September 2009

Photo Puzzles

Posted Tue, 09/29/2009 - 15:34 by admin

A puzzle is a problem or enigma that challenges ingenuity. In a basic puzzle one is intended to piece together objects in a logical way in order to come up with the desired shape, picture or solution.

A chess problem is a puzzle that uses chess pieces on a chess board.

Photo Puzzles

Magnetic Fields Guide Star Birth (SPACE.com)

Posted Tue, 09/29/2009 - 07:27 by admin

The picture
of star formation just got a little more complicated: Cosmic magnetic fields,
which can channel condensing interstellar gas, play a more important role in
the birth of stars that previously thought, a new study suggests.

The
simplified story of stellar birth involves giant
clouds of gas and dust collapsing inward due to gravity, growing denser and
hotter until nuclear fusion ignites a newborn star.

But in
reality, there's much more to the story: When a molecular cloud collapses, only
a small fraction of the cloud's material forms stars, and scientists haven't
been sure why that is.

Since
gravity favors star formation because it draws material together, some other
force must be hindering the process, scientists reason. The two leading
candidates are turbulence
and magnetic
fields.

Magnetic
fields (produced by moving electrical charges and present around stars and most
planets, including Earth) channel flowing gas, making it hard to draw the gas
in from all directions. Turbulence stirs the gas and induces and outward
pressure that counteracts gravity.

"The
relative importance of magnetic fields versus turbulence is a matter of much
debate," said astronomer Hua-bai Li of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
"Our findings serve as the first observational constraint on this issue."

Li and his
team studied 25 dense patches, or cloud cores, each one about a light-year in
size. The cores, which act as seeds from
which stars form, were located within molecular clouds as much as 6,500
light-years from Earth. (A light-year is the distance light travels in a year,
or 6 trillion miles.)

The
researchers studied polarized light, which has electric and magnetic components
that are aligned in specific directions. From the polarization, they measured
the magnetic fields within each cloud core and compared them to the fields in
the surrounding, tenuous nebula.

The
magnetic fields tended to line up in the same direction, even though the
relative size scales (1 light-year cores versus 1,000 light-year nebulas) and
densities were different by orders of magnitude. Since turbulence would tend to
churn the nebula and mix up magnetic field directions, their findings show that
magnetic fields dominate turbulence in influencing star birth.

"Our result
shows that molecular cloud cores located near each other are connected not only
by gravity but also by magnetic fields," Li said. "This shows that computer
simulations modeling star formation must take strong magnetic fields into
account."

The study
will be detailed in an upcoming issue of the Astrophysical Journal.

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Original Story: Magnetic Fields Guide Star BirthSPACE.com offers rich and compelling content about space science, travel and exploration as well as astronomy, technology, business news and more. The site boasts a variety of popular features including our space image of the day and other space pictures,space videos, Top 10s, Trivia, podcasts and Amazing Images submitted by our users. Join our community, sign up for our free newsletters and register for our RSS Feeds today!

British girl dies after cervical cancer vaccine

Posted Tue, 09/29/2009 - 07:18 by admin

LONDON – Health officials paused a vaccination program in the English city of Coventry on Tuesday after a 14-year-old girl died a few hours after being vaccinated against the virus that causes cervical cancer.
NHS Coventry said it stopped the program for two days to give staff administering the vaccine training in how to answer questions from anyone concerned about its safety.
"We fully expect to resume the program in the coming days," the health authority said in a statement.
Natalie Morton died in a hospital Monday, a few hours after being the given the Cervarix vaccine, which protects against two strains of the human papilloma virus that causes cervical cancer. She was vaccinated at her school in Coventry.
Morton appeared to be healthy before being given the jab. Caron Grainger, director for public health at Coventry City Council, said an autopsy will be carried out to see if there is any link between Morton's death and the vaccine. Health officials also said they had quarantined the batch of vaccine given at the school.
The school principal, Julie Roberts, said a few other girls also reported being unwell after receiving the vaccine and some were sent home.
Britain's publicly owned National Health Service began offering the Cervarix vaccine to teenage girls last year, and over 1.4 million doses of the vaccine have been given out so far under the program. The virus is often transmitted through sexual intercourse and authorities wanted to give the vaccine to girls as young as 13 so they are protected by the time they become sexually active.
The cervical cancer vaccine is routinely administered to millions of young girls across Europe and North America. No safety concerns about the vaccines have been raised elsewhere.
"As with any medical intervention ... one can, on rare occasions, see tragic consequences," said Professor Malcolm McCrae, virologist at the University of Warwick. "But overall this is an extremely well-tested vaccine which has been produced in response to a critical health issue — cervical cancer — a disease responsible for almost 1,000 deaths annually in the UK."
Dr Pim Kon, medical director at GlaxoSmithKline UK which manufactures Cervarix, said it was working with the Department of Health and health regulators to investigate the case.
The cervical cancer vaccination program sparked controversy in Britain when it was first introduced. Some critics argued it would encourage girls to become sexually active at a younger age.
"The vaccination program may give young people a false sense of security and lead them to think that, because they have been vaccinated, they are protected against the worst effects of sexual promiscuity and can, therefore, engage in casual sex without consequence," said Norman Wells of the Family Education Trust charity.
Morton's death comes as doctors begin to give children a vaccine against swine flu in a clinical trial. Doctors across England have begun administering one of two vaccines to 1,000 children between the ages of 6 months and 12 years. One of the vaccines is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline and the other by Baxter. The trial aims to see which one is most effective on children.

U.S. home prices up in July for third straight month

Posted Tue, 09/29/2009 - 06:54 by admin

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
U.S. home prices in July rose for the third straight month, surpassing forecasts and suggesting that the housing market is stabilizing after a three-year plunge.

The S&P/Case-Shiller composite index of house prices in 20 metropolitan areas rose 1.6 percent in July from June, more than triple the estimate of a 0.5 percent rise found in a Reuters poll. The index rose 1.4 percent the month before, S&P said on Tuesday.

The 10-city index gained 1.7 percent in July after a 1.4 percent rise the previous month.

The data relieved investor concerns about the impact of a weak housing market on the economy and U.S. stocks opened higher. The U.S. dollar strengthened against the yen, while U.S. Treasury bonds added to losses after the stronger-than expected reading.

"The upshot is that the housing market is starting to clear ever so slightly," said Pierre Ellis, senior economist at Decision Economics.

A record stockpile of foreclosed homes have been exerting pressure on home prices overall, but recent home sales reports show an easing up of the massive unsold inventory.

"That sustains hope that housing will get to a stable place which is good news for consumer balance sheets and, ultimately, for the economy," Ellis said.

A first-time buyer credit of $8,000, which ends on November 30, has jump-started housing activity this year but there are concerns about the impact when this incentive disappears.

"These figures continue to support an indication of stabilization in national real estate values, but we do need to be cautious in coming months to assess whether the housing market will weather the expiration of the Federal First-Time Buyer's Tax Credit in November, anticipated higher unemployment rates and a possible increase in foreclosures," David Blitzer, chairman of the index committee at S&P, said in a statement.

The monthly price increases helped the annual rates, with the yearly pace of declines in home prices slowing to a 12.8 percent drop in the 10-city index and 13.3 percent downturn in the 20-city index.

All 20 metro areas showed an improvement in the annual rate of decline in July compared with June. On a monthly basis, only Seattle and Las Vegas showed declines.

Average home prices across the United States are now at levels seen in the autumn of 2003.

Prices have plummeted 33.5 percent for the 10-city index and 32.6 percent for the 20-city index from the peak in the second quarter of 2006, S&P said.

Despite the overall improvement, annual rates for all metro areas and the two composites remain in negative territory, with 14 of the 20 metro areas and both composites in double digits, S&P said.

(Additional reporting by Ellen Freilich)

EPA tells schools to test aging caulk for PCBs

Posted Tue, 09/29/2009 - 05:33 by admin

WASHINGTON – Hundreds of school buildings across the United States have caulk around windows and doors containing potentially cancer-causing PCBs, the Environmental Protection Agency says.
The danger to students is uncertain, and EPA does not know for sure how many schools could be affected. But the agency is telling schools that they should test old caulk and remove it if PCBs turn up in significant amounts.
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said PCBs remain in schools and many other buildings built before the chemicals were banned in the late 1970s.
"We're concerned about the potential risks associated with exposure to these PCBs, and we're recommending practical, common sense steps to reduce this exposure as we improve our understanding of the science," Jackson said in a news release issued Friday.
The agency said it would conduct new research into the link between PCBs in caulk and in the air, which it said is not well understood. Studies in European countries have shown that PCBs in caulk contribute to dust and air inside schools and other buildings.
EPA now recommends testing for PCBs in peeling, brittle, cracking or deteriorating caulk in schools and other buildings that were built or renovated between 1950 and 1978. The caulk should be removed if PCBs are found at significant levels, the agency said. The agency also will conduct its own tests on PCBs in schools.
The law already requires that building owners remove caulk if they discover very high levels of PCBs. But proper removal is very expensive.
"It's a huge disincentive for building owners," said Robert Herrick of Harvard's School of Public Health. "If you look for it and find it, you have to report it to the EPA and remove it, so why would you look for it in the first place?"
He said Berkshire Community College in Massachusetts saw an approximately $2 million project for window replacement and renovation increase to $5 million after engineers tested caulk and found PCBs.
Earlier this month, a Bronx, N.Y., mother sued New York City over PCBs in caulk at her daughter's public school.
New York City schools spokeswoman Ann Forte declined to comment on the lawsuit, but said the school system is "engaged in positive and productive discussions with EPA to develop and agree on a plan to address PCBs in New York City schools."
Federal officials said the issue was serious but should not be cause for alarm. The agency recommended these steps for buildings of that age:
_Don't sweep with dry brooms or use dusters in places near caulk that might contain PCBs, and clean frequently with a wet or damp cloth.
_Clean air ducts, improve ventilation by opening windows and use exhaust fans and vacuums with high-efficiency air filters.
_Wash hands with soap and water often, especially before eating or drinking, and wash children's toys often.
The agency also set up a PCBs in caulk hot line, 1-888-835-5372, and Web site, http://www.epa.gov/pcbsincaulk/.
PCBs, known formally as polychlorinated biphenyls, are chemicals that were widely used in construction and electrical materials — they made caulk more flexible — before they were banned 30 years ago. PCBs can hurt the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems and can cause cancer if they build up in the body over long periods of time.
Hundreds of the 80,000 public school buildings across the country were built between 1950 and 1978, though it is difficult to say exactly how many.

A decade-old Education Department report said the average building was 40 years old, and the Rebuild America's Schools coalition says that two-thirds of schools have an environmental problem such as the presence of cancer-causing asbestos or radon gas, lead in water and paint, leaking underground storage tanks or cancer-causing radon gas.

Cap Cana Villa Rental

Posted Tue, 09/29/2009 - 04:36 by admin

http://www.capcanaluxuryvilla.com/capcana.html

Cap Cana is a tourism development with an investment of upwards of two billion dollars in the eastern lands of the Dominican Republic. This area renown for its great hotels and beaches, lacks exclusivity to the high upper class which Cap Cana hopes, in part, to offer. The area was conceived with the backing both financially and publicly of "elites" such as Donald Trump, Jack Nicklaus, and other holders.

Cap Cana's area includes more than one-hundred and twenty millon square meters of land, of which twenty-five million will be developed in its first phase. It also includes 8 kilometers of beach and coasts, 5 of which are considered to be among the most spectacular in the Caribbean, locally considered to be neck-in-neck to the beaches of Bahia de Las Aguilas (literally, Bay of the Eagles) located in the southwestern municipality of Perdernales- often referred by past visitors as some of the most beautiful in the world.

Ultrasound Equipment

Posted Tue, 09/29/2009 - 02:42 by admin

The heart is a muscular organ in all vertebrates responsible for pumping blood through the blood vessels by repeated, rhythmic contractions, or a similar structure in annelids, mollusks, and arthropods. The term cardiac (as in cardiology) means "related to the heart" and comes from the Greek καρδιά, kardia, for "heart."

From splachnopleuric mesoderm tissue, the cardiogenic plate develops cranially and laterally to the neural plate. In the cardiogenic plate, two separate angiogenic cell clusters form on either side of the embryo. Each cell cluster coalesces to form an endocardial tube continuous with a dorsal aorta and a vitteloumbilical vein. As embryonic tissue continues to fold, the two endocardial tubes are pushed into the thoracic cavity and begin to fuse together and are completely fused at approximately 21 days.
At 21 days after conception, the human heart begins beating at 70 to 80 beats per minute and accelerates linearly for the first month of beating.

Ultrasound Equipment

Irregular Heartbeat Risk Higher in Women With Type 2 Diabetes (HealthDay)

Posted Tue, 09/29/2009 - 02:39 by admin

MONDAY, Sept. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Women with type 2 diabetes
have a 26 percent increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation, a
potentially life-threatening irregular heartbeat, new findings
suggest.

The overall incidence of atrial fibrillation was 3.6 percent among
people with type 2 diabetes, while the rate for people without the
metabolic condition was only 2.5 percent, according to the study, which
will be published in the October issue of Diabetes Care.

"We found that people with diabetes have about a 44 percent higher
prevalence of atrial fibrillation," said study author Gregory Nichols, an
investigator at Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Portland,
Ore. "When we stratified the data by sex, the association was still
elevated for men -- but not statistically significant -- but for women, it
was still statistically significant."

The researchers were not able to tease out from the data in this study
why women with diabetes might have a higher rate of atrial fibrillation.
The authors theorize that diabetes may affect the cardiac autonomic nerves
in much the same way the disease damages peripheral nerves and causes a
condition known as peripheral neuropathy.

Not everyone is convinced that cardiac neuropathy is to blame, however.
"In people with diabetes, the cluster of other cardiac risk factors, like
obesity and hypertension, increases the risk of atrial fibrillation," said
Dr. Howard Weintraub, clinical director of the Center for the Prevention
of Cardiovascular Disease at the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York
City.

Diabetes is a known risk factor for heart disease. As many as 65
percent of people with diabetes will die from heart disease and stroke,
according to the American Diabetes Association. Death rates from heart
disease are up to four times higher for people with diabetes when compared
to people without diabetes.

The current study culled data from more than 10,000 members of an HMO
diabetes registry who had type 2 diabetes, and then matched them by age
and sex to more than 7,000 people without diabetes. The study period was
January 1999 through December 2008.

Over an average follow-up time of about seven years, people with type 2
diabetes developed 9.1 cases of atrial fibrillation per 1,000
person-years, according to the study. During the same period, there were
6.6 cases (per 1,000 person-years) of atrial fibrillation in people
without diabetes.

When the researchers adjusted the data to account for other factors,
such as obesity and high blood pressure, they found that the increased
risk of atrial fibrillation in people with type 2 diabetes only remained
for women.

Nichols said that this information is important for doctors to know
because they might not always look for atrial fibrillation in women.

But, he added, in this study, "among women, diabetes was a stronger
predictor of atrial fibrillation than obesity and elevated blood
pressure."

Weintraub pointed out that this study didn't include comparisons of
echocardiograms (an imaging test of the heart), which would have allowed
researchers to assess heart health at the start of the study, and ensure
that no one with preexisting, but undiagnosed, heart disease was included.
Additionally, the researchers didn't look to see if blood sugar control
made a difference in the rates of atrial fibrillation.

"Diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which heart disease risk factors
cluster," said Weintraub. He added that one important take-away message
from this study is to try to aggressively control your weight and blood
pressure levels, particularly if you have diabetes, because it increases
your risk of atrial fibrillation and other forms of heart disease.

More information

For more on heart disease and diabetes, as well as tips for improving
your cardiovascular health, visit the American Diabetes Association.

Afghan government must earn people's trust: Clinton

Posted Tue, 09/29/2009 - 02:21 by admin

NEW YORK (AFP) –
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told her Afghan counterpart Monday that President Hamid Karzai's government must earn its people's trust by tackling charges of election fraud, a US official said.

Clinton told Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta during a meeting in New York that he is "a strong voice for the need for the rule of law and good governance," the State Department official told reporters.

"She said that it was really important that the government earn the trust of the Afghan people, letting the process play out on elections," that were held on August 20, the official said on the condition of anonymity.

"The foreign minister agreed about the need to earn the trust of the Afghan people," the US official said.

"The Afghans have to do this, play out this process of dealing with the allegations of fraud really in the next few weeks," he said.

Based on preliminary results, incumbent president Karzai has 54.6 percent of the votes declared valid, against 27.8 percent for Abdullah Abdullah, Karzai's main rival and the former foreign minister.

The result however will not be finalized until several electoral fraud investigations are resolved.

If a significant number of votes are invalidated, Karzai's score could edge below 50 percent, forcing him into a run-off vote with Abdullah.

Abdullah vowed on Sunday to monitor investigations into alleged electoral fraud "to the end."

The Washington Post reported on Monday that the United States and NATO countries with forces in Afghanistan have told Karzai's government they believe he will be re-elected despite problems with the vote.

Washington and the NATO countries also told the Karzai administration that they will support the Afghan leader's policy of seeking to get Taliban fighters to defect, the Post reported, citing unnamed US officials.