AAA Educators Fly on NASA's SOFIA Airborne Observatory

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February 15, 2013

Image Caption: Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors (from left) Constance Gartner, Vince Washington, Ira Hardin and Chelen Johnson at the educators work station aboard the SOFIA observatory during a flight on the night of Feb. 12-13, 2013. Credit: NASA / ASP / N. Veronico

NASA

The first four Airborne Astronomy Ambassador (AAA) educators returned safely to Earth, landing in Palmdale, Calif. early in the morning Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2013, after completing their initial flight on NASAs Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, SOFIA.

That flight launched the AAA programs first full year of operations, during which 26 educators from classrooms and science centers across the United States will fly on SOFIA as partners with scientists conducting astronomy research using the airborne observatory.

On board for the Feb. 12-13 flight were Ambassadors Constance Gartner (Wisconsin School for the Deaf, Delavan, Wisc.), Chelen Johnson (Breck School, Golden Valley, Minn.), Ira Harden, and Vincente Washington (both from City Honors College Preparatory Charter School, Inglewood, Calif.). The astronomers on the flight included Juergen Wolf and Doerte Mehlert of the German SOFIA Institute in Stuttgart, Germany and Ted Dunham of the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.

SOFIA is a modified Boeing 747SP jetliner that carries a telescope with an effective diameter of 100 inches (2.5 meters) to altitudes as high as 45,000 feet (14 km). Flying above Earths obscuring atmospheric water vapor, scientists can gather and analyze infrared light to further our understanding of puzzles such as the processes that form stars and planets, the chemistry of organic compounds in interstellar clouds, and the environment around the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.

SOFIA enables educators to work with scientists and to experience a flight mission on the worlds largest airborne observatory. Educators then take their experiences back to their classrooms and communities, said Eddie Zavala, NASA SOFIA program manager. They can relate the excitement, hardships, challenges, discoveries, teamwork, and educational values of SOFIA and scientific research to students, teachers, and the general public.

The Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program is a yearly professional development opportunity extended to educators through a competitive, peer-reviewed process. Teams of two educators are paired with groups of professional astronomers who have won a parallel competitive process to use the flying telescope for their research projects. Each educator team will fly on two 10-hour missions that depart from and return to NASAs Dryden Aircraft Operations Facility in Palmdale, Calif.

These educators submitted applications describing how they will use what they learn from SOFIA to help promote increased public literacy in science, technology, engineering and math, said astronomer Dana Backman, manager of SOFIAs education and public outreach programs. Published studies have shown that personally participating in scientific research increases the educators enthusiasm for teaching, and measurably improves their career retention rates. The same studies have shown that this enthusiasm carries over to the students with tangible increases in test scores and science fair participation.

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AAA Educators Fly on NASA's SOFIA Airborne Observatory

NASA Awards Final Space Launch System Advanced Booster Contract

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Washington, DC /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ - NASA has selected Aerojet ofSacramento, Calif., for a$23.3 millioncontract to develop engineering demonstrations and risk reduction concepts for future advanced boosters for the agency's Space Launch System (SLS).

Aerojet is one of four companies contracted under a NASA Research Announcement (NRA) to improve the affordability, reliability and performance of an advanced booster for a future version of the SLS heavy-lift rocket.

The SLS vehicle will take the agency's Orion spacecraft and other payloads farther than ever before. The initial 70-metric-ton (77-ton) configuration will use two five-segment solid rocket boosters similar to the boosters that helped power the space shuttle to orbit. An evolved 130-metric-ton (143-ton) rocket will require an advanced booster with more thrust than any existing U.S. liquid- or solid-fueled boosters.

Aerojet will work to reduce the risk and improve technical maturation of a liquid oxygen and kerosene oxidizer-rich staged-combustion engine. The company will fabricate a representative full-scale 550,000-pound thrust class main injector and thrust chamber, and prepare to conduct a number of tests measuring performance and demonstrating combustion stability.

In addition to Aerojet, three other companies are under contract to develop SLS advanced booster contracts including ATK Launch Systems Inc. ofBrigham City, Utah; Dynetics Inc. ofHuntsville, Ala.; and Northrop Grumman Corporation Aerospace Systems ofRedondo Beach, Calif.These new initiatives will perform and examine advanced booster concepts and hardware demonstrations during an approximate 30-month period.

While commercial partners seek to fly astronauts and payloads to the International Space Station, NASA's SLS, with an uncrewed Orion spacecraft, will begin the first step towards deep space on a flight test in 2017.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center inHuntsville, Ala., manages the SLS Program for the agency. NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center inHoustonmanages Orion. SLS will launch from NASA'sKennedy Space CenterinFlorida.

For information about NASA's Space Launch System, visit:http://www.nasa.gov/sls

SOURCE: NASA

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NASA Awards Final Space Launch System Advanced Booster Contract

NASA's Environmental Remediation Efforts at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory

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NASA Inspector General Paul K. Martin today released a report questioning the Agency's approach to its planned environmental cleanup at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory in California. First opened in 1948, the 2,850 acre facility 30 miles northwest of Los Angeles was the site of nuclear energy research by the Department of Energy and rocket testing by the United States Air Force and NASA. Over the years, these activities resulted in radiological and chemical contamination to soil and groundwater at the site.

Like all Federal agencies, NASA is required to comply with laws and regulations that govern cleanup of contaminants left behind from Agency activities. Generally, responsible parties are required to conduct risk assessments to evaluate the threat that contaminants pose to human health, identify the reasonably foreseeable use of the affected property, and structure their remediation efforts based on those results.

The Boeing Company, which owns and is responsible for the cleanup of the majority of the Santa Susana site, has publicly stated that it intends to preserve its portion for use as open space parkland. This intended use would normally require remediation to a "recreational" level, but Boeing has stated that it will clean its area to a more stringent "residential" level. The NASA portion of the site is also expected to be used as parkland.

In December 2010, NASA entered into an agreement with California officials in which it pledged to clean the soil at the Santa Susana site to its original state before any rocket testing activities began, known as "background" level by 2017. This Office of Inspector General (OIG) review found that NASA has committed to an excessive and unnecessarily costly cleanup of the Santa Susana site. Specifically, the Agency agreed to clean its portion of the site to a level that exceeds the generally accepted standard necessary to protect human health in light of the expected future use of the land.

Moreover, although the precise requirements of the cleanup and therefore its ultimate cost have not been finalized, NASA estimates that remediation to "background" levels could cost more than $200 million, or more than twice the cost to clean the site to "residential" levels and more than eight times the cost to clean it to a "recreational" use standard. In addition, because cleanup to background levels may require highly invasive soil removal, there is a risk that such efforts would result in significant damage to the surrounding environment as well as to archeological, historical, and natural resources at the site.

The OIG questioned whether NASA's agreement to clean its portion of the Santa Susana Field Laboratory to background levels is the best use of limited NASA funds. Given NASA's other environmental commitments and the fiscal constraints facing the Agency and the Nation, the OIG concluded that NASA can ill afford to spend tens of millions of dollars to clean up an area beyond its risk level or intended land use.

The OIG recommended that NASA reexamine its current plans for the Santa Susana cleanup and ensure that its remediation effort is conducted in the most cost-effective manner in keeping with the intended future use of the property. In its response to the report, NASA failed to indicate whether it agreed or disagreed with our recommendation and whether it would reexamine its current cleanup plans. Instead, the Agency pledged to work toward a cleanup that achieves "cost avoidance" and preserves cultural and natural resources within the requirements of their agreement with the State of California. However, the OIG cautioned that it is not clear that the Agency can achieve the most appropriate and cost effective remediation effort given the constraints of the current agreement.

The full report can be found on the OIG's website at http://oig.nasa.gov/ under "Reading Room" or at the following link: http://oig.nasa.gov/audits/reports/FY13/IG-13-007.pdf

Please contact Renee Juhans at 202-358-1220 if you have questions.

Renee N. Juhans Executive Officer NASA Office of Inspector General (202) 358-1220

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NASA's Environmental Remediation Efforts at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory

How Sequestration Will Impact NASA Programs

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Space Ref has published a letter from NASA to Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, detailing the effects of sequestration on NASA programs.

NASA's commercial crew program hardest hit

According to an analysis of the NASA letter in the Space Politics blog, sequestration would essentially bring the space agency's effort to develop commercially operated space craft to a halt by summer. The sequestration cuts would extend NASA's reliance on Russia for transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Other NASA programs impacted

Other NASA programs would be reduced across the board, according to the letter, with the space agency being forced to consider canceling a number of projects. At least one space technology project would have to be canceled, with six others under consideration for the budget ax. A number of flight demonstration projects would have to be eliminated, including "the Deep Space Atomic Clock, Cryogenic Propellant Storage and Transfer and the Materials on International Space Station Experiment-X projects." NASA would also eliminate or descope annual solicitations for Space Technology Research Grants, NASA Innovative Advanced Concept, the Small Spacecraft Technology Program. NASA would consider reducing the number of Flight Opportunity program flights and payloads that could be flown in FY 2013 and beyond. The space agency would likely be forced to eliminate Centennial Challenges funding to perform new prizes.

Space exploration reduced

There would be some impacts on Explorer and Earth Venture Class missions, resulting in some launch delays, the letter states. The development of the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and the Space Launch System would be cut, but NASA has not articulated what impacts that would have to scheduled test flights.

What sequestration is

According to Idea Money Watch, the sequestration threat developed out of the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, established by the Budget Control Act of 2011, to come up with a deficit reduction program. Under the act, automatic across-the-board cuts to both domestic and defense spending will take place on March 1 unless Congress and the president are able to agree on a deficit reduction package. An impasse has developed between Congressional Republicans and Democrats over whether tax increases should be included in a deal that would replace sequestration. According to Politico, noting that taxes were already raised as part of the fiscal cliff deal, House Republicans are standing fast on a no new taxes pledge. Because of the Constitution, since tax bills can only originate in the House, Senate Democrats are unable to initiate their own tax bill without House cooperation. Politico further reports that absent a miracle, the GOP insiders have concluded that sequestration will happen.

Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.

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How Sequestration Will Impact NASA Programs

NASA to Chronicle Close Earth Flyby of Asteroid

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NASA Television will provide commentary starting at 11 a.m. PST (2 p.m. EST) on Friday, Feb. 15, during the close, but safe, flyby of a small near-Earth asteroid named 2012 DA14. NASA places a high priority on tracking asteroids and protecting our home planet from them. This flyby will provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study a near-Earth object up close.

The half-hour broadcast from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., will incorporate real-time animation to show the location of the asteroid in relation to Earth, along with live or near real-time views of the asteroid from observatories in Australia, weather permitting.

At the time of its closest approach to Earth at approximately 11:25 a.m. PST (2:25 p.m. EST / 19:25 UTC), the asteroid will be about 17,150 miles (27,600 kilometers) above Earth's surface.

The commentary will be available via NASA TV and streamed live online at: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv and http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

In addition to the commentary, near real-time imagery of the asteroid's flyby before and after closest approach, made available to NASA by astronomers in Australia and Europe, weather permitting, will be streamed beginning at about 9 a.m. PST (noon EST) and continuing through the afternoon at the following website: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

A Ustream feed of the flyby from a telescope at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will be streamed for three hours starting at 6 p.m. PST (8 p.m. CST / 9 p.m. EST). To view the feed and ask researchers questions about the flyby via Twitter, visit: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc

The NASA Near Earth Objects (NEO) Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington manages and funds the search, study and monitoring of NEOs, or asteroids and comets, whose orbits periodically bring them close to the Earth. NASA's study of NEOs provides important clues to understanding the origin of our solar system. The objects also are a repository of natural resources and could become waystations for future exploration. In collaboration with other external organizations, one of the program's key goals is to search and hopefully mitigate potential NEO impacts on Earth. JPL conducts the NEO program's technical and scientific activities.

For more information, including graphics and animations showing the flyby of 2012 DA14, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidflyby

For more information about asteroids and near-Earth objects, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroidwatch

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NASA to Chronicle Close Earth Flyby of Asteroid

Nasa Movie Captures 'Space Ship' Pulsar

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The silhouette of the space shuttle Endeavour, Feb 9, 2010

The silhouette of the space shuttle Endeavour appears over Earth's colorful horizon in this image photographed by an Expedition 22 crew member on Feb. 9, 2010.

"These tidal tails are thin, elongated streams of gas, dust and stars that extend away from a galaxy into space. They occur when galaxies gravitationally interact with one another, and material is sheared from the outer edges of each body and flung out into space in opposite directions, forming two tails. They almost always appear curved, so when they are seen to be relatively straight, as in this image, it is clear that we are viewing the galaxies side-on."

This image provided by NASA shows the Solar Dynamic Observatory's ultra-high-definition view of Venus, black dot at top center, passing in front of the sun on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. The next transit of Venus won't be for another 105 years. (NASA/Solar Dynamic Observatory/AP)

This image provided by NASA shows the image captured by Hinode on June 5, 2012 of the transit of Venus -- the last instance of this rare phenomenon until 2117. Hinode is a joint JAXA/NASA mission to study the connections of the sun's surface magnetism, primarily in and around sunspots. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., manages Hinode. The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cambridge, Mass., is the lead U.S. investigator for the X-ray Telescope. (JAXA NASA/AP)

A bubbling cauldron of star birth is highlighted in this image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Infrared light that we can't see with our eyes has been color-coded, such that the shortest wavelengths are shown in blue and the longest in red. The middle wavelength range is green. Massive stars have blown bubbles, or cavities, in the dust and gas--a violent process that triggers both the death and birth of stars. The brightest, yellow-white regions are warm centers of star formation. The green shows tendrils of dust, and red indicates other types of dust that may be cooler, in addition to ionized gas from nearby massive stars.

This image shows the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy in infrared light as seen by the Herschel Space Observatory, a European Space Agency-led mission with important NASA contributions, and NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. In the instruments' combined data, this nearby dwarf galaxy looks like a fiery, circular explosion. Rather than fire, however, those ribbons are actually giant ripples of dust spanning tens or hundreds of light-years. Significant fields of star formation are noticeable in the center, just left of center and at right. The brightest center-left region is called 30 Doradus, or the Tarantula Nebula, for its appearance in visible light.

This enhanced-color image shows sand dunes trapped in an impact crater in Noachis Terra, Mars. Dunes and sand ripples of various shapes and sizes display the natural beauty created by physical processes. The area covered in the image is about six-tenths of a mile (1 kilometer) across. Sand dunes are among the most widespread wind-formed features on Mars. Their distribution and shapes are affected by changes in wind direction and wind strength. Patterns of dune erosion and deposition provide insight into the sedimentary history of the surrounding terrain.

This image obtained by the framing camera on NASA's Dawn spacecraft shows the south pole of the giant asteroid Vesta. Scientists are discussing whether the circular structure that covers most of this image originated by a collision with another asteroid, or by internal processes early in the asteroid's history. Images in higher resolution from Dawn's lowered orbit might help answer that question. The image was recorded with the framing camera aboard NASA's Dawn spacecraft from a distance of about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers). The image resolution is about 260 meters per pixel.

A quartet of Saturn's moons, from tiny to huge, surround and are embedded within the planet's rings in this Cassini composition. Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is in the background of the image, and the moon's north polar hood is clearly visible. See PIA08137 to learn more about that feature on Titan (3,200 miles, or 5,150 kilometers across). Next, the wispy terrain on the trailing hemisphere of Dione (698 miles, or 1,123 kilometers across) can be seen on that moon which appears just above the rings at the center of the image. See PIA10560 and PIA06163 to learn more about Dione's wisps. Saturn's small moon Pandora (50 miles, or 81 kilometers across) orbits beyond the rings on the right of the image. Finally, Pan (17 miles, or 28 kilometers across) can be seen in the Encke Gap of the A ring on the left of the image. The image was taken in visible blue light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Sept. 17, 2011. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 1.3 million miles (2.1 million kilometers) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 27 degrees. Image scale is 8 miles (13 kilometers) per pixel on Dione.

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Nasa Movie Captures 'Space Ship' Pulsar

Christine Peterson Looks into the Future of Nanotechnology

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I ran afoul of the Foresight Institute in my very first blog post here on the Spectrum website. The fiery response that post received from one of its members really should have come as no surprise to me based on the religious-like fervor Foresight members often exercise. Nonetheless, if pressed, I might have to concede it was invigorating to be so assaulted on my very first blog post here. So when I saw that there was a new video interview with co-founder and long-time President of the Foresight Institute, Christine Peterson, it seemed like a good opportunity to dive into the fray once again.

A little background might be helpful first. After my initial post that rankled at least one its members, I had another run-in with the Foresight folks about three years ago when I wrote about a sudden flurry of interest generated around the topic of nanobots. I discussed Ray Kurzweils recent admission that his interest in the Singularity was at least partly motivated by his wish to resurrect his dead father. And I mentioned the addition of a new blogger to the Foresight blog, Nanodot.

The Nanodot blogger and Foresight President of that moment, J Storrs Hall, noticed the post and felt I needed a lesson in economics based on this comment of mine in the post:

But if I may apply some dime-store psychology to this sudden surge of interest, it might be due to things just being so terrible [a reference to the economic crisis] at the moment were in. It is far better to imagine some day in the future when we can use nanobots to bring our lost loved ones back to life, or to press the button on our home-installed nanofactory that says Ferrari.

We can dream about that or face the grim realities of the now.

I won't repeat my response to Storrs Halls economics lesson here. Suffice it to say that I believed he was minimizing the impact of the worlds worst economic crisis since the Great Depression by employing flimsy comparisons to Sci-fi doomsday scenarios. I think the last three years of suffering throughout the world supports my judgment that things were pretty terrible at that time.

While that exchange was mostly cordial--albeit challenging--the ensuing comments from other Foresight members became hostile and once again revealed how unhelpful religious-like fervor can be in discussions of technology.

In addition to those previous altercations, Peterson's video interview (which you can see below) was particularly intriguing to me because of an exchange of sorts we had over five years ago. In August 2007, I wrote an editorial for Spectrum ("Material By Design: Future Science or Science Fiction?") that spurred Peterson to remark at the time that the editorial was "so conservative in its views that it crosses over into being truly radical.

In the editorial, I suggested the timeline for realizing true material by design may be in the centurieswhich is so far away that it's a kind of shorthand for saying that it's impossible to say when it might occur. To be honest, predicting that something will take place centuries or even decades from now is basically saying that you have no idea whenor ifa certain outcome will ever take place.

I will add that If I am indeed radical in my views, then so are the two prominent nanoparticle researchers at two different major European chemical companies, along with the head of nanotechnology at a major international scientific modeling company and a professor specializing in molecular modeling, that I interviewed, which reflected their views as well as mine.

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Christine Peterson Looks into the Future of Nanotechnology

US inventors lead world in nanotechnology

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Inventors based in the United States led the world in nanotechnology patent applications and grants in 2012, according to a new study by law firm McDermott Will & Emery.

Nanotechnology involves manipulating matter that's measured at the tiny "nanometre" length level. The diameter of a human hair is between 40,000 and 60,000 nanometres, said Valerie Moore, a patent agent and one of the authors of the study.

Nanotechnology patents come into play in everything from aerospace to medicine to energy, the study noted. For example, the technology can be used to incorporate antibacterial material into wound dressings, to increase the strength of car parts while decreasing their weight, and to enhance paint colours.

US-based inventors accounted for 54 per cent of the nanotechnology patent applications and grants reviewed in the study, followed by South Korea with 7.8 per cent, Japan with 7.1 per cent, Germany with 6.2 per cent and China with 4.9 per cent.

The study also looked at the geographic location of the owner of the nanotechnology patents and proposed patents. If an inventor works in the Silicon Valley office of South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co, for instance, the US is home to the invention, but the South Korean employer might own the patent.

McDermott's intellectual property practice includes more than 200 attorneys and patent agents, and is one of the top ten law firms for nanotech patent and applications filings, according to information provided by the firm.

McDermott partner Carey Jordan noted that the percentage of patents issued to US-based entities is not quite as high as the 54 per cent of nanopatents with US-based inventors. About 45 per cent of the nanotechnology patents in the study were assigned to US-based entities.

The study examined published US patent applications, patents granted by the US Patent and Trade Office, and published international patent applications that had the term "nano" in the claims, title, or abstract. Nanopatent applications were included to best quantify innovation occurring in nanotech, the study's authors said.

The number of nanotechnology patents has grown continuously since the early 2000s, the study said. Between 2007 and 2012 the total number of US patent applications, US granted patents and published international patent applications grew from about 14,250 to almost 18,900.

The United States, the European Union, as well as Japan and South Korea, have increased funding for nanotechnology education and research since 2000, the study said.

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US inventors lead world in nanotechnology

1st Energy Medicine Exchange International Seminar 16 February 2013 – Video

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1st Energy Medicine Exchange International Seminar 16 February 2013
16 February 2013 this Google-based event will feature (see details on the event itself) Thornton Streeter DSc, who will present research about the "Human Biofield", David Feinstein Phd talks about the "Energy" in Energy Psychology, Claude Swanson PhD about the "latest research in biophotons", Nyelin Castleton who is "Mapping the energy bodies for clinical practice", Brett A. Rogers with the The Interface Between Psychic Energies and the Physical Body, and finally Dan Winter who presents the "Conjugation, Unified Field, Non-Linear Energy, and Energy Healing" http://www.facebook.com

By: Lydia Proschinger

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1st Energy Medicine Exchange International Seminar 16 February 2013 - Video

Prognosis is good for BA in traditional Chinese medicine

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The PCU College of Holistic Medicine in Burnaby has applied to the province to become the first school in Canada with the ability to grant a university degree in traditional Chinese medicine.

The proposal to the degree quality assessment board, which the school expects to submit within weeks, has been in the works since 2006, said dean John Yang.

Yang has no idea whether his was the school Premier Christy Clark had in mind when she mentioned the creation of a school of traditional Chinese medicine at a B.C. post-secondary institution during her throne speech Tuesday. Now, only diplomas are available through private colleges.

An increase in acceptance and demand has made a university degree possible for the first time, Yang said.

When PCU College opened in 2002, there were 25 students. This year, the school has 200 full-and part-time students.

"There's steady growth as more and more people are willing to study and get into this profession. Our school began with a very small class and now, it's a reasonable size according to our population," he said.

Yang believes it's time for a university degree, such as a bachelor of traditional Chinese medicine with a major in acupuncture. Most students spend at least five years and many international students desire a degree comparable to ones available in China, Japan or Korea.

The education ministry said Wednesday no decisions have been made what institution would house the new school.

Kwantlen University also has started to incorporate alternative health practices such as acupuncture in its pending bachelor of science in health science program, but spokeswoman Joanne Saunders said the school has no plans to start granting degrees.

The courses could be used as a springboard for entry into one of the province's private colleges.

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Prognosis is good for BA in traditional Chinese medicine

Medicine at Center of Debate as Iran Sanctions Tighten

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By Negar Mortazavi, VOA

Earlier this month, the U.S. government announced tighter sanctions on Iran. In particular, the actions would further limit Irans access to oil revenues by restricting Irans ability to use oil revenue held in foreign financial institutions as well as preventing repatriation of those funds to Iran.

Related Video: Iran's hospitals feel pain of sanctions

Western sanctions have severely limited the countrys ability to sell oil on the world market and decreased its access to the international banking system. The sanctions have been imposed because of Irans refusal to stop its uranium enrichment program. Iran claims the uranium is for nuclear power reactors, while the U.S. and its allies say Iran is striving to build nuclear weapons.

The U.S. government has repeatedly stated that sanctions are targeted at Irans nuclear program and not the Irans people. Washington points to humanitarian exceptions from the sanctions for agricultural commodities, food, medicine or medical devices. As with any sanctions regime, there is an ongoing debate about how effective sanctions are and who they really hurt.

We have no quarrel with the people of Iran, David S. Cohen, the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at the U.S. Treasury Department, said in an interview with VOA. The ultimate objective here is to try and slow down the development of Iran's nuclear program and to put pressure on those senior officials in Iran who are responsible for making policy judgments with respect to the nuclear program, not to make food and medicine scarce.

But there have been numerous reports of shortages, particularly of medicine, and the reports have turned into a propaganda war between the two sides. Iranian government officials blame Western sanctions for the shortages. Western officials blame the Iranian government for mismanaging the situation and causing scarcity.

Irans health minister, Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi, was fired last December after she criticized the government for not providing enough foreign currency to import vital medicines, causing a shortage.

The hard currency that they needed wasn't allocated to the health ministry, said Cohen. Instead, the hard currency is being allocated by the government to other purposes, whether it is supporting the Assad regime [in Syria], supporting terrorism or supporting the nuclear program.

On the other hand in October, Fatemeh Hashemi, head of the Foundation for Special Diseases, wrote an open letter to United Nations chief Ban Ki moon, saying sanctions have put Iranian patients lives at risk, causing a shortage of vital medicine for special diseases such as cancer and multiple sclerosis.

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The science of uncertainty in genomic medicine

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Public release date: 15-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Karen Kreeger karen.kreeger@uphs.upenn.edu 215-459-0544 University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

BOSTON - The notion of "personalizing" health care through the use of an individual's genetic code has attracted considerable enthusiasm and investment. Impressive examples, confirmed through formal studies of clinical validity and utility, suggest that we have only scratched the surface of applications to treat disease more precisely, identify risk factors for complex disease, and guide preventative measures.

As the cost of sequencing entire genomes falls, the opportunities for people around the world to take possession of their entire genetic code will proliferate. However, one irony of the precise determination of all 3.2 billion nucleotide pairs is the lack of understanding of the meaning of many sequence variations.

More than 1500 single nucleotide variations are associated with risks for more than 200 complex diseases, but despite their commercialization, these account for a small proportion of heritability of these diseases.

In both translational science and clinical practice, the substantial uncertainty in interpreting genomic information serves as an important barrier to application. Coping with uncertainty can be addressed quantitatively, but how the information is so far understood, presented, and interpreted by physicians and patients has been best addressed qualitatively. Interdisciplinary teams of professionals may be best suited to study the many facets of uncertainty in genomic medicine.

Reed Pyertiz, MD, PhD, the director of Penn CIGHT, the Center for the Integration of Genetic Healthcare Technologies, is moderating a session called, "The Science of Uncertainty in Genomic Medicine," at the 2013 American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting in Boston, on Friday, February 15, 2013: 10:00 AM-11:30 AM, Room 313, Hynes Convention Center. Pyeritz is available for interviews on the topic of genomic medicine and its uses in clinical care. Penn CIGHT is at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania.

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Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $4.3 billion enterprise. The Perelman School of Medicine is currently ranked #2 in U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $479.3 million awarded in the 2011 fiscal year. The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania -- recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report; Penn Presbyterian Medical Center; and Pennsylvania Hospital the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Penn Medicine also includes additional patient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region. Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2011, Penn Medicine provided $854 million to benefit our community.

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Medicine for the Rich Is About to Get Cheap Enough for Regular People

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After years of exotic and very expensive machines sequencing DNA, the genomics industry finally looks poised for its cell phone moment.

Soon, the business of genetics could look a lot like the commodity-driven mobile industry, with providers selling hardware on the cheap and relying on software, apps and diagnostics to drive revenue. And, as with the app-filled smartphones we keep close to us 24/7, genomics could finally become a much more intimate part of our lives.

With smartphones its the data and apps where the high value has accrued over time. In the case of sequencing, its going to be something similar, said Jorge Conde, CFO and co-founder of Knome, a genomic diagnostics company. The question, he says, then becomes whether the market looks like Apples walled garden, Microsofts more democratic model, or Google, where everything happens in the cloud.

In recent years, the industry has been working to solve the data storage and analysis bottlenecks resulting from an explosion of genetic data as sequencing costs have continued to drop. And they have succeeded. That means companies and institutions can finally focus on deciphering what all our genetic data actually means and how it might influence our risk for certain diseases. In other words, diagnostics is where the money is moving.

This shift is being catalyzed by a push by genomics, diagnostics and pharmaceutical giants to provide seamless services that include everything from genetic sequencing, to data analysis and interpretation, to reports medical providers can use in the clinic to make treatment decisions. The result might ultimately be the emergence of personalized medicine as the new standard of care.

Today, most companies have a specific niche. The full integrated package is being promised but is not really being offered, says Dr. Gianrico Farrugia, the director of the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine. With the help of medical institutions and a growing number of companies setting out to provide these services, he says, were getting closer to that promise actually being realized.

Right now, the market for soup-to-nuts genomics is small less than $50 million but it could grow into a multi-billion dollar industry if insurance companies start paying for more kinds of genetic testing, says Andrew Kress, senior vice president of healthcare value solutions at IMS Health, a health information and technology services company.Payers are open to just about anything if someone can demonstrate its lowering the overall cost of care.

Other estimates suggest the market is already in thebillions but agree its far from reaching its peak. The use of genetics is on the rise at major medical centers like Stanford, Vanderbilt, Mount Sinai, and the Mayo Clinic and annual spending on genetic tests has been steadily increasing, according to a UnitedHealthcare 2012 report.

The largest healthcare players in the industry are convinced were heading in this direction fast, and have been on a buying binge to cement their place in this new genomic order.

In 2007, Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche acquired 454 Life Sciences to up its sequencing capabilities and last year, it attempted totakeoverIllumina, which makes the worlds most widely used sequencing machines. In July, Life Technologies bought Navigenics, one of the first personal genomics companies. In September, Illumina bought UK-basedBlueGnome, which specializes in pre-implantation genetic screening for in vitro fertilization, and last month, the sequencing giant paid a ballpark figure of $350 million in cash for Verinata Health, which sells a chromosomaltestthat scans a moms blood for traces of her babys DNA to detect possible birth defects.

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Medicine for the Rich Is About to Get Cheap Enough for Regular People

Doctors meet, court, marry while in medical school

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When Susquehanna Health vascular surgeon Dr. Eric Adams enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh in 1986, it was to pursue a career in medicine. During those first few years of medical school, however, he also began pursuing a partnership that blossomed over 23 years into a family of six.

Adams and his wife, Dr. Kristin Adams, met, courted, became engaged and even were married while attending medical school.

"We were in the same class in medical school, so we had the same courses together," said Kristin. "I sat in the front row and Eric sat in the back row, but we had the same circle of friends and liked the same kinds of activities."

The couple said they worked together on a project on the Krebs cycle in biochemistry class and began dating during their second year of medical school.

On a particularly notable day in their fourth year of medical school, they had taken their national board exams and were preparing to go out that evening with friends.

"Eric, unbeknownst to me, wanted to be sure that we got to a restaurant, not just because it was my birthday, but because he wanted to propose," Kristin said. "I figured something was up when he arrived in a three-piece suit."

Three weeks before graduation, the two tied the knot. While Eric applied to military programs, Kristin submitted applications for positions in the same cities. The couple moved to San Antonio, Texas, to begin their medical residencies - Eric at Brook Army Medical Center and Kristin at the University of Texas Health Science Center.

In the years that followed, Eric's service in the Army relocated the couple and their growing family to Fort Bragg, N.C., Augusta, Ga., and Washington, D.C. In June 2011, Eric retired from the military.

"So, we had all sorts of options," Eric said. "We could have gone anywhere."

Because Eric is a Pennsylvania native and Kristin grew up in Massachusetts and both had attended medical school in Pittsburgh, the couple began seeking opportunities in the Keystone State. A position became available for Eric with Susquehanna Health's Heart & Vascular Institute and Kristin was delighted to be offered a part-time position in neurology.

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Doctors meet, court, marry while in medical school

Liberty of the Seas – Royal Promenade Tour – Video

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Liberty of the Seas - Royal Promenade Tour
Royal Promenade Tour (Deck 5) on Royal Caribbean #39;s Liberty of the Seas. Footage shot on February 3, 2013. Music Wisps of Whorls - Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 creativecommons.org I own the rights to all the video and stills in this presentation.

By: Deekie Watson

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Liberty of the Seas - Royal Promenade Tour - Video