Monthly Archives: September 2012

Libertarian candidate running – literally – in all 100 N.C. counties

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By: Larry Clark | Hickory Daily Record Published: September 13, 2012 Updated: September 13, 2012 - 7:02 AM

Barbara Howe really is running for governor.

The Libertarian candidate is running a solo 5-kilometer race in all 100 North Carolina counties to call attention to her candidacy and the Libertarian political philosophy. Wednesday morning, she ran in Taylorsville. That evening, she put on her running shoes in Newton. The Newton 5K was her 81st since her campaign began.

Howe, from Wingate, knows winning the governors mansion is the longest of shots, but shes determined to keep the message of liberty out there.

Libertarians endorse minimal government. The Republicans and the Democrats have their differences, but they still stand for big government, Howe said. They are variations of the same flavor.

Most of the time, Howe runs alone. Sometimes, somebody shes met will join her. She had company when she ran in Lenoir on Tuesday. But she meets people during her jaunts and chats with local folks afterward.

I always go to a caf or a restaurant in each county. I listen and I talk. But mostly I listen, she said.

Im learning that people in North Carolina are basically the same. They want to work, enjoy their free time and be left alone. That as in be left alone by government on all levels. This country was founded on freedom, responsibility and self-reliance, Howe said. We Libertarians dont want to tell people how to run their lives.

As one that advocates the government that governs least governs best, she has strong opinions on government entitlements and other programs. For example, Howe says everyone who has paid into Social Security should get their benefits as promised.

We should fulfill our obligations, she said emphatically as she prepared for her run through Newton. But we should fix a cutoff date and say no more (beneficiaries) in the Social Security program. Everyone would be responsible for their own retirement funding, however they want to arrange it. They would keep all their money.

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Libertarian candidate running – literally – in all 100 N.C. counties

Falkland Islands census delivers blow to Argentina

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She has repeatedly said that she wants to hold talks with Britain over the sovereignty of the islands, but has never recognised the Falkland Islands local government itself.

The Port Stanley government announced in June that the Falklands would be holding a referendum on its sovereignty early next year in response to Mrs Kirchner taking the Argentine case to the UN.

I dont know if they (Argentina) are deluding themselves or trying to delude others. They seem to refuse to recognise that there are people here who are Falkland Islanders, said Mrs Cheek.

The census showed that the average annual income of Falkland Islanders was 20,000, which is significantly higher than that of the average Argentine adult at 6,000.

It is thought the islands average salary would increase significantly should oil exploration take off.

The islands population has not grown since the last survey was done in 2006, while the population is ageing rapidly, too, with the ranks of people older than 65 increasing by 14 per cent in the last six years.

If the Falklands is to progress we need to increase our population, said Les Harris, a 73-year-old retired power station manager who was born in Chile.

The census showed unemployment at just one per cent, with one-fifth of all workers having multiple jobs. The largest employer by far is the government, at 28 per cent, followed by agriculture and hospitality and tourism, both on 11 per cent.

Offshore oil and gas development could bring sudden wealth to the islands, but the effort currently employs just 26 islanders. Texas-based Noble Energy last month became the first US firm to sign an exploration deal in the disputed territories.

However, immigration had slowed due to one of the worlds most restrictive policies. Newcomers are not allowed to apply for islander status, giving them voting rights among other things, until they have completed seven years of residency. That can be done only by repeatedly renewing temporary labour contracts. Even then, only 40 people can apply each year, and not all are accepted.

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Falkland Islands census delivers blow to Argentina

ATF special agent cleared in Virgin Islands shooting death

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By Jim Barnett, CNN

updated 7:10 PM EDT, Thu September 13, 2012

ATF Special Agent William G. Clark was cleared of charges Thursday.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

(CNN) -- A Virgin Islands jury has found a veteran Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special agent not guilty of using excessive force when he intervened and fatally shot a man during a domestic argument in 2008.

ATF Special Agent William G. Clark was cleared of charges Thursday in a case that enraged many federal law enforcement officers who said Clark was heroically coming to the defense of a battered woman.

"ATF has been steadfast in its support of Special Agent Clark and wholeheartedly agrees with the jury's verdict," said Thomas Brandon, ATF deputy director, in a written statement.

ATF officials said Clark was confronted by Marcus Sukow on September 7, 2008, and "took immediate action to defend himself and others by discharging his firearm to stop the attack."

The incident occurred outside a St. Thomas condominium where all of the main participants were neighbors.

While the broad outline of the shooting is undisputed, two government investigations came to starkly different conclusions.

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ATF special agent cleared in Virgin Islands shooting death

Parsing the Census Numbers on Income, Poverty and Insurance – Video

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12-09-2012 19:41 Newly released census data paints a mixed picture of America's economy. The poverty rate remained stagnant. Wage gains have fallen below the level of inflation. And income inequality is at its highest in decades. Margaret Warner talks to New York Times' David Leonhardt to parse the numbers on income, poverty, and health care.

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A Mission to Modernize Mental Health Care

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A staggering 68 million Americas have a mental illness, but only about four million get adequate care. A California startup called Breakthrough is using the Internet to address the problem.

The mental health care field is facing a huge problem right now. A staggering 68 million American adults and children are facing a mental illness, but far fewer get adequate care, according to statistics from the National Institute of Mental Health.

Whether it's the stigma associated with having a mental illness, the high cost of care, or the challenge of finding a provider, many people simply do not get help. But a California startup called Breakthrough is on a mission to leverage the power of the Internet to help people get the treatment they need to recover. The site lets users find a mental health provider, and talk confidentially online through a secure video chat platform, all from the comfort of home.

"We want to help people connect with a therapist or psychiatrist from anywhere, at any time to help them find the best mental health provider for them," says Breakthrough founder and CEO Mark Goldenson.

Launched in 2009, Breakthrough quickly gained the support of psychiatrists, with 25 providers currently in network and another 1,200 on a waiting list. While the company doesn't share patient numbers, there is evidence that the approach is resonating with people. Breakthrough says the average patient has five sessions, and 55 percent of patients have repeat sessions.

With patients and providers on-board, the company over the past year has been working hard to get buy-in from insurance companies. After signing two major players covering a total of two million Californians, Breakthrough is now looking to expand to other states.

We talked with Goldenson to find out how the site got started, the benefits of video therapy, and what's next for the company.

PCMag: How did you come up with the idea for Breakthrough?

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A Mission to Modernize Mental Health Care

Value

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For a race that encapsulates Texas' raging health care debates, look no further thanSenate District 10in Fort Worth --the matchup between incumbent DemocratWendy Davisand her challenger, Republican state Rep.Mark Shelton.

Shelton, a pediatric infectious disease specialist atCook Children's Hospital, wants to repeal federal health reform ("this is about government-run health care versus patient-centered health care"), prevent aMedicaidexpansion ("it affects access to care") and keepPlanned Parenthoodfar away from state-subsidized women's health care.

"Everyone is for women's health," Shelton said. Planned Parenthood "is about taxpayer funding of abortions and late-term abortions. Wendy is for taxpayer-funded abortions, and I am not."

Davis wants to restore legislative funding that has been cut from women's health ("women of Texas have lost access to health care"), give more low-income patients access to Medicaid ("the community wants us to leave politics at the door") and protect Planned Parenthood as a major provider of cancer screenings and preventive care in Texas.

"They're being held hostage for political purposes," she said of Planned Parenthood, calling Shelton an "ideologue." "We know and he knows that those funds are prohibited from use for abortions."

The two are engaged in a fierce battle for the swing seat, one of the most-watched and most fought-over on the November general election ballot. If Shelton wins, he gets Texas Republicans within one vote of the two-thirds majority they need to render Democrats virtually obsolete in the upper chamber. Democrats, who see Davis as a rising star in the party, want to hold fast to that 12th Senate seat; they've got a better chance since the courts tossed out a Republican-drawn redistricting map that would've changed the district's boundaries.

The candidates have a lot to fight over; health care is just one area where their messages diverge. But their race has drawn a lot of attention from the state's medical and social services groups, who see the matchup as a referendum on many of Texas' biggest health care issues and have weighed in with competing endorsements.

TheTexas Academy of Family Physicians, which generally works hard to add doctors to the ranks of the Legislature, endorsed Davis over Shelton. Tom Banning, the group's executive director, said his organization followed the "friendly incumbent" rule -- endorsing an incumbent whose votes closely aligned with his organization.

"Wendy's record on the issues we care about, that our patients care about, is unassailable," Banning said. "When it came to managed care reform, graduate medical education, scope of practice, even tort reform, she had a perfect voting record."

Banning said that if Shelton were running for re-election in the House, the group would have endorsed him --but that to go against Davis would have sent a bad message to incumbents whom family doctors have asked to make hard votes in the past.

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Castlight Health Bolsters Health Care Management Suite With Minnesota Community Measurement Quality Data

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SAN FRANCISCO & MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Castlight Health, the leading provider of health care transparency solutions for employers and payers, and Minnesota (MN) Community Measurement announced that Castlight has incorporated MN Community Measurement quality performance metrics into its health care management suite. With MN Community Measurements rich dataset of provider quality information, Castlight users can make more informed decisions based on personalized information to drive higher-quality, better-value care.

Our goal is to improve health outcomes by imparting greater transparency in the health care system, said Jim Chase, president of MN Community Measurement. In partnering with Castlight, we are able to get our powerful quality and service data into the hands of more individuals empowering them to take control of their health care.

MN Community Measurement works with medical groups, clinics, physicians, hospitals, health plans, employers, consumer representatives and quality improvement organizations to report health care quality measures. MNCM developed MNHealthScores, a comprehensive site for quality and patient experience of care metrics on clinics, hospitals and medical groups. The information is based on nationally endorsed standards, to support preventative care and treatment of chronic conditions for consumers in Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Carlson, a global hospitality and travel company with headquarters in Minneapolis, recently selected Castlights health care management suite to help its employees take control of their health care spending and wellness. Shawn Leavitt, vice president of global compensation and benefits, said that Castlight combines accurate cost and trusted quality information to help our employees improve their wellness, lowering costs both for themselves and Carlson. We believe the addition of MN Community Measurement quality data will make the Castlight suite even more valuable for our Minnesota-area employees, as well as the company.

Consumers are under pressure to manage the rising cost of health care, but have lacked the tools and data they need to manage their care and costs, said Cathie Markow, senior director clinical quality, Castlight Health. Our collaboration with MN Community Measurement is a prime example of how we are partnering with organizations across the health care industry to deliver transparency and change into a traditionally closed-off market.

About MN Community Measurement

MN Community Measurement, (MNCM) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of health care in Minnesota by working with physicians, hospitals, health plans, employers, state government and consumers to collect, validate and publicly report performance data.

Through MNCM, the Minnesota health care community has pioneered collaborative health care quality reporting since 2004: building 76 measures that are widely accepted by payers and providers; establishing a process that allows efficient collection of data from hospitals, medical groups and health plans; and reporting results on more than 672 sites of care. MNCM measures have received national endorsement from the National Quality Forum, and Medicare now uses its measures nationwide for its value-based purchasing initiatives. See http://www.mnhealthscores.org for more.

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Castlight Health Bolsters Health Care Management Suite With Minnesota Community Measurement Quality Data

In Lung Cancer, Smokers Have 10 Times More Genetic Damage Than Never-Smokers

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Newswise Lung cancer patients with a history of smoking have 10 times more genetic mutations in their tumors than those with the disease who have never smoked, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

None of us were surprised that the genomes of smokers had more mutations than the genomes of never-smokers with lung cancer, says senior author Richard K. Wilson, PhD, director of The Genome Institute at Washington University. But it was surprising to see 10-fold more mutations. It does reinforce the old message dont smoke.

The study appears online Sept. 13 in Cell.

Overall, the analysis identified about 3,700 mutations across all 17 patients with non-small cell lung cancer, the most common type. Twelve patients had a history of smoking and five did not. In each patient who never smoked, the researchers found at least one mutated gene that can be targeted with drugs currently on the market for other diseases or available through clinical trials. Across all patients, they identified 54 mutated genes already associated with existing drugs.

Whether these drugs will actually work in patients with these DNA alterations still needs to be studied, says first author Ramaswamy Govindan, MD, an oncologist who treats patients at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University. But papers like this open up the landscape to understand whats happening. Now we need to drill deeper and do studies to understand how these mutations cause and promote cancer, and how they can be targeted for therapy.

Lung cancer is divided into two types small cell and non-small cell, the latter accounting for about 85 percent of all cases. Within non-small cell lung cancer are three further classifications. This current analysis included two of them. Sixteen patients had adenocarcinoma and one had large-cell carcinoma.

Govindan and Wilson also were involved in a larger genomic study of 178 patients with the third type, squamous cell carcinoma, recently reported in Nature. That study was part of The Cancer Genome Atlas project, a national effort to describe the genetics of common cancers.

Over the next year or so, we will have studied nearly 1,000 genomes of patients with lung cancer, as part of The Cancer Genome Atlas, says Govindan, who serves as a national co-chair of the lung cancer group. So we are moving in the right direction toward future clinical trials that will focus on the specific molecular biology of the patients cancer.

Indeed, based on the emerging body of genetic research demonstrating common mutations across disparate cancer types, Wilson speculates that the field may reach a point where doctors can label and treat a tumor based on the genes that are mutated rather than the affected organ. Instead of lung cancer, for example, they might call it EGFR cancer, after the mutated gene driving tumor growth. Mutations in EGFR have been found in multiple cancers, including lung, colon and breast.

This labeling is relevant, Wilson says, because today targeted therapies are approved based on the diseased organ or tissue. Herceptin, for example, is essentially a breast cancer drug. But he has seen lung cancer patients with mutations in the same gene that Herceptin targets.

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In Lung Cancer, Smokers Have 10 Times More Genetic Damage Than Never-Smokers

Freedom honour for Paralympian

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13 September 2012 Last updated at 15:18 ET

Paralympic gold medallist Hannah Cockroft has been awarded the freedom of the Borough of Calderdale.

Large crowds cheered as Cockroft returned to her hometown of Halifax, West Yorks, to receive the honour.

Earlier the 20-year-old joined fellow West Yorkshire Paralympians David Stone, Claire Cashmore and Ali Jawad at a special ceremony in Leeds.

Wheelchair racer Cockroft won two gold medals in the women's T34 100m and 200m wheelchair sprints.

Cockroft said: "Seeing all these people it is just amazing. I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who has supported me."

She added she was "honoured" to become a Freewoman of the Borough.

A crowd of more than 300 had greeted Cockroft and other Paralympians in Leeds earlier.

Lord Mayor of Leeds Ann Castle said the event in Millennium Square was "the perfect way to mark" their achievements.

Cyclist David Stone, 31, from Rawdon, West Yorkshire, won gold in the cycling mixed T1-2 road race.

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Freedom honour for Paralympian

Beaches Closed After Great White Sighting In Chatham Harbor

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A great white was tagged off Chatham Thursday. (Photo Courtesy: George Breen/CapeCodSharkHunters.com)

CHATHAM (CBS) A handful of beaches in Chatham have been closed to swimming indefinitely after marine biologists tagged a 20-foot great white leaving Chatham Harbor.

Officials say they made their decision after that shark sighting, along with two buoy readings that indicated other tagged sharks had entered the harbor on August 30 and September 9.

As a result, Lighthouse Beach and all east facing ocean beaches remain closed from the Orleans/Chatham line south along Nauset Beach to Monomoy until further notice.

Cape beaches have been shut down several times over great white shark concerns this summer.

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Beaches Closed After Great White Sighting In Chatham Harbor

Rocket Fuel to Provide Customers With Access to Facebook Exchange

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REDWOOD SHORES, CA--(Marketwire - Sep 13, 2012) - Rocket Fuel, the leading provider of artificial intelligence advertising solutions for digital marketers, today announced its support for the Facebook Exchange (FBX). FBX allows marketers to serve more relevant ads on Facebook via real-time bidding based on individual impression characteristics instead of pre-defined audience segments.

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About Rocket Fuel:

Rocket Fuel is the leading provider of artificial intelligence advertising solutions that transform digital media campaigns into self-optimizing engines that learn and adapt in real time, and deliver outstanding results from awareness to sales. Recently awarded #22 in Forbes Most Promising Companies in America list, over 700 of the world's most successful marketers trust Rocket Fuel to power their advertising across display, video, mobile, and social media. Founded by online advertising veterans and rocket scientists from NASA, DoubleClick, IBM, and Salesforce.com, Rocket Fuel is based in Redwood Shores, California, and has offices in fifteen cities worldwide including New York, London, Toronto, and Hamburg.

*http://newsroom.fb.com/content/default.aspx?NewsAreaId=22 **http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2012/5/Introducing_Mobile_Metrix_2_Insight_into_Mobile_Behavior

2012 Rocket Fuel Inc. All rights reserved. Rocket Fuel Inc. and Audience Accelerator are registered trademark of Rocket Fuel Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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Rocket Fuel to Provide Customers With Access to Facebook Exchange

Gregoire grounds aerospace council

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Today Gov. Chris Gregoire abolished the Washington Council on Aerospace, a panel she created in 2009 to demonstrate the state's commitment to serving the needs of Boeing and aerospace suppliers.

Gregoire said the panel -- with representatives of industry, labor, higher education, workforce training and the Legislature -- had done its job of laying a stronger foundation of support for the industry.

It put forth a variety of recommendations to improve education and training of aerospace workers as well as aid the hundreds of aerospace suppliers in the state.

Three years after the Council convened, everybody involved agrees that the Council has served its purpose in helping to create new, more focused efforts, and now it is time to disband, she said in a press release.

One recommendation led to the creation of a new Office of Aerospace under the governor's control. Some of the council's duties will be reassigned to this office.

Other tasks will be distributed to the Aerospace Workforce Pipeline Committee, the Joint Center for Aerospace Innovation, and the Washington Aerospace Partnership.

While the council's demise was quiet, its birth was a bit noisy.

Back then, Boeing was making plans to expand its production of 787 jets. Several states, including South Carolina, offered them cheap land, tax breaks and publicly financed infrastructure in hopes of winning the business.

Gregoire pushed a series of bills in hopes of convincing Boeing not to expand in another state. One created the council. Lawmakers didn't pass it so she issued an executive order to establish it.

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Gregoire grounds aerospace council

Governor dissolves one of many aerospace panels

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Published: Thursday, September 13, 2012, 5:24 p.m.

Gregoire issued an executive order disbanding the panel and redistributing its duties to the governor's Office of Aerospace, the Aerospace Workforce Pipeline Committee, the Joint Center for Aerospace Innovation and the Washington Aerospace Partnership.

The council included representatives of industry, labor, higher education, workforce training and the Legislature. It recommended ways to improve education and training of aerospace workers as well as aiding the hundreds of aerospace suppliers in the state.

"Three years after the council convened, everybody involved agrees that the council has served its purpose in helping to create new, more focused efforts, and now it is time to disband," she said in a statement.

Also Wednesday, Gregoire announced that the 2014 Aerospace and Defense Suppliers Summit will be held March 10-12 at the Washington State Convention and Trade Center in Seattle. This year's inaugural also was held in Seattle.

Gregoire made the announcements at the annual Governor's Aerospace Summit in Spokane.

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Governor dissolves one of many aerospace panels

Aerospace merger 'will keep jobs'

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13 September 2012 Last updated at 03:01 ET

Aerospace workers in Wales should not fear for their jobs with news that Airbus' parent company is in merger talks, says an industry expert.

Aerospace firm EADS, which owns Airbus, and employs 6,500 people at Broughton, Flintshire, is negotiating with UK defence contractor BAE Systems.

It also owns defence company Cassidian in Newport, which employs 1,000 people.

John Whalley, of Aerospace Wales Forum, said: "It's more about helping to preserve jobs and growth."

These two companies epitomise high skilled manufacturing in sectors that are globally very competitive.

BAE Systems employs around 620 people at the head office of GCS Munitions based at Glascoed, near Usk in Monmouthshire.

Aerospace Wales Forum, the aerospace industry association in Wales, has welcomed the news of merger talks.

In a potential tie-up, BAE would own 40% and EADS 60% of the new firm.

I think the real driver here is market access

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Aerospace merger 'will keep jobs'

AIAA’s “Aerospace Research Central” Now Available to Users

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RESTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce that its Aerospace Research Central (ARC) electronic database is now available to users. The site, available at http://arc.aiaa.org, was produced in partnership with Atypon, a leading provider of software to the scientific and scholarly publishing industry.

ARC offers easy and robust access to over four decades of aerospace research. The platforms sophisticated functionality gives users powerful search capabilities through all of AIAAs books, conference proceedings, and journal articles; offers streamlined research capabilities, including the ability to download citations and bundle content based on topic disciplines; and gives users early access to e-first publications ahead of the printed versions. Users will also be able to tailor the platforms functionality to seek out those results that are most relevant to their personal interests, greatly streamlining the research process.

With ARC, we will now be able to access, anytime and anywhere,more than 75 years of aerospace materials from the AIAA Electronic Library and the AIAA eBook Library, said Vigor Yang, vice-president of publications for AIAA. Yang continued:Such service will move us in the direction we all want to go towards easier, dependable access of knowledge important to our field.

Audrey Melkin, Atypons Director of Business Development, stated: Were proud to have collaborated with AIAA to create such a great content experience for contributors, readers, and librarians. Being able to seamlessly navigate all of AIAAs content types has resulted in a greatly improved resource for the entire aerospace sector.

Atypon is setting new standards for digital content delivery, discovery, and monetization. Literatum, the companys flagship publishing platform, is used to host more than 12 million journal articles, more than 50,000 e-books, and many other types of scientific and scholarly content. For more information, visit http://www.Atypon.com.

AIAA is the worlds largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. With more than 35,000 individual members worldwide, and nearly 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit http://www.aiaa.org.

American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Suite 500, Reston, VA 20191-4344 Phone: 703.264.7558 Fax: 703.264.7551 http://www.aiaa.org

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AIAA’s “Aerospace Research Central” Now Available to Users

Fitness author brings multiple disciplines to his craft

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Dr. D. Levi Harrison, an orthopedic surgeon and UC Davis Medical School graduate, visited his alma mater in August to talk to students about the role that fitness plays in medical education.

Harrison, who recently published a book titled "The Art of Fitness: A Journey to Self Enhancement" (Brio Press, $39.95, 232 pages) holds undergraduate degrees in electrical engineering and romance languages, and graduate degrees in physics and French in addition to his medical degree. He has a private practice as a hand specialist in Glendale.

Why did you decide to write a fitness book?

It's about letting people know that fitness and exercise are lifestyle choices that we have to make to not only have the aesthetic of looking healthy on the outside, which is the superficial part of fitness. I wrote the book so people can understand that fitness is from the inside out.

What makes your book different from other fitness books?

It's geared toward anyone of any fitness level. The book is about helping people to not only get healthy, but make lifestyle changes. The goals of the book aren't about achieving an aesthetic. The goals are to decrease the rates of diabetes, hyper-tension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, cholesterolemia and obesity.

The book is really there to let people know that they shouldn't compare themselves to anybody. The goal is to remind people that your body is yours and that where you are today is a good place.

So if you're overweight, you're underweight, you're not very fit, that's OK. Every day you get to start the journey again.

Where do you think fitness education fits into today's medical school?

I definitely think fitness, health and nutrition should be a greater part of all medical school education.

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DNA could help ID a king

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A London familys DNA could be the missing link in a centuries-long quest to find the remains of King Richard III.

A team of archeologists at the University of Leicester in England exhumed a skeleton believed to be Richards beneath one of the universitys parking lots Wednesday and are hoping DNA evidence from the London family will prove their suspicions true.

Richard was killed in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth often cited as the deciding battle in the War of the Roses by Henry Tudor VII, father of the famed King Henry VIII.

Richards Machiavellian rise to power its believed he had his nephews murdered in order to seize the thrown and short two-year reign as king is chronicled in Shakespeares play Richard III.

In 2005, British historian John Ashdown-Hill traced Richards bloodline to Joy Ibsen, a retired journalist who moved to London, Ont., from England after the Second World War and raised a family.

Ashdown-Hill discovered Ibsen and Richard shared a maternal ancestor, Cecily Neville.

Though Ibsen died in 2008, she passed the gene on to her three children: Michael, who lives in the U..K; Jeff, who lives in Toronto; and Leslie on Vancouver Island.

Its pretty exciting, said Jeff, 49. I wasnt expecting the findings to be so concise ... Im hoping that if theres a proper funeral for him, well get invited and maybe get a chance to rub elbows with some royals.

The skeleton exhumed Wednesday was found in whats believed to be the choir of the lost Church of the Grey Friars, the same place historical records indicate Richard was buried. Initial examinations found trauma to the skull consistent with a battle injury and a barbed arrow through the skeletons upper back.

Especially telling is the spinal deformity found on the exhumed skeleton. Its believed Richard had severe scoliosis, a form of spinal curvature that caused his right shoulder to appear higher than the left, the same type of curvature found on the skeleton.

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DNA to test heir claim

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Archaeologists from the University of Leicester uncover remains that could be those of England's 15th century King Richard III.

It seems a most unlikely resting place for a King of England.

Buried under a car park behind a block of council offices, the skeletal remains of a man were discovered in the British city of Leicester this week, with a metal arrow lodged in its back and wrapped simply in a shroud.

And a Canadian-born furniture maker could help prove what archaeologists are hoping is true - that this is the lost skeleton of King Richard III.

Heir in there? ... Canadian furniture maker Michael Ibsen takes a DNA test at the site of the archaeological discovery. Photo: ITV screengrab

For the past decade, University of Leicester archaeologists, dubbed the Time Tomb Team, have been leading a search for the lost grave of the much-maligned king.

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Richard III, who had a reputation as a murderous "hunchback" in medieval times, was killed in one of the most important clashes in English history, the Battle Of Bosworth, in 1485.

What is known is that his body was stripped and brought to Leicester, where he was buried in the church of the Franciscan Friary, known as the Grey Friars.

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DNA to test heir claim

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