NASA | The Mars Chamber – Video

Posted on by

18-07-2012 10:01 The Mars chamber is a box--about the size of a refrigerator--that re-creates the temperatures, pressures, and atmosphere of the Martian surface, essentially creating a Mars environment on Earth! Scientists and engineers use this chamber to test experiments on the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite--a fully functioning chemistry lab about the Curiosity Mars rover. By re-creating Mars on Earth and using an exact duplicate of SAM, scientists can "pre-run" experiments on SAM to make sure everything will work properly on the Mars rover. Learn more about the Mars chamber by watching this video! This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: Like our videos? Subscribe to NASA's Goddard Shorts HD podcast: Or find NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on Facebook: Or find us on Twitter:

Continued here:

NASA | The Mars Chamber - Video

NASA simulates moon landing in Hawaii

Posted on by

NASA has begun nine-days of field tests of new technology for exploring the moon in the Pacific US state of Hawaii.

The so-called analog mission will demonstrate techniques to prospect for lunar ice.

NASA's project manager Bill Larson has told Radio Australia's the testing site near Hilo features lava-covered mountain soil similar to the ancient volcanic plains on the moon.

"We look for an analog location on Earth that can simulate as best we can, the destination that we would go to," he said.

"So in our case we're going to the poles of the moon to search for water ice that we can use to enable exploration missions, and it turns out that the Hawaii volcanoes have a soil, in some places, that is very similar."

One of two main tests is the Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatile Extraction (RESOLVE), which Mr says could be the first step in finding usable water on the moon.

"It will go to the poles of the moon, and over a 5-7 day period, it will drive around the square-kilometre of the lunar surface, and map the sub-surface water there," he said.

"And then we'll also take core samples so that we know how far below the surface it is.

"Once we understand where that water is, how it's bound up in the soil, then we can design the next mission to go back and harvest it and utilise that water."

A number of other tests will help develop navigation, communications and sample processing for future missions.

Visit link:

NASA simulates moon landing in Hawaii

NASA completes another successful Orion parachute test

Posted on by

ScienceDaily (July 19, 2012) NASA completed another successful test July 18 of the Orion crew vehicle's parachutes high above the Arizona desert in preparation for the spacecraft's orbital flight test in 2014. Orion will carry astronauts deeper into space than ever before, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and ensure a safe re-entry and landing.

A C-17 plane dropped a test version of Orion from an altitude of 25,000 feet above the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in southwestern Arizona. This test was the second to use an Orion craft that mimics the full size and shape of the spacecraft.

Orion's drogue chutes were deployed between 15,000 feet and 20,000 feet, followed by the pilot parachutes, which deployed the main landing parachutes. Orion descended about 25 feet per second, well below its maximum designed touchdown speed, when it landed on the desert floor.

"Across the country, NASA and industry are moving forward on the most advanced spacecraft ever designed, conducting drop and splashdown tests, preparing ground systems, designing software and computers and paving the way for the future of exploration," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Today's parachute test in Yuma is an important reminder of the progress being made on Orion and its ultimate mission -- enabling NASA to meet the goal of sending humans to an asteroid and Mars."

Orion parachutes have so-called reefing lines, which when cut by a pyrotechnic device, allow the parachute to open gradually, managing the initial amount of drag and force on the parachute. The main objective of the latest drop test was to determine how the entire system would respond if one of the reefing lines was cut prematurely, causing the three main parachutes to inflate too quickly.

Since 2007, the Orion program has conducted a vigorous parachute air and ground test program and provided the chutes for NASA's successful pad abort test in 2010. All of the tests build an understanding of the chutes' technical performance for eventual human-rated certification.

In 2014, an uncrewed Orion spacecraft will launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Exploration Flight Test-1. The spacecraft will travel 3,600 miles above Earth's surface. This is 15 times farther than the International Space Station's orbit and farther than any spacecraft designed to carry humans has gone in more than 40 years. The main flight objective is to understand Orion's heat shield performance at speeds generated during a return from deep space.

In 2017, Orion will be launched by NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS will enable new missions of exploration and expand human presence across the solar system.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

Continued here:

NASA completes another successful Orion parachute test

Botanical compound could prove crucial to healing influenza

Posted on by

Public release date: 18-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tiffany Trent ttrent@vbi.vt.edu 540-231-6822 Virginia Tech

Building on previous work with the botanical abscisic acida, researchers in the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML) have discovered that abscisic acid has anti-inflammatory effects in the lungs as well as in the gut. The results will be published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

"While the immune effects of abscisic acid are well understood in the gut, less was known about its effects in the respiratory tract. We've shown definitively that not only does abscisic acid ameliorate disease activity and lung inflammatory pathology, it also aids recovery and survival in influenza-infected mice," said Raquel Hontecillas, Ph.D., study leader, assistant professor of immunology at Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, and co-director of NIMML.

Influenza accounts for anywhere from 3,000 to 49,000 deaths per year in the United States alone, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It is difficult to treat if not caught immediately; antivirals usually become ineffective after the virus incubation period has passed and resistance to antiviral drugs poses a serious public health problem in the face of outbreaks. Abscisic acid, however, has been shown to be most effective at about seven to ten days into the infection, targeting the immune response rather than the virus itself, which many researchers feel is a safer way to reduce flu-associated fatalities.

"Most drugs for respiratory infections target the virus itself, rather than the inflammatory responses caused by the virus. Abscisic acid activates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma, a receptor that aids in reducing inflammation, through a newly identified pathwaya but it does so without the side effects of other agonists like thiazolidinediones, which are known to have strong adverse side effects. The development of complementary and alternative Medicine approaches that modulate the host response has great promise in decreasing respiratory damage caused by influenza or other respiratory pathogens," said Josep Bassaganya-Riera, Ph.D., director of NIMML and professor of nutritional immunology at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute.

From this and previous research, it's clear that abscisic acid could yield a novel new way to combat inflammatory disease, both in the gut and the respiratory tract. By using host-targeted strategies to mediate disease, alternate pathways can be established to activate immune responses without the deadly side effects of many drugs currently on the market.

###

This research was supported by award number R01AT004308 of the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health awarded to Josep Bassaganya-Riera, the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute-Fralin CRI grants program to Raquel Hontecillas, and funds from the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory.

Original post:

Botanical compound could prove crucial to healing influenza

UMass Medical gets N.C. prison deal

Posted on by

The Federal Bureau of Prisons has awarded the University of Massachusetts Medical School a contract to manage comprehensive medical services to about 4,900 inmates at the Federal Medical Center located in Butner, N.C. The agreement, valued at $24.7 million for the first year, represents the schools largest federal correctional health contract to date. The contract also has options for four additional years that could increase the overall award to more than $136 million through 2016.

For more from BostonGlobe.com, sign up or log in below

Access the full articles and quality reporting of The Boston Globe at BostonGlobe.com

Unlimited Access to BostonGlobe.com for 4 weeks for only 99.

Get FREE access as part of your print subscription.

Read this article:

UMass Medical gets N.C. prison deal

Libertarian Party gets largest donation ever

Posted on by

The Libertarian Party of Connecticut recently received a $10,000 donation from a North Carolina man, the groups largest single donation ever, according to Chairman Dan Reale, of Plainfield.

Paul Burks made the donation to bolster the partys efforts to gain ballot access statewide, Reale said. Burks donation brings this years fundraising total to $44,000, Reale said.

Original post:

Libertarian Party gets largest donation ever

Libertarian Chairman Sounds Off About Upshur County Salaries

Posted on by

GILMER--Upshur County Libertarian Party Chairman Vance Lowry told his party's monthly meeting here July 10 that county employees who think their pay is too low should seek employment elsewhere.

Lowry attended a recent "town hall" hosted by Upshur County Pct. 2 Commissioner Cole Hefner, where several persons expressed concern about employees' salaries and/or benefits. Many of those attending were county employees and their relatives.

Lowry did not address that meeting, but said that if he had, he would have told the county workers, "If your pay's so low, go find another job."

"Government employees in general have always accepted lower pay for job security and better benefits. My contention is the benefits now are way out of whack to what the private sector's paying in benefits," he argued.

Lowry said that "to hold elected officials hostage" for pay increases is "an insult to the taxpayers who don't get that benefit of negotation."

Local Libertarian Sheri Little, the party's nominee for the State Board of Education in the November general election, said that in lieu of raising taxes, the Upshur County Commissioners Court should "use the emergency fund until somebody comes up with a better idea."

On another matter, Lowry said Libertarian Presidential candidate Gary Johnson would campaign in Texas Aug. 14-20, including stops in Dallas Aug. 15 and Ft. Worth the 16th.

Local Libertarian Allen Weatherford meantime said Libertarians planned to stage a July 16 protest at the Cable News Network in Atlanta over its purported failure to give Johnson coverage.

Weatherford also condemned the Texas "voter ID" law which has been the subject of a federal trial, saying it is a "solution looking for a problem." After 13 million Texans voted in the 2008 Presidential race, Weatherford said, only five accusations of voter fraud were brought, with no resulting convictions.

Also attending the July 10 Gilmer meeting was Charles Parkes of Smith County, the Libertarian candidate for District 6 state representative against Republican candidate Matt Schaefer. Parkes was recently elected and Lowry was reelected to the partys state executive committee, and plan to attend its meeting Aug. 4 in San Antonio.

View post:

Libertarian Chairman Sounds Off About Upshur County Salaries

Falklands oil results a blow to U.K. firms

Posted on by

Prospecting for oil and gas in the South Atlantic waters off Falkland Islands is attracting investors despite heavy losses suffered by some of the British companies involved in the project.

STANLEY, Falkland Islands, July 18 (UPI) -- Prospecting for oil and natural gas in the South Atlantic waters off Falkland Islands is attracting investors despite heavy losses suffered by some British companies involved in the project.

A continuing incentive for international investors is the promise of significant finds of crude oil and natural gas in the ocean, indicated in scientific surveys of the seabed and geological formations.

Argentine challenges to the hydrocarbon exploration program haven't deterred investors or prospectors. Britain backs the effort, arguing it's a step in the right direction to make Falklanders financially independent.

Argentina invaded the islands in 1982 but was repulsed by Britain in a 74-day conflict that led to the deaths of 649 Argentine troops, 255 British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders.

Argentina says the islands are historically part of its territory and calls the islands' British overseas territory status a colonial anachronism.

Despite positive results in some early investigative drilling, prospecting firms also faced setbacks. Shares in Borders and Southern Petroleum slumped 70 percent after a well drilled at great expense south of the islands failed to yield gas in commercial quantities.

It was the second unproductive drilling operation in the area by Borders and Southern Petroleum, which is listed on the London Alternative Investments Market.

About three months ago, the company's stock was riding high, raising investors' hopes they were headed for an energy bonanza.

Supporters for the exploration program say prospects are still immense and Borders and Southern Petroleum was just unlucky. The company's experience also affected the stocks of other companies operating in the area, even as efforts were under way to secure more funding for the relatively successful Falkland Oil and Gas and Rockhopper.

Read the original post:

Falklands oil results a blow to U.K. firms

Wil Yu – Innovation’s Long Summer: The Coming Opportunities and Challenges for Healthcare Innovation – Video

Posted on by

17-07-2012 08:24 There has never been a better time to be a health care innovator than right now. Information is transforming healthcare at all levels -- from the care in provider settings and in the home, population health management, and public and community health initiatives. Wil Yu will discuss how incentives in the health care system are shifting to reward improvements in quality, health, and value, and how key information to power these improvements is being liberated at multiple levels. As the magnitude of data liquidity increases, it becomes essential to create a robust infrastructure to adequately secure, analyze, and communicate. Learn more about the growing "ecosystem" of innovators who are embracing this historic opportunity to help reinvent American health care and improve health. This presentation will spotlight the ways that the US Health and Human Services Department is supporting, enabling and engaged in innovation.

Read the rest here:

Wil Yu - Innovation's Long Summer: The Coming Opportunities and Challenges for Healthcare Innovation - Video

Hospitals for Poor May Struggle Further Under Health Care Reform

Posted on by

By Randy Dotinga HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, July 17 (HealthDay News) -- A new study finds that so-called "safety-net" hospitals that serve the poor do a worse job overall than other hospitals, a potentially big problem as health care reform boosts the number of people who have insurance and more choice about where they can go for care.

Medicare used to give these hospitals extra payments for taking care of poor people. But under health care reform, they'll get less of that funding and more for how they perform on a variety of measurements, including how patients rate them.

"Our results suggest that safety-net hospitals are struggling on this important metric. As a result, safety-net hospitals are likely to get penalized under the new payment scheme," said Paula Chatterjee, a medical student at Harvard School of Public Health. "Given that safety-net hospitals are already financially stretched, even small losses can be potentially devastating for these hospitals."

At issue are hospitals that serve poor people, often including those who don't have health insurance. According to the study, they tend to be sicker than other patients and have less trust in the health care system.

Under health care reform, the federal government punishes hospitals that perform poorly on a variety of measures by not giving them some Medicare payments.

The researchers studied 3,096 hospitals and examined answers that patients gave to surveys about their experiences at the hospitals. The safety-net hospitals -- 769 of the total -- were slightly less likely than other hospitals to be in urban areas (many are in rural parts of the country), much more likely to serve Medicaid patients and more likely to have fewer nurses per patient.

The safety-net hospitals had the lowest overall rating among patients and ranked a bit lower in the patient perception of things such as communication with medical staff and management of their condition.

"Safety-net hospitals are a critical part of our health care system. They provide care to everyone, irrespective of the patient's ability to pay. The new payment scheme, which ties part of the hospital payments to how those hospitals do on patient-reported scores, is laudable in its goals," Chatterjee said. "Our paper says that under the new scheme, safety-net hospitals are likely to do poorly. We need new strategies to help these hospitals improve."

What could be done? Chatterjee said Medicare should work with hospitals to help them do a better job of caring for patients. "Given the challenges of caring for a relatively poor population and the low reimbursement rates, we suspect that many hospitals have not been able to focus on optimizing patient experience," she said. "It's time to help these hospitals do so."

See more here:

Hospitals for Poor May Struggle Further Under Health Care Reform

Vancouver Coastal Health & Providence Health Care aim to change the course of "HIVstory"

Posted on by

VANCOUVER, July 18, 2012 /CNW/ - Vancouver Coastal Health and Providence Health Care unveiled a bold new campaign today to stop HIV in Vancouver. CHANGE HIVSTORY makes Vancouver the epicenter of a movement that will change history: the beginning of the end of HIV.

Building on the momentum of It's Different Now, an HIV awareness campaign that helped increase testing rates in Vancouver by 37%, CHANGE HIVSTORY aims to inspire and empower people via a social media campaign featuring a moving and dramatic video. The campaign enables individuals to power the movement, by encouraging every person who's ever been sexually active to have an HIV test.

"CHANGE HIVSTORY is about creating a movement here in Vancouver to change the course of history by changing the course of HIV," says Dr. Rka Gustafson, Medical Health Officer and Medical Director of Communicable Disease Control for Vancouver Coastal Health. "And with people in Vancouver requesting HIV tests and doctors recommending them as part of everyone's routine health care, we are getting closer to making the end of HIV a reality."

"We already made history in June when St. Paul's Hospital was the first emergency department in Canada to offer routine HIV testing to every patient," says Scott Harrison, Program Director, Urban Health, HIV/AIDS, at Providence Health Care. "Now, we want to change history on a local and global level, and finally put an end to HIV. Forty per cent of people infected with HIV in Vancouver are diagnosed late with advanced HIV disease. By diagnosing people earlier, we can link them to treatment sooner, ensuring optimal health outcomes for infected individuals and greatly reducing the likelihood of transmission to those not infected."

World-renowned HIV expert and Director of BC's Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE) at St. Paul's Hospital, Dr. Julio Montaner, says that stopping HIV in its tracks is possible, especially since Highly Active Anti-retroviral Therapy (HAART) treatment is available to all B.C. residents for free. "The work we have undertaken at BC-CfE for the past 20 years has helped dramatically improve HIV treatment and proven, without doubt, that HAART is highly effective in preventing the transmission of HIV between people," said Dr. Montaner. "And if we can stop the transmission, we can stop the disease. The world agrees, this is the way forward - changing history is this simple."

An HIV positive person on their prescribed medication is 96 per cent less likely to transmit the disease. It is estimated there are 3,500 people in British Columbia who are infected with HIV but don't know it.

The campaign also features print advertising and TV and radio commercials, developed by FCV, a Vancouver-based interactive, digital advertising agency. To learn more, visit http://www.itsdifferentnow.org. Local media outlets have generously donated more than $500,000 of free ad space and air time, to help spread awareness.

The CHANGE HIVSTORY campaign is a part of BC-CfE pioneered Treatment as Prevention strategy of which STOP HIV/AIDS (Seek and Treat for Optimal Prevention of HIV/AIDS) is one component. STOP HIV/AIDS is a four-year, $48-million pilot program funded by the British Columbia Ministry of Health to improve access to HIV testing, treatment, and support services in Vancouver and Prince George.

Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) is responsible for the delivery of $2.9 billion in community, hospital and residential care to more than one million people in communities including Richmond, Vancouver, the North Shore, Sunshine Coast, Sea to Sky corridor, Powell River, Bella Bella and Bella Coola.

Providence Health Care (PHC) is one of Canada's largest faith-based health care organizations, operating 16 health care facilities in Greater Vancouver. PHC operates one of two adult academic health science centres in the province, performs cutting-edge research in more than 30 clinical specialties, and focuses its services on six "populations of emphasis": cardio-pulmonary risks and illnesses, HIV/AIDS, mental health, renal risks and illness, specialized needs in aging and urban health and is hometo theB.C. Centre

Read the original:

Vancouver Coastal Health & Providence Health Care aim to change the course of "HIVstory"

Scientist Suggests That Genetic Engineering Will Kill The Olympics

Posted on by

Lintao Zhangy/Getty Images

That seems to be the question behind a new opinion piece in this week's journal Nature. As scientists uncover the genes that help people become world-class sprinters or record-breaking skiers, the idea that medals are won with just hard work, sweat and tears begins to feel outdated, according to the authors.

"When you start sequencing [the genes] of lots and lots of human beings, what we're going to find out is that we're more different than people had realized," said Steve Gullans, a managing director of Excel Venture Management in Boston, who co-wrote the piece with his colleague Juan Enriquez.

Already, Gullans said, DNA tests have shown that some Olympic athletes have distinct advantages. Finnish cross-country skier and seven-time Olympic medalist Eero Mntyranta, for example, carried a mutation in his EPOR gene that meant he produced up to 25 percent more red blood cells than the norm. That mutation gave Mntyranta an edge because his blood carried more oxygen than the blood of people without the mutation, Gullans told LiveScience. And that raises the question of whether "gene doping," or gene therapy to improve performance, should be banned.

"If someone else is carrying the EPOR receptor that I don't have, why shouldn't I be able to give it to myself to play on an equal playing field?" Gullans said. [7 Amazing Superhuman Feats]

The genome and the Olympics

Gene doping has been banned by the International Olympic Committee since 2003, though the actual therapies that could boost athletic performance remain largely theoretical. Nevertheless, gene therapy is becoming more common, raising new questions, Gullans said. Suppose scientists invented a gene-therapy procedure to cure sickle-cell anemia in babies, he said. Would a child who received the treatment forever be banned from the Olympics?

As the rules are written today, they likely would, Gullans said. The World Anti-Doping Agency rules prohibit "the transfer of nucleic acids or nucleic acid sequences" and "the use of normal or genetically modified cells" if those methods have "the potential to enhance sport performance."

This prohibition is much broader than the ban on drugs, which are split into performance-enhancing and allowed categories, Gullans said. It's likely that officials will have to grapple with a number of ethical gray areas as genetic manipulation advances.

Another example: Imagine that a genetic treatment could slow aging, so that people stayed healthy and youthful until after they were 100 years old, Gullans said. Would Olympic athletes be the only people forced to abstain?

Visit link:

Scientist Suggests That Genetic Engineering Will Kill The Olympics

Philadelphia Freedom: The story behind the song

Posted on by

On New Year's Day 1975, Elton John released the single "Philadelphia Freedom." The song was a hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and in 1995 the Recording Industry Association of America certified it platinum, marking more than one million records sold.

John penned the song in homage to his friend Billie Jean King. The singer followed King's career, including her time in 1974 with the Philadelphia Freedoms in the World TeamTennis league. John was such a fan that he would dress in the team's uniform and sit on the bench.

He'd be sitting on the bench screaming, "Come on!" He's a maniac.

So anyway, we're going to a concert of his one night, because I used to go with him a lot. I just remember him in this car, in this shell, in this bubble. He can't go anywhere without five bodyguards. One night he's in the back seat and he goes, "I want to write a song for you." I'm looking at him like he's kidding me for sure. Yeah, right. What is he smoking?

"No, no," he said. "I'm serious. I want to write a song for you"

"You're serious?"

"Yes," he said. "I'm very serious. What are we going to call it?"

He goes like this: Clap-clap-clap. He makes decisions quickly. He's just like, "Go! Take no prisoners!"

"What are we going to call it?" he asks. "What are we going to call it? What are we going to call it?"

More here:

Philadelphia Freedom: The story behind the song

Freedom Work Opportunities in Grand Blanc Township needs votes to win a new van

Posted on by

GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, MI Freedom Work Opportunities of Grand Blanc Township is in need of a new van and residents votes can make that happen.

Freedom Work Opportunities, 5509 Fenton Road, is one of 500 nonprofit finalists in Toyotas 100 Cars for Good program, where the goal is to give away 100 vehicles to 100 organizations in 100 days.

On Saturday, Freedom Work Opportunities will be one of five organizations up for consideration. Every day since May 14 Cars for Good profiled five organizations for the program.

Freedom Work Opportunities is a nonprofit organization that helps empower adults with disabilities find employment and gain valuable skills.

The van being used now was donated used to the organization several years ago and have more than 200,000 miles on it, said Marie Tino, marketing and fundraising director of Freedom Work Opportunities.

The drivers seat is broke on it. There is a lot of rust on it. And its not going to make it much longer, Tino said. It was great to get that but weve definitely gotten our use out of it.

The van is being used to pick up residents from their home or group home take them to work or to a Freedom Work Opportunities facility.

Voting is open from 10 a.m. to midnight Saturday at http://www.100carsforgood.com. Freedom Work Opportunities headquarters are in Highland, so that is the city it will be listed under on the website. But the van, if the organization gets enough votes, will go to the Grand Blanc Township location.

Runner-up will also receive $1,000 from Toyota.

The rest is here:

Freedom Work Opportunities in Grand Blanc Township needs votes to win a new van

McDonald's claims employees didn't assault 'cyborg'

Posted on by

16 hrs.

Avram Piltch , Laptop

In response to a storm of controversy surrounding its treatment of Human Cyborg Steve Mann, McDonald's has issued a statement, claiming that it has investigated the incident and determined that it "did not involve a physical altercation" when the University of Toronto Professor and father of wearable computing was ejected from one of its Paris restaurants.

Earlier this week, Mann made headlines when he published a blog post alleging that employees at the Champs-lyses McDonald's had tried to pull his EyeTap Glass off of his head and, when that failed, physically pushed him out the door and onto the street.

In anexclusive email interview, he told Laptop that the alleged assault took place after employees objected to the EyeTap's potential use as a camera the device captures images in real-time but does not save them by default and tore up a doctor's note that Mann showed them, explaining why he needs to wear the permanentlyattached device.

However, today, McDonald's is contradicting Mann's story, saying that its employees did not touch him or damage his equipment. In a statement, the fast food retailer said:

We share the concern regarding Dr. Mann's account of his July 1 visit to a McDonald's in Paris. McDonalds France was made aware of Dr. Manns complaints on July 16, and immediately launched a thorough investigation. The McDonalds France team has contacted Dr. Mann and is awaiting further information from him.

In addition, several staff members involved have been interviewed individually, and all independently and consistently expressed that their interaction with Dr. Mann was polite and did not involve a physical altercation. Our crew members and restaurant security staff have informed us that they did not damage any of Mr. Mann's personal possessions.

While we continue to learn more about the situation, we are hearing from customers who have questions about what happened. We urge everyone not to speculate or jump to conclusions before all the facts are known. Our goal is to provide a welcoming environment and stellar service to McDonald's customers around the world.

We reached out to Dr. Mann for further comment and are awaiting his response.

Continue reading here:

McDonald's claims employees didn't assault 'cyborg'