Names and changes – www.roanoke.com

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EDUCATION

Pablo Sobrado, assistant professor of biochemistry at Virginia Tech, has been awarded Costa Rica's 2011 National Technology Prize, administered by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Deborah Robinson has been appointed vice president for advancement at Radford University.

Two Washington and Lee University professors received state Outstanding Faculty Awards for excellence in teaching, research and public service: James Kahn, professor of economics and director of the Environmental Studies Program, and Lesley Wheeler, professor of English.

Panos Diplas, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, is the 2012 recipient of the Hans Albert Einstein Award, presented by the American Society of Civil Engineers. He is also part of a team receiving the 2012 Karl Emil Hilgard Hydraulic Prize, presented by the same society.

Keith Gilbertson has joined University Libraries at Virginia Tech as digital technologies development librarian.

Emory & Henry College has announced the following: David Haney has been named vice president of academic affairs and Joseph Taylor has been named vice president of institutional advancement.

Lee Todd Jr. has joined Virginia Tech's Engagement Academy for University Leaders as a faculty member.

Mark Stremler, a Virginia Tech engineering faculty member, is one of 60 young engineers selected to attend the 2012 Indo-American Frontiers of Engineering Symposium.

GOVERNMENT

Frances Coles and Jason Horne were re-appointed to serve four-year terms on the City Planning Commission of Bedford.

MEDICAL

Benjamin Bowman, a chiropractor for Tuck Chiropractic Clinic in Fairlawn, has been named a full partner in the Tuck Chiropractic Clinic organization.

ORGANIZATIONS

Ken Ferris has been named moderator of the new VT KnowledgeWorks Roanoke President's Council.

Mary Carlin has joined the staff of the Roanoke Valley SPCA as director of finance.

Leslie Hager-Smith was recently hired as the director of development of the New River Land Trust.

The Roanoke Valley Horsemen's Association Inc. announced its newly elected officers and board of directors for 2012. Officers: Mark Hartberger, president; Donnis Honeywell, vice president; Lorrie McCloskey, recording secretary; Brenda Greene, corresponding secretary; and Ray Eades, treasurer. Board members: Jack Richards Jr., Rebecca Tobey, Amy Wentzel, David Levine, Leah Wilson and Linda Humphries

OTHER

Susan Snyder of D'Ardenne Associates has been certified as an aerospace auditor.

Three employees of American Door & Glass of Southwest Virginia Inc. recently received promotions: Doug Kirsch is the new executive vice president, Jay Finkle is the new vice president of estimating and Tim Camper is the new vice president of field installation.

Mark Sorrentino has joined CMR Institute's board of directors.

Lisa Thaxton and Todd Bryant have joined Blue Ridge Copier as junior account managers.

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Training parents is good medicine for children with autism behavior problems, study suggests

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ScienceDaily (Feb. 24, 2012) — Children with autism spectrum disorders who also have serious behavioral problems responded better to medication combined with training for their parents than to treatment with medication alone, Yale researchers and their colleagues report in the February issue of Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

"Serious behavioral problems interfere with everyday living for children and their families," said senior author on the study Lawrence Scahill, professor at Yale University School of Nursing and the Child Study Center. "Decreasing these serious behavioral problems results in children who are more able to manage everyday living."

Scahill and his team completed a federally funded multi-site trial on 124 children ages 4 to 13 with autism spectrum disorders at three U.S. sites including Yale, Ohio State University, and Indiana University. In addition to autism spectrum disorders, children in the study had serious behavioral problems, including multiple and prolonged tantrums, aggression, and/or self-injurious behavior on a daily basis.

The children in the study were randomly assigned to medication alone for six months or medication plus a structured training program for their parents for six months. Parent training included regular visits to the clinic to teach parents how to respond to behavior problems to help children adapt to daily living situations. The study medication, risperidone, is approved for the treatment of serious behavioral problems in children with autism.

"In a previous report from this trial, we showed that the combined treatment was superior to medication alone in reducing the serious behavioral problems," said Scahill. "In the current report, we show that combination treatment was better than medication alone on measures of adaptive behavior. We note that both groups -- medication alone and combined treatment group -- demonstrated improvement in functional communication and social interaction. But the combined group showed greater improvement on several measures of everyday adaptive functioning."

Based on these findings, Scahill and his team are now conducting a study that uses parent training as a stand-alone strategy in treating younger children with autism spectrum disorders. This study is being conducted at Yale and four other medical centers across the country. The investigators also plan to publish the parent training manuals as a way to share this intervention with the public.

Other authors on the study included Christopher J. McDougle, Michael G. Aman, Cynthia Johnson, Benjamin Handen, Karen Bearss, James Dziura, Eric Butter, Naomi G. Swiezy, L. Eugene Arnold, Kimberly A. Stigler, Denis D. Sukhodolsky, Luc Lecavalier, Stacie L. Pozdol, Roumen Nikolov, Jill A. Hollway, Patricia Korzekwa, Allison Gavaletz, Arlene E. Kohn, Kathleen Koenig, Stacie Grinnon, James A. Mulick, Sunkyung Yu, and Benedetto Vitiello.

The National Institute of Mental Health funded the study. The work was also funded, in part, by the Yale Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) grant from the National Center for Research Resources at the National Institutes of Health.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Yale University. The original article was written by Karen N. Peart.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Lawrence Scahill, Christopher J. McDougle, Michael G. Aman, Cynthia Johnson, Benjamin Handen, Karen Bearss, James Dziura, Eric Butter, Naomi G. Swiezy, L. Eugene Arnold, Kimberly A. Stigler, Denis D. Sukhodolsky, Luc Lecavalier, Stacie L. Pozdol, Roumen Nikolov, Jill A. Hollway, Patricia Korzekwa, Allison Gavaletz, Arlene E. Kohn, Kathleen Koenig, Stacie Grinnon, James A. Mulick, Sunkyung Yu, Benedetto Vitiello. Effects of Risperidone and Parent Training on Adaptive Functioning in Children With Pervasive Developmental Disorders and Serious Behavioral Problems. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2012; 51 (2): 136 DOI: 10.1016/j.jaac.2011.11.010

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

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Training parents is good medicine for children with autism behavior problems, study suggests

19th Century Medical Mummies in the News

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A group of forensic anthropologists have completed a meticulous analysis of a set of real human anatomy displays from 19C Italy. Using CT scans and other chemical analysis, the group determined that, some 200 years ago, anatomist Giovan Battista Rini "petrified" the corpses with a mercury and other heavy metals. He injected some tinctures and used others as baths. The eyes are fake. Basically, Rini was modern medicine's first "Body Worlds" guy.--The Terrifying Body Worlds Mummy Heads of 19C Italy, Gakwer

Ok. So although this Gawker story has a MAJOR inaccuracy--Giovan Battista Rini was hardly "medicine's first 'Body Worlds' guy;" that honor would surely go to Honoré Fragonard and his incredible Anatomical Ecorchés from the 18th century--its still nice to see anatomical preparations discussed and pictured in the mainstream media. Read more about the recent CT scan analysis on preparations from the 19th century collection of anatomist Giovan Battista Rini pictured above here and here. Images by Dario Piombino-Mascali, EURAC, and Clinical Anatomy/Wiley via National Geographic article; click here to see more.

Thanks to my buddy Ken for sending this my way.

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Voicebrook to Exhibit at American Pathology Foundation Spring 2012 Conference

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Successful Pathology speech recognition implementation at The Stamford Hospital to be featured at ?HOT TOPICS? Breakfast Roundtable.

Lake Success, NY, February 25, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Voicebrook, the leader in Pathology speech recognition and reporting solutions, today announces that it will be exhibiting at the American Pathology Foundation (APF) Spring 2012 Conference at the Marriott Marquis & Marina in San Diego. The exhibit hall is open from February 29th to March 2nd. Members of the Voicebrook team will be available in Booth 9 for demonstrations and discussion.

The APF carefully selects and develops educational topics within the Foundation’s programs to meet pathologists’ and practice managers’ most current needs and provide them with practical information for implementation within their practices. This year the Foundation has selected Voicebrook user, Dr. Bo Xu, from The Stamford Hospital Pathology Department in Stamford, CT, to lead the topic on voice recognition technology during its Friday “HOT TOPICS” Breakfast Roundtable session.

The Stamford Pathology Group has been successfully using Voicebrook’s VoiceOver® solution since 2009; they have realized $180,000 in annual savings and average report turnaround time improvement of 1.5 days, all while completing 20% more reports per day. When asked about the VoiceOver® solution, Dr. Robert Babkowski, Stamford’s Chair and Laboratory Medical Director, said, "VoiceOver® is as important to me as my microscope. It allows me to produce reports in a timely and efficient fashion and to effectively communicate with my clinicians."

"This is the second year that we are sponsoring the American Pathology Foundation Spring Conference, and if last year was any indication, this promises to be a great event," said E. Bruce Sopko, VP Sales of Voicebrook. “We are especially pleased that the Foundation invited Dr. Bo Xu from the Stamford Pathology Group to host their ‘HOT TOPICS’ session on voice recognition. Stamford’s use of our software has been a tremendous success story and Dr. Xu is a very accomplished and knowledgeable user.”

Voicebrook’s VoiceOver® speech recognition and digital dictation software is used in more than 200 laboratories across the United States and Canada and has been proven to be the most effective dictation solution for automating outdated reporting processes, saving customers time and money, and improving the overall quality of anatomic pathology reports.

For more information, please visit http://www.voicebrook.com.

About Voicebrook
Voicebrook is the leading provider of integrated speech recognition and digital dictation solutions for Pathology. Voicebrook’s VoiceOver® software integrates directly with most AP/LIS systems, and has been widely deployed in Pathology throughout the US and Canada. Voicebrook has developed specific best practices for implementation and on-going support, ensuring the most successful deployments of integrated speech recognition technology for Pathology.

About the American Pathology Foundation:
The American Pathology Foundation (APF) is a non-profit professional society devoted to the business of pathology. Founded in 1959, the Foundation provides quality educational programs, practice management resources and networking opportunities for its members.

###

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Voicebrook to Exhibit at American Pathology Foundation Spring 2012 Conference

OCO Offers Nutrition HELP Line For Area Seniors

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Written by: John DeRousie, Custom Marketing Solutions
FULTON, NY – For participants in Oswego County Opportunities’ Senior Nutrition Services Dining and Activity Centers and the Home Delivered Meals Program, answers to their concerns regarding diet and nutritional health are only a phone call away.  “Patty McGold” the mascot for OCO’s upcoming Bowl O’ Gold Bowling Tournament recently visited OCO’s Senior Dining and Activity site to learn more about how OCO’s Nutrition HELP Line benefits the seniors served by OCO meal programs.

The official mascot for Oswego County Opportunities’ upcoming Bowl O’Gold Bowling Tournament, “Patty McGold” recently visited OCO’s Senior Services’ Dining and Activity Center in Mexico to learn more about OCO’s Nutritional HELP Line. From left are: Bridget Dolbear, program coordinator of OCO Senior Services; Lesley Kline, kitchen aide; Alan Wert, distribution supervisor; Patti Williams, registered dietitian, CDN; Hilarie Townsend, maintenance distribution assistant, and Sandi Bashman, kitchen aide.

Working in collaboration with Registered Dietitian, Patti Williams, CDN, OCO’s Senior Nutrition Services Program’s Nutrition HELP Line provides participating seniors, as well as their family members and caregivers, the opportunity to access diet and nutritional information.

Williams, who has been with OCO since 1987, said that the Nutrition HELP Line offers another opportunity to further assist those utilizing OCO’s Senior Nutrition Services.  “The Nutrition HELP Line is a wonderful program.  It is available at no charge and allows participants, as well as their family members and caregivers, to receive valuable nutritional information that they would not otherwise have access to.  Our goal is to provide reliable answers to their questions so that our seniors are able to maintain good nutrition that will benefit their health.  I really enjoy doing this and it’s rewarding to know that I am really making a difference by helping people improve their health through proper nutrition,” said Williams.

According to Williams, she has answered questions on a number of food related questions, including: accurately reading and understanding food labels, clarification of nutritional information, and creating healthy diets for those dealing with cardio, cholesterol, lactose intolerant, or diabetic issues.  “We’re here to help them as best we can with meal preparation, dietary guidelines, and any other questions they may have regarding their nutritional requirements,” said Williams.

Williams, along with Registered Dietitian, Mary Cay Donovan, visit each of OCO’s senior dining and activity centers several times throughout the year to offer nutritional advice, distribute nutritional information, and present demonstrations on topics such as food safety, heart healthy eating, and cooking healthy, as well as current concerns such as the importance of Vitamin D and living with Diabetes.  The two also provide one-on-one nutritional counseling.

“We have provided nutritional education at our Senior Dining and Activity Centers and for the Home-Delivered clients since 1974,” added Amy Roland, director of OCO Senior Services.  “The Nutrition HELP Line is a very valuable service and a nice complement to what we do on site.  It is an excellent way to have nutritional information available more often so that our seniors may access it when needed and get answers to their questions and concerns as soon as possible.  The Nutrition HELP Line is an example of how OCO’s Senior Dining and Activity Centers are more than a place where seniors can go and receive a nutritious meal.  They provide a variety of other benefits such as recreation, health and wellness activities, exercise, and arts and crafts programs, as well as pertinent information on topics that are important to them.”

OCO’s Senior Services Nutrition HELP Line is available 315-592-0766 or toll free at 1-800-359-1171, ext. 1806.

On the first Wednesday of each month from 9 – 11 a.m. and the second Tuesday of each month from 1 – 3 p.m., Registered Dietitian, Patti Williams is available to receive and answer phone calls as they come in and offer personalized assistance with special diet or nutritional concerns.

On the other days an answering machine will record callers questions and concerns and Williams will return those calls in a timely manner.  She is also available via e-mail at pwilliams@oco.org

The Nutritional HELP Line is available to those in OCO’s Home Delivered Meals program or that visit one of OCO’s Senior Services Senior Dining and Activity Centers that are located at:

St. Bernadette’s Church, 1677 State Route 49, Constantia, 315-623-9803

Fulton Municipal Building, 141 S. First St., Fulton, 315-592-3408

United Methodist Church, Harwood Drive, Sandy Creek, 315-298-5020

Pontiac Terrace Apartments, East First and Oneida streets, Oswego, 315-342-0232

Presbyterian Church, 814 Rider St., Parish, 315-625-4617

Phoenix Congregational Church, 288 Bridge St., Phoenix, 315-695-4841

Hannibal Public Library, 162 Oswego St., Hannibal, 315-564-5471

Mexico Presbyterian Church, 4310 Church St., Mexico, 315-963-7757

“Patty McGold” is traveling to different OCO sites to promote OCO’s Bowl O’Gold Bowling Tournament to be held March 10 at Lakeview Lanes in Fulton. Registration is now open for 5-person teams, with choice of two flights, noon – 2:30 p.m. or 3 – 5:30 p.m.

Flights will be filled on a first come, first served basis.

Businesses and individuals may also donate door prizes for the drawings and the silent auction.  There also a limited number of opportunities for businesses and organizations interested in becoming a major sponsor of OCO’s Bowl O’ Gold Bowling Tournament.  For registration or sponsorship information, or to donate a door prize, contact OCO at 315-598-4717 or visit the agency’s website at http://www.oco.org

One of Oswego County’s largest employers, OCO provides more than 50 human service programs that touch the lives of more than 30,000 county residents each year.

OCO’s mission is to build partnerships that improve the quality of life and create successful communities.  Visit OCO on the web at http://www.oco.org. Oswego County Opportunities is a member agency of the United Way of Greater Oswego County.

.

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OCO Offers Nutrition HELP Line For Area Seniors

GMO Labeling

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MANILA, Philippines - Different countries have different policies/rules on the use of genetic engineering techniques in agriculture and food production. Genetic engineering simply means that the genes of one organism are injected (cut-out and pasted) into the genome of another organism using the so-called gene-splicing techniques of biotechnology in a laboratory resulting in the creations of combinations of plants, animals, bacteria and viral genes that do not occur in nature or through traditional crossbreeding methods.

The products created through the technique of genetic engineering are the so-called GMO (genetically modified organisms) products or transgenic products.

The first genetically modified plants were introduced in the 1980s. Twenty years later (year 2000), genetically modified crops spread to about 44 million hectares of land from less than three (3) hectares in 1996. Common transgenic products include rice, corn, wheat, tomatoes, and soybeans.

To date, countries are not in total agreement as to the extent of regulations/rules the government should promulgate on GMOs. Some countries impose total ban on the production of GMO products because of the damage to human's health due to the presence of allergens, preservatives, and fertilizers used on GMO plants.

On the other hand, there are countries that impose no restrictions and allow the use of GMO products. Also, the reasons advanced using gene-splicing techniques are: it will result to bigger farm yield; higher profitability for the farmers; and cheaper prices of food.

Not many know that there at least thirty-two (32) countries that are imposing mandatory labeling for any product that has been genetically modified. For example, the European parliament passed on April 14, 2004, a rule that all products containing more than nine (0.9) percent of GMO must be labeled... including the labeling of animal feed containing GMOs. Once labeled, the GMOs are being allowed to be sold.

Yes, products containing genetically modified organisms (GMO) should be labeled as such. Also foods derived from GMO. This is the growing clamor of consumers here and abroad. And rightfully so. This is also adherence to the ''full disclosure'' relationship between sellers and buyers. And to use a more popular term for buyers - the consumers.

The consumers should be given the final option whether to patronize GMO products - especially food. Anyway, proponents of GMO products as well as those against such products both have the opportunity to sell their ideas as well as their products to the public. This is what democracy is all about.

By the way, there are countries that consider the use of labels to inform consumers in one country as a form of trade protectionism. Simply because the use of labels may limit the ability of GMO products to gain market access in one country. Different countries may also have different definitions of what is harmful to humans, animals, or environment.

The labeling of GMO products can either be initiated by the producers in the private sector or by the government. In the first case, the labeling is voluntary. In the second case, it is mandatory to protect the consumers. In mandatory GMO-labeling, private firms are held accountable for misrepresentation.

In the US, there is no federal regulation requiring the mandatory labeling of GMO. What is heartening to note though is that there are legislators in individual states in US that are crafting their own labeling registration. For example, Senator Maralyn Chase of Washington State has sponsored a bill that would require both raw GMOs and processed foods containing GMOs to be properly labeled beginning July 2014.

Also, ''Ireland recently banned the growth of any genetically modified foods, and the country has also made available a GMO-free label that can be placed on animal products like meat, poultry, eggs and dairy, fish, and crustaceans, that are raised with feed free of GMOs.''

Prince Charles also once called GMOs the ''biggest environmental disaster of all time,'' while agriculture industrialists like Monsanto swear they're safe for human consumption and a boon for the environment.

While biotechnology is concededly a boom to mankind not only in the area of food production and agriculture but also in other areas like environment and health - there are groups clamoring for the imposition of health and safety measures as there may be disastrous consequences in ''messing with nature.''

Why the so-called ''messing with nature''? Simply because one of the major branches of biotechnology is genetic engineering. The subject of genetic engineering involves the manipulation of genes in humans, animals, and plants. Admittedly, there are advantages as well as disadvantages of genetic engineering. These advantages and disadvantages have to be clearly articulated to our consumers otherwise the anti-GMO sentiment will spread throughout the country - especially when it comes to GMO food products. Food safety is understandably a major concern of cautious consumers nowadays - with the prevalence of different kinds of cancer and other diseases.

Finally, this question as to whether or not our government should impose mandatory labeling of GMO products - especially GMO food products should be resolved soonest by our legislators.

Have a joyful day!

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GMO Labeling

Training parents is good medicine for children with autism behavior problems

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Public release date: 24-Feb-2012
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Contact: Karen N. Peart
karen.peart@yale.edu
203-432-1326
Yale University

Children with autism spectrum disorders who also have serious behavioral problems responded better to medication combined with training for their parents than to treatment with medication alone, Yale researchers and their colleagues report in the February issue of Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

"Serious behavioral problems interfere with everyday living for children and their families," said senior author on the study Lawrence Scahill, professor at Yale University School of Nursing and the Child Study Center. "Decreasing these serious behavioral problems results in children who are more able to manage everyday living."

Scahill and his team completed a federally funded multi-site trial on 124 children ages 4 to 13 with autism spectrum disorders at three U.S. sites including Yale, Ohio State University, and Indiana University. In addition to autism spectrum disorders, children in the study had serious behavioral problems, including multiple and prolonged tantrums, aggression, and/or self-injurious behavior on a daily basis.

The children in the study were randomly assigned to medication alone for six months or medication plus a structured training program for their parents for six months. Parent training included regular visits to the clinic to teach parents how to respond to behavior problems to help children adapt to daily living situations. The study medication, risperidone, is approved for the treatment of serious behavioral problems in children with autism.

"In a previous report from this trial, we showed that the combined treatment was superior to medication alone in reducing the serious behavioral problems," said Scahill. "In the current report, we show that combination treatment was better than medication alone on measures of adaptive behavior. We note that both groups?medication alone and combined treatment group?demonstrated improvement in functional communication and social interaction. But the combined group showed greater improvement on several measures of everyday adaptive functioning."

Based on these findings, Scahill and his team are now conducting a study that uses parent training as a stand-alone strategy in treating younger children with autism spectrum disorders. This study is being conducted at Yale and four other medical centers across the country. The investigators also plan to publish the parent training manuals as a way to share this intervention with the public.

###

Other authors on the study included Christopher J. McDougle, Michael G. Aman, Cynthia Johnson, Benjamin Handen, Karen Bearss, James Dziura, Eric Butter, Naomi G. Swiezy, L. Eugene Arnold, Kimberly A. Stigler, Denis D. Sukhodolsky, Luc Lecavalier, Stacie L. Pozdol, Roumen Nikolov, Jill A. Hollway, Patricia Korzekwa, Allison Gavaletz, Arlene E. Kohn, Kathleen Koenig, Stacie Grinnon, James A. Mulick, Sunkyung Yu, and Benedetto Vitiello.

The National Institute of Mental Health funded the study. The work was also funded, in part, by the Yale Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) grant from the National Center for Research Resources at the National Institutes of Health.

Citation: J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, Vol. 51, No. 2 (February 2012)

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Training parents is good medicine for children with autism behavior problems

“Anatomy of Injustice: A Murder Case Gone Wrong” by Raymond Bonner

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In January 1982, a white South Carolina widow named Dorothy Edwards — “seventy-six years old but could have passed for fifty-six, a petite five foot three, size 6,” not rich but certainly “well-off” — was found dead in the closet of her bedroom in Greenwood, a small town a little more than an hour’s drive west of Columbia, the state capital. The crime shocked the town, not merely because it happened but because it was exceptionally bloody. As a forensic pathologist testified in the murder trial that followed soon after, she had “thirty-three wounds on her chest, abdomen, and back,” 13 of her ribs had been broken, and “altogether, there were fifty-two wounds, most of them no more than a third of an inch deep.” Many of the wounds had been inflicted before Edwards’s death.

(Knopf) - ’Anatomy of Injustice: A Murder Case Gone Wrong’ by Raymond Bonner

As subsequent events made all too plain, the police of Greenwood and the state agents brought in to assist them often displayed the competence of Keystone Kops and the racial sensitivity of the Ku Klux Klan, but they certainly moved with dispatch. Within hours of the discovery of the body, they arrested a black handyman named Edward Lee Elmore, a few days shy of his 33rd birthday. He had done occasional jobs for Edwards, and police claimed to have found his fingerprints in her house. He was known as “a steady, trustworthy handyman,” though his IQ “was measured at 61, which psychologists classify as within the range of ‘mild mental retardation.’” Many of his customers were well-to-do whites such as Edwards, and they liked him: “He was polite, deferential, sweet-natured — in a word, he was ‘servile,’ as blacks were supposed to be.”

He was also unlucky: not only unlucky to be black in a part of South Carolina that still revered the Confederacy and conducted public affairs accordingly; not only to be a resident of a state that “has been executing criminals as long as it has existed, as a colony and a state,” often with gusto; not only to have been the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time; not only to have been arrested in a town where law enforcement officials — police, state investigators and prosecutors alike — were far more interested in a speedy trial with a predictable outcome than in the unbiased administration of justice. As Raymond Bonner writes in this taut account of his trial and its long aftermath, the story is much more than at first it seems to be:

“In many ways, Elmore’s is a garden-variety death penalty case: a young black male of limited intelligence convicted of murdering a white person after a trial in which his lawyers’ performance was so poor that it could barely be called a defense. But the case is also exceptional, and not just because it involved ‘sex, violence, and racism,’ as one of Mrs. Edwards’s neighbors put it, convinced that this was the only reason reporters were interested. Elmore’s story raises nearly all the issues that mark the debate about capital punishment: race, mental retardation, bad trial lawyers, prosecutorial misconduct, ‘snitch’ testimony, DNA testing, a claim of innocence.”

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“Anatomy of Injustice: A Murder Case Gone Wrong” by Raymond Bonner

BrainStorm Featured on CNBC

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NEW YORK & PETACH TIKVAH, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. (OTCBB: BCLI.OB - News), a developer of innovative stem cell technologies for neurodegenerative disorders, announced that NurOwn™, its autologous stem cell therapy for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's Disease, was profiled yesterday on CNBC. In the Feature Story about the impact of Iran's nuclear threat, Israeli business and scientific leaders were interviewed about Israel's thriving economy and cutting edge technologies. Among those leaders that met with CNBC were Brainstorm’s President Mr. Chaim Lebovits and Prof. Dimitrios Karussis, Principal Investigator of Brainstorm's Phase I/II clinical trial currently underway at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.

Brainstorm recently announced positive initial results from the clinical trial, resulting in approval from Hadassah's Helsinki committee to proceed with the trial. Accordingly, additional patients have been enrolled in the study, and Brainstorm will announce additional results in the coming months.

To see the video online, follow the link at: http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000074883

To read the Feature Story online, follow the link at: http://www.cnbc.com/id/46484576

Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute "forward-looking statements" and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc.'s actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include risks associated with BrainStorm's limited operating history, history of losses; minimal working capital, dependence on its license to Ramot's technology; ability to adequately protect the technology; dependence on key executives and on its scientific consultants; ability to obtain required regulatory approvals; and other factors detailed in BrainStorm's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q available at http://www.sec.gov. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements made by us.

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BrainStorm Featured on CNBC

Concord’s Corista helps MGH share images

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Massachusetts General Hospital will be able to communicate with physicians and patients to review pathology cases in real time thanks to technology developed by Corista LLC.

Using Corista’s digital platform Massachusetts General Hospital’s Pathology Network will enable its clinical experts to share images with remote patients and their physicians in real time, the Concord-based company announced recently.

Members of the academic pathology department, which provide subspecialty clinical services, will be able to use Corista’s DP3 toolset to provide analysis and diagnosis on images and also generate reports. There are a total of 90 faculty, 800 employees and 50 residents under the direction of Dr. David Lewis, chief of pathology at Massachusetts General Pathology Service, who are responsible for 10 million clinical laboratory tests, 80,000 surgical specimens, 60,000 cytopathology specimens and 35,000 red-cell transfusions each year.

Corista CEO Elizabeth Wingard stated that remote patients and hospitals benefit from its DP3 platform because specialists are able to get immediate responses and therefore improve patient care. Without the real-time capability, information would have been delayed by days using other methods such as couriers and other delivery methods, she added.

Wingard, along with the company’s Managing Director Richard Wingard and CTO Charles Pace, co-founded Corista in 2005. Richard Wingard, who has 25 years in the business of medical imaging and healthcare technology, was the senior executive for Sprint’s healthcare initiatives. He designed and developed Sprint’s healthcare technology capability, HANDS, which set the standard for telemedicine and tele-radiology, according to Corista.

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Concord’s Corista helps MGH share images

Corista to Provide Platform for Massachusetts General Hospital’s Pathology Network

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CONCORD, Mass., Feb. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Massachusetts General Hospital Pathology Service has chosen Corista's Digital Image Management Platform (DP3™) to support its goal of providing clinical review of pathology cases with a digital platform. This new capability will allow MGH clinical experts to extend their reach to remote patients and their physicians for second opinions in real time.

"Recent technological advances have enabled immediate and widespread access to highly specific pathology expertise, speeding up both diagnosis and the start of treatment," said David Wilbur, MD, Director, Clinical Imaging -Pathology Services at MGH and Professor of Pathology at Harvard Medical School. "The key is having an image-centric platform that provides access together with the tools needed to respond and interact with multiple systems in the community."

Corista's CEO, Elizabeth Wingard said, "We're pleased to be working with MGH and Partners Healthcare to extend the reach of the hospital's expertise in pathology to physicians and patients in communities near and far. The Corista platform provides an intuitive case management dashboard that manages workflow and patient cases with digital images, and which can be integrated with existing hospital information systems," Wingard said. "In accessing specialists online and getting an immediate response, remote patients and hospitals can improve patient care with expertise that would have been delayed by days using couriers and FedEx. Eliminating the delay improves the patients' care by enabling providers to initiate the appropriate treatment plans immediately."

Corista provides Pathologists with a single point of access to read and manipulate patient images with an extensive toolset for analysis, collaboration, diagnosis and report generation. With Corista's platform, MGH will be able to improve the process and quality of pathology medicine while extending real time clinical support for remote patients.

About Corista:
Since 2005, Corista has been developing its image-based processing software and proprietary browser-based software platform. The patent-pending platform, DP3, provides a comprehensive solution for pathology practices that includes: a universal viewer that reads images from any whole slide imaging platform; secure local and remote image viewing and navigation, image management, on-demand colleague consultation, annotation, measurement diagnoses; notifications to physicians of new cases or consults to be reviewed, and a centralized Physician Dashboard integrating in-house and remote patient cases into a single view for physicians. DP3 can integrate with existing hospital information systems, is hardware agnostic and supports a complete range of physician devices including high resolution monitors, tablets and touchscreens.

Anne Marsden
anne@marsdenassociates.com
(678) 990-1259

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Corista to Provide Platform for Massachusetts General Hospital's Pathology Network

"Get your plate in shape" at library

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In celebration of National Nutrition Month, the Westborough Public Library will host two lectures by Rachel Murray.  Nutrition 101 will be held on Thursday, March 8, 2012 at 7 p.m. and Healthy Fats will be held on Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 7 p.m.

This years’ campaign, “Get Your Plate in Shape”, focuses attention on the importance of making informed food choices and developing sound eating and physical activity habits. 

Nutrition 101 will cover what your body was biologically meant to eat and practical ways to bring healthy back into your home.  Learn how to get the right balance in your diet of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates for optimal health and learn the best way to incorporate healthy foods.  Healthy Fats will cover the importance of eating the right kinds of fat for optimal health.  Fats have an impact on many functions in our body and this topic is especially important and relevant for women in relation to our hormone health and issues such as hot flashes.

Rachel Murray has studied health and nutrition for over twenty years.  She is a board certified Nutritional Therapist Practitioner earning a degree from the Nutritional Therapy Association. This program is free an open to the public.  For more information, call the library at 508-366-3050.  Come join us for National Nutrition Month!

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"Get your plate in shape" at library

Small businesses get pass on nutrition labels

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Read more: Local, Health, Business, Consumer, Nutrition Labels, Labels, Food Labels, Cherry Republic

GLEN ARBOR, MI -- When grocery shopping, looking at the nutrition labels on the products you buy can help you maintain a healthy diet.

However, you have probably noticed some products do not offer nutritional information on their goods.

That is because the government has created a list of exemptions for small businesses. The goal is to allow them to grow without being bogged down with the cost of providing nutrition labels.

According to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act:

“One exemption, for low-volume products, applies if the person claiming the exemption employs fewer than an average of 100 full-time equivalent employees and fewer than 100,000 units of that product are sold in the United States in a 12-month period. To qualify for this exemption the person must file a notice annually with FDA. Note that low volume products that bear nutrition claims do not qualify for an exemption of this type.
Another type of exemption applies to retailers with annual gross sales of not more than $500,000, or with annual gross sales of foods or dietary supplements to consumers of not more than $50,000. For these exemptions, a notice does not need to be filed with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).”
These exemptions are particularly important for small northern Michigan farm markets. 

“If you hire a company to do nutrition analysis for you, it can be anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to, depending on production, a thousand dollars or more. For every label you produce, you would have to do the same thing, so if you had 10 labels, it could cost you as much as $10,000 just to do the nutrition analysis” said Jason Homa, Cherry Republic.

Homa said the exemption also helps small businesses introduce new products into the market.

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Small businesses get pass on nutrition labels

Nutrition Tips for Training

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La Crosse County Health Department Nutrition Tips for Training:

Nutrition and Training for Events (Marathon/Triathlon) or just to get in shape!

Start with small steps.   Participate in a 5K run/walk and then continue to progress. Avoid depriving yourself of foods.  Your diet should not be so strict that it hard to follow Help with performance. Decrease time of recovery. Prevent some exercise injuries due to fatigue. Training is the time to experiment with pre and post exercise foods and fluids, not the day of your event. Stick with what has been tried and true for you. Nutrition is a key point when it comes to training for events! Good nutrition can:

**But do note: A serious athlete should meet with a registered dietitian who specializes in sports nutrition. They can tailor a training meal plan to promote best performance and meet the needs of the individual athlete. Diets all are individualized!**

 

Carbohydrates:

Carbohydrates have gotten a bad rap. They are loved, yet shunned by many. However, carbohydrates are necessary for peak athletic performance, because they provide a fairly quick source of energy for working muscles. Carbohydrate is your fuel!

 

Protein:

Most people, athletes and non-athletes consume more protein then necessary. And the bottom line remains that the body cannot store protein, it uses only what it needs.  Excess protein, over and above a person's overall protein and energy needs, is converted and stored as fat.  It is also important to meet protein requirements through whole foods as opposed to supplements or powders.  Protein is part of the balance with carbohydrates and fats for performance and recovery.

 

Fat:

No need to be afraid! Fat is not the only contributor to weight gain, excess intake of calories from any food group will lead to weight gain, if more is eaten than what is utilized in physical activity. Need to focus on your healthy fats that you get from foods such as avocados, salmon, nuts and seeds. No one should consume a diet that contains less than 15% of total calories from fat on a regular basis. Fat is necessary for the absorption of certain vitamins like A, D, E and K. Fat is not your fuel for a race, and can cause you to become sluggish.

 

Beverages/Fluid:

Sports drinks are most beneficial for people performing continuous physical activity for longer than 60 minutes. Most exercise lasting less than 60 minutes will not result in severe carbohydrate and electrolyte depletion. Drinking water will maintain fluid balance for shorter periods of exercise. If you are not physically active, you do not need a supplement such as Gatorade, because it will provide calories, sugar, and sodium that your body does not need.

For the Event:

 

Day before the Event:

Continue normal good eating patterns. Aim for balanced meals- whole grains/lean protein/fruits and vegetables and healthy fat.  Better to consistently eat carbohydrates vs. carbohydrate load the night before. Regular intake is more important.

 

Day of the Event:

1. Fuel up
"Fuel up" with your pregame meal 3-4 hours before the start of the event.  Make this your largest meal. It ensures that you have fuel stores to power you through the game and allows adequate time for digestion. Have a balanced of carbohydrates, protein and healthy fat. About two thirds of your plate should come from carbohydrates. Oatmeal with peanut butter, fruit and low-fat milk.

 

2. Top off
"Top off" with a snack about 1-2 hours before your game. Make this snack carbohydrate based to simply top off your already full "fuel" stores. Remember to always pick something you are familiar with and that is easy to digest. Often a granola bar and fruit with Gatorade® are good choices.

 

3. Reload
"Reload" during the event with carbohydrates, electrolytes, and fluid to power you through the remaining race. Try bananas, dried fruit like raisins, Gatorade, granola bars, and sports gels to see what works best for you. During long distance training plan for 30-60gm of carbohydrate snacks that are easily digestible, medium banana, sports drinks, energy bars.

Reference 30 grams of carbohydrate sheet

4. Refuel
"Refuel" and "Recovery" is a two step process:  immediately after the event with a mixture of carbohydrate and protein. This recovery snack begins to replenish your fuel stores and repair damaged tissue. Try chocolate milk, fruit (banana), yogurt, cheese or sandwich.  Always follow up with an additional meal 1 hour after your immediate recovery snack. Continue to rehydrate following the race.  

Quick and Easy Meal Preparation for every day and training!

Whether exercising/training in the morning or evening you are often in a time crunch to put meals together. By planning and preparing for the week you will save time during the week and make healthier choices.

Plan meals and snacks in advance, even plan the fruits and vegetables for the week. Include a plan for your pre and post exercise meals/snacks. Prepare foods in advance for quick meals during the week. Chop and prepare fruits and vegetables. Have foods packaged in easy to go containers. Prep entrees on the weekends. If traveling for your event/race; be sure to plan your meals and snacks to compliment what you have been doing during your training. Not to rely on eating out.

 

Remember! Don't try anything new on race days! Aim for an overall healthy balanced diet during training of

carbohydrates, lean protein and healthy fats!

And remember an emphasis on a variety of fruits and vegetables.

 

But do note: A serious athlete should meet with a registered dietitian who specializes in sports nutrition. They can tailor a training meal plan to promote best performance and meet the needs of the individual athlete. Diets all are individualized!

  

For more information, contact Jennifer Miller at the La Crosse County Health Department.

 

 

Jennifer Miller, RD, CD, CLS

La Crosse County Health Department-Nutrition

Foot Steps to Health Coordinator

Head Start Consultant

WIC Nutrition Educator

Phone: (608) 785-9831

Fax: (608) 785-9846

Address: 300 4th Street North,

La Crosse, WI 54601

Excerpt from:
Nutrition Tips for Training

Mead Johnson Nutrition, SanCor Announce Plans for Joint Venture

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BUENOS AIRES, Argentina & GLENVIEW, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Mead Johnson Nutrition (NYSE: MJN - News), a global leader in pediatric nutrition, and SanCor Cooperativas Unidas Ltda. of Argentina, the leading dairy producer in Argentina, today announced an undertaking in principle to form a joint venture that will bring leading and innovative nutritional products to infants and children in Argentina and the other Southern Cone markets.

The new joint venture – which would be owned 80% by Mead Johnson and 20% by SanCor – will develop dairy nutrition technology and provide science-based infant formulas and growing-up milks for babies and children. Working as an independent entity, it will develop and market products exclusively under the “SanCor Bebe” brand.

As a result of this alliance – as well as the combined marketplace experiences, insights and scientific research of the two companies – parents of babies and health care professionals can count on the continued availability and development of high quality, innovative pediatric nutrition products.

SanCor is an Argentinean dairy cooperative that was founded in 1938 and is well-recognized, nationally and internationally, for its production expertise and high-quality products. Mead Johnson has been creating innovative infant and children’s nutrition products for over 100 years, and is well-known for its unwavering commitment to science and quality and for its deep understanding of consumer needs.

“This alliance brings 73 years of SanCor´s experience and its strong brand portfolio and manufacturing capabilities together with more than a century of innovation in pediatric nutrition science from Mead Johnson,” said James Cornelius, Mead Johnson’s Chairman of the Board.

SanCor will continue to operate its core dairy products business, while Mead Johnson will consolidate its activities for milks through the new alliance. The joint venture does not involve any changes in SanCor´s ownership; both companies will contribute to the formation of a new team to lead the new business.

“We see this as a wonderful opportunity to partner with another great brand and to bring important and beneficial nutritional products to families and healthcare professionals in Argentina and the other Southern Cone countries. This significant investment demonstrates our strong confidence in the growth potential of the Latin American market, as well as the skilled workforce in Argentina,” commented Steve Golsby, President and CEO of Mead Johnson.

The new venture will be based in Argentina, and operations are expected to start-up sometime next month. This investment will establish the most important center of pediatric nutrition expertise in the Southern Cone, create a number of high-quality jobs, and promote and expand the commercialization of Argentinean dairy products on a larger international scale.

“This joint venture will strengthen SanCor´s business and expand our reach and capacity,” said Oscar Carreras, Chairman of SanCor´s Board of Administration. “It will enable us to provide more infants and children with high-quality products that will help deliver the necessary nutrition for their healthy growth and development, while at the same time, allowing us to continue developing other high potential businesses in other categories.”

About Mead Johnson

Mead Johnson, a global leader in pediatric nutrition, develops, manufactures and distributes more than 70 products sold in over 50 markets worldwide. The company’s mission is to nourish the world’s children for the best start in life. The Mead Johnson name has been associated with science-based pediatric nutrition products over 100 years. The company’s “Enfa” family of brands, including Enfamil® infant formula, is the world’s leading brand franchise in pediatric nutrition. For more information on company, go to http://www.meadjohnson.com.

About SanCor

SanCor is a 100% Argentinean dairy cooperative, with 73 years of distinguished history. It processes one-eighth of the milk in the entire country, and it is also the leader in dairy product exports. SanCor products are well-known in Argentina and across Latin America. For more information, go to http://www.sancor.com.

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Mead Johnson Nutrition, SanCor Announce Plans for Joint Venture

Health: The Biggest Determinant of Your Retirement Security

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Being healthy may give you enormous financial advantages as well as provide physical and longevity benefits. In a recent study that tracked the retirements of older Americans up until the time they died, health differences emerged as a significant determinant of retirement success.

[See The 10 Best Places to Retire in 2012.]

"A substantial fraction of persons die with virtually no financial assets--46.1 percent with less than $10,000," said the study, "Were they Prepared for Retirement," by economists James Poterba, Steven Venti, and David Wise. "Many of these households also have no housing wealth and rely almost entirely on Social Security benefits for support."

Underlying the numbers, poor health was a common attribute of people who died with little wealth. Many of these households were "well-prepared for retirement," the study said. "Their income in their final years was not substantially lower than their income in their late 50s or early 60s." Yet these income levels were too low to handle big hits such as unexpected health expenses.

[See Do You Face 'Money Death' in Old Age?]

"The links from health to wealth seem to operate in many ways," Poterba told U.S. News. "Those in poorer health may retire earlier, may not work as many hours when working as their healthier counterparts, and they may spend more on medical care and on other related care," he explained. "Those in poorer health reach retirement age with a smaller pool of assets, both from their own saving and in the value of future pension and Social Security benefits."

Not only was there a strong correlation between poor health and earlier death, the study found, but also a strong tie between wealth and longevity. "Among persons first observed in 1993, those who will die the earliest begin with the lowest assets in 1993," the authors said. "The relationship between wealth when first observed and subsequent mortality is striking."

The study looked at the retirement fates of a large group of older people, beginning in 1993and tracking them for more than 15 years or until their deaths. It looked at older people who lived alone, couples in 1993 in which one spouse passed away during the study period (the study calls them "two to one" households), and couples in which both partners were still alive in 2008.

[See 8 Steps for Building Solid Estate Plans.]

One-person households fared the worst in terms of spending down all or nearly all of their wealth by the time they died, followed by two-to-one households and households in which both spouses had been alive.

Losing a spouse, either through death or divorce, can be financially devastating to the remaining spouse, especially for women. The incomes of one-person and two-person households were similar in the last year of their lives compared with when the tracking study began in 1993. However, for two-to-one households, the researchers said, "the decline in income between 1993 and the last year observed was almost 75 percent."

The lack of wealth involved housing as well as financial assets. "In the last year before death, 57.1 percent of single-person households have no housing wealth and 49.6 percent of persons in two-to-one person households have no housing wealth," the study said. "Remarkably, only 20.4 percent of persons who die with a surviving spouse have no home equity."

Twitter: @PhilMoeller

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Health: The Biggest Determinant of Your Retirement Security

Genetic engineering more dangerous than Morain thinks

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Re "Label this one 'Do Not Touch'" (Dan Morain, Feb. 19): Morain's article shows a lack of understanding of the issues involved in genetic engineering with regard to foodstuffs, and an unfortunate willingness to accept the arguments of proponents of the technology rather than those who are critical of it.

I have been following this issue for over a decade, objectively looking at evidence on both sides, and have become convinced that there are serious questions with GMOs. At root is the fact that for the first time in the history of the planet, it has become possible for scientists to cross species boundaries as they endeavor to produce what are essentially new life forms.They may look like their natural counterparts, but they may contain genetic material from a variety of completely different life forms.

A tomato may contain material from animals, insects, vituses, bacteria, etc., together in a completely new mix. Consequences? Unknown! Problems already appearing.

-- Professor Robert Millar, Walnut Creek

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Genetic engineering more dangerous than Morain thinks

The GMO Debate, Food For Thought Part 1

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POSTED: 12:50 am HST February 24, 2012
UPDATED: 6:05 am HST February 24, 2012

HONOLULU -- GMOs. GE. Transgenic.?I think a lot of people actually don't even know what that means,? said Maui Councilmember Elle Cochran.Genetic Engineering has entered our food chain in a big way.In 2012, more than half of the crops grown in the United States are GMOs.According to the USDA, 88% of all corn crops, 90% of cotton crops, and 94% of soybean crops are GMO crops.In 2010, U.S. farmers planted 165 million acres of GMO crops.In fact, the U.S. uses more genetically modified seeds than any other country in the world.?This is the kind of corn we work with here,? said Fred Perlak, head of operations for Monsanto Hawaii, as he showed reporter Lara Yamada ears of corn in a Kunia field.?This is an important location for our worldwide operations. What we do here is build new varieties of corn and soybean,? Perlak said.?You actually take a bag and put it over the tassel, knock the pollen off, then take the bag and pour the pollen on top of the silts and then put another bag on so no additional pollen will come on,? he said.?And you do that how many times over?? said Yamada.?500,000 times on this farm alone in one year,? he said.?It's all about research and development here in the state,? said Cochran.Cochran is one of many Hawaii lawmakers keeping a close eye on what's happening in Hawaii.?What they create on Maui is what they're sending out worldwide. It's the top breed, the cream of the crop, so to speak,? she said.Cochran is concerned about GMO crops statewide.The Hawaii State Association of Counties presents a package to lawmakers every session.Cochran championed a provision to support GMO labeling.All counties approved it, except for Oahu, so that provision was dropped.?We had hours and hours of testimony, really heart-felt testimony,? she said.According to the Hawaii Crop Improvement Association, Monsanto is just one of five major companies planted here in the islands.There's also Syngenta, Dow AgroSciences, BASF, and Pioneer ? which is owned by DuPont.They are companies that own or lease 25,000 acres on Oahu, Kauai, Maui and Molokai, and they all test and grow genetically modified seeds.Perlak says it?s to add value to farmer's crops.?We?re talking about natural disease resistance, better root growth, longer stalks,? he said, giving a few examples.?We probably want to introduce something like 100 new varieties on an annual basis at Monsanto. To get those 100 varieties, we start with 100s of thousands,? he said.In genetic engineering, scientists insert new traits from a similar breed, or something completely different, right into the DNA of a plant or animal - and the reasons for doing it are endless:-Rainbow Papaya: genetically modified to resist the ring spot virus.-Soybeans: resistant to pesticides.-Corn: genetically modified to handle drought.-Rice: with added vitamins.And that's just the beginning:-Strawberries with flounder genes to resist frost.-Goats with spider genes to produce milk with silk fibers.-Pig's noses that glow in the dark - thanks to a jellyfish gene.The list goes on: plants and animals that grow faster, produce more, eat less, and leave less waste, but also make infection-fighting drugs, grow organs for human transplant, and treat chronic diseases.?These varieties will help increase the efficiency and productivity of farmers around the world, which has implications for all of us,? said Perlak.?You have people who are really up in arms,? said Cochran.She has not given up.She visited the capitol to keep the issue of what to do about GMOs on lawmakers' plates.And it?s an issue that's increasingly hard to ignore.?I'm digging more into it and learning and studying what it's about,? she said.Part 2: The Issues
Part 3: Laws, Lawmakers & Lawsuits

Copyright 2012 by KITV.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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The GMO Debate, Food For Thought Part 1

US court finds DNA testing constitutional

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California law enforcement officers can continue collecting DNA samples from adults arrested for felonies, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday.

A divided three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a 2004 California law requiring officials to collect the DNA samples does not violate the US Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches.

"DNA analysis is an extraordinarily effective tool for law enforcement to identify arrestees, solve past crimes, and exonerate innocent suspects," Judge Milan Smith wrote for the 2-1 majority. The government's interests in the genetic information outweigh any privacy concerns, the majority concluded.

The DNA samples, from a swab of an inmate's cheek, are analyzed for certain identifying markers and the information is then stored in a nationwide database. Someone who is tested and not convicted can ask to have the sample destroyed and their DNA profile removed from the database.

Four California residents, who had been arrested for felonies but who were not convicted, filed a class action in 2009 against officials who run the state's DNA collection system. They asked the court to issue an order barring California from collecting DNA samples from people who were arrested but not convicted. The district court rejected that request, and the 9th Circuit upheld that decision.

The appeals court found that the arrestees' DNA profiles contained such minimal information that they were comparable to traditional fingerprints.

But Judge William Fletcher dissented. Fingerprints are taken to identify a person upon arrest, whereas DNA samples "are taken solely for an investigative purpose, without a warrant or reasonable suspicion," he wrote.

"The majority allows the government to treat arrestees, who are presumed innocent, as if they've been convicted of some sort of crime," said Michael Risher, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who represented the plaintiffs. He said his clients would seek review by the full 9th Circuit.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris praised the ruling as "a victory for public safety in California." She said in a statement that the collection of DNA from adult felony arrestees had helped solve thousands of crimes.

Many states, as well as the federal government, have passed laws requiring people who are arrested to provide their DNA. Last year, in United States v. Mitchell, the 3rd Circuit upheld DNA testing as "an accurate, unique, identifying marker - in other words, as fingerprints for the twenty-first century." Ruben Mitchell, who was charged with intent to distribute cocaine, has appealed that case to the Supreme Court.

-Reuters

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US court finds DNA testing constitutional

Posted in DNA