Germany Probes Russia Attack Plot After Dawn Raids

October 8, 2009 by ·

germany probes russia attack plot_German prosecutors are investigating three suspected Islamists they believe were involved in planning to attack Russia, after police launched dawn raids on apartments in Berlin on Wednesday, officials said.

Police searched 26 properties in the German capital in the early morning but found no concrete plans for an attack, they said. No arrests were made, but prosecutors said they were conducting investigations into the three people.

“The investigations are directed against three suspected Islamists, aged 28-years, 30-years and 36-years, who are accused of agreeing to attack Russia,” Berlin prosecutors said in a statement.

Prosecutors said they were acting on leads from abroad and from international police.

“The suspicion arose that a Berlin Islamist of Arab origins is the head of a suspected violent group of about 15 people which is planning terrorist attacks on Russia,” they said.

Some 140 investigators seized computers, storage media and outdoor clothes and found clues leading them to believe that some members of the militant group had left Germany for training camps in Pakistan, said the prosecutors.

Newspaper Bild had reported on its website that the investigations were focused on Chechens.

Prosecutors said there was no indication of any connection between the suspects and militant Islamist videos which were posted on the Internet in the run-up to a federal election in Germany on Sept. 27.

The videos warned that Germany would pay a price if voters backed a government that supported the country’s military involvement in Afghanistan, where about 4,200 German soldiers are deployed.

The Interior Ministry declined to comment on the case, saying it was a matter for Berlin authorities but a spokesman said the security situation had not changed in the last few days as there was no sign of any firm plans for an attack. By Madeline Chambers, The Star.

Filed Under: Foreign News, Foreign Policy, Places ·

Credit Market Conditions

October 8, 2009 by ·

credit market conditions_There’s virtually no significant sign of real recovery based on the objective assessment report; likely, it will be at least mid-2010 before the construction industry attains sustainable momentum. The modest decline was virtually all due to a weakening financial market for contractors. While the financial press reports that business credit is once again available; contractors reported some of the most difficult credit market conditions ever. If panelists are correct in their assessment, the credit crunch is likely to get worse late in 2009 and into the early months of 2010.

Nevertheless, panelists reported a slowing volume of loan approvals, tighter loan evaluation standards, and a general expectation that virtually all types of contractor-related borrowing requests including short-term working capital FHA Loans, long-term equipment finance arrangements, commercial real estate financing, and project development loans will be more rigorously evaluated by lenders over the next few years. Well, with the housing price declines, we have seen over the past three year’s tax credit for first time home buyers. A high end home building company that has been around for over 40 years reported an increase in home buyers signing contracts to buy homes.

In a nutshell, some contractors reported no significant change in business activity or in demand for new construction workers. They did report, however, three percent more homebuyers signed contracts in their fiscal third quarter. Although a three percent increase isn’t much of an increase, the big deal is this is the first annual increase in four years. Both the cost and availability of short-term credit reflected a positive trend for the quarter compared to last year. With the recent trend, builders are jumping for joy with all the positive data on the housing project. And even more positive is the quarter over quarter increased of signed contracts and the stable labor and equipment costs and falling materials costs through the first six months of 2009.

Filed Under: Business, Economy ·

Study Reveals Fish Intake Doesn’t Stop Heart Failure

October 7, 2009 by ·

study reveals fish intake doesn't stop heart failure_A new Dutch study reveals that fish does not seem to guard against the development of heart failure, though eating fish appear to protect one against heart attacks and other cardiovascular disease.

Heart failure is a degenerative condition, but with the right treatment and lifestyle people are living longer with it.

In fact, some 5.7 million Americans are living with heart failure, and 670,000 new cases are diagnosed each year, according to the American Heart Association.

“We examined whether the intake of fish and its omega-3 fatty acids could protect against the development of heart failure in people who had no history of coronary heart disease,” said lead researcher J. Marianne Geleijnse, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Wageningen University.

“However, we found no association except for a possible protective effect of omega-3 fatty acids against heart failure in a subgroup with diabetes”, Geleijnse added.

There is strong evidence for a general cardioprotective effect of omega-3 fatty acids from fish, although the underlying mechanisms are not yet clear, Geleijnse said. The report is published in the October issue of the European Journal of Heart Failure.

For the study, Geleijnse’s team collected data on 5,299 men and women who participated in the Rotterdam Study.

The researchers wanted to see if the omega-3 fatty acids in fish could protect people from developing heart failure as they appear to protect people from other types of heart trouble.

Over almost 12 years of follow-up, the researchers found that 669 people developed heart failure.

Geleijnse’s group found that eating fish rich in omega-3 fatty acids was not significantly related to developing heart failure in either men or women.

Both types of these acids the researchers looked at (EPA and DHA) have been linked to reduced blood pressure, heart rate, arrhythmias and triglyceride levels, all of which are associated with risk of heart attack and heart disease.

However, there did seem to be a small benefit in the reduction of heart failure among diabetics who ate the most fish, Geleijnse noted.

“It is worthwhile to further examine whether dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids could reduce the risk of heart failure in diabetics,” she said.

“Fish intake may not influence risk of heart failure, but there is strong evidence that it protects against myocardial infarction, sudden cardiac death and stroke,” Geleijnse stated. “Therefore, it is wise to consume fish twice per week, in particular fatty fish like salmon, herring and mackerel.”

Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, said that “heart failure results in substantial morbidity, mortality and health-care expenditures. Finding effective strategies to prevent heart failure is a very high priority.”

Clinical trials have shown that supplementation with certain formulations of omega-3 fatty acids reduce the risk of recurrent cardiovascular disease and produce modest improvements in survival in patients with established heart failure, Fonarow said.
“A prior observational study suggested that, among older adults in the U.S., dietary consumption of fish was associated with a lower incidence of heart failure,” he said. “This new observational study conducted in the Netherlands did not find that self-reported dietary consumption of fish at higher levels was associated with a lower risk of heart failure,” Fonarow explained.

“Only prospective randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials will be able to definitively establish whether or not omega-3 fatty acid supplementation reduces the risk of new-onset heart failure,” Fonarow said. “Such studies are now ongoing.”

Dr David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, added that “we have abundant evidence that fish consumption is good for health overall and cardiovascular health in particular. This study doesn’t change that.”

Even in this study, the trend for fish intake was favorable with slightly less heart failure in those consuming the most, he said.

“We should expect that the incremental contribution of fish to health is modest. Fish can contribute to your health, and that of your heart, but do so most reliably in the context of healthful living,” Katz said. By Joy Online.

Filed Under: Food, Health News, Medical Research & Study ·

Cheaper Home & Insurance

October 7, 2009 by ·

insurance_Today, middle-class people would still struggle to pay for the right insurance despite efforts of legislation that requires all Americans to get insurance through an employer, a government program or by buying it themselves. But new tax credits to help with premiums won’t go far enough for everyone. Some middle-class families purchasing their own coverage through new insurance exchanges could find it out of reach

Meanwhile, the issue of affordability being brought up by some quarters is nowhere near resolved, as you can have now the best home contents insurance. They can help you quickly compare the best deals using the information you may provide. So if you want to save time and money on your home insurance, it doesn’t take a lot of people to do the work, hence, let the experts handle it for you.

Filed Under: Home Improvement, Insurance, People, Personal ·

Cancer Drugs’ Secrets Discovered

October 7, 2009 by ·

cancer drug's secrets discovered_Scientists have discovered why a particular group of cancer drugs are so effective at fighting the disease. Although they have been used for years to treat certain tumors, researchers did not know exactly how they worked.

A team from Dundee University studied the NEDD8 molecule, known to play an important role in turning on p53, a gene which inhibits a cell’s growth.

They found that by blocking NEDD8, cancer drugs were able to switch on p53 causing the death of the cancer cells. Experts believe the discovery could allow the development of drugs to treat more cancers.

NEDD8 works by attaching itself to other proteins – a process called NEDDylation – to alter their properties.

The Dundee team, led by Dr Dimitris Xirodimas, found that NEDDylation stops certain proteins leaving a specialised area of the cell.

Impeding this allows the proteins to move and gives the signal for p53 to be activated, killing the cancer cells.

Dr Dimitris Xirodimas said the team were very excited about the findings. He added: “A pharmaceutical company has recently developed chemicals which block the NEDDylation reaction and these compounds are currently being tested in clinical trials for the treatment of cancer.

“Our research reinforces the value of this work and opens up avenues for the development of new ways to treat cancer.”

‘Potential therapies’

The findings, being presented by Cancer Research UK’s chief scientist Prof Sir David Lane at the NCRI Cancer Conference in Birmingham later, are published in EMBO Reports.

The study was funded by the Association for International Cancer Research (AICR). The charity’s, scientific advisor, Dr Mark Matfield said: “The significance of this discovery is that it could lead to drugs that would be effective against a wide range of cancers.\

“Over the last decade, many of the new cancer drugs have only been useful for a few, specific cancers.

“What we really need are effective broad range cancer therapies.”

Prof Sir David Lane, Cancer Research UK’s chief scientist said: “p53 is missing or faulty in almost half of all cancers and there are 270,000 new cases of cancer in the UK each year so by understanding potential therapies can switch it on and off is an important part of the search for new potential therapies.” BBC News.

Filed Under: Disease, Drugs, Medical Research & Study ·

Do Wind Turbines Kill Wildlife?

October 6, 2009 by ·

do windturbines kill wildlife_Imagine that at the flick of a switch, you could not only turn a light on or off but select which power source you were going to use. Would an eco warrior choose wind power or coal? Surely this is a no-brainer.

Not necessarily. While Nimbys (Not-in-My-Backyarders) are often cast as agents of self interest (prioritising the preservation of the view from their own window above progress), in reality they’re often motivated by a deep belief in wildlife conservation. There is no denying that wind turbines are inextricably linked to bird and bat mortality. The prominent US wildlife ecologist and ornithologist Albert Manville claims that as many as 440,000 birds are killed by existing wind turbines in the US every year. The numbers are thought to be big because the wind currents most beneficial for producing wind energy also happen to be the ones that billions of birds use to migrate across the US. This is more than an unhappy coincidence, as it adds huge pressure to species already at risk from habitat degradation. And while wind turbines are such great hulking symbols of wildlife slaying, traditional forms of fossil-fuel electricity generation tend to be let off the hook, despite actually killing more animals. A recent US study, Comparison of Reported Effects and Risks to Vertebrate Wildlife – which appears to be the only comparative study of electricity generation to factor in wildlife mortality – concludes that thanks to emissions of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide and mercury, coal-fired generation is a far greater killer. But it’s also worth mentioning that birds and bats fly into oil platforms and cooling towers, too.

As more research is conducted, so more ways are found to reduce wind-power casualties. As bats rarely fly over the ocean, offshore wind turbines have negligible effect on their mortality. Offshore turbines also seem to cause low bird mortality. The Nysted Offshore Wind Farm, in Denmark, was actually built in a duck flyway, yet mortality was discovered to be just 1.2 birds per year per tower. Other techniques include slowing turbine blades at night – the time when wind speeds are lowest anyway but bats happen to be most active – shown by US research at the Casselman Wind Power Project to cut wildlife deaths by 73%. Researchers at Aberdeen University, funded by the People’s Trust for Endangered Species (ptes.org) are currently making good progress on using radar to deter bats from becoming entangled in the turbine’s blades. Meanwhile we need to know more about migration patterns and exactly why bats and birds are attracted to spinning blades. Nor should any wind turbine be given the go ahead without a conservation plan. Notably the RSPB – once a vehement opponent of wind power – put up its first turbine earlier this summer after consultation on finding an appropriate site. The answer, as they say, is blowing in the wind. The complication is figuring out how to avoid a collision. By Lucy Siegle, The Guardian.

Filed Under: Technologies, Weather, Wildlife ·

Fastest Growing Jobs

October 5, 2009 by ·

nursing assistant jobs_For the last several years, the top three and fastest growing jobs in science include environmental scientist, hydrologist or geoscientist. This also includes basic scientists, such as physicists and biologist, as well as people skilled in medical and atmospheric science. Hence, under the current economic conditions, are these really the ones that will remain in demand? Well, no one really knows and only time can tell. Yet, the question remains – do science jobs really make the best careers?

Probably, jobs in mathematics were really the best type of jobs to have during a tough economy. But most people who practice mathematics for a living are, in fact, scientists. Many medical professions such as nursing assistant jobs only a require two-year degree, yet nurses remain in high demand in nearly every state and into different countries abroad. So, if you think you have the potential and are very much qualified for the position, then what are you waiting for?

Filed Under: Education, Jobs, People, Professional Services ·