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BD Acquires KIESTRA Lab Automation BV

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

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Posted February 13, 2012

Provides Automation Platform to Offer Integrated Microbiology Lab Solutions

FRANKLIN LAKES, N.J. -- BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE: BDX), a leading global medical technology company, announced today that it has acquired KIESTRA Lab Automation BV, a Netherlands-based company that designs, develops, manufactures, markets and sells innovative lab automation solutions for the microbiology lab. The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The transaction is expected to be slightly dilutive; however, BD reaffirms its previous guidance that reported diluted earnings per share from continuing operations for fiscal year 2012 are expected to be in the range of $5.60 to $5.70.

For further information, read more on BD's website.

About BD

BD is a leading global medical technology company that develops, manufactures and sells medical devices, instrument systems and reagents. The Company is dedicated to improving people's health throughout the world. BD is focused on improving drug delivery, enhancing the quality and speed of diagnosing infectious diseases and cancers, and advancing research, discovery and production of new drugs and vaccines. BD's capabilities are instrumental in combating many of the world's most pressing diseases. Founded in 1897 and headquartered in Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, BD employs approximately 29,000 associates in more than 50 countries throughout the world. The Company serves healthcare institutions, life science researchers, clinical laboratories, the pharmaceutical industry and the general public. For more information, please visit http://www.bd.com.

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BD Acquires KIESTRA Lab Automation BV

The Longevity Opportunity in the U.S. is Comparable to Emerging BRIC Markets

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

America’s Leading Analysts Reveal the Opportunities for Investment and Business Growth in Serving Baby Boomer Consumers at What’s Next Boomer Business Summit in Washington, D.C.

Lafayette, California (PRWEB) February 13, 2012

In 2011 the first of the baby boomer generation began turning 65 years old. Near daily stories in the media are generated about the issues, needs, impact, influence and sheer size of the eldest of our population. The growing discourse includes changes to retirement trends, the fact that the 55+ age group is the fastest-growing segment of entrepreneurs, the call to advertisers that they can no longer afford to ignore this audience, and announcements of new outlets catering to these demographics. From aging-in-place technologies to social and mobile media, to the spending power of grandparents, the overall wealth of opportunities in meeting the needs of this mature market is the purpose of the ninth annual What's Next Boomer Business Summit, being held March 28 in Washington, D.C. There the country’s leading analysts, top researchers and executive strategists will gather to introduce new research, products and services, and to present the definitive ways to reach and successfully sell to baby boomers and senior consumers. It is the event to meet the entrepreneurs and brand teams pursuing the baby boomer customer, and learn the marketing strategies that work to reach them.

It opens with a keynote delivered by veteran political strategist Donna Brazile, on ‘Designing a Personalized Business Model for the New Economy’. Jody Holtzman, SVP of Thought Leadership Group at AARP will define and examine the entrepreneurial and market opportunities related to the new Longevity Economy. His keynote will unearth current economic activity related to the demographic phenomenon of people living longer, richer lives and will address areas where the needs and wants of Americans 45 and older are not being met. Also, he will present a new framework for approaching both the societal needs and economic opportunities related to a changing and vital population.

The event tracks will explore trends in the following areas, with agenda highlights:

Often cited as worth the cost of registration alone, the ‘Lunch with the Experts’ is every attendee’s chance for exclusive access to the best analysts, authors, bloggers, and boomer market experts at this summit. The list of table hosts is available at http://boomersummit.com/lunch.html.

The complete list of speakers is available at http://www.boomersummit.com/speakers.html.

"The boomer, senior and caregiver markets are large and growing. The changing economy has created a shift in spending that is becoming the new normal. This conference brings together the most innovative companies and top thought leaders in marketing, innovation and distribution,” Mary Furlong, What’s Next conference producer shared. “These markets are growing as rapidly as the emerging markets of Brazil, Russia, India and China. Join us in March to discover the important segments in the longevity economy."

A press conference will take place on March 29 at 11:00 a.m. at the National Press Club. Speakers and sponsors will be making their new research product and service announcements.

Sponsors of What’s Next Boomer Business Summit are, at the platinum level: AARP, UnitedHealthcare and Crew Media; at the gold level: Microsoft, Linkage, Silverado Senior Living, MBO Partners, RLTV and Caring.com; at the silver level: General Mills, Google, GreatCall, Facetime Strategy, The Hartford, SilverRide, GrandCare Systems, Innovate LTC, Independa Inc., Starkey; at the bronze level: ABHOW, Hipcricket, Posit Science, MetLife Mature Market Institute, VibrantNation; refreshment break sponsor is Moving Mavens and Moving Solutions.

Registration, agenda and additional event details available at http://www.boomersummit.com. Registration costs are $275 at early bird rate (extended to February 21), $350 at the advance rate (February 22 to March 26) and $450 on March 27 and onsite.

What’s Next Boomer Business Summit

The ninth Annual What’s Next Boomer Business Summit is produced by Mary Furlong & Associates. What’s Next Boomer Business Summit is affiliated with the American Society on Aging (ASA) Aging in America Conference being held on March 28 to April 1, 2012 in Washington, D.C. Registration and program information is available at http://www.boomersummit.com. Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/2012-Whats-Next-Boomer-Business-Summit. Twitter username is WhatsNextBoomer, and hashtag is #boomersummit. It is produced by Mary Furlong & Associates.

Mary Furlong & Associates

Founded in 2003, Mary Furlong & Associates (MFA) works with companies seeking to capitalize on new business and investment opportunities in the Baby Boomer market. MFA provides business development, financing strategy and integrated marketing solutions to entrepreneurs, corporations and non-profit organizations serving the 50+ market. Mary Furlong, Ed.D., the firm's founder and CEO, has guided the offline and online 40+ market strategies of leading corporations and non-profit organizations for more than 20 years. In 2011, Furlong was honored as one of the top 100 Women of Influence by the Silicon Valley Business Journal. Furlong is Dean's Executive Professor of Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University's Leavey School of Business, and previously founded SeniorNet and ThirdAge Media. Her latest book, Turning Silver into Gold: How to Profit in the New Boomer Marketplace (FT Press), was published in 2007. More information available at http://www.maryfurlong.com.

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Michelle Bauer
Mary Furlong & Associates
727-510-2524
Email Information

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The Longevity Opportunity in the U.S. is Comparable to Emerging BRIC Markets

Twin brothers’ devastation after both rapidly lost their sight due to rare genetic condition

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

By Julian Gavaghan

Last updated at 11:00 AM on 13th February 2012

Twin brothers have told of their ‘devastation’ after both dramatically lost their sight to a rare condition that affects just a few hundred people.

Michael and Dan Smith, 20, are still determined to finish university and get good jobs after being left almost totally blind by Leber's Optic Neuropathy.

Michael, who is in football training for this year's Paralympic Games, lost his sight in a matter of weeks while in his first year at Bart's and the London School of Medicine.

Rare condition: Dan (left) and Michael Smith suffer from Leber's optic Neuropathy

Less than a year later, his brother Dan suffered the same fate while in his second year studying aeronautical engineering at the University of Bristol.

The identical pair, who can only make out shadowy shapes, have been forced to adapt their lives, learning Braille and re-learning how to cook and choose clothes.

They also plan to embark on a 350-mile tandem bike ride from London to Amsterdam in April.

Michael first noted changes to his vision in November 2009, forcing him into the ‘crushing’ realisation he could not continue his degree in medicine.

WHAT EXACTLY IS LEBER'S OPTIC NEUROPATHY?

Leber's Optic Neuropathy is a hereditary condition passed on by the mother’s genes.

The genetic defect, which can lead to optic nerve damage – or neuropathy, is carried by roughly one in every 9,000 people.

But genes, which can cause eye cells to die off quickly, can pass though several generations without triggering the condition.

Around 50 per cent of men and 80 per cent of women with it will suffer no loss of vision. No reason is known for the difference between the sexes.

In the Smith brothers’ case, they have been unable to find any family history of sudden onset blindness going back four generations.

The main symptom is the sudden loss of vision, which is caused by a death of cells in the optic nerve responsible for relaying visual information from the eyes to the brain.

Once cells start dying, affected eyes will begin seeing colours that appear more washed out. Within a period of eight weeks, it can lead to near or total blindness.

In many cases, only one eye is affected and patients may not be aware of the loss of colour vision until the doctor asks them to cover the healthy eye.

Most of the time, however, both eyes are affected. Sometimes vision improves, although this is very unusual.

‘My symptoms came on suddenly - one day I was in a lecture and I could not make out the projector in front of me, it was really hazy,’ he said.

‘I lost 70 per cent to 80 per cent of vision in my left eye in a very short space of time.

'I continued at medical school for a couple of weeks but it was taking me half an hour to read a page of A4 and I was breaking down in tears.

‘I did not know what was happening to me. I could not recognise people's faces and I quickly lost my independence.’

A genetic test eventually revealed Michael was suffering from the rare genetic condition, which also caused rapid sight loss in his right eye.

‘It was the end of life as I knew it,’ he said. ‘I could not carry on at medical school and that was incredibly distressing. In fact, it was crushing.

‘I can never describe how devastating it was to give up on medicine.

‘Not only that but I couldn't go for a run on my own without it being dangerous, I could not prepare food, I did not know what I was wearing.’

Dan also ‘could not comprehend what was happening’ when he heard Michael's news.

‘Michael has been the closest person to me all my life and this struck him in his first week at university,’ he said. ‘It was incredibly hard to see this happening to my brother.

‘He called me to say he thought something was wrong - he wasn't able to recognise people but didn't know why. That conversation still haunts me.

‘Doctors initially thought he had a brain tumour but tests revealed that he had this rare genetic disorder.

‘The whole family was devastated as we tried to comprehend what had happened.

‘It was the cruellest of timing because it was my brother's first term at medical school and he had his whole life ahead of him.’

But further terrible news was still to come. Because the pair are identical twins, Dan was told he had a 60 per cent to 70 per cent chance of also going blind.

Optic neuropathy: Cracks show nerve damage in the eye, caused by cells dying

‘Knowing I could lose my sight was psychologically very, very tough,’ he said.

‘Leber's Optic Neuropathy is known as 'The Sword of Damocles', based on the Greek parable, because your life goes from being great, in a period of heightened happiness, to hitting rock bottom in an instance.

‘I had a pretty tough time knowing that this dark cloud was hanging over me during my first two years at university.

‘It was effectively like sitting on a time bomb that could have gone off at any moment.’

In Easter 2010, Dan began to lose sight in his left eye and within three weeks there was also ‘full scale deterioration’ in his right eye.

Michael said: ‘Once I was diagnosed, the one thing I wanted in life was for this not to happen to my brother too.’

Although Leber's Optic Neuropathy is a hereditary condition, the brothers have been unable to find any family history going back four generations.

The twins, from Barnet, north London, can now make out shadows but use white canes to help them move around.

It is not known if they will lose their remaining sight but their condition is extremely unlikely to improve.

Nevertheless, they are determined to live life to the full. Michael is now studying geography at King's College London and wants to be a disability lawyer when he graduates.

Dan is still studying aeronautical engineering and aims to go into investment banking.

Michael said: ‘The last two years have been the most difficult but also the most exciting of my life.

‘We have had to learn new skills such as Braille and a new computer language that coverts text to speech. In lectures, we have note-takers.

‘Everything is through touch now, I select clothes through touch and texture and cooking is through touch and smell.

‘I thought I would never smile again, but we wanted our lives back.’

Damage: The normally smooth contour of the retina has large black areas where photoreceptors have been lost due to the macular degeneration

Michael plays for the England blind football team and is hoping to get picked for this year's Paralympic Games.

‘It's incredibly competitive but I'm training all the time,’ he said.

The Arsenal fans will undertake the London-Amsterdam tandem bike ride on April 6 to raise awareness of their condition.

They hope to raise over ?3,000 for Blind in Business, a charity which helps blind and partially sighted people into work.

Dan Mitchell, training and fundraising manager at Blind in Business, said: ‘Having the Smith brothers embark on such a challenging journey to raise money for this small charity shows they always want to work towards bigger challenges.

‘They have both been challenged academically and have pushed themselves as visually impaired people, working towards careers in engineering and law.’

Leber's Optic Neuropathy mostly strikes young men and is caused by complex genetic defects.

Vision loss results from the death of cells in the optic nerve responsible for relaying visual information from the eyes to the brain.

Although central vision gradually improves in a small number of cases, for most people vision loss is permanent.

Michael and Dan can be sponsored via http://www.justgiving.com/sevenmenfivebikes.

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Twin brothers' devastation after both rapidly lost their sight due to rare genetic condition

Education Isn’t Helping Americans Overcome Deepening Inequality

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

In Remaking Eden (Harper Perennial, 1998), geneticist Lee Silver envisioned a future in which humanity has split into two species: “Naturals,” the poor slobs who muddle along with the genes that nature gave them, and the “GenRich,” who can afford to boost their physical and mental talents via genetic engineering. Silver warns that over time, “the genetic distance between the Naturals and the GenRich has become greater and greater, and now there is little movement up from the Natural to GenRich class.”

We don’t have to wait until science catches up to science fiction for this unjust dystopia to be realized. It’s happening now, in the United States, as a result of policies that favor the rich at the expense of un-rich. Scholars are confirming with empirical studies what Occupy Wall Street protesters have been saying: our system is unfairly rigged in favor of the haves, who keep pulling away from have-nots.

Education can help the poor climb their way to a higher socioeconomic status. But according to Sabrina Tavernise of The New York Times, several studies have shown that “the achievement gap between rich and poor children is widening, a development that threatens to dilute education’s leveling effects.”

Race plays less of a role than it once did in this widening chasm. A study published last year by sociologist Sean Reardon found that the difference between standardized test scores of blacks and whites has narrowed since 1960, while the difference between low-income and wealthy students has surged 40 percent. “We have moved from a society in the 1950s and 1960s,” Reardon told The Times, “in which race was more consequential than family income, to one today in which family income appears to be more determinative of educational success than race.”

The simplest explanation for the divide is that the rich can afford to send their children to better schools, hire private tutors for them and give them other advantages. In 1972, affluent parents spent five times as much on their children, on average, as low-income parents; by 2007, that difference had almost doubled, to nine to one. “The pattern of privileged families today is intensive cultivation,” sociologist Frank Furstenberg told The Times.

The federal tax code is also stacked against the poor. The code caps taxes on long-term capital gains and dividends at 15 percent, which is why Mitt Romney is taxed at a lower rate than a grade-school teacher. Far from being progressive, with percentages rising with income, the tax code is regressive in this key area. Those who work for a living pay more in taxes, percentage-wise, than those who live off investments.

Political scientist Andrew Hacker documents the depths of our inequality in “We’re More Unequal Than You Think,” in The New York Review of Books this month. He estimates that since 1985 “the lower 60 percent of households have lost $4 trillion, most of which has ascended to the top 5 percent.” U.S. economic policies, Hacker says, now serve as a “giant vacuum cleaner” sucking money from low-income people and showering it upon the rich.

Economists quantify the inequality of a society on a scale called the Gini index. If everyone has the same income, the Gini index is zero; if one person makes all the moola, the Gini index is one. The U.S. Gini index has risen from .359 in 1972 to .440 in 2010, an increase of more than 20 percent, Hacker reports. In contrast, the Gini index of socialist Sweden is .230.

Hacker notes that “in a not-so-distant past, families of modest means made enough to put something aside for their children’s college fees. That cushion is gone, which is why millions of undergraduates are now forced to take much larger loans. Adding interest and penalties, many will face decades paying off six-figure debts.” (I’m facing this financial challenge myself; my son is entering college next fall and my daughter a year later.)

The U.S. exemplifies the Matthew effect, a sociological term that alludes to a passage in the Gospel of Matthew: “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”

Our current presidential race features several Christian candidates—Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Romney—who seem to view the Matthew effect as the Eleventh Commandment. These men trumpet their religiosity and rectitude, and yet they advocate economic policies that benefit the rich and hurt the poor, violating the most basic rules of moral decency. Naturals must join together with rich people with a conscience to create a more economically just society.

Image courtesy Wikimedia Commons, http://www.flickr.com/tracy_olson.

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Education Isn't Helping Americans Overcome Deepening Inequality

DNA evidence may prove pivotal in Melanie case

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

DNA evidence may prove pivotal in Melanie case

By Cormac O’Keeffe

Monday, February 13, 2012

Gardaí will know as early as today if they have a DNA match linking a key suspect to last week’s murder of Melanie McCarthy.

Gardaí have retrieved a "clear image" from a CCTV camera of a suspect which was recovered from where the killers of the 16-year-old dumped their jeep last Tuesday night.

Garda sources said they don’t yet know if this man was in the jeep, but have established from his record and his criminal associates that he "fits the picture" and is "well prepared" to kill.

However, it won’t be until officers get the results of DNA tests from the murder weapon and other evidential items until they can definitively link this man to the crime.

Garda sources said they hope to get the results of the tests either today or tomorrow.

If they get a positive confirmation they will then go looking for the man, apply for search warrants and seek to arrest him.

Detectives said there was no point arresting the man before they get these results.

The garda investigation team has drawn up a list of eight potential suspects who could be among the killers.

Detectives believe at least two men were in the 4x4 used in the murder, which happened in Brookfield estate, Tallaght, west Dublin.

Melanie was sitting in the back seat of a car parked on Brookview Way at around 10.35pm, when gunmen in a black Hyundai Santa Fe 4x4 pulled up alongside.

The 4x4 was driven a short distance to Citywest and abandoned at Brown’s Barn, off the Naas Road.

They failed to set fire to the vehicle to destroy forensic evidence.

They also dumped the shotgun, balaclavas, scarf and gloves near the scene.

Detectives have identified a number of suspects, including a key individual from Ballyfermot. Garda sources said that many of them are "small enough" in terms of their activities.

a d v e r t i s e m e n t

This appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Monday, February 13, 2012

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DNA evidence may prove pivotal in Melanie case

FBI Won’t Check DNA Profile In 20-Year-Old Murder Case

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

Holly Staker, 11, was brutally raped and murdered in Waukegan in 1992. (Credit: CBS)

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (CBS) — The FBI is not going to be checking a DNA profile in a nearly 20-year old Chicago area murder case that reopened last month.

As WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports, the murder case of Holly Staker, 11, of Waukegan, was reopened last month after a judge ordered the man convicted of killing her to be freed from prison. Juan Rivera was freed partly because of DNA evidence.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio’s Bernie Tafoya reports

But the Chicago Tribune reports that because the DNA profiling was conducted by a California lab that is not accredited by the federal government, the FBI will not be running the profile through its computers. The FBI system contains DNA information on more than 10 million people.

The Center for Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University criticized the FBI’s stance. One of its attorneys , Jane Raley, told the Tribune that the DNA has provided the genetic fingerprint of Staker’s killer, and all they need is his identity.

Staker was fatally stabbed and sexually assaulted while babysitting two younger children on Aug. 17, 1992. Investigators had always thought they had the killer, Juan Rivera, who had confessed after a long interrogation, but whose DNA was not a match.

Rivera was convicted three times – in 1993, 1998 and 2009 – but his conviction was overturned each and every time.

Last month, Rivera walked out of Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet after being locked up for 19 years.

Rivera’s 2009 conviction was “unjustified and cannot stand” because of a lack of evidence tying him to Staker’s rape and murder, the 2nd District Appellate Court panel said in its 3-0 ruling in December.

Lake County prosecutors decided not to challenge the decision, and the Center on Wrongful Convictions volunteered to help find the real killer.

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FBI Won’t Check DNA Profile In 20-Year-Old Murder Case

Planet of the Apes: As in ‘Star Trek,’ would aliens be similar to us?

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

On Star Trek, the aliens often look so human that crew members fall in love with them. But in real life, scientists in the field known as astrobiology can't be sure alien life would even be carbon-based like us, or use DNA to carry a genetic code.

Some insight now is coming from earthly labs, where scientists are building alternative kinds of genetic codes, and showing how they can evolve.

Whether life could be built with an alien biochemistry was among the more interesting questions that came up during a public event with famed biologist Richard Dawkins and physicist Lawrence Krauss, author of the book The Physics of Star Trek.

Dawkins saw the question as a biological equivalent of one posed by Einstein: Did God have any choice in making the universe? Not that Einstein believed in a biblical God, as the famously atheistic Dawkins was quick to point out.

Dawkins noted that 99 percent of the living things that ever existed are now extinct. The way carbon-based life works on Earth is downright wasteful, he said. "Any decent engineer would have sent it back to the shop."

The event, which drew more than 3,000 people, was held at Arizona State University in Tempe. Dawkins didn't lecture but instead took part in an onstage discussion with Krauss, who runs a multidisciplinary program there on the origins of humanity, life, and the cosmos.

Krauss - while not going so far as to say alien chicks would be hot - did say the laws of physics and chemistry might favor carbon-based life resembling ours.

Dawkins said he was inclined to think life could exist in more diverse forms, as long as it included some kind of code-carrying system equivalent to DNA, copying itself with high fidelity. Such genetic material is critical for Darwinian evolution, which, to Dawkins and many others, is the defining characteristic of life.

Perhaps it wasn't a complete coincidence that at the same university, biochemist John Chaput was creating an alternative version of DNA, called TNA, and had last month published the first evidence that the stuff can undergo Darwinian evolution.

Chaput, who works at ASU's Biodesign Institute, said Dawkins is correct to emphasize the need for genetic material - something that can carry a code. All known life does this with DNA and RNA.

NASA has taken a great interest in such possible alternative code-carriers. In late 2010 the space agency claimed that scientists had forced a bacteria to substitute arsenic for phosphorus in its DNA. Despite the fanfare, the team never presented adquate evidence that alternative life really existed, said chemist Steve Benner of the Florida-based Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution.

And when biochemist Rosemary Redfield of the University of British Columbia tried to replicate this, she discovered that the bacteria failed to grow when fed arsenic and no phosphorus.

Benner said the original arsenic life paper admitted to a small amount of phosphorus contamination. From the start, he said, he thought the contamination was fooling the team into thinking the organism was using arsenic the way we use phosphorus.

Benner said this new TNA work is just as exciting and relevant to astrobiology as the arsenic bacteria would have been if it had been proved.

This alternative genetic material is like RNA in that it's single-stranded and it carries a chemical code with four different units. But the backbone that holds it together has a different structure, incorporating a sugar called threose where RNA has a sugar called ribose.

Threose is found in meteorites, said Chaput, suggesting it can form spontaneously in the absence of life. It's also simpler than RNA, making it a reasonable candidate for a precursor to our current genetic material.

The existence of a precursor fits with the widely held view that life didn't start out as complex as even the simplest microbes today. Instead, the simplest known living things evolved from yet simpler life that no longer exists.

Chaput showed that, like RNA, TNA can undergo Darwinian evolution. In theory, then, life elsewhere could use TNA as its genetic code, and if early life on Earth used it, TNA-based life could evolve into DNA-based life.

To demonstrate TNA evolution, he used selection to prompt the molecules to do a fairly simple task - to stick to a specific protein. This is what so-called receptors do in our bodies. He continued to select those TNA molecules that best stuck to the protein until he had a decent receptor.

TNA evolution worked the same way as in DNA, with accidental mutations leading to variation, and natural selection amplifying those variants that are best at surviving and reproducing themselves.

That suggests the possibility of TNA-based life elsewhere, said Benner. It's also possible, he said, that arsenic-using DNA would be stable, say, under the frigid conditions of Saturn's moon Titan.

So now we have TNA and code-carrying molecules that use six or 12 characters rather than the usual four. With these increasing possibilities known, Benner sides more closely with Dawkins on the question of life forms with alternative chemistries.

Our life is not the best of all possible forms, Benner said, but a product of chance, our biochemistry hinging on which molecules happened to bump into each other. God did have alternatives, in other words, but chance determined which one would evolve to create works like Star Trek.

Contact staff writer Faye Flam at 215-854-4977, fflam@phillynews.com, on her blog at http://www.philly.com/evolution, or @fayeflam on Twitter.

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Planet of the Apes: As in 'Star Trek,' would aliens be similar to us?

BioConference Live Kicks Off Two-Day Virtual Event for the Laboratory Animal Science Community beginning this Week …

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

Upcoming regional science fair needs volunteer judges

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

Volunteer judges are needed for the Montana Tech regional science fair Feb. 28 and March 1.

According to a news release, high school judging (requires judges have a MS degree) takes place 9 to 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28, in Tech's SUB. Categories by which students are judged are Team, Computer Science, Environmental Science, Zoology, Physics, Microbiology, Medicine and Health, Math, Engineering, Earth and Space, Chemistry, Botany, and Behavioral Science.

Elementary judging takes place 9 a.m. to noon and junior high judging is noon to 3 p.m. on Thursday, March 1, in Tech's HPER complex. There are no educational requirements to be an elementary or junior high judge. Attempts are made to place judges in the area where they are most comfortable with choices being Earth, Life, Physical or Behavioral science.

For details, email to Amy Verlanic at Averlanic@mtech.edu.

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Upcoming regional science fair needs volunteer judges

Plastic surgery reported up despite economy

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

Anti-aging procedures that don’t involve going under the knife drove the growth of cosmetic medicine in 2011, a new report from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons says.
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The plastic surgery market saw ”signicant” growth for the second year in a row, the group says, with cosmetic and reconstructive plastic surgery each up 5%.

“While the rate of economic recovery in the U.S. is still uncertain, 2011 proved to be a good year for plastic surgery,” ASPS President Dr. Malcolm Z. Roth said.

Some local plastic surgeons in Orange County, one of the cosmetic medicine capitals, see things somewhat differently.

“Even though these statistics are derived from surveying our membership, I find them not totally credible,” said Dr. Edward Jonas Domanskis of Newport Beach. “In my experience, the total number of cosmetic surgery procedures, both surgical and non-surgical, has either decreased from the past year or stayed the same.”

Dr. John Di Saia of San Clemente and Orange took the report in stride.

“Things are looking up in the cosmetic surgery market but only slightly. 5% is not a major increase,” he said. “The larger procedures are still slow to return in large numbers. It is a sign of the economy.”

Another plastic surgeon said he thinks the statistics are spot on.

“The recent figures from the American Society of Plastic Surgeons on procedures performed in 2011 are consistent with the trends in my practice,” said Dr. Donald Altman of Irvine, adding, “… Despite the modest increase in procedures performed in 2011, consumers seeking cosmetic surgery continue to be very price sensitive.”

The ASPS says 13.8 million cosmetic plastic surgery procedures — both surgical and minimally-invasive such as Botox or filler injections – were performed in the United States in 2011.

Also, 5.5 million reconstructive plastic surgery procedures were performed last year, up 5%, as well.

Cosmetic surgery went up 2%, with nearly 1.6 million procedures in 2011, the ASPS said.

The top five surgical procedures were:

Breast augmentation (307,000 procedures, up 4%) Nose reshaping (244,000 procedures, down 3%) Liposuction (205,000 procedures, up 1%) Eyelid surgery (196,000 procedures, down 6%) Facelift (119,000 procedures, up 5%)

Facelifts were listed among the top five cosmetic surgical procedures for the first time since 2004, replacing tummy tucks.

“We are seeing notable increases in surgical procedures, such as facelifts, that reflect the demands of an aging boomer population,” Roth said. ”However, the overall growth in cosmetic procedures is being primarily driven by a substantial rise in minimally-invasive procedures.”

Cosmetic minimally-invasive procedures increased 6%, with nearly 12.2 million procedures in 2011, according to the ASPS.

The top five minimally-invasive procedures were:

Botulinum toxin type A — mostly Botox (5.7 million procedures, up 5%) Soft tissue fillers (1.9 million procedures, up 7%) Chemical peel (1.1 million procedures, down 3%) Laser hair removal (1.1 million procedures, up 15%) Microdermabrasion (900,000 procedures, up 9%)

Soft tissue fillers like hyaluronic acid (such as Restylane and Juvederm Ultra), calcium hydroxylapatite (Radiesse), and fat injections had some of the largest growth in the minimally-invasive market last year.

The ASPS said more than 1.3 million hylauronic acid procedures were performed in 2011, up 9%; 286,000 calcium hydroxylapatite procedures, up 36%; and 68,000 fat injections, up 19%.

Lip augmentation practically exploded – up 49%, with more than 25,000 procedures performed, according to the ASPS.

Procedures by gender will be released in upcoming weeks. But chin augmentation, a procedure the ASPS says is popular with men, nearly doubled in 2011, with 21,000 procedures performed, up 71%, according to the organization.

Here’s some more from local plastic surgeons:

Dr. Terry Dubrow of Newport Beach:

“I think these numbers reflect that things have pretty much stabilized. No great increases or decreases in the demand or utilization of plastic surgery. The fact that most procedures seem to be up in single digit percentage point gains reflect in my mind nothing more than statistical variation. I have a rather established practice and I appear frequently on television and despite that some months last year were slower than I would expect if things were really improving.”

Dr. Edward Jonas Domanskis of Newport Beach:

“Definitely, the surgical cosmetic procedures continue at least in my practice and Orange County, to be significantly impacted by the economy with less expendable and spendable income. I feel that this is also because consumers confidence levels are still low.”

Dr. Donald Altman of Irvine:

“Breast augmentation continues to be the most popular cosmetic surgical procedure followed by rhinoplasty. There has been a dramatic increase in breast reconstruction this past year. Patients seem to be better informed in their decisions regarding cosmetic surgery, probably reflecting their increased ability to access information online. Email and text messaging has improved my ability to communicate with patients exponentially.”

Stem Cell Therapy for Deafness

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

MANILA, Philippines - US researchers have begun a groundbreaking trial to test the potential of umbilical cord blood transplants, a kind of stem cell therapy, to treat and possibly reverse hearing loss in infants.

The Phase I trial follows promising studies on mice showing that such transplants were able to rebuild the structures of the inner ear, and some anecdotal evidence from humans, sparking hope of a cure for some forms of deafness.

One of those people is two-year-old Finn McGrath, who suffered brain damage after being deprived of oxygen during a prolonged and complicated delivery, according to his mother, Laura.

"His doctors told us he was at high risk for cerebral palsy, vision issues, hearing problems, and mental retardation," she said in an interview with AFP.

Finn's early days were an all-out struggle to survive, so for his parents, learning that he had failed his hearing tests and had damaged hair cells - the sensory receptors in the inner ear that pick up sounds - was almost an afterthought.

He had organ failure, breathing problems, and his cerebral palsy left him unable to roll, crawl, or walk, hold his head up, talk, or eat.

As his parents searched for ways to help him, they came upon stories online that told of studies using cord blood to help children with cerebral palsy and other disorders.

Prior to his birth, the McGraths had arranged to privately bank his umbilical cord blood, a procedure that costs around $2,000 plus storage fees, and remains controversial among pediatricians.

Private companies such as the Cord Blood Registry, which is funding the Texas study on hearing loss, urge expecting parents to bank their umbilical cord blood and reserve it for personal use as a way to protect their family.

That advice runs counter to the guidelines issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2007, which calls such claims "unsubstantiated" and says banking for personal or family use "should be discouraged" but is "encouraged" if it is to be stored in a bank for public use.

Since Finn's parents had already banked his, they enrolled him in cord blood trial for cerebral palsy in North Carolina and he received his first transplant in November, 2009, when he was about seven weeks old.

A second transfusion followed and by May, his parents began to notice a change.

Nighttime noises, like an alarm on his food pump or the sound of ripping medical tape, would suddenly startle him awake, his mother recalled.

"He started vocalizing sounds and we could tell that he was anticipating things that we would say. Like, if he had heard a story a number of times or a song, he would smile like he recognized the song or the story."

Finn had a third infusion in September, 2010, when he was one year old. Four months later, an otoacoustic emissions test (OAE), which plays a sound and picks up vibrations in the cochlea and hair cells, came back normal.

The early hearing tests that showed hearing loss were not exactly the same as the later tests that came back normal, so McGrath is cautious about comparing them directly, but she believes the cord blood transfusions may have helped.

"All I can tell you is anecdotally he was not able to hear for probably the first three or four months of his life, and then when he was about six to eight months old, he started hearing."

The hearing trial in Texas aims to take a first step in testing the safety, and later the efficacy, of transfusing cord blood in children age six weeks to 18 months who have sustained post-birthsensorineural hearing loss.

Some reasons that children lose their hearing at or after birth may include oxygen deprivation, head injury, infection, strong doses of antibiotics, or loud noises.

Sensorineural hearing loss affects approximately six per 1,000 children, and there is no available medical treatment. Hearing aids or cochlear implants are typically offered to boost the ability of the damaged tissues.

"Stem cell therapy may potentially repair the damaged structures of the inner ear and restore normal hearing," lead investigator Samer Fakhri told AFP.

"We are at the initial stages of this process and the results are looking promising," Fakhri added.

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Stem Cell Therapy for Deafness

US begins stem cell trial for hearing loss

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

US researchers have begun a groundbreaking trial to test the potential of umbilical cord blood transplants, a kind of stem cell therapy, to treat and possibly reverse hearing loss in infants.

The phase I trial follows promising studies on mice showing that such transplants were able to rebuild the structures of the inner ear, and some anecdotal evidence from humans, sparking hope of a cure for some forms of deafness.

One of those people is two-year-old Finn McGrath, who suffered brain damage after being deprived of oxygen during a prolonged and complicated delivery, according to his mother, Laura.

"His doctors told us he was at high risk for cerebral palsy, vision issues, hearing problems and mental retardation," she said in an interview with AFP.

Finn's early days were an all-out struggle to survive, so for his parents, learning that he had failed his hearing tests and had damaged hair cells -- the sensory receptors in the inner ear that pick up sounds -- was almost an afterthought.

He had organ failure, breathing problems, and his cerebral palsy left him unable to roll, crawl or walk, hold his head up, talk or eat.

As his parents searched for ways to help him, they came upon stories online that told of studies using cord blood to help children with cerebral palsy and other disorders.

Prior to his birth, the McGraths had arranged to privately bank his umbilical cord blood, a procedure that costs around $2,000 plus storage fees, and remains controversial among pediatricians.

That advice runs counter to the guidelines issues by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2007, which calls such claims "unsubstantiated" and says banking for personal or family use "should be discouraged" but is "encouraged" if it is to be stored in a bank for public use.

Since Finn's parents had already banked his, they enrolled him in cord blood trial for cerebral palsy in North Carolina and he received his first transplant in November 2009 when he was about seven weeks old.

A second transfusion followed and by May, his parents began to notice a change.

Nighttime noises, like an alarm on his food pump or the sound of ripping medical tape, would suddenly startle him awake, his mother recalled.

Finn had a third infusion in September 2010, when he was one year old. Four months later, an otoacoustic emissions test (OAE), which plays a sound and picks up vibrations in the cochlea and hair cells, came back normal.

"All I can tell you is anecdotally he was not able to hear for probably the first three or four months of his life, and then when he was about six to eight months old, he started hearing."

Some reasons that children lose their hearing at or after birth may include oxygen deprivation, head injury, infection, strong doses of antibiotics or loud noises.

"Stem cell therapy may potentially repair the damaged structures of the inner ear and restore normal hearing," lead investigator Sami Fakhri told AFP.

"We are at the initial stages of this process and the results are looking promising," Fakhri added.

Research using stem cells in cord blood, known as hematopoietic cells, is already under way on some types of brain injury, cerebral palsy, juvenile diabetes, kidney and lung disease, he said.

The new study at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center is being funded by the Cord Blood Registry, a private bank, and those eligible must have already banked their own umbilical cord blood with CBR.

But to Stephen Epstein, an otolaryngologist in Maryland, that does not pose a conflict of interest, because separate medical institutions in Texas and Georgia are conducting the Food and Drug Administration-approved research.

"If both of them can reproduce the same results then I would say it has some validity to it," said Epstein, who is not involved in the study.

"This is certainly a welcome, acceptable experiment, but it should be looked at with caution and time will tell."

One patient is already enrolled and the study, which runs for one year, has room for nine more.

While Finn McGrath still faces many challenges due to his cerebral palsy, his mother is grateful for the things he can do.

"I don't know how much worse off he would have been without the stem cell transfusion," McGrath said, pointing to his normal cognition, lack of seizures, good hearing and vision.

"We remain hopeful that he will continue to improve."

ksh/ao

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US begins stem cell trial for hearing loss

Vitamin and mineral supplements may reduce colon cancer risk: Rat study

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

Regular use of vitamin and mineral supplements could help to reduce the risk of colon cancer and protect against carcinogens, according to new research in rats.

The study – published in the Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology (CJPP) – found that rats given regular multivitamin and mineral supplements showed a significantly lower risk of developing colon cancer when they were exposed to carcinogens.

“Multivitamin and mineral supplements synergistically contribute to the cancer chemopreventive potential, and hence, regular supplements of multivitamins and minerals could reduce the risk of colon cancer,” explained the authors, led by Dr Ignacimuthu Savarimuthu of Loyola College, India.

Commenting on the study, Dr. Grant Pierce, Editor of CJPP said: "It has been unclear whether multivitamin supplementation to cancer patients is helpful, has no effect, or is even detrimental during therapy,"

Cancer nutrition

Dietary nutrients “are well documented to be chemopreventive in the epidemiology of colon cancer,” said the authors, noting that there has been ‘considerable’ interest in establishing the role of particular nutrients, either individually or in combination, to prevent colon cancer.
“Research on multivitamin and mineral supplementation from diet and cancer are often speculative”, said the research team. However there have been several epidemiological studies in recent years that have linked dietary nutrients to colon cancer risk – including one reporting a ‘strong association’ with vitamins A, C, and E , and other studies linking vitamin B and vitamin D status to risk of the cancer.
“Although the specific dietary factors responsible for this protective effect have not been clearly identified, [it is clear that] fruits and vegetables contain vitamins and minerals that may influence cancer,” said the researchers

“The objective of this study was to show that including vitamin and mineral supplements in a regular diet could reduce cancer risk and protect against carcinogenesis,” they explained.

Study details

Ignacimuthu and colleagues split rats into 6 groups, which were then exposed to different combinations of supplements and carcinogens (1,2-dimethylhydrazine) – DMH-induced rat colon carcinogenesis is one of the most widely studied experimental models in cancer chemoprevention studies. The authors added that all rats were fed a high-fat diet (20% fat) over the 32 week study period.

They revealed that rats fed a high-fat plus low-fibre diet and exposed to carcinogens developed pre-cancerous lesions; whereas, rats undergoing similar treatment, but provided with daily multivitamin and mineral supplements, showed an 84% reduction in the formation such of pre-cancerous lesions, and did not develop tumours.

“Multivitamin and mineral supplementation during the initiation, post-initiation, and the entire study period significantly decreased the levels of lipid peroxidation products in circulation and colonic tissues, significantly elevated the activities of the antioxidant enzymes and reduced glutathione to near normalcy in DMH-induced rats,” wrote the authors.

Source: Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
Volume 90, Issue 1, Pages 45-54, doi: 10.1139/y11-100
“Multivitamin and mineral supplementation in 1,2-dimethylhydrazine induced experimental colon carcinogenesis and evaluation of free radical status, antioxidant potential, and incidence of ACF”
Authors: A.B. Arul, I. Savarimuthu, M.A. Alsaif, K.S. Al Numair

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Vitamin and mineral supplements may reduce colon cancer risk: Rat study

Fitness testing assesses body composition, physical activity

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

The Exercise Physiology Laboratory is now offering health, fitness and metabolic assessments to help participants manage health and weight, as well as increase athletic performance.

Participants will use state-of-the-art technology, including FUEL testing, the BodPod and Sensewear Armband analysis to measure body composition, physical activity, energy expenditure, metabolism and aerobic capacity and threshold.

“For individuals desiring to optimize their cardiovascular health, achieve weight loss or improve endurance [during] athletic performance, the KNR Exercise Physiology Lab offers assessments that can help find what intensity that is for individuals,” Laura Wheatley, program coordinator at the Exercise Physiology Lab, said.

FUEL testing will measure how many calories are burned during the different exercise intensities, which will help determine each individual’s maximum fat-burning zone for aerobic training and health benefits.

During the FUEL test, participants will start by running at a low speed on his or her choice of cardio machine while wearing a metabolic mask.

As body levels are measured, speeds will gradually increase every stage for about three minutes until an anaerobic, or carbohydrate-burning threshold is reached.

“By training at a target heart rate zone, you can optimize your weight management or athletic performance goals,” Wheatley said.

Individuals can also measure body composition using the BodPod, an egg-shaped assessment machine that uses air displacement to measure the ratio of fat to fat-free mass in each participant.

Each individual will be asked to sit in the BodPod for a short period of time while breathing in during one to two minute testing intervals. Testing will then determine a healthy or goal body weight, as well as the competitive body weight for athletes.

“Athletes looking to train for endurance events like organized cycling rides, 5K runs, marathon, or triathlons can receive customized zones appropriate for recovery, aerobic training, endurance racing, and interval workouts,” Wheatley said.

Participants can also measure his or her real-life caloric expenditure and normal physical activity by wearing a Sensewear Armband for a few days of analysis.

After wearing the armband for several days, participants simply drop it off at the lab and will receive an email report within a few days.

“You simply wear the armband on your arm throughout the day, and it calculates energy expenditure, the number of steps you take, daily physical activity, exercise intensity and sleep duration and efficiency,” Maria Canino, junior exercise science major, said.

FUEL testing costs $100, BodPod testing is $50 and Sensewear Armband testing costs $60 to the general public. However, group discounts are also available, and ISU students receive a 40 percent discount on each of these services.

Each test will be conducted at the Exercise Physiology Lab in room 177 of McCormick Hall from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. during business hours. Special accommodations can be made upon request.

“Fitness and exercise need to be seen as a journey not a destination,” Canino added.

For more information, contact Laura Wheatley at (309) 438-3526 or email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

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Fitness testing assesses body composition, physical activity

Research and Markets: Neurodegeneration: The Molecular Pathology of Dementia and Movement Disorders, 2nd Edition

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/0e72cb/neurodegeneration) has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd's new book "Neurodegeneration: The Molecular Pathology of Dementia and Movement Disorders, 2nd Edition" to their offering.

Most textbooks on neurodegenerative disorders have used a classification scheme based upon either clinical syndromes or anatomical distribution of the pathology. In contrast, this book looks to the future and uses a classification based upon molecular mechanisms, rather than clinical or anatomical boundaries.

Major advances in molecular genetics and the application of biochemical and immunocytochemical techniques to neurodegenerative disorders have generated this new approach. Throughout most of the current volume, diseases are clustered according to the proteins that accumulate within cells (e.g. tau, a-synuclein and TDP-43) and in the extracellular compartments (e.g. -amyloid and prion proteins) or according to a shared pathogenetic mechanism, such as trinucleotide repeats, that are a feature of specific genetic disorders.

Chapters throughout the book conform to a standard lay-out for ease of access by the reader and are written by a panel of International Experts.

Since the first edition of this book, major advances have been made in the discovery of common molecular mechanisms between many neurodegenerative diseases most notably in the frontotemporal lobar degenerations (FTLD) and motor neuron disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Readership:

This book will be essential reading for clinicians, neuropathologists and basic neuroscientists who require the firm up-to-date knowledge of mechanisms, diagnostic pathology and genetics of Neurodegenerative diseases that is required for progress in therapy and management.

Key Topics Covered:

Introduction: Basic Mechanisms of Neurodegeneration. Alzheimer's Disease and Aging. Tauopathies. Synucleinopathies. Trinucleotide Repeat Disorders. Prion Disorders. Frontotemporal Lobar Degeneration and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/Motor Neuron Disease. Other Neurodegenerative Disorders

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/0e72cb/neurodegeneration

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Research and Markets: Neurodegeneration: The Molecular Pathology of Dementia and Movement Disorders, 2nd Edition

Sports Nutrition & Health Promotions at Holland & Barrett

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire -02/10/12)- High street health experts and leading health food retailer Holland & Barrett are doing their bit for those continuing with their healthy and active resolutions for 2012 with a range of offers on sports and nutritional supplements.

Whether you're looking to improve your performance in the gym or on the playing field, you'll make savings on a variety of whey protein products as well as a range of vitamins, minerals & supplements.

An array of offers are available on a number of items, such as:

- Up to 50% off on sports supplements such as creatine and whey protein

- Savings of up to 50% on vitamins, minerals & supplements which include energy drinks, strength tablets and many products to ease those aches and pains after a tough workout

- Huge savings across healthy food and drink products including cereals, nuts, dried fruits and many other tasty and healthy snacks

To find out more and buy online from Holland & Barrett please visit http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/.

As Europe's largest specialist health food retailer, Holland & Barrett has over 600 stores in almost every major city and town across the United Kingdom and Ireland.

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Sports Nutrition & Health Promotions at Holland & Barrett

Military food getting nutrition upgrade

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

(AP)

WASHINGTON - Hold the mystery meat: Military bases will soon be serving more fruits, vegetables and low-fat dishes under the first program in 20 years to improve nutrition standards across the armed services.

First lady Michelle Obama and Pentagon officials planned to announce the effort Thursday during a visit to Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas, where the military has been experimenting with the idea through a pilot program designed to improve the quality and variety of foods served on base.

It's not just about giving members of the armed services a more svelte profile.

"The Department of Defense considers obesity not only a national problem, but a national security issue," said Dr. Jonathan Woodson, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs. "About a quarter of entry-level candidates are too overweight to actually either enter the military or sustain themselves through the first enlistment."

The Pentagon spends an estimated $4.5 billion a year on food services, and $1.1 billion a year on medical care related to excess weight and obesity.

Under the Military Health SysSOMETHING HEREtem's new obesity and nutrition awareness campaign, more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and lower-fat entrDees will be coming to the 1,100 service member dining halls in coming months. Healthier choices will be turning up in base schools, vending machines and snack bars, too.

Mrs. Obama, who has been leading a campaign against childhood obesity, said the military effort would send a message to the whole nation.

"When our service members make healthy eating a priority in their lives, the rest of us are more likely to make it a priority in our lives," she said in a written statement. "Simply put, this is America's entire military once again stepping forward to lead by example."

The first lady was visiting Little Rock as part of a three-day national tour marking the second anniversary of her "Let's Move" campaign.

Under the new program, each of the armed services will be asked to update menu standards for the first time in two decades and to ensure that healthier food choices are available.

"We are intent on focusing on preventable illnesses to help our people stay out of our clinics and hospitals by improving their physical condition," Woodson said in a statement.

He said surveys in the mid-1990s found that about 1 out of 50 members of the armed services had weight problems. By about 2005, the figure was 1 in 20 service members.

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Military food getting nutrition upgrade

Kalinga nutrition congress moves to reduce malnutrition

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

Thursday, February 9, 2012

TABUK, Kalinga - Participants to the First Kalinga Nutrition Congress held last week resolved to bring down the province’s malnutrition rate, the second highest in the region.

Based on the 7th national nutrition survey conducted recently by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), Kalinga posted a malnutrition rate of 29.7 percent, next to Abra with 40.1 percent.

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Although the Cordillera region’s malnutrition rate of 20 percent is lower than the national malnutrition rate of 27.9 percent, the province has to address the situation, as high rate of malnutrition is prevalent among children aging 0-5, who are considered the most vulnerable group.

Provincial Health Officer Romulo Gaerlan, who is also the Provincial Nutrition Action Officer (PNAO), identified the common nutritional problems in the province as mostly related to micro-nutrient deficiencies.

Children who are at the growing stage from 0-5 and 6-10 are commonly found to lack iron, iodine, protein and Vitamin A.

As mitigating effort, participants to the congress moved to enhance the province’s nutrition program this year and started to identify some areas to work on.

Among the issues to be addressed for a more aggressive nutrition drive include provision of adequate funds, logistics and benefits to barangay nutrition scholars (BNS).

Citing some problems encountered in the field, some BNS reported of already depreciating weighing scales while others have no units to use and just borrow during operation timbang.

The body resolved to bring the issues to the provincial nutrition committee for appropriate actions. (Larry Lopez)

Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on February 09, 2012.

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REGION: New federal nutrition guidelines could affect local schools

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

Recent changes to federal school nutrition guidelines could mean some extra costs and oversight for school districts throughout the region, but also will lead to healthier meals, local school officials said.

Last month, federal officials announced the new rules, which eventually will require meals to have less sodium, a higher percentage of whole grains, and a wider selection of fruits and vegetables.

"They've dropped some of the grain requirements and they've really enhanced some of the fruit and vegetable requirements," said Jeff Landers, child nutrition services director for the Vista Unified School District.

They also will set a calorie limit for the first time and ban most trans fats, which aren't allowed in California schools anyway.

Some of the changes will take effect this fall; others will be phased in over 10 years.

Many North County districts ---- such as San Marcos Unified, Escondido Unified, Vista Unified and Oceanside Unified ---- have already started to offer more fruit and whole-grain products, officials said.

"I feel very confident, very comfortable, with where we are and where we're going," said Gail Gousha, director of nutrition services for the Escondido Union School District. "I don't see a huge change in our program."

The district already offers lots of fruit, vegetables and whole grains each day, she said.

In San Marcos, school officials have been preparing for the changes for a couple of years, said Dena England, director of the child nutrition services department in the San Marcos Unified School District.

They have added salads, whole-grain products and some unique items such as fresh soy beans and hummus, she said.

Many districts offer students fresh fruit and vegetables, but beginning in the fall, students will be required to have a certain amount of each. Schools also will need to offer different types of vegetables throughout the week.

Though most of the changes probably won't increase the price of meals, offering more fresh fruits and vegetable and more whole-grain products could, officials said.

"It's going to be difficult because fresh fruit obviously costs a lot more than canned fruit," England said. "It's definitely going to be a higher cost."

How much more the new meal plans will cost will depend on food prices, she said.

Districts will get some extra money from the federal government to help cover the changes, but local school officials said they're not sure that it will be enough.

The new rules are the first major overhaul of school meals in more than 15 years.

New sodium limits will be phased in in five-year increments between 2014 and 2022. It will be mostly up to food suppliers to make changes in the salt content of the meals they offer, school officials said.

Starting next year, milk will have to be low-fat and flavored milks will have to be nonfat.

School districts in California already have higher standards than the federal requirements, so the changes won't affect schools here as much as they will in some other states.

"California is just way ahead of the game," Gousha said. "The nation's finally catching up with us."

Call staff writer Stacy Brandt at 760-901-4009 or follow him on Twitter @NCTcoastschools.

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REGION: New federal nutrition guidelines could affect local schools

SmartBrief Partners with School Nutrition Association to Deliver Vital News to School Nutrition Professionals

Posted on February 13, 2012 by ev1

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

SmartBrief, Inc. launched a daily digital media news service on Monday, January 30, 2012, in partnership with the School Nutrition Association (SNA).

SNA is a national, nonprofit professional organization representing more than 55,000 members who provide high-quality, low-cost meals to students across the country. SNA SmartBrief will contain daily industry news for SNA members dedicated to ensuring healthy school meals and nutrition education are available for all children. The partnership will save these professionals time and keep them informed of industry developments by delivering “must-read” news directly to their inboxes.

SmartBrief is an online media publishing company that gives readers a competitive edge by providing relevant, timely and reliable content as efficiently as possible. SmartBrief filters thousands of sources daily to create customized e-mail publications in partnership with more than 180 trade associations, professional societies, nonprofits and companies. The most relevant industry news is chosen by SmartBrief’s editorial staff and summarized. SmartBrief distributes the news via its e-mail newsletters, the SmartBrief website and the SmartBrief Android and iPhone apps.

Frank DiPasquale, SNA’s CEO, said, “School Nutrition Association’s partnership with SmartBrief will benefit SNA members and the industry as a whole by providing a new, faster way to stay updated on the latest child nutrition and foodservice trends to help us better serve America’s students.”

Rick Stamberger, CEO of SmartBrief, Inc., added, “We are privileged to be a part of SNA’s work in promoting healthy nutrition habits for our children. SmartBrief staff will be dedicated to providing school nutrition professionals with a valuable tool to save them time and allow them to focus on their main objective, serving schoolchildren across the country.”

To subscribe to SNA SmartBrief and stay on top of the most relevant news affecting the school nutrition industry, please visit http://www.smartbrief.com/sna. For more information about SNA, please visit http://www.schoolnutrition.org.

If you are interested in learning how a partnership with SmartBrief can benefit your organization, visit http://corp.SmartBrief.com/services or e-mail partnerwithSB@smartbrief.com to learn more.

About SmartBrief

SmartBrief is the leading online publisher of targeted business news and information in more than 25 industries. By combining technology with human editorial expertise, SmartBrief filters thousands of sources daily to deliver the most relevant industry news in partnership with more than 180 trade associations, professional societies, nonprofits and companies. With an audience of more than 4 million senior executives, thought leaders and informed industry professionals, SmartBrief is the essential resource for “must-read” industry news.

About School Nutrition Association

The School Nutrition Association (SNA) is a national, nonprofit professional organization representing 55,000 school nutrition professionals across the country. Founded in 1946, SNA and its members are dedicated to making healthy school meals and nutrition education available to all students. To find out more about today’s school meals, visit http://www.TrayTalk.org.

RSS feed for SNA SmartBrief: http://www.smartbrief.com/servlet/rss?b=SNA

Keywords/Tags: SmartBrief, School Nutrition Association, nutrition

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