Israel Shells UN Headquarters In Gaza

IBRAHIM BARZAK and AMY TEIBEL | January 15, 2009 07:39 AM EST |
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Israeli forces shelled the United Nations headquarters in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, setting fire to the compound filled with hundreds of refugees as U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon was in the region on a mission to end Israel's devastating offensive against the territory's Hamas rulers.
Ban expressed "outrage" over the bombing. He said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told him there had been a "grave mistake" and promised to pay extra attention to protecting U.N. installations. The Israeli military had no immediate comment on the bombing, which a U.N. official said injured at least three people.
Even as a top Israeli envoy went to Egypt to discuss a cease-fire proposal, the military pushed farther into Gaza in an apparent effort to step up pressure on Hamas. Ground forces thrust deep into a crowded neighborhood for the first time, sending terrified residents fleeing for cover.
Shells also struck a hospital, five high-rise apartment buildings and a building housing media outlets in Gaza City, injuring several journalists.
Bullets entered another building housing The Associated Press offices, entering a room where two staffers were working but wounding no one. The Foreign Press Association, representing journalists covering Israel and the Palestinian territories, demanded a halt to attacks on press buildings.
The army has collected the locations of media organizations to avoid such attacks.
Israel launched its war on Dec. 27 in an effort to stop militant rocket fire from Gaza that has terrorized hundreds of thousands of Israelis. Some 1,100 Palestinians have been killed, roughly half of them civilians, according to U.N. and Palestinian medical officials. Thirteen Israelis also have died.
Israel says it will press ahead with the campaign until it receives guarantees of a complete halt to rocket fire and an end to weapons smuggling into Gaza from neighboring Egypt.
Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said there was "momentum" in negotiations and Israel was hopeful that a deal on its terms was "close and attainable."
Barak, visiting soldiers on a southern base, said the fighting would continue but Israel's eyes were "also open to the possibility of winding up this operation and consummating Israel's exceptional results and accomplishments through diplomacy."
Ban, who arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday morning from Egypt, said he was "outraged" by the attack on the U.N. headquarters.
"I conveyed my strong protest and outrage to the defense minister and foreign minister and demanded a full explanation," Ban said. He said Barak told him there had been a "grave mistake" and promised to pay extra attention to protecting U.N. installations.
The U.N. compound in Gaza had only that morning become a makeshift shelter for hundreds of Gaza City residents seeking sanctuary from relentless Israeli shelling, said a U.N. official in Gaza. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.
But shortly after, a shell hit the school, wounding three people, the official said. Two other shells hit a warehouse housing humanitarian supplies and a U.N. parking lot, he said.
The U.N. compound houses the U.N. Works and Relief Agency, which distributes food aid to hundreds of thousands of destitute Gazans in the tiny seaside territory of 1.4 million people.
U.N. spokesmen confirmed that at least three people were wounded but said the fire and smoke engulfing the compound made it impossible to know if it had been completely evacuated.
U.N. spokesman Adnan Abu Hasna said the U.N. had given Israel the coordinates of the building and the compound was also clearly marked with U.N. flags and logos. Large stocks of food and fuel used to supply hospital and water pumps were at risk of destruction, as were valuable U.N. archives dating back to 1948, Abu Hasna said.
Hours earlier, thousands of residents had fled their homes with the advance of Israeli ground troops into Gaza City's Tel Hawwa neighborhood. Many were clad only in their pajamas, and some were wheeling elderly parents in wheelchairs, one of them with an oxygen tank. Others stopped journalists' armored cars and ambulances pleading for someone to take them to a U.N. compound or to relatives' homes.
Rasha Hassam, a 25-year-old engineer, ran out of her apartment building carrying her screaming, crying, 6-year-old daughter, Dunia.
"God help us, God help us, where can we flee?" she cried. "All I want is to get my poor child away from here. We want to survive."
Thousands of others were trapped in Tel Hawwa's high-rise buildings by the fire, too afraid to even attempt to flee.
Three shells hit the Al Quds hospital in the neighborhood, setting its pharmacy building ablaze, trapping about 400 patients and staff inside the main hospital building, said Khaled Abu Zeid, a medic inside the building reached on his mobile phone. Gunfire was also reported around the building. It was not clear how many people inside had been wounded in the fighting.
In the nearby downtown area, Israeli tanks fired shells at five high-rise buildings, Palestinian witnesses said.
Israeli defense officials said the intensified assault on Gaza City was not a prelude to a new phase of all-out urban warfare in the narrow alleyways of Gaza's big cities, where Hamas militants are more familiar with the lay of the land and Israeli casualties would be liable to spiral. The aim, they said, was to heat up the pressure on Hamas to accede to Israel's demands.
"I think Israel is seeking in the last moments to escalate the military operation to pressure the parties," said Ghazi Hamad, a Hamas official. "I don't think this will change the issues on the table."
The intensified assault on Gaza City highlighted the urgency of diplomatic efforts, the most high-profile being the arrival in the region of Ban, who was meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders on Thursday. Last week, the U.N. Security Council passed a cease-fire resolution that Hamas and Israel have ignored.
Ban met on Thursday with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and afterward put the onus on the Israeli government.
"We have some elements now in place which may allow a cease fire to come fairly soon," he told a news conference. "I hope so, but that depends on the political will of the Israeli government."
He said a full-fledged truce agreement did not have to be worked out before violence ceased.
"You can discuss terms and conditions later, my demand is to cease firing immediately," he said, acknowleging that he had come "with a heavy heart" at what he called a "difficult time for Israel."
"I'm well aware that rockets have been fired at Israeli civilians for years from Gaza," he said. "I have always condemned these as acts of terrorism and said they must cease."
Rocket fire has fallen off dramatically but not ceased and on Thursday the military reported 14 firings.
Ban will also meet with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank, where Western-backed President Mahmoud Abbas governs. He will not visit Gaza, which has been ruled by Hamas since it expelled forces loyal to Abbas in June 2007. The international community does not recognize Hamas' government.
Egypt has been pressing both sides to accept a 10-day truce while details of a more comprehensive accord can be worked out. Under the Egyptian proposal, Hamas would back off its demand that Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza and borders be opened immediately as part of any halt in fighting.
Instead, Israeli forces would remain in place during the 10-day period until details on border security are worked out, Egyptian and Palestinian officials close to the talks told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the closed-door negotiations.
A senior Israeli official said it was far from certain Israel would accept the deal. He said Israel was afraid Hamas would not respect a cease-fire as long as troops were in Gaza.
In Damascus, Hamas deputy chief Moussa Abou Marzouk told Al-Arabiya television that Hamas demands an immediate cease-fire, to be followed by Israeli troop withdrawal and the opening of the border for humanitarian aid.
A long-term truce would be discussed later, Marzouk said.

Using mouthwash could increase risk of cancer by nine times, claim scientists
Published Date: 13 January 2009
MOUTHWASHES containing alcohol can cause oral cancer and should be removed from supermarket shelves, a dental health study claims.
Scientists say there is now "sufficient evidence" that such mouthwashes contribute to an increased risk of the disease.

The ethanol in mouthwash is thought to allow cancer-causing substances to permeate the lining of the mouth.

"Since this article, further evidence has come out, too. We believe there should be warnings. If it was a facial cream that had the effect of reducing acne but had a four to fivefold increased risk of skin cancer, no-one would be recommending it."

Professor McCullough, chair of the Australian Dental Association's therapeutics committee, said the alcohol in mouthwashes "increases the permeability" of the mucus membrane to other carcinogens, such as nicotine.

A toxic breakdown product of alcohol called acetaldehyde that may accumulate in the oral cavity when swished around the mouth is also a "known human carcinogen," he said.

Top-selling mouthwashes contain as much as 26 per cent alcohol.

Smoking and alcohol are well-established risk factors in causing cancer, but the use of mouthwash containing alcohol is more controversial.

Prof McCullough and co- author Dr Camile Farah, director of research at the University of Queensland's School of Dentistry, recommended mouthwash be restricted to "short-term" medical use or replaced by alcohol-free products.

The review reported evidence from an international study of 3,210 people, which found daily mouthwash use was a "significant risk factor" for head and neck cancer – irrespective of whether users also drank alcohol or smoked.

But the effects of mouthwash were worst in smokers, who had a ninefold increased risk of cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx and larynx. Those who also drank alcohol had more than five times the risk.

However, Professor Damien Walmsley, scientific adviser to the British Dental Association, said further research was needed to substantiate the claims.

"Excessive consumption of alcohol and tobacco are well recognised in the UK as risk factors for developing oral cancers," he said.

"This paper raises interesting issues, but the evidence showing any link between the prolonged use of mouthwashes containing alcohol and oral cancer is not conclusive, and requires further trials to establish if there is a genuine connection.

"If patients are in any doubt about using mouthwash, they should consult their dentist."

Dr Nigel Carter, the chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, rejected the findings and said: "A recent, and more thorough review of all available evidence carried out by leading experts on behalf of the foundation concluded there were no proven links between alcohol-containing mouthwashes and increased incidence of mouth cancer.

"The public should not worry."

Last night, a spokeswoman for Johnson & Johnson Ltd UK, the manufacturer of Listerine, said: "There is no scientific evidence to support an association between the use of alcohol- containing mouthwashes, such as Listerine, and an increased risk of oral cancer."

FDA Scientists Describe Corruption to Obama Transition Team

(NaturalNews) A group of federal scientists has sent a letter to President-elect Obama's transition team describing serious managerial misconduct within a division of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The letter was dated last week and was written on FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health letterhead.
"The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the scientific review process for medical devices at the FDA has been corrupted and distorted by current FDA managers, thereby placing the American people at risk," the letter states.

The Center for Devices and Radiological Health is the division responsible for oversight of medical devices like stents, breast implants, and medical imaging machinery. The scientists who were involved in sending the letter are in agreement with earlier complaints from the FDA's drug review division that involved the painkiller Vioxx years ago.

The letter includes allegations about FDA managers using intimidation tactics designed to hide scientific debate. This concealment led to the approval of medical devices that have questionable effectiveness and safety.

The letter also highlighted mammography computer-aided detection devices as an example of a technology that should never have been approved. These devices were supposed to improve the detection of breast cancer but instead they have been associated with false positive results that led to unneeded breast biopsies.

Five times FDA experts recommended against approving these devices without having better clinical evidence, according to the letter. In March of 2008 a panel of outside advisers concurred with some of the concerns of the FDA's in-house scientists. Despite these expert concerns, however, FDA managers overruled the objections and ordered approval.

The letter states that top FDA managers "committed the most outrageous misconduct by ordering, coercing and intimidating FDA physicians and scientists to recommend approval, and then retaliating when the physicians and scientists refused to go along."

Various Quotes from the Letter:

"Managers with incompatible, discordant and irrelevant scientific and clinical expertise in devices...have ignored serious safety and effectiveness concerns of FDA experts."

"Managers have ordered, intimidated, and coerced FDA experts to modify scientific evaluations, conclusions and recommendations in violation of the laws, rules and regulations, and to accept clinical and technical data that is not scientifically valid."

"Currently, there is an atmosphere at FDA in which the honest employee fears the dishonest employee, and not the other way around."

A copy of the letter was provided to The Associated Press by a congressional official.

In response to the letter, the FDA responded:

"We have been working very closely with members of the transition team and any concerns or questions they have on any issue, we will address directly with the team. Separately, the agency is actively engaged in a process to explore the staff members' concerns and take appropriate action."

Lawmakers are encouraging Obama to appoint a commissioner to look closely at the FDA. Industry officials have concerns about such an inspection contributing to delays in the approval of new drugs and devices due to lengthened scientific disputes

http://www.naturalnews.com/025314.html

Newspaper: Misuse of antibiotics "kills 80,000 a year" in China

XinHua (China Government News Site) 2009-01-12 19:45:37

BEIJING, Jan. 12 (Xinhua) -- Misuse of antibiotics kills 80,000 people in China a year due to adverse reactions, the China Youth Daily reported.
    In 2007, antibiotics were prescribed to about 74 percent of hospital patients and about 21 percent of outpatients. Those figures are far higher than in many other countries, according to the Ministry of Health.
    "Some patients and even doctors consider antibiotics as a panacea and use them often in minor illnesses. Many doctors even do not know the basic use rules for such medicines," said Wu Yongpei, an official with an experts' panel on drug use at the Ministry of Health.
    Wu noted the main reason for the excessive usage: hospitals earn more money because of the relatively high prices of antibiotics. The drugs accounted for almost 26 percent of drug sales at 124 hospitals in 2004, according to a national survey. The ratio was about 20 percent in recent years, Wu said.
    Health authorities will train up to 45,000 doctors nationwide at public hospitals from this month through February 2010 "to ensure safe, effective and economical use of antibiotics," according to the ministry

http://www.xinhuanet.com/

Retired Couples Urged to Set Aside $225,000 to Cover Health Care Costs

 (NaturalNews) The average couple retiring in 2008 will need $225,000 just to cover its health care costs, according to a report published by Fidelity Investments.

"Health-care costs have the potential to significantly erode an individual's retirement savings," said Brad Kimler, senior vice president of Fidelity Employer Services. "Knowing that these costs are only going to continue to increase, all Americans, even those as far as 20 years away from retirement, should be calculating and factoring lifelong health-care expenses into their overall financial planning."

The report assumes that a couple retires at 65, with the woman living to 85 and the man to 82. The calculated costs include 32 percent for Medicare part B and D premiums, 35 percent for Medicare co-payments, co-insurance, deductibles and excluded benefits, and 33 percent for out-of-pocket prescription drug costs.

The current estimate is 4.7 percent higher than the 2007 estimate of $215,000, making health care one of the fastest rising costs for retired people in the United States. The average yearly increase has been 5.8 percent since 2002.

The $225,000 figure does not include most dental expenses, over-the-counter drugs or long-term medical care.

Another study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College calculated the average retirement health-care costs of an individual as $102,000, a very similar figure.

These estimates assume that retirees do not have an employer-provided health plan. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, two-thirds of retirees now find themselves in this situation in comparison to only one third in 1998.

Some savings accounts are designed to help people save for retirement health expenses. One of these, the health savings account (HSA), allows tax-exempt health-related withdrawals after retirement, but only for those who also buy a qualified health insurance policy with a high deductible. Due to their limited coverage, HSA-compatible health plans tend to be cheaper than plans with lower deductibles.

http://www.naturalnews.com/025308.html

Sunflower paste offers cheaper alternative to almond in bakery

Nutraingredients.com, 14-Jan-2009

SunOpta has developed its line of sunflower-based ingredients to include a sunflower paste designed to be used in the same way as almond paste in bakery and confectionery products.
Sunzipan Sunflower Paste is made from roasted sunflower kernels which are ground and then sweetened, and the company is promoting it as a shelf-stable, highly nutritious ingredient to which fewer people are allergic than tree nut pastes.
Nuts are generally considered to be value-adding ingredients, and the company said Sunzipan adds “highly desired nutty flavor” at a lower cost than using tree nuts.

Distinctive flavor
The company’s director of North American ingredient sales, Ellen Bragg, told FoodNavigatorUSA.com that the company had been interested in making a sunflower-based equivalent to a bakery ingredient that was already well-known. The name itself, she explained, is a nod to marzipan, while it acknowledges the ingredient’s sunflower origin, and the company is in the process of trademarking it.
She said: “It is not treated with almond flavoring – that would be another option – but the sunflower flavor is distinctive and delicious ‘as itself’…By making a condiment rich in sunflower, we felt this was a new way to incorporate sunflower nutrition into bakery products. Formerly only tree nut based options were available.”
SunOpta grows hybrid varietal sunflower kernels, including some varieties that are high in oleic acid, which is known to improve shelf life and stability by its antioxidant properties. Oleic acid is a monounsaturated fatty acid which is said to be beneficial to heart health.
Cost-effective
The development of the new ingredient comes as many companies are looking to replace their more expensive ingredients with cheaper ones, without sacrificing consumer acceptance of taste and texture.
Bragg said: “Sunflower paste is also a third less expensive than almond paste, so it may enjoy interest from our bakery trade to evaluate less costly condiments at a time in our economy when cost containment is highly valued.”
According to the Food Allergy and Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN), more than 12 million Americans – or four per cent of the population – suffer from a food allergy. FAAN says that approximately 3.3 million Americans are allergic to either tree or peanuts, but while sunflower allergy is considered to be rare, “reliable figures aren’t available.”

Sunflower-paste-offers-cheaper-alternative-to-almond-in-bakery

Carotenoids may boost bone health: Study

Nutraingredients.com, 15-Jan-2009

Antioxidant pigments from plants may protect against bone loss in older men and women, according to a new study funded by the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.
An increased intake of carotenoids, and particularly lycopene, was associated with some level of protection against losses in bone mineral density (BMD) at the lumbar spine in women and at the hip in men, according to data published in this month’s American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Researchers from Tufts University, Hebrew SeniorLife, and Boston University, studied data from 213 men and 390 women over the age of 75 participating in the Framingham Osteoporosis Study. The participants were followed for four years.
“These results suggest a possible protective effect of carotenoids, particularly of lycopene, against bone loss in older adults,” wrote the researchers, led by Katherine Tucker. “It is therefore possible that carotenoids explain part of the previously observed protective effects of fruit and vegetable intake on BMD.”
Bone health is becoming a major segment of the supplements and functional foods market, as ageing populations and the additional strain from obesity swell the numbers affected by osteoporosis. Already the lifetime risk for a woman to have an osteoporotic fracture is 30-40 per cent and in men the risk is about 13 per cent.

Study details
Tucker and her co-workers measured the intakes of total and individual carotenoids, including alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, and lutein plus zeaxanthin. Intakes were assessed using a 126-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). They then correlated this with the participants’ BMD at the hip, spine, and radial shaft.
At the end of study, the researchers noted a link between intakes of lycopene and the change over four years in the BMD of the lumbar spine in women. Moreover, this carotenoid was linked to changes in the hips of men. BMD in the hips of men was also associated with intakes of total carotenoids, beta-carotene, and lutein plus zeaxanthin, said the researchers.

Mechanism
The researchers proposed that the carotenoids may play a protective role in skeletal health via their antioxidant activity. Previous reports have suggested that oxidative stress may increase bone resorption. Other mechanisms may also be responsible for these effects, they added.
“The current study is unique in that it uses a large population-based cohort that included both elderly men and women,” wrote the researchers.
“In summary, although we observed few cross-sectional associations between carotenoid intakes and BMD, we observed several inverse associations between carotenoids (except for beta-cryptoxanthin and alpha-carotene) and four-year loss in BMD in men and of lycopene and bone loss at the lumbar spine in women.
“More studies are needed to examine these associations in other populations,” they concluded.
Source: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
January 2009, Volume 89, Number 1, Pages 416-424
“Inverse association of carotenoid intakes with 4-y change in bone mineral density in elderly men and women: the Framingham Osteoporosis Study”
Authors: S. Sahni, M.T. Hannan, J. Blumberg, L.A. Cupples, D.P. Kiel, K.L. Tucker

Carotenoids-may-boost-bone-health-Study

Early Childhood Diet May Influence Future Health

ScienceDaily (Jan. 15, 2009) — If you have trouble keeping weight off and you're wondering why – the surprising answer may well be the cheeseburgers you ate – when you were a toddler.
Surprising new research by University of Calgary, Faculty of Kinesiology researcher Dr. Raylene Reimer, published in an international journal, indicates a direct connection between an adult's propensity to put on weight and our early childhood diet.
Reimer is a leader in a growing field of study that examines the developmental origins of health and disease. Researchers in this area believe our pre-natal and early childhood environment influences our future risk of developing conditions like cardio vascular disease, obesity and diabetes.
"My research has shown that the food we eat changes how active certain genes in our body are – what we call genetic expression. In particular we believe that our diet has a direct influence on the genes that control how our bodies store and use nutrients," says Reimer. "There's a growing body of work that indicates a relationship between our health as adults and our early diet, and even our mother's diet. This research shows for the first time that our early childhood diet may have a huge impact on our health as adults."
Reimer's study published in the current Journal of Physiology (London,) compares three groups of rats. At a very young age the rats were weaned onto three separate diets. One group was fed a high protein diet; one group was fed a high fibre diet and a third group was fed a control diet. When the rats became adults, they were switched to a high fat, high sugar diet, which reflects the reality of the typical western diet.
The results were astonishing. The group of rats who were reared on the high protein diet as packed on much more weight and body fat than the rats who had 'grown up' eating the high-fibre diet, who put on the least amount of weight and body fat.
"I believe this study clearly shows that the composition of early childhood diet may have a direct lifelong impact on genes that control metabolism and obesity risk," says Reimer. "This study clearly indicates that diet composition alone can change the trajectory of circulating satiety hormones and metabolic pathways that influence how we gain weight or control blood sugar as adults."
The 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey conducted by Statistics Canada revealed that a majority of Canadians are now overweight. 36.1% of the population is officially overweight and an additional 23.1% of the population is officially obese (BMI of 30 or more.)

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Midlife Coffee And Tea Drinking May Protect Against Late-life Dementia

ScienceDaily (Jan. 15, 2009) — Stockholm, Sweden -- Midlife coffee drinking can decrease the risk of dementia/Alzheimer's disease (AD) later in life. This conclusion is made in a Finnish Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging and Dementia (CAIDE) Study published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.
This study has been conducted at the University of Kuopio, Finland in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden, and the National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland. The study included participants from the survivors of population-based cohorts previously surveyed within the North Karelia Project and the FINMONICA study in 1972, 1977, 1982 or 1987 (midlife visit). After an average follow-up of 21 years, 1409 individuals (71%) aged 65 to 79 completed the re-examination in 1998. A total of 61 cases were identified as demented (48 with AD).
"We aimed to study the association between coffee and tea consumption at midlife and dementia/AD risk in late-life, because the long-term impact of caffeine on the central nervous system was still unknown, and as the pathologic processes leading to Alzheimer's disease may start decades before the clinical manifestation of the disease," says lead researcher, associate professor Miia Kivipelto, from the University of Kuopio, Finland and Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
At the midlife examination, the consumption of coffee and tea was assessed with a previously validated semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. Coffee drinking was categorized into three groups: 0-2 cups (low), 3-5 cups (moderate) and >5 cups (high) per day. Further, the question concerning tea consumption was dichotomized into those not drinking tea (0 cup/day) vs. those drinking tea (≥1 cup/day).
The study found that coffee drinkers at midlife had lower risk for dementia and AD later in life compared to those drinking no or only little coffee. The lowest risk (65% decreased) was found among moderate coffee drinkers (drinking 3-5 cups of coffee/day). Adjustments for various confounders did not change the results. Tea drinking was relatively uncommon and was not associated with dementia/AD.
Kivipelto also notes that, "Given the large amount of coffee consumption globally, the results might have important implications for the prevention of or delaying the onset of dementia/AD. The finding needs to be confirmed by other studies, but it opens the possibility that dietary interventions could modify the risk of dementia/AD. Also, identification of mechanisms of how coffee exerts its protection against dementia/AD might help in the development of new therapies for these diseases."

Marjo H. Eskelinen, Tiia Ngandu, Jaakko Tuomilehto, Hilkka Soininen, Miia Kivipelto. Midlife Coffee and Tea Drinking and the Risk of Late-Life Dementia: A Population-based CAIDE Study. Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 16(1), xx-xx

science daily

Nations That Sow Food Crops For Biofuels May Reap Less Than Previously Thought

ScienceDaily (Jan. 15, 2009) — Global yields of most biofuels crops, including corn, rapeseed and wheat, have been overestimated by 100 to 150 percent or more, suggesting many countries need to reset their expectations of agricultural biofuels to a more realistic level.
That's according to a study led by Matt Johnston and Tracey Holloway of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and Jon Foley of University of Minnesota, which drew on actual agricultural data from nearly 240 countries to calculate the potential yields of 20 different biofuels worldwide.
The analysis, publishing Jan. 13 in the open-access journal Environmental Research Letters, indicates the biofuels production potential in both developing and developed countries has often been exaggerated. Why? Because current yield estimates, most of which are based on data from the United States and Europe, don't account for local differences in climate, soils, technology and other factors that influence agricultural outputs.
By offering an analysis of detailed, regional yield data that do encompass this variability, the scientists hope to empower wiser choices by countries about whether to invest in ethanol or biodiesel, which crops to plant, and how best to use existing farmlands. Although agricultural biofuels have been sharply criticized for their impacts on the environment and food supply, the reality is they're here to stay, say the researchers, at least until alternatives such as cellulosic ethanol are developed. And that makes the availability of sound information critical.
"The biofuels industry has grown at an incredible rate. It's a multibillion-dollar industry now," says Johnston, a graduate student in the Nelson Institute's Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE). So, what we've tried to do is move beyond the back-of-the-envelope calculation -- the time for that is over. We need to look at better data sources and make more informed decisions."
"In the past," he explains, policymakers, companies and farmers have based decisions about biofuels in part on "yield tables," which make simple side-by-side comparisons of the fuel yield per unit of land for various crops; for example, the amount of ethanol a hectare of sugarcane will generate versus a hectare of corn.
The problem with these widely quoted tables, says Johnston, is the original sources of the numbers usually aren't cited, making it impossible to gauge their validity. What's more, the tables typically select a single value -- often from just one country or even a single farm -- to represent the yield of each crop regardless of where it's grown.
"Often these are very optimistic numbers and they're chosen to promote biofuels," says Johnston. "So they usually (represent) the highest-yield, best-case scenario."
To take a more sober look, Johnston turned to a global agricultural database, developed at SAGE, which provides actual yields of 175 crops, circa the year 2000, at a resolution of roughly five miles by five miles across the entire globe. After tapping it for yields of 10 biodiesel crops, such as soybean, rapeseed and oil palm, and 10 ethanol feedstocks, including corn, rice and wheat, Johnston calculated and mapped the amount of biofuel that could be produced per hectare in every possible country by crop combination -- some 3,000 in all.
To evaluate his numbers against published yield table values, he then computed a global average yield for each of the 20 fuels, as well as the average yields of each in both developed and developing nations as a whole.
What he found were large gaps between the yield table numbers and his own, especially for developing countries. For instance, while his calculation for the average yield of corn ethanol in developed countries matched well with current yield table estimates, the average yield of developing countries was nearly 100 percent lower.
Such disparities weren't restricted to the developing world either. Canada, for example, is one of the world's largest producers of rapeseed. Yet, Johnston calculated its average yield of rapeseed biodiesel at just 550 liters per hectare -- nearly half the estimates in yield tables, and well below the average for other developed nations.
Researchers at SAGE and University of Minnesota plan next to compare yields of biofuels in areas with similar climates, and then study how differences in management practices, such as irrigation or fertilizer use, may be contributing to gaps in production. The idea is to help countries get the most from existing farmlands, so they'll put less new land to the plow and can better balance investment in biofuels against other needs, such as food security. But first they just need better data.
"This is not a one-dimensional issue and just knowing the crop yields isn't going to tell you what the best solution is," says Holloway. "But if you're going to be making land use decisions related to biofuels, it's critical that you at least know what you're going to get from a plot of land."
 The paper's other authors are Chris Kucharik, SAGE, and Chad Monfreda, Arizona State University.

science daily

Inflammation Contributes to Colon Cancer

ScienceDaily (Jan. 15, 2009) — Researchers led by Dr. Brian Iritani at The University of Washington found that mice that lack the immune inhibitory molecule Smad3 are acutely sensitive to both bacterially-induced inflammation and cancer.
Bacteria contribute to the development of certain cancers, in some measure, by stimulating chronic inflammation. Absence of a molecule that inhibits inflammation, Smad3, may therefore increase susceptibility to colon cancer.
To examine whether Smad3 signaling contributes to development of colon cancer, Maggio-Price et al examined mice deficient in Smad3 that lack of adaptive immune responses. They found that these mice are acutely sensitive to bacterially-induced inflammation and cancer due to both deficient T regulatory cell function and increased expression of proinflammatory cytokines. Through increased expression of both pro-oncogenic and anti-apoptotic proteins, epithelial cells in colonic tissues underwent both enhanced proliferation and survival.
"That the inflammatory response to microorganisms is a key event in these results reveals important 'tumor-suppressive' functions for Smad3 in T effector cells, T regulatory cells, and intestinal epithelial cells, all of which may normally limit the development of colon cancer in response to bacterial inflammation," explains Dr. Iritani's group.

Maggio-Price L, Treuting P, Bielefeldt-Ohmann H, Seamons A, Drivdahl R, Zeng W, Lai L-H, Huycke M, Phelps S, Brabb T1, Iritani BM. Bacterial infection of Smad3/Rag2 double-null mice with TGF beta dysregulation as a model for studying inflammation-associated colon cancer. Am J Pathol, 2009, 174:317-329

science daily

Physical Activity Improves Mood For People Serious Mental Illness

ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2009) — A new study from Indiana University suggests that even meager levels of physical activity can improve the mood of people with serious mental illnesses (SMI) such as bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia.
The study, published in the November issue of the "International Journal of Social Psychiatry," both reinforces earlier findings that people with SMI demonstrate low levels of physical activity and supports the consideration of physical activity as a regular part of psychiatric rehabilitation.
"We found a positive association between physical activity level and positive mood when low to moderate levels of physical activity are considered," said study author Bryan McCormick, associate professor in IU's Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Studies. "Physical activity interventions that require lower levels of exertion might be more conducive to improving transitory mood, or the ups and downs people with SMI experience throughout the day."
McCormick said physical activity often is advocated in addition to psychiatric treatment for people with SMI because of the significant health concerns common to this population. The low levels of physical activity also common to this population poses a major hurdle, however. For this study, physical activity is considered most forms of sustained movement, such as house cleaning, gardening, walking for transportation or formal exercise.
"The challenge is how to use naturally motivating activities that people have in their everyday lives to get them out and engaged," McCormick said.
The study
For seven consecutive days, researchers randomly paged study participants, who then filled out questionnaires about their mood and recent activities. The responses were matched with data collected during the previous 10 minutes using small light-weight accelerometers worn by the study participants. The equipment measured activity levels and duration. McCormick said this is the first time these research methods were combined, allowing researchers to look at study participants' daily ups and downs as they occur rather than trying to average the experiences.
The study involved 11 people from the U.S. and 12 people from Serbia. Central Europe is experiencing a shift from institutional care to community care for its citizens with SMI, similar to the shift seen in the U.S. in the 1970s. McCormick's research has been examining this, too, in comparison to U.S. populations. The findings were surprising in this particular study. "I was expecting a higher level of physical activity within the population of Eastern Europeans," he said. "We didn't see any differences."
The average physical activity level for both groups was comparable to that of sedentary adults, less than that of adults with a developmental disability and considerably less than that of active adults, according to earlier research by study co-author Georgia Frey, associate professor in IU's Department of Kinesiology.
The least active experiences captured in this study correlated with less positive moods.
The study notes that walking is one of the most frequently advocated forms of physical activity in psychiatric rehabilitation programs. Such programs, according to the study, would appear to afford both physiological and psychological benefits.
Co-authors include Frey; Chien-Tsung Lee, IU Department of Kinesiology, School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation; Sanghee Chun, IU School of HPER's Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Studies; Jim Sibthorp, University of Utah, Salt Lake City; Tomislav Gajic, M.D., Branka Stamatovic-Gajic, M.D., and Milena Maksimovich, Department of Psychiatry, Health Centre Valjevo, Valjevo, Serbia.

Mccormick et al. Predicting Transitory Mood From Physical Activity Level Among People With Severe Mental Illness in Two Cultures. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2008; 54 (6): 527 DOI: 10.1177/0020764008091423

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Breakthrough In Treating Premature Babies: Omega 3 Fatty Acid Supplement

ScienceDaily (Jan. 14, 2009) — Adelaide researchers have made a world breakthrough in treating premature babies at risk of developmental disorders.
A six-year study led by Dr Maria Makrides from the Women's & Children's Health Research Institute and Professor Bob Gibson from the University of Adelaide has demonstrated that high doses of fatty acids administered to pre-term infants via their mother's breast milk or infant formula can help their mental development.
Researchers found that a major lipid in the brain - the omega-3 fatty acid known as Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) - is not developed sufficiently in babies born before 33 weeks' gestation, leading to possible impaired mental development.
To counter this, increased doses of DHA (1000mg per day) were administered to lactating mothers with pre-term infants, in the form of tuna oil capsules. If required, infants were given supplementary formula with matching DHA levels.
Of 657 premature babies tested in a trial involving five Australian hospitals, about 50% fewer infants on high-DHA diets had significantly delayed mental development compared with low DHA diets.
Premature girls in particular who were exposed to DHA-rich diets showed much better mental development than girls fed the low DHA diet.
Professor Gibson said his team was at a loss to explain why premature male babies - who are more susceptible to cognitive problems - did not respond to the same extent, with no obvious differences in mental development between the control group and those administered high doses of DHA.
"Boys may have a faster metabolic rate than girls and need higher doses of DHA to make a difference," he said. "We need to do a lot more work in this area to find out why."
Infants weighing less than 1250gm (about a third of a full-term baby's weight) who were fed a high-DHA diet also scored better on the mental development scale, with a 40% reduction in the incidence of mild mental delay.
The project was primarily funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, with the University of Adelaide and Women's and Children's Health Research Institute (WCHRI) now in the process of formalising a joint venture agreement in the area of food, nutrition and health.
The findings were published January 14 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

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