U.S. commandos free two hostages in daring Somalia raid (Reuters)

MOGADISHU (Reuters) ? Elite U.S. Navy SEALs swooped into Somalia on Wednesday and rescued two hostage aid workers after killing their nine kidnappers, a rare and daring raid in the Horn of Africa nation to free foreign captives.

American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, of Denmark, humanitarian aid workers for a Danish demining group, were rescued three months after they were kidnapped on October 25 in the town of Galkayo in the semi-autonomous Galmudug region of the Horn of Africa country.

The SEALs came from the same elite Navy unit -- SEAL Team Six -- that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at his compound in Pakistan last year, U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The mission also involved other U.S. forces providing airlift for the SEALs to and from the raid.

"The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice," President Barack Obama said in a statement.

The SEALs parachuted into a location near the town of Gadaado in central Somalia and then hiked to the encampment where the two hostages were being held by their nine abductors, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity.

It was not clear that any of the same SEALs were involved in both the Somalia and bin Laden raids even if they came from SEAL Team Six.

The raiding party arrived prepared to detain the kidnappers but was not able to do that and all nine were killed, Pentagon officials said. The kidnappers were heavily armed and had explosives nearby, they said. None of the U.S. forces was hurt.

Obama authorized the raid on Monday and military commanders gave the final go-ahead on Tuesday, Pentagon officials said.

They said a confluence of factors, from the health of the hostages to the available intelligence and operational conditions, gave Obama a window of opportunity to act and prompted Washington to move ahead with the raid.

Buchanan was suffering from a possible kidney infection, according to people involved with the hostages. New evidence obtained last week suggested her health was deteriorating, said Pentagon officials, who would not elaborate on her condition.

"We're confident that there was enough of a sense of urgency, there was enough actionable intelligence to take the action that we did, for the president to make the decision that he did," said Navy Captain John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.

Buchanan and Thisted were flown to neighboring Djibouti, home to the only U.S. military base in Africa and France's largest base on the continent, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. They were under the care of U.S. military doctors, officials said.

'GOOD JOB TONIGHT'

Obama was overheard congratulating Panetta on the success of the operation as the president entered the U.S. House of Representatives chamber on Tuesday for his annual State of the Union speech.

Panetta had been at the White House before the speech and had been monitoring the progress of the operation. The raid was still being wrapped up when the president spoke to him.

"Leon. Good job tonight. Good job tonight," Obama said.

The Pentagon said there were no known links between the kidnappers and Islamist militant groups in the region. Kirby said the U.S. military had no evidence to connect them to piracy.

But Obama called them "criminals and pirates" in his statement, as did local officials.

"About 12 U.S. helicopters are now at Galkayo. We thank the United States. Pirates have spoilt the whole region's peace and ethics. They are mafia," Mohamed Ahmed Alim, leader of the Galmudug region, told Reuters.

He was speaking from Hobyo, a pirate base north of Haradheere, where he said he was negotiating the release of an American journalist seized on Saturday, also from Galkayo.

Somali pirate gangs typically seize ships in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden and hold the crews until they receive a ransom. The kidnapping of the aid workers in Galkayo would be an unusual case of a pirate gang being behind a seizure on land.

U.S. and French forces have intervened to rescue pirate hostages at sea, but attacks on pirate bases are rare.

Pirates and local elders say the American journalist and a number of sailors from India, South Korea, the Philippines and Denmark are being held by pirate gangs.

A British tourist kidnapped from Kenya on September 11, 2011, is also still held captive in Somalia.

Somalia's government applauded the mission and said it welcomed any operation against pirates.

U.S. special forces killed senior al Qaeda militant Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan in a raid in southern Somalia in 2009. Several other al Qaeda or al Shabaab officials have been killed in U.S. drone strikes in Somalia over the past few years.

In an excerpt of a CBS "60 Minutes interview released on Wednesday, Panetta said al Qaeda "is still a threat" that the United States would pursue around the world, including Africa.

"We're confronting the nodes of al Qaeda in Yemen, in Somalia, in North Africa," Panetta said.

Panetta visited U.S. troops in Djibouti last month on his way to Afghanistan and Iraq, in a stopover that reflected Obama's growing focus on the militant and piracy threats from Yemen and the eastern edge of Africa.

In Djibouti, the United States has a platform to monitor al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in Yemen and Somalia's al Shabaab, a hard-line rebel group with links to al Qaeda.

(Additional reporting by Mohamed Ahmed in Mogadishu, John Acher and Mette Fraende in Copenhagen, David Clarke in Nairobi, Phil Stewart, David Alexander and JoAnne Allen in Washington; Writing by Richard Lough and David Clarke; Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/us_nm/us_somalia_hostages

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Drchrono Raises $2.8M From Yuri Milner And Others To Help Bring Medical Records To The iPad

Drchrono, a startup that simplifies the professional lives of doctors by bringing electronic health records and much more to the iPad, has raised $2.8 million in funding led by Yuri Milner, with Google's Matt Cutts and other investors participating. The startup had previously raised $1.3 million in seed funding from Milner, General Catalyst, Charles River Ventures, 500 Startups, Gmail creator and FriendFeed cofounder Paul Buchheit, Cutts, and the Start Fund. Y Combinator-backed drchrono streamlines the professional lives of doctors and medical professionals by bringing electronic health records and much more to the iPad. The free iPad app allows doctors to schedule patient appointments, dictate notes via audio, take pictures, write prescriptions and send them to pharmacies, enable reminders, take clinical notes, access lab results, and input electronic health records.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/LNHt00i1Qx0/

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Sweden's Ericsson says Q4 profits dropped (AP)

STOCKHOLM ? LM Ericsson, the world-leading wireless equipment maker in terms of market share, on Wednesday shocked the market by posting a much worse-than-expected fourth-quarterly result, mainly blaming operators for turning cautious due to the global financial turmoil.

Shares in the company took a severe beating in the opening minutes of the Stockholm stock exchange, tumbling 13 percent to 8.95 kronor ($1.33).

The company, headquartered in Stockholm in Sweden, said profits in the final quarter of 2011 fell by more than two-thirds compared with a year earlier, reaching only 1.15 billion kronor ($170 million) from a previous 4.32 billion kronor. Aside from the woes on the financial markets, it also said operator investment spending had slowed down due to a period of high investment in capacity as well as caution linked to political unrest in some countries.

Although sales were more or less flat in the October-December period, rising by 1 percent to 63.67 billion kronor, the tighter budgets for operators led to a severe squeeze of its gross margin, which fell to 30.2 percent from a previous 34.7 percent.

Losses in its Sony Ericsson joint venture also hurt the results, it said. Ericsson last year sold its share in Sony Ericsson to Sony, but the deal is being finalized in this quarter.

For the full year 2011, however, a 12 percent rise in sales led to a net profit of 12.19 billion kronor, also up 12 percent from the full year in 2010, the company said.

Greger Johansson, an analyst with research firm Redeye said the results fell way below expectations, describing them as "very weak," especially pointing to the disappointing sales figures in Ericsson's core unit, Networks.

"It's pretty much weaker on all areas," he said.

Ericsson CEO Hans Vestberg said that although his company expects operators "to continue to be cautious with spending, reflecting factors such as macro economic and political uncertainty" in the short term, "the industry fundamentals for longer-term positive development remain solid."

"With our global scale and presence, as well as technology and services leadership, we are well positioned to continue to drive and lead the industry development," he said.

Ericsson is the world leader in rolling out and upgrading mobile network infrastructure. Its biggest competitors are China's Huawei and Finnish-German joint venture Nokia Siemens.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_sweden_earns_ericsson

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Romney paid about $3 million in federal income taxes in 2010, an effective rate of 14 percent (Star Tribune)

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A record-breaking Antarctic summer for polar trips

FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2011 file photo provided by the Kaspersky ONE Trans-antarctic Expedition, Felicity Aston takes a picture of herself at Union Glacier days before she traveled to her starting point on the Ross Ice Shelf for a solo trek across Antarctica. Aston, 34, crossed Antarctica in 59 days, pulling two sledges for more than 1,084 miles (1,744 kilometers) from the Leverett Glacier to the Hercules Inlet on the Ronne Ice Shelf. On Monday morning, Jan. 23, 2012, she tweeted that she has completed her journey. (AP Photo/Kaspersky ONE Trans-antarctic Expedition/Kaspersky Lab, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 19, 2011 file photo provided by the Kaspersky ONE Trans-antarctic Expedition, Felicity Aston takes a picture of herself at Union Glacier days before she traveled to her starting point on the Ross Ice Shelf for a solo trek across Antarctica. Aston, 34, crossed Antarctica in 59 days, pulling two sledges for more than 1,084 miles (1,744 kilometers) from the Leverett Glacier to the Hercules Inlet on the Ronne Ice Shelf. On Monday morning, Jan. 23, 2012, she tweeted that she has completed her journey. (AP Photo/Kaspersky ONE Trans-antarctic Expedition/Kaspersky Lab, File)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) ? This has been the busiest summer in history for Antarctic expeditions, with dozens of skiers reaching the end of the Earth to mark the centennial of man's first journey to the South Pole.

About 20 teams set off from the South American side of the icy continent, and only one is still under way: Australians Justin Jones and James Castrission are attempting to ski to the South Pole and back to their starting point without any help whatsoever.

Alexsander Gamme of Norway was waiting for the Australians at a spot 1 kilometer (less than 1 mile) from the edge of the ice shelf at Hercules Inlet, so they can share the record of becoming the first to ski to the pole and back both unassisted (without kites, motors or now-banned dogs) and unsupported (without caches of supplies along the route). Gamme's team told the ExplorersWeb site on Tuesday that said the three hoped to meet up in several days.

All three men have skied for more than 85 days, traveling much farther than Britain's Felicity Aston, who arrived at Hercules Inlet on Monday. Her 59-day trip across 1,084 miles (1,744 kilometers) made her the first woman to traverse Antarctica alone and on her own power. Aston counted on two supply drops along the way, however, to lighten her two sleds.

"In my opinion they're all notable. This is very difficult to do, all of this, and as a result I don't like to split hairs too much ... It's sort of disrespectful to the effort that people bring to this. There are a lot of difficult logistics out there," said Peter McDowell, who manages the Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions company's operations from Punta Arenas, Chile.

Some of this year's visitors flew directly to the U.S. research station at the South Pole, or were dropped off and then skied in from just one degree of latitude, to join last month's celebration of Roald Amundsen's team from Norway becoming the first to reach the Pole in 1911.

But most others were supported by Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions, which has moved about 500 people around the continent this summer. They included scientific expeditions, record-breaking attempts, high-end tourist trips and government programs sponsored by Argentina, Brazil, Australia, the United States and Britain.

Only 60 people were left Tuesday at a base camp at Union Glacier, most to support planes that are on call to rescue adventurers in case anything goes wrong. All will be off the continent by month's end, McDowell said.

Doing anything at all in Antarctica is very expensive and difficult, involving vast distances, subzero temperatures and unpredictable weather, even during the southern hemisphere summer when the sun never sets. Britain alone has lost 29 lives in Antarctica since the deaths of a five-member team led by R.F. Scott that reached the pole five weeks after Amundsen and succumbed to hunger and exhaustion on their way out. Their bodies weren't found for eight months.

This summer, no skiers died and only eight had to be removed due to illness or injury, McDowell said.

"Modern communications makes a big difference," he said.

___

Antarctic Logistics & Expeditions list of 2011-2012 trips: http://www.antarctic-logistics.com/news

___

Follow Michael Warren on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mwarrenap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-24-AA-Antarctic-Expeditions/id-23f7c916e4f24c2c93b448321f3ac1d7

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Gingrich Delivers a Statewide Drubbing in S.C. (ABC News)

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Bemo Saudi Fransi Finance Syria leads brokerage market share in ...

Omar Al Ghraoui, General Manager, said in a statement: "2011 was a very difficult year for Syria's capital markets. Nonetheless, our commitment to serving our clients and assisting them through these unprecedented conditions allowed us to earn their trust and in turn maintain our leadership position on the market."

Al Ghraoui also added that following the downturn, certain stocks potentially present good value in the medium to long-term.

BSFF was recently recognized as Best Local Investment Bank - Syria 2011 by EMEA Finance magazine for the fourth consecutive year in acknowledgment of its achievements this past year. In addition to being the largest broker in the market, BSFF became the only financial intermediary in Syria to provide portfolio management services on a discretionary and non-discretionary basis. Furthermore, BSFF successfully managed the SYP1.295bn capital increase of Banque Bemo Saudi Fransi (representing 34.95% of the bank's capital) despite the general lack of liquidity in the market. Also in 2011, BSFF signed a contribution agreement with Capital IQ, a leading provider of data and analytics for global financial professionals, to provide an array of research reports such as the Banking Sector Report, a quarterly publication that contains financial statement analysis of all privately owned banks operating in Syria.

Bemo Saudi Fransi Finance provides financial research and advisory, IPO management in addition to asset management and brokerage services for stocks listed in the Damascus Securities Exchange and those traded over the counter.

Source: http://www.ameinfo.com/287625.html

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Hamster 'Hoarder': Man Surrenders 94 Pets To Animal Shelter

(AOL Real Estate) He bought just two of the furry critters. A year and a half later there were more than 90 of them, living in fishbowls and Tupperware containers, and causing him to starve himself to feed them.

A man from Lawrence, Mass., recently surrendered 94 hamsters to a local animal shelter that he had collected over a period of 18 months as they rapidly reproduced.

Much as with other animal hoarders, like the Florida couple who amassed 700 cats, the man had held onto his pets out of concern for their health, "where a sort of benign approach to dealing with [fast-breeding pets] resulted in a catastrophic number of animals," said Mike Keiley, director of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals' care and adoption center, the shelter that accepted the hamsters.

Until he surrendered the hairy rodents, the man reportedly had managed to provide them with good care. Aside from a few minor abrasions -- the result of crowded living conditions, Keiley said -- all of the hamsters were found to be in good health during triage by the MSPCA. In fact, the man, who is on welfare, was so committed to caring for his hamsters that he began to go hungry, spending what little money he had on their food instead of his, Keiley said. He explained that the man's commitment to his hamsters' health distinguishes him from most pet hoarders -- who usually allow their pets' health to deteriorate -- and calls into question whether or not he actually deserves the designation.

The man sacrificed much of his apartment for them, too, storing the animals in an increasingly makeshift array of shelters including aquariums, fish bowls, buckets, Tupperware and a 10-gallon litter box. After realizing his situation was not sustainable, Keiley said, the man contacted the MSPCA, whose staff was stunned to hear the man say he wanted to surrender about 80 of the rodents.

Keiley says he and his staff are "glad that he came in and voluntarily addressed the issue." He also applauds the man's willingness to give up every last one of the pets, explaining that holding onto even a few can present a serious risk of relapsing into hoarding behavior.

Curbing Pet Hoarding Is No Easy Task

The man's situation sheds light on the legal difficulties of pet hoarding. Sometimes town governments determine the maximum number of pets a resident may own, while other times they don't, said MSPCA director of advocacy Kara Holmquist. And even if town leaders set such statutes, they typically only apply to dogs, and "it's often hard to come up with an absolute number over which a person is a responsible pet owner." Different owners are capable of owning different amounts of pets, she said.

What's more, the people who amass pets are often "loners," Keiley added. The problem can go unnoticed even if a person's lease prohibits, or stipulates limits, on pets, he said. To further complicate the issue, tenants are frequently reluctant to report their neighbors if they suspect a problem.

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New US plan to stop drug flow over northern border (AP)

BUFFALO, N.Y. ? Federal law enforcement agencies will help tribal officers obtain equipment and training on Indian lands near the U.S.-Canadian border as part of the White House's newly released strategy for reducing the flow of illegal drugs and drug proceeds between the two countries.

Tribal officers also should be included in criminal intelligence sharing and inter-agency task forces, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy report released Friday.

"Drug smugglers have been known to seek out tribal jurisdictions in order to smuggle illegal drugs into the United States," said the report, the first of its kind since being required under the Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act of 2010.

The goal is to stop Canadian marijuana, Ecstasy and methamphetamine from entering the United States and to keep cocaine that originates in South America from flowing north. Authorities have also targeted bulk cash smuggling in both directions that finances criminal organizations.

President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed a Feb. 4 agreement to share more information on travelers and better coordinate cross-border investigations.

The report identified more than 60 miles of the northern border classified as "Indian country" and under tribal jurisdiction. Tribes with lands directly adjacent to the border include Bay Mills Indian Community and the Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Tribe in Michigan, the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana, the Grand Portage Band and Red Lake Band of Chippewa in Minnesota and St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in New York.

To intercept drugs elsewhere along the more than 5,000-mile border, the policy office recommended enhancing already established partnerships among U.S. and Canadian law-enforcement counterparts, along with intelligence sharing and cooperation among federal and local agencies. The strategy also relies on those living near the long and geographically diverse border to fill in the gaps.

"The U.S.-Canada relationship already supports successful bi-national and multi-agency task forces, but it must work to improve these entities with limited resources," the report said. "Law enforcement agencies must reach out to community coalitions to develop effective prevention, treatment and law enforcement partnerships."

Agents seized about 9,470 pounds of marijuana along the northern border in fiscal 2011, according to Customs and Border Protection statistics, less than 1 percent of the roughly 2.4 million pounds seized along the southwestern border.

Recent arrests have highlighted the northern boundary's porousness. In May 2010, a Canadian kingpin confessed to running 2,000 pounds of marijuana a week through the forests of upstate New York. Later that year, in December, Canadian officials arrested 29 smugglers on charges of using boats to run tons of marijuana, Ecstasy and methamphetamine across the Great Lakes to Michigan and New York.

"Vast drug networks along our northern border are exacerbating violence in communities all across the state ... This is the right strategy to fight this scourge at its source," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said of the written strategy.

The 2010 law requires the Office of National Drug Control Policy to release a northern border plan every two years.

"Improving communications between the courts, immigration officials and law enforcement and increasing accountability, as this plan will, should enhance our ability to keep drugs off our streets and out of our schools," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_us/us_border_drug_strategy

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Renowned attorney Bennett to represent Megaupload

	Essential News from The Associated Press

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C.O.O.P. seeking poultry as pets inside Johnson City limits | TriCities ...

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. --

They call themselves C.O.O.P. That stands for C.O.O.P. wants Johnson City to change the code so residents can keep chickens inside city limits.

It's an urban trend that's gaining momentum. The Metro Nashville council narrowly approved a similar request last night.

11 Connects' George Jackson found out -- after earlier attempts failed -- C.O.O.P. has a new approach.

Click the play icon above to watch a video report.

TRANSCRIPT:

COOK: "There you go. Go on buffy."

Steve Cook shares his backyard with six chickens. He says, they're low maintenance.

Cook says straw from the chickens' coop does wonders on his garden.

COOK: "You talk about some fertilizer. It's good stuff."

That the birds take care of his lawn.

COOK: "Lots of weed seeds, insects, and things like that."

And the eggs are delicious.

COOK: "The other eggs just don't measure up any more."

But Cook lives in Jonesborough. Johnson City does not allow urban chickens. Planning Director Jim Donnelly says the city has two chicken rules on the books. The zoning ordinance limits them to an agricultural district.

DONNELLY: "City code reads you can't have them with 1,000 feet of any residence, business, or industry."

Emily Katt started working on a new zoning ordinance last year. Now, she's on plan B.

C.O.O.P will pitch a simple change to city code.

KATT: "A sentence added in that defines a maximum of eight hens or less as pets."

Poultry pets. Katt says the city has a wealth of rules that already govern pets -- how to secure food, dispose of waste, and keep them contained -- making enforcement easy.

KATT: "I had no idea that chickens were the controversy that they are. They elicit either intense hatred or intense love."

Source: http://www2.tricities.com/news/2012/jan/19/coop-seeking-poultry-pets-inside-johnson-city-limi-ar-1622274/

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Scientists discover unusual 'tulip' creature

Thursday, January 19, 2012

A bizarre creature that lived in the ocean more than 500 million years ago has emerged from the famous Middle Cambrian Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies.

Officially named Siphusauctum gregarium, fossils reveal a tulip-shaped creature that is about the length of a dinner knife (approximately 20 centimetres or eight inches) and has a unique filter feeding system.

Siphusauctum has a long stem, with a calyx ? a bulbous cup-like structure ? near the top which encloses an unusual filter feeding system and a gut. The animal is thought to have fed by filtering particles from water actively pumped into its calyx through small holes. The stem ends with a small disc which anchored the animal to the seafloor. Siphusauctum lived in large clusters, as indicated by slabs containing over 65 individual specimens.

Lorna O'Brien, a PhD candidate in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Toronto and her supervisor Jean-Bernard Caron, curator of invertebrate palaeontology at the Royal Ontario Museum, report on the discovery today in the online science journal PLoS ONE.

"Most interesting is that this feeding system appears to be unique among animals. Recent advances have linked many bizarre Burgess Shale animals as primitive members of many animal groups that are found today but Siphusauctum defies this trend. We do not know where it fits in relation to other organisms," said O'Brien.

"Our description is based on more than 1,100 fossil specimens from a new Burgess Shale locality that has been nicknamed the Tulip Beds," said lead author O'Brien. Located in Yoho National Park, British Columbia, the Tulip Beds were first discovered in 1983 by the Royal Ontario Museum. They are located high on Mount Stephen, overlooking the town of Field. Like the rest of the Burgess Shale, the Beds represent rock layers with exceptional preservation of mostly soft-bodied organisms. The Burgess Shale, protected under the larger Rocky Mountain Parks UNESCO World Heritage site and managed by Parks Canada, preserves fossil evidence of some of the earliest complex animals that lived in the oceans of our planet nearly 505 million years ago. The discovery of Siphusauctum expands the range of animal diversity that existed during this time period.

###

University of Toronto: http://www.utoronto.ca

Thanks to University of Toronto for this article.

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Scientists make progress in assessing tornado seasons

Public release date: 19-Jan-2012
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Contact: Kim Martineau
kmartine@ldeo.columbia.edu
845-365-8708
The Earth Institute at Columbia University

Study offers first step in short-term forecasting

Meteorologists can see a busy hurricane season brewing months ahead, but until now there has been no such crystal ball for tornadoes, which are much smaller and more volatile. This information gap took on new urgency after tornadoes in 2011 killed more than 550 people, more than in the previous 10 years combined, including a devastating outbreak in April that racked up $5 billion in insured losses. Now, a new study of short-term climate trends offers the first framework for predicting tornado activity up to a month out with current technology, and possibly further out as climate models improve, giving communities a chance to plan. The study may also eventually open a window on the question of whether tornadoes are growing more frequent due to long-term climate warming.

"Understanding how climate shapes tornado activity makes forecasts and projections possible and allows us to look into the past and understand what happened," said lead author Michael Tippett, a climate scientist at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI).

Packing winds of up to 300 miles per hour, tornadoes descend when warm, moist air collides with cold, dry air, creating a vortex as the two masses move around each other. The U.S. Midwest is the twister capital of the world, where cold air blowing east from the Rockies habitually hits tropical air moving north from the Gulf of Mexico. Tornadoes appear to be growing more frequent as climate warms, but it is uncertain whether there is a connection; they are small and hard to count, and recently improved reporting may also explain the increase.

Lack of an accurate long-term tornado record makes it hard to know the truth, and has also hampered scientists' ability to relate tornadoes to cyclical weather patterns that could aid in forecasting. While individual hurricanes can be spotted days in advance, tornadoes appear with much less warning. A tornado watch typically gives only a few hours' notice that dangerous conditions are brewing, while warning of an actual tornado bearing down may give people just a few minutes to get out of the way.

Tippett, a seasonal forecasting expert, had already built statistical models to understand how climate change might affect hurricanes by adding more heat and moisture to the air. But applying the same methods to something as tiny and complicated as a twister is trickier, said study coauthor Adam Sobel, an atmospheric scientist with joint appointments at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and School of Engineering and Applied Science. "A tornado is not a lot bigger than the house it has just destroyed," he said. "It's a small thing and short-lived."

Combing through 30 years of data, Tippett and his colleagues began looking for patterns linking climate and tornadoes. By comparing average atmospheric conditions with average monthly tornado counts in regions across the United States, they identified two parameters that seemed closely associated with monthly tornado activity: rain associated with strong updrafts; and helicity, which measures the tendency of winds to spin those updrafts.

They then looked to see if they could "predict" the tornado activity of individual months from 1979 to 2010 from a simple index based on each month's average wind and rain parameters. The index correlated significantly with the observed numbers of tornadoes in all months except September and October. Moreover, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) system for making seasonal forecasts, known as the Climate Forecast System (CFS), was able to use the index to forecast monthly tornado activity with some success up to a month in advance. This success, especially notable in June, is the first evidence for the predictability of monthly tornado activity.

Harold Brooks, a NOAA tornado expert not involved in the study said the forecast technique worked where others have failed because the CFS produced higher resolution results. "The real breakthrough is that CFS is skillful enough at the right scale," he said. With greater lead time, communities and relief agencies could prepare, he said. "It's not like the hurricane problem where we can tell people to evacuate. But if I'm a state emergency manager I might be really interested in knowing at the end of March that by the end of April we could have a big problem. You could be better prepared with generators and supplies."

Tippett said the next steps are to improve the index's reliability in the fall; to better understand why the forecasts work; and to apply the index to projections of future climate. "Before you can use an index to diagnose future climate, you have to be confident that it explains the observed variability," he said.

###

Suzana Camargo, a climate and weather researcher at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, also coauthored the study, which appears this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

---

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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.

Public release date: 19-Jan-2012
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Contact: Kim Martineau
kmartine@ldeo.columbia.edu
845-365-8708
The Earth Institute at Columbia University

Study offers first step in short-term forecasting

Meteorologists can see a busy hurricane season brewing months ahead, but until now there has been no such crystal ball for tornadoes, which are much smaller and more volatile. This information gap took on new urgency after tornadoes in 2011 killed more than 550 people, more than in the previous 10 years combined, including a devastating outbreak in April that racked up $5 billion in insured losses. Now, a new study of short-term climate trends offers the first framework for predicting tornado activity up to a month out with current technology, and possibly further out as climate models improve, giving communities a chance to plan. The study may also eventually open a window on the question of whether tornadoes are growing more frequent due to long-term climate warming.

"Understanding how climate shapes tornado activity makes forecasts and projections possible and allows us to look into the past and understand what happened," said lead author Michael Tippett, a climate scientist at Columbia University's International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI).

Packing winds of up to 300 miles per hour, tornadoes descend when warm, moist air collides with cold, dry air, creating a vortex as the two masses move around each other. The U.S. Midwest is the twister capital of the world, where cold air blowing east from the Rockies habitually hits tropical air moving north from the Gulf of Mexico. Tornadoes appear to be growing more frequent as climate warms, but it is uncertain whether there is a connection; they are small and hard to count, and recently improved reporting may also explain the increase.

Lack of an accurate long-term tornado record makes it hard to know the truth, and has also hampered scientists' ability to relate tornadoes to cyclical weather patterns that could aid in forecasting. While individual hurricanes can be spotted days in advance, tornadoes appear with much less warning. A tornado watch typically gives only a few hours' notice that dangerous conditions are brewing, while warning of an actual tornado bearing down may give people just a few minutes to get out of the way.

Tippett, a seasonal forecasting expert, had already built statistical models to understand how climate change might affect hurricanes by adding more heat and moisture to the air. But applying the same methods to something as tiny and complicated as a twister is trickier, said study coauthor Adam Sobel, an atmospheric scientist with joint appointments at Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and School of Engineering and Applied Science. "A tornado is not a lot bigger than the house it has just destroyed," he said. "It's a small thing and short-lived."

Combing through 30 years of data, Tippett and his colleagues began looking for patterns linking climate and tornadoes. By comparing average atmospheric conditions with average monthly tornado counts in regions across the United States, they identified two parameters that seemed closely associated with monthly tornado activity: rain associated with strong updrafts; and helicity, which measures the tendency of winds to spin those updrafts.

They then looked to see if they could "predict" the tornado activity of individual months from 1979 to 2010 from a simple index based on each month's average wind and rain parameters. The index correlated significantly with the observed numbers of tornadoes in all months except September and October. Moreover, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) system for making seasonal forecasts, known as the Climate Forecast System (CFS), was able to use the index to forecast monthly tornado activity with some success up to a month in advance. This success, especially notable in June, is the first evidence for the predictability of monthly tornado activity.

Harold Brooks, a NOAA tornado expert not involved in the study said the forecast technique worked where others have failed because the CFS produced higher resolution results. "The real breakthrough is that CFS is skillful enough at the right scale," he said. With greater lead time, communities and relief agencies could prepare, he said. "It's not like the hurricane problem where we can tell people to evacuate. But if I'm a state emergency manager I might be really interested in knowing at the end of March that by the end of April we could have a big problem. You could be better prepared with generators and supplies."

Tippett said the next steps are to improve the index's reliability in the fall; to better understand why the forecasts work; and to apply the index to projections of future climate. "Before you can use an index to diagnose future climate, you have to be confident that it explains the observed variability," he said.

###

Suzana Camargo, a climate and weather researcher at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, also coauthored the study, which appears this week in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

---

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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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/teia-smp011912.php

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PSU trustees hope to address alumni concerns

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2011, file photo, Penn State head coach Joe Paterno watches warm ups before an NCAA college football game against Purdue in State College, Pa. In his first public comments since being fired two months ago, former Penn State coach Paterno told the Washington Post he "didn't know which way to go" after an assistant coach came to him in 2002 saying he had seen retired defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky sexually abusing a boy, the Post reported on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2011, file photo, Penn State head coach Joe Paterno watches warm ups before an NCAA college football game against Purdue in State College, Pa. In his first public comments since being fired two months ago, former Penn State coach Paterno told the Washington Post he "didn't know which way to go" after an assistant coach came to him in 2002 saying he had seen retired defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky sexually abusing a boy, the Post reported on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? Penn State's embattled Board of Trustees meets Friday for the first time since the chaotic week in November when shocking child sex abuse allegations were brought against a retired assistant football coach.

In the frantic first few days after authorities charged Jerry Sandusky, trustees ousted Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno and school President Graham Spanier, and pledged to uncover the truth. Their actions have since left some anguished alumni and former players questioning the trustees themselves.

After remaining mostly silent the last two months, trustees this week began to divulge the reasons behind their actions, hoping to sway skeptics and critics seeking change.

Leadership positions will be up for election at Friday's meeting. Also listed on the agenda is an overview of athletic programs.

"We have lots of things that we need to do in terms of the board and how it operates, and I think you'll see some positive things come out of that," trustee Mark Dambly said Thursday.

Some critics of the trustees have called for wholesale changes in how the board operates in order to better promote transparency. Trustee Stephanie Deviney said governance and the administration are among the topics trustees plan to consider.

The issues have also drawn unprecedented interest among potential candidates for three alumni-elected seats on the board up for a vote this spring.

Typically, about six to 12 candidates express interest. But the group Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship alone has received 30 applications seeking an endorsement. The group started in mid-November, growing out of what a spokeswoman said was a common frustration among members over a lack of due process at the school.

Comments this week by the trustees about why the board ousted Paterno on Nov. 9, four days after Sandusky was charged, failed to convince the alumni group, too.

Trustees interviewed Thursday by The Associated Press said they decided to force Paterno out in part because he didn't meet a moral obligation to do more to alert authorities about a child sex abuse allegation against Sandusky.

The trustees interviewed also cited statements from Paterno in the days and hours leading to his dismissal ? after nearly a half-century of leading the Nittany Lions ? that they felt challenged the trustees' authority. Board members saw that as inappropriate, particularly at a time of intense scrutiny over the Sandusky case.

Sandusky was charged with dozens of child sex abuse counts four days before Paterno was pushed out. The head coach had testified before a state grand jury about a 2002 allegation against Sandusky that was passed on to him by a graduate assistant.

A day after the graduate assistant, Mike McQueary, came to see him, Paterno relayed the accusations to his superiors, one of whom oversaw campus police. Board members didn't think that was enough.

"There's an obligation, a moral responsibility, for all adults to watch out for children, either your own or someone else," Dambly said. "It was in our opinion that Joe Paterno did not meet his moral obligation and for that reason ? me, personally for that reason, I felt he could no longer lead the university and it was unanimous."

But Dambly and three other trustees interviewed Thursday on the Penn State campus said they still intended to honor Paterno's accomplishments and contributions to the school. He won a Division I record 409 games over 46 seasons and the Paterno family has donated millions of dollars to the school.

"Obviously Joe Paterno is a worldwide icon and has done a tremendous amount for the university," trustee Joel Myers said. "We have sorrow and all kinds of emotions, empathy, sympathy for what has occurred. That's universal.

"But the university, this institution is greater than one person."

An attorney for Paterno on Thursday called the board's comments self-serving and unsupported by the facts. Paterno fully reported what he knew to the people responsible for campus investigations, lawyer Wick Sollers said.

"He did what he thought was right with the information he had at the time," Sollers said.

In a separate statement, Penn Staters for Responsible Stewardship said the board's comments have "done nothing but raise additional questions."

"We can conclude, that consequently, their hasty and panicked damage control efforts in the first days of November, and the uncomfortable position they found themselves in, being caught flat-footed, instead of in a proactive leadership position, led to the unjust firing of Joe Paterno, without so much as a conversation, let alone complete due process," the group's statement said.

The trustees described the long deliberations in the days leading up to Paterno's ouster as emotional and nerve wracking, echoing the confusion and anguish also felt among students and alumni as the scandal unfolded. They were shocked by the lurid details that had emerged about the case that week, after having been given a short briefing about Sandusky months earlier by Spanier and general counsel Cynthia Baldwin. That session lasted roughly 7 minutes and provided few insights, trustees said.

Paterno was dismissed the same day Spanier also departed under pressure. The board initiated an internal investigation into the Sandusky case and the role of Penn State officials.

Since then, some alumni and former players have been questioning the actions of the trustees ? criticism that boiled over in three town hall-style meetings last week hosted for alumni by new school President Rodney Erickson.

According to Dambly, trustees had been advised not to speak because of the ongoing investigations but changed their minds following the town hall sessions.

They began a series of interviews this week with media outlets. Also sitting in Thursday's interview with the AP was Lanny Davis, a prominent Washington attorney who has been retained by Erickson and the trustees as an adviser.

"We determined as a group that the Board of Trustees needed to answer the questions of what we knew, when we knew it and why we made the decisions that we made," Dambly said.

The trustees on Thursday cited three reasons for Paterno's immediate removal as head coach. Besides the moral obligation to do more in conjunction with reporting the 2002 allegation and statements issued by Paterno they felt may have challenged trustees' authority, the trustees also said there was concern that Paterno would not be able to properly represent the school if allowed to stay on as head coach the rest of the 2011 season.

According to The Washington Post, trustees vice chair John Surma told Paterno, "In the best interests of the university, you are terminated." Paterno hung up and repeated the words to his wife, who redialed the number.

"After 61 years he deserved better," Sue Paterno said. "He deserved better." Then she hung up.

According to Davis on Thursday, Surma never got the chance to say two more things that night: that he regretted having to tell him the decision over the phone; and that the school was going to honor his contract and retirement package as if he had retired at the end of 2011.

Dambly insisted Paterno was not fired, although he never appeared as coach again. He remains a tenured faculty member.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-20-Penn%20State-Trustees/id-9f28f14525da4cbbb4e34467c86628e0

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Build a Simple, Handmade Cooking Stove with a Log, a Saw, and Some Newspaper [Outdoors]

If you're camping and forgot the stove, need another cooking surface and don't want to build a fire, or (more likely) just want to show off a cool camping trick and cook a meal at the same time, go outside, take a saw with you, and grab a log. That's all you'll need for this simple, handmade stove, brought to you by our friends in Russia.

English Russia (careful, ads may be NSFW) walks us through how to make a "Russian Stove," using a log, newspaper, and a chain saw. The chain saw is optional - a normal saw would work just fine. Cut the log evenly on both sides so it stands up freely. Then cut it into vertical segments most of the way down the length of the log. Stuff in some newspaper into the cracks as deep as you can get it, leaving a wick at the bottom, and light it up.

That's all there is to it?the log burns from the inside out, and you have a simple, handmade stove. The top is flat so you can put a frying pan or other vessel on top with food or liquid inside you'd like to heat. Practical? Absolutely not?you're far better bringing a camp stove or building a fire if you're actually going to be roughing it, and it's unlikely you'll happen to have a frying pan, a saw, newspaper, and food to cook but somehow forget the camp stove. Even so, this trick wins points for being fun, unusual, and a reminder that you can get the job done without modern conveniences if you're roughing it.

It might be worth a try for fun, just be careful?there's no safety guard or anything to keep you from getting singed. Check out the photos at the link below (again, fair warning: ads on the site below may be NSFW) for a step-by-step with photos. Would you give this a try, or planning to stick to the camp stove? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Thanks to Conrad for sending in the tip!

Simple Handmade Stove | English Russia

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/3jvIJj-S7Z8/build-a-simple-handmade-cooking-stove-with-a-log-a-saw-and-some-newspaper

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Alienware announce X51 gaming PC in console-size case ? Video ...

Alienware has a long history of packaging high end components into blisteringly fast computers that let you play games with the settings turned to 11. But until now you?ve only really had two choices: an Alienware laptop or a large desktop case. Today, a third option has been revealed, and it could fight for space under your TV next to your consoles.

The Alienware X51 is a desktop PC, but in a form factor that rivals the size of the PS3 or Xbox 360. It has been designed to offer high-end gaming, but in a much smaller footprint than a typical gaming rig. As you can see in the image below, the case measures just 95 x 343 x 318mm. For comparison, that makes it slightly larger than the original PS3.

Packing a gaming rig inside a small case surprisingly doesn?t mean you have to make many compromises. The X51 remains upgradeable with the hard drive, graphics card, and memory accessible. The components on offer also mean the X51 won?t struggle with any existing PC games, even in its base configuration.

At a minimum the X51 ships with the following components:

• Core i3-2120 3.3GHz with 3MB cache
• 4GB DDR3 memory
• 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive
• Nvidia GeForce GT545 with 1GB GDDR5
• Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
• Slot-loading dual layer DVD burner
• Wireless-n WLAN half mini-card
• 7.1 HD sound with Waves Maxx Audio
• USB 2.0 (6) and 3.0 (2) ports
• Headphone out and microphone
• Gigabit Ethernet port
• HDMI 1.4 port
• 240 watt PSU

You can also upgrade certain components including the processor (Core i5 3GHz or Core i7 3.4GHz), memory (up to 8GB), graphics card (GeForce GTX 555 1GB), and optical drive (Blu-ray burner). Depending on your configuration you may need a 330 watt PSU too.

As you?d expect with an Alienware machine, it has customizable lighting zones on the case, and just like a console it can be positioned either horizontally or vertically. As for included software, it ships with Alienware Command Center including AlienFX (lighting control), AlienFusion (power management), and AlienAdrenaline (game profiles). There?s also a new range of support services going under the name Alienware Gaming Services that offers a ?team of trained technicians? ready to help setup new games, peripherals, game customizations, performance optimizations, health check your PC, and give you in-game troubleshooting all with a phone call. It?s something I think most X51 owners will never use.

Prices start at a very reasonable $699, but will soon escalate if you select a Core i7 chip and GTX 555. By how much exactly has yet to be announced and you need to call to find out, but I?m sure the top configuration will exceed $1,000.

More at Dell

Source: http://www.geek.com/articles/games/alienware-announce-x51-gaming-pc-in-console-size-case-20120118/

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Counterfeit and substandard anti-malaria drugs threaten crisis in Africa, experts warn

Public release date: 17-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Craig Brierley
c.brierley@wellcome.ac.uk
44-207-611-7329
Wellcome Trust

Hopes of at last controlling malaria in Africa could be dashed by the emergence of poor quality and fraudulent anti-malarial medicines, warn experts writing in the Malaria Journal. Unless urgent action is taken both within Africa and internationally, they argue, millions of lives could be put at risk.

In a study published in the journal, an international team of researchers report cases of medicines on sale in Africa that have been deliberately counterfeited by criminals or are of poor quality resulting from factory errors. Both types are not only potentially harmful to the patient, but risk promoting the emergence of drug resistance amongst the parasites that cause the disease.

According to the World Malaria Report 2010, malaria killed an estimated 781,000 people in 2009, mainly young children and pregnant women. It is caused by parasites that are injected into the bloodstream by infected mosquitoes. The most effective anti-malarial drugs are the artemisinin derivatives which have the advantages over other anti-malarial drugs, such as chloroquine and mefloquine, of having few side-effects but the fastest action. Although the drugs have been used on their own as monotherapy, fears over the development of resistance mean that they are recommended for use in conjunction with one or more other drugs as artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), now recommended by the WHO as the first-line treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria globally.

There has been a dramatic rise in reports of poor quality and counterfeit anti-malarials in Africa. To find out more about the different types medicines circulating and what they contain, and to look for evidence as to where they may have come from, the researchers examined anti-malarials collected in eleven African countries between 2002 and 2010, which they believed to be either counterfeit or substandard.

Analysis of the medicines showed that some counterfeits contained a mixture of wrong active pharmaceutical ingredients, some of which may initially alleviate malaria symptoms but would not cure malaria. Worse still, these unexpected ingredients could cause potentially serious side effects, particularly if they were to interact with other medication that the patient was currently taking, such as antiretroviral therapies for HIV.

Some of the counterfeits also contained small amounts of artemisinin derivatives, perhaps to try to ensure that the drug would pass simple authenticity tests. Taken at such low levels, the drug is unlikely to rid the body of malaria parasites, leading to the emergence of strains of the parasite resistant to artemisinin.

The researchers also identified pollen found in some of the tablets, indicating that the counterfeit medicines originated in eastern Asia. Indeed, in 2001, police in Guangzhou, China, arrested Nigerian and Chinese men for production of counterfeits of the anti-malarial halofantrine. No evidence was found from the pollen analysis of counterfeit pharmaceutical production in Africa; however, production facilities for packaging materials for counterfeit anti-malarials have been seized in Nigeria.

Dr Paul Newton from the Wellcome Trust-Mahosot Hospital-Oxford University Tropical Medicine Research Collaboration in Laos, who led the research, says: "Public health organisations must take urgent, coordinated action to prevent the circulation of counterfeit and substandard medicines and improve the quality of the medicines that patients receive. We must move finally away from the use of single drugs and towards the exclusive use of combination therapies. The enormous investment in the development, evaluation and deployment of anti-malarials is wasted if the medicines that patients actually take are, due to criminality or carelessness, of poor quality and do not cure.

"Malaria can be readily treated with the right drugs of good quality, but poor quality medicines, as well as increasing mortality and morbidity, risk exacerbating the economic and social impact of malaria on societies that are already poor. Worse still, they encourage drug resistance, potentially resulting in the failure of artemisinin treatments, with profound consequences for public health in Africa. Failure to take action will put at risk the lives of millions of people, particularly children and pregnant women."

Dr Newton and colleagues argue that multiple parallel strategies are needed to tackle this problem. Amongst their recommendations is increased investment in national medicine regulatory authorities in Africa to regulate the quality of the medications and to improve access to good quality, affordable artemisinin combination therapies.

Commenting on the research, Dr Jimmy Whitworth, Head of International Activities at the Wellcome Trust, said: "This research is very worrying and should act as an early warning. We have already begun to see the emergence of drug-resistant malaria parasites in south east Asia; substandard and counterfeit anti-malarials and the availability of artemisinin monotherapies threaten to lead to the spread of drug resistance in Africa. If this happens, the effect could be devastating on efforts to control malaria in Africa."

Combating infectious diseases is one the strategic priorities of the Wellcome Trust. Much of this work is carried out at a local level in regions where disease is endemic. This includes several major overseas programmes, including the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme unit in Laos, headed by Dr Newton.

###

---

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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.

Public release date: 17-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Craig Brierley
c.brierley@wellcome.ac.uk
44-207-611-7329
Wellcome Trust

Hopes of at last controlling malaria in Africa could be dashed by the emergence of poor quality and fraudulent anti-malarial medicines, warn experts writing in the Malaria Journal. Unless urgent action is taken both within Africa and internationally, they argue, millions of lives could be put at risk.

In a study published in the journal, an international team of researchers report cases of medicines on sale in Africa that have been deliberately counterfeited by criminals or are of poor quality resulting from factory errors. Both types are not only potentially harmful to the patient, but risk promoting the emergence of drug resistance amongst the parasites that cause the disease.

According to the World Malaria Report 2010, malaria killed an estimated 781,000 people in 2009, mainly young children and pregnant women. It is caused by parasites that are injected into the bloodstream by infected mosquitoes. The most effective anti-malarial drugs are the artemisinin derivatives which have the advantages over other anti-malarial drugs, such as chloroquine and mefloquine, of having few side-effects but the fastest action. Although the drugs have been used on their own as monotherapy, fears over the development of resistance mean that they are recommended for use in conjunction with one or more other drugs as artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs), now recommended by the WHO as the first-line treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria globally.

There has been a dramatic rise in reports of poor quality and counterfeit anti-malarials in Africa. To find out more about the different types medicines circulating and what they contain, and to look for evidence as to where they may have come from, the researchers examined anti-malarials collected in eleven African countries between 2002 and 2010, which they believed to be either counterfeit or substandard.

Analysis of the medicines showed that some counterfeits contained a mixture of wrong active pharmaceutical ingredients, some of which may initially alleviate malaria symptoms but would not cure malaria. Worse still, these unexpected ingredients could cause potentially serious side effects, particularly if they were to interact with other medication that the patient was currently taking, such as antiretroviral therapies for HIV.

Some of the counterfeits also contained small amounts of artemisinin derivatives, perhaps to try to ensure that the drug would pass simple authenticity tests. Taken at such low levels, the drug is unlikely to rid the body of malaria parasites, leading to the emergence of strains of the parasite resistant to artemisinin.

The researchers also identified pollen found in some of the tablets, indicating that the counterfeit medicines originated in eastern Asia. Indeed, in 2001, police in Guangzhou, China, arrested Nigerian and Chinese men for production of counterfeits of the anti-malarial halofantrine. No evidence was found from the pollen analysis of counterfeit pharmaceutical production in Africa; however, production facilities for packaging materials for counterfeit anti-malarials have been seized in Nigeria.

Dr Paul Newton from the Wellcome Trust-Mahosot Hospital-Oxford University Tropical Medicine Research Collaboration in Laos, who led the research, says: "Public health organisations must take urgent, coordinated action to prevent the circulation of counterfeit and substandard medicines and improve the quality of the medicines that patients receive. We must move finally away from the use of single drugs and towards the exclusive use of combination therapies. The enormous investment in the development, evaluation and deployment of anti-malarials is wasted if the medicines that patients actually take are, due to criminality or carelessness, of poor quality and do not cure.

"Malaria can be readily treated with the right drugs of good quality, but poor quality medicines, as well as increasing mortality and morbidity, risk exacerbating the economic and social impact of malaria on societies that are already poor. Worse still, they encourage drug resistance, potentially resulting in the failure of artemisinin treatments, with profound consequences for public health in Africa. Failure to take action will put at risk the lives of millions of people, particularly children and pregnant women."

Dr Newton and colleagues argue that multiple parallel strategies are needed to tackle this problem. Amongst their recommendations is increased investment in national medicine regulatory authorities in Africa to regulate the quality of the medications and to improve access to good quality, affordable artemisinin combination therapies.

Commenting on the research, Dr Jimmy Whitworth, Head of International Activities at the Wellcome Trust, said: "This research is very worrying and should act as an early warning. We have already begun to see the emergence of drug-resistant malaria parasites in south east Asia; substandard and counterfeit anti-malarials and the availability of artemisinin monotherapies threaten to lead to the spread of drug resistance in Africa. If this happens, the effect could be devastating on efforts to control malaria in Africa."

Combating infectious diseases is one the strategic priorities of the Wellcome Trust. Much of this work is carried out at a local level in regions where disease is endemic. This includes several major overseas programmes, including the Wellcome Trust Major Overseas Programme unit in Laos, headed by Dr Newton.

###

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/wt-cas011712.php

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