dawnmyst

Japan procrastinated 3.pro.0003003 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2009-08-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

On September 6, 1941 Ambassador Oshima made a report concerning Germany's growing economic control over the Balkan States with the exception of Turkey. He declared that since Germany's imports were in excess of its exports especially in its trade with Rumania, it had resorted to changing the exchange rate in its own favor. In addition to this Germany had exported large quantities of arms to these countries, thus strengthening itself militarily as well as adjusting its trade balance.

Ambassador Oshima also revealed that an optimistic view prevailed in the Balkan states in regard to the new period plans[1111] which were designed to increase production since at the present time agriculture appeared to be in an extremely primitive state. However, by supplying implements and fertilizers, the German government hoped to prevent a decline in agricultural production and, depending upon such endeavor, might eventually be able to increase by 50,000 tons such oil bearing crops as soy beans. However, no general radical increase in agricultural production could be expected within the next two or three years.[1112]

According to Ambassador Oshima, by strict control, Germany was assuring itself of the Balkan supply which was larger than in previous years. The commercial and economic implications of Germany's plan to develop the River Danube water route connecting it with the Rhine to facilitate uninterrupted shipment of petroleum, grains, lumber, etc., were emphasized in regards to the future prosperity of Europe.[1113]

According to Minister Sikao Matashima the German army's activities had only slightly affected agricultural production in the Balkans, and harvest appeared even better than in previous years. There was a resulting tendency toward collaboration of additional Balkan countries with the Reich. These nations were operating under a produce pact with Germany in accordance with which they were supplying raw materials in exchange for German war materials, farm tools, medicines, etc. The mark became the unit of exchange in all trade transactions between Germany and the Balkans. Trade between the Balkan nations themselves was to be regulated in the Berlin Exchange Control Bureau with all loans to Germany being repaid by manufactured articles. This, it will be seen, established a virtual Balkan trade block in which Germany controlled an export market and would be economically sovereign. Germany now was getting more arms from the Balkans and transporting them over safer routes. Although currency exchange rates were unstable at present, Minister Matashima was confident that after Germany had won the Russian war, the situation would improve.[1114]

452. German Army Plans to Advance Along Leningrad-Sverdlovsk Railroad After Leningrad Falls

On September 3, 1941, a message transmitted from Moscow to Tokyo on the progress of Russo-German hostilities was re-broadcast to Hsinking despite the previous warning of Ambassador Oshima in Berlin that Japan should be more cautious of Russian reports. In this case, however, it was predicted that, after the capture of Leningrad, one part of the German army would advance along the line of the Leningrad-Sverdlovsk railroad and other part, the main force, would advance with the central army toward Moscow.

Should the Germans be successful in dealing Russia a knockout blow in Leningrad, Moscow, and Kharkov, it would be but a brief step to the oil fields of Grozny. With the withdrawal from these three important cities Russia would lose four-fifths of its war industries.

The same report revealed that the Soviet Republics' government outwardly appeared calm. As yet there were no signs of collapse in the Red army which stubbornly resisted the Germans

[1111] III, 836. Five or ten year plan worked out or put into effect in the Balkan States.
[1112] III, 836.
[1113] III, 837.
[1114] III, 838.

[229]

in its attempt to carry on a long war. But it was predicted that soon the army would deteriorate, and such possibilities, it was believed, were causing much concern in America and England.[1115]

On September 4, 1941, Ambassador Oshima reported activities at the front as they had been explained by a reliable German source. In this statement the encirclement of Leningrad had been completed with the occupation of Slusselburg. Among the prisoners captured during the fighting in this neighborhood were armed citizens as well as workers operating tanks. The strategy involved in taking the city was to rely principally upon shelling and bombing and to avoid street fighting.

With regard to activities in the Kiev area it was believed that since Soviet forces to the east could no longer retreat, mopping-up activities would be completed in the following week.

German forces had crossed the Dnieper River all along the line from Dnepropetrovsk south and were gaining steadily.[1116]

453. Rumors of Mobilization on Bulgarian-Turkish Border Disproved

From Turkey came rumblings of massive troop concentrations on the Bulgarian-Turkish border. In order to obtain first-hand information Japanese representatives there made an official trip to Bulgaria, where it was discovered that not more than eleven Bulgarian divisions and not more than five German regiments were located. Hence, although at first it had been thought that Field Marshal Sigmund Liszt's army was stationed there, later data seemed to disprove this theory.

With regard to Turkish-German relations, it was believed that Germany would not be inclined to hurry her negotiations until the eastern front had been brought under control even though trade negotiations had been scheduled to begin on September 2, 1941.[1117]

454. Ambassador Oshima Tours Occupied European Countries

On September 8, 1941 Ambassador Oshima advised Foreign Minister Toyoda that he would leave the following day for a tour of German occupied territories in Belgium, the Netherlands and northern France at the invitation of the German government.[1118]

455. Ambassador Oshima Again Threatens Resignation

Again on September 20, 1941, Ambassador Oshima threatened Tokyo with his resignation if Japan did not clarify its intentions with regard to the Japanese-American negotiations. Complaining that such an explanation as the Foreign Minister had transmitted on September 10, 1941,[1119] was little more than routine diplomatic material, Ambassador Oshima stated that it was impossible for him to know the truth regarding his own government. The pro-Axis Ambassador continued that although outwardly the Japanese government claimed that the Japanese-American negotiations would not violate the spirit of the Three Power Agreement, he was doubtful.

Asserting that he had been "in a fog" since July 2, 1941 when the national policy was decided, Ambassador Oshima stated that he felt incapable of performing his duties satisfactorily.[1120]

[1115] III, 839.
[1116] III, 840.
[1117] III, 841.
[1118] III, 842.
[1119] III, 843.
[1120] III, 844.

[230]

THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR

456. German National Defense Ministry Estimates Current Situation

The Vice Chief of the General Staff in Tokyo forwarded to the Washington delegation an estimate of the current situation on September 20, 1941. This estimate, reportedly originating from the German attache in the United States, had been sent to the Japanese representatives in Berlin by the German National Defense Ministry; and Tokyo requested that its authenticity be investigated in Washington. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

The German attache was credited with stating that if Japan attacked Russia, England would aid the Soviet Union; but that unless Japan attacked the Philippines or seriously menaced the American transport routes, the United States would not declare war against Japan. This reluctance on the part of America would greatly decrease its prestige in the Pacific area. He stressed that it was of vital importance to the Axis Powers that the United States be kept in "some dilemma" concerning Far Eastern problems.

Employing a policy of delay because its fleet was divided between two oceans and because its air force and army were lacking in strength, the United States was attempting to use economic pressure to conceal its weaknesses. The German attache pointed out that if Japan procrastinated, the British and Americans would have had time to combine their naval strength and Japan would have "lost an excellent prize by chasing the sun".[1121]

457. Japan Repudiates Poland

Although Ambassador Oshima had failed in his efforts to persuade former Foreign Minister Yosuke Matsuoka that Japan should accede in Germany's demand that Poland be repudiated, it appeared by August 15, 1941, that under the new Cabinet, final steps in this direction would be taken. The Japanese Ambassador was notified that after talking with Ambassador Ott, Foreign Minister Toyoda had agreed to call a special meeting of the Privy Council in September at which time the Japanese Embassy in Poland would be abolished and the Polish Embassy in Japan would be repudiated.[1122] However, circumstances prohibited the presentation of this request to the Privy Council before October and the Council was not expected to give its approval until October 3, 1941, at which time the Polish Ambassador would be notified.[1123]

458. Germany Explains the Greer Incident

Meanwhile, on September 8, Germany's Vice Minister Ernst Von Weizsacker accounted to Tokyo via Ambassador Oshima for the Greer incident which involved a German submarine attack on a United States warship. He explained that the submarine upon approaching the vessel for identification purposes had been fired upon. However, he said, although attacked, the submarine dove and waited two hours during which the attack continued; and then it surfaced, sighted the warship, and released two torpedoes in self-defense.

At Ambassador Oshima's query as to Germany's intention in the matter, the Vice Minister replied that he did not know Hitler's intentions but personally he did not believe that too much ado should be made about it. According to Ambassador Oshima, President Roosevelt appeared to be using the incident to stir up a war spirit in the United States. Nevertheless, Ambassador Oshima believed that since no diplomatic steps had been taken, nothing more would come of the affair.[1124]

459. Ambassador Oshima Learns of German Transactions for South American Money

On September 11, 1941, Ambassador Oshima divulged that Germany was holding large sums of money in South American branch banks which it was attempting to obtain before the

[1121] III, 845-846.
[1122] III, 847.
[1123] III, 848.
[1124] III, 849.

[231]

American freezing order went into effect. These assets Berlin hoped to obtain primarily by selling gold, but also by affixing the funds held by Germans in South America, purchasing raw materials, and by "bootlegging" South American currencies.[1125]

Only four days later the Ambassador revealed that transactions were being made at 10 per cent under the market price by German representatives in Lisbon with Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil.[1126]

460. New Japanese-German Shipping Problems Arise

Meanwhile some new questions were arising regarding neutral shipping. Ambassador Oshima wired his home government on September 17, 1941 to explain its decisions on several points. Items under discussion by the army and navy and Japanese merchants in Berlin involved the transporting of freight. Such problems involved an interpretation of the word "neutral", a decision as to type of freight, and the necessity for obtaining navicerts.

Ambassador Oshima also explained that the Berlin contingent desired that all freight be collected at Marseilles and then shipped by water to Lisbon thereby eliminating the use of the inefficient Spanish railroads. In this regard he wanted to know whether or not there would be an official British inspection and if so how thorough such a search would be.[1127]

461. The German Army Reaches Leningrad

By September 15, 1941 Ambassador Oshima reported that the German army had completely surrounded Kiev's east side, resulting in the encirclement of nearly 1,000,000 Russian soldiers. To the north other divisions had reached the Leningrad suburbs. The sudden invasion of the Crimea had already proved successful although during operations the German General Eugen Ritter von Schobert had been killed.[1128]

In defensive tactics, Ambassador Oshima emphasized the superiority of the German military, comparing the extent of the damage by bombing done to Hamburg to that of London. According to his report, little damage to communication organization had been inflicted and anti-aircraft guns and camouflage maneuvers had been most effective. Apparently, the English were not risking large numbers of men in group bombings.[1129]

462. Ambassador Oshima Inspects Bombing at Hamburg

While inspecting the harbor at Hamburg immediately after its pounding, Ambassador Oshima on September 10, 1941 reaffirmed the German statement that little damage had been accomplished. He noted that four submarines were then under construction while German sources revealed that one ship a week was being completed.

Although German industrial and munitions factories were being hit, little damage in general had been accomplished. However, it was admitted that the Mannheim Castle had sustained heavy losses.[1130]

463. Respective Treatments of Russian and German Nationals Reviewed

At this point, confusing stories regarding the respective treatments of stranded nationals and people of occupied areas were being disseminated by Germans and Russians alike. According to Ambassador Yoshitsugu Tatekawa in Moscow, the Soviet government had been ban-

[1125] III, 850.
[1126] III, 851.
[1127] III, 852.
[1128] III, 853.
[1129] III, 854.
[1130] III, 855.

[232]

THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR

ishing German nationals to Siberia and Turkestan upon 48 hours notice and already had ordered the compulsory removal of 600,000 Germans from the Volga area.

On the other hand, the Germans through refugee spokesman were spreading counter propaganda, apparently advancing their own generosity to all peoples of the occupied areas. Stressing the fact that they had been supplying food and places of shelter, the Nazis had succeeded in influencing even greater numbers of peoples so that still fewer persons believed Soviet stories of German atrocities. Accordingly, Ambassador Tatekawa stated that the numerous Soviet propaganda articles were becoming conspicuous. To him, such stories seemed to be only an outlet for Russian impatience with the unfavorable war conditions.[1131]

464. Ambassador Suma Confers with General Franco

On September 30, 1941 Ambassador Yakichiro Suma in Madrid expressed opinions resulting from a conversation with General Franco at the Parudo[1132] Palace on the previous day. According to this report, the Axis had succeeded in destroying more than half of the Soviet army, and within a month's time the military phase of the Russo-German conflict would be ended.

However, it was recognized that because of the policy of scorched earth being carried out by a strongly united Communistic people, it was possible that they would withdraw into the Turkestan region to continue resistance. Therefore, Ambassador Suma recognized that an Axis compromise with Stalin could not be considered. Germany would have to annihilate the Soviet Army completely.[1133] Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Ambassador Suma continued with General Franco's views, divulging that the Axis need have no fear of American or British troop landings on Gibraltar, which was obviously too narrow, or in Portugal, which would be swallowed up by Spain should she afford any opportunity of an invasion to the enemy. However, care should be taken against the United States' occupying Dakar and Cape Verde preparatory to its entrance into the war.[1134]

465. Axis Powers Develop Communications Intelligence

Colonel Senjuro Hayashi in a dispatch to the Head of the General Affairs Section in Tokyo dated September 22, 1941 requested an outline of the procedure to be used in sending British messages. Insomuch as he had asked Major Nishi to deliver this material to the Germans during his absence, he felt that he must know immediately how his country planned to handle these wires. Colonel Hayashi remarked that the Germans had expressed their appreciation for the material they had received and conveyed his congratulations to Lt. Colonel Kawamura and to Mr. Sueyoshi on the success of their cryptanalytic work.[1135]

On the same day another message from Berlin to Tokyo suggested that Lt. Colonel Scholz of the German OKW ABWEHR[1136] be awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure, third class, at the same time that Mr. Kemp would receive his commendation. The reason for further bestowing an award on Lt. Colonel Scholz who had received the Order of the Rising Sun, fourth class, was that as head of the communications of the attache office, he had given meritorious service, particularly in regard to German-Japanese joint cryptanalytic work.[1137]

From Bangkok to the Vice Chief of the General Staff in Tokyo came a list of steps which should precede air operations in British Malaya. It was suggested on September 26 that if these operations were being considered, there should be a thorough-going reenforcement of the

[1131] III, 856.
[1132] Kana spelling.
[1133] III, 857.
[1134] III, 858.
[1135] III, 859.
[1136] Kana spelling.
[1137] III, 860.

[233]

air units in Saigon. An accurate utilization of the detailed intelligence already collected and the establishment of spy networks would be necessary as well as the execution of wind-speed observation with balloons having radio-sounding equipment, twice daily, in at least five places. These were to include Saigon, Hanoi, and Heito.[1138]

466. Communications Difficulties Noted in Switzerland

Ambassador Oshima's plea for clearer coverage of his government's policies were echoed from Bern, Switzerland, on September 1, 1941, by Consul Takanobu Mitani who suggested that as a result of the difficulty in maintaining communications between Japan and its various outlying stations, some steps should be taken to rectify the situation. In this regard, he proposed that in view of the increase of news of the day and the necessity for its immediate distribution one broadcast a day would last too long if it covered all the news. Henceforth over the Switzerland station two separate periods lasting from 40 to 60 minutes each would be inaugurated, to be scheduled approximately as 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.

In harmony with this new plan for reducing the time of an individual broadcast but increasing the over-all coverage of the news, Consul Mitani explained that the content of each broadcast from Bern would be increased while a more careful selection of the news to avoid repetition would be practised. The plan was to give explanations of new place names and personal names. To this end it was decided to arrange for an immediate change in wave length and to distribute reference material.[1139]

467. Berlin and Tokyo Negotiate for Improved Communications

It will be remembered that negotiations had been initiated between Berlin and Tokyo to determine a more efficient and satisfactory method for settling the communication difficulties between Japan and Germany prevalent at this point. An agreement, Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire submitted by Ambassador Oshima, was approved on August 20, 1941 by authorities in Tokyo. This placed the authority for concluding the technical arrangements in the hands of officials of the German and Japanese Broadcasting Companies. Another plan gave ultimate authority to the German and Japanese governments. Of the two plans submitted, Foreign Minister Toyoda approved of the one sanctioning the least possible "meddling" of foreign officials with the private broadcasting companies. However, he stated that in case the German authorities requested it, he had no objections to entering the statement that liaison officers would attend to the business of contracting the broadcasting company according to Foreign Office instructions from the respective countries.[1140]

After conferring with the German government, Ambassador Oshima replied to the Foreign Minister on September 1, that he had been informed by German authorities, that with the growing importance of radio in the world situation they had already established a diplomatic post of radio attache in Tokyo and in other of the important capitols throughout the world. In addition Germany placed much importance upon radio as being an integral part of the functions of a state, and as for leaving anything but the program details up to direct negotiations between the broadcasting companies, it was made clear to Tokyo that Germany was not in accord, furthermore that it expected to retain the right to have the final say in all matters having political implications.

Ambassador Oshima hurried to make it clear to the Foreign Minister that Germany had no intention of interfering with the organizations of foreign countries which had been specifically established to conduct informative and propaganda work, but believed that the matter would have to be arranged and settled in its entirety through governmental negotiations or have the

[1138] III, 861.
[1139] III, 862.
[1140] III, 863.

expression 8.exp.993 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2009-05-26T11:10:00.000-07:00

A GRIM expression in a yearbook photo or family snapshot could mean more than just a passing bad mood. It could also signal that the subject is more likely to get divorced than someone with a big smile for the camera. Matthew Hertenstein and his colleagues at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana asked old boys and girls of the university to answer questions about their current sexual relationships and whether they had ever been divorced. The team then looked up pictures of their volunteers in the university’s yearbooks and graded the degree of their smiles. The less a person smiled, it turned out, the more likely he or she was to have been divorced over the course of a lifetime. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

transplant 8.tra.003004 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2009-05-20T19:03:00.000-07:00

It may one day be possible to use cell transplants to treat muscular dystrophy.

A new study used skeletal muscle stem cells to rebuild brawn in mice with faulty muscle-making genes, researchers report in the July 11 Cell. The technique could provide a promising treatment for disorders like Duchenne muscular dystrophy, the most common form of the muscle disease. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

The results offer hope that one day skeletal muscle stem cells from healthy people could be grafted into those with muscle disorders, says Amy Wagers, coauthor of the paper and a stem cell biologist at Harvard University and the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston. People with other kinds of muscle damage could benefit as well, she says. “There are a lot of situations where muscle is degenerating or damaged and you might want to boost its regenerative capacity.”

Unlike ordinary cells, which each serve a specific purpose in the muscle, skeletal muscle stem cells are generalists, able to transform into any of the types of cells that make muscles. Different organs have different pools of stem cells.

Some research has tried to use bone marrow cells to regenerate organ cells for the liver, the heart and other organs. But the new work shows that drawing stem cells from the same type of organ being repaired is more effective. “The paper confirms the fundamental idea that we have stem cells residing in adult organs, and those are the cells that we should focus on,” says Irina Conboy, a bioengineer at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the study.

People with Duchenne face progressive muscle weakness. Because of a genetic defect, their bodies don’t make a protein called dystrophin, which is essential for maintaining the structural integrity of muscle. Without it, muscle becomes damaged and wastes away. Wheelchair-bound by their early teens, Duchenne patients typically die soon after, when their heart and diaphragm muscles can no longer keep them breathing, Conboy says.

To determine which cell types in the mice could best rebuild muscle tissue, Wagers and colleagues extracted stem cells from a pool of cells known to play a role in muscle growth and repair. To identify the best muscle rebuilders, the group analyzed the receptors on the cell surfaces.

Next, the group implanted muscle stem cells from normal mice into mice lacking the gene to make dystrophin. The mice have the same genetic defect as that implicated in Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Conboy says.

Within a couple of weeks of the transplant, mice with the stem cell transplant had markedly improved muscle fibers.

“They show 94 percent recovery, which is great,” Conboy says. “The first step is to discover how to restore muscle in an animal model, and I think that was done very successfully.”

dense 1.den.0002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2009-05-04T22:41:00.000-07:00

Men are dense — in the temporal neocortex anyway.

An investigation of brain tissue recovered from epilepsy patients during surgery showed men had a higher density of brain cell connectors, called synapses, than their female counterparts, researchers report September 8 online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The find might explain why men have better spatial perception, while women better remember what they hear and can talk faster, the researchers suggest.

“Or, it could mean men’s brains are just more redundant,” says Edward Jones, director of the Center for Neuroscience at the University of California, Davis, who was not involved in the study. Right now, it’s hard to know exactly what the difference means, he says.

For many years, scientists have searched for structural variations between men’s and women’s brains to explain psychological studies showing that, overall, the sexes think and act differently. Past studies found differences in brain mass and neuron density, but “they were hyped and untrustworthy,” Jones says.

This study is meticulously detailed, he notes. It is the first to show gender differences on such a fine scale — at the synapse, which is the juncture where an electrical signal passes from one brain cell to another. “The level of detail and meticulousness are why I have confidence in the results,” he says.

To measure the difference in synapse density, four Spanish scientists studied brain tissue taken from eight patients, four men and four women. The patients were having surgery on the hippocampus regions of their brains to treat epileptic seizures. As part of the procedure, tissue from the temporal neocortex was extracted, along with the culprit hippocampus tissue.

The temporal neocortex is related to speech, memory and hearing. Tests showed that the temporal tissue was not affected by the patients’ epilepsy, the researchers report.

The team then analyzed the temporal tissue with an electron microscope. All the samples had similar numbers and densities of neurons, as well as similar thicknesses throughout the six layers of tissue. The only difference by gender was synapse density. The four men had, on average, 33 percent more synapses per cubic millimeter of tissue, says study coauthor Javier DeFelipe of the Cajal Institute in Madrid, Spain.

“But, the sample size is small,” comments Karl Zilles of the Institute of Neurosciences and Biophysics in Jülich, Germany. And, he adds, epilepsy leads to synapse changes even outside the epileptic focus. So, undetected changes could have occurred in the synapses of the temporal neocortex.

DeFelipe admits that this study is a first step and only focuses on one area of the brain. Women’s brains could have a higher synapse density in other regions, he explains.

“Given the challenges, like getting fresh tissue, it is great work,” but more research is needed, Zilles says. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.NET

Jones notes, though, that the epilepsy treatment that produced the samples for this study is becoming more common. “I just hope the results encourage researchers to start taking a look at that available tissue,” he says. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

treating 1.tre.003 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2009-05-01T15:13:00.000-07:00

A viral infection of the heart can be eliminated or at least slowed by treatment with the drug interferon, a team of European researchers reports. http://Louis1J1Sheehan1Esquire.us Viral infections show up in some patients with heart failure and may bear some responsibility for the condition, particularly when it shows up in young or middle-age patients.

Although the new results are preliminary, many patients reported feeling better, cardiologist Heinz-Peter Schultheiss of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin reported November 11 at the American Heart Association’s annual Scientific Sessions meeting.

The findings also suggest yet another role for interferon, a multipurpose drug that, in slightly different forms, is used against the hepatitis C virus and multiple sclerosis.

Heart failure is a catch-all diagnosis for a decline in heart function that can’t be directly attributed to a heart attack. It typically shows up as a shortness of breath and a weakened ability of the heart to pump blood. But it can have few outward symptoms.

Heart failure is the leading cause of hospitalization among elderly people. More than 80 percent of heart failure cases result from atherosclerosis (clogging and stiffening of the arteries) or high blood pressure or both, says Robert Bonow, a cardiologist at the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University in Chicago. Beyond that, its causes are less clear. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire A common form of heart failure is cardiomyopathy, in which the heart muscle becomes inflamed and the heart functions poorly. Cardiomyopathy is a frequent reason for getting a heart transplant.

In the new study, the researchers biopsied heart tissue in 368 people with cardiomyopathy and found that more than two-thirds had a viral infection in the heart. The scientists then randomly assigned 95 of these people to receive injections of the drug interferon beta-1b every other day for six months. Another 47 received placebo injections over that time.

Three months after the last shot, a second round of heart biopsies showed that the interferon recipients were more than twice as likely to have reduced the presence of or cleared the virus from the heart, compared with those getting the placebo, Schultheiss reported.

Although follow-up heart biopsies taken six months after the end of treatment showed no statistically significant difference in viral concentration between the groups, other assessments made during that time frame suggest that the gains were still holding. For example, interviews with the patients showed that those getting interferon reported a higher quality of life than the placebo recipients. And other tests indicated that the interferon group scored higher on measures of everyday activities, compared with those who had gotten the placebo.

Several viruses that normally cause common colds or respiratory infections have been found to set up shop in the heart, including adenovirus, parvovirus and enterovirus. Whether these viruses directly cause heart inflammation in people with cardiomyopathy remains unclear, which makes studies such as the new one valuable, says Michael Felker, a cardiologist at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, N.C.

Only in the past decade have scientists developed the techniques to identify patients with such viral infections and the virus involved, he says. But those techniques require a biopsy. Short of that, it’s impossible to know who has a viral heart infection. Bonow says that’s why it’s not clear what percentage of heart failure patients might fall into this category.

Although the new findings are promising, he says, obstacles remain. The downsides of getting a heart biopsy are obvious. And interferon treatment, in the form of a subcutaneous injection given every other day, is a lot to bear. Deciding which heart failure patients with cardiomyopathy would be likely to benefit from either the test or the treatment might require some calculation, Bonow says. “Maybe we would choose a certain age group, or people who don’t have underlying coronary disease.”

Interferon therapies are based on natural proteins that have antiviral and immune-modulating roles in the body. When used in drug form, they duplicate some of these roles, though their mode of action is poorly understood.

Interferon therapy can cause some side effects and is expensive — about $10,000 for the six-month treatment.

Further studies may clarify whether spending that kind of money yields results that are worthwhile, Felker says. “But theoretically, if you prevent the progression of worse heart failure — and the need for a heart transplant — you can imagine that even a pretty expensive therapy could be cost-effective,” he says.

loggewd 4.log.001 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2009-04-30T12:53:00.000-07:00

The long-standing connection between depression and heart problems might be traceable to the fact that depressed people are less physically active than others, a new study of heart patients shows. A greater tendency in depressed people to smoke and to fail to take medications regularly may also play a role, researchers report in the Nov. 26 Journal of the American Medical Association.http://Louis1J1Sheehan.us

Previous studies have suggested that depression seems to increase the risk of heart problems in people with no history of them, and that depression often coincides with worsening health in people who have an existing heart condition. Yet the medical reason for this association is unknown, and it’s not even clear whether depression leads to heart problems or vice versa.

Scientists have investigated possible side effects from antidepressant drugs, chemical imbalances in the brain, stress, diet, chronic inflammation, smoking and a lack of exercise as reasons for the link between depression and heart problems.

To sort out these possibilities, researchers began a study in 2000, identifying people visiting clinics in the San Francisco Bay area who had chronic but stable coronary heart disease. Of the 1,017 patients enrolled, tests showed that one-fifth, average age 63, had symptoms of depression at the start of the study. The other four-fifths were age 68 on average and weren’t depressed. Researchers monitored the health of all the volunteers using lab tests, checkups, interviews, death records. Follow-up averaged five years, and researchers logged the final data entries in early 2008.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

During the study, the scientists periodically asked volunteers whether they had had any episodes of “heart trouble” or stroke that had necessitated a visit to a hospital. In cases where a volunteer had died or couldn’t respond, relatives or other caregivers provided information.

By the end of the study, 341 incidents were reported. These included cases of heart failure, heart attacks, strokes or deaths. After accounting for past medical histories and other differences between the depressed and nondepressed groups, the researchers calculated that people with depression had a 31 percent increased risk of having at least one such incident during the study, says study coauthor Mary Whooley, an internist at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the University of California, San Francisco.

The depressed people were also slightly more likely to have high levels of inflammatory proteins in the blood, which may have explained some of these participants’ added coronary risk. http://Louis1J1Sheehan.us Inflammatory cells and proteins contribute to plaque formation and vessel damage.

But the clearest differences between groups were behavioral, Whooley says. When researchers accounted for differences between the groups in smoking habits, exercise habits and discipline in taking medications, the heart risk apparently imparted by depression evaporated.

Meanwhile, the depressed people were nearly twice as likely to smoke and were more likely than the nondepressed group to fail to take medications on schedule. The depressed group also exercised less.

“This particular finding is important,” says cardiovascular epidemiologist Viola Vaccarino of Emory University in Atlanta. “In this particular group, behavioral risk factors, especially low physical activity, seem to explain away the depression risk.”

But she cautions that this explanation might not hold for other groups. For example, it’s unclear whether these findings apply to people who are outwardly healthy with no signs or history of heart trouble, but may nonetheless be at risk of heart disease.

On the other end of the spectrum, these findings also might not apply to people with acute coronary ailments, such as recurring chest pain. “It doesn’t really make any sense to ask them to up their physical activity,” Vaccarino says.

Meanwhile, Whooley and her coauthors note that it’s also difficult to determine whether a relative lack of physical inactivity is the cause or the result of depression, since the effect probably goes both ways.

Whooley and Vaccarino agree that it can be very difficult to change the behavior of depressed patients, who often aren’t very motivated, even while on medication. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire “They’ll [exercise] for a few months, then stop,” Whooley says.

She hopes these new findings make doctors more aware of the risks that depressed patients with heart disease run in maintaining a sedentary lifestyle and other detrimental behaviors.

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Comments 3

* My observation is that when man have no true motive, no aim in his lfe he more drepress, and victim of many desease.Today in techological era more and more people lossing motive in life so we are experiences more drepression.
Ramesh Raghuvanshi Ramesh Raghuvanshi
Dec. 1, 2008 at 12:58am http://Louis1J1Sheehan.us
* Depression isn't just linked to lack of exercise, although that is a major factor. Depression makes people refrain from social contact. It makes them eat too much or too little. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire It makes them quit taking medicines they know they need to take, or take too much, or take them at the wrong times. Depression robs people of their motivation, all right, but it also robs them of their judgment, of their reason to do anything that anybody says is good for them. "Why should I take my medicine?" the depressed person wonders. "It won't do any good. Why should I keep doing these exercises? It's a lot of work and it isn't helping. I still don't feel good. My doctor doesn't care if I live or die. My family doesn't care if I live or die. I'm hurting, I'm tired, so very, very tired. You know, I don't care if I live or die either. I'm just going to give up." And then they do. You can't make a depressed person care again by writing prescriptions, either. It doesn't what's written on that little piece of paper or who writes it. That isn't the answer. They need TLC and that doesn't come in paper and ink or in a little bottle at the pharmacy.

outlook 1.out.9987 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2009-04-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire Women with rapidly lethal ovarian cancer are more likely to harbor tumors lacking a normal complement of two enzymes that facilitate the silencing of genes, a new study shows. Meanwhile, patients who survive significantly longer tend to have ample supplies of both compounds, scientists report in the Dec. 18 New England Journal of Medicine.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Data on patients with other cancers also linked better survival to adequate levels of one of these enzymes, the researchers find

If confirmed, the new finding might enable doctors to make more precise prognoses for patients with ovarian cancer and possibly other malignancies by testing for these enzymes in tumor tissue. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire The work may also contribute to a further understanding of RNA interference, in which microRNAs or another type of genetic fragment called small interfering RNAs stop biosynthesis of proteins in a cell.

Dicer and Drosha, the enzymes measured in the new study, facilitate the RNA interference process. Human cells make thousands of kinds of RNA fragments, which scientists believe serve as safeguards that keep abnormal proteins — or the wrong amount of them — from being manufactured from their gene blueprints.

Dicer and Drosha also appear in normal cells, where the enzymes perform their work unnoticed much of the time. “We are trying to understand why this machinery is altered in cancer cells,” says Anil Sood, a gynecologic oncologist at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Earlier work suggested that in cancerous cells a lack of Dicer might contribute to the malignant nature of the cells.

Sood and his colleagues analyzed Dicer and Drosha concentrations in ovarian tumor tissue from 111 patients, dividing the samples into those that contained high or low levels of the enzymes. The team found that 39 percent of women had the lower amounts of both enzymes.

On average, women with higher levels of both enzymes survived more than11 years from the time of their diagnosis, whereas those with lower amounts of Dicer and Drosha lived 2.7 years on average, the team reports.

When the scientists accounted for differences between the groups that included age, stage of the cancer and initial response to chemotherapy, women with ample Dicer and Drosha still showed a median survival that was four times longer than those with a shortage of the enzymes.

The researchers then analyzed information obtained from other sets of patients with lung, breast and ovarian cancer. The team found that shortages of both enzymes led to bleaker survival prospects in the ovarian cancer group. http://Louis1J1Sheehan.us But only low Dicer levels worsened survival in people with the other two cancers.

Apparently, low amounts of these enzymes allow some genes to remain switched on and encode proteins when they would be better off shut down, Sood says.

The study “provides evidence for a simple mechanism, based on the biologic characteristics of microRNAs, for formulating a prognosis and potentially guiding therapy in ovarian cancer,” say Frank Slack and Joanne Weidhaas of Yale University, writing in the same issue of NEJM.

The researchers are still missing an explanation for the shortage of Dicer and Drosha in some of these cancer patients in the first place. “I wish we had the exact answer,” says Sood. He and his team found mutations in genes encoding the enzymes, but these defects didn’t seem related to Dicer or Drosha amounts, he says.http://Louis1J1Sheehan.us

The long-term hope is to harness these RNA fragments as drugs to fight cancer, but that research is still at a theoretical stage, he says.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

budget 1.bud.0003 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2009-04-10T20:58:00.000-07:00

In his not-exactly-State-of-the-Union address to Congress Tuesday night, the President Obama promised that his administration would boost support for science. This morning, we got an inkling of what he was referring to. The official “outline” of the first Obama budget was released at 11 a.m. And this broad-brush blueprint asks Congress to fatten the National Science Foundation, for example, with an extra $7 billion — a hefty 16 percent increase over last year’s funding.

The new budget document argues that “investments in science and technology foster economic growth, create millions of high-tech, high-wage jobs that allow American workers to lead the global economy” and more. For that reason, the budget document says, the president’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2010 is aimed at beginning to move toward a doubling of federal funding for basic research over the next 10 years. The actual increase in the coming year would be $950 million, it says.

The Energy Department would see lots of boosts. Most of the dollar figures mentioned in today’s budget document reflect money already targeted to be spent from the stimulus. This includes $3.4 billion for low-carbon coal technologies, including the carbon sequestration. But in addition to the $1.6 billion in the recently passed economic stimulus package for basic energy research at DOE, the new budget would provide “substantially increased support for the [DOE] Office of Science.” What does that mean? We’ll have to wait a month or so for the actual line-item budget blueprint to see. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire But we already know that Energy Secretary Steven Chu has been a big booster for this, something he views as his agency’s crown jewel.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Words you wouldn’t have seen in George W. Bush’s budget documents: statements like the president’s intention to make “climate change research and education a priority.” Yep, that’s what it says in today’s document. Toward that end, there’s not only money in the NSF budget for climate science, but also the call for spending $1.3 billion for development and lofting of “vital weather satellites and climate sensors.” (I guess some of that will have to go toward replacing the carbon-monitoring satellite that crashed shortly after takeoff a couple days ago.) http://Louis1J1Sheehan.us

There is a curious and fairly long section of text under the Environmental Protection Agency heading that describes plans to begin “a comprehensive approach to transform our energy supply and slow global warming.” Global warming has never been a big EPA issue. Most efforts to limit our carbon footprint are managed through programs at Commerce and Energy. http://Louis1J1Sheehan.us But in today’s outline, the administration describes its hope to jump-start an ambitious cap-and-trade program for greenhouse-gas emissions. This program would look to cut greenhouse emissions 14 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and approximately 83 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. Talks of cap-and-trade proposals have been floating around for years. It looks like this president is committed to finally making something happen.

In his Tuesday night address, the president hinted at big boosts for biomedical research. Today’s outline calls for investing more than $6 billion in research at the National Institutes of Health “as part of the administration’s multi-year commitment to double cancer research funding.” Today’s budget outline explains that this influx of funds would “build upon the unprecedented $10 billion” for NIH research in the economic stimulus.

The president’s new budget also advocates expanding research that compares the effectiveness of competing medical treatments — something you can read more about in the upcoming March 14 print Science News, set to be available online Friday.

The EPA would get a boost in funding, but largely for infrastructure improvements and things like a new Great Lakes restoration program.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (once called the National Bureau of Standards) is a small but important Commerce Department agency charged with making sure new “yardsticks” exist for helping develop new technologies — ones that will keep the nation competitive with other economic powerhouses. In recent years, NIST has been marginalized, with large sections of it targeted for elimination (but usually rescued by Congress, sometimes at the 11th hour). In a turnabout, the Obama administration acknowledges that NIST’s health is important to the nation’s technology infrastructure — infrastructure being a priority in the stimulus. Under the president’s budget plan, NIST would get money to keep important programs alive and would be designated the headquarters for administering $4.7 billion in stimulus money “to expand broadband deployment, adoption, and data collection.”

Something you don’t see in today’s budget outline is any mention of beefing up research programs at the Department of Agriculture. USDA’s research service has been hurting in recent years. And a failure to boast about turning that around suggests that the president won’t be trying to turn that around — at least not in the coming year.

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Comments 4

* How can a total of several billions (7 for NSF, 6 for NIH) come to only "$950 million" in all?
Merry Maisel
Merry Maisel Merry Maisel Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Mar. 3, 2009 at 7:27pm
* Boosting government spending in the name of science is not the same thing as boosting science. Some money that the private and voluntary sectors would otherwise spend on research will instead be spent on efforts to steer the grants, or consumed by taxes, with no guarantee that government-sponsored activities produce more science.
Anton Sherwood Anton Sherwood
Feb. 27, 2009 at 5:02pm
* I think Obama has a good sense of what to spend money on and a sincere desire for the greater good. I hope that greed and lack of integrity in our country don't ruin things. We should have the guillotines ready just in case.
Randell Grenier Randell Grenier
Feb. 27, 2009 at 3:21pm
* That's not good. USDA is one of the highest ROI programs in science.

crime 3.cri.1 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2009-01-10T02:50:00.000-08:00

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire . Math as a tool for tracking down criminals has never been as precise as the TV show Numb3rs depicts. But mathematicians are developing better ways to at least estimate where a person on a crime spree might live. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.de

Using information about the layout of a city, such as the location of similar crimes during the past few years, beefed up mathematical tools could improve estimates of where a criminal lives based on where he or she commits crimes, according to new research presented January 7 at the annual Joint Mathematics Meetings.

"I feel like I'm in a gold mine and I'm the only one who knows what gold looks like," says Mike O'Leary, an applied mathematician at Towson University in Maryland who performed the new research. "There are so many good mathematical problems in this field" of criminology. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.de

A well established principle of criminology is that perpetrators will tend to commit more crimes close to their homes simply because of convenience and the realities of transportation. So older techniques estimate where a criminal lives based on the locations of a string of unsolved crimes that are all attributed to that criminal.

But those techniques ignore the actual geography of a city, assuming instead that the likelihood of a criminal striking near his or her home drops off evenly in all directions regardless of geography.

"They don't have any way to incorporate yet data about geography," O'Leary says. "Mathematically they just don't have the tools for it."

To find the perpetrator of a type of crime, such as robbing a convenience store, O'Leary's methods would use historical records of incidences of similar crimes to generate a likelihood distribution for that crime for the whole city. This distribution inherently contains geographic information such as where the major roads are located and where easy targets are located. The analysis also folds in census data about neighborhood demographics, as well as a mathematical analysis of how far from home criminals of different ages typically strike. Younger criminals tend to commit crimes closer to home.

Other researchers have also developed software tools in recent years that attempt to incorporate geographic information. However, "Up until now the majority of the research has been done by social scientists such as myself," comments Ned Levine, a geographical researcher at Ned Levine & Associates in Houston who developed crime-analysis software called CrimeStat. O'Leary has "added some insights into the mathematics that previously we were struggling with,” he says. “He's really cleaning up the mathematics."

At their best, such analyses, including O’Leary’s, are prone to error and only give police a starting point — perhaps for checking whether people previously convicted of the same crime live in the area identified by the techniques. O'Leary is working on computer software that performs his analysis. The code for the software will be made freely available, and the complete software package will be free for police departments to use.

"It's a lot of fun," O'Leary says. "I can't wait until this goes and does something." Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

jets 3.jet.004005 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2009-01-05T16:59:00.000-08:00

The two top toymakers in the United States posted disappointing third-quarter results yesterday and softened expectations for the crucial holiday season, citing a wobbly economy and cautious retailers. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire.

The No. 1 toy maker, Mattel Inc., said third-quarter earnings slid 5 percent from a year earlier, with overall sales down 2 percent. Sales of Barbie dolls in the United States fell 26 percent. Mattel said it was struggling to hang on to shelf space at retailers. http://louisjsheehanesquire.blogsavy.com

The other toy maker, Hasbro Inc., posted higher third-quarter earnings as it cut costs, but the results were weaker than expected, with revenue down 2 percent as sales of its once-hot Beyblade battling tops continued falling. http://louisjsheehanesquire.blogsavy.com

Hasbro shares slipped 6.5 percent to $17.26, while Mattel shares were down 2.6 percent at $17.50. Both toymakers said the retail environment remained challenging.

"We are currently dealing with broad consumer uncertainty related to higher gasoline prices and a lackluster employment picture, which translates into uninspiring consumer confidence levels," Robert A. Eckert, the chief executive of Mattel, said.

On a conference call, Mr. Eckert said most retailers were allocating shelf space based on past performance and would rather "chase demand" than buy goods early.

Sean McGowan, an analyst at Harris Nesbitt, said: "Both companies are facing the fact that some of their products are declining. I don't think anybody's not buying a particular toy because it costs more to drive to the toy store or Wal-Mart."

Roughly 50 percent of toy sales are in the fourth quarter, according to the NPD Group, a market information company. Adding to the dismal retail landscape, Toys "R" Us Inc., the No. 2 toy seller after Wal-Mart Stores Inc., is evaluating its business and analysts have estimated the company will close 100 to 200 stores in 2005.

Mattel said third-quarter earnings fell to $255.9 million, or 61 cents a share, from $270 million, or 61 cents, while sales fell 2 percent, to $1.67 billion. http://louisjsheehanesquire.blogsavy.com

Hasbro, based in Pawtucket, R.I., said third-quarter net income rose to $88.7 million from $85.8 million, while earnings fell to 45 cents a share from 48 cents.

Analysts, on average, estimated profit of 51 cents a share from Hasbro, according to Reuters Estimates.

Hasbro's revenue fell 2 percent, to $947.3 million. The chief executive, Alfred J. Verrecchia, said the company was confident that it could increase earnings as it cut costs and achieved its operating margin goal of 12 percent or better by 2005. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

bright 4.bri.000203 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2008-12-25T15:07:00.000-08:00

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire . Progressively larger brains evolved in primates of all stripes, not just humans. We can thank a common capacity for solving a broad range of problems, from coordinating social alliances to inventing tools, according to a new study.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire . http://ljsheehan.livejournal.com

This conclusion challenges a popular theory that big, smart brains arose primarily because they afforded advantages when it came to negotiating complex social situations during human evolution.http://ljsheehan.livejournal.com

"The ability to learn from others, invent new behaviors, and use tools may have [also] played pivotal roles in primate-brain evolution," say Simon M. Reader of McGill University in Montreal and Kevin N. Laland of the University of Cambridge in England. In an upcoming report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the two zoologists chronicle links between an array of intelligent behaviors and enhanced brain size in primates.http://ljsheehan.livejournal.com

Reader and Laland examined approximately 1,000 scientific studies of behavior in 116 of the world's 203 known primate species. They identified 553 instances of animals discovering new solutions to survival-related problems, 445 observations of individuals learning skills and acquiring information from others, and 607 episodes of tool use.

The researchers then consulted previously obtained data on brain size relative to body size in different primates. In particular, they focused on the volume of the structures that make up what scientists call the executive brain, a frontal region thought to be crucial for complex thinking.

Species that have the proportionately largest executive brains are the ones that most often innovate, learn from others, and use tools, Reader and Laland contend. These three facets of intelligence vary together as primate brains enlarge, they say. There's no evidence in any species of an evolutionary trade-off between these traits, such as an increase in innovation accompanying a decline in social learning.

A related report by neuroscientist Barbara L. Finlay of Cornell University and her colleagues concluded that different brain regions in mammals enlarged all together during mammalian evolution, not in piecemeal fashion related to specific functions. Whole-brain evolution was driven by changes in the timing of early brain development in individuals, says Finlay. In all species, late-generated structures�including the executive brain�have grown the largest, Finlay's team asserted in the April 2001 Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

Reader and Laland provide "important new evidence" that wide-ranging thinking skills shared by many primate species encouraged the evolution of large brains, comment psychologist Robert M. Seyfarth and biologist Dorothy L. Cheney, both of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, in a comment published with the new report.

They suggest that intellectual accomplishments unique to people, such as language use, may have playe

face 6.fac.000200 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2008-12-17T10:37:00.000-08:00

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire . Something strange recently happened to me in Tennessee. I wasn’t actually in Tennessee when it happened. The strangeness emanated from there–actually, from one spot in Tennessee–and eventually reached me here up in New England.

It started with a column I wrote in the October issue of Discover, about the evolution of the human face. Sometimes people write letters to the magazine about my pieces. My editors dropped a note to let me know that all at once they got 40 60 letters about my column. All from the outskirts of Memphis.http://louis3j3sheehan3esquire.wordpress.com All pretty much identical in style and substance. Some had been written on a computer, but some were written by hand–young hands, judging from their appearance.

Here’s a sample…

“I enjoyed reading your article and was interested in the research done on how the face and its muscles work to make expressions. I however believe that the brain and facial expressions are not a byproduct of years of evolution but instead a fingerprint of intelligent design. You claim in your article, that the muscles of the face are the result of the transition of life from land to water, but where is the fossil record for the jump? None have been found. There is no proof of the evolution of water to land creatures.”

And a second…

“I would like to show you what I think may have happened. First off, there is the law of entropy. This law states that everything is in a state of going deeper into chaos. The brain could not have formed going from a blob of amino acid to a highly complex organ that is capable of generating the power that is does. That is going into a state of unity and order. According to natural laws, this is impossible. Only a creator is capable of doing this.”

And a third

“If the face is an irreducibly complex machine, which it is, it cannot evolve because the original face would be missing parts, which would make the whole machine non-fuctioning. This rules out the possibility of evolution in human faces.”

I don’t know if all these letters came from a single class or club. http://louis3j3sheehan3esquire.wordpress.com In any case, the folks at Discover asked me if I’d write something in response. So–to my correspondents from Tennessee:

Thank you all for your letters. I appreciate that you took the time to read my article. While I can’t write to all forty sixty of you individually, I want to respond to the overall gist of your letters.

A number of you stated that there is no evidence that the human face–or even humans, period–evolved. For instance, one writer claimed that there is no fossil record of the transition of life from water to land.

new-tetra600.jpg

Actually, there is a fossil record, and it’s getting more and more detailed every year. The best source of information at the moment is a new review written by three experts on the subject. They explain how paleontologists have found a number of fossils of fish with some–but not all–of the features found in land vertebrates. They’ve also found a lot of early land vertebrates that still had not yet evolved some of the anatomy found on land vertebrates today. The illustration above, from the review, shows just how many fossils of these early land vertebrates and their relatives have been discovered in rocks between 400 and 300 million years ago.

This is what you’d expect if life evolved.

When scientists compare the traits on all those species, they can judge which species are most closely related to each other, and use that information to draw an evolutionary tree. The land vertebrates alive today, including mammals, reptiles, and amphibians are represented by the brown and green arrows. The closest living fish relatives, according to this research, are lungfish and coelacanths (Dipnoi and Actinistia on the tree). As the tree shows, there are 19 different lineages paleontologists have discovered the branched off between our common ancestor with lungfish 410 million years ago, and the common ancestor of all land vertebrates alive today, which lived some 350 million years ago. Those extinct lineages mark the evolution, step by step, of our legs, arms, wrists, ankles, fingers, and toes. Do they mark every generation through this transition? Of course not–but no paleontologist would ever dream of finding fossils of every individual that ever lived. Instead, they judge how well each new fossil fits into the overall picture.

Scientists can also use other lines of evidence to test their hypothesis for how vertebrates came on land. http://louis3j3sheehan3esquire.wordpress.com The tree I’ve reproduced here makes it clear that our closest living aquatic relatives are lungfish and coelacanths–two very rare lineages that make up a half dozen species or so all told. Recently scientists compared a lot of DNA from from several species of fish–including lungfish–and land vertebrates. They got the same result looking at genes that paleontologists get looking at bones: lungfish are our closest relatives.

The support that comes from different studies gives scientists confidence that they can look at fish to track the evolution of our faces. http://louis3j3sheehan3esquire.wordpress.com On fossils, they can look at scoops and troughs in bones that mark the places where muscles attached. And they can study muscles in the heads of living fish. A lamprey doesn’t have a dimpled smile, let alone a jaw. But it does have some of the same muscles as we have in our faces. These muscles develop from the same place in the heads of lamprey embryo and a human embryo. More closely related animals share more face muscles with us. Our closest relatives, the chimpanzees, have just about every muscle in our own face, and they produce the same expressions when they are stimulated. (See the illustration at the top of the post, from this review of face evolution from fish to humans.)

This is, again, the sort of pattern you’d expect from evolution. So there is, in fact, a lot of evidence documenting the evolution of the face from our fish ancestors–and more coming to light each year.

But many of you also make a different sort of claim: that evolution could not have possibly produced the face.

Let me explain why this is not the case.

One person wrote in that the laws of entropy, which drives the universe to chaos. “The brain could not have formed going from a blob of amino acid to a highly complex organ.”

But think about what happens every time a brain develops from nothing in a human embryo. How can this order emerge, if entropy rules? Because the laws of entropy do not prevent order from arising in a particular place. An embryo takes in energy to form its complex body, and it pumps out heat, increasing the entropy in the environment. Entropy is likewise not a problem for evolution, if there is enough energy to increase local order and a place to push the disorder. And our planet, getting energy from the sun and releasing heat back into space, provides just those conditions.

Some of you claimed that the face could not evolve because it is an “irreducibly complex” system. If you take one part away from it, it does not work. But that’s not actually the case. Think about it–chimpanzees and other primates have most of the facial muscles that we do–but not all of them. In other words, they are missing some parts of the human face. But their faces are not “non-functioning” as one letter-writer claimed. They make plenty of faces–although they cannot make as many faces as we can.

You don’t even have to leave our own species to see that our faces are not “irreducibly complex.” Many people are lacking one or more muscles in the face, but their faces work normally. http://louis3j3sheehan3esquire.wordpress.com Botox paralyzes some muscles in the face–knocking out several parts of this supposedly irreducibly complex face. It may be hard for people with Botox to frown, but they can still smile and produce other facial expressions. That’s hardly non-functional.

The links in my response take you to several scientific papers. Actually, there are many, many more on the topics I’ve discussed. I’d encourage you to take the plunge and learn more about the face and its evolution. I’d hope you’d find it as fascinating as I do.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

ragweed 88.rag.20 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2008-12-04T17:43:00.000-08:00

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire. People with seasonal allergies know that some months can be tougher than others. An unprecedented 15-year study conducted in the New York City area charts how air concentrations of different types of pollen vary throughout an average year.

Ragweed pollen, the most significant cause of allergy, is airborne mainly during August and September, report researchers at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey–New Jersey Medical School in Newark. http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-jmbPCHg9dLPh1gHoZxLG.GpS

By contrast, tree pollen is most abundant during May and is nearly absent from the air after the end of June. Grass-pollen concentrations peak in June and rise again, albeit to a lesser extent, in September.

Contrary to what some people with allergies might think, pollen abundance has decreased—at least in the New York City area—over the past decade.

The new data might help some people avoid unnecessary outdoor exposure at times when their allergies are most likely to be active, Leonard Bielory and his colleagues say in the May Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. They note that seasonal pollen patterns are likely to differ from one region of the country to the next. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

under 99.und.0 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2008-12-03T18:28:00.000-08:00

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire To protect right whales in the northwest Atlantic—one of the most depleted cetacean populations worldwide—the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has proposed seasonal speed limits for large, ocean-going vessels. Currently, ship strikes pose the greatest threat to the population, NOAA says, with at least one or two deaths reported from such collisions each year. http://www.blog.ca/user/Beforethebigbang

Under the new proposal, ships 65 feet and longer could travel no faster than 10 knots in eastern U.S. waters near areas where the whales have been spotted. Normally, such vessels travel at 15 knots or faster. http://www.blog.ca/user/Beforethebigbang

Although protected from hunting since 1935, the species' population off the eastern United States and Canada is around only 300. This population's calving rate has risen in recent years to about 20 annually. Still, it doesn't fully compensate for adult-whale deaths sustained over the past 2 decades, NOAA reported in a June 26 Federal Register announcement of the proposed new rule.

The locations and sizes of go-slow zones will vary by season, and their duration will always be at least 15 days.

Roughly 70 percent of large commercial ships traveling along the East Coast passes through the right whale's critical habitat, researchers reported last year in the July-September Coastal Management. They found that most of those vessels moved at "speed[s] at which large whales may be critically injured." Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

eruptions 4.eru.2 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2008-11-24T16:51:00.000-08:00

Volcanologist Andrew McGonigle walks through clouds composed of mist, steam, carbon dioxide (CO2), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) on Vulcano, an active volcanic island off the coast of southern Italy. To predict eruptions, volcanologists typically use distant ultraviolet spectrometers to measure SO2 released by active volcanoes. McGonigle has developed a remote-controlled helicopter called Aerovolc 1 to do it better. http://louis3j3sheehan3esquire.wordpress.com By accurately measuring CO2, which escapes magma earlier than SO2, scientists could predict eruptions sooner, helping to implement timely evacuations for nearby populations—but measuring CO2 is a challenge. McGonigle’s method requires that sensors capture gases directly above a volcano, a major problem for static instruments, which are easily destroyed by magma. But a remote-controlled helicopter can gather data from a safe distance. McGonigle, who recently won the $100,000 Rolex Award for Enterprise, plans next to outfit a fully automated helicopter, akin to the unmanned aerial vehicles used by the military. http://louis3j3sheehan3esquire.wordpress.com/

married 55.mar.1 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2008-11-18T06:49:00.000-08:00

More from Cynthia Tucker:

* GOP NEEDS A BETTER CANDIDATE THAN PALIN FOR FUTURE SUCCESS
* SUN IS SETTING ON THOSE WHO PREFER AN AMERICA OF INEQUALITY
* GEORGIA SENATE RACE HIGHLIGHTS WHAT'S ON MANY MINDS IN U.S.

Read all the columns »
About The Author:

Cynthia Tucker is editorial page editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and a syndicated columnist whose commentary appears in dozens of newspapers across the country.

President-elect Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, are members of a minority: They are a black married couple.

Wed 16 years in October, the Obamas conceived their two daughters, Malia, 10, and Sasha, 7, after the wedding. While traditional couplehood such as the Obamas' is losing popularity in every corner of the country, it has all but disappeared in black America, where more than 70 percent of children are born outside marriage.

In 2006, The Washington Post published an op-ed essay by writer Joy Jones with the provocative headline, "Marriage is for White People." The headline didn't reflect Jones' views; it repeated "what one of my students told me some years back when I taught a career exploration class for sixth-graders at an elementary school in southeast Washington (D.C.).http://louis-j-sheehan-esquire.blog.friendster.com/

"I think I'll invite some couples in to talk about being married and rearing children," she told the class." 'Oh, no,' objected one student. 'We're not interested in the part about marriage. Only about how to be good fathers.' And that's when the other boy chimed in ... 'Marriage is for white people.'"

That sixth-grader was likely reflecting his environment, which may not have included many black married couples. While 62 percent of white adults and 60 percent of Latino adults are married, only 41 percent of black adults are.

The Obamas are already burdened by the baggage of cultural expectations, but I'll go ahead and add another sack to their load: Here's hoping their presence on the national stage will erase that sixth-grader's wrongheaded notion. Marriage ought to be an equal-opportunity institution, no matter color, creed or sexual orientation.

"I was really excited when I saw the Obama family on the (TV) screen (on Nov. 4) because I meet so many young African-Americans who, frankly, have never seen an intact family like this," said Leah Ward Sears, chief justice of the Georgia Supreme Court and board member of the Institute for American Values, which promotes marriage. "I'm hopeful (the Obamas) will be a brand-new model of what the ideal is, even if many, many of us will fall short of the ideal," she added.

Certainly, there are millions of law-abiding and accomplished adults who grew up in non-traditional households -- reared by single moms or single dads or grandparents. It's also true that many non-custodial parents, who are usually fathers, are actively involved in their children's lives, boosting their chances for successful lives. Still, a significant body of research emphasizes that, all other things being equal, children are better off with two loving, responsible parents who are married to each other. Those kids are less likely to engage in drug abuse or risky sexual behavior and more likely to do well in school.

Moreover, fathers are more likely to stay connected with their children if they are married to the kids' mom. "There is a saying in social research: 'A mother is a mother all of your life, but a father is a father only when he has a wife,'" Justice Sears said.

Indeed, research also suggests that marriage is good for adults.

"Compared with unmarried people, married men and women tend to have lower mortality, less risky behavior, more monitoring of health, more compliance with medical regimens, higher sexual frequency, more satisfaction with their sexual lives, more savings and higher wages," according to "Cohabitation, Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the United States," a 2002 study sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.http://louis-j-sheehan-esquire.blog.friendster.com/

Yet, the institution of marriage is under severe stress. Though the idealized intact family remains a mainstay of popular culture, married couples represent only half of all households in the United States. And the trend toward unmarried parenthood has affected white and brown America, too, a fact highlighted by Sarah Palin's pregnant daughter, Bristol. About 27 percent of white children are now born outside marriage, as are about 42 percent of Latino children.http://louis-j-sheehan-esquire.blog.friendster.com/

There isn't much a President Obama can do about that except continue to present his family as an alternative -- a very attractive alternative. Who knows? The new, new thing could be marriage.

panic 55.2.pan.1 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2008-11-13T14:07:00.000-08:00

“I was driving home after work,” David reported. “Things had been very stressful there lately. I was tense but looking forward to getting home and relaxing. And then, all of a sudden—boom! My heart started racing, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I was sweating and shaking. My thoughts were racing, and I was afraid that I was going crazy or having a heart attack. I pulled over and called my wife to take me to the emergency room.”

David’s fears turned out to be unjustified. An emergency room doctor told David, a composite of several therapy patients seen by one of us (Arkowitz), that he was suffering from a panic attack.

The current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) defines a panic attack as an abrupt and discrete experience of intense fear or acute discomfort, accompanied by symptoms such as heart palpitations, shortness of breath, sweating, trembling, and worries about going crazy, losing control or dying. Most attacks occur without obvious provocation, making them even more terrifying. Some 8 to 10 percent of the population experiences an occasional attack, but only 5 percent develops panic disorder. Contrary to common misconception, these episodes aren’t merely rushes of anxiety that most of us experience from time to time. Instead patients who have had a panic attack typically describe it as the most frightening event they have ever undergone.

Research has provided important leads to explain what causes a person’s first panic attack—clues that can help ward off an attack in the first place. When stress builds up to a critical level, a very small additional amount of stress can trigger panic. As a result, the person may experience the event as coming out of the blue.

Some people may have a genetic predisposition toward panic, as psychologist Regina A. Shih, then at Johns Hopkins University, and her colleagues described in a review article. The disorder runs in families, and if one identical twin has panic disorder, the chance that the other one also has it is two to three times higher than for fraternal twins, who are genetically less similar. Although these findings do not rule out environmental factors, they do strongly suggest a genetic component. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Panic disorder imposes serious restrictions on patients’ quality of life. They may be plagued by a persistent concern about the possibility of more attacks and may avoid situations associated with them. To receive a diagnosis of panic disorder, patients must also worry that they might have another attack where it would be embarrassing (say, in a public setting such as a classroom), difficult to escape (such as when one is stuck in traffic), or difficult to find help (for example, in an area with no medical facilities nearby). Panic disorder accompanied by extensive avoidance of these situations results in a diagnosis of panic disorder with agoraphobia; in extreme cases, sufferers may even become housebound.

From Normal Anxiety to Crippling Fear
What are the roots of such incapacitating attacks? Psychologist David H. Barlow of Boston University, who has conducted pioneering research on understanding and treating panic disorder and related disorders, and others believe that panic attacks result when our normal “fight or flight” response to imminent threats—including increased heart rate and rapid breathing—is triggered by “false alarms,” situations in which real danger is absent. (In contrast, the same response in the face of a real danger is a “true alarm.”) Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

When we experience true or false alarms, we tend to associate the biological and psychological reactions they elicit with cues that were present at the time. These associations become “learned alarms” that can evoke further panic attacks.

Both external situations and internal bodily cues of arousal (such as increased breathing rate) can elicit a learned alarm. For example, some people experience panic attacks when they exercise because the physiological arousal leads to bodily sensations similar to those of a panic attack.

Why do some people experience only isolated attacks, whereas others develop full-blown panic disorder? Barlow has synthesized his research and that of others to develop an integrated theory of anxiety disorders, which states that certain predispositions are necessary to develop panic disorder:

A generalized biological vulnerability toward anxiety, leading us to overreact to the events of daily life.
A generalized psychological vulnerability to develop anxiety caused by early childhood learning (such as overprotection from our parents) that the world is a dangerous place and that stress is overwhelming and cannot be controlled.
A specific psychological vulnerability in which we learn in childhood that some situations or objects are dangerous even if they are not.

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire. Panic disorder develops when a person with these vulnerabilities experiences prolonged stress and a panic attack. The first attack activates the psychological vulnerabilities, creating a hypersensitivity to external and internal cues associated with the attack. As a result, even medication containing a mild stimulant can provoke an attack.

Still, there is good news. Two findings in particular can provide reassurance for those with panic disorder. The first is that all panic attacks are triggered by known events, even though the sufferer may be unaware of them. This knowledge can reduce the anxiety associated with the sense of unpredictability. Second, it can be reassuring to learn that a panic attack is a misfiring of the fight-or-flight response in the absence of danger. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

Basic research not only has helped us understand panic disorder but also has led to effective treatments. In particular, Barlow and his associates developed panic-control treatment, described in their 2006 book Mastery of Your Anxiety and Panic. It involves education about panic disorder and somewhat gradual exposure to the internal and external cues that trigger panic attacks, along with changing the catastrophic interpretations of bodily cues so that they no longer trigger the attacks. This treatment has in most instances surpassed drug therapies for the disorder over the long term. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

00998

2008-09-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

When food writer Lisë Stern needs fresh vegetables to roast with a chicken, she bicycles to the green market near her Cambridge, Mass., home where local farmers sell organically grown produce. Once back in her kitchen, she prepares the meal using knives, bowls, utensils, a cutting board and a roasting pan dedicated solely to cooking with meat, and serves it to her two teenage sons (her 11-year-old daughter is a vegetarian) on glass plates never touched by milk, cheese or other dairy foods.

Stern, the author of How to Keep Kosher: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Jewish Dietary Laws, is one of a million or so American Jews (out of around six million total) who keeps her kitchen year-round according to the laws of kashruth, or kosher. She's also interested in the environment. So how does keeping kosher contribute to—or undermine—her efforts to go a little lighter on the planet?

In 2007 kosher foods were worth $12.5 billion of the $500-billion retail food market, according to market research firm Mintel. It isn't only Jews: According to marketing company Lubicom, the 10.2 million Americans who eat kosher foods include around three million Muslims, whose halal dietary rules overlap with kosher ones.

Kosher rules state: those who keep kosher eat traditionally domestic fowl like chicken and turkey; most fish with fins and scales—that means no shrimp, crab or lobster; and mammals that both chew their cuds and have split hooves, which includes cows and sheep, but not pigs.

What would the environment look like if everyone kept kosher? Per capita, Americans consume about 63.5 pounds (29 kilograms) of beef, 48.2 pounds (22 kilograms) of pork and 59 pounds (27 kilograms) of chicken per year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They also down 54 pounds (25 kilograms) of fish and shellfish, including about four pounds (two kilograms) of shrimp (the U.S.'s most popular seafood), according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Marine Fisheries Service.

So how does a kosher diet fare as one that is ecofriendly? Time for some calculations: first, let's assume that kosher vegetarians would still steer clear of meat in any quantity, even if they did not keep kosher, meaning that observing the rules would have no impact. Let's also assume that kosher omnivores consume the same average weight of meat per capita as other Americans, but replace pork with either beef or chicken. That would have an impact. Solely in terms of how much grain livestock consume, producing a pound (0.45 kilogram) of beef releases 13.67 pounds (6.2 kilograms) of greenhouse gases, compared with around 6.75 pounds (3.1 kilograms) to produce a pound of pork, and 3.37 pounds (1.5 kilograms) for every pound of chicken—and this does not even take into account the other factors in meat's carbon footprint, from deforestation for pasturage to shipping it to market. Globally, meat production generates 18 percent of the world's man-made greenhouse gases, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

That means replacing nonkosher pork with an equivalent 48 pounds (22 kilograms) of beef releases about 1,504 pounds (682 kilograms) of greenhouse gases annually, compared with 1,378 pounds (625 kilograms) of carbon a year for the pork-friendly eater। http://louis-j-sheehan.com

Of course, you could go the other way: If the kosher-only omnivore replaced all the pork with chicken, their greenhouse emissions would drop to 1,216 pounds (552 kilograms) per annum. But if the "pork difference" were split equally between beef and chicken, the kosher-only meat diet would yield 1,460 pounds (662 kilograms) of emissions—about 6 percent more than the nonkosher diet.

What about shrimp? It takes 243 gallons (920 liters) of diesel fuel to trawl about 1.1 tons (one metric ton) of the shellfish, according to Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, making shrimp one of the most energy-intensive wild seafood harvests, with a footprint of 5,395 pounds (2,447 kilograms) of carbon dioxide per metric ton even before processing and transportation are taken into account. And shrimp farming (which provides well over one million metric tons of shrimp annually, about 25 percent of all shrimp consumed) has been linked to the destruction of almost half of the world's mangroves: coastal forests that absorb carbon dioxide and provide essential habitat for wild fish species. Crab, meanwhile, was among the least energy-intensive species to catch in the Dalhousie study, whereas the fuel needed to collect a ton of lobster swung wildly—ranging from 5.3 gallons (20 liters) per metric ton in Iceland to about 38 gallons (144 liters) in Maine to 271 gallons (1,025 liters) in Norway.

Just as with livestock, the ultimate green boost from kosher law's taboo on shrimp and other shellfish depends on what you eat in its place. Assuming that the kosher consumer replaces the average American's four pounds of shrimp a year (and its 9.79 pounds, or 4.4 kilograms, of carbon dioxide emissions) with another fish, Canadian North Atlantic herring is a good choice: it takes around 5.28 gallons (20 liters) of fuel to purse seine (net using two trawlers) a metric ton of these small fish, according to Dalhousie, releasing about 117 pounds (53 kilograms) of carbon dioxide—meaning four pounds of herring have a carbon footprint of a mere 0.21 pound (0.09 kilogram). Wild U.S. or Canadian salmon take an average of just over six gallons (23 liters) of fuel per metric ton to catch, releasing about 133 pounds (60 kilograms) of carbon dioxide. So eating four pounds of salmon a year would account for 0.24 pound (0.1 kilogram) of carbon dioxide. Both of these are obviously just a fraction of the 9.79 pounds of carbon dioxide for the shrimp eater.

Tuna are energy hogs by comparison, needing about 460 gallons (1,740 liters)—twice the fuel of trawling for shrimp—to harvest the same single metric ton of tuna. That adds up to a massive 10,212 pounds (4,632 kilograms) of carbon dioxide per catch. So eating four pounds a year would have a footprint of 18.5 pounds (8.4 kilograms) of carbon dioxide, almost twice the shrimp eater's footprint.

Kosher rules do remove some overfished wild species from your plate—such as sharks, which are in serious decline worldwide, according to the Monterey Aquarium's Seafood Watch program. On the other hand, some popular fish that are kosher, such as bluefin tuna and Chilean sea bass are also in peril.

Kosher rules also forbid mixing meat and dairy foods: No cheeseburgers, please. "The idea repeated three times in the Bible is, 'you shouldn't boil a kid in its mother's milk'," says Stern. This has evolved over the centuries into complex rules and practices to keep the two apart in the kitchen and the stomach as well as in the cooking pot. That means two sets of dishes. Doubling one's kitchenware would seem to run counter to the "less is more" mantra of contemporary environmentalism but, as Stern notes, because both sets are never used simultaneously, the useful life of each is likely extended over time. http://louis-j-sheehan.com

Even though keeping kosher is not inherently more or less ecofriendly than a conventional diet, Stern notes that the small but growing kosher organic meat offerings, along with the overall boom in organic foods, make it easier to suffuse keeping kosher with her green values. And, of course, there are benefits that can't be counted by the numbers. "For me, keeping kosher is a spiritual commitment," Stern says. "It imbues the mundane with the sublime."

hiv

2008-09-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

A millennium and a half after the fall of their empire, ancient Romans might still be wreaking havoc on the European continent। http://Louis-J-sheehan.info

On average, Northern Europeans are more resistant to HIV infection and take longer to develop AIDS than Southern Europeans, and French researcher Eric Faure thinks that represents the legacy of the Roman Empire, strangely enough. There’s a gene variant in question, called CCR5-Delta32, which produces proteins that the HIV virus has trouble attaching to. But while in some areas of Northern Europe 15 percent of people carry this gene variant, only 4 percent of Greeks have it. In fact, if you look at the distribution of places where few people carry the gene, Faure says, the map looks suspiciously like that of the extent of Roman rule.

But Romans didn’t necessarily intermix with their colonists that much, according to Faure, so how did their lack of CCR5-Delta32 spread across Southern Europe? He says it’s possible that Romans introduced a disease that hit people who carried the HIV-resistant gene variation especially hard and reduced their numbers। The conquerors also introduced domesticated animals like cats and donkeys across their territory, and those animals can spread disease to humans. http://Louis-J-sheehan.info

This finding isn’t definitive, and other hypotheses about the gene variation exist. But when ancient Romans nicknamed theirs “the eternal city,” they probably couldn’t imagine how many places their legacy would turn up.

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

2008-09-02T18:46:00.000-07:00

In October 2000, workers blasting soil to widen a highway near Tel Aviv blew off the top a cave that had been covered by dirt for thousands of years.

Archaeologists called to the site determined that the cave contained Stone Age artifacts. A fence now surrounds the cave's opening as excavation proceeds.

It's lucky that the discovery, called Qesem Cave, didn't become road kill. It contains some of the oldest and best-preserved evidence of hunting by our evolutionary ancestors in the span of time from around 300,000 to 200,000 years ago, says Mary C. Stiner of the University of Arizona in Tucson. Stiner is analyzing Qesem Cave finds with Avi Gopher and Ran Barkai, both of Tel Aviv University.

Abundant deer bones exhibiting butchery marks lie in sediment layers of the Israeli cave that also hold a mix of stone tools, including teardrop-shaped hand axes with sharpened edges. Age estimates for the bones rest on measurements of the proportion of specific uranium and thorium isotopes in them.

Deer remains at the site, which represent all parts of the animals' bodies, came primarily from mature individuals that would have been of prime interest to Stone Age meat eaters, Stiner notes. Many of the bones display discoloration from burning.

The Qesem Cave bones contain many more butchery incisions than are typically seen on the bones of hunted animals at other Stone Age sites. "This was a heavy-handed way of dealing with carcasses," Stiner says. "It implies a lack of caring about the fate of stone-tool edges."http://www.myspace.com/louis_j_sheehan_esquire

color

2008-08-30T20:55:00.000-07:00

Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire

For an enlightening perspective on how primates acquire color vision, consider baby monkeys. These infants' ability to recognize basic colors in different environmental settings depends on their prior exposure to a full spectrum of colors in natural light, a new study suggests.http://louis-j-sheehan.net

Although the colors in an image shift as available light intensifies or diminishes, people, as well as monkeys, usually recognize a particular hue throughout that change. For instance, an observer perceives a dog's red collar as the same color on a dark, cloudy day as on a sunny day. Scientists refer to this crucial visual adjustment as color constancy.

Prior investigations have failed to clarify whether color constancy is an innate capability of the retina's cone cells or it's acquired only with help from the brain's visual system.

Yoichi Sugita of the Neuroscience Research Institute in Tsukuba, Japan, explored color constancy in four macaque monkeys that had been raised from age 1 month to 1 year in a room illuminated by light with a highly restricted range of wavelengths, which ensured that the animals couldn't discern a normal array of colors.

After age 1, the monkeys couldn't usually identify colors they had just seen on a computer screen when the on-screen illumination of those colors changed, even after intensive training designed to overcome this problem, Sugita reports in the July 27 Current Biology. In contrast, four macaque monkeys that had been raised in a room illuminated by sunlight and fluorescent lamps recognized colors in a variety of lighting conditions.

Over 3 days of training, all the year-old animals learned to identify matching pairs of black, white, or gray rectangles. After another 3 days of training, the monkeys identified pairs of equally illuminated rectangles with common colors—blue, green, yellow, or red.

After 10 days of training and 3 weeks of further testing, however, those monkeys raised under restricted-illumination conditions still had great difficulty recognizing different shades of the same color as well as identifying the same color illuminated to varying degrees. These problems remained 9 months after the monkeys had been moved to a room illuminated by sunlight and fluorescent lamps.http://louis-j-sheehan.net

"These results indicate that early visual experience is indispensable for normal color perception," Sugita says.

His report is the first clear demonstration that animals can perceive colors, which indicates working cone cells in the retina, but that they lack the capacity for color constancy, comments Stanford University vision researcher Brian A. Wandell. This implies that the brain, not the retina, assumes substantial responsibility for performing color judgments under different lighting conditions, in his view.

Brain-imaging studies are needed to pinpoint disrupted parts of the brain's visual system in monkeys without color constancy, Wandell says.

novel

2008-08-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

By the time babies are 6 months old, they distinguish the faces of different people—and can also discern the faces of specific monkeys. Now, researchers have found that with parental coaching, infants can retain their skill at telling animals apart instead of losing it by 9 months of age as babies usually do.Louis J. Sheehan

In their investigations of baby perception, psychologist Olivier Pascalis of the University of Sheffield in England and his team hypothesize that infants rapidly transform themselves from perceptual generalists to specialists (SN: 5/18/02, p. 307: http://www.sciencenews.org/20020518/fob1.asp). Intense practice at discerning different human faces prompts the loss of perceptual insights into nonhuman faces by 9 months of age, the scientists propose.http://ljsheehan.livejournal.com

That perceptual trade-off may not be inevitable, however. From age 6 months to 9 months, babies whose parents show them photographs of monkeys' faces for brief periods hang on to the ability to tell one furry primate's mug from another, Pascalis and his coworkers report in an upcoming Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers are now testing how long this retention lasts.

"Our data further elucidate the role of early experience in the development of face processing," Pascalis says.

In the new study, 26 infants participated in face-recognition trials. While being held by their mothers, the 6-month-olds viewed an image of a monkey's face and then saw that picture presented alongside another monkey's face. All the animals displayed neutral expressions.

Babies looked substantially longer at the novel face in each pair, a sign the researchers take for both recognition of and preference for new faces.http://ljsheehan.livejournal.com

The researchers then gave half of the mothers mug shots of six monkeys, each labeled with a name. For the next week, each mother showed her baby the photos and talked about each monkey for 10 to 20 seconds daily. Photo presentations over the next 3 months tapered off to one per week.

At age 9 months, infants who had been shown monkey faces at home still looked longer at novel monkey faces than they did at faces they had just seen. The 13 babies who received no face training at home looked equally long at novel and previously viewed monkey faces.

The results indicate that babies need only exposure to still images of monkey faces to maintain perceptual sensitivity to them, remarks psychologist Paul C. Quinn of the University of Delaware in Newark, who has collaborated with Pascalis in other work.

The social nature of home practice sessions probably played a big role in preserving infants' ability to distinguish monkey faces, Pascalis adds. Mothers guided their babies' attention and motivated the youngsters to examine the photos, he says.

The findings parallel evidence that babies start out skilled at discerning the sounds of many languages but lose that generic capacity as they learn their parents' language, says Pascalis.

memories

2008-08-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

World War II ended 60 years ago, but memories of that conflagration show surprising staying power। Danes who lived through the Nazi occupation, which began in 1940, and the liberation in 1945 remember information associated with those two events with considerable accuracy, a new study finds. Louis J. Sheehan

Vivid recollections of one's surroundings and other personal experiences at the time of momentous, surprising events have been dubbed flashbulb memories. Earlier studies indicated that the accuracy of this type of recall declines substantially for 3 years after such events take place. That led some researchers to posit that after a decade or more, such memories become totally untrustworthy.

However, a healthy proportion of flashbulb memories related to World War II have stayed intact for more than half a century in Danes, say Dorthe Berntsen and Dorthe K. Thomsen, psychologists at the University of Aarhus in Denmark.

Their conclusion hinges on study participants remembering verifiable information related to the wartime events, such as the time of day that the radio announced liberation. Berntsen and Thomsen argue that the accuracy of verifiable information serves as a gauge of the veracity of personal recollections. Their technique conservatively estimates flashbulb-memory accuracy, the researchers contend, since people remember material better if they recount past events spontaneously rather than respond to questions about those events, as in the study.http://louis-j-sheehan.biz

Berntsen and Thomsen administered questionnaires to 145 Danes, ages 72 to 89. None had been diagnosed with a brain disease. Another 65 Danes born during or after World War II, ages 20 to 60, also completed questionnaires.

All the volunteers answered such questions as what the weather was like on occupation and liberation days and whether those days fell on workdays or the weekend.

Elderly participants also reported what they were doing when they heard news of the occupation and liberation, and their most negative and most positive personal memories from World War II.

Older Danes answered far more factual questions correctly than their younger counterparts did, the scientists report in the May Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. For instance, 100 war survivors, compared with only 3 of the younger participants, accurately described weather conditions on the day the Germans invaded Denmark.http://louis-j-sheehan.biz

Nearly all the older Danes cited personal memories related to the two war events. About 80 percent related either a most-negative or a most-positive wartime memory. Participants remember the liberation more clearly and with more details than they recall the invasion.

Individuals who reported having intense emotions at the time of occupation and liberation and who had regularly thought about those events after the war revealed the most detailed personal memories.http://louis-j-sheehan.biz

The 66 participants who reported ties to the Danish resistance movement displayed particularly accurate factual recall and remembered personal experiences with great clarity.

"Occupation and liberation during World War II dramatically affected everyone in Denmark," comments psychologist David C. Rubin of Duke University in Durham, N.C. "Danes now at advanced ages appear to have pretty accurate flashbulb memories for those events."

Liberation loomed large in the older Danes' memories because it's often publicly commemorated in Denmark, the investigators say.

cassini

2008-08-15T17:50:00.000-07:00

Swooping within 49 kilometers of Saturn’s tiny, geologically active moon Enceladus, the Cassini spacecraft has pinpointed the locations of the icy geysers that erupt from the southern hemisphere of this wrinkled moon’s surface.http://Louis2J2Sheehan2Esquire.US

Images taken by Cassini during an Aug. 11 flyby have revealed new details about the south polar fractures, dubbed tiger stripes, from which the geysers emanate. The images reveal that the fractures are about 300 meters deep and have V-shaped inner walls. Some fractures are flanked by large deposits of fine material, another indication that those trenches are the geysers’ source. Blocks of ice, house-sized and larger, litter the surrounding, more finely fractured terrain.

ENLARGE | Cassini shot past the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus on August 11, recording seven high-resolution images that home in on warm regions within the moon's tiger-stripe fractures, also known as sulci. This composite image shows two of the stripes; circles indicate the location of geysers that emanate from these fractures.NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

The geysers blast icy particles, water vapor and trace amounts of organic compounds into space, and researchers are hoping to use the images and other Cassini data to determine whether these vents originate from a subsurface ocean. The craft’s recent detection of sodium in Saturn’s icy E ring, whose ice particles are supplied by Enceladus, suggests that the moon has an underground reservoir of salty water.

Icy particles line some of the fractures, even the regions between geysers. One explanation is that when warm vapor from an underground source rises to the cold surface, ice particles condense and settle on the ground, sealing off a vent. New jets may then erupt from other locations along the same fracture.

ENLARGE | This close-up of an Enceladus tiger-stripe fracture known as Damascus Sulcus shows the location of two geysers (yellow circles).NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

“At the limited spatial resolution on the tiger stripes that we had from previous flybys, we could not previously identify any unique morphological [shape], albedo [reflectivity] or color details that would allow us to distinguish the active vent locations from the rest of their tiger stripes,” notes Cassini researcher Paul Helfenstein of Cornell University.http://Louis2J2Sheehan2Esquire.US

The Aug. 11 passage was Cassini’s fifth close flyby of Enceladus and the nearest yet to the moon’s surface. From Cassini’s point of view, Enceladus streaked past at a relative speed of 64,000 kilometers per hour, making it extremely challenging to take sharp, smear-free images.

Helfenstein devised a strategy of pointing the craft far ahead of Enceladus and then turning the craft as quickly as possible in the direction of the moon’s path. That enabled the craft to take seven high-resolution images of the tiger stripes in rapid सुक्सस्सिओं.

Cassini will next pass by Enceladus on October 10, when the craft should venture even closer, within 25 kilometers of the moon’s surface. Five other flybys are plannedcassini

Pakefield

2008-08-13T17:20:00.000-07:00

लुईस जे। शीहन Scientists excavating ancient river sediment along England's southeastern coast have unearthed stone tools from roughly 700,000 years ago, the earliest evidence of human ancestors in northern Europe।

A team led by Simon A. Parfitt of University College London found 32 pieces of worked flint, including a cutting implement with a sharpened edge and a fist-size rock from which smaller, tool-size pieces had been hammered. These unexpected discoveries occurred near the village of Pakefield, Suffolk, and near the base of an eroding cliff that has been combed by fossil hunters for the past 200 years.

Fossils of extinct animals found near the artifacts, as well as measurements of Earth's magnetic field within the sediment, guided the scientists' age estimate. Remnants of cold-averse animals, insects, and plants in the tool-bearing deposit further indicate that a warm, Mediterranean climate prevailed there 700,000 years ago, the researchers report in the Dec. 15, 2005 Nature. At that time, a land bridge connected England to northwestern Europe.

The Pakefield finds show that human ancestors reached northern and southern parts of Europe at around the same time, remarks John McNabb of the University of Southampton in England. Other researchers previously uncovered remains of Homo species that inhabited Mediterranean areas, such as Spain and Italy, by at least 800,000 years ago। Until now, the earliest evidence of human ancestors in England dated to about 500,000 years ago. http://louis-j-sheehan.biz

Faced with a climate that fluctuated dramatically every few thousand years, our evolutionary forerunners probably spread northward during warm times and retreated south during cold phases, says University College's Anthony J। Stuart, a coauthor of the new study.

लुईस