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সোমবার, ২২ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩

Texas fertilizer plant tragedy: Fallen firefighters 'showed their dedication'

Nearly all the members of the West Volunteer Fire Department in Texas are dead or injured after responding to a fertilizer plant fire that sparked a massive explosion. The tragedy puts a spotlight on the role of volunteer firefighters.

By Patrik Jonsson,?Staff writer / April 19, 2013

Firefighters use flashlights early Thursday morning to search a destroyed apartment complex near a fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday night in West, Texas.

LM Otero/AP

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With missing teeth and an arm in a sling, one of the few remaining members of the West Volunteer Fire Department paced around the fire station Friday. He barked orders to the few people there ? to clean equipment, install new gear from neighboring towns, and organize supplies.

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It was an effort to restore a sense of order two days after a massive fertilizer plant explosion killed or seriously injured 22 first responders alone in West, Texas ? a town of 2,800 that's still made up largely of Czech immigrants.

Authorities on Friday confirmed 12 dead in all, including 10 first responders. Most of the surviving volunteer firefighters remained in area hospitals, many with serious injuries resulting from a massive blast that some here likened to "a nuclear bomb."

Among the volunteer firefighters lost were a pair of Czech-American brothers, Doug and Robert Snokhous; the city's secretary, Joey Pustejovsky; and Jerry Chapman, a goateed individual who was taking an EMT class when the call came about the fertilizer plant.

The department also lost three trucks in the explosion, pretty much the entire inventory of large equipment. Firefighters from other towns washed the department's sole remaining piece, a small pickup truck tanker, on Friday. The department was manned largely by firefighters from other towns, who are now loaning their pumpers as well as hook and ladder trucks.

The survivors are "numb right now," says Roger Wilson, a police chaplain who served after the Oklahoma City bombing and the 9/11 attacks and who is now responding to the West aftermath.

Seventy-seven percent of Texas firefighters are volunteer, and they're a tightknit community ? usually including pillars of the community and known as stalwarts of response. The vast majority of volunteer firefighters are certified, according to the State Firemen's & Fire Marshals' Association of Texas.

Most of the dead had responded to a windblown fire at the plant Wednesday night, and many of them were found inside the blown-up plant. So far, no evidence of foul play has emerged in how the fire started in the family-owned plant, which has been a cornerstone of the community for more than 50 years.

"You look at this long list of names who lost their lives, who showed their dedication ? they did it for zero pay, just out of the goodness of their hearts, to try to protect lives and property of the local community," says Chris Barron, executive director of the State Firemen's & Fire Marshals' Association of Texas.

It will take years for the fire department to fully rebuild and overcome the anger and sadness resulting from the heavy loss, says Mr. Wilson, the police chaplain. On Friday, none of the remaining volunteer firefighters, including the man with missing teeth and an arm in a sling, felt like talking to the press.

"This is a small town. All these people are connected, and right now, they still can't believe that this happened," Wilson says. "What usually happens in cases like this is these departments lose their top people, because they're the ones who run to the scene."

Firefighters Robert and Doug Snokhous were second cousins of Raymond Snokhouse, the Czech honorary consul for Texas. Burly individuals, they became known as the chief "jaws of life" operators on the squad, and they were always racing to accidents and fires to get there first.

"They were always together in life, and they left this life together," says Mr. Snokhouse, who was accompanied to West on Friday by the Czech ambassador to the United States, Petr Gandalovi?. He struck a resolute note, too: "We are survivors who came here to this country, and this is life. It's not what happens to us, but how we handle it. We will overcome this."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/Obtbj82oYX8/Texas-fertilizer-plant-tragedy-Fallen-firefighters-showed-their-dedication

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রবিবার, ২১ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩

Ocean acidification as a hearing aid for fish?

Apr. 19, 2013 ? Ocean acidification, which occurs as CO₂ is absorbed by the world's oceans, is a source of concern for marine scientists worldwide. Studies on coral, mollusks, and other ocean denizens are helping to paint a picture of what the future might entail for specific species, should carbon emissions continue to increase.

In a new study published in Global Change Biology, University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science researchers Sean Bignami, Su Sponaugle, and Robert Cowen are the first to study the effects of acidification on the larvae of cobia (Rachycentron canandum). Cobia are large tropical fish that spawn in pelagic waters, highly mobile as they mature, and a popular species among recreational anglers.

The team reared cobia in tanks with different levels of CO₂ saturation looking for effects on growth, development, otolith (ear stone) formation, swimming ability, and activity level during the vulnerable larval stage of these fish. They found that cobia showed remarkable resistance to end-of-century acidification scenarios in terms of growth, development, and activity. However, more extreme acidification scenarios caused reduced larval size and a 2-3 day delay in their development. The study also reports a significant increase in otolith size at the most mild acidification conditions reported to date.

"The larval period is a critical stage in the marine fish lifecycle and the ability of cobia larvae to withstand 'business-as-usual' scenarios of ocean acidification provides an optimistic outlook for this species. However, research on this topic is still limited and if our findings on otolith formation are any indicator, then these fish are not entirely resistant to acidification," said Bignami, a Marine Biology and Fisheries PhD candidate at UM.

The study is the first to report impacts of ocean acidification on a large, pelagic tropical fish species. "We need additional studies on study how fish, especially those that are ecologically and economically important, react to these environmental changes if we want to find ways to potentially mitigate the effects," Bignami added.

Cobia larvae used in this study were produced from broodstock raised at the UM Experimental Hatchery.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

Journal Reference:

Sean Bignami, Su Sponaugle, Robert K. Cowen. Response to ocean acidification in larvae of a large tropical marine fish,Rachycentron canadum. Global Change Biology, 2013; 19 (4): 996 DOI: 10.1111/gcb.12133

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/wrMuVoZK994/130419080012.htm

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Russia's Chechnya has seen decades of war, terror

FILE - In this Jan. 21, 1995 file photo a side view of the smoking Presidential Palace which stands out amid the devastation in the center of Grozny, Chechnya, Russia. Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing have been identified to The Associated Press as coming from a Russian region near Chechnya. In the past, insurgents from Chechnya and neighboring restive provinces in the Caucasus have been involved in terror attacks in Moscow and other places in Russia. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

FILE - In this early Thursday, Sept. 9, 1999 file photo smoke rises from an apartment building destroyed by a bomb blast blamed on Chechen militants, as Russian Emergency Situations Ministry officers and firefighters try to save people in Moscow. Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing have been identified to The Associated Press as coming from a Russian region near Chechnya In the past, insurgents from Chechnya and neighboring restive provinces in the Caucasus have been involved in terror attacks in Moscow and other places in Russia. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev, file)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - FILE -A Russian soldier lies dead as Chechen fighters gather next to a tank outside the presidential palace in central Grozny, in this Jan. 3, 1994 file photo as Russian troops and Chechen fighters battled for control of the breakaway capital. Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing have been identified to The Associated Press as coming from a Russian region near Chechnya In the past, insurgents from Chechnya and neighboring restive provinces in the Caucasus have been involved in terror attacks in Moscow and other places in Russia. (AP Photo/David Brauchli, File)

FILE - Hostages sit on a floor in a gym as a hostage-taker stands with his left foot on a book apparently with a device connected to a chain of explosives in the school in Beslan, Russia taken in this undated image from television during the early part of the siege which began on Sept. 1, 2004 and ended with over 300 people dead. Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing have been identified to The Associated Press as coming from a Russian region near Chechnya In the past, insurgents from Chechnya and neighboring restive provinces in the Caucasus have been involved in terror attacks in Moscow and other places in Russia. (AP Photo/NTV-Russian Television Channel, File)

FILE - Hostages sit with their weapons in the school in Beslan, Russia taken in this undated image from television during the early part of the siege which began on Sept. 1, 2004 and ended with over 300 people dead. Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing have been identified to The Associated Press as coming from a Russian region near Chechnya In the past, insurgents from Chechnya and neighboring restive provinces in the Caucasus have been involved in terror attacks in Moscow and other places in Russia. (AP Photo/NTV-Russian Television Channel, File)

MAKHACHKALA, Russia (AP) ? The two brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombings have their ethnic roots in Chechnya, a part of the Caucasus Mountains that has spawned decades of violence ? from separatist wars to suicide attacks, blood feuds and hostage sieges.

Authorities have not linked Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to any insurgent groups, and the Kremlin-backed strongman who now leads Chechnya says the brothers got their inspiration in the U.S., not the troubled region in southern Russia.

"They weren't living here. They were living, studying and growing up in America," Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said in an interview on Russian television. "They have been educated there, not here."

The families of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26-year-old killed in a gun battle with police in Massachusetts overnight, and his 19-year-old brother, Dzhokhar, left Chechnya long ago and moved to Central Asia, according to the Chechen government.

Before arriving in the United States a decade ago, the brothers lived briefly in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan, a neighboring, violence-wracked Russian province where their father resides.

The conflict in Chechnya began in 1994 as a separatist war, but became an Islamic insurgency dedicated to forming an Islamic state in the Caucasus. Dagestan has since become the epicenter of the insurgency.

Russian troops withdrew from Chechnya in 1996 after the first Chechen war, leaving it de-facto independent and largely lawless, but then rolled back three years later following apartment building explosions in Moscow and other cities blamed on the rebels.

Kadyrov has Moscow's carte blanche to stabilize Chechnya with his feared security services, which are accused of killings, torture and other rampant human rights abuses.

The Tsarnaev brothers lived in the region only briefly as children, but appeared to have maintained a strong Chechen identity. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's first name is the same as Chechnya's first separatist president, who was killed in a Russian airstrike.

The suspects' uncle, Ruslan Tsarni of Montgomery Village, Md., urged Dzhokhar Tsarnaev to turn himself in, saying: "He put a shame on our family, the Tsarnaev family. He put a shame on the entire Chechen ethnicity."

In the interview on Russian TV, Kadyrov offered his condolences to the Boston Marathon victims, but placed the blame squarely on the United States.

He added on Instagram that "the roots of this evil are to be found in America," but offered no explanation. He also criticized U.S. authorities for failing to capture the older brother alive.

Russia has relied on Kadyrov, a ruthless former rebel, to bring a degree of stability to Chechnya in recent years. But the Islamic insurgency has spread to neighboring provinces, with Dagestan ? sandwiched between Chechnya and the Caspian Sea ? now seeing the worst of the violence. Militants launch daily attacks against police and other authorities.

Militants from Chechnya and neighboring provinces have carried out a series of terrorist attacks in Russia, including a 2002 raid on a Moscow theater, in which 129 hostages died, most of them from the effects of narcotics gas that Russian special forces pumped into the building to incapacitate the attackers.

In 2004, militants from Chechnya took more than 1,000 people hostage at a school in Beslan, and the siege ended when gunfire erupted after explosions tore through the gym. More than half of the 330 people who died were children. There also have been numerous bombings in Moscow and other cities.

The Obama administration placed Chechen warlord Doku Umarov on a list of terrorist leaders after he claimed responsibility for 2010 suicide bombings on Moscow's subway that killed 40 people and a 2009 train bombing that claimed 26 lives.

Russia faced strong international criticism for its indiscriminate use of force against civilians and other rights abuses in Chechnya. The two separatist wars killed an estimated 100,000 people, and Russian bombing reduced most of Chechnya's capital, Grozny, and many other towns and villages to rubble, sending tens of thousands fleeing.

The federal forces suffered heavy casualties in the hands of lightly armed rebels, who relied on their centuries-old warrior culture and knowledge of rugged terrain to offset the Russian edge in firepower. The Chechens' successes were reminiscent of their exploits in 19th-century battles against a czarist army that spent decades trying to conquer the Caucasus.

In recent years, militants in Chechnya, Dagestan and neighboring provinces have largely refrained from attacks outside the Caucasus.

Russian officials and experts have claimed that rebels in Chechnya had close links with al-Qaida. They say dozens of fighters from Arab countries trickled into Chechnya during the fighting there, while some Chechen militants have fought in Afghanistan.

President Vladimir Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said Friday that the Russian leader had long warned the West about the dangers posed by the Chechen rebels.

"Back at the time when we had a war raging in the Caucasus, Putin repeatedly said that the terrorists shouldn't be divided into 'ours' and 'theirs,' they mustn't be played with, differentiated into categories," Peskov said, according to Russian news agencies. It was an apparent reference to Western reluctance in the past to agree to the Kremlin branding rebels in Chechnya as terrorists.

The U.S. has long urged Russia's government and separatist elements in Chechnya not aligned with al-Qaida or other terrorist organizations to seek a political settlement.

Washington provided aid to the area during the high points of fighting in the 1990s and in the early 2000s, and has demanded human rights accountability. But the U.S. always backed the territorial integrity of Russia, never endorsing the separatists' desire for an independent state. And it has supported Russia's right to root out terrorism in the region.

Dozens of Chechens have trained in Pakistan's northwest frontier of Waziristan, but most have returned to Russia to fight.

Recently, however, the al-Qaida inspired group Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan has made strides at recruiting European fighters for attacks against the West, according to Noman Benotman, a former jihadist fighter who now works for the London-based Quillium Foundation.

The TTP, which has supported attacks in response to U.S. drone strikes, was linked to the failed 2010 attack in New York City's Times Square.

In recent years, people from Chechnya have faced charges in several European countries.

In 2011, a Danish court sentenced a Chechen-born man to 12 years in prison for preparing a letter bomb that exploded as he was assembling it in a Copenhagen hotel.

Last month, Spain's Interior Ministry said French and Spanish police arrested three suspected Islamic extremists in an operation in and around Paris. A statement said the suspected activists were of Chechen origin and believed linked to a terror cell dismantled in August in southern Spain.

That same month, a Turk and two Russians of Chechen descent were arrested and jailed in Spain on charges of belonging to an unidentified terror organization and possession of explosives. They have since been released while investigations continue.

The U.S. security think tank Stratfor said Friday that if the Tsarnaev brothers had any link to al-Qaida, or one of its franchise groups, it would "likely be ideological rather than operational, although it is possible that the two have attended some type of basic militant training abroad."

Stratfor added that the Boston bombings highlighted the fact that "the jihadist threat now predominantly stems from grassroots operatives who live in the West rather than teams of highly trained operatives sent to the United States from overseas, like the team that executed the 9/11 attacks."

"There will always be plenty of soft targets in a free society, and it is incredibly easy to kill people, even for untrained operatives," it said.

___

Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Also contributing to this report were Musa Sadulayev in Grozny, Russia; Bradley Klapper in Washington; Eric Tucker in Montgomery Village, Md.; Angela Charlton in Paris; Paisley Dodds in London; and Harold Heckle in Madrid.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-04-19-Boston%20Marathon-Caucasus/id-baea850c3df74dce82297f162d8e4d5e

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শনিবার, ২০ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩

Is Michele Bachmann About To Go Down In Legal Flames? ? Greg ...

Michele Bachmann may be in some serious trouble.

For starters, it seems she may have used presidential campaign staff to support her book tour during her unsuccessful bid for the presidency last year. The Star Tribune reported on April 17th that

Congressional ethics investigators are examining whether top staffers in Rep. Michele Bachmann?s presidential campaign played an improper role in the 2011 tour to promote her personal memoir, two former Bachmann aides have told the Star Tribune.

Federal election rules, as well as House ethics rules, prohibit the use of campaign funds to promote or sell a candidate?s book or to support other business activities.

Also, her campaign may have stolen or otherwise inappropriately obtained an e-mail list of Iowa homeschoolers from one Barbara Heki, presumably for use in the Iowa phase of the campaign. Heki has initiated a law suit alleging that Iowa Senator Kent Sorenson stole the list from her personal computer. This has led to a criminal investigation by police in Urbandale, Iowa and the Iowa State Police, and is apparently being looked at by the Federal Election Commission and the Office of Congressional Ethics.

In addition, it has ben suggested that Senator Sorenson received $7,500 a month via the Colorado based consulting firm C&M Strategies, which is run by Bachmann?s fundraiser Guy Short. The money, or some of it anyway, may h ave come from Short?s other group, MichelePAC. This is apparently also a violation of ethics and campaign rules and/or laws.

The latest development makes this list of oddities suddenly very relevant. These alleged activities came to light in part from information provided by former Bachmann staffer Peter Waldron, a pastor from Florida. As this story has unfolded, there was a second witness to these events identified by the FEC known as ?Witness A.? Now, Witness A has been identified as former Bachmann chief of staff Andy Parrish, and he is expected to testify, giving collaboration to Waldron?s claims which have been denied by the Bachmann camp.

According to the Star Tribune,

The six-member panel ? made up of three Republicans and three Democrats ? also directed the Secretary of the Iowa Senate, Michael Marshall, to get an update on the status of the police investigation in the Heki case.

Iowa Sen. Wally Horn, a Democrat who chairs the ethics committee, said the panel felt it needs to move forward to resolve the allegations or dismiss them. Waldron originally filed three complaints against Sorenson with the ethics panel in January. One of them, alleging improper business disclosures, has been dismissed. The other two complaints, alleging hidden payments and misappropriation of the e-mail list, are still pending.

Horn said he hopes to resolve the ethics complaints before the legislature adjourns next month. Meanwhile, two sources close to the Bachmann campaign have told the Star Tribune that congressional ethics investigators have questioned them about allegations that her presidential campaign played an improper role in her 2011 book tour.

And the, of course, there?s the whole dwarf-mud-wrestling thing.

Source: http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/04/18/is-michele-bachmann-about-to-go-down-in-legal-flames/

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শুক্রবার, ১৯ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩

A Polarized Congress Tests Fred Upton?s Instincts

In the final days of the last Congress, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton spoke out against a bill to provide roughly $50 million to aid the victims of superstorm Sandy.

He didn?t oppose the bill, just the timing. And his stance angered New Jersey?s Republican Gov. Chris Christie, a friend of Upton.

When the House ultimately passed the aid bill weeks later, it was Upton?one of just a handful of lawmakers Speaker John Boehner has designated to sign bills in his absence?who laid a signature on it. The Michigan Republican mailed a copy of the bill to Christie, with a handwritten note. ?Governor,? Upton wrote. ?I know we traded calls & thought you?d appreciate my signature here-Fred.?

?We?ll see if he cuts it up and sends it back,? Upton said with a laugh as he penned the olive branch.

That?s Upton for you?influential, persistent, and friendly. ?Fred kills people with kindness,? said Michael Beckerman, a former deputy staff director for the committee?now president of the Internet Association?who has known the chairman for a dozen years. ?He?s fiercely competitive in everything he does, and he wins battles with a smile. It?s harder to hold a grudge against an opponent if they?re being nice and smiling throughout.?

Upton, who celebrates his 60th birthday next week, grew up in St. Joseph, Mich., a town of fewer than 10,000 people. Before the recent recess, he was looking forward to returning to get his hair cut and watch his alma mater, the University of Michigan, play in the NCAA basketball tournament.

?Big Blue? ended up losing the championship game to Louisville. But Upton did get his hair cut at Aire-Wae Barbers, the same place he?s gone for the last 40 years.

?There?s three chairs there, no appointments,? Upton said. ?You just gotta wait your turn like everybody else.?

The chairman knows how to wait.

Upton comes from a wealthy Michigan family that made its fortune in the appliance industry. His grandfather was one of the founders of Whirlpool, and the inheritance made Upton a multimillionaire, listed as the 36th-richest member of the House by the Center for Responsive Politics. He earned a bachelor?s degree in journalism from the University of Michigan and came to Washington after that to work for Republican David Stockman, both when he was a congressman from Michigan?s 4th District and when Stockman was leading the White House Office of Management and Budget during the Reagan administration.

His Washington experience in the 1970s and ?80s, paired with Upton?s well-known family name in southwestern Michigan, and a tenacious campaign helped propel Upton to win the election for Michigan?s 6th District seat in 1986. But it wasn?t until 2010?long into his 14 terms in Congress?that he took over the gavel of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

The committee is the oldest standing committee in the House and has the broadest jurisdiction in Congress, overseeing everything from health care and energy policy to product safety and international trade. Upton ran for the chairmanship after the tea-party faction of the GOP helped put Republicans back in control of the House in the 2010 midterm elections.

Upton was always favored to win, given his close relationship with Boehner and years of loyal party service. But he was pitted against the more conservative Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, who was ranking member and a previous chairman of the committee. Upton faced criticism from both clean-energy advocates and conservative groups for a whole host of things: being too moderate, flip-flopping on climate change, and, perhaps most famously, denouncing a light-bulb efficiency bill he had once championed.

He won the gavel. But it was no easy time to be a chairman.

For years, committee chairs have seen their power decline, a trend that began in the mid-1990s when then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich shifted power to a top-down structure run out of the leadership office.

With the tea-party wave of 2010, Congress also became more conservative and more partisan?and consequently more gridlocked than ever on big national issues, including health care, global warming, and broad fiscal issues. All are changes that make running an effective committee more difficult.

?The division is no longer between regular Republicans and moderates,? said former Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-La., who chaired the Energy committee from 2001 to 2004. ?It?s more between hard right and regular Republicans.?

At his core, colleagues say, Upton is a bipartisan, relatively moderate Republican. But he is now operating?and indeed leading?in a House whose new members possess much less of both those qualities.

?The Republican Party has moved further to the right, and he?s had to make that transition. He?s probably found that challenging,? said Bill McBride, D.C. director for Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder. McBride has known Upton longer than almost anyone in Washington. They grew up in the same town and worked as staffers in Congress at the same time. ?He really came out of a very moderate base in the Republican Party. If you go back and look at his voting record over the last 26 years, I think you?ll see a trend where it has moved rightward in recent years. But he?s had to adapt to a changing environment in the party.?

Indeed, Upton?s legislative record has vacillated, according to an analysis of National Journal?s annual vote ratings. In 2008, he was the 185th most conservative member of the House. In 2010, the year of the tea-party wave and his fight with Barton for the chairmanship, he had his most conservative year ever: He ranked the 114th most conservative. He now seems to be moderating again. In 2012 he ranked 185th again.

?In order to succeed, you need to work with the environment as it exists,? said former Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Va., who worked closely with Upton while on the Energy subcommittee on climate change and other issues. Put another way, Upton needed to adapt to his surroundings. Some critics call that flip-flopping; others just call it politics.

Visit Upton?s office and he?s apt to do two things right away: insist you call him Fred and introduce you to his staff?s dogs. There are usually three small breeds running around on any given day. ?Gideon?s blind, so you just gotta be careful,? Upton says about the silky terrier owned by his chief of staff, Joan Hillebrands, who has worked for Upton since he first ran for Congress in 1986.

On one recent day, Upton juggled meeting with constituents concerned about the sequester cuts with counting votes on the continuing resolution bill to help Boehner ensure its passage and managing his committee responsibilities. He also reads and signs all his legislative mail. ?I sometimes question why I voted against cloning because I have so many different activities where I should be,? Upton quipped.

But managing Energy and Commerce is no joke.

Upton?s job as chairman is threefold. He must unify the members on his committee, a group that is widely thought to be more conservative than ever. In fact, 24 of the 30 Republican members on the committee are more conservative than Upton, according to NJ?s 2012 vote ratings. He also must ensure he is in lockstep with the House GOP leadership, which is often looking at the national political implications of the committee?s actions. Upton?s third big job is to make a good-faith effort to move bipartisan measures when possible, a task that is sometimes in conflict with the first two.

When he became chairman, Upton instituted a rule that allowed any bipartisan amendment to get first priority in a markup. This encourages members to work across the aisle, but because the committee has fewer moderate members from both parties than in years past, there aren?t as many opportunities for bipartisan amendments.

?It?s clear the politics of the House and on the Republican side have moved to the right; as such, Fred has a responsibility to his caucus,? said former Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., who has known Upton for two decades and was one of Upton?s closest colleagues when they served in the House together. ?The key test of a leader is that when they turn around and look behind them, there is actually somebody there?. Fred is leading in a way to make sure that he can get done what he needs to get done.?

Upton?s quest for bipartisanship is also made difficult by ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., who acknowledges that, in his role as leader of the minority party on the committee, he often comes off as partisan. When asked about how he works with Waxman, Upton seemed at a loss for words.?You know, he?s a, he?s a tough guy,? Upton said. ?I know he?s not happy that we pick off a number of Democrats with us.?

In fact, most of the bills related to the Environmental Protection Agency and Obama?s health care law have little bipartisan support. But there has been enough for Upton to make the claim.

Of course, there has been legislation passed with bipartisan effort in the committee that eventually became law, and Upton counts these as successes. A pipeline-safety measure and a telecommunications bill on broadband and spectrum policy are two examples. But in the two years he has been chairman, he has had limited success authoring big-ticket items that eventually become law. Some of that is due to the party?s focus trying to undo Obama?s policies. Term limits in committee leadership posts that the GOP created under Gingrich also make it difficult for Republican chairs to make lasting changes. Legislative victories take years, sometimes decades?as longtime chairman John Dingell, D-Mich., recalls.

?There was one time I put a clean-air bill on the floor,? he said. ?Everyone patted me on the back and said, ?Oh Dingell, you?ve got this bill through in 13 hours. How?d you do it?? I said, ?Oh it was really simple, it only took me 13 years to get that damn thing to where I could get it through in 13 hours.? ?

Dingell was referring to the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990, the most recent and significant reform of the landmark air-pollution law. Upton doesn?t yet have such a big legislative victory he can call his own (he has a limit of four years left as chairman), and it?s unclear if such a partisan Congress can produce such a bill.

But Upton is relying on a classic formula, used by generations of lawmakers: hearing from stakeholders, holding a hearing, drafting a bill, marking it up, and whipping votes to ensure it can pass. As he put it, ?I?m a regular-order guy.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/polarized-congress-tests-fred-upton-instincts-190919521--politics.html

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Pine marten survey suggests recovery

17 April 2013 Last updated at 09:24 ET

One of Scotland's rarest carnivores is showing signs of recovery after years of declining populations, a new report has suggested.

A joint survey by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the Vincent Wildlife Trust (VWT) has found the number of pine marten appears to be growing.

The mammal is said to be "established" in Caithness, Moray, Perth and Kinross, Aberdeenshire, Angus and Fife.

However, it is now being spotted in southern Argyll and Stirlingshire.

The pine marten was once found throughout Britain, but the species suffered heavily during the 19th century.

By the turn of the 20th century, the animal was limited to North West Scotland, where the species survived in areas of remote forest and rocky moorland.

SNH estimates there are now about 2,600 to 3,500 adult martens in Scotland.

Dropping samples

Much of the growth has been attributed to pine martens being given full legal protection in 1988 and the expansion of plantation forest cover during the last century.

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?Start Quote

It is reassuring that this formerly rare and persecuted mammal is now making a comeback in some of the more populated parts of the country?

End Quote Rob Raynor Scottish Natural Heritage

The latest survey of the animals was carried out during the summer of 2012.

Surveyors collected possible pine marten droppings along survey areas on woodland tracks and paths.

The droppings were given DNA tests to confirm their origin. Records of marten presence were also collected from other sources, including Local Biological Record Centres and other wildlife organisations.

Lizzie Croose, VWT's survey coordinator, said: "At a time when some native mammals are declining it is fantastic to see the pine marten population is recovering and expanding its range in Scotland.

"Pine martens are still absent from much of Britain so the recovery in Scotland is significant."

Rob Raynor, mammals advisor at SNH, said: "This is good news for one of Scotland's most iconic animals and it is reassuring that this formerly rare and persecuted mammal is now making a comeback in some of the more populated parts of the country."

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-22186846#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Family history of Alzheimer's associated with abnormal brain pathology

Apr. 17, 2013 ? Close family members of people with Alzheimer's disease are more than twice as likely as those without a family history to develop silent buildup of brain plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease, according to researchers at Duke Medicine.

The study, published online in the journal PLOS ONE on April 17, 2013, confirms earlier findings on a known genetic variation that increases one's risk for Alzheimer's, and raises new questions about other genetic factors involved in the disease that have yet to be identified.

An estimated 25 million people worldwide have Alzheimer's disease, and the number is expected to triple by 2050. More than 95 percent of these individuals have late-onset Alzheimer's, which usually occurs after the age of 65. Research has shown that Alzheimer's begins years to decades before it is diagnosed, with changes to the brain measurable through a variety of tests.

Family history is a known risk factor and predictor of late-onset Alzheimer's disease, and studies suggest a two- to four-fold greater risk for Alzheimer's in individuals with a mother, father, brother or sister who develop the disease. These first-degree relatives share roughly 50 percent of their genes with another member of their family. Common genetic variations, including changes to the APOE gene, account for around 50 percent of the heritability of Alzheimer's, but the disease's other genetic roots are still unexplained.

"In this study, we sought to understand whether simply having a positive family history, in otherwise normal or mildly forgetful people, was enough to trigger silent buildup of Alzheimer's plaques and shrinkage of memory centers," said senior author P. Murali Doraiswamy, professor of psychiatry and medicine at Duke.

Duke neuroscience research trainee Erika J. Lampert, Doraiswamy and colleagues analyzed data from 257 adults, ages 55 to 89, both cognitively healthy and with varying levels of impairment. The participants were part of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, a national study working to define the progression of Alzheimer's through biomarkers.

The researchers looked at participants' age, gender and family history of the disease, with a positive family history defined as having a parent or sibling with Alzheimer's. This information was compared with cognitive assessments and other biological tests, including APOE genotyping, MRI scans measuring hippocampal volume, and studies of three different pathologic markers (A?42, t-tau, and t-tau/A?42 ratio) found in cerebrospinal fluid.

As expected, the researchers found that a variation in the APOE gene associated with a greater risk and earlier onset of Alzheimer's was overrepresented in participants with a family history of the disease. However, other biological differences were also seen in those with a family history, suggesting that unidentified genetic factors may influence the disease's development before the onset of dementia.

Nearly half of all healthy people with a positive family history would have met the criteria for preclinical Alzheimer's disease based on measurements of their cerebrospinal fluid, but only about 20 percent of those without a family history would have met such criteria.

"We already knew that family history increases one's risk for developing Alzheimer's, but we now are showing that people with a positive family history may also have higher levels of Alzheimer's pathology earlier, which could be a reason why they experience a faster cognitive decline than those without a family history," Lampert said.

The findings may influence the design of future studies developing new diagnostic tests for Alzheimer's, as researchers may choose to exclude those with a positive family history -- a group that has historically volunteered to participate in studies to better understand the disease -- as healthy controls, given that they are more likely to develop Alzheimer's pathology.

"Our study shows the power of a simple one-minute questionnaire about family history to predict silent brain changes," Doraiswamy said. "In the absence of full understanding of all genetic risks for late-onset Alzheimer's, family history information can serve as a risk stratification tool for prevention research and personalizing care." He encouraged those with a known positive family history to seek out clinical trials specific to preventing the disease.

In addition to Lampert and Doraiswamy, study authors include Kingshuk Roy Choudhury, Christopher A. Hostage and Jeffrey R. Petrella.