Computer model may help athletes and soldiers avoid brain damage and concussions

Mar. 5, 2013 ? Concussions can occur in sports and in combat, but health experts do not know precisely which jolts, collisions and awkward head movements during these activities pose the greatest risks to the brain. To find out, Johns Hopkins engineers have developed a powerful new computer-based process that helps identify the dangerous conditions that lead to concussion-related brain injuries. This approach could lead to new medical treatment options and some sports rule changes to reduce brain trauma among players.

The research comes at a time when greater attention is being paid to assessing and preventing the head injuries sustained by both soldiers and athletes. Some kinds of head injuries are difficult to see with standard diagnostic imaging but can have serious long-term consequences. Concussions, once dismissed as a short-term nuisance, have more recently been linked to serious brain disorders.

"Concussion-related injuries can develop even when nothing has physically touched the head, and no damage is apparent on the skin," said K. T. Ramesh, the Alonzo G. Decker Jr. Professor of Science and Engineering who led the research at Johns Hopkins. "Think about a soldier who is knocked down by the blast wave of an explosion, or a football player reeling after a major collision. The person may show some loss of cognitive function, but you may not immediately see anything in a CT-scan or MRI that tells you exactly where and how much damage has been done to the brain. You don't know what happened to the brain, so how do you figure out how to treat the patient?"

To help doctors answer this question, Ramesh led a team that used a powerful technique called diffusion tensor imaging, together with a computer model of the head, to identify injured axons, which are tiny but important fibers that carry information from one brain cell to another. These axons are concentrated in a kind of brain tissue known as "white matter," and they appear to be injured during the so-called mild traumatic brain injury associated with concussions. Ramesh's team has shown that the axons are injured most easily by strong rotations of the head, and the researchers' process can calculate which parts of the brain are most likely to be injured during a specific event.

The team described its new technique in the Jan. 8 edition of the Journal of Neurotrauma. The lead author, Rika M. Wright, played a major role in the research while completing her doctoral studies in Johns Hopkins' Whiting School of Engineering, supervised by Ramesh. Wright is now a postdoctoral research fellow at Carnegie Mellon University. Ramesh is continuing to conduct research using the technique at Johns Hopkins with support from the National Institutes of Health.

Beyond its use in evaluating combat and sports-related injuries, the work could have wider applications, such as detecting axonal damage among patients who have received head injuries in vehicle accidents or serious falls. "This is the kind of injury that may take weeks to manifest," Ramesh said. "By the time you assess the symptoms, it may be too late for some kinds of treatment to be helpful. But if you can tell right away what happened to the brain and where the injury is likely to have occurred, you may be able to get a crucial head-start on the treatment."

Armed with this knowledge, Ramesh and his colleagues want to use their new technology to examine athletes, particularly football and hockey players, who are tackled or struck during games in ways that inflict that violent side-to-side motion on the head. In the recent journal article, the authors point out that many professional sports games are recorded in high-definition video from multiple angles. This, they write, could allow researchers to reconstruct the motions involved in sport collisions that lead to the most serious head injuries.

The authors also noted that some sports teams equip their players' helmets or mouth guards with instruments that can measure the acceleration of the head during an impact. Such data, entered into the researchers' computer model, could help determine the likely location of brain damage. These results, combined with neuropsychological tests, could be used to guide the athlete's treatment and rehabilitation, the authors said, and to help a sports team decide when an athlete should be allowed to resume playing. This strategy also may help reduce the risk to athletes arising from a degenerative disease linked to repeated concussions.

More research, testing and validation must be conducted before the computer model can become useful in a clinical setting. This will include animal experiments and the correlation of data from event reconstruction to make sure the model accurately identifies brain injuries.

Ideally, Ramesh would like to collect digital brain images from soldiers and athletes before they enter combat or join highly physical sports activities. "We would then be able to track a high-risk population and keep records detailing what types of head injuries they experience," he said. "Then, we could look at how their brains may have changed since the original images were collected. This will also help guide the physicians and health professionals who provide treatment after critical events."

In addition to Wright and Ramesh, the co-authors of the study were Andrew Post and Blaine Hoshizaki, both of the Neurotrauma Impact Science Library, Department of Human Kinetics, University of Ottawa, Canada. Funding for the research was provided by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and by the Whiting School-based Center for Advanced Metallic and Ceramic Systems. Ramesh is founding director of the Hopkins Extreme Materials Institute, of which the center is a part.

Ramesh and Jerry L. Prince, the William B. Kouwenhoven Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Johns Hopkins, also are part of a team that recently received a five-year, $2.25 million National Institutes of Health grant to better understand traumatic brain injuries in order to improve methods for prevention and treatment. The principal investigator on the NIH project is Philip Bayly, the Lilyan and E. Lisle Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Johns Hopkins.

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Journal Reference:

1. Rika M. Wright, Andrew Post, Blaine Hoshizaki, Kaliat T. Ramesh. A Multiscale Computational Approach to Estimating Axonal Damage under Inertial Loading of the Head. Journal of Neurotrauma, 2013; 30 (2): 102 DOI: 10.1089/neu.2012.2418

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/xaOJlVWvO0Y/130305145706.htm

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Hess, under pressure, to exit retail business | Long Island Business ...

by The Associated Press
Published: March 4, 2013
Tags: drilling, Energy, exploration, gas stations, Hess, Retail

2:21 pm Mon, March 4, 2013

Hess is getting out of the gas station business and ridding itself of its energy trading and marketing businesses, as it shifts its focus further into exploration and production.

The company will also nominate a slate of six independent directors to its board, replacing six that already hold seats.

The announcement arrives about a month after the hedge fund Elliott Management, one of the company?s largest shareholders, accused the board of ?poor oversight,? and said that the company?s management was responsible for more than a ?decade of failures.?

Elliott, which holds a 4 percent stake in Hess, is pushing to seat five outsiders on the board.

But Hess rejected Elliott?s nominees in a letter to shareholders Monday, accusing the firm of trying to disrupt progress it has already made in reshaping itself. It said that Elliott hasn?t taken into account how much company shares have risen since it began to shed previous business models.

Hess said the nominees chosen by Elliott would effectively dismantle the company.

Hess shares fell sharply after the recession, as did shares of most energy companies, but the stock began to rebound last summer and on Monday, they hit their highest levels almost two years.

Shedding the green and white gas stations that stretch from New Hampshire to Florida, the vast majority of which are owned by Hess rather than franchisees, will allow the company to broaden exploration and production capabilities.

Spokesman Jon Pepper would not elaborate further on the sale.

Hess, based in New York, has already announced the sale of U.S. oil storage terminals and plans to close a New Jersey refinery as it exits the volatile refining business. Other energy companies are doing much the same, focusing the booming domestic drilling and also high-risk drilling operations at deep-water drill sites.

Murphy Oil, ConocoPhillips and Marathon Oil Corp. have all split off their refining businesses in recent years to focus on exploration and production.

Elliott has said it wants Hess to boost shareholder value through various means, including a potential spin-off of the oil company?s holdings in North Dakota?s Bakken shale-oil field.

Elliott officials didn?t immediately return an email sent through the firm?s website.

Hess shares rose $2.67, or 4 percent, to $69.21 in midday trading.

More breaking news

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source: http://libn.com/2013/03/04/hess-under-pressure-to-exit-retail-business/

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Twitterverse often differs from broader public opinion: study

Devin Coldewey , NBC News ? ? ? 5 hrs.

A year-long study from Pew Research found that what's said on Twitter isn't always in line with public opinion at large, often differing sharply from a broader slice of the American public. But surprisingly, it doesn't always lean the same way.

The study began in January 2012, cataloging responses to such high-profile events as the race for U.S. president and the State of the Union address.

For some of these topics, such as President Barack Obama's re-election and the ruling on same-sex marriage, the reaction on Twitter tended strongly toward the liberal side of the issue. For Obama's re-election, 77 percent of reactions on Twitter were positive and 23 percent negative, compared with a nearly 50-50 split in traditional polls. And hardly any of the reaction to California's gay marriage ruling was negative on Twitter: Just 8 percent, compared with 44 percent of people polled publicly who gave a negative opinion about the issue.

These particular biases might be expected by some, considering Twitter's demographic skews younger, more urban and more tech-savvy. But on some issues, the social network's bias tended toward the conservative.

The nomination of Sen. John Kerry for Secretary of State in December resulted in just a trickle of positive responses on Twitter ? 6 percent, while 32 percent had a negative opinion, and 62 percent were neutral. But public opinion showed a substantially higher 39 percent of respondents being supportive of Kerry's nomination.

Similarly, for the president's second inaugural speech, nearly half of people polled nationwide had a positive opinion, and 22 percent a negative one. Compare that to Twitter, on which a meager 13 percent gave positive expressions ? and twice the number of people gave neutral or don't-know responses.

Pew's conclusion: Twitter is simply not representative of the American public, both because it excludes older and less wired folks, while including those under age 18 and people living in other countries.

The rest of the study, with more examples and information on the methodology, can be found at the Pew Research Center's website.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/twitterverse-often-differs-broader-public-opinion-study-1C8683490

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Bald eagle to be released, state hopes preservation program soars ...

Sunday, March 03 2013 @ 02:20 PM EST

Contributed by: MaryF

?

By Louis C. Hochman/NJ.com
on March 01, 2013 at 2:15 PM, updated March 01, 2013 at 2:21 PM

JEFFERSON ? On Monday, a bald eagle once brought down to Earth by hard times will soar again.

The state's Department of Environmental Protection is hoping the program that helped it recover will do the same.

The eagle will be released by the Division of Fish and Wildlife to promote an option available to nature-loving taxpayers. On line 59 of the NJ-1040 form, residents can choose to donate money the Endangered Wildlife Fund.

See the photo and read the rest of the story here: http://www.nj.com/morris/index.ssf/2013 ... _stat.html

Source: http://www.hancockwildlife.org/article.php/BaldEagleToBeReleasedStateHopesPreserva

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Scientists Transplant Functional Eyes On the Tails of Tadpoles

New submitter physlord writes in with a story about tadpoles with eyes on their tails. "Using embryos from the African clawed frog (Xenopus), scientists at Tufts' Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology were able to transplant eye primordia?basically, the little nubs of flesh that will eventually grow into an eye?from one tadpole's head to another's posterior, flank, or tail....Amazingly, a statistically significant portion of the transplanted one-eyes could not only detect LED changes, but they showed learning behavior when confronted with electric shock."

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/ROdFCsj6r4I/story01.htm

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Biden: Obama is 'not bluffing' Iran

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Vice President Joe Biden told America's biggest pro-Israel lobbying organization on Monday that President Barack Obama is "not bluffing" about the United States' determination to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

"The president of the United States cannot and does not bluff. President Barack Obama is not bluffing," he told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in a speech to its annual policy conference.

"We're not looking for war. We're ready to negotiate peacefully . But all options including military force are on the table," said Biden.

"While that window is closing, we believe there is still time and space (for diplomacy)," he added.

The United States and many of its allies suspect Iran may be using its civil nuclear program as a cover to develop atomic weapons, a possibility that Israel, which is regarded as the Middle East's only nuclear power, sees as a mortal threat.

Biden said that a nuclear bomb in Iranian hands would be an "existential threat" to Israel, poses danger to other U.S. allies in the Middle East and would destabilize the world.

"We have a shared strategic commitment. Let me make clear what that commitment is: It is to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, period," he said to loud applause from AIPAC, which has gathered some 13,000 activists in Washington this week.

Talks involving Iran and world powers in Kazakhstan about its nuclear work ended last week with an agreement to meet again.

But Western officials said Iran had yet to do anything concrete to allay their concerns about its nuclear aspirations, and Israeli leaders have warned that Tehran is using the negotiations to buy time to advance their nuclear program.

The United States, China, France, Russia, Britain and Germany offered modest relief from economic sanctions in return for Iran reining in its most sensitive nuclear activity but made clear that no breakthrough was in the offing quickly.

Obama will visit Israel before the Jewish holiday of Passover, which begins the week of March 25, Biden said.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Paul Eckert; Editing by Vicki Allen and Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-not-bluffing-stopping-irans-nuclear-drive-biden-161141266.html

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Sexual Studies: Sex and Lung Cancer: What's the Connection?

Every Saturday, The CSPH highlights news or recent research in the field of human sexuality. ?This week we?re exploring the intersection of sex, relationships, and lung cancer. ?Though sexuality is recognized as an important part of overall health and wellbeing, conversations about it in the medical setting are all too rare. ?This study from Psycho-Oncology looks at how sex, relationships, and lung cancer interact, as well as at the types and topics of conversation that connect these subjects.

Demographics and Methodology

Eight cancer care providers and thirteen married couples were qualitatively interviewed. ?The interviews took place at two cancer centers in the same urban area, one serving primarily African American patients and the other, Caucasian patients. ?The providers included all members of a cancer care team (e.g. oncologist, nurse, surgeon, psychologist) who may or may not have had a relationship with the chosen patients, while the couples ranged in age from 43 to 79. Additionally, there were equal numbers of male and female patients, patients older and younger than age 65, and individuals in varying stages of cancer.

Interviews were designed to last between 20 and 30 minutes and were conducted separately for each individual. ?The interviews included questions in three domains: 1) the effects of lung cancer on physical and emotional aspects of their relationship (e.g. how was your emotional relationship before your diagnosis and has it changed since?); 2) the ways in which those aspects affect the experience of living with cancer (e.g. does a strong relationship affect cancer outcomes?); and 3) communication about these aspects as part of their cancer care (e.g. have you talked to your healthcare provider about your relationship?). ?Questions about barriers to communication as well as the effect age may have on these domains were also asked.
Interviews were allowed to continue until the researchers felt they were not hearing anything new or unique from the interviewees.

What Did They Find?

On a positive note, both cancer care providers and couples affected by lung cancer perceived sexuality and relationship issues as important. ?Furthermore, providers understood the varied and complex ways in which such a diagnosis could affect these areas. ?Despite this fact, and the belief from couples that it is the provider?s job to raise the issue, conversations about sexuality and relationships rarely occurred. ?Part of this may be due to understandable reasons such as competing interests (e.g. complications from treatment), a lack of time, a belief that it is another provider?s job, and a lack of expertise in the area; on the other hand, providers simply citing that the patient did not seem concerned does not feel as valid because it reflects the fact that sexuality, despite being recognized as important, is not a part of the cancer care conversation. ?Finally, providers felt that these areas were even less important to discuss with older clients.

Couples of all ages reported both positive and negative effects of lung cancer on their relationship and sexuality. ?Some positive reported effects included increased non-coital physical closeness, relationship solidarity, and partner appreciation. ?Negative effects were largely the result of cancer and/or its treatment and ranged from physical ailments such as pain and fatigue to psychosocial ones including anxiety and low sex drive. ?It is important to note that despite all of these changes, most couples did not report having talked about these issues with their partner.

Strengths & Weaknesses

The authors should be commended for the way in which the interviews were conducted: different interviewers were used for doctors, patients, and partners to help decrease bias and make the situation as comfortable as possible for all involved. ?Furthermore, the provider interviews were completed first so that the researchers could ?enhance and enrich? the questions they then asked of the couples. ?Finally, because this is a qualitative study, it allowed researchers to receive more nuanced responses and delve into these topics in a way that is not possible when one is simply rating physical and emotional relationship traits.

That being said however, the study has some limitations. ?Being small and qualitative in nature, it lacks the rigor of larger, quantitative studies that include extensive statistical analysis and allow more generalizable conclusions to be drawn. ?It also is not generalizable beyond married, heterosexual couples. ?Furthermore, the authors had clinicians themselves recruit participants, introducing a large bit of bias. ?No information is given about refusal to participate and there is no way to tell if the physicians played favorites or even adhered to regularly asking patients. ?It is likely that the clinicians only asked those they assumed would say yes or perceived to be good candidates, even if the clinicians did not do so on purpose. ?Finally, the authors do not use the same definitions of words like intimacy between the two groups. ?For example, intimacy was only defined for couples while sexuality was left undefined. ?Though their goal here was to not limit the meaning of these words, it seems a disservice to the study to allow for confusion around the terms.

Conclusions

Despite near universal agreement that sexuality and relationships are vital parts of one?s quality of life, few conversations about these issues are occurring as part of the cancer care regimen. ?Particularly troubling is the belief expressed by the providers regardless of their occupation (e.g. oncologist, social worker, etc) that this discussion is ?someone else?s? job. ?While there is not a lot of literature on this topic?and although this study is far from perfect?it adds a number of layers to the connection between sex and cancer. ?First, it shows that older couples struggling with cancer are as interested as younger individuals in talking about their physical and emotional relationship. ?Secondly, it shows that the relationship between cancer and sexuality is actually bidirectional (e.g. the quality of one?s physical relationship affects their experience with cancer just as one?s cancer affects their physical relationship). ?Finally, it gives a stepping stone for future research on how such conversations can begin to be incorporated into routine cancer care. ?All of these factors show that not only is there much more work that needs to be done, but also that these are salient issues and there is a willingness and room to change.

Citation
Lindau, S. T., Surawska, H., Paice, J., & Baron, S. R. (2011). Communication about sexuality and intimacy in couples affected by lung cancer and their clinical-care providers. Psycho-Oncology, 20: 179?185. doi: 10.1002/pon.1787

Source: http://thecsph.org/sexual-studies-sex-and-lung-cancer-whats-the-connection

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