Puerto Rico tops list of 25 best islands

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Puerto Rico has taken top spot on the list of 25 best Caribbean islands published by Business Insider magazine.

The selection of destinations took into account the island's accessibility from New York, the average cost of hotel rooms, the number of attractions and something called the beach density index, a ratio of the length of the coast to total area.

Puerto Rico was selected as the best island because it is only two hours and 40 minutes from New York by air and the average cost of a hotel room is $US187 ($A202), according to Business Insider.

The Bahamas, St Barts, St Martin and Cura'ao also made the list's top five, while Grenada, Turks and Caicos, Dominica, Guadeloupe and Haiti filled the last five slots.

The study also evaluated the Dominican Republic, the Cayman Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, Jamaica, the British Virgin Islands, Barbados, Montserrat, Cuba, Martinique, Aruba, Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands, St Lucia, Antigua and Anguilla.

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Puerto Rico tops list of 25 best islands

Tourism Poses A Threat To Dolphins In The Balearic Islands

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December 15, 2014

Image Caption: Conflicts with fishers cause 30 to 60 dolphin deaths a year in the area. Credit: Joan Gonzalvo

Provided by SINC Team, FECYT Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology

The rise in tourism, fishing and sea transport between the Iberian Peninsula and the Balearic Islands is compromising the wellbeing of a small population of common bottlenose dolphins living in coastal waters off the Pityusic Islands. This is the conclusion of a study led by the University of Barcelona (Spain), which has, for the first time, counted these mammals in summer and spring, which are crucial seasons for them.

Despite being one of the most common cetaceans in the Mediterranean Ocean, the common bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncates) resides in areas close to human beings, and is thus subject to continual conflicts so much so that in 2006, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared the subpopulation of this species in the Mediterranean vulnerable after it had decreased by 30% in the preceding 60 years.

As Joan Gonzalvo, a scientist at the University of Barcelonas (UB) Institute for Research on Biodiversity, explains to SINC: Anthropogenic activities such as fishing, coastal development, tourism and maritime transport, especially in summer, are some of the threats faced by dolphins in the Balearic Islands.

Gonzalvo is the main author of a study that evaluated the abundance of these cetaceans over three years, as well as movement patterns between the islands and their group dynamic. The results, published in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, estimates that there are 517 dolphins inhabiting this area of the Mediterranean.

The Pityusic Islands are considered a refuge for marine species, especially this population of bottlenose dolphins probably one of the largest in Spain. However, the study demonstrates that the total number of these sea mammals is smaller than previously thought. It may not be more than a few hundred, the researcher says.

The team drew up a series of dolphin distribution maps based on sightings between 2002 and 2004. Most sightings were in summer and spring, when the dolphins could have been avoiding coastal waters due to the growing number of boats and ships and greater human presence, Gonzalvo reasons.

Danger point

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Tourism Poses A Threat To Dolphins In The Balearic Islands

Massive Genetic Effort Confirms Bird Songs Related to Human Speech

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The sequencing of genomes of 48 bird species explains the evolutionary roots of vocalization and could offer insight into human speech disorders

Zebra finch offers clues to the evolution of vocalization. Credit: Peripitus/Wikimedia Commons

Songbirds stutter, babble when young, become mute if parts of their brains are damaged, learn how to sing from their elders and can even be "bilingual"in other words, songbirds' vocalizations share a lot of traits with human speech. However, that similarity goes beyond behavior, researchers have found. Even though humans and birds are separated by millions of years of evolution, the genes that give us our ability to learn speech have much in common with those that lend birds their warble.

A four-year long effort involving more than 100 researchers around the world put the power of nine supercomputers into analyzing the genomes of 48 species of birds. The results, published this week in a package of eight articles in Science and 20 papers in other journals, provides the most complete picture of the bird family tree thus far. The project has also uncovered genetic signatures in song-learning bird brains that have surprising similarities to the genetics of speech in humans, a finding that could help scientists study human speech.

The analysis suggests that most modern birds arose in an impressive speciation event, a "big bang" of avian diversification, in the 10 million years immediately following the extinction of dinosaurs. This period is more recent than posited in previous genetic analyses, but it lines up with the fossil record. By delving deeper into the rich data set, research groups identified when birds lost their teeth, investigated the relatively slow evolution of crocodiles and outlined the similarities between birds' and humans' vocal learning ability, among other findings.

The vocal learning discoveries could have important implications for the study of human speech and its disorders. If the genes are similar, "you can study in song birds and test their function in a way you can't do in humans," says Erich Jarvis, one of the leaders of the international effort and an associate professor of neurobiology at Duke University.

Scientists have long used songbirds, typically zebra finches, to probe questions about how language can be learned because not many other species have this ability. "Among primates, Homo sapiens are the only species that can modify vocalization," says Stephanie White, a neuroscientist and professor of integrative biology and physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who was not involved in the new research.

That's not to say that other primates don't communicate vocally, but White explains that the grunts, screeches and hoots uttered by chimpanzees, for example, are more automatic. Although an older, bigger chimp may have a deeper voice, "a young chimp and an old chimp sound pretty much the same," she says. Humans and songbirds, on the other hand, progress from baby talk to complex vocalizations. The handful of other species with this abilitythe vocal learnersincludes dolphins, sea lions, bats and elephants.

The new work on vocal learning relied on laser dissection of brain regions of zebra finches known to be involved in vocalizations and then analysis of gene activity there. The researchers then compared those levels to gene expression levels in human brains. They found that humans and birds share 55 genes between brain regions important for vocal learning, a good handful of which were involved in forming connections between neurons. Analysis of genes in other avian vocal learners parrots and hummingbirdsechoed the finding.

Another paper shows that 10 percent of the genome in song-learning birds is dedicated to song. White, who found both papers to be "very powerful," explains that these genes are actively regulated during vocalization. In humans, a simple phone conversation is actually an intensely focused activity that sets off cascades gene regulation across the brain, she says.

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Massive Genetic Effort Confirms Bird Songs Related to Human Speech

A C E Home Health Care Receive Tribute & Medicine Discount Cards by Charles Myrick of ACRX – Video

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A C E Home Health Care Receive Tribute Medicine Discount Cards by Charles Myrick of ACRX
http://www,freemedicinecoupons.com -Identifying individuals and organizations giving back to others in need. "Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is...

By: Charity Nation

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A C E Home Health Care Receive Tribute & Medicine Discount Cards by Charles Myrick of ACRX - Video

Health Chiefs Warn Millions Of Dollars Needed To Revive West Africas Health Care Systems – Video

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Health Chiefs Warn Millions Of Dollars Needed To Revive West Africas Health Care Systems
Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia continue to battle the Ebola virus that #39;s killed nearly 6400 people. But the focus is also turning to rebuilding shattered ...

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Health Chiefs Warn Millions Of Dollars Needed To Revive West Africas Health Care Systems - Video

CCNS Bayside Senior Center Receive Tribute & Health Care by Charles Myrick of ACRX – Video

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CCNS Bayside Senior Center Receive Tribute Health Care by Charles Myrick of ACRX
http://www.2healthhelp.com -Enjoy a brief recap of this great organization doing a fantastic service in the community!" -Charles Myrick - President and CEO of American Consultants Rx...

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CCNS Bayside Senior Center Receive Tribute & Health Care by Charles Myrick of ACRX - Video

Kimberley Health Care Auxiliary $40,000 Leadership Gift for ICU through Starlite

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Chris Shumka, IH Health Service Director Acute-East Kootenay, EKFH Chair Brian Clifford, KHCA President Jacquie Perrault and AJ Brekke, IH Critical Manager ER & ICU

image credit: submitted

Kimberley, BC. The Kimberley Health Care Auxiliary continues to show its commitment to the regional hospital with a third leadership gift for the Intensive Care Unit. In 2013, the KHCA and its members made an unprecedented gift of $20,000 through EKFHs Starlite Campaign, lighting four stars atop the regional hospital.

That Starlite gift combined with several other donor gifts is purchasing two ceiling booms for the new ICU in Cranbrook. With the recent funding realignment between Interior Health, Kootenay East Regional Hospital District and EKFH, a resurgence and focus for additional equipment for the ICU is taking centre stage.

Upon hearing the news, members of the KHCA took no time to decide that they wanted to continue their focus on equipment critically needed for the Intensive Care Unit.

At todays KHCA Christmas luncheon President Jacquie Perrault on behalf of the KHCA members announced a second gift of $40,000 to the Starlite Campaign and the ICU redevelopment project. In total the KHCA has dedicated $60,000 EKRHs intensive care unit.

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Kimberley Health Care Auxiliary $40,000 Leadership Gift for ICU through Starlite

Health care challenge: More coverage often means higher cost

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Susan Kennedy is part of the five-member board overseeing Californias health benefits exchange, called Covered California. She was the keynote speaker at the Health Care Conference on Nov. 18, 2014.

SANTA ROSA Californias new health-benefits exchange greatly expanded coverage to millions of residents, but the costs of doing so may be difficult to contain, an overseer of the exchange said at the Business Journals Health Care Conference.

The keynote speaker at the Nov. 18 conference was Susan Kennedy, part of the five-member board for the exchange, called Covered California, created after the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly called ACA or Obamacare.

Ms. Kennedy has a reputation of getting things done. She was appointed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to the five-member Health Benefits Exchange, the body charged with designing the health insurance market for individuals and small businesses in California as part of national health reform. She served as the former chief of staff for then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, and also in this capacity and as cabinet secretary for former Gov. Gray Davis.

Im not a health care expert, just a person interested in policy formulation which should scare you a lot, she said, jokingly.

In 1999, Ms. Kennedy helped lead efforts in the Gray Davis administration to pass comprehensive health maintenance organization (HMO) reform in California. She also helped lead Gov. Schwarzeneggers historic health care reform initiative which passed the Assembly in 2007 but stalled in the state Senate.

She was among several conference speakers who offered candid views on reforms taking place in the industry, what HMOs are doing to achieve compliance with the ACA, and how insurance companies are handling the transformation. More than 200 attended the conference, held at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel in Santa Rosa.

Thanks to Covered California and Obamacare, some 3.5 million more state residents are now insured, she said.

What is my job on the exchange? she asked. We have a massive new business to launch plus the policies that go with it.

According to Ms. Kennedy, the U.S. has a more than 100-year history of attempting to bring health care to everyone.

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Health care challenge: More coverage often means higher cost

Bronx health-care workers will fight Ebola in Liberia

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Meet two heroes of our Time.

These Bronx health-care workers are taking their skills to the frontline of the fight against Ebola.

Dr. Julie Hoffman, an infectious disease specialist at Jacobi Medical Center, and Sara Back, a family nurse practitioner and HIV/AIDS specialist at North Central Bronx Hospital, will spend the first few weeks of 2015 fighting the spread of the deadly virus in West Africa.

Being in medicine is not just treating patients locally, said Back, 52. Its trying to extend my skills elsewhere.

Back has volunteered to go to Liberia with Partners in Health. Hoffman will make the trip on Jan.2 with the nonprofit International Medical Corps. Her destination was not finalized, but she said it's likely Sierra Leone.

Hoffman, 51, said she began thinking about volunteering as soon as the outbreak began spreading through Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone earlier this year. Both humble helpers agreed that the international response to the epidemic was disorganized.

If we could have responded earlier, then less people would have probably died, Hoffman said of U.S. volunteer aid efforts. It was chaotic at first.

Since the onset of the outbreak, 6,373 people have died in the three West African nations, according to the most recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Last week, Time magazine named frontline responders such as Back and Hoffman as its Persons of the Year for 2014.

For their tireless acts of courage and mercy, for buying the world time to strengthen its defenses, for the risks they took and the lives they saved, Time editor Nancy Gibbs said in a video released on the magazines website.

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Bronx health-care workers will fight Ebola in Liberia

Health Care Sector Update for 12/15/2014: SRNE,AZN,OPK,SPHS

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Top Health Care Stocks

JNJ -0.25%

PFE 0.00%

ABT -0.34%

MRK -1.18%

AMGN -2.68%

Health care stocks were mostly lower today with the NYSE Health Care Sector Index retreating about 0.6% and shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 down about 0.5% as a group.

In company news, Sorrento Therapeutics ( SRNE ) climbed Monday after the biotech company said it has signed a global collaboration agreement with NantWorks founder and industry entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong.

SRNE shares of the biopharmaceutical company were up more than 25% at $7.28 each shortly before the closing bell, well off its $7.58 session high earlier today. The stock has traded within a 52-week range of $3.10 to $16.40, falling about 28% over the past year prior to today's rise.

Under the terms of the agreement, SRNE and NantWorks and SRNE will partner to develop next-generation immunotherapies to treat cancer and auto-immune diseases. The companies also plan to launch The Immunotherapy Antibody joint venture as a stand-alone entity, providing a combined $20 million in initial funding.

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Health Care Sector Update for 12/15/2014: SRNE,AZN,OPK,SPHS

Health Care Sector Update for 12/15/2014: ADXS, AZN, OPK, SHS, PFE

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Top Health Care Stocks

JNJ -0.55%

PFE +0.26%

ABT -0.18%

MRK -0.57%

AMGN -2.81%

Health care stocks were mostly lower, with the NYSE Health Care Sector Index retreating about 0.7% and shares of health care companies in the S&P 500 down about 0.6% as a group.

In company news, Advaxis Inc. ( ADXS ) was higher Monday after federal regulators cleared the biotech company to begin Phase I/II testing early next year of its ADXS-HPV anti-cancer therapy either alone or in combination with AstraZeneca's ( AZN ) MEDI4736 drug candidate.

ADXS shares were up 15% at $4.35 apiece, just 4 cents off their session high. The stock has traded within a 52-week range of $2.46 to $5.99 a share, declining almost 12% over the past year prior to Monday's advance.

Approval of ADXS' Investigational New Drug application by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration allows the company to proceed with a trial to evaluate ADXS-HPV as a prospective treatment for advanced, recurrent or refractory human papillomavirus-associated cervical cancer and HPV-associated head and neck cancer.

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Health Care Sector Update for 12/15/2014: ADXS, AZN, OPK, SHS, PFE