Monthly Archives: June 2012

List of the Islands of Micronesia

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Geographically Micronesia lies west of Polynesia, north of Melanesia and east of the Philippines. That puts it primarily in the North Pacific Ocean, though its southernmost islands straddle the equator. It incorporates thousands of small islands and islets, with a land area totaling about 1200 sq. mi., covering over 3 million square miles of water in the western Pacific Ocean.

In order of size, the island groups/countries that make up Micronesia are:

Kiribati 313 sq. mi.; population 102,000

An independent nation straddling both the equator and the International Date Line, Kiribati is the only country in the world that falls in all four hemispheres. 33 coral atolls, 21 of which are inhabited, spread over 1.3 million square miles. One of the poorest countries in the world it has minimal tourist facilities. Popular tourist activities include sailing, snorkeling, and exploring the local culture.

Federated States of Micronesia 270 sq. mi.; population 111,000

An independent country in the Caroline Islands made up of four primary island groups (Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae) with over 600 islands (only 65 of which are inhabited), spread over 1,000,000 sq. mi. of ocean east of Palau and the Philippines. Due to its remoteness, there are minimal tourist facilities on these islands. Popular tourist activities include scuba diving, especially in Truk Lagoon with a sunken Japanese fleet, snorkeling, and exploring the local culture.

Guam 210 sq. mi.; population 186,000

A territory of the United States (and one of its primary military bases in the Pacific), Guam is the largest single island in Micronesia, and the southernmost island in the Marianas Archipelago, about three quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines. Guam has a flourishing tourism business comprised mostly of Japanese and other Asian visitors. Popular tourist activities include scuba diving, snorkeling and other water sports, duty free shopping, hiking and visiting historical sites.

Northern Mariana Islands 179 sq. mi.; population 45,000

A commonwealth, or territory, of the United States, the Northern Mariana Islands consist of 14 islands, only three of which are inhabited; southern islands are limestone with fringing coral reefs while the northern islands are volcanic. Popular tourist activities include scuba diving, snorkeling and other water sports, golfing, gambling and visiting historical sites.

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List of the Islands of Micronesia

Democrats Wary on Court Health Care Ruling

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Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call

For Congressional Democrats anticipating the Supreme Courts health care decision, the question is this: Why rush?

Republicans are quick to highlight their preparations for the courts decision. They have promised immediate action to repeal what is left of the law if its not completely struck down, and they have said they will hold individual votes on the laws more popular elements.

But in facing the public, many Democrats downplay the possibility that the court could strike down President Barack Obamas signature legislative achievement.

Were confident that the laws going to be upheld, said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. It would be a dramatic narrowing of the jurisprudence of 70 years on the Supreme Court that gives Congress the ability to regulate commerce if the court strikes it down.

Behind the scenes, some Members and aides are broaching the possibility. Nevertheless, House and Senate Democrats are not expecting a flurry of legislative activity once the Supreme Court rules.

Instead, a Senate Democratic leadership aide said, they are taking their cues on how to respond from the White House.

Its unlikely that Congress would take up the health care bill again before the election, the aide said, adding that any efforts by Senate Democrats would not be embraced by the Republican-led House. To the extent that those discussions are taking place, they are being led by the White House.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said last week at a White House forum on the law and womens health issues that the administration remains confident and optimistic the law will be upheld.

But if the ruling proves unfavorable, she added, Well be ready for court contingencies. However, she offered no details about how the administration would respond.

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Democrats Wary on Court Health Care Ruling

Undoing health law a mess?

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WASHINGTON It sounds like a silver lining. Even if the Supreme Court overturns President Barack Obama's health care law, employers can keep offering popular coverage for the young adult children of their workers.

Don't miss these Health stories

A rising number of American men who underwent vasectomies a procedure once considered permanent are choosing microsurgeries to re-hook or reroute their reproductive tubes, according to two leading urologists.

But here's the catch: The parents' taxes would go up.

That's only one of the messy potential ripple effects when the Supreme Court delivers its verdict on the Affordable Care Act this month. The law affects most major components of the U.S. health care system in its effort to extend coverage to millions of uninsured people.

Because the legislation is so complicated, an orderly unwinding would prove difficult if it were overturned entirely or in part.

Better Medicare prescription benefits, currently saving hundreds of dollars for older people with high drug costs, would be suspended. Ditto for preventive care with no co-payments, now available to retirees and working families alike.

Partially overturning the law could leave hospitals, insurers and other service providers on the hook for tax increases and spending cuts without the law's promise of more paying customers to offset losses.

If the law is upheld, other kinds of complications could result.

The nation is so divided that states led by Republicans are largely unprepared to carry out critical requirements such as creating insurance markets. Things may not settle down.

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Undoing health law a mess?

Health-care prognosis: cloudy

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By Jack Torry

The Columbus Dispatch Sunday June 10, 2012 10:56 AM

The U.S. Supreme Court is on the verge of ruling on the new health-care law, a decision that could throw health care into temporary chaos as providers and patients scramble to adjust to a wave of uncertainty in the system.

The justices, who might issue their decision as early as this week, could deliver a staggering political blow to President Barack Obama by striking down the 2010 law, the signature achievement of the presidents first term, designed to extend health care to millions of Americans without insurance.

The court also could stun conservative Republicans by giving their seal of approval to the law. Republicans in Congress joined by GOP state attorneys general objected that it unconstitutionally forced individuals to buy health insurance.

A growing number of analysts, however, suggest that five of the justices will cobble together a fractured series of opinions that could leave parts of the law intact while striking down other sections. Such a ruling could create confusion for hospitals, physicians and patients.

I think hospitals want clear direction either way, not just in the Supreme Court decision, but in all areas of public policy, said Jonathan Archey, a lobbyist for the Ohio Hospital Association. Whatever the Supreme Court does, were still going to have the issues that the (law) was designed to deal with.

The courts key votes belong to Justice Anthony Kennedy and, to a lesser extent, Chief Justice John Roberts. With the courts four liberal justices likely to uphold the law and conservative justices Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas seemingly hostile to it, Kennedy may emerge as he usually does the pivotal vote.

Hes always subject to the next mornings barometer readings, said Thomas Miller, a resident fellow and health analyst at the Washington-based American Enterprise Institute. But based on the way oral arguments unfolded, the best reading is that hes a vote against the individual mandate, but not a vote against striking down the entire structure.

Its hard it to get five votes to throw everything out the door because of (the courts) nervousness about being something that sweeping, Miller continued.

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Health-care prognosis: cloudy

Future Of Health Care Law Hangs In Balance

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The Supreme Court may issue a ruling on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act as early as Monday. Guy Raz talks to NPR Health Policy Correspondent Julie Rovner about what will happen next if the court rules against the law. In Oregon, Rocky King, the state's health insurance exchange director, says the imminent decision keeps him up at night and historian Jeff Shesol explains why ...

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Future Of Health Care Law Hangs In Balance

Green flag ahead once past this mess

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The banners may be flying on Wall Street but the US faces a rocky ride over spending cuts before regaining its feet. Photo: Getty Images

THE most common question I get asked is how the world will pan out once we get through the current mess? Futurism is a dubious occupation but a task we all like to dabble in. When it comes to sharemarkets, the best approach is to go region-by-region identifying the key dynamics.

The United States is still the largest and most critical global sharemarket.

There can be no new bull market without America leading the charge and I am confident it will find its feet again and retain world leadership.

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In the short term, the US is in for a rocky ride, dealing with the looming $750 billion reduction in government stimulus. Coined the ''fiscal cliff'', this involves the end to a series of tax breaks and the start of savage spending cuts that are due to kick in early next year. Economists forecast this could deduct a staggering 3 to 5 per cent off economic growth.

Avoiding this would seem difficult given the political divide and the approaching presidential election.

If nothing is resolved by August, this could trigger another wave of selling on the sharemarket.

No doubt the Federal Reserve and its captain Ben Bernanke will be ready to counter with more cash manufacturing, all making for a bumpy ride through until December.

Beyond 2012, it is easier to build a more bullish case for the US.

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Green flag ahead once past this mess

Authorities Ban Swimming in 188 beaches due to Pollution

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2012/06/10 (Last modification: 2012/06/10 22:00)

Ministry of Tourism prevented this season swimming in 188 Beaches in 14 wilayas, due to contamination and danger on citizens, at a time Echorouk sources said, the government rejected a request made by the Minister of Tourism, for conversion of managing and exploiting the beaches from the municipalities to the Ministry of Tourism, although the law is clear and gives the right of exploiting the beaches to the municipalities.

Jijel (east of Algeria) ranks top of the wilayas where the largest map of beaches banned from swimming is identified, and where authorities banned swimming across 29 beaches out of 50 beaches because of the lack of security, while Algiers ranked second in terms of beaches banned from swimming (16 beaches) because of pollution and the non validity of their waters.

These shores banned from swimming out of 552 beaches, extend along 1,600 km, which means that the number of beaches where swimming is allowed reach 364 beaches at the national level, a figure that, although improved, compared to last season, but 188 polluted and dangerous beaches, deprived hundreds of Algerians from enjoying the long coast , 1600 km, so Algerians are forced to swim in ponds and swamps, and even in the banned beaches.

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Authorities Ban Swimming in 188 beaches due to Pollution

Venus orbital plane | Bad Astronomy

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Local (to me) photographer Patrick Cullis was filming the Venus Transit last week from Colorado, and got a surprise: Pretty cool. That’s part of a longer video he made of the transit that’s nice, too. While I’m at it, he made a really pretty time lapse of the sky over Boulder, including footage of Venus and Jupiter setting over the Flatiron mountains; it’s well worth a moment of your time to ...

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Venus orbital plane | Bad Astronomy

The android head of Philip K. Dick

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Russian television reporter Vladimir Lenski interviews an android of science fiction author Philip K. Dick at NextFest in Chicago in 2005. Photo: Reuters

In 2005, David Hanson left Philip K. Dick's head on a plane. Hanson, a roboticist, was en route to Google to present his team's project- a painstakingly crafted android replication of the author, who died in 1982-when he changed planes and left behind a duffel bag.

The robot's head surfaced at a couple of airports around the American West before disappearing in Washington state, never to be found again.

Dick, the author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - the source material for Blade Runner - was both deeply engaged with issues of artificial intelligence, and deeply paranoid. That is to say, he was the science fiction writer for whom being transformed into an android, and then having your head lost to the labyrinthine bureaucracy of an airline, might be considered most fitting.

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An android of science fiction author Philip K. Dick is displayed at NextFest in Chicago in 2005.

In How To Build an Android, David F. Dufty explains how Dick was made into a machine by an endearingly nerdy group of roboticists. Dufty, who observed the development of the robot while a postdoc, uses the unlikely story to meditate on the state of robotics and artificial intelligence. In particular, he describes the peculiar way humans interact with machines - and what it takes to make us feel as though a robot is alive.

The Philip K. Dick project began in 2004. Hanson, then a graduate student at the University of Dallas, brought an artistic background to robotics, with his invention of a (relatively) true-to-life synthetic skin he named "Frubber." One of his early robot heads was modeled on himself, a couple of others on then-girlfriends. K-Bot, based on a now-ex named Kristen, displayed then-remarkable ability to express emotion. (Making a robot head out of your beloved is the futuristic equivalent of a sonnet, it seems.)

At a conference, he got to know roboticists from the University of Memphis who were working on an educational program called AutoTutor. If they combined Hanson's well-crafted heads and AutoTutor's basic conversational abilities, the roboticists decided, they could create an android - and why not craft it in the form of a science fiction writer preoccupied with the line between man and machine? (In the book, a graduate student who jokes about calling it "the Dick head" is gently corrected.)

Hanson is a bit of a robo-rebel: He argues that the widely accepted principal of the Uncanny Valley - that as machines look more realistic, they become more unsettling - has no basis in reality. This unorthodox position buoys his position that developing humanlike robots is vital, as it will allow for better interaction with people. But not everyone in robotics agrees that humanoid forms are a worthwhile pursuit, given the significant obstacles: Locomotion on two legs is incredibly challenging to replicate, as is the human face. There are further divides over how a robot should be able to think or act.

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The android head of Philip K. Dick

Comment on Colorado's aerospace industry foresees slowdown prior to defense cuts

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Points: 0 Article Discussion: Colorado's aerospace industry foresees s

by denverboy1 on Today, 7:58 am #2527537

Could be throwin there lot in with the NEW space Companies might lessen he impact of Manditory Cuts.. America needs to revisit what we are building and why F-22..Poisens the Crew via OX system...Joint strike fource fighter..Cant land on Aircraft carriers...These Multi -BILLION dollar engineering screw ups are the type Items...America needs to revisit.. Why are we designing and building systems...That just dont work...and there not SPACE SYSTEMS..they are MILITARY DEFENSE systems.. Huge unbid and do not meet specs..But the American Public Pays threw the nose for the Pentagons ...TOYS..That don't work We have a up coming PRIVATE space effort...thats serious..Our Legacy Defense contractors are unable to desgin and spec out systems that are budgeted and or function as promised..Why should throw good money after bad...Why are we propping up Companies that just swallow money and deliver substandard systems..Either DEMAND proformance or pull the Contracts... Our New space effort is taking baby steps our legacy Companies have turned into inept blotted intiteled babies suckeling on the breats of the American Taxpayer..and producing...with a few exceptions....Junk....

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Comment on Colorado's aerospace industry foresees slowdown prior to defense cuts

Nanotechnologists develop a 'time bomb' to fight cardiovascular disease

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Atherosclerosis, resulting in a narrowing of the arteries and the development of cardiovascular disease, is the leading cause of death worldwide. Until now, no treatment could target diseased areas exclusively, in order to increase drug efficacy and reduce side effects. To help bridge this gap, a group of Swiss researchers from UNIGE, HUG and the University of Basel have developed a veritable 'time bomb,' a treatment that can recognize the diseased areas and treat only them.

In Switzerland, more than 20,000 people (37% of all deaths) die of cardiovascular disease caused by atherosclerosis each year. Treatment options are currently available to people who suffer from the disease but no drug can target solely the diseased areas, often leading to generalized side effects. Intravenous injection of a vasodilator (a substance that dilates blood vessels), such as nitroglycerin, dilates both the diseased vessels and the rest of our arteries. Blood pressure can thus drop, which would limit the desired increased blood flow generated by vasodilatation of diseased vessels and needed for example during a heart attack.

In order to increase the effectiveness of treatments against atherosclerosis and to reduce side effects, a team of researchers from UNIGE, HUG and the University of Basel have developed nanocontainers having the ability to release their vasodilator content exclusively to diseased areas.

Nanotechnology in medicine

Though no biomarker specific to atherosclerosis has been identified, there is a physical phenomenon inherent to stenosis (the narrowing of blood vessels) known as shear stress. This force results from fluctuations in blood flow induced by the narrowing of the artery and runs parallel to the flow of blood. It is by making use of this phenomenon that the team of researchers has developed a veritable time bomb, a nanocontainer which, under pressure from the shear stress in stenosed arteries, will release its vasodilator contents.

By rearranging the structure of certain molecules (phospholipids) in classic nanocontainers such as liposome, scientists were able to give them a lenticular shape as opposed to the normal spherical shape. In the form of a lens, the nanocontainer then moves through the healthy arteries without breaking. This new nanocontainer is perfectly stable, except when subjected to the shear stress of stenosed arteries. And that's exactly the intention of this technological advance. The vasodilator content is distributed only to the stenotic arteries, significantly increasing the efficacy of the treatment and reducing side effects. "In brief, we exploited a previously unexplored aspect of an existing technology. This research offers new perspectives in the treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease," explains Andreas Zumbuehl from the Department of Organic Chemistry at UNIGE.

"Nanomedicine is a discipline stemming from general nanoscience but which orients itself towards medical research. The interdisciplinary collaboration between chemistry, physics, basic science and clinical medicine in a highly technical environment could lead to a new era of research," states Till Saxer of the Cardiology and General Internal Medicine Departments at HUG.

"The nano component is present in all disciplines, but the most interesting aspect of nanomedicine is its overview allowing the development of clinical products that integrate this global medical point of view from the earliest onset of research projects," states Bert Mller, Director of the Biomaterials Science Centre (BMC) at Basel.

When chemistry gets involved

How did scientists manage to change the shape of the nanocontainers so that they resemble a lens? By rearranging the structure of molecules, chemists at UNIGE replaced the ester bond that links the two parts of the phospholipid (head and tail), with an amide bond, an organic compound that promotes interaction among phospholipids. Once modified, the molecules are hydrated then heated to form a liquid sphere which will relax to solidify in the form of a lens upon cooling.

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Nanotechnologists develop a 'time bomb' to fight cardiovascular disease

Researchers develop a 'time bomb' to fight cardiovascular disease

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Public release date: 10-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Andreas Zumbuehl andreas.zumbuehl@unige.ch 41-223-796-719 Universit de Genve

In Switzerland, more than 20,000 people (37% of all deaths) die of cardiovascular disease caused by atherosclerosis each year. Treatment options are currently available to people who suffer from the disease but no drug can target solely the diseased areas, often leading to generalized side effects. Intravenous injection of a vasodilator (a substance that dilates blood vessels), such as nitroglycerin, dilates both the diseased vessels and the rest of our arteries. Blood pressure can thus drop, which would limit the desired increased blood flow generated by vasodilatation of diseased vessels and needed for example during a heart attack.

In order to increase the effectiveness of treatments against atherosclerosis and to reduce side effects, a team of researchers from UNIGE, HUG and the University of Basel have developed nanocontainers having the ability to release their vasodilator content exclusively to diseased areas.

Nanotechnology in medicine

Though no biomarker specific to atherosclerosis has been identified, there is a physical phenomenon inherent to stenosis (the narrowing of blood vessels) known as shear stress. This force results from fluctuations in blood flow induced by the narrowing of the artery and runs parallel to the flow of blood. It is by making use of this phenomenon that the team of researchers has developed a veritable time bomb, a nanocontainer which, under pressure from the shear stress in stenosed arteries, will release its vasodilator contents.

By rearranging the structure of certain molecules (phospholipids) in classic nanocontainers such as liposome, scientists were able to give them a lenticular shape as opposed to the normal spherical shape. In the form of a lens, the nanocontainer then moves through the healthy arteries without breaking. This new nanocontainer is perfectly stable, except when subjected to the shear stress of stenosed arteries. And that's exactly the intention of this technological advance. The vasodilator content is distributed only to the stenotic arteries, significantly increasing the efficacy of the treatment and reducing side effects. In brief, we exploited a previously unexplored aspect of an existing technology. This research offers new perspectives in the treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease, explains Andreas Zumbuehl from the Department of Organic Chemistry at UNIGE.

Nanomedicine is a discipline stemming from general nanoscience but which orients itself towards medical research. The interdisciplinary collaboration between chemistry, physics, basic science and clinical medicine in a highly technical environment could lead to a new era of research, states Till Saxer of the Cardiology and General Internal Medicine Departments at HUG.

The nano component is present in all disciplines, but the most interesting aspect of nanomedicine is its overview allowing the development of clinical products that integrate this global medical point of view from the earliest onset of research projects, states Bert Mller, Director of the Biomaterials Science Centre (BMC) at Basel.

When chemistry gets involved

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Researchers develop a 'time bomb' to fight cardiovascular disease

Anatomy of a grant: Emails indicate cancer agency sought to bypass scientific review

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Lynda Chin is used to getting what she wants.

Chin, a physician who is the wife of Dr. Ronald DePinho, the president of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, submitted a plan on March 12 seeking what would be the largest grant yet awarded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, or CPRIT.

Chin had every reason to believe her seven-page application would win funding. She had received an $8 million enticement to move her cancer research lab from Boston to Houston last year after her husband accepted the M.D. Anderson position, and prospects for the success of her grant application seemed encouraging.

"We'll make it work," the cancer center's lead commercial grant officer had told her six days earlier.

But the same day it was submitted, Chin's application hit a snag.

"I don't think they are ready," Jerry Cobbs, the senior staff member who oversees commercialization grants for CPRIT, wrote his boss in an email after reviewing the application. He suggested consideration of the application be delayed.

Nevertheless, by the end of March, Chin had landed her grant - approximately $18 million for a single year.

A monthlong Houston Chronicle investigation suggests that CPRIT, a 3-year-old initiative backed by $3 billion in taxpayer funds, handled the grant application in a hasty manner designed to circumvent its own scientific reviewers.

Hundreds of internal emails obtained through a public records request shed new light on the forces at work in the application process - particularly the role of a Houston venture capitalist, Charles Tate, who invests in companies that commercialize drugs and who has ties to M.D. Anderson and to CPRIT.

The emails indicate that Tate, one of 11 members of CPRIT's oversight committee, was instrumental in shepherding Chin's proposal through the review process. He denied doing so.

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Anatomy of a grant: Emails indicate cancer agency sought to bypass scientific review

Agriculture insensitivity causes nutrition convulsions

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BAIS CITY, Negros Oriental, Philippines -- It was three o'clock in the morning when father and son sipped coffee made from toasted rice as they broke the steamed cassava cake they called "balanghoy." The flicker of flames from a gasera barely made out their faces. Hostile terrains made it difficult to install power lines. As the five-year old thin boy finished first, he asked leave so he could prepare the rice seedlings. Putting on a mantle on his head, he slipped on an old shirt that was his father's. "I'll wait for you at the ricefield, Tay." He ought to have been in school but his father needed help. His thin legs dug through the miry field as he bent his back burrowing the seedlings into the fresh, muddy earth.

It was three o'clock in the afternoon when a father sipped brewed coffee and his son hot chocolate at a cafe in a highly urbanized community. The five-year old boy, who was obese for his age, had ordered chicken with rice and a mound of potato fries saying he was hungry. As he forked on his food, and some he took with his fingers, crumbs of rice fell on the table and some on the floor. "Are you done, Son?" the father asked, seeing that his son hardly finished the rice serving. "I'm done, Dad," said the son licking on the gravy with his fingers, "just have the waiter wrap this leftover rice so I can give it to the dogs."

Is what we are planting sensitive to what we are eating? Is our agricultural production sensitive to put food always in the home? As insensitive as a five-year-old obese boy who wastes rice to drop on the floor or throws leftover rice to the dogs while a five year old boy in the barrio breaks his back to plant rice to feed a hungry nation, this country could be hanging on a limb with disparities between nutrition and agriculture on the issue of FAITH putting food always in the home.

In rare deliberations, some 20 government nutritionists, nurses, doctors and health practitioners engaged in lively but piercing discussions raising the concern that the agriculture blueprint of the country may not match with the nutrition blueprint of the Filipino diet. In the second regional management conference that the National Nutrition Council 7 held in Bais City on May 30 to June 1, nutrition action officers said that there continues to be a prevalence of poor nutritional levels based on the age for weight and height for weight parameters. They pointed at a disparity that the agriculture industry may not be producing enough food of what is nutritionally ideal. They said that while nutrition action officers can promote the food pyramid, getting this on the dining table of the average Filipino home maybe cumbered when the supply side of nutrition, which is agriculture, is insensitive to the Filipino diet.

Before the reaping

Hostile terrains in priority and governance may have come between nutrition and agriculture all this time. It may have come belated before each agency realized that nutrition-sensitive agriculture is the impetus for lactating mothers to have the proper diet and food that gives nourishment foundation in milk production. It may have been overlooked by both agencies that nutrition-sensitive agriculture is critical in promoting micro-nutrient based diets and healthy food lifestyles when fruits and vegetables are readily available, accessible and cheap.

In precipitating and moving for nutrition-sensitive agriculture, this year's Nutrition Month theme is "Pagkain ng gulay ugaliin, araw-araw itong ihain" on the rationale that the best way to have nutrition-based diet is to produce agricultural harvests that are sensitive and responsive to nutrition-based menu.Nutrition action officers in the region observed that on economies of scale, more definitive levels of collaboration may yet be needed between the nutrition council and the agriculture department.

While the agriculture department can claim to have increased annual production output and more efficient logistics food chain, such harvests do not equate to being nutrition-sensitive. In other words, it is one thing to have increased agriculture output and another to have nutrition-sensitive production.One factor that was blamed for the disparity is that agriculture in this country is generally export-based. Agricultural lands are traditionally dedicated in producing crops for export and not necessarily for the consumption of the average Filipino family. There are not so much lands dedicated to vegetable and fruit production. And if there are, the best pick, the best mangoes, the best carrots, the best potatoes, the best lettuces are either exported or sold to big hotels and restaurants while the "crumbs" and rejects are sold at local flea markets or grocery stores. This tends to make agriculture un-FAITHful that is fruits and vegetables become expensive making Food-Always-In-The-Home prohibitive for dining tables of marginalized families. While nutrition is no respecter of social status, lopsided agriculture can discriminate when nutritionally-ideal food like fruits and vegetables are expensive.

Another is, agricultural lands these days are either converted into subdivisions and residential communities while others turn into war zones displacing thousands of farmlands and farmers. Until there is a principled resolve to armed hostilities and until there are definitive reforms and enforcement to land use, hunger and malnutrition continues to be real. There continues to be prevalence of malnutrition even in agriculture-based economies either because there are not enough lands for agriculture and agricultural lands are planted to export commodities hence neglecting and leaving out basic nutrition-based produce.

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Agriculture insensitivity causes nutrition convulsions

Doggie DNA database to trace poo

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The Jerusalem municipality is planning to compile a DNA database for dogs in the Holy City in a bid to combat the problem of dog poo by tracing droppings back to the offending pooch.

In a statement, the municipality said it would first be collecting saliva samples from dogs in the city before inputting them into a citywide database.

'The municipality pilot project calls for establishment of a database of dog DNA to allow us to reduce the soiling of pavements, parks and public spaces,' the statement said.

Once the DNA database has been compiled, the city will conduct testing to see whether the samples can be effectively matched to dog droppings found around the city.

Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz said the municipality hoped to get saliva samples from around 70 to 80 per cent of the 11,000 dogs registered in Jerusalem.

Once the database is that complete, the program will begin trying to match droppings to the offending canine, charging each pooch's owner a fine of 750 shekels $A196).

City veterinarian Zohar Dvorkin told Haaretz that the system would create a much more efficient way for the municipality to combat the problem.

'This way, there will be nowhere to run,' he said.

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Doggie DNA database to trace poo

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Anatomy of a grant: Emails indicate cancer agency sought to bypass scientific review

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Lynda Chin is used to getting what she wants.

Chin, a physician who is the wife of Dr. Ronald DePinho, the president of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, submitted a plan on March 12 seeking what would be the largest grant yet awarded by the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, or CPRIT.

Chin had every reason to believe her seven-page application would win funding. She had received an $8 million enticement to move her cancer research lab from Boston to Houston last year after her husband accepted the M.D. Anderson position, and prospects for the success of her grant application seemed encouraging.

"We'll make it work," the cancer center's lead commercial grant officer had told her six days earlier.

But the same day it was submitted, Chin's application hit a snag.

"I don't think they are ready," Jerry Cobbs, the senior staff member who oversees commercialization grants for CPRIT, wrote his boss in an email after reviewing the application. He suggested consideration of the application be delayed.

Nevertheless, by the end of March, Chin had landed her grant - approximately $18 million for a single year.

A monthlong Houston Chronicle investigation suggests that CPRIT, a 3-year-old initiative backed by $3 billion in taxpayer funds, handled the grant application in a hasty manner designed to circumvent its own scientific reviewers.

Hundreds of internal emails obtained through a public records request shed new light on the forces at work in the application process - particularly the role of a Houston venture capitalist, Charles Tate, who invests in companies that commercialize drugs and who has ties to M.D. Anderson and to CPRIT.

The emails indicate that Tate, one of 11 members of CPRIT's oversight committee, was instrumental in shepherding Chin's proposal through the review process. He denied doing so.

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Anatomy of a grant: Emails indicate cancer agency sought to bypass scientific review