Belt Warns Visually Impaired about Obstacles

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The Kinecthesia belt has sensors and a series of motors that send vibrations to the wearer to indicate the position of obstacles. Larry Greenemeier reports

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For years cars have had warning systems to let drivers know when they're about to back into something. What if a similar type of obstacle avoidance technology could be used to help the visually impaired?

That's what two University of Pennsylvania researchers are trying to develop. They've created a prototype warning system for walkers called Kinecthesia. It's a belt loaded with the following: a Microsoft Kinect infrared camera and sensors, battery pack and six vibration motors placed in the left, right and middle of the belt.

When worn the Kinect detects obstacles in your path. If the obstacle is to your left, the motors on the left side of the belt will vibrate. As you get closer to the object the vibrations get stronger.

The researchers want to make the belt as small and affordable as possible so that they can better serve the 285 million visually impaired people around the world. The technology might also be useful for firefighters, miners and anyone else working in low visibility areas in need of some good vibrations.

?Larry Greenemeier

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]?


Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=49528dde605ec9c9f65c2dee1a1b35b1

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Even Without Weight Loss, Mediterranean Diet Helps Heart: Study (HealthDay)

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 16 (HealthDay News) -- A new study offers further evidence that a Mediterranean-style diet is good for your heart.

The research found that unsaturated fats from foods such as avocados, olive oil and nuts increase the body's ability to use insulin. Reduced insulin action can lead to diabetes, which is a risk factor for heart disease.

Researchers examined how three different types of balanced diets consumed by 164 people with mild hypertension but no diabetes affected the body's ability to maintain healthy insulin levels and regulate blood sugar levels. The three diets were rich in either carbohydrates, protein or unsaturated fats such as those found in olive oil.

The participants ate each of the three diets for six weeks in a row, with two to four weeks off in between each diet. Blood samples were used to monitor insulin and glucose levels.

The diet rich in unsaturated fats improved insulin use significantly more than the high-carbohydrate diet, which featured refined carbohydrates such as pasta and white bread.

This beneficial effect of the unsaturated fat diet occurred even though the participants did not lose weight.

"A lot of studies have looked at how the body becomes better at using insulin when you lose weight," Dr. Meghana Gadgil, a postdoctoral fellow in the division of general internal medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a Hopkins news release. "We kept the weight stable so we could isolate the effects of the macronutrients. What we found is that you can begin to see a beneficial impact on heart health even before weight loss."

The researchers said their findings show that dietary changes can improve heart health in those at risk for cardiovascular disease, even if they don't lose weight.

"The introduction of the right kind of fat into a healthy diet is another tool to reduce the risk of future heart disease," Gadgil said.

The study was to be presented Wednesday during the American Heart Association's annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

The American Heart Association has more about a Mediterranean diet.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weightloss/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111117/hl_hsn/evenwithoutweightlossmediterraneandiethelpsheartstudy

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The Charismatic Misogynist

If you skim the twitter hashtag #mencallmethings, it?s clear that there are plenty of blatant misogynists to go around. As a woman, it?s impossible to ignore this kind of clear and dangerous language. But, in my experience, these comments aren?t the norm. Only a small, vocal and problematic group of men belittle women so coarsely. Many more do so unintentionally, even charismatically, with a smile.

In a couple months, my coblogger Janet and I are going to be moderating a session at Science Online about women in science blogging. I?ve been thinking a lot about what I want to say. I attended the session on this topic last year, which I posted about afterwards (I?ve included that post at the bottom of this post, as extra food for thought).

It seems like fate that now, while I?m tossing these issues around in my brain, Ed Rybicki?s Womanspace is brought to my attention. As a blogger for Scientific American, I work for Nature Publishing. I am deeply disappointed that an article like this has been published by a company I am associated with in any way.

Rybicki doesn?t threaten rape or malign the general intelligence of women. But make no mistake ? this article is misogynistic. As Pieter van Dokkum expressed in the comments section: ?What this story highlights is the issue of unintentional, subconscious bias, which is something that our community has to come to grips with? the story places women and men in fundamentally different categories: women are well-organized and domestically-oriented whereas men are useless in everyday life but come up with theories about the universe.?

Emily, from The Biology Files, said it perfectly:

?After reducing women to a stereotyped shopping monolith, cheekily analogizing women?s behaviors as a parallel universe (can someone finally kill the astronomic analogies for men vs women, please? This book is almost 20 years old), and expressing fear over the empowerment of women, he now marginalizes women into superficiality, hazarding that given our newfound knowledge, we will exercise it to get rid of ugly men and select ?better-looking? versions.?

I get what Ed was trying to do ? he was trying to be funny. I might even be able to turn off my internal angry feminist for a moment and say that he didn?t mean to reinforce gender stereotypes, and instead was trying to tell a cute story about his wife. He wasn?t trying to be a complete jerk.

The thing is, a guy doesn?t have to be a complete jerk to be sexist. There are plenty of charismatic misogynists out there ? guys who don?t notice how they say things that demean women, especially when they?re trying to be complimentary. They don?t even realize how their frivolous and yes, sometimes even funny, comments contribute to the derision of women in society and in STEM fields in particular.

A commenter here, for example, began a supportive comment on a post of mine with: ?I think Christie is correct, and I?m not just saying that because according to her profile picture, she?s absolutely beautiful. [emphasis mine]?. I get it. He was trying to be flattering ? but instead, he implied that my looks are the most important factor in whether or not something I write is correct. It?s hardly the first comment I?ve received like that.

I want to know is why on Earth a piece like Womanspace is being published by Nature in the first place. Therese is right: this article lacks any kind of scientific merit, and instead flippantly tosses around gender stereotypes in a poor attempt at humor. I stand beside Ylaine Gerardin and Tami Lieberman in saying it is disturbing that ?the world?s leading scientific journal would choose to publish a piece ? even a ?tongue-in-cheek? science fiction story ? that promulgates such nonsensical Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus ideas? and that ?Nature should be setting an example by not literally alienating women, but instead encouraging the dissolution of the last bastions of ?manspace??. It just adds insult to injury that this is published in a section called ?Futures? ? I sincerely hope this isn?t Nature?s idea of looking ahead at the scientific community of the future.

On a side note, I encourage those of you going to Science Online 2012 to join Janet and I for our session. Clearly, there is still a lot to discuss.
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Some other responses to Womanspace:

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____________________________________________________________________________________________
posted 1/25/2011
Observations | I?ve never been very good at hiding.

?I am not a pretty girl ? that is not what I do.?
Ani DiFranco

A few weeks ago, I received a facebook message. It was from a male admirer of my blog (and his fianc?e, coincidentally). In it, he said ?You are GORGEOUS, and your tits look absolutely incredible.? I froze. I know it was meant as a compliment, but it made me really uncomfortable. It was a sentiment that was much more muted in other comments I?d gotten. You know, ones like ?wow, you?re an amazing writer AND you?re hot?? or ?who would have thought a pretty girl could be so good at science??

Of course, if you point out to any of these people that their comments are sexist, they instantly defend themselves and say that?s not what they meant. They weren?t trying to imply women should be less good at science or writing, they just wanted to say that it?s cool that I?m pretty and nerdy. They think women in science are great.

But what they fail to realize is the fact that my looks are important enough to comment on is what makes their comments sexist.

Sure, maybe male bloggers get the occasional ?you?re hot?. But can Ed Yong or Carl Zimmer say they?ve gotten comments about their packages? Has any fan approached them and heralded their tight abs or buttocks? I?m guessing the answer is no*. No one is amazed that a guy like Eric Johnson is good looking and a good writer, because no one thinks it strange that a good looking guy has other talents, too. Men can look however and do whatever ? their intellectual pursuits and their physical appearance aren?t intrinsically linked. But for a woman, everything is linked to how she looks. Everything.

Sexism is a hard thing for me to talk about. My generation likes to think we?re past it. Our great-grandmothers and grandmothers fought to secure women equal pay and the right to vote, and our mothers continued to fight through the feminist movement in the 70s and 80s to ensure that we don?t feel as excluded or put down as they did. That was their fight, their struggle, their blood, sweat and tears. They suffered so I don?t have to.

Growing up I was a tomboy. I went to liberal private schools and was allowed to be as strong minded and bodied as I desired. In college, I had powerful female professors (with kids!) that served as my mentors and role models, and I never once felt like being a woman in science was frowned upon.

So why did I go the the session on women in science blogging? I wasn?t set on attending beforehand. But I was one of the many women who talked to Kate Clancy, and in my conversation with her and Anne and the rest of the women at that table, I realized that, more than ever, I needed to be in that room. I needed to hear the struggles of my fellow female bloggers, even if I haven?t experienced them, and I need to be a part of the conversation. Because even if I haven?t been attacked for my gender on my blog yet, I could, and probably will, be. The battle against inequality was not just my mother and my grandmother?s war; it?s my fight, too.

After all, if you look around at the current science blogosphere, you can?t help but think there?s something wrong. Despite the fact that over half of the attendees at Science Online were women, female bloggers make up a small portion of the high-profile blogging networks. As Jennifer Rohn noted last year, no major blogging network even comes close to a 50/50 male/female ratio. Perhaps it is in part the fault of female bloggers for being too meek, mannered and mild and not shamelessly self-promoting in every way they can ? but I doubt it.

Why isn?t there a girl version of Ed Yong or Carl Zimmer? Why is there no woman in the elite list of the most well known science bloggers? The excuse that there aren?t enough high-quality female science writers just doesn?t cut it anymore. They?re out there, and they have been for years. Incredible women like Sheril Kirshenbaum have been standing up and taking the full brunt of the internet?s misogyny with the utmost grace. We have to be honest with ourselves as a community. The problem isn?t that the women aren?t there. It?s that they aren?t being taken as seriously.

Most women I know hate the idea that their gender is a factor in their professional life. A friend of mine and fellow graduate student, for example, recounts angrily how she found out she was referred to by one of the male professors her first year as ?the pretty one.? She intentionally wears t-shirts, jeans, and little make up at work to downplay her femininity and be seen as just another graduate student. One of my blogging friends, similarly, has told me she blogs under a pseudonym simply because she wants to take her looks out of the equation.

I?m not so complacent. I shouldn?t have to hide the fact that I am a woman just to be seen as a brilliant scientist or a great writer. And I am young and bull-headed and perhaps just naive enough not to hide. You might notice my looks first, but I?ll be damned if you don?t hear my words, too.

I don?t have the same risk-aversion that other female scientists or science writers might because I haven?t been beaten down or held back. Nor am I timid. Trust me, no one has ever accused me of being too quiet. Call me ambitious, driven, or even a bitch ? those words are all compliments in my book ? but be certain that I will not allow my gender to prevent me from achieving success.

Clearly, we need to make a change in the science blogging community. I won?t stand up and say I have all the answers. I don?t know how to better encourage other female science bloggers other than to say I?ve got your back. I can?t assuage the fears of those who think if they put their name and face on a blog, they?ll lose credibility or get attacked, other than to lead by example. But maybe I don?t have to do more than that. Perhaps all it will take to tip the scales is a woman who is willing to say ?bring it? and is still standing a year later.

Well, then. Bring it.

*I?d comment on whether or not the packages, abs or buttocks of the male bloggers are up to par, but I think I?ll let their wives be the judges instead.

UPDATE: Here is the video of the session:

Perils of Blogging as a Woman under a Real Name from Smartley-Dunn on Vimeo.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=caa2dde7f4bdc60839eb063d10759126

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Merkel, Cameron differ on euro crisis weapons (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) ? The leaders of Germany and Britain sent out conflicting signals on Friday about how to solve the euro zone's debt crisis and admitted they had failed to narrow differences over the introduction of a financial transaction tax in Europe.

At a news conference in Berlin, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to paper over divergent views on European policy that have sparked a war of words between politicians and media in both countries.

But they could not mask differences over how the single currency bloc's debt crisis should be handled, with Cameron calling for "decisive action" to stabilize the euro zone and Merkel making clear she favored a "step-by-step" approach.

"My German isn't that good, I think a bazooka is a Superwaffe, am I right?" Cameron said in response to a question about his call for euro zone policymakers to use a "big bazooka" approach to the crisis.

"The chancellor and I would agree that whatever you call this we need to take decisive action to help stabilize the euro zone," he said, citing the need for strong action on Greece, a rescue fund with "power and punch" and a recapitalization of European banks.

Merkel struck a more cautious note.

She is under increasing pressure to support bolder crisis-fighting steps from the European Central Bank (ECB), such as using it as a lender of last resort for the bloc or backstop for the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

So far she has resisted, backing the argument of the German Bundesbank that this would violate the ECB's inflation-focused policy mandate. Infringing on this awakes traumatic memories in Germany of the hyperinflation that followed the two world wars.

"The British demand that we use a large amount of firepower to win back credibility for the euro zone is right. But we have to take care that we don't pretend to have powers we don't have. Because the markets will figure out very quickly that this won't work," said the center-right chancellor.

Merkel is focusing on changes to the EU's Lisbon Treaty to force other euro members to adopt German budget discipline. She believes this would convince financial markets that Europe is serious about getting its debt and deficits under control.

One German source said the two leaders discussed a possible formulation for a deal on treaty change, where Cameron would go along with Berlin's wishes in exchange for more "opt-outs" from Europe to keep eurosceptics in his Conservative Party happy.

British officials were not immediately available to confirm the discussion.

SPEAKING GERMAN

Asked about Germany's push for the introduction of a financial transaction tax in Europe, Merkel admitted that she and Cameron "did not make any progress".

Britain is concerned that introducing the so-called "Tobin tax" in Europe alone would undermine the competitiveness of its financial industry in the City of London, which Cameron said would drive away business to countries without such a tax.

"Naturally there are differences. But Europe can only prevail if all the strong countries of the European continent are represented and if we have a bit of tolerance for the different views," Merkel said.

The two leaders tried their best to present a united front, calling each other by their first names, saying a few words in each other's language and stressing their common interest in a strong euro and a competitive European single market.

But aides say Merkel is running out of patience with what she sees as Cameron's constant sniping at the euro zone, which so exasperates her close ally Nicolas Sarkozy of France that he recently told Cameron at a summit he was "sick of" it.

At a meeting of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) earlier this week, her party's parliamentary leader accused Britain of "only defending its own interests" and announced triumphantly that "Europe is speaking German all of a sudden", a reference to widespread acceptance of German fiscal rigour in the bloc.

Her widely-respected finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, was quoted as saying it was inevitable that the whole of Europe would eventually join the single currency and "this may happen more quickly than some people in the British Isles believe".

Such comments have sparked a strong reaction in the British press, with the eurosceptic and conservative Daily Mail saying: "We no longer need to fear the jackboot but we have a great deal to fear from German bossy boots."

Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper retaliated, asking on the morning of Cameron's visit: "What is England still doing in the EU?"

(Additional reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Noah Barkin and Stephen Brown; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111118/bs_nm/us_eurozone_germany_britain

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A GOP debt plan would hit some popular tax breaks (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Millions of taxpayers who take advantage of deductions for mortgage interest, charitable donations and state and local taxes would be targeted for potential tax hikes under a GOP plan to raise taxes by $290 billion over the next decade to help reduce the nation's deficit.

Some workers could also see their employer-provided health benefits taxed for the first time, though aides cautioned that the proposal is still fluid.

The plan by Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who serves on the 12-member debt supercommittee, would raise revenue by limiting the tax breaks enjoyed by people who itemize their deductions, in exchange for lower overall tax rates for families at every income level. Taxpayers who already take the standard deduction instead of itemizing ? about two-thirds of filers ? could see tax cuts. The one-third of taxpayers who itemize their deductions might find themselves paying more.

The top income tax rate would fall from 35 percent to 28 percent, and the bottom rate would drop from 10 percent to 8 percent. The rates between would be reduced as well.

About 50 million households itemized their deductions in 2009, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. About 35 million households claimed the mortgage interest deduction, and 36 million deducted charitable donations. Nearly 41 million claimed deductions for paying state and local taxes.

A GOP congressional aide said the plan is designed to raise taxes on households in the top two tax brackets. That would affect individuals making more than $174,400 and married couples making more than $212,300.

Some Republicans say the plan offers a potential breakthrough in deficit-reduction talks that have stalled over GOP opposition to tax hikes and Democrats' objection to cuts in benefit programs without significant revenue increases.

But Republicans are becoming increasingly divided over the issue of raising taxes. A growing number of Republicans in Congress say they would support a tax reform package that increases revenues, if it is coupled with significant spending cuts, enough to reduce the deficit by about $4 trillion over the next decade.

The so-called "go big" strategy has been endorsed by a bipartisan group of about 150 lawmakers from the House and Senate. A rival group of 72 House Republicans sent a letter to the supercommittee Thursday, urging members to oppose any tax increases.

"We must recognize that increasing the tax burden on American businesses and citizens, especially during a fragile recovery, is irresponsible and dangerous to the health of the United States," said the letter, circulated by Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C.

Democrats, meanwhile, have panned Toomey's plan, saying the rate reductions would cut taxes for the wealthy so much that taxes on the middle class would have to be raised. They also argue that Toomey's plan would generate less revenue than advertised.

They note that Toomey's plan assumes that tax cuts enacted under former President George W. Bush, and extended through 2012 under President Barack Obama, would continue. Toomey's plan would then cut the tax rates even more.

Republicans say Toomey's tax overhaul plan would increase tax revenue by $250 billion over the next decade. An additional $40 billion would be raised by using a new measure of inflation to adjust the tax brackets each year. Annual adjustments to the tax brackets would be smaller, resulting in more people jumping into higher tax brackets as their incomes rise.

The supercommittee has a Wednesday deadline to come up with a plan to reduce government borrowing by at least $1.2 trillion over the next decade. If the panel fails, $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts to domestic and military programs would take effect in 2013.

Some details of Toomey's plan remain in flux, in part because he is open to changes to help forge an agreement, said the GOP aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations. The aide confirmed that Toomey's plan is closely modeled after a proposal by three experts at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private research organization perhaps best known for deciding when recessions begin and end.

The three experts are Martin Feldstein, a Harvard University professor who was President Ronald Regan's chief economic adviser; Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget; and Daniel Feenberg, a research associate at the bureau.

Under their plan, the tax benefits from itemizing deductions and excluding employer-provided health insurance from taxable income would be limited to 2 percent of taxpayer's adjusted gross income.

That means if a taxpayer has an adjusted gross income of $50,000, deductions and exemptions could reduce his or her tax bill by a maximum of $1,000.

Taxpayers who face limits on their tax breaks could opt to take the standard deduction instead. Currently, about one-third of tax filers itemize their deductions. The rest claim the standard deduction, which in 2011 is $5,800 for individuals and $11,600 for married couples filing jointly.

The plan envisions millions of additional taxpayers switching to the standard deduction, which would simplify their returns, MacGuineas said.

Policymakers across the political spectrum agree the federal tax code is too complicated, and most agree on a basic formula for simplifying it: Reduce tax breaks and use the additional revenue to lower the overall tax rates for everyone.

There is little agreement, however, on which tax breaks to target.

Toomey's plan attempts to sidestep debates over which tax breaks to target and instead proposes to limit taxpayers' overall ability to reduce their tax bills.

"This is a far more practical way to start to scale back the influence and costs of tax expenditures in the code by kind of glopping them together and capping them," MacGuineas said. "You're not picking the winners and losers."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111117/ap_on_go_co/us_debt_supercommittee_taxes

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PFT: Kolb doesn't look close to returning

Joe Paterno, Mike McQuearyAP

Before any of you start complaining that this site isn?t College Football Talk or Penn State Football Talk or any other creative (or otherwise) alternative name, let me remind you that the scroll function allows you to skip past this story, if you aren?t interested.

Jason Whitlock?s latest column on the Jerry Sandusky scandal perfectly, accurately, and thoroughly captures the dynamic that compelled former Penn State graduate assistant (and undoubtedly soon-to-be-former receivers coach) Mike McQueary to neither call the police nor physically intervene after allegedly seeing Sandusky engaging in the rape of a young boy in the Nittany Lion locker room.

I endorse Whitlock?s take in large part because it meshes with the initial point I made, far less artfully than Whitlock, when discussing the situation on PFT Live last week.

?When you become aware of some troubling situation in an organization, the knee-jerk reaction is to protect,? I said on November 9.? ?Protect yourself, protect your friend, protect your colleague, protect the name of the institution.? Whatever it is, whether it?s Penn State or whether it?s a mom-and-pop delicatessen.? There?s an instinct, it?s human nature, to want to protect.? And it?s easy to justify that, even in a situation as horrendous as this one, it?s very easy for a guy like Joe Paterno to tell himself, ?This is going to hurt the university.? This is going to hurt the students.? This is going to hurt the faculty.? This is going to hurt a lot of innocent people.?? Never mind the innocent kids who had unspeakable actions committed against them.? People rationalize by protecting their own interests ? their own selfish interests and by extension the interests of those around them.?

I firmly believe that, if Joe Paterno had called the police in 2002, he would have been fired by 2003, once the authorities realized the extent of the conduct about which Paterno knew or should have known.? And that?s why Paterno merely kicked the information up to his ?superiors,? who in reality were his subordinates.

Whitlock now focuses on McQueary, who properly alerted Paterno to the incident but did nothing (contrary to McQueary?s more recent claims) to alert the authorities.? Meanwhile, McQueary continued to show up for work in that same locker room where he witnessed behavior that supposedly left him distraught, while his career progressed from graduate assistant to (as of 2003) administrative assistant to (as of 2004) receivers coach and recruiting coordinator.

Whitlock?s theory is that anyone who claims he would have beaten the crap out of Sandusky and then dragged him by the feet to the nearest police station ignores our human nature.? (It also overlooks the potential impact of shock, which could trigger an instinct to simply flee.)? If we witness a stranger commit a crime, we immediately call the cops.? If we become aware of criminal conduct within our own cocoon, we first consider the consequences of blowing the whistle.

How will this affect my colleagues?? How will this affect my organization?

How will this affect me?? How will this affect my family?

?In America, our instinct is to survive financially,? Whitlock writes.? ?We hate Mike McQueary because of what he and his decisions say about us.?

In this case, and at the risk of being far more cynical than 18 years of practicing law and 11 years of covering the NFL have made me, it?s hard not to wonder whether McQueary?s survival instinct caused him not simply to protect himself, but also to leverage the circumstances into an assignment much more prestigious, secure, and lucrative than graduate assistant.

After what he had witnessed, why else would he have stayed at Penn State?

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/17/kolb-doesnt-look-close-to-returning-for-the-cardinals/related/

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Increasing dosage of clopidogrel for patients with genetic variation improves response to medication

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 16-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Marjorie Montemayor-Quellenberg
quellenberg@partners.org
617-534-2208
JAMA and Archives Journals

CHICAGO Among patients with stable cardiovascular disease who have a genetic variation that diminishes the response to the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel, tripling the standard daily dosage of this medication resulted in improved platelet reactivity, according to a study appearing in JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

"Variants in the CYP2C19 gene influence the pharmacologic and clinical response to the standard 75-mg daily maintenance dose of the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel," according to background information in the article. Variability in the pharmacodynamic response to clopidogrel is well recognized, and patients with higher platelet reactivity while receiving clopidogrel are at increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. " data are needed to offer guidance as to what might constitute optimal treatment strategies in patients with loss-of-function CYP2C19 alleles [an alternative form of a gene]."

Jessica L. Mega, M.D., M.P.H., and Marc S. Sabatine, M.D., M.P.H., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues conducted a multicenter, randomized trial to test whether maintenance doses of up to 300 mg daily of clopidogrel can improve platelet reactivity in the setting of loss-of-function CYP2C19 genotypes, particularly among heterozygotes (a person possessing one copy of a variant gene), who constitute approximately 25 percent to 45 percent of the population, depending on racial background. The trial (ELEVATE-TIMI 56) enrolled and genotyped 333 patients with cardiovascular disease across 32 sites from October 2010 until September 2011.

Patients received maintenance doses of clopidogrel for 4 treatment periods, each lasting approximately 14 days, based on genotype. In total, 247 noncarriers of a CYP2C19*2 loss-of-function allele were randomized to receive 75 and 150 mg daily of clopidogrel (2 periods each), whereas 86 carriers (80 heterozygotes, 6 homozygotes [having two copies of the variant gene]) were randomized to receive 75, 150, 225, and 300 mg daily. Two methods were used to measure platelet function. The average age of the patients was 60 years, 75 percent were male, 57 percent had a history of heart attack, and 97 percent had a history of percutaneous coronary intervention (procedures such as balloon angioplasty or stent placement used to open narrowed coronary arteries).

Among the main findings of the researchers was that higher maintenance doses of clopidogrel in patients carrying a CYP2C19*2 allele significantly reduced platelet reactivity. Also, daily maintenance doses of 225 mg of clopidogrel or greater in CYP2C19*2 heterozygotes improved platelet reactivity levels that were at least equivalent to what is achieved with 75 mg daily of clopidogrel in noncarrier patients with cardiovascular disease. When evaluating the CYP2C19*2 homozygotes, the researchers saw a trend toward less platelet reactivity with higher maintenance doses of clopidogrel; however, even with 300 mg daily of clopidogrel, these individuals were unlikely to achieve optimal degrees of platelet inhibition.

"These data help define how patients with different CYP2C19 genotypes respond to clopidogrel maintenance dosing strategies and provides useful information to guide further clinical studies," the authors conclude.

###

(doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1703. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org)

Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

To contact Jessica L. Mega, M.D., M.P.H., call Marjorie Montemayor-Quellenberg at 617-534-2208 or email mmontemayor-quellenberg@partners.org.


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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.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 16-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Marjorie Montemayor-Quellenberg
quellenberg@partners.org
617-534-2208
JAMA and Archives Journals

CHICAGO Among patients with stable cardiovascular disease who have a genetic variation that diminishes the response to the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel, tripling the standard daily dosage of this medication resulted in improved platelet reactivity, according to a study appearing in JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions.

"Variants in the CYP2C19 gene influence the pharmacologic and clinical response to the standard 75-mg daily maintenance dose of the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel," according to background information in the article. Variability in the pharmacodynamic response to clopidogrel is well recognized, and patients with higher platelet reactivity while receiving clopidogrel are at increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. " data are needed to offer guidance as to what might constitute optimal treatment strategies in patients with loss-of-function CYP2C19 alleles [an alternative form of a gene]."

Jessica L. Mega, M.D., M.P.H., and Marc S. Sabatine, M.D., M.P.H., of Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues conducted a multicenter, randomized trial to test whether maintenance doses of up to 300 mg daily of clopidogrel can improve platelet reactivity in the setting of loss-of-function CYP2C19 genotypes, particularly among heterozygotes (a person possessing one copy of a variant gene), who constitute approximately 25 percent to 45 percent of the population, depending on racial background. The trial (ELEVATE-TIMI 56) enrolled and genotyped 333 patients with cardiovascular disease across 32 sites from October 2010 until September 2011.

Patients received maintenance doses of clopidogrel for 4 treatment periods, each lasting approximately 14 days, based on genotype. In total, 247 noncarriers of a CYP2C19*2 loss-of-function allele were randomized to receive 75 and 150 mg daily of clopidogrel (2 periods each), whereas 86 carriers (80 heterozygotes, 6 homozygotes [having two copies of the variant gene]) were randomized to receive 75, 150, 225, and 300 mg daily. Two methods were used to measure platelet function. The average age of the patients was 60 years, 75 percent were male, 57 percent had a history of heart attack, and 97 percent had a history of percutaneous coronary intervention (procedures such as balloon angioplasty or stent placement used to open narrowed coronary arteries).

Among the main findings of the researchers was that higher maintenance doses of clopidogrel in patients carrying a CYP2C19*2 allele significantly reduced platelet reactivity. Also, daily maintenance doses of 225 mg of clopidogrel or greater in CYP2C19*2 heterozygotes improved platelet reactivity levels that were at least equivalent to what is achieved with 75 mg daily of clopidogrel in noncarrier patients with cardiovascular disease. When evaluating the CYP2C19*2 homozygotes, the researchers saw a trend toward less platelet reactivity with higher maintenance doses of clopidogrel; however, even with 300 mg daily of clopidogrel, these individuals were unlikely to achieve optimal degrees of platelet inhibition.

"These data help define how patients with different CYP2C19 genotypes respond to clopidogrel maintenance dosing strategies and provides useful information to guide further clinical studies," the authors conclude.

###

(doi:10.1001/jama.2011.1703. Available pre-embargo to the media at www.jamamedia.org)

Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.

To contact Jessica L. Mega, M.D., M.P.H., call Marjorie Montemayor-Quellenberg at 617-534-2208 or email mmontemayor-quellenberg@partners.org.


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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/jaaj-ido111111.php

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VLBA observations key to 'complete description' of black hole

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 17-Nov-2011
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Contact: Dave Finley
dfinley@nrao.edu
575-835-7302
National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Precise distance measurement allowed calculation of mass, spin rate

For the first time, astronomers have produced a complete description of a black hole, a concentration of mass so dense that not even light can escape its powerful gravitational pull. Their precise measurements have allowed them to reconstruct the history of the object from its birth some six million years ago.

Using several telescopes, both ground-based and in orbit, the scientists unravelled longstanding mysteries about the object called Cygnus X-1, a famous binary-star system discovered to be strongly emitting X-rays nearly a half-century ago. The system consists of a black hole and a companion star from which the black hole is drawing material. The scientists' efforts yielded the most accurate measurements ever of the black hole's mass and spin rate.

"Because no other information can escape from a black hole, knowing its mass, spin, and electrical charge gives a complete description of it," said Mark Reid, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "The charge of this black hole is nearly zero, so measuring its mass and spin make our description complete," he added.

Though Cygnus X-1 has been studied intensely since its discovery, previous attempts to measure its mass and spin suffered from lack of a precise measurement of its distance from Earth. Reid led a team that used the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), a continent-wide radio-telescope system, to make a direct trigonometric measurement of the distance. Their VLBA observations provided a distance of 6070 light-years, while previous estimates had ranged from 5800-7800 light-years.

Armed with the new, precise distance measurement, scientists using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer, the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics, and visible-light observations made over more than two decades, calculated that the black hole in Cygnus X-1 is nearly 15 times more massive than our Sun and is spinning more than 800 times per second.

"This new information gives us strong clues about how the black hole was born, what it weighed and how fast it was spinning," Reid said. "Getting a good measurement of the distance was crucial," Reid added.

"We now know that Cygnus X-1 is one of the most massive stellar black holes in the Milky Way," said Jerry Orosz, of San Diego State University. "It's spinning as fast as any black hole we've ever seen," he added.

In addition to measuring the distance, the VLBA observations, made during 2009 and 2010, also measured Cygnus X-1's movement through our Galaxy. That movement, the scientists, said, is too slow for the black hole to have been produced by a supernova explosion. Such an explosion would have given the object a "kick" to a much higher speed.

"There are suggestions that this black hole could have been formed without a supernova explosion, and our results support those suggestions," Reid said.

Reid, Orosz, and Lijun Gou, also of CfA, were the lead authors of three papers on Cygnus X-1 published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The VLBA, dedicated in 1993, uses ten, 25-meter-diameter dish antennas distributed from Hawaii to St. Croix in the Caribbean. It is operated from the NRAO's Domenici Science Operations Center in Socorro, NM. All ten antennas work together as a single telescope with the greatest resolving power available to astronomy. This unique capability has produced landmark contributions to numerous scientific fields, ranging from Earth tectonics, climate research, and spacecraft navigation to cosmology.

Ongoing upgrades in electronics and computing have enhanced the VLBA's capabilities. With improvements now nearing completion, the VLBA will be as much as 5,000 times more powerful as a scientific tool than the original VLBA of 1993.

###

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.


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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.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 17-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Dave Finley
dfinley@nrao.edu
575-835-7302
National Radio Astronomy Observatory

Precise distance measurement allowed calculation of mass, spin rate

For the first time, astronomers have produced a complete description of a black hole, a concentration of mass so dense that not even light can escape its powerful gravitational pull. Their precise measurements have allowed them to reconstruct the history of the object from its birth some six million years ago.

Using several telescopes, both ground-based and in orbit, the scientists unravelled longstanding mysteries about the object called Cygnus X-1, a famous binary-star system discovered to be strongly emitting X-rays nearly a half-century ago. The system consists of a black hole and a companion star from which the black hole is drawing material. The scientists' efforts yielded the most accurate measurements ever of the black hole's mass and spin rate.

"Because no other information can escape from a black hole, knowing its mass, spin, and electrical charge gives a complete description of it," said Mark Reid, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA). "The charge of this black hole is nearly zero, so measuring its mass and spin make our description complete," he added.

Though Cygnus X-1 has been studied intensely since its discovery, previous attempts to measure its mass and spin suffered from lack of a precise measurement of its distance from Earth. Reid led a team that used the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), a continent-wide radio-telescope system, to make a direct trigonometric measurement of the distance. Their VLBA observations provided a distance of 6070 light-years, while previous estimates had ranged from 5800-7800 light-years.

Armed with the new, precise distance measurement, scientists using the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, the Rossi X-Ray Timing Explorer, the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics, and visible-light observations made over more than two decades, calculated that the black hole in Cygnus X-1 is nearly 15 times more massive than our Sun and is spinning more than 800 times per second.

"This new information gives us strong clues about how the black hole was born, what it weighed and how fast it was spinning," Reid said. "Getting a good measurement of the distance was crucial," Reid added.

"We now know that Cygnus X-1 is one of the most massive stellar black holes in the Milky Way," said Jerry Orosz, of San Diego State University. "It's spinning as fast as any black hole we've ever seen," he added.

In addition to measuring the distance, the VLBA observations, made during 2009 and 2010, also measured Cygnus X-1's movement through our Galaxy. That movement, the scientists, said, is too slow for the black hole to have been produced by a supernova explosion. Such an explosion would have given the object a "kick" to a much higher speed.

"There are suggestions that this black hole could have been formed without a supernova explosion, and our results support those suggestions," Reid said.

Reid, Orosz, and Lijun Gou, also of CfA, were the lead authors of three papers on Cygnus X-1 published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

The VLBA, dedicated in 1993, uses ten, 25-meter-diameter dish antennas distributed from Hawaii to St. Croix in the Caribbean. It is operated from the NRAO's Domenici Science Operations Center in Socorro, NM. All ten antennas work together as a single telescope with the greatest resolving power available to astronomy. This unique capability has produced landmark contributions to numerous scientific fields, ranging from Earth tectonics, climate research, and spacecraft navigation to cosmology.

Ongoing upgrades in electronics and computing have enhanced the VLBA's capabilities. With improvements now nearing completion, the VLBA will be as much as 5,000 times more powerful as a scientific tool than the original VLBA of 1993.

###

The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

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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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/nrao-vok111711.php

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Cain accuser's former boyfriend says they all met (AP)

SHREVEPORT, La. ? Sharon Bialek's former boyfriend said Monday the then-couple spent an evening with Herman Cain in the 1990s. That countered the GOP presidential candidate's earlier statements that he never met the woman who has accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior more than a decade ago.

"Sharon indeed did meet and spend time with Mr. Cain," Victor Jay Zuckerman said.

In turn, Cain repeated his assertion that he had never met his accuser.

"I'm standing by what I have said," Cain said in Green Bay, Wis.

Hours after Zuckerman stepped forward to give his account, Cain's wife ? Gloria ? was defending her husband in a television interview as turmoil over allegations of sexual impropriety while he led the National Restaurant Association stretched into a third week.

Cain, trying to get back to a business-as-usual campaign schedule, gave an interview to the editorial board of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel but stumbled through a question on Libya. The video ricocheted around the Internet.

After saying he did not agree with President Barack Obama's handing of the revolt against longtime Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi, Cain said he would have taken similar steps to Obama. But he hesitated before answering.

"I got to go back, see, got all this stuff twirling around in my head," Cain said, shifting in his chair and crossing his legs during a 10-second silence.

Asked later about the moment, Cain dismissed it and told reporters: "I paused so I could gather my thoughts."

It was another distraction for the candidate just as he was looking to get beyond questions about his behavior while he led the restaurant association more than a decade ago. The allegations have dogged his campaign for the GOP nomination and sent his poll numbers slipping seven weeks before the leadoff caucuses in Iowa.

Cain has denied wrongdoing and vowed to stay in the presidential race.

Even so, he has been unable to put the controversy behind him.

Zuckerman, a Louisiana pediatrician, corroborated some of Bialek's story ? with attorney Gloria Allred at his side ? just as the firestorm around Cain seemed to be subsiding since the first disclosures on Oct. 30 rocked Cain's campaign. There hadn't been any new information disclosed in the past week about Cain or the accusations, and plans for a joint news conference by his accusers seemed increasingly unlikely.

A week ago, Cain said he didn't remember Bialek and had never seen her until she went public with allegations that Cain groped her when she sought his help getting a job after the trade group he led had fired her.

"I saw Ms. Allred and her client yesterday in that news conference for the very first time," Cain said after that event. "As I sat in my hotel room with a couple of my staff members, as they got to the microphone, my first response in my mind and reaction was, I don't even know who this woman is. Secondly, I didn't recognize the name at all."

Later, Cain added: "I don't even know who this woman is. I tried to remember if I recognized her and I didn't."

But, on Monday, Zuckerman echoed Bialek's account of the two of them meeting Cain ? and spending the evening with him ? in Chicago in 1997 at the National Restaurant Association convention. He said that Cain then invited them to an after-dinner party in a hotel suite.

"At that party, Mr. Cain engaged both of us in conversation," Zuckerman said.

Later that year, Zuckerman said, Bialek told him that Cain inappropriately touched her when, at Zuckerman's suggestion, she met him in Washington to seek employment help.

"When she returned, she was upset," Zuckerman said. "She said that something had happened and that Mr. Cain had touched her in an inappropriate manner. She said she handled it and didn't want to talk about it any further."

On Monday, Cain's team pointed to his earlier statement that he does not remember Bialek.

Cain attorney Lin Wood, in an interview with The Associated Press, said Cain met with a large number of people while leading the National Restaurant Association. And if someone remembers meeting Cain, Wood said, it is possible that Cain would not remember them.

"He doesn't recall Ms. Bialek," Wood said. "But what he does know is that he has never done such a thing as she alleges to any person."

At least three other women have claimed that Cain engaged in inappropriate sexual conduct toward them in the late 1990s when he ran the restaurant industry's Washington-based trade association.

Allred, who represents Bialek, called on Cain to acknowledge that he had met his accuser. She would not say whether other Cain accusers have contacted her, saying only that she represents only Bialek.

As Allred sought to poke holes in Cain's story, the candidate was campaigning in Wisconsin. He attended a private fundraising event and, later, was appearing for a tailgate party at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. He was heading to Iowa on Tuesday to campaign.

Meanwhile, his wife, Gloria Cain, who has been all but absent on the campaign trail this year, was appearing in a television interview set to air Monday night.

"I'm thinking he would have to have a split personality to do the things that were said," she said in excerpts of the Fox News Channel interview that were released Sunday.

She said she cannot believe the claims.

"To hear such graphic allegations and know that that would have been something that was totally disrespectful of her as a woman and I know that's not the person he is," Gloria Cain said. "He totally respects women."

___

Associated Press writers Jack Gillum in Washington, Barbara Sambriski in New York, Ray Henry in Atlanta and Dinesh Ramde in Green Bay, Wis., contributed to this report. Elliott reported from Washington.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111115/ap_on_el_pr/us_cain

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Ohio executes man who killed 3 sleeping sons (AP)

LUCASVILLE, Ohio ? Ohio could execute at least seven condemned killers next year now that an unofficial moratorium on capital punishment has ended in the state and numerous inmates exhaust decades old appeals.

A federal judge's examination of the state's execution procedures and an unrelated decision by Gov. John Kasich to spare two prisoners halted executions for six months beginning in May.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Gregory Frost ruled the state had addressed his concerns about problems with Ohio's execution policies, and in so doing he refused to delay the execution of Reginald Brooks, who shot his three sons as they slept in 1982, shortly after his wife filed for divorce.

Brooks, of East Cleveland, was executed Tuesday at 2:04 p.m. with each of his hands clenched in an obscene gesture.

The next execution is Jan. 18, when Charles Lorraine is scheduled to die for stabbing an elderly couple to death in their Trumbull County home in 1986.

Brooks declined to make a final statement and remained silent. Witnesses, which included his former wife and her sisters, had a view of his left hand, its middle finger raised. Prison officials said he was making the same gesture with his right hand.

State and federal courts rejected attorneys' arguments that Brooks was not mentally competent and that the government hid relevant evidence that could have affected his case. The execution was delayed by more than three hours as attorneys exhausted Brooks' appeals. The U.S. Supreme Court refused Tuesday to halt the execution.

He is the fourth inmate in Ohio to be put to death using the surgical sedative pentobarbital as a stand-alone execution drug.

Beverly Brooks, who found her 11-, 15- and 17-year-old sons dead when she returned from work, and her two sisters sat silently, wearing white T-shirts printed with a photo of the boys during the execution.

Beverly Brooks did not comment, but one of her sisters, Monica Stephens, spoke on behalf of the family.

"Our nephews are gone, and they'll never be replaced," she said. "The memories we'll always have. The what-ifs we'll always have."

Reginald Brooks' two defense attorneys and two spiritual advisers were his witnesses.

At 66, Brooks is the oldest person put to death since Ohio resumed executions in 1999.

The defense argued Brooks was a paranoid schizophrenic who suffered from mental illness long before he shot his sons in the head as they slept at their East Cleveland home on a Saturday morning. Defense attorneys said Brooks believed his co-workers and wife were poisoning him and that he maintained his innocence, offering conspiracy theories about the killings that involved police, his relatives and a look-alike.

Beverly Brooks has said she believes the killings were an act of revenge for her divorce filing, not the result of mental illness.

Defense attorneys did not comment after the execution and did not immediately respond to email and phone messages.

Prosecutors acknowledged Brooks was mentally ill but disputed the notions that it caused the murders or made him incompetent. They said he planned merciless killings, bought a revolver two weeks in advance, confirmed he'd be home alone with the boys, targeted them when they wouldn't resist and fled on a bus with a suitcase containing a birth certificate and personal items that could help him start a new life.

Brooks was found competent for trial, and a three-judge panel convicted him.

Defense attorneys argued that prosecutors withheld information that would have supported a mental health defense and led the court to rule differently. Former Judge Harry Hanna, one of the three on the panel, told the Ohio Parole Board he would not have voted for the death penalty if he'd had information from police reports that were provided to the defense more recently.

If a three-judge panel hears a death penalty case, it must vote unanimously for a death sentence under Ohio law.

The parole board recommended that Gov. John Kasich deny Brooks clemency, and he did.

___

Associated Press writers Andrew Welsh-Huggins and JoAnne Viviano in Columbus contributed to this report.

___

Kantele Franko can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/kantele10.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111116/ap_on_re_us/us_ohio_execution

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