapted to local conditions as can be seen from the remarkably different results of the two populations used in this study. If zooxanthellae populations are able to further adapt to increases in temperature at the pace at which oceans warm, they may assist corals to increase their thermal tolerance and survive into the future." says Emily Howells.
"However, we do not yet know how fast zooxanthellae can adapt, highlighting an important area of future research", says Bette Willis, Professor from the CoECRS at James Cook University.
Research at AIMS is therefore currently assessing whether zooxanthellae can continue to adapt to increasing temperatures and at what rate. This work in progress will provide insights into the capacity of zooxanthellae to adapt to future climate change.
The ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies are proud sponsors of the 12th International Coral Reef Symposium, Cairns: 9-13 July 2012.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
ANTRIM, Northern Ireland (Reuters) ? A Northern Irish Catholic was found guilty on Friday of the 2009 murder of two British soldiers outside an army base, one of the worst attacks since a 1998 peace deal mostly ended three decades of sectarian violence.
The shootings were claimed by the Real IRA, a dissident group which opposes the Irish Republican Army's ending of its armed campaign against British rule.
Brian Shivers, 46, from county Londonderry, was found guilty of the killing of soldiers Patrick Azimkar, 21, and Mark Quinsey, 23. His co-accused Colin Duffy, 44, was acquitted.
Azimkar, 21, and Quinsey, 23, were shot dead outside the Massereene Barracks in Antrim as they collected a pizza just hours before they were due to fly out to Afghanistan. Four other people were seriously injured, including the pizza delivery men.
(Reporting by Ivan Little; Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Andrew Roche)
(Reuters) ? Wikipedia, the world's free online encyclopedia, went dark on Wednesday and other Internet players including Google put black censorship bars on portions of their websites in protest of pending U.S. legislation designed to curb online piracy.
The unusual protest was visible across the Internet in many forms on Wednesday, with dozens of commercial and non-profit websites either closing down for the day or urging visitors to oppose what had until recently been a relatively obscure and technical legislative proposal.
Internet companies aim to get U.S. lawmakers to back off of bills designed to shut down access to overseas websites that traffic in stolen content or counterfeit goods.
The effort has gained traction. The White House over the weekend warned that overly broad legislation could harm free speech, and on Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner acknowledged there was a lack of consensus on the bills.
Several members of Congress said the legislation appeared stalled, with some reversing earlier support for the measures.
The legislation, known as SOPA in the U.S. House of Representatives and PIPA in the Senate, has been a major priority for entertainment companies, publishers, pharmaceutical companies and many industry groups, who say it is critical to curbing online piracy that costs them billions of dollars a year.
But Internet players argue the bills would undermine innovation and free speech rights and compromise the functioning of the Internet.
"Something this big - which looks to be the largest and most prolific online protest ever in the short history of the Internet - that's bound to get the attention of lawmakers across the board," said Jeffrey Silva, an analyst at Medley Global Advisors.
Wikipedia mounted a 24-hour protest starting at midnight by converting their English page to shadowy black background and warning readers that "the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet."
It included a link to help Internet users contact their representatives.
Craigslist, the free Internet classifieds site, also went black in protest, while Google's home search page included a black bar slapped over its logo, and asked readers: "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!"
Smaller sites, such as Reddit.com and BoingBoing.net, were also dark, with BoingBoing noting that the proposed anti-piracy bills "would put us in legal jeopardy if we linked to a site anywhere online that had links to copyright infringement."
Bill Allison, editorial director at the Sunlight Foundation, a lobbying watchdog group, said the Internet companies' 24-hour boycott was an effective campaign.
"It's a way of engaging the public in something that had been a very much behind closed doors kind of business as usual in Washington thing. It's a way to get the public aware and alerted to it, and somewhat on their side," Allison said.
MOMENTUM COOLS
The bills were seemingly on track for approval by Congress, but sentiment has shifted in recent weeks and an implicit veto threat from the White House has cast doubt on whether legislation will pass.
Republican Representative Tom Price, head of the House Republican Policy Committee, said in a hallway interview, "I don't think it is going anywhere."
"There is real confusion about it, number one, but number two, there are real concerns about whether or not it would it would shutdown the ability of entrepreneurs, new businesses and the like to utilize the Internet for their purposes," Price said.
When asked about the anti-piracy legislation at a news conference on Wednesday, Boehner said lawmakers will continue to try to find support for it, but that it's not there now.
"It's pretty clear to many of us that there is a lack of consensus at this point," Boehner said.
STAYING ON THE SIDELINES
Big tech names including Facebook and Twitter declined to participate in a boycott despite their opposition to the legislation.
The companies were not prepared to sacrifice a day's worth of revenue and risk the ire of users for a protest whose impact on lawmakers would be hard to gauge.
Google's solution allows the search engine giant to keep revenue attached to its searches, while still highlighting the issue.
The protest drew some criticism ahead of its launch.
"This publicity stunt does a disservice to its users by promoting fear instead of facts," Lamar Smith, Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a sponsor of SOPA, said in a statement on Tuesday. "Perhaps during the blackout, Internet users can look elsewhere for an accurate definition of online piracy."
Former Senator Chris Dodd, who now chairs the Motion Picture Association of America, labeled the blackout a "gimmick" and called for its supporters to "stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy."
(Reporting by Sarah McBride in San Francisco and Jasmin Melvin in Washington D.C.; Additional reporting by Diane Bartz and Thomas Ferraro; Editing by Maureen Bavdek and Tim Dobbyn)
Report shows risk of blindness halved over last decadePublic release date: 19-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Professor Michael Larsen miclar01@regionh.dk 01-145-247-61188 University of Copenhagen
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most frequent cause of blindness in the Western World. A report from the University of Copenhagen and Glostrup Hospital in Denmark published today shows the number of new cases of blindness and severe visual loss in Denmark has been halved during the last ten years.
The study just published in American Journal of Ophthalmology examined the records of 11,848 new cases of legal blindness. The rate of blindness from AMD fell from 522 cases per million inhabitants aged 50 years or older in 2000, to 257 cases per million in 2010, a reduction by over 50 per cent.
The bulk of the decrease occurred after 2006, following the introduction of new effective treatment for wet AMD, which is characterised by leaking blood vessels having formed under the fovea. The treatment consists of repeated injections into the eye of a medication that inhibits the signalling molecule vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
Similar findings in Israel:
The observations from Denmark were published together with a corroborating report from Israel that found comparable changes in the incidence of legal blindness in that country. Read the report "Time Trends in the Incidence and Causes of Blindness in Israel".
Current treatment of wet AMD, also called neovascular AMD, consists of repeated injections into the vitreous, an inner compartment of the eye, of a medication designed to inhibit the action of VEGF. VEGF is a distress signal released from ailing cells of the aging retina. VEGF can cause formation of brittle blood vessels that leak blood and cause scar formation under the fovea. The fovea is central area of the retina where reading vision is located. Wet AMD is a very frequent cause of loss of reading vision.
Results show impact on public health:
One of the authors behind the Danish study, Michael Larsen, Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at the University of Copenhagen, is excited about the results.
"The massive implementation of modern wet AMD therapy has been a challenge. It is therefore very important that we can now show an impact on public health and it is wonderful to see a reduction in severe visual loss. The study did not examine moderate visual loss, but there are undoubtedly also a lot of people who avoided loosing their drivers licence and their reading vision," says Michael Larsen.
A turning point in eye care:
The data for the study is provided by Danish Association of the Blind, which membership enrolment during the period of 2000-2010 was charted and categorised by diagnoses.
"The reduction in new cases of blindness is a turning point for eyecare in Denmark. We look forward to seeing further progress in eye research, especially in the hereditary eye diseases that cause blindness in children and young adults," says Thorkild Olesen, Chairman of the Danish Association of the Blind.
###
Contact information:
Professor Michael Larsen
Mobile: 45-24-76-11-88
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Report shows risk of blindness halved over last decadePublic release date: 19-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Professor Michael Larsen miclar01@regionh.dk 01-145-247-61188 University of Copenhagen
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most frequent cause of blindness in the Western World. A report from the University of Copenhagen and Glostrup Hospital in Denmark published today shows the number of new cases of blindness and severe visual loss in Denmark has been halved during the last ten years.
The study just published in American Journal of Ophthalmology examined the records of 11,848 new cases of legal blindness. The rate of blindness from AMD fell from 522 cases per million inhabitants aged 50 years or older in 2000, to 257 cases per million in 2010, a reduction by over 50 per cent.
The bulk of the decrease occurred after 2006, following the introduction of new effective treatment for wet AMD, which is characterised by leaking blood vessels having formed under the fovea. The treatment consists of repeated injections into the eye of a medication that inhibits the signalling molecule vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
Similar findings in Israel:
The observations from Denmark were published together with a corroborating report from Israel that found comparable changes in the incidence of legal blindness in that country. Read the report "Time Trends in the Incidence and Causes of Blindness in Israel".
Current treatment of wet AMD, also called neovascular AMD, consists of repeated injections into the vitreous, an inner compartment of the eye, of a medication designed to inhibit the action of VEGF. VEGF is a distress signal released from ailing cells of the aging retina. VEGF can cause formation of brittle blood vessels that leak blood and cause scar formation under the fovea. The fovea is central area of the retina where reading vision is located. Wet AMD is a very frequent cause of loss of reading vision.
Results show impact on public health:
One of the authors behind the Danish study, Michael Larsen, Professor of Clinical Ophthalmology at the University of Copenhagen, is excited about the results.
"The massive implementation of modern wet AMD therapy has been a challenge. It is therefore very important that we can now show an impact on public health and it is wonderful to see a reduction in severe visual loss. The study did not examine moderate visual loss, but there are undoubtedly also a lot of people who avoided loosing their drivers licence and their reading vision," says Michael Larsen.
A turning point in eye care:
The data for the study is provided by Danish Association of the Blind, which membership enrolment during the period of 2000-2010 was charted and categorised by diagnoses.
"The reduction in new cases of blindness is a turning point for eyecare in Denmark. We look forward to seeing further progress in eye research, especially in the hereditary eye diseases that cause blindness in children and young adults," says Thorkild Olesen, Chairman of the Danish Association of the Blind.
###
Contact information:
Professor Michael Larsen
Mobile: 45-24-76-11-88
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
A single entrepreneur alone is vulnerable to shortsightedness, to fatigue. But with a team comes diverse perspective, encouragement, and the wherewithal to push through problems. That's why a group of Stanford computer science and business students started the Andreessen Horowitz-backed Founder Soup program. It's designed to give entrepreneurs with an idea or a fledgling company a chance to pitch, not to raise funding but to recruit co-founders. At its first full-scale event on Thursday night I saw an effective model for fostering startups, and several brilliant ideas in health tech and energy (reviewed here) that could turn into successful companies.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 24-Jan-2012
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