Daily Archives: August 22, 2017

The super rich are injecting blood from teenagers to gain ‘immortality’ – BBC Three (satire) (blog)

Posted: August 22, 2017 at 11:57 pm


BBC Three (satire) (blog)
The super rich are injecting blood from teenagers to gain 'immortality'
BBC Three (satire) (blog)
If you're a millennial, you might have felt for a while now that older generations are out to suck us dry. To their Ying of affordable housing, secure jobs and actual pensions, we seem to have the Yang of six-figure car garages for homes, 'gigs' for ...

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The super rich are injecting blood from teenagers to gain 'immortality' - BBC Three (satire) (blog)

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Chinese woman cryogenically frozen with ‘COMPLETE possibility’ of … – Express.co.uk

Posted: at 11:57 pm

Cryonics is the practice in which a body is frozen shortly after death with the hope, when technology catches up, they will be able to be revived.

Zhan Wenlian, who died of lung cancer aged 49 earlier this year, became the first person in China to be cryogenically frozen.

Ms Wenlians remains are currently in a giant tank filled with 2,000 litres of liquid nitrogen at Yinfeng Biological Group in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong Province.

The deceased was volunteered for the procedure by her husband Gui Junmin, who said that his late wife wanted to donate her body to science to "give back to society, according to The Mirror.

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The project was a collaboration between the Yinfeng Biological Group and from US firm Alcor Life Extension Foundation.

In cryonics, as soon as a persons heart stops beating, they must be rapidly cooled but not technically frozen.

If the person is frozen, their cells form ice crystals which is irreversible damage.

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A cocktail of chemicals like glycerol and propandiol, as well as antifreeze agents, are commonly used in the procedure so the body can be cooled without freezing.

However, there is no evidence that people will one day be able to be revived.

Director Jia Chusheng of Yinfeng Biological Group said that although there is a chance the procedure will not work, it gives the husband and wife hope for the future.

She said: [Zhan] and her family are clear about the risks and the possibility that the procedure might ultimately fail.

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"But as someone who has donated her body to science, she also gains hope of being revived one day.

Her husband is extremely hopeful, however, and even plans to have himself preserved when he dies so that he can be reunited with his wife.

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Mr Junmin said: "I tend to believe in new and emerging technologies, so I think it will be completely possible to revive her.

"If my wife wakes up, she might be lonely. I need to keep her company."

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Alternative Treatments More Than Double Risk of Death for Cancer Patients – Healthline

Posted: at 11:56 pm

Unproven treatments for breast and lung cancers are especially dangerous, researchers say. So, why do people opt for these alternatives?

Alternative cancer treatments that seem too good to be true may actually be dangerous.

In fact, these treatments can more than double the risk of death for some people with cancer, according to a recently published study.

Some alternative treatments promise a cure or a way to fight cancer without the harsh side effects of chemotherapy or radiation.

In order to find out how people with cancer fare on these treatments vs. traditional medications, researchers from Yale University turned to the National Cancer Database.

Dr. Skyler Johnson, a physician at the Radiation Oncology at Yale-New Haven Hospital and lead author of the study published in Journal of the National Cancer Institute, said he wanted to look into survival rates for alternative medicine after he saw an increase in people wanting to pursue these methods.

We had started to see lots of patients who were coming in with advanced cancers who had been diagnosed earlier but who had tried an alternative therapy, Johnson told Healthline. It clearly impacted their survival.

This issue was debated after Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died of cancer in 2011 after trying alternative treatments.

In their study, Johnson and his co-authors used the data from the National Cancer Database to see how people with cancer fared on alternative treatments compared with traditional therapies.

They found data on 281 people with breast, prostate, lung, or colorectal cancer that had not metastasized. These people had chosen alternative therapies not proven by science to be helpful in treating cancer.

Researchers then compared how these people fared compared with 560 people who had undergone conventional cancer treatment such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, or surgery.

It was needed for us to be able to have informed discussions with patients, said Johnson. To tell them this is the risk and benefit from this decision.

Overall, they looked at how people fared from 2004 to 2013, with the median follow-up of slightly more than five years.

They found that people who chose alternative medicine were two and half times more at risk of dying.

For breast and colorectal cancers, the risk was even higher.

People with breast cancer were more than five times as likely to die if they pursued solely alternative treatment.

People with colorectal cancer were more than four times as likely to die as their counterparts who underwent conventional treatments.

Johnson said the study will help doctors relay concrete information to people considering alternative medicine.

This is especially true for people who have cancer that has not yet metastasized and has a high survivability rate.

Cancer cures is one of those things that need to be done in a timely fashion, he said.

There was one cancer outlier in the study.

Prostate cancer didnt have as much of a difference in life expectancy between people treated conventionally and those treated with alternative medicine, but Johnson pointed out prostate cancer is extremely slow growing and many people can live more than a decade without significant health impacts.

Johnson said anecdotally hes heard from people that they believe the alternative therapy they are pursuing has no downside.

In conversations, it seems that theres a belief that the alternative therapies are as effective, and that they're also nontoxic, said Johnson.

Dr. Jordan Berlin, a medical oncologist at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said the study is not surprising but could still help people with cancer.

Data like this is helpful, he told Healthline. Knowing we can say to our patients the track record for these things in general has not been better.

Berlin said these alternative treatments tend to come in and out of fashion. Right now, hes seen people pursue using medical marijuana, salves, and unproven supplements for cancer treatment.

Berlin said he understands why some would be more willing to look into alternative medicine after a cancer diagnosis.

I tell people that cancer is the scariest word in the English language, Berlin said. They're looking for anything that might help.

Berlin said that for many people the promise of these treatments can become especially appealing when facing an initial diagnosis.

When you hear 100 percent of people [cured] with no side effects, and we tell people every side effect we could possibly cause, its very appealing, Berlin said.

Berlin said when people pursue alternative medicine, he does his best to insist they come back for scans so he can monitor their progress.

If they get worse and want to pursue traditional treatment he can start them on conventional therapies, hopefully before the cancer metastasizes.

However, some people may still put their faith in their original, unproven treatment when they make a recovery.

Ive had this where one of my patients says how well they did on alternative therapy, Berlin said. In truth, they got chemo too, or radiation. No one gave any credit to those therapies.

Berlin said hes willing to talk to people who want to pursue supplemental treatment in addition to conventional treatments.

He does warn them there are risks that supplements or other ingested items could negatively affect cancer medication.

He also said more should be done to understand which, if any, alternative treatments could be a help either by alleviating symptoms or actually combatting tumor cells.

It is worthwhile to study something of these things we want to know as much as anybody he said.

Both Berlin and Johnson said the study will only do so much to convince some people who are skeptical of conventional medical treatment.

Johnson said he keeps a list of people who ignored medical advice in favor of alternative treatments, and reaches out to them periodically.

While Johnson hopes the study will help people get better care, he acknowledged a lot of work remains for doctors trying to gain the trust of their patients and attempting to understand why those patients want to pursue alternative treatments.

Facts dont often change people's beliefs, Johnson said. Developing trust with people is really the bottom line.

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Using unproven methods to tackle cancer could be deadly – Reuters

Posted: at 11:56 pm

(Reuters Health) - People who decide to tackle their cancer using only unconventional methods are likely to die sooner than patients who opt for conventional treatments, according to a new study.

People with various kinds of cancer who turned down treatments like chemotherapy or radiation in favor of alternative medicine were two to six times more likely to die within six years, compared to people who accepted medically proven therapies, researchers found.

"In our clinical practice, we started seeing patients coming in with more advanced cancer . . . because they first tried alternative therapies that failed," said lead author Dr. Skyler Johnson, of the Yale School of Medicine and the Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut.

Many cancer patients add nonmedical therapies to the treatments prescribed by their oncologists. But little is known about patients who choose only unconventional methods to address their cancer, Johnson and colleagues write in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, online August 10.

To find out more about this group of patients, they used information collected on prostate, breast, lung and colon cancers for the U.S. National Cancer Database between 2004 and 2013.

The researchers had data on 280 people who tried only unproven methods administered by nonmedical personnel. They compared each of these patients to two people with similar cancer type, disease stage, age, race and other attributes, but who received conventional treatments.

Half of the patients were followed for at least five and a half years.

Compared to patients who chose evidence-based cancer treatments, those who used unconventional methods tended to have high social and economic status, be from northwestern U.S. states, have advanced cancers and be in otherwise good health.

Overall, patients who chose unproven methods were more than twice as likely to die during the follow-up period than those who received treatments like chemotherapy, radiation and surgery.

Compared to those receiving evidence-backed treatments, patients with breast cancer who opted for unproven methods were more than five times as likely to die, those with lung cancer were more than twice as likely to die and those with colon cancer were about five times as likely to die.

"Our findings highlight the importance of timely proven care for cancer," Johnson told Reuters Health.

If the patients were followed for a longer period of time, it's possible the differences could be greater, he said. Some prostate and breast cancers develop slowly even if untreated and may not be deadly within five to six years.

In addition, Johnson said, the researchers couldn't account for people who received science-based treatments when their unconventional methods failed.

He said people should be cautious about what treatment advice they receive from the internet or through word of mouth.

"This is something they need to think a lot about, because choosing alternative medicine for their cancer treatment could risk their lives," Johnson said.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2v3Gvii

J Natl Cancer Inst 2017.

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High doses of vitamin B tied to lung cancer risk, study says – CNN

Posted: at 11:56 pm

The study found a 30% to 40% increased risk of lung cancer among men taking these vitamins from individual supplements -- not from multivitamins or diet alone. But the effect seemed to be driven by current smokers who far exceeded the recommended daily amounts of the vitamins, according to study author Theodore Brasky, an epidemiologist in the division of cancer prevention and control at the Ohio State University College of Medicine.

"I think these results point to a synergism" between high-dose B vitamins, smoking and lung cancer risk among men, Brasky said.

"If you look at B-vitamin supplement bottles ... they are anywhere between 50-fold the US recommended dietary allowance (to) upward of 2,100-fold," Brasky said. B12 injections have also become "in vogue" in recent years, he said.

In smaller quantities, these vitamins are involved in several vital processes in the body, including DNA replication. But many high-dose supplements, he said, claim to boost energy and provide other unproven benefits.

"That's marketing. That's not science," he said.

The study was limited to roughly 77,000 Washington state adults, ages 50 to 76. This included 139 cases of lung cancer among more than 3,200 current male smokers. Over 93% of participants were white.

There were too few cases of lung cancer among nonsmokers to include them in the full analysis. An increased risk of lung cancer was not seen among women or with the vitamin B9, also known as folate.

A focus on B vitamins may not be the most effective way to protect against lung cancer, experts warn.

"Combustible tobacco smoke is the No. 1 most important factor, not just only in lung cancer but in many cancers," Brasky said.

"When we're talking about what to be concerned about most: If you're a male smoker and you want to take B vitamins, you can stop smoking," Brasky said.

"Smoking is the most important thing here, and that's preventable."

"In the average person in this country, it's tough to be deficient" in B vitamins, Brasky said.

Those who are -- those with anemia or celiac disease, for example -- will feel tired and run down. For them, supplements might help.

But taking "megadoses" of these supplements doesn't do much for the average healthy person, Brasky said, nor does it cause immediate harm. The body tends to get rid of excess vitamin, he said.

Stomach acid and digestion, Bailey said, are able to "rip out" B12 from food so that the body can absorb it. Some synthetic supplements, however, may be more easily absorbed.

In high concentrations, however, the exact relationship between the vitamins and lung cancer is unclear. If the vitamins are indeed responsible for increasing the lung cancer risk, Brasky said, another question would be whether B vitamins are hastening the development of a lung cancer that's already there or leading to new cancers.

Bailey warned that we are nowhere close to claiming that these high-dose supplements cause cancer. She added that the dietary survey the researchers used -- which calculated the average daily intake over the prior 10 years -- can be imprecise. But Brasky said that adults generally recall which supplements they've taken, allowing researchers to get a good idea of their average doses.

"In my mind, people take supplements because they're sick and trying to get better or because they're healthy and want to stay that way," she said.

"There might be one reason why somebody takes something, but it can have other effects on our bodies," Kantor said. "We don't know the whole host of effects."

The good news, Bailey said, is that most people aren't taking the single-vitamin, high-dose supplements that go far beyond recommended levels.

"Most people are taking multivitamins," she said, "and for that, there's really been no (cancer) association, which I think is a success story."

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Consumers Redefining Dietary Supplement Categories – Nutritional Outlook

Posted: at 11:56 pm

By Bob Sanders, Executive Vice President, Healthcare Practice Leader, IRI

Armed with the confidence that comes from their Internet-driven research on the benefits of dietary supplements, todays consumers have gone after their health and wellness goals with a targeted approach that has changed the face of the supplements market in the past two decades. Today, consumers seek solutions, and not necessarily product categories, which has blurred category lines and opened up opportunities for key, sought-after benefits like immunity, pain relief, and memory, for example.

Diet and supplementation have spurred a hybrid approach combining the benefits of traditional pills and delivery methods with foods and now popular smoothies or shakes to combat chronic ailments and conditions. While 37% of Americans say that food is just as powerful as medicine and that they intentionally eat products such as kale and spinach with known health benefits, nutritionals and supplements will continue to play a critical role because most Americans also say that eating the recommended dietary allowance of a nutrient is often impractical, unhealthy, and expensive to do, according to IRIs 2017 Self-Care Study. Combined with healthy diets, supplements contribute to consumers efforts to seek solutions and drive the self-care movement.

Its a Mainstream Movement

Most notable in the evolution of supplements throughout the past two decades is their mainstream appeal; no longer are these products just the territory of health food stores. Todays nutritionals, including vitamins, minerals, herbals, and other supplements, are widely distributed through online and brick-and-mortar retailers, and theyre increasingly sought after by various demographics.

According to IRIs 2017 Self-Care Study, 85% of Americans say that they continue to engage in self-care activities at a similar level compared with the year prior. Some 15% say they are doing more. Specific to supplements, 22% of respondents say they take more supplements than they did a year ago.

Millennials, in particular, have embraced supplements and are buying and taking more than generations before them. Todays younger generation of adults is using supplements in daily living and before and after exercising, and theyre honing in on specific products to help them meet their health and fitness goals. This has been a huge mindset shift from the 30-somethings of 20 years ago. Twenty years ago, for instance, by no means could marketers have convinced the 30-something generation to take supplements, while today, this group demonstrates great engagement, potential, and spending power in this space. Theyre learning about supplements and their value online, and theyre buying niche products as they work to take control of their health and fitness as well as actively stave off any signs of aging.

Ready-to-drink smoothies have also captured a lot of attention in the past decade, delivering benefits in a convenient, on-the-go format, positioned as the perfect complement to todays busy lifestyles. Smoothies also allow for inclusion of specific value-added ingredients and removal of others, such as gluten or dairy, as consumers address their unique health goals.

Natural and organic ingredients are also popular, and they reflect a much more globally inspired marketplace than in decades past. Twenty years ago, hot ingredients were antioxidants, vitamins E and C, beta-carotene, and herbals such as ginseng and ginkgo, while today, hot ingredients better reflect our diverse, global ingredient world (think cumin, maca, turmeric, and protein-rich options as well).

As the blurring of nutritional lines continues, it will be harder to differentiate which categories and nutritional benefits are considered mainstream. For instance, consumers may indeed perceive nutritional shakes such as Boost and Ensure as very viable alternatives to meet nutritional needs. In years past, this benefit was only associated with the traditional vitamin supplement category.

The supplements market has grown dramatically, reaching nearly all consumer groups and delivering products in a global marketplace. Self-care is the consumer behavior shift, and health and wellness is the outcome. It is clear that consumers wish to increasingly control their long-term health, and they will seek a much broader, blurred solution set to meet these needs.

Bob Sanders is executive vice president, Healthcare Practice Leader, at IRI (Chicago). IRI is a leading provider of big data, predictive analytics, and forward-looking insights that help CPG, OTC healthcare, retailers, and media companies to grow their businesses.

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Is 2017 a Better Year for Dietary Supplements than 1998?

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Here’s Why Taking Too Much Protein Powder Can Be Seriously Dangerous – Reader’s Digest

Posted: at 11:56 pm

The protein supplement market is booming. Protein powder, shakes, bars, and gels offer gym-goers and health-conscious people a nutritious alternative to junk food, or even a complete meal substitute.

Some 1 in 5 men regularly replace meals with protein drinks or bars, according to a 2015 study presented at the American Psychological Associations annual convention. And its not just men; a 2013 survey published in The FASEB Journal, reported on Shape, found that 50 percent of female recreational endurance athletes and 100 percent of female bodybuilders use protein supplements.

On balance, protein is super important for almost every function in the body. Everyone needs protein to help their body repair cells and make new ones. According to MedlinePlus, the daily recommended intake of protein (which is plentiful in eggs, quinoa, chicken, and fish) for healthy adults is 10 to 35 percent of your total calorie needs. For example, if a person on a 2,000 calorie diet ate 100 grams of protein per day, this would provide 20 percent of their total daily calories. (Here are signs you may not be eating enough protein.)

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However, the recent death of bodybuilder Meegan Hefford from Australia highlights some potential dangers of consuming too much of the nutrient. According to Perth Now, Hefford increased her protein consumption (both from food and dietary supplements) leading up to a competition, and she was not aware that she had urea cycle disorder, a rare disorder that prevented her body from properly metabolizing protein. (Urea cycle disorder has no outward symptoms.) Heffords death certificate listed the condition as a cause of death, along with intake of bodybuilding supplements. Heffords mother revealed that she found half a dozen containers of protein supplements in Heffords kitchen, along with a detailed diet plan including protein-rich foods like lean meat and egg whites.

Consuming too much protein powder can be dangerous for your health, particularly if there are underlying medical conditions, says Vinh Nguyen, MD, family medicine physician at Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA. People who have disorders where protein cannot be properly metabolized can become very ill or die, as the incompletely processed protein metabolites can build up to toxic levels in the body. Studies show that excess protein consumption can lead to kidney disease, as well as kidney stones. Excessive protein intake can also cause dry mouth, constipation, and hair loss.

When it comes to recommended daily amounts of protein, there are no hard and fast recommendations. You must factor in a persons dietary protein intake and wheather he or she has a medical condition that needs to be factored in, explains Renato Roxas Jr., MD, Chief of Medicine at DMC Detroit Receiving Hospital. Some reputable sources suggest that 1.2 grams of whey protein supplementation per kilogram of body weight as a good guide. It is best for people to work with their doctor to determine the safe amounts for them. [In Heffords case], she unknowingly had a fairly rare congenital condition that hindered her ability to properly metabolize protein, leading to the accumulation of toxic byproducts.

Here are great sources of lean protein from foods, so you can lean less on supplements. But if you are going to dabble in supplements, heres how to choose the best protein powder for you.

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Near Northside seeks extension of rules aimed at homeless – Chron.com

Posted: at 11:56 pm

Photo: Mark Mulligan, Staff Photographer

A memorial to 11-year-old Josue Flores rests at the site where he was killed May 17, 2016, in his Near Northside neighborhood.

A memorial to 11-year-old Josue Flores rests at the site where he was killed May 17, 2016, in his Near Northside neighborhood.

Near Northside seeks extension of rules aimed at homeless

Near Northside residents want to expand the parts of their neighborhood in which rules barring sitting, lying or sleeping on sidewalks during daytime can be enforced.

Residents won City Council approval last fall to apply those "civility" rules to a western portion of their area, and now are seeking to designate a larger area east of the light rail line along Main Street under the same regime.

Those involved have acknowledged the restrictions alone cannot address civic leaders' concerns about transients undermining the area's safety or quality of life, however.

Neighbors took up a petition last summer after the May 17, 2016, murder of a local boy, Josue Flores, who was stabbed to death on his way home from school, allegedly by a man police say had been staying at a Salvation Army outpost in the area.

That 300-bed shelter, which has operated on North Main for four decades, has combined with other bunk houses and free feeding sites and the neighborhood's three-year-old light rail line, residents say, to flood their neighborhood with vagrants.

Shopkeepers say they witness open-air sex acts and drug deals on the sidewalks and have demanded action from City Hall. One way to get results, they decided last summer, was to circulate the petition required to extend the city's "civility" rules to their area.

The rules, as they would be in the new section east of Main, are effective between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m.

The civility ordinance has been in effect in the Central Business District, Midtown, Old Sixth Ward, Avondale and Greater Hyde Park since 2002, and in 2011 was extended to the east downtown area. South Post Oak was added this spring.

Here is a map comparing the current northside zone to the proposed one:

The neighborhood also has coalesced around solutions other than the civility rules.

Since Flores' death, dozens of mothers have organized a volunteer patrol that became Safe Walk Home Northside. City, county, rail and Houston ISD law enforcement started coordinating, andHouston police created a bike squad whose members spend most of their time in the area. HPD's central division officers also started meeting monthly with residents.

Local civic leaders lobbied to ensure their area was designated one of Mayor Sylvester Turner's five "Complete Communities" targeted for more investment and resources.

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Competition to replace US nuclear missiles is down to 2 companies, but uncertainties remain – CNBC

Posted: at 11:55 pm

The competition to replace America's 1970s-era nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile program is now down to two large defense companies in a contract that the Air Force originally estimated would cost about $62 billion.

Yet there's still a lot of uncertainty about the project, and its acquisition costs for taxpayers could go up to as much as $140 billion. Also, some critics of the program suggest we should just continue maintaining the current nuclear missiles as a deterrent for another decade to save money.

Regardless, the Air Force announced late Monday that Boeing and Northrop Grumman each won three-year contracts for the "technology maturation and risk reduction," or essentially the preliminary design phase, of the Ground-Based Strategic Deterrent intercontinental ballistic missile weapon system program.

Lockheed Martin had been in the running, but it didn't prevail.

GBSD is a modernization planned for the land-based Minuteman III, one leg of the nation's nuclear triad land, sea and air-based capabilities.

Boeing was the prime contractor on the Minuteman III system, which dates back to 1970s and has been undergoing continued maintenance to keep it in service.

"It was an important win for Boeing," Jefferies analyst Howard Rubel said in an interview. The analyst said Boeing's defense business has suffered several setbacks in recent years, including losing the long-range strike bomber contact to Northrop and having problems with its aerial tanker program.

However, he said Boeing and Northrop each are now "competing to be the eventual prime contractor" on the GBSD program. "You went from three competitors to two. You went from what I call broad concepts to now, two competing designers, who will come up with an industrialization concept that will...probably have some testing done to prove certain points along the way."

Boeing has yet to announce all of its partners in the GBSD program, and Northrop has announced some but not all.

Rubel said in a research note that he expects Orbital ATK and Aerjet Rocketdyne to also eventually get some work from the GBSD "as producers of large solid rocket motors. We expect the two companies to split the propulsion work in some fashion."

This is the first of several phases in the contract process for the GBSD program, although the Pentagon isn't expected to settle on a sole contractor for another few years. Production and then deployment aren't expected until the late 2020s.

The two contracts announced Monday, valued at no more than $359 million apiece, are just a small portion of what the overall program will cost. The Pentagon's independent cost assessment and program evaluation office last year upped the estimated acquisition cost to between $85 billion and about $140 billion.

"We are moving forward with modernization of the ground-based leg of the nuclear triad," Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson said in a statement. "Our missiles were built in the 1970s. Things just wear out, and it becomes more expensive to maintain them than to replace them. We need to cost-effectively modernize."

The modernization of the nation's nuclear comes at a time when superpowers such as Russia and China are modernizing their weapons. Also there are rogue countries such as North Korea that also are a nuclear threat with missile development programs.

Even so, some have suggested that the nuclear weapon capability using bombers and submarines is a more effective deterrent because they are harder to detect and can be dispersed. The Trump administration is conducting a nuclear posture review that will debate whether the U.S. should maintain the triad.

Also, some critics of the GBSD program believe the Pentagon should keep the current Minuteman III missiles as a deterrent for at least another decade rather than replacing it right away.

"Sustaining the Minuteman III for a period of time (say 10-15 years) beyond 2030 would be cheaper than GBSD over that period," said Reif Kingston, director of disarmament and threat reduction policy for the ACA. "The case for deferring a decision on GBSD and pursuing another life extension of the Minuteman III is strong."

To be clear, Kingston said deferring the modernization would require a reduction, but not elimination, in the size of the current force of land-based nuclear ICBMs. "A smaller force would not diminish the overall strength and credibility of the U.S. nuclear deterrent," he said.

Added Kingston, "We haven't built a new intercontinental ballistic missile in decades. As the program proceeds, they will have start to get a better sense of the costs. But at this point, there's a lot of uncertainty, and the Air Force's estimate ($62 billion) by all accounts is unrealistically low."

According to Kingston, a good portion of the data that the Air Force and others in the Pentagon had to work with to get an acquisition estimate on the Minuteman III replacement is "old and incomplete."

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Extension brings finance class to jail – Nevada Herald

Posted: at 11:55 pm

David Black, Family Financial Education Specialist with the University of Missouri Extension, teaches a 90-minute course entitled, Establishing A Financial Foundation, to a class of 10 women at the Vernon County Jail on Tuesday afternoon. This was the second time Black has taught this class. He will lead this and other finance courses on a bi-weekly basis at the jail as part of the sheriffs effort to help people stay out of jail by providing them with job and life skills.

Johannes Brann

Sooner or later, nearly all of the prisoners in the Vernon County Jail will be released into society. To be successful on the outside, they will need a number of so-called soft skills or work-readiness training which include such things as how to interview, showing up for work, being on time and getting along with difficult people, whether they are supervisors, co-workers or customers.

Said Vernon County Sheriff Jason Mosher, They will also need to know how to manage money other than by stealing, selling drugs or by relying on payday loans and pawn shops.

This last needed skill is the reason behind the Establishing A Financial Foundation class taught by David Black, Family Financial Education Specialist with the University of Missouri Extension. For Black, who has a Masters of Business Administration and serves Vernon and four surrounding counties; Tuesday afternoon was his second one-hour class at the jail.

The first class was earlier this month and with all the questions it went about an hour-and-a-half, said Black. I think they were interested in what we covered.

Tuesdays class was even livelier as 10 women prisoners filed into a classroom in the jail.

Knowing that one of the most requested treats by prisoners is ice cream, the Sheriff put the students in a good frame of mind by providing cups, vanilla ice cream and root beer to make a root beer float.

Once all were seated, Black had a quiet and attentive class as he opened with one of his favorite quotes, Learning how to handle money is just as important as making it.

He went on to cover four areas: getting a transitional job, creating a spending plan, keeping your money safe and avoiding money traps.

Introducing the last topic, Black held up his hand and asked, How many of you ever got a pay day loan or used a pawn shop?

All hands shot up.

And how did that work out for you? asked Black.

Several called out, Awful.

Tell me, said Black pointing to one who had spoken aloud.

I pawned an air-compressor which cost over a $100 but he only gave me $8 to pawn it, said the sole person in the third row.

And what did it cost you to get it back? continued Black. I bet it cost you a lot more than eight dollars.

Yeah, it cost me like $15 for the compressor and it cost me a lot of trouble because the compressor wasnt mine to begin with.

Amidst laughter, another called out, Doing things like that is why youre here.

Being a skilled teacher and with the experience gained from his first career, Black waited for the laughter to die down and with all eyes on him asked, Do you see why theyre called money traps?

Every head nodded in agreement.

Realizing he had a teachable moment Black said, Mistakes happen to everyone. He paused and said, Everyone. But smart people learn from their mistakes and change things for the better, both with money and with life.

Heads nodded; message received.

Besides having a background in finance, his first career made him a natural fit for teaching in the jail.

Before I got into finance, my first career was in law enforcement, said Black. Altogether I put in about seven years with about three of those with the Joplin Police Department as a member of the patrol and the Special Response Team before joining Greene County.

Mosher and Chief Deputy Shayne Simmons had been discussing the need for various short term classes when Simmons attended a monthly meeting of the Vernon County Resource Group in place of the sheriff.

The VCRG consists of people from businesses, law enforcement, social service and religious groups across the county who have committed themselves to tackle various problems including public transportation and jobs for those released from jail.

At one particular meeting, Black mentioned the classes he has available through Extension and would be glad to teach. After the meeting, Simmons spoke to Black and that led to what are, for now, bi-weekly classes on finance at the jail.

Following Tuesdays class, Black said, The first two sessions were the same material and everyone in each class was female. In two weeks, the next class will be with males. The chief (Simmons) and I talked about varying things up so we cover other topics but all of mine will be on finance.

Black knew the material and clearly was at ease with his class.

Also on hand was Tonya Raines, program specialist with MU Extension for SkillUp, a state job-training program which is a partnership with the Missouri Department of Social Services, Missouri Job Centers and the Missouri Community College Association.

Raines was on hand to explain how those receiving food stamp benefits may be eligible for scholarships for short-term job training programs.

Its a case management program and for those who qualify, they can get up to $10,000 in short-term job and career training/education and even some equipment needed for a job as well as child care assistance, said Raines.

Asked for examples by the class she spoke of help getting a commercial drivers license and learning to drive a truck or becoming a Certified Nurse Assistant and then moving on to being a Medical Technician, Medical Assistant or Licensed Practical Nurse.

Several asked for contact information.

Shortly after the class ended, the sheriff returned from having served a search warrant.

Mosher said the purpose and goal is for those in class not to return to jail.

Said the sheriff, And if were not seeing them in here because theyre not breaking the law, thats a burglary report were not taking, thats a drug house were not having to kick the door in on. The bottom line is well increase safety and decrease crime in our county by helping people realize theres a better alternative and route they can keep on choosing.

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Extension brings finance class to jail - Nevada Herald

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