Following the launch of its newest iPod earlier today, Apple has announced that it's sold over 100 million iPod touches since they first went on sale back in 2007 -- in fact, as noted in last year's earnings call, the touchscreen models make up half of all iPods sold. For nostalgia's sake, we've added the touchscreen media player's debut ad after the break so you can see where it all began.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Until the local fertilizer company in West, Texas, blew up last month and demolished scores of homes, many in that town of 2,800 didn't know what chemicals were stored alongside the railroad tracks or how dangerous they were. Even rescue workers didn't know what they were up against.
"We never thought of an explosive potential," said Dr. George Smith, the EMS director who responded to the factory fire by running to a nearby nursing home to prepare for a possible chemical spill.
Firefighters feared that tanks of liquid ammonia would rupture. But while they hosed down those tanks to keep them cool, a different chemical ? a few tons of ammonium nitrate ? exploded with the force of a small earthquake.
Smith and his colleagues should have known that ammonium nitrate was also a significant hazard. Neighbors should have known, too.
Around the country, hundreds of buildings like the one in West store some type of ammonium nitrate. They sit in quiet fields and by riverside docks, in business districts and around the corner from schools, hospitals and day care centers.
By law, this shouldn't be a mystery. Yet fears of terrorism have made it harder than ever for homeowners to find out what dangerous chemicals are hidden nearby. Poor communication can also keep rescue workers in the dark about the risks they face.
And some records are so shoddy that rescuers could not rely on them to help save lives.
That reality is reflected in a monthlong effort by The Associated Press to compile public records on hazardous chemicals stored across America. Drawing upon data from 28 states, the AP found more than 120 facilities within a potentially devastating blast zone of schoolchildren, the elderly and the infirm.
At least 60 facilities reported to state regulators as having about as much or more ammonium nitrate than the 540,000 pounds West Fertilizer Co. said it had at some point last year. The AP contacted 20 of the facilities individually to confirm the information, and three companies disputed the records. Some of the facilities stored the chemical in solid form, which is among the most dangerous.
Exactly how many other facilities exist nationwide is a mystery.
Ammonium nitrate is an important industrial fertilizer and mining explosive that, stored correctly, is stable and safe. But industrial history is dotted with dozens of deadly accidents involving the chemical.
Before Texas, the most recent incident occurred at a fertilizer factory in Toulouse, France, in 2001. An explosion killed 31, prompting France to pass a law requiring tougher regulations on the chemical.
Texas investigators still don't know what caused the fire that triggered the West explosion, but the devastation was a reminder of the chemical's power. Anti-government terrorist Timothy McVeigh used a truckload of ammonium nitrate to destroy the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.
Because of that explosive potential, if a fire were to break out at an ammonium nitrate company, everyone within a quarter- to a half-mile radius could be at risk, according to scientific papers. Debris from the Texas explosion landed more than two miles away.
In the states that provided verifiable data, the AP's analysis found more than 600,000 people who live within a quarter-mile of a facility, a potential blast zone if as little as 190 tons of ammonium nitrate is detonated. More send their children to school or have family in hospitals in those blast zones.
More often than not, census data show, the danger zones are middle-class or poor neighborhoods.
In the western Michigan farming town of Shelby, the Rev. Ruth D. Fitzgerald said she walks by the local branch of the Helena Chemical Co. every day. Her church is just around the corner.
The building doesn't look like a factory, she said, so she never thought about what was there. State records show that the company, which sells fertilizer to large farms, orchards and golf courses, reported storing as much as 1 million pounds of ammonium nitrate on any given day last year.
"I don't have any understanding of this at all," Fitzgerald said.
Recently, an abandoned house caught fire a half a block away from the chemical company, said Tim Horton, a real estate agent who sits on the local hospital board and the Shelby Area Chamber of Commerce.
Horton also didn't know how much ammonium nitrate was there: "I would say people don't know and don't care."
"Ignorance is bliss," he said.
And that's in a state where officials make the information available.
More than a half-dozen others, including Ohio, Connecticut, Hawaii, Idaho and South Carolina, refused to provide such information to the AP, citing the risk of terrorist attacks and their interpretations of federal law. Others, such as West Virginia, said the AP had to review paper records in person or request records one by one.
The result is a peculiarity of the post-9/11 age: Statistically, Americans are more likely to be hurt from chemical or industrial accidents like the one in Texas than from terrorist attacks like the one in Boston. Yet information intended to keep people safe is concealed in the name of keeping people safe.
Since the 1980s, states have been required under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act to tell people where dangerous chemicals are stored and how much is nearby.
That law followed a chemical leak in Bhopal, India, that killed more than 1,700 people and another in West Virginia that led to an evacuation. Ammonium nitrate has been responsible for some of the largest industrial disasters in history. In fact, what remains the worst industrial accident in the nation's history was an ammonium nitrate-triggered explosion in 1947 that killed more than 570 people in Texas City, Texas, and injured about 5,000.
But times have changed. Fears of chemical spills have given way to fears of terrorism.
In Hawaii, for example, officials said people must prove a "need to know" before they can obtain information. Though the state did not respond to a request for an explanation, the policy echoed others that cited a 2007 federal law intended to protect chemical plants from terrorist attacks. But the need-to-know requirement does not apply to the data submitted for Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know, said Bob Stephan, a former Homeland Security Department assistant secretary who was in charge of the U.S. government's chemical facility anti-terrorism program from 2007-09.
"They are giving you incorrect information or incorrect rationale for not providing the data," Stephan said.
Under Hawaii's interpretation of the law, people who want information about specific chemical facilities near their homes are qualified to see it. But that presupposes they already know enough to ask. Clarence Martin of the state's Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response Office said people deserve to know what's in their neighborhoods.
But, he added, "I'm not going to let you tell them."
Even when the information is available, though, it's not always accurate. Years of lax oversight and scant enforcement have resulted in shoddy records. Hundreds of companies listed approximate or inaccurate amounts of dangerous chemicals, not just ammonium nitrate.
For instance, data from Louisiana said a Jimmy Sanders Inc. facility stored nearly 50 million pounds of ammonium nitrate. But the company said it never had any at all.
Others misidentified their locations. One plant in Tucson, Ariz., listed an ambiguous address ("end of cement plant road") and a geographic coordinate so off base that the Environmental Protection Agency's reporting software flagged the facility as being in a different county.
Arkansas reported that the Polk County Farmers Association stored 50,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate in the rural town of Mena. But the store's manager, Paul Stanley, said it had been moved to a facility about three miles outside of town years ago.
"I'm happy that it's not in town," he said, "because people don't understand it and they jump to conclusions."
Wisconsin documents showed that the C. Reiss Coal Co.'s facility had stored tons of ammonium nitrate in a facility in Sheboygan last year. But people would be hard pressed to use that information when deciding where to buy a home or send their kids to school. That's because state officials say the facility is inactive and should not have been on the list.
The fertilizer building that exploded in West had been there since 1962. As the years passed, a nursing home, school and apartment buildings sprung up nearby. Townspeople thought little of the facility; it was as common a sight in the farming community as a tractor driving down the road.
The company filed the required reports listing the hazardous chemicals on site. There's no indication that the documents were incorrect. But the county's emergency planners had not read them.
The Monroe County Co-Op in Aberdeen, Miss., stored as much as 1 million pounds last year, according to state records. But David Hodges, the store manager, said he had about half that on site and has sold it for about 50 years without a problem.
"I've been here, oh, 34, 35 years, and it's always been there," said Larry Middleton, a retired English teacher who lives up the street and visits to buy weed remover and snake repellent.
Horton said the same about the building in Shelby. Many townspeople have lived there all their lives, he said, and the fertilizer has been there, too. Though he didn't think most people knew the explosive potential, he said he feared that public knowledge of the building's contents would attract terrorists.
"I can't predict when an accident is going to happen. It just happens," he said. "Terrorists are actively seeking ways to harm us."
Behavioral scientists call this "probability neglect": People are far more likely to overreact to emotional, extremely unlikely events such as terrorism than to address potential problems that are far more likely to occur.
What's more, people are more afraid of risks brought on by outsiders, like terrorists, than threats closer to home. In experiments, people were more outraged by the thought of being exposed to radiation from nuclear waste than from radon in their own basements ? even when they were told the danger was the same and the likelihood of radon exposure was much higher.
"It's been here all this time," Middleton said, "and nothing has happened."
___
Gillum, Cappiello and Associated Press writers Matt Apuzzo and Stephen Braun reported from Washington; Plushnick-Masti reported from Houston.
___
Contact the Washington investigative team at DCinvestigations(at)ap.org. Follow Gillum on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jackgillum . Follow Plushnick-Masti on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RamitMastiAP .
All Critics (50) | Top Critics (13) | Fresh (47) | Rotten (2)
Most films are experiences to be ignored or at best forgotten. "Blancanieves" is a little classic to be treasured.
It is a full-bodied silent film of the sort that might have been made by the greatest directors of the 1920s, if such details as the kinky sadomasochism of this film's evil stepmother could have been slipped past the censors.
Blancanieves, which won 10 Goyas (Spain's equivalent of the Oscars) and was a smash hit in its native Spain, has traces of a kinky undertone and an uncommon willingness to embrace the darkness inherent in this fairy tale.
As if bewitched, the legend of Snow White is transferred to Seville in the early twentieth century and transformed into high melodrama.
Sensuous, mischievous, hotblooded retelling of the old Teutonic fairy tale.
This gorgeous silent film is an unexpected gift from the gods of pure cinema.
A boldly conceived fairy tale from Spain
Succeeds in all its cinematic experiments
The story might be familiar, but Berger's film is so beautifully shot and so wonderfully scored - and so distinctively Spanish - that it stands as its own film.
Blancanieves holds to the structure, but not strictures, of the source fairy tale.
A new, purely silent movie from Spain that never once speaks and doesn't need to speak. What's more, it seems to get the infinite possibilities of silence, and how much passion can come from it.
Berger's film doesn't show loyalty to any traditional version of Snow White. Berger's Blancanieves takes a darker approach, which seems appropriate.
A completely enchanting fairy tale about the vicissitudes of fate, in live action and glorious black and white.
The fun in the Spanish "Blancanieves" is the way it plays with our expectations.
May not have much depth to its characters or particular surprise, but its lovely depiction of family's ability to harm and mend has the flair of flamenco and the sorrow of opera.
No, "Blancanieves" isn't subtle, but it's an unforgettable time at the movies.
Inspired filmmaking steeped in the imagery of silent film history, a dark Iberian strain of Roman Catholicism and the magic of fairy tales.
... lusty and heartfelt, fiery flamenco and spirited country jig. Don't go expecting a Disney-fied fable. Berger seasons with S&M and the kind of macabre touches you'd expect in vintage Browning or Bunuel.
If not for some faintly disturbing imagery and a pleasingly feminist heroine, you could mistake this for a movie actually made in the 1920s (and even those two factors weren't utterly unknown then).
A loving tribute to European silent films of the 1920s; a reminder that cinema need not be constrained by words.
By the time the film arrives at its grand theatrical finale, you're almost prepared for Berger's last great twist. Almost.
this beautifully shot and imaginatively told fairy tale should be seen my many, but only a few will likely get to enjoy it. This is a shame for the audience it is intended for.
This film is simply gorgeous, pure beauty on film, a vision that leaves you breathless and reeling.
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NSF and NICT of Japan announce partnership in next-generation networkingPublic release date: 30-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lisa-Joy Zgorski lisajoy@nsf.gov 703-292-8311 National Science Foundation
Partnership will facilitate networking in the areas of technology and systems for future Internet/new-generation networks
Principals from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) of Japan today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), facilitating a partnership on research in networking technology and systems enabling future Internet/new-generation networks.
This MOU follows the third Director General-level meeting of the U.S.-Japan Policy Cooperation Dialogue on the Internet Economy held in Tokyo, Japan, in March 2012, at which U.S. and Japanese researchers articulated the need for research and development into a new architecture enabling more robust and evolvable future Internet design.
As part of these discussions, three topics of mutual interest emerged:
optical networking;
mobile computing; and
network design and modeling.
The signing of the MOU today establishes a formal working relationship between NSF and NICT to support research and development on these topics.
Farnam Jahanian, NSF's assistant director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, and Makoto Imase, NICT's vice president, signed the MOU.
"I am excited and enthusiastic about this new partnership between NSF and NICT," said Jahanian. "This agreement will create new opportunities for collaboration between top researchers in the United States and Japan, and forge new pathways to future global networks."
The MOU will enable NSF and NICT to work together on joint funding opportunities, facilitating collaborations among U.S. and Japanese researchers in these areas.
This agreement is considered a continuation of a history of collaboration between NSF and NICT. For example, NICT has tracked the NSF-funded Global Environment for Networking Innovation (GENI) project since its inception in 2007, and in 2010 the two agencies jointly funded a set of U.S./Japan proposals in the area of future Internet design. These projects helped establish new collaborations among researchers from both countries.
Calling joint projects "our precious treasure" and expressing a necessity "to keep encouraging them to go further," Imase applauded the agreement with optimism for the future. "I hope today's MOU will strengthen [the] partnership between NICT and NSF and we can continue to support many researchers in the U.S. and in Japan for successful and meaningful collaborations."
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NSF and NICT of Japan announce partnership in next-generation networkingPublic release date: 30-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lisa-Joy Zgorski lisajoy@nsf.gov 703-292-8311 National Science Foundation
Partnership will facilitate networking in the areas of technology and systems for future Internet/new-generation networks
Principals from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) of Japan today signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), facilitating a partnership on research in networking technology and systems enabling future Internet/new-generation networks.
This MOU follows the third Director General-level meeting of the U.S.-Japan Policy Cooperation Dialogue on the Internet Economy held in Tokyo, Japan, in March 2012, at which U.S. and Japanese researchers articulated the need for research and development into a new architecture enabling more robust and evolvable future Internet design.
As part of these discussions, three topics of mutual interest emerged:
optical networking;
mobile computing; and
network design and modeling.
The signing of the MOU today establishes a formal working relationship between NSF and NICT to support research and development on these topics.
Farnam Jahanian, NSF's assistant director for Computer and Information Science and Engineering, and Makoto Imase, NICT's vice president, signed the MOU.
"I am excited and enthusiastic about this new partnership between NSF and NICT," said Jahanian. "This agreement will create new opportunities for collaboration between top researchers in the United States and Japan, and forge new pathways to future global networks."
The MOU will enable NSF and NICT to work together on joint funding opportunities, facilitating collaborations among U.S. and Japanese researchers in these areas.
This agreement is considered a continuation of a history of collaboration between NSF and NICT. For example, NICT has tracked the NSF-funded Global Environment for Networking Innovation (GENI) project since its inception in 2007, and in 2010 the two agencies jointly funded a set of U.S./Japan proposals in the area of future Internet design. These projects helped establish new collaborations among researchers from both countries.
Calling joint projects "our precious treasure" and expressing a necessity "to keep encouraging them to go further," Imase applauded the agreement with optimism for the future. "I hope today's MOU will strengthen [the] partnership between NICT and NSF and we can continue to support many researchers in the U.S. and in Japan for successful and meaningful collaborations."
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? For President Barack Obama, the opening months of his second term have been a frustrating reminder of the limits of presidential power and the durability of the Washington political apparatus he disdains.
Obama has yet to achieve a significant second term legislative victory, a task that will only get harder as the calendar inches closer to next year's midterm elections. A trio of controversies roiling Washington have emboldened Republicans eager to gain an advantage over the president and revealed a Democratic establishment willing to publicly second-guess the White House. And Obama, who ran for office as an outsider pledging to overcome Washington's bitter partisan divide, acknowledges he's made little progress on that front.
"What's blocking us right now is the sort of hyper-partisanship in Washington that, frankly, I was hoping to overcome in 2008," Obama told donors at a Democratic fundraiser last week.
Obama's frustration with the ways of Washington has become increasingly evident as the White House grapples with separate controversies: a resurgent GOP investigation into the attacks on Americans in Benghazi, Libya, the targeting of conservative political groups by the Internal Revenue Service and the Justice Department's seizure of phone records from journalists at The Associated Press and, in another case, reading the e-mails of Fox News reporter James Rosen.
The typically even-keeled Obama became visibly angry recently when discussing the Benghazi investigations, casting the Republican effort as a "sideshow" and a "political circus." White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer took to Sunday talk shows to accuse Republicans of trying to drag Washington into "a swamp of partisan fishing expeditions." And White House press secretary Jay Carney mockingly suggested a reporter was being "petulant" while pressing for details about when the president's team knew about the IRS targeting, though Carney later acknowledged that some criticism of the White House's response to the matter were "legitimate."
Driving at least part of the White House's response to the controversies is its well-known contempt for "establishment" Washington, including the cadre of political strategists in both parties that are quick to offer up analysis or a provocative quote and a fast-moving media culture that can quickly turn a problem into a scandal.
"It's clear to him and everyone at the White House the difference between a legitimate issue and something that's ginned up for political purposes," said former Obama aide Ben LaBolt, noting the White House's particular displeasure for those "who want to come up with explosive quotes that get them in the news cycle."
Behind the scenes, the White House has signaled an awareness that it needs to strengthen its alliances within Washington. New chief of staff Denis McDonough has been a driving force behind Obama's recent dinners with Republican and Democratic lawmakers, outings that were unheard of during his first term. And McDonough has also been inviting Democratic strategists to the White House for brainstorming sessions and to ask for their support of Obama's policies.
But perhaps most important to the White House are polls suggesting the controversies have done little damage to the president's standing with the public. A new CNN/Opinion Research Center poll showed 53 percent of Americans approve of the job Obama is doing ? virtually the same as his approval rating before the controversies erupted.
However, Obama has had mixed results turning public support into legislative victories. He failed in his efforts earlier this year to tighten background checks for gun purchasers, a policy backed by roughly 90 percent of Americans. He's also made little progress toward getting Republicans to sign on to a "grand bargain" for reducing the deficit despite polls showing the public backs plans similar to the president's, which would include both tax increases and spending cuts.
Republican strategist Kevin Madden said it does Obama little good if all he does is win fights "over who is going to come out of one of these skirmishes with a higher approval rating."
"He's very good and very interested in the pageantry of politics, but he's very bad at the hard work it takes in order to govern," said Madden, who advised last year's GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
The White House, when asked for examples of Obama's ability to turn public support into legislative success, points to the president's successful efforts last year to get young people to urge Congress to stop an increase in student loan interest rates. With the same issue now back on the table, Obama's team will try to replicate last year's efforts, with the president scheduled to appear with college students at a White House event Friday.
Obama advisers also hope that Congress will pass a White House-backed immigration bill later this year, which would be a big victory for the president. The Republican Party's willingness to consider overhauling the nation's immigration laws is a direct result of the overwhelming support Obama received from Hispanic voters in the November election. But the president has been limited in his ability to publicly campaign for the bill, given the fear among its bipartisan architects that his connection with the legislation could scare away Republican votes.
There are over a billion square feet of vacant commercial space in the US right now, most of it in the form of big box stores. This being America, we?ve come up with plenty of intelligent ways to reuse the department stores at which we can no longer afford to shop: Churches. Parks. Clinics. And now, data centers.
A few important fixes just a couple short weeks after a big 4.1 release
Shortly after releasing version 4.1 of its keyboard that brought new themes and improvements, the bump to 4.1.1 today brings a few important fixes. First up, those of you with Samsung devices using the stock email app will now have proper text input, without a cursor that jumps around in the paragraph you're typing. Also an important fix, the keyboard will no longer have an unusable "execute" button while typing in the new Google Hangouts app. Additionally, two crashes related to personalization features and using the "Pitch" theme on older Android 2.1 devices have been fixed.
There's no doubt many of you out there are using SwiftKey daily on your devices, so head to the Play Store and grab your update for these important fixes.
Changing gut bacteria through diet affects brain function, UCLA study showsPublic release date: 28-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kim Irwin kirwin@mednet.ucla.edu 310-794-2262 University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
UCLA researchers now have the first evidence that bacteria ingested in food can affect brain function in humans. In an early proof-of-concept study of healthy women, they found that women who regularly consumed beneficial bacteria known as probiotics through yogurt showed altered brain function, both while in a resting state and in response to an emotion-recognition task.
The study, conducted by scientists with UCLA's Gail and Gerald Oppenheimer Family Center for Neurobiology of Stress and the AhmansonLovelace Brain Mapping Center at UCLA, appears in the June edition of the peer-reviewed journal Gastroenterology.
The discovery that changing the bacterial environment, or microbiota, in the gut can affect the brain carries significant implications for future research that could point the way toward dietary or drug interventions to improve brain function, the researchers said.
"Many of us have a container of yogurt in our refrigerator that we may eat for enjoyment, for calcium or because we think it might help our health in other ways," said Dr. Kirsten Tillisch, an associate professor of medicine at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "Our findings indicate that some of the contents of yogurt may actually change the way our brain responds to the environment. When we consider the implications of this work, the old sayings 'you are what you eat' and 'gut feelings' take on new meaning."
Researchers have known that the brain sends signals to the gut, which is why stress and other emotions can contribute to gastrointestinal symptoms. This study shows what has been suspected but until now had been proved only in animal studies: that signals travel the opposite way as well.
"Time and time again, we hear from patients that they never felt depressed or anxious until they started experiencing problems with their gut," Tillisch said. "Our study shows that the gutbrain connection is a two-way street."
The small study involved 36 women between the ages of 18 and 55. Researchers divided the women into three groups: one group ate a specific yogurt containing a mix of several probiotics bacteria thought to have a positive effect on the intestines twice a day for four weeks; another group consumed a dairy product that looked and tasted like the yogurt but contained no probiotics; and a third group ate no product at all.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans conducted both before and after the four-week study period looked at the women's brains in a state of rest and in response to an emotion-recognition task in which they viewed a series of pictures of people with angry or frightened faces and matched them to other faces showing the same emotions. This task, designed to measure the engagement of affective and cognitive brain regions in response to a visual stimulus, was chosen because previous research in animals had linked changes in gut flora to changes in affective behaviors.
The researchers found that, compared with the women who didn't consume the probiotic yogurt, those who did showed a decrease in activity in both the insula which processes and integrates internal body sensations, like those form the gut and the somatosensory cortex during the emotional reactivity task.
Further, in response to the task, these women had a decrease in the engagement of a widespread network in the brain that includes emotion-, cognition- and sensory-related areas. The women in the other two groups showed a stable or increased activity in this network.
During the resting brain scan, the women consuming probiotics showed greater connectivity between a key brainstem region known as the periaqueductal grey and cognition-associated areas of the prefrontal cortex. The women who ate no product at all, on the other hand, showed greater connectivity of the periaqueductal grey to emotion- and sensation-related regions, while the group consuming the non-probiotic dairy product showed results in between.
The researchers were surprised to find that the brain effects could be seen in many areas, including those involved in sensory processing and not merely those associated with emotion, Tillisch said.
The knowledge that signals are sent from the intestine to the brain and that they can be modulated by a dietary change is likely to lead to an expansion of research aimed at finding new strategies to prevent or treat digestive, mental and neurological disorders, said Dr. Emeran Mayer, a professor of medicine, physiology and psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the study's senior author.
"There are studies showing that what we eat can alter the composition and products of the gut flora in particular, that people with high-vegetable, fiber-based diets have a different composition of their microbiota, or gut environment, than people who eat the more typical
Western diet that is high in fat and carbohydrates," Mayer said. "Now we know that this has an effect not only on the metabolism but also affects brain function."
The UCLA researchers are seeking to pinpoint particular chemicals produced by gut bacteria that may be triggering the signals to the brain. They also plan to study whether people with gastrointestinal symptoms such as bloating, abdominal pain and altered bowel movements have improvements in their digestive symptoms which correlate with changes in brain response.
Meanwhile, Mayer notes that other researchers are studying the potential benefits of certain probiotics in yogurts on mood symptoms such as anxiety. He said that other nutritional strategies may also be found to be beneficial.
By demonstrating the brain effects of probiotics, the study also raises the question of whether repeated courses of antibiotics can affect the brain, as some have speculated. Antibiotics are used extensively in neonatal intensive care units and in childhood respiratory tract infections, and such suppression of the normal microbiota may have longterm consequences on brain development.
Finally, as the complexity of the gut flora and its effect on the brain is better understood, researchers may find ways to manipulate the intestinal contents to treat chronic pain conditions or other brain related diseases, including, potentially, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and autism.
Answers will be easier to come by in the near future as the declining cost of profiling a person's microbiota renders such tests more routine, Mayer said.
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The study was funded by Danone Research. Mayer has served on the company's scientific advisory board. Three of the study authors (Denis Guyonnet, Sophie Legrain-Raspaud and Beatrice Trotin) are employed by Danone Research and were involved in the planning and execution of the study (providing the products) but had no role in the analysis or interpretation of the results.
UCLA's Oppenheimer Family Center for Neurobiology of Stress is an NIH-funded multidisciplinary, translational research program partially supported by philanthropy. Its mission is to identify the role of the brain in health and medical disease. The Center is comprised of several research programs which focus on the interactions of the brain with the digestive, cardiovascular and urological systems, chronic pain and mind brain body interactions.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Changing gut bacteria through diet affects brain function, UCLA study showsPublic release date: 28-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Kim Irwin kirwin@mednet.ucla.edu 310-794-2262 University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
UCLA researchers now have the first evidence that bacteria ingested in food can affect brain function in humans. In an early proof-of-concept study of healthy women, they found that women who regularly consumed beneficial bacteria known as probiotics through yogurt showed altered brain function, both while in a resting state and in response to an emotion-recognition task.
The study, conducted by scientists with UCLA's Gail and Gerald Oppenheimer Family Center for Neurobiology of Stress and the AhmansonLovelace Brain Mapping Center at UCLA, appears in the June edition of the peer-reviewed journal Gastroenterology.
The discovery that changing the bacterial environment, or microbiota, in the gut can affect the brain carries significant implications for future research that could point the way toward dietary or drug interventions to improve brain function, the researchers said.
"Many of us have a container of yogurt in our refrigerator that we may eat for enjoyment, for calcium or because we think it might help our health in other ways," said Dr. Kirsten Tillisch, an associate professor of medicine at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "Our findings indicate that some of the contents of yogurt may actually change the way our brain responds to the environment. When we consider the implications of this work, the old sayings 'you are what you eat' and 'gut feelings' take on new meaning."
Researchers have known that the brain sends signals to the gut, which is why stress and other emotions can contribute to gastrointestinal symptoms. This study shows what has been suspected but until now had been proved only in animal studies: that signals travel the opposite way as well.
"Time and time again, we hear from patients that they never felt depressed or anxious until they started experiencing problems with their gut," Tillisch said. "Our study shows that the gutbrain connection is a two-way street."
The small study involved 36 women between the ages of 18 and 55. Researchers divided the women into three groups: one group ate a specific yogurt containing a mix of several probiotics bacteria thought to have a positive effect on the intestines twice a day for four weeks; another group consumed a dairy product that looked and tasted like the yogurt but contained no probiotics; and a third group ate no product at all.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans conducted both before and after the four-week study period looked at the women's brains in a state of rest and in response to an emotion-recognition task in which they viewed a series of pictures of people with angry or frightened faces and matched them to other faces showing the same emotions. This task, designed to measure the engagement of affective and cognitive brain regions in response to a visual stimulus, was chosen because previous research in animals had linked changes in gut flora to changes in affective behaviors.
The researchers found that, compared with the women who didn't consume the probiotic yogurt, those who did showed a decrease in activity in both the insula which processes and integrates internal body sensations, like those form the gut and the somatosensory cortex during the emotional reactivity task.
Further, in response to the task, these women had a decrease in the engagement of a widespread network in the brain that includes emotion-, cognition- and sensory-related areas. The women in the other two groups showed a stable or increased activity in this network.
During the resting brain scan, the women consuming probiotics showed greater connectivity between a key brainstem region known as the periaqueductal grey and cognition-associated areas of the prefrontal cortex. The women who ate no product at all, on the other hand, showed greater connectivity of the periaqueductal grey to emotion- and sensation-related regions, while the group consuming the non-probiotic dairy product showed results in between.
The researchers were surprised to find that the brain effects could be seen in many areas, including those involved in sensory processing and not merely those associated with emotion, Tillisch said.
The knowledge that signals are sent from the intestine to the brain and that they can be modulated by a dietary change is likely to lead to an expansion of research aimed at finding new strategies to prevent or treat digestive, mental and neurological disorders, said Dr. Emeran Mayer, a professor of medicine, physiology and psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the study's senior author.
"There are studies showing that what we eat can alter the composition and products of the gut flora in particular, that people with high-vegetable, fiber-based diets have a different composition of their microbiota, or gut environment, than people who eat the more typical
Western diet that is high in fat and carbohydrates," Mayer said. "Now we know that this has an effect not only on the metabolism but also affects brain function."
The UCLA researchers are seeking to pinpoint particular chemicals produced by gut bacteria that may be triggering the signals to the brain. They also plan to study whether people with gastrointestinal symptoms such as bloating, abdominal pain and altered bowel movements have improvements in their digestive symptoms which correlate with changes in brain response.
Meanwhile, Mayer notes that other researchers are studying the potential benefits of certain probiotics in yogurts on mood symptoms such as anxiety. He said that other nutritional strategies may also be found to be beneficial.
By demonstrating the brain effects of probiotics, the study also raises the question of whether repeated courses of antibiotics can affect the brain, as some have speculated. Antibiotics are used extensively in neonatal intensive care units and in childhood respiratory tract infections, and such suppression of the normal microbiota may have longterm consequences on brain development.
Finally, as the complexity of the gut flora and its effect on the brain is better understood, researchers may find ways to manipulate the intestinal contents to treat chronic pain conditions or other brain related diseases, including, potentially, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and autism.
Answers will be easier to come by in the near future as the declining cost of profiling a person's microbiota renders such tests more routine, Mayer said.
###
The study was funded by Danone Research. Mayer has served on the company's scientific advisory board. Three of the study authors (Denis Guyonnet, Sophie Legrain-Raspaud and Beatrice Trotin) are employed by Danone Research and were involved in the planning and execution of the study (providing the products) but had no role in the analysis or interpretation of the results.
UCLA's Oppenheimer Family Center for Neurobiology of Stress is an NIH-funded multidisciplinary, translational research program partially supported by philanthropy. Its mission is to identify the role of the brain in health and medical disease. The Center is comprised of several research programs which focus on the interactions of the brain with the digestive, cardiovascular and urological systems, chronic pain and mind brain body interactions.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
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3.5 Inch Rugged Android Phone "Titan" - http://www.chinavasion.com/deab-Andro... - Water Resistant, Shockproof, Dustproof (Black)
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Due to having a slim design it is not as bulky as regular rugged phones and it is stylish as well. The brain of this phone is an Android operating system that allows you the opportunity to customize options and instant app downloads from the wealthy Google Play store. The user interface is refined in many ways across the system, making it easier to learn, faster to use, and more power-efficient. A simplified visual theme of colors against black brings vividness and contrast to the notification bar, menus, and other parts of the UI. Install any app such as YouTube, Facebook, Angry Birds or Twitter and the "Titan" will run and control it with ease. The brawn of this phone is the fact it is water resistant and dustproof plus with a rubber exterior casing making it shockproof. The "Titan" is not just sturdy and tough but also has a water resistant rating of IP53. This water resistant level indicates that this phone is protected against a limited amount of dust ingress and also a water spray from under 60 degrees from a vertical level.
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Burson-Marsteller founder tells PR industry to broaden focus from communications to corporate...
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London, 28 May ? Burson-Marsteller founder Harold Burson has called on the PR industry to broaden its focus from providing communications services towards improving company behaviour.
JERUSALEM (AP) ? Israel's defense minister is signaling that his military is prepared to strike shipments of advanced Russian weapons to Syria.
Israel has been pressing Moscow not to go through with a promised delivery of advanced S-300 anti-aircraft missiles to Damascus. Israel fears the missiles could slip into the hands of hostile groups like Hezbollah.
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said on Tuesday that Israel believes the missiles haven't been shipped yet but the military "will know what to do" if they are delivered.
Yaalon spoke at an annual home front drill preparing for missile attacks. This year's exercise comes at a time of heightened concerns that Israel could be dragged into the Syrian civil war.
Israel is believed to have carried out recent airstrikes on weapon depots inside Syria destined for Hezbollah.
This Lightning cable from iLoveHandles is $19.95, basically the same as Apple’s Lightning cable. ?The Trunk doesn’t look like Apple’s cable though, other than the Lightning connector on one end and the USB connector on the other. ?The cable itself is short, thick, and bendable, so you can bend it into a charging stand for [...]
All Critics (136) | Top Critics (31) | Fresh (134) | Rotten (2)
There is an enchanted-fairy-tale aspect to Mud, but its bright, calm surface only barely disguises a strong, churning undercurrent.
A modern fairy tale, steeped in the sleepy Mississippi lore of Twain and similar American writers, and with a heart as big as the river is wide.
Nichols has a strong feeling for the tactility of natural elements-water, wood, terrain, weather.
Nichols takes his time with the story, dwelling on how the boy is shaped by the killer's tragic sense of romance, yet the suspense holds.
"Mud" isn't just a movie. It's the firm confirmation of a career.
"Mud" unfolds at its own pace, revealing its story in slivers. The performances are outstanding, especially from Sheridan, who plays tough, sweet, vulnerable and confused with equal conviction.
This is American cinema at its very best as Huckleberry Finn meets Stand By Me.The two boys are terrific and McConaughey is sensational as Mud, dazzlingly frazzled as the hunted and haunted man on the run.
Up till just past the three-quarter mark, Mud is one heck of a nifty psychological fable.
The Southern-fried drama "Mud" is an electrifying example of what happens when you merge a crackerjack yarn with a very specific setting, and then pour on the heat with riveting performances.
McConaughey and Sheridan 's acting skills, as well as those of the entire supporting cast, make this movie better than it ought to be.
It gets under our skin because Nichols gives us time to come to know Mud's island like the places we knew as children.
As Mud might say, it's a hell of a thing.
The boys are so skillfully played that Mud also plays like cinema verite. Nichols' fluid camerawork suggests a documentary-style approach. That helps these young lads transform into flesh-and-blood characters who get our attention and support.
Sheridan, who played the Terrence Malick surrogate in The Tree Of Life, is terrific at conveying adolescent confusion with tiny squints and frowns, and McConaughey plays off him masterfully.
Carefully crafting films that fly just below the political radar, director-writer Jeff Nichols is slowly, but surely, reweaving the fabric of the American dream.
It's totally worth it to pay good money to see a good, little film nestled between theaters showing 'Iron Man 3' and 'The Great Gatsby.' (Complete Content Details for Parents also available)
This is a junior adventure story echoing Huckleberry Finn and Stand By Me, a tale which is in no hurry to unfold, but beautifully done, exquisitely performed, and filled with terror and wonder.
Beautifully acted, intellectually engaging, and dramatically satisfying, Mud deserves to rocket to the top of your must-see list.
Nichols is a gifted writer-director who knows how to get into the heads of his characters. And this film has superior actors who create people who are intriguing and hugely involving.
'Mud' is a standout film in this 'coming of age' genre mainly because of its central character, one tough, warm-hearted, stubborn little kid who believes in the power of love, above all else.
Other than pacing problems that needlessly stretch the film past the two-hour mark, 'Mud' slings the dirt and sweat with the best of them, as it both mourns and celebrates a way of life that's all but disappeared.
A sublime coming-of-age film, 'Mud' would be the offspring if 'Stand By Me' and 'Cape Fear' reproduced.
Mud is a movie of striking performances and memorable images and of people who seem to belong in rather than being imposed upon their environment.
A brilliant metaphor for how a child deals with divorce.
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LONDON (AP) ? When zookeeper Sarah McClay was mauled to death by a Sumatran tiger at an animal park in England, its owner suggested she had violated safety procedures and entered the animal's pen.
But police said Monday that's not what happened.
Cumbria Police said that according to witnesses, the tiger escaped from its pen and attacked 24-year-old McClay on Friday as she was working in a staff area at South Lakes Wild Animal Park in northwestern England. She later died of her injuries at a hospital.
"What has become apparent from our enquiries with witnesses is that Sarah was going about her routine duties and was in the staff section of the enclosure building, which animals are not allowed access to, when a tiger has entered it from an adjacent pen and confronted her," Det. Chief Insp. Bob Qazi said in a statement.
The tiger then attacked McClay, taking her from the building to an outside enclosure where she was found by paramedics, Qazi added.
Police said detectives do not suspect foul play or suicide and are still trying to find out how and why the tiger escaped. They said this could be because of a "human or system error, or mechanical failing, or a combination of both."
Earlier, park owner David Gill told BBC radio he believed McClay had failed to follow safety procedures and entered the tiger's pen for "an inexplicable reason."
BAGHDAD (AP) ? A string of attacks killed at least 12 people in Iraq on Sunday, officials said, in the latest violence of what has been a particularly bloody month in the country.
Iraq has been hit by a wave of bloodshed that has killed some 300 people in the past two weeks alone, raising tensions between the country's Sunni minority and Shiite-led government. The surge in violence has been reminiscent of the sectarian carnage that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war in 2006 and 2007.
Sunday's deadliest attack took place in the northern city of Mosul, where a car bomb went off at a house early in the morning while a joint army-police unit was conducting door-to-door searches. The blast killed three policemen and one soldier, a provincial police officer said. Twenty people, including four civilians, were wounded.
Also in Mosul, police said militants gunned down a policeman in his car in the city center. Authorities also found a body floating in the Tigris river, shot at close range with hands bound behind the back. Mosul, some 360 kilometers (225 miles) northwest of Baghdad, is a former stronghold of Sunni militants.
In northern Baghdad's Kazimiyah district, militants in a speeding car went on a shooting spree that killed three civilians and wounded another, two police officers said.
And in Iraq's western province of Anbar, the birthplace of the Sunni insurgency led by al-Qaida in Iraq, three soldiers were killed and five wounded in two separate attacks by roadside bombs on their patrols, police and army officers said.
Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke anonymously as they were not authorized to release information.
Insurgent attacks have decreased sharply in Iraq since the height of insurgency, but recent spikes in attacks amid months-old Sunni protests against the Shiite-led government have raised fears that sectarian killings could gain fresh momentum across the country.
Alarmed by a nationwide deterioration in the security situation, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has ordered a reshuffle in senior military ranks.
It's now possible to have fun in the sun and get good gas mileage with these four sensible convertibles.?
By Antony Ingram,?Guest blogger / May 25, 2013
The 2013 Volkswagen Beetle TDI convertible (2005 version shown here) is the only diesel convertible for sale right now, and it gets over 40 mph on the highway.
PRNewsFoto/Volkswagen of America/File
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Many things can signify summer--the weather finally being warm enough to ditch those outer layers of clothing; TV ads taking a distinctly more cheery tone; maybe simply hunting around for your sunshades for the first time in six months.
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It's now possible to have fun in the sun and get good gas mileage, with convertibles getting ever more frugal.
We've listed the four converibles with best gas mileage below. And for those of you buying such cars, you'll be measuring summer by the number of times the roof can come down...
1 - 2013 Smart Fortwo Cabriolet
The little Smart Cabriolet often tops such lists. Its unusual design means it isn't just a city car, but a converible too--with a canvas roof that slides back along two roof bars, and folds itself into a stack behind your head.
For a true wind-in-the-hair feel you can also remove those roof bars and stow them in the drop-down tailgate. Rearward visibility is compromised with the roof stowed, but the Fortwo's love-or-hate driving characteristics are a lot easier to stomach with the sun beating down on your head. Hard to complain about 36 mpg combined economy too, even if it probably should be better from the tiny 1.0-liter 3-cylinder engine. Prices start at $17,890.
2 - 2013 Volkswagen Beetle TDI Convertible
The Beetle TDI Convertible's true calling is clearly the summer road trip. For one, there's enough space for a few friends in the back. Secondly, the retro styling will always be a head-turner. And three, you're likely to get over 40 mpg from its 2.0-liter diesel engine, with official highway economy of 41 mpg.
It's the only diesel convertible for sale right now in the U.S. and enthusiastic drivers will appreciate the standard six-speed manual gearbox too. Roof-down the TDI's rattles are a little more audible, but you probably won't mind thanks to that gas mileage. It's the most expensive here though, at $27,895.
3 - 2013 MINI Cooper Roadster
There's quite a bit of choice for MINI fans who want to soak up the rays, with Cooper Roadster, Cooper Convertible, Cooper S Roadster and Cooper S Convertible all managing the same 27 mpg city, 35 highway and 30 combined.
Cooper S models are quicker than their Cooper counterparts, but also more expensive. Economy is the same whether you specify manual or auto, so you can choose on preference alone. The Convertible is the more practical, with an extra couple of seats, but the Roadster is marginally more fun and has a larger trunk. Take your pick--it's $25,150 for the Convertible, $25,550 for the Roadster.
4 - 2013 Fiat 500C
Were it not for the Smart Fortwo sitting pretty at the top there, this list would be a retro-styled washout. Like the MINI and VW Beetle, the Fiat 500C harks back to earlier, simpler times. Its convertible roof is simple too - rather than folding away entirely like the MINI and Beetle, a simple canvas shutter-style top slides down the solid roof rails and sits on the back shelf, more like the Smart.
Motive power comes from a 1.4-liter, four-cylinder gasoline engine delivering 27 mpg city, 32 highway, and 29 mpg combined. Pricing starts at a slightly eye-watering $19,500, particularly considering the extra performance and economy of the cars above it, but what price can you put on style?
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best auto bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger,?click here.?To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on the link in the blog description box above.
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Public release date: 30-May-2013
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