Fire forces Canary Islands exodus

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13 August 2012 Last updated at 10:15 ET

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Evacuees talk about the moment they were rushed to the ferry

Firefighters are battling a forest fire on La Gomera in Spain's Canary Islands which forced the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people by ferry overnight.

The worst affected area on La Gomera is Valle Gran Rey. Road access has been cut by the fire, which has spread with high winds and tinder-dry vegetation.

A smaller area is ablaze on Tenerife.

On the mainland, two firefighters died while helping to extinguish a wildfire in Torremanzanas, a village north of the eastern coastal town of Alicante.

Spain's El Pais news website says eight helicopters and six planes helped firefighters on the ground to douse the Torremanzanas blaze.

Aircraft are also being used on La Gomera, where fires are advancing on three fronts.

Two boats took 910 people from Valle Gran Rey to La Gomera's main town, San Sebastian. In all, more than 5,000 have been evacuated since Friday.

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Fire forces Canary Islands exodus

Canary islands suffer wildfires

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irishtimes.com - Last Updated: Monday, August 13, 2012, 14:04

Wildfires in the Canary Islands haved forced the evacuation of thousands of residents.

Fires on the Canary islands of La Gomera and Tenerife have led to the evacuation of more than 4,000 residents and the cutting off of many roads as precautionary measures, the regional government said.

As of yesterday afternoon, residents were being kept out of 18 towns and villages - eight on Tenerife and 10 on La Gomera. The fires are also threatening some of Spains most treasured national parks, including a Unesco world heritage site.

Regional officials said there was evidence that the fire on La Gomera was started deliberately as it had two focal points two miles apart that began burning within a short time of each other.

A statement said firefighting crews working on the islands were finding it difficult to limit the spread of fire.

On La Gomera, one of the less popular tourist destinations in the Canaries, is Garajonay National Park, a world heritage site. It contains prehistoric woodland, dating back 11 million years, according to experts.

Aircraft that were previously dousing the fires with water when they first broke out a week ago were sent away as it was thought the fire was under control, but winds and high temperatures have helped rekindle the flames, an official said.

The island is 850 miles off the coast of the mainland, so it can take up to a day for firefighting planes to return after being sent back to Spains southwestern tip.

A hot summer has followed a dry winter in Spain, with temperatures reaching 44 degrees in southern areas in recent days. The state meteorological agency has warned of a high risk of fires in the country.

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Canary islands suffer wildfires

Medicaid Fight Enlivened With Romney-Ryan Ticket

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Photo by Alex Wong / Getty Images

Above: Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., points to piles of the health care overhaul legislation during a markup hearing before the U.S. House Budget Committee last year in Washington, D.C.

The addition of Rep. Paul Ryan to the GOP ticket is certain to elevate health care as a campaign issue this fall. Most of the debate is likely to be about Medicare, and Ryan's controversial plan to transform the popular program for the elderly and disabled.

But some of the attention is likely to focus on Medicaid, the health care program for those with low incomes, as well.

Medicaid not Medicare is actually the nation's largest health insurance program, covering some 60 million Americans with very limited incomes. But you'd be excused for not knowing that, because Medicaid doesn't get nearly as much attention as Medicare does.

That may be changing, however. The Supreme Court earlier this summer put the program in the news when it ruled that the Medicaid expansion in the 2010 health law must be optional for states.

That's given more ammunition to Republicans, including presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who want to offer states far more responsibility for Medicaid.

"The state is the best place to determine what is the best way to help those poor," Romney said in a health care speech at the University of Michigan in 2011. "And so I would therefore block grant to the states' Medicaid funds, and say to the states, 'You now use these monies as you feel appropriate to care for your own poor.' "

Only there's a catch, said President Obama in a speech to Associated Press editors in April. Under the Republican congressional budget Romney has endorsed, Medicaid funding would not only be turned back to the states, it would be cut substantially.

"They would have to be running these programs in the face of the largest cut to Medicaid that has ever been proposed," he said, "a cut that, according to one nonpartisan group, would take away health care from about 19 million Americans."

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Medicaid Fight Enlivened With Romney-Ryan Ticket

LexisNexis® Provider Integrity Scan Identifies Fraudulent Providers and Organizations, Reduces Health Care Payer Costs

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ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

LexisNexis Risk Solutions today announced the availability of LexisNexis Provider Integrity Scan, an advanced data solution to assist private and public health care payers in verifying and monitoring health care provider licensing and credentials, and detecting and preventing fraudulent or criminal provider activity. Organizations using Provider Integrity Scan benefit from reduced health care costs by identifying potentially fraudulent providers and businesses enrolled or attempting to enroll in health-related programs.

In todays health care environment, if an improper claim payment is made, health plans have a less than 50 percent chance of recovering the funds. CMS estimates Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse alone to be over $30 billion annually, while NHCAA estimates conservatively that overall fraud accounts for 3 percent of our nation's annual health care spending or approximately $69 billion. These factors require health plans to systematically monitor payment activities and diligently ensure that the risk of improper payments and other forms of provider fraud is reduced.

Health care payers continue to be challenged with increasing regulations from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure enrollment is limited to legitimate providers and suppliers, pending standards within state agencies and rising losses associated with fraud and improper payments, said Harry Jordan, vice president and general manager, health care, LexisNexis. Knowing the best way to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse is to prevent it, LexisNexis helps payers take a proactive approach to uncovering derogatory attributes linked to providers. This approach reduces a payers exposure to fraud before it impacts their bottom line, regulatory compliance and patient safety.

LexisNexis Provider Integrity Scan automates a variety of provider verification searches and ongoing monitoring options, and provides automatic red flag alerts for a wide range of high risk indicators. It gives payers the ability to efficiently process multiple searches and obtain critical information contained within massive volumes of provider data within the nations public and private health plans.

The solution offers payers efficiency in processing power, utilizing LexIDSM and access to more than 40 billion public and proprietary records from more than 10,000 sources.LexID is among the fastest linking technology available, enabling customers to identify, organize information quickly and link records together. This speed and accuracy is important in combating fraudulent providers who use family and cohorts to set up new businesses in other cities or states once theyve been flagged or sanctioned by health care payers.

For more information about LexisNexis Provider Integrity Scan, please visit http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/hc-identity-management.aspx .

About LexisNexis Risk Solutions

LexisNexis Risk Solutions (www.lexisnexis.com/risk/) is a leader in providing essential information that helps customers across all industries and government predict, assess and manage risk. Combining cutting-edge technology, unique data and advanced scoring analytics, Risk Solutions provides products and services that address evolving client needs in the risk sector while upholding the highest standards of security and privacy. LexisNexis Risk Solutions is part of Reed Elsevier, a leading publisher and information provider that serves customers in more than 100 countries with more than 30,000 employees worldwide.

Our health care solutions assist payers, providers and integrators with ensuring appropriate access to health care data and programs, enhancing disease management contact ratios, improving operational processes, and proactively combating fraud, waste and abuse across the continuum.

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LexisNexis® Provider Integrity Scan Identifies Fraudulent Providers and Organizations, Reduces Health Care Payer Costs

Law expands preventive care for women

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TAHLEQUAH Women across the U.S. no longer have to pay for certain health care services, including birth control, which are now covered under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Effective Aug. 1, PPACA requires most health insurance plans to cover eight preventive care measures without charging a co-payment or deductible: well-woman visits; gestational diabetes screening; domestic and interpersonal violence screening and counseling; FDA-approved contraceptive methods and education; breastfeeding support, supplies and counseling; HPV DNA testing for women 30 and older; and STD counseling, and HIV screening and counseling.

In May, more than 40 Catholic institutions filed 12 lawsuits in federal jurisdictions, asserting the contraception rule violated religious tenets. But according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the law allows some nonprofit religious employers to choose whether to cover contraceptive services.

Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of HHS, said an additional element has been added: Nonprofit employers who, based on religious beliefs, do not currently provide contraceptive coverage in their insurance plan, will be provided an additional year, until Aug. 1, 2013, to comply. Employers who want the extra time must certify they qualify for it.

According to a recent report by Bloomberg, organizations such as churches, which may not provide insurance coverage for contraception, are still exempt from the requirement, as are primary and secondary schools affiliated with religious organizations. But universities, charities, hospitals and other religiously-connected entities must comply.

Despite the recent Supreme Court ruling that PPACA is constitutional, Becky Bernhardt, assistant press secretary for Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said he believes the rule is unconstitutional. Coburn says it dangerously expands the federal governments role in health care, and takes away even more of our individual and religious freedoms.

Coburn is a physician who specializes in obstetrics and gynecology. He is also opposed to PPACA.

Forcing Americans to finance contraceptives and abortifacients is an assault on religious freedom and individual liberty, said Coburn. This mandate is also completely unnecessary, as these products are already widely available at extremely low prices at clinics across the country. This mandate has nothing to do with serving women, and everything to do with expanding governments control over health care.

Dr. Jena Rogers, M.D., who specializes in internal medicine at Tahlequah Medical Group, believes the ruling is beneficial for all women.

No matter what community you are talking about, preventive health visits for women, and for men, are beneficial, said Rogers. Technology and education in health care have improved so much over time that it is much easier and safer to get tested. The percentage of women who now have mammograms have almost doubled in the past 15 years. Screening for diabetes is also much easier and cost-effective.

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Law expands preventive care for women

Health-care reform's impact as yet unseen

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Several area hospital leaders say they need more time to determine how a new bill to control health-care costs will impact their institutions, but they agree action is necessary to make health care more affordable.

The first-in-the-nation 349-page bill was signed into law by Gov. Deval Patrick on Aug. 6.

"It's an extremely complex bill, and we don't really know how it's all going to play out," said Patrick Muldoon, president and CEO of HealthAlliance Hospitals. "We said consistently that it's terrific we have health-care reform, but now we have to figure out how to make it affordable because the system we have now is unsustainable."

Norm Deschene, president and CEO of Lowell General Hospital, said the bill meets the goals of the hospital community to deliver quality and affordable care.

"The bill clearly recognizes that there needs to be a number of different approaches to meeting those goals; we agree with many of those programs," wrote Deschene in an email.

The bill is intended to save up to $200 billion in health-care costs over the next 15 years by moving the state toward a payment system in which doctors receive an annual budget for each patient's care, known as a "global payment system," rather than having them charge a fee for each service or test provided. Like the 2006 universal-access law; however, it could be years before its changes are fully implemented and its impacts known.

While the law's critics say it represents a thicket

The law says medical costs must grow at the same rate as the state's economy until 2017. After that, health-care costs must grow even slower.

A state board, known as the Health Policy Commission, will help hospitals meet these goals. Deschene credits lawmakers for preventing the board from automatically taxing or punishing hospitals that don't meet the benchmarks. Hospitals will instead be required to file a performance-improvement plan.

As a last resort, the bill does allow the board to fine providers up to $500,000 for failing to file or faithfully implement its improvement plan.

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Health-care reform's impact as yet unseen

Human embryos frozen for 18 years yield viable stem cells suitable for biomedical research

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Public release date: 13-Aug-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Vicki Cohn vcohn@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, August 13, 2012Even after being frozen for 18 years, human embryos can be thawed, grown in the laboratory, and successfully induced to produce human embryonic stem (ES) cells, which represent a valuable resource for drug screening and medical research. Prolonged embryonic cryopreservation as an alternative source of ES cells is the focus of an article in BioResearch Open Access, a new bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available free online at the BioResearch Open Access website.

Kamthorn Pruksananonda and coauthors from Chulalongkorn University and Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand, demonstrated that ES cells derived from frozen embryos have a similar ability to differentiate into multiple cell typesa characteristic known as pluripotencyas do ES cells derived from fresh embryos. They present their findings in the article "Eighteen-Year Cryopreservation Does Not Negatively Affect the Pluripotency of Human Embryos: Evidence from Embryonic Stem Cell Derivation."

"The importance of this study is that it identifies an alternative source for generating new embryonic stem lines, using embryos that have been in long-term storage," says Editor-in-Chief Jane Taylor, PhD, MRC Centre for Regenerative Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

###

About the Journal

BioResearch Open Access is a bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal that provides a new rapid-publication forum for a broad range of scientific topics including molecular and cellular biology, tissue engineering and biomaterials, bioengineering, regenerative medicine, stem cells, gene therapy, systems biology, genetics, biochemistry, virology, microbiology, and neuroscience. All articles are published within 4 weeks of acceptance and are fully open access and posted on PubMedCentral. All journal content is available online at the BioResearch Open Access website.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Tissue Engineering, Stem Cells and Development, Human Gene Therapy and HGT Methods, and AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 70 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available at the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. website.

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Human embryos frozen for 18 years yield viable stem cells suitable for biomedical research

FreedomWorks Presents 'Freedom Platform' For Adoption at 2012 GOP Convention

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Tea party activists petition Republicans to include '12 for '12' key policy issues into party platform.WASHINGTON, Aug. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- FreedomWorks, a grassroots service center serving more than 2 million members of the conservative movement, today released the Freedom Platform, a crowd-source proposal outlining 12 of the boldest, most important solutions for the nation in ...

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FreedomWorks Presents 'Freedom Platform' For Adoption at 2012 GOP Convention

Interview: Os Guinness Warns of Loss of Freedom in America

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(Photo: InterVarsity Press)

Cover of A Free People's Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future 2012, by Os Guinness, and published by InterVarsity Press.

(Photo: The Christian Post/Hudson Tsuei)

Os Guinness, critic, international speaker and author, speaks at Lausanne III in Cape Town on Monday, Oct. 18, 2010.

August 13, 2012|8:44 am

Guinness was born in China to medical missionaries and raised in England. He holds a doctorate degree from Oriel College, Oxford, has been a guest scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies and the Brooking's Institution, and is the author of over 25 books.

In an interview with The Christian Post, Guinness talks about his new book, immigration, the role of religion in a free society, "ordered liberty," and why the tea party and Occupy Wall Street movements have more in common than you might think.

The following is an edited transcript of that interview:

CP: What was your main purpose for writing this book?

Guinness: I think the deepest issue in America is the crisis of freedom. I'm a strong believer in St. Augustine's idea that you judge a nation by what it loves supremely. And there's no question that, over many centuries, what Americans love supremely is freedom. So I think you can judge the health of a nation by the health of freedoms today.

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Interview: Os Guinness Warns of Loss of Freedom in America

Freedom Shutout Crushers to Win Series

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August 12, 2012 - Frontier League (FL) Florence Freedom Avon, OH-The Florence Freedom(42-36) got a terrific pitching performance from Andy Clark(1-0) on Sunday as they went on to shutout the Lake Erie Crushers(43-35) 1-0 at All Pro Freight Stadium. The Freedom took two out of three from the Crushers in a critical weekend series as both chase after a spot in the Frontier League's season ending playoffs.

It was an outstanding pitcher's duel between Florence's Clark and Lake Erie's Paul Fagan(7-6). Clark who pitched for the Freedom the previous three seasons was just singed prior to the start of Sunday's game. Clark took a perfect game into the 6th inning. With one out, he yielded his first hit of the day as Wally Correa doubled into left field. Clark still went 5.1 innings without allowing a hit as he finished the game with seven shutout innings while giving up two hits and striking out three. He didn't walk a batter. Fagan was equally as impressive however his lone mistake came in the 7th. Kyle Bluestein led off with a double. John Malloy then got down a sacrifice bunt getting Bluestein to third base. Pierre LePage then followed by hitting a ground ball to second baseman J.C. Figueroa which scored Bluestein for the games only run.

Jorge Marban entered the game following the masterpiece by Clark. In the 8th, with the tying runner standing at third base, Marban got Brian Erie to fly out to LePage as the second baseman made the catch down the right field line in foul territory to preserve the lead. Then in the 9th, with the tying runner at first base with two outs, Marban struck out Andrew Davis to close the game. Marban collected his 6th save of the season. The Freedom finished the year 7-5 against the Crushers.

The Freedom will have Monday off before resuming their six game road trip Tuesday night in Rockford, Illinois against the RiverHawks. RHP Alec Lewis(4-7, 4.74) will start for Florence while Rockford's starter is TBA. The game can be heard starting at 7:50 on Real Talk 1160 AM and realtalk1160.com.

Discuss this story on the Frontier League message board... Digg this story Add to Del.icio.us

The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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Freedom Shutout Crushers to Win Series

Canadian Digital Media Network Helps Startup Cyborg Trading Establish New York Presence and Attract Investment

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WATERLOO REGION, ON, Aug. 13, 2012 /CNW/ - Cyborg Trading, a startup that develops automated trading technology for financial firms, was able to be in the right place at the right time to build the business thanks to a 'soft landing' program recently introduced by the Canadian Digital Media Network (CDMN) in concert with Communitech. With financial support to take critical staff to New York, Cyborg Trading was able to close a $2 million equity round with Canadian investors, garner two long-term deals valued at close to $200,000 per year, attend a key trade show and gain market intelligence from being at the core of 'the city that never sleeps'.

The CDMN recently introduced its program to help startups in the digital media and mobile space gain traction in other countries, as well as enabling companies from outside Canada to locate here, creating jobs and opportunities.

"Canadian startups that need to be where the investment dollars are available or where new business is emerging can find support 'landing' outside Canada through our soft landing program," said Kevin Tuer, Managing Director of the CDMN.

Cyborg's CEO and Chief Financial Officer were New York bound, but the company also needed Cyborg's Chief Technology Officer and algorithm engineer to travel to New York to gain market intelligence at a major industry event. However on a startup budget, bringing more people to New York wasn't feasible. CDMN's soft landing program was able to fund the additional travel costs and as well, provide hoteling space at an incubator space in Manhattan for three months.

"It's pretty much a sink or swim scenario when you hit New York, and you need to spend time in the city to be taken seriously by investors," said Ben Bittrolff, Cyborg Trading CFO. "Being part of the CDMN's soft landing program opened doors and enabled us to get closer to the market."

Cyborg, which has subsequently opened a New York sales department at the NYU-Poly Varick Street Incubator where they were 'hoteled', is on its way to expanding from a team of 25 to 36 people in the coming year. The company also has locations at the Communitech Hub in Waterloo and in London, Ontario. Cyborg specializes in developing automated trading technology for hedge funds, brokers, banks and professional lenders.

CDMN's soft-landing program provides up to three months of residency in partner facilities equipped to support companies' growth, and up to $4,000 Canadian for transportation and hotel costs. Bittrolff says the CDMN program is an enviable support system for emerging startups.

"Quite a few of the incubator startups in New York wished they had the programs that we have access to in Communitech and CDMN," said Bittrolff.

The soft landing model unfolding in Waterloo Region is being replicated across the country working with other CDMN 'nodes' in all provinces. Communitech is not only the tech association representing the close to 1,000 tech companies in Waterloo Region, but is also a CDMN node and a federal centre of excellence in commercialization and research.

About The Canadian Digital Media Network:

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Canadian Digital Media Network Helps Startup Cyborg Trading Establish New York Presence and Attract Investment

George John of Rocket Fuel to Present at the 15th Annual Oppenheimer Technology, Internet & Communications Conference

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REDWOOD SHORES, CA--(Marketwire -08/13/12)- Rocket Fuel Inc., the leading provider of artificial intelligence advertising solutions for digital marketers, today announced that Chief Executive Officer George John will present at the 15th Annual Oppenheimer Technology, Internet & Communications Conference in Boston, MA on Tuesday, August 14, 2012, at 11:45 a.m. ET.

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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.

2012 Rocket Fuel Inc. All rights reserved. Rocket Fuel Inc. is a 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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George John of Rocket Fuel to Present at the 15th Annual Oppenheimer Technology, Internet & Communications Conference

Ball Aerospace Incorporates Enhanced Data Communication for JPSS-1 Satellite

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BOULDER, Colo., Aug. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. will incorporate essential data communication enhancements for the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1), currently under development for an early 2017 launch.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120813/LA56182)

JPSS is the Nation's next generation polar-orbiting operational environmental satellite system, procured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). JPSS will provide continuity of observations for accurate weather and storm forecasting, vertical profiles of temperature and moisture, global measurements of atmospheric and oceanic conditions, and ozone measurements.

Ball Aerospace built Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership the first of the JPSS-class satellites - using the IEEE 1394 (FireWire) and MIL-STD 1553 data networks to support the five-instrument payload suite. For JPSS-1, Ball is converting the NPP spacecraft design from 1394 to a SpaceWire databus protocol for use by the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CrIS) and the Visible/Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instruments. The high-speed (>200Mbp) on-board communications provided by SpaceWire mitigates 1394 obsolescence risks at the JPSS program level and can be incorporated without risking schedule. The SpaceWire databus is a point-to-point cable bus based on the IEEE 1355 standard and has successfully flown on other NASA and international space agency missions.

Ball Aerospace will also modify JPSS-1 to improve reliability and flexibility for operations by replacing the primary X-band Science Mission Data (SMD) downlink with a Ka-band telecom system transmitting to the ground communication system.A backup Ka-band SMD downlink system will be added, transmitting to NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), which offers possible future cost avoidance and latency improvements.

Ball is under contract to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to design and build the JPSS-1 satellite bus, the Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) instrument, integrate all instruments, and perform satellite-level testing and launch support. The JPSS-1 spacecraft is a member of the BCP family of spacecraft designed for cost-effective, remote sensing applications. The JPSS-1 spacecraft bus is the twelfth spacecraft built by Ball Aerospace on the BCP core architecture. In all, this architecture has more than 50 years of successful on-orbit operations.

The Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) provides global weather forecasts and long-term environmental monitoring critical to public safety, and economic and national security. JPSS will operationalize the advanced technologies currently being demonstrated on Suomi NPP, to provide enhanced Earth-observing information and environmental data. JPSS development is progressing smoothly, with an early 2017 launch anticipated for the first satellite in the JPSS series.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical missions for national agencies such as the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government and commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components, data exploitation systems and RF solutions for strategic, tactical and scientific applications. For more information visit http://www.ballaerospace.com.

Ball Corporation (BLL) is a supplier of high quality packaging for beverage, food and household products customers, and of aerospace and other technologies and services, primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ more than 14,500 people worldwide and reported 2011 sales of more than $8.6 billion. For the latest Ball news and for other company information, please visit http://www.ball.com.

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Ball Aerospace Incorporates Enhanced Data Communication for JPSS-1 Satellite

Study: Tougher School Nutrition Laws Help Kids Lose Weight

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Tougher laws regarding nutrition in schools have been implemented across the country. But are they working?

A new study says yes.

The study found that students who attend schools with tougher laws governing school food, such as prohibiting use of trans fats and getting rid of soda machines, are losing weight. The study, which looked at 6,300 students in 40 states, found that children overweight or obese in fifth grade were more likely to reach a healthy weight in the eighth grade if attending schools with strong nutrition laws.

Children in the study also gained less weight from fifth through eighth grades if they lived in states with strong, consistent laws versus no laws governing snacks available in schools.

In states with weaker laws, the percentage of overweight and obese children remained unchanged between those same grades.

In the study, laws were considered strong if they included specific nutrition requirements, such as limits on sugar and fats. Laws were rated weak if the requirements were vague and merely urged sales of "healthy" food without specifics.

The study took gender, race, income and school location into account.

The authors of the study, which was released online Monday in the journal Pediatrics, concluded that nutrition laws must be implemented across all grades in order to be effective.

Nutrition in school remains a hot-button issue, with some states resisting the notion of a "nanny-state," while many experts point at the rise of obesity in children as an indicator that the status quo cannot continue.

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Study: Tougher School Nutrition Laws Help Kids Lose Weight

New weapon against C. Difficile: significant scientific breakthrough at Université de Saint-Boniface

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Dr Mathias Oul, Professor of Microbiology at Universit de Saint-Boniface led a team of scientists who have proven

WINNIPEG, Aug. 13, 2012 /CNW/ - A team of researchers from Universit de Saint-Boniface (USB) in Manitoba has proven the effectiveness of a disinfectant that could revolutionize the fight against superbugs in the hospital system.

The study led by Mathias Oul, Ph.D., microbiology professor at Manitoba's Universit de Saint-Boniface, shows that Akwaton tackles spore-forming bacteria, including Clostridium difficile whose heat-tolerant spores can live on surfaces for long periods of time and survive a number of years in a dry environment. The study has just been published in the UK's prestigious Journal of Medical Microbiology.

Most of the chemical disinfectants that are currently used control or prevent the spread of bacterial spores. However, the study shows that Akwaton is able to destroy Bacillus subtilis spores suspended in water and attached to stainless steel or glass surfaces, at very dilute concentrations, after just 90 seconds' treatment. Previous studies by the USB research team have shown that Akwaton is also effective against strains of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.

Dr. Mathias Oul explained Akwaton's main advantages: "Most disinfectants have to be applied at much higher concentrations - typically between 4 and 10% - which may be harmful to humans. Akwaton destroys spores at concentrations well below 1%." Akwaton is non-corrosive, non-irritating, non-toxic, odourless and environmentally safe. "All these properties make it an ideal disinfectant for hospitals and laboratories. It may also have great value in the food industry," said Dr. Oul.

"Universit de Saint-Boniface is proud to be a part of the ongoing battle against superbugs, the outbreaks of which are a threat to all hospitals and health care facilities in Canada and around the globe," said USB President Raymonde Gagn. "Dr. Oul's paper has already garnered a great deal of attention in Europe, and it will also undoubtedly generate considerable interest in Canada."

The paper titled "Akwaton, Polyhexamethylene-Guanidine Hydrochloride-Based Sporicidal Disinfectant: A Novel Tool to Fight Bacterial Spores and Nosocomial Infections" was published on August 8, 2012 in the scholarly Journal of Medical Microbiology.

The article and the press release issued by the UK-based Society for General Microbiology are available online at http://www.sgmjournals.org and on the USB website.

Universit de Saint-Boniface is Manitoba's only French-language postsecondary institution. Its research activities are primarily focused on francophone and Mtis cultural and identity issues; science; the environment and health; access to health care and social services in French; education; translation; and regional development and social management.

The Society for General Microbiology (SGM) is the largest learned microbiological society in Europe with a worldwide membership based in universities, industry, hospitals, research institutes and schools. The SGM publishes four journals presenting high-quality research findings.

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New weapon against C. Difficile: significant scientific breakthrough at Université de Saint-Boniface

The longevity of US presidents' mothers

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3 August 2012 Last updated at 09:26 ET By Richard Knight BBC News

The mothers of US presidents and presidential candidates live far longer than the mothers of British prime ministers and opposition leaders. Is that just a statistical quirk?

Recreational statistics might not sound like your idea of fun but fiddling with numbers can yield fascinating discoveries.

Mike Shearing, a More or Less listener in Malaysia, thought he was on to something when he noticed that the mothers of post-war US presidents seem, on the whole, to have lived very long lives - much longer than the mums of British prime ministers.

He contacted More or Less to ask whether he had found something significant. The short answer is that he had. More or Less collated the age of death for every mother of a post-war US president or losing presidential candidate - except those who're still alive, of course - and for the mothers of every post-war British prime minister and losing opposition leader.

We analysed the data with the help of Dr George Leeson from Oxford University's Institute of Ageing.

"If we look at the US mothers we have an average age at death equal to 83.7 years," says Leeson, "and if we look at the UK mothers we have an average age at death of 74.8."

That's a big difference. Averages can be misleading, however, because a small number of outliers - or extreme measurements - can distort the picture. Rose Kennedy, for example, lived to 104. So Dr Leeson calculated the median figures, too.

"The median divides the data into two equal halves," he says, "so 50% of the observations are higher than the median, and 50% are lower. And the median is therefore less sensitive to outliers. The median for the US mothers is 84.5 - so very close to the average. For the UK mothers the average was almost 75, and the median is 76. So there's very little difference. It's not outliers."

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The longevity of US presidents' mothers

Applied DNA Sciences SigNature(R) DNA Sends UK Thieves to Jail for 53 Years

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STONY BROOK, NY--(Marketwire -08/13/12)- Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (APDN), (Twitter: @APDN), a provider of DNA-based anti-counterfeiting technology and product authentication solutions, announced today that its SigNature DNA product has once again helped to send criminals to prison. Forensic evidence, including SigNature DNA-marked stolen cash from Loomis cash boxes, was used to link the criminals to a crime spree spanning eight cash-in-transit (CIT) crimes in the United Kingdom. The sentences for the ten criminals total 53 years.

Detective Constable Will Roscoe, leader of Operation Tejat, an investigation launched by the Metropolitan Police Flying Squad based at the Barnes office, London, said: "This was a prolific gang of robbers specifically targeting cash in transit vans and custodians. I have no doubt they would have continued this course of action if it were not for a detailed and targeted operation to identify and arrest them. Their convictions and sentences represent a significant success for the Barnes Flying Squad and the MPS in our Total War on Crime."

Cash in transit (CIT) businesses transport and store cash and service ATMs. In the UK alone, an estimated 500 billion is transported each year, or 1.4 billion per day. The nature of this business makes CIT an attractive target for criminals, and as a result the industry invests millions each year in security equipment and devices. Attacks against CIT carriers in the UK has been reduced significantly over recent years due to the investments made in security and a close relationship between law enforcement agencies, customers and the industry. The impact of SigNature DNA has been notable in the CIT industry where APDN has been working with Loomis UK, a provider of specialist cash management services that use the most advanced security and technological solutions available.

As reported in the Guardian on July 27th, the now-convicted gang-of-10 stole more than 100,000 in eight robberies and attempted robberies of CIT vans in Mitcham, Streatham, Wallington and Croydon between January 3, 2011 and June 10, 2011. On all occasions, force was used against security guards to snatch cash boxes, which were later broken into and the cash contents stolen. Much of the cash was marked with SigNature DNA. Detectives carried out surveillance and forensic work, leading to the arrest of the ten robbers on or shortly after August 24, 2011. Nine of the ten pleaded guilty to robbery at Kingston Crown Court. One pleaded not guilty but was convicted of conspiracy to rob.

About Applied DNA Sciences

APDN is a provider of botanical-DNA based security and authentication solutions that can help protect products, brands and intellectual property of companies, governments and consumers from theft, counterfeiting, fraud and diversion. SigNature DNA and smartDNA, our principal anti-counterfeiting and product authentication solutions that essentially cannot be copied, provide a forensic chain of evidence and can be used to prosecute perpetrators.

The statements made by APDN may be forward-looking in nature. Forward-looking statements describe APDN's future plans, projections, strategies and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of APDN. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to our short operating history, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, market competition and various other factors detailed from time to time in APDN's SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K, filed on December 8, 2011 and our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. APDN undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

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Applied DNA Sciences SigNature(R) DNA Sends UK Thieves to Jail for 53 Years

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