LONDON (Reuters) - Western and Middle Eastern nations trying to help the Syrian opposition in its war against President Bashar al-Assad will meet in Turkey on April 20, a U.S. official said on Wednesday as G8 foreign ministers gathered in London for a summit.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will attend the meeting of the so-called Friends of Syria "core group" in Istanbul, said the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.
The G8 talks, which began in London over dinner on Wednesday and were due to end on Thursday, will also be the first chance for the ministers to discuss face-to-face the failure of last week's meeting in Almaty on curbing Iran's nuclear program.
North Korean threats of war also will be high on the agenda of the Group of Eight nations - the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia - meeting.
Britain was expected to call for more help for the Syrian opposition but there are no signs of a major shift in policy.
Leaders of the Syrian National Coalition (SNC) were present on the sidelines of the G8 meeting and were expected to hold talks with those foreign ministers willing to meet them.
During a lunch meeting earlier in the day, Syrian opposition members said they needed more humanitarian assistance and Kerry talked about the importance of the opposition becoming better organized, a senior U.S. official told reporters.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, in a statement issued after the talks, said Britain was committed to finding a political solution to the crisis.
"We discussed what further assistance the UK could provide to save lives in Syria, and how we could work together to ensure this support was channeled most effectively," he said.
NO PROMISES
The United States, which on February 28 said it will for the first time give non-lethal aid to Syrian rebel fighters and more than double its aid to Syria's civilian opposition, has so far chosen not to provide arms to the rebels and did not make any commitments at the lunch, the U.S. official said.
"He didn't promise anything," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters travelling with Kerry.
During a more than one-hour meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, another U.S. official said there was no sign of any change in Moscow's stance on Syria.
"It certainly didn't sound like they have changed their position a lot," said the official, who added that Kerry and Lavrov's talks on Syria were relatively brief and that the Syrian civil war was expected to be among the main topics of conversation at Wednesday's dinner of G8 foreign ministers.
The radicalization of elements of the divided opposition has tempered the enthusiasm of some Western nations for supporting the rebels militarily. Iraq's al Qaeda wing said it had united with Syria's al-Nusra Front, a kindred group.
Michael Stephens, a Doha-based analyst for security think tank RUSI, said the presence of SNC leaders at the G8 meeting was designed to help the coalition shore up its international legitimacy after the Arab League recognized it as the sole representative for Syria.
"It shows there's a graduated process, where they went from laughing stock to being approved by the Arab League to being listened to by G8 leaders," he said. "There's a groundswell of support that appears to be building up behind them."
France and Britain are expected once again to press the case for amending or lifting an arms embargo on Syria to support the out-gunned rebels and help end a conflict that has claimed an estimated 70,000 lives and displaced millions of people.
(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Writing by Maria Golovnina; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Henrico man arrested for taking photos up woman's skirt
Henrico man arrested for taking photos up woman's skirt
Tuesday, April 9 2013 11:00 PM EDT2013-04-10 03:00:20 GMT
A man is caught red-handed while taking indecent photos of a woman in a popular Henrico store. 32-year-old Daniel Crews is accused of taking the photos under a woman's skirt, without her knowing. HenricoMore >>A?man is caught red-handed while taking indecent photos of a woman in a popular Henrico store. Police arrested 32-year-old Daniel Crews?for taking the photos under a woman's skirt, without her knowing.More >>
Fugitive Friday: Central Virginia's Most Wanted
Fugitive Friday: Central Virginia's Most Wanted
Friday, April 5 2013 2:10 PM EDT2013-04-05 18:10:28 GMT
Fugitive Fridays tracks down Central Virginia's most wanted. Take a look at the photos and see if you can help police track down these suspects.More >>Fugitive Fridays tracks down Central Virginia's most wanted.More >>
Henrico Police releases top accident locations list
Henrico Police releases top accident locations list
Tuesday, April 9 2013 7:07 PM EDT2013-04-09 23:07:20 GMT
We've got our hands on the list of Henrico's most dangerous intersections. According to traffic engineers, some areas will be seeing improvements but others will not, at least not anytime soon. At theMore >>Police just released a?list of Henrico's most dangerous intersections. According to traffic engineers, some areas will be seeing improvements -?but others will not, at least not anytime soon.More >>
Thomas Dale HS alumni makes TV debut on "Ready for Love" Tuesday night
Thomas Dale HS alumni makes TV debut on "Ready for Love" Tuesday night
Tuesday, April 9 2013 6:25 PM EDT2013-04-09 22:25:09 GMT
A new reality show begins tonight on NBC12. It's called "Ready for Love," produced by Eva Longoria ("Desperate Housewives"). Three matchmakers bring in dozens of young women to find the perfect match forMore >>"Ready for Love"?begins tonight on NBC12. Three matchmakers bring in dozens of young women to find the perfect match for?three bachelors. One of those women is?Chesterfield native Jade Dhir.More >>
Teens jump safely out of speeding car after brakes fail on I-81
Teens jump safely out of speeding car after brakes fail on I-81
Wednesday, April 10 2013 11:23 AM EDT2013-04-10 15:23:53 GMT
Two teens and a Virginia state police seargant are all lucky to be alive following a speedy crash on I-81 in Augusta County. State police say the two teens were forced to leap out of the speeding carMore >>Two teens and a Virginia State Police Sergeant are all lucky to be alive following a high speed crash on I-81 in Augusta County.More >>
GOOCHLAND, VA (WWBT) -
The owner of a Goochland animal shelter that recently caught fire has been banned from ever owning pet dogs again.
The Richmond?SPCA said they'd be willing to help because, not one, but 70 dogs could end up needing new homes.
They're all at Annette?Thompson's animal shelter now in Goochland County, but late?Monday, a judge banned?Thompson from having any kind of pet.
Next, she faces five animal cruelty charges. That court battle will happen next Monday.
This is all happening because five dogs were removed from Thompson's shelter when it caught on fire March 27th. The five dogs couldn't be nursed back to health, and had to be euthanized. That's when prosecutors filed animal cruelty charges.
Thompson has been in court before. Back in 2011, Thompson was found guilty of six counts of inadequate animal care.?
Apr. 10, 2013 ? Fruit-eating animals are known to use their spatial memory to relocate fruit, yet, it is unclear how they manage to find fruit in the first place. Researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have now investigated which strategies chimpanzees in the Ta? National Park in C?te d'Ivoire, West Africa, use in order to find fruit in the rain forest. The result: Chimpanzees know that trees of certain species produce fruit simultaneously and use this botanical knowledge during their daily search for fruit.
To investigate if chimpanzees know that if a tree is carrying fruit, then other trees of the same species are likely to carry fruit as well, the researchers conducted observations of their inspections, i.e. the visual checking of fruit availability in tree crowns. They focused their analyses on recordings in which they saw chimpanzees inspect empty trees, when they made "mistakes."
By analysing these "mistakes," the researchers were able to exclude that sensory cues of fruit had triggered the inspection and were the first to learn that chimpanzees had expectations of finding fruit days before feeding on it. They, in addition, significantly increased their expectations of finding fruit after tasting the first fruit in season. "They did not simply develop a 'taste' for specific fruit on which they had fed frequently," says Karline Janmaat. "Instead, inspection probability was predicted by a particular botanical feature -- the level of synchrony in fruit production of the species of encountered trees."
The researchers conclude that chimpanzees know that trees of certain species produce fruit simultaneously and use this information during their daily search for fruit. They base their expectations of finding fruit on a combination of botanical knowledge founded on the success rates of fruit discovery and an ability to categorize fruits into distinct species. "Our results provide new insights into the variety of food-finding strategies employed by our close relatives, the chimpanzees, and may well elucidate the evolutionary origins of categorization abilities and abstract thinking in humans," says Christophe Boesch, director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology's Department of Primatology.
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Karline R. L. Janmaat, Simone D. Ban & Christophe Boesch Ta. Chimpanzees use Botanical Skills to Discover Fruit: What we can Learn from their Mistakes. Animal Cognition, 10 April 2013
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BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - China deplored rising tension on the Korean peninsula on Sunday but said its embassy was operating normally in the North Korean capital and it asked authorities there to ensure its diplomats and other citizens were kept safe.
North Korea, angry about new U.N. sanctions imposed for its third nuclear weapon test in February, has made increasingly strident warnings of an imminent war with South Korea and the United States.
The United States, keen to avoid action that could provoke the North, on Saturday postponed a long-scheduled missile test in California.
The North told diplomats on Friday to consider leaving Pyongyang because of the tension, but diplomatic missions appeared to view the appeal as more rhetoric and staff have stayed put.
South Korea said it was ready to counter any move, including a missile launch, that the North's unpredictable leaders might make.
China is reclusive North Korea's sole major diplomatic and financial backer, but its official statements have reflected an increasing impatience with the action of North Korean authorities under 30-year-old leader Kim Jong-un.
"At present, tensions on the Korean peninsula are rising unceasingly, and China expresses grave concern about this," China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website (www.mfa.gov.cn).
China, it said, had asked North Korea "to earnestly ensure the safety of Chinese diplomats in North Korea, in accordance with the Vienna Convention and international laws and norms".
The ministry said China's embassy was "understood" to be operating normally in Pyongyang. China would "protect the legal rights and safety of Chinese citizens and Chinese-invested organizations in North Korea". It did not elaborate.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, addressing a forum on the southern island of Hainan, appeared to refer to the tension when he said no country "should be allowed to throw a region and even the whole world into chaos for selfish gain".
Stability in Asia, he said, "now faces new challenges, as hot spot issues keep emerging and both traditional and non-traditional security threats exist".
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard told the same forum that avoiding conflict on the Korean peninsula was vital.
"There, any aggression is a threat to the interests of every country in the region," she said.
"I do welcome the growing co-operation of all regional governments to prevent conflict on the Korean peninsula and to counter North Korean aggression ... Asia must be a region of sustainable security in which habits of co-operation are the norm."
In Washington, a defense official said a test of the Minuteman III intercontinental missile, scheduled to take place at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, would be postponed.
"This is the logical, prudent and responsible course of action to take," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He said the test had been unconnected to "anything related to North Korea" and added that another test launch could be expected next month. The United States remained fully prepared to respond to any North Korean threat, the official said.
MISSILE LAUNCH "COULD OCCUR"
The South Korean president's office said the country had a "firm military readiness" for any eventuality. It described as "planned behavior" the North's call for South Korean workers to leave the Kaesong joint industrial park, just inside North Korea, and for diplomats to evacuate Pyongyang by April 10.
"Ahead of that time, a situation like a North Korean missile launch could occur," Kim Haing, a spokeswoman for the presidential Blue House, quoted the chief of the National Security office as saying.
"As of now, there are no signs of all-out war, but if a local conflict breaks out, North Korea should be aware that it will pay the price."
Kim Jong-un is the third member of his dynasty to rule North Korea. He took over in December 2011 after the death of his father, Kim Jong-il, who staged confrontations with South Korea and the United States throughout his 17-year rule.
North Korean anger over the sanctions following its nuclear weapon test has been compounded by joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises that began on March 1.
The North has always condemned the exercises but it has been especially vitriolic this year as the United States dispatched B-2 bombers from their home bases to stage mock runs.
North Korean television provided little evidence of tension on Sunday, with newscasts showing old footage of Kim visiting military units. Nor was there any tension in Seoul, with residents strolling in the city centre on a chilly spring day.
South Korean media said on Friday the North had moved two medium-range missiles to the country's east coast, but there has been no confirmation of such a move. That prompted the White House to say that Washington would "not be surprised" if the North staged another missile test.
North Korea has not shut down a symbol of cooperation with the South, the Kaesong industrial zone. But last week, it prevented South Koreans from entering the complex and 94 returned home on Saturday, the Unification Ministry said, leaving a further 518 there.
(Writing by Ron Popeski; Additional reporting by Koh Gui Qing in HAINAN and Phil Stewart in WASHINGTON; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Description For Tapigami, Scheible's masking-tape art venture that's moving into a new Downtown Plaza gallery space, raising money online was a natural.
"It's the best designed system to fund any sort of creative project," said Scheible, who's become a renowned young artist using a decidedly unconventional medium: masking tape. "There's no other place where you can publicly ask for money and people feel comfortable contributing. It's the best format out there for a creative person who doesn't have a business background to get started."
BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian government troops battled rebels on Saturday in a town outside Damascus, part of a belt of communities around the capital that has been the scene of near-daily fighting in recent months, opposition activists said.
In the north, warplanes hit rebel-held areas of Aleppo, Syria's largest city, killing five people, activists said.
The rebels control large swaths of northern Syria, including several districts of Aleppo that they took from President Bashar Assad's troops last year as well as much of the border with Turkey.
Opposition forces have also established footholds in neighborhoods on the edge of Damascus and in suburbs to the northeast and south, lobbing mortars into districts in the center of the capital that they eventually hope to storm.
The State-ran SANA news agency said several mortar rounds hit areas near the Tishrin football stadium on Saturday. The stadium is located in the capital's central Barakmeh district. The state news agency said there were casualties in Saturday's attack, but did not say how many.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Saturday's fighting was concentrated around the town of Al Otaybah, east of Damascus.
In the southeastern Damascus suburb of Jaramana was hit by several mortar rounds, the group said. It sources its reports of daily fighting to a network of activists on the ground.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Damascus is the seat of President Bashar Assad's power, and has been under his troops' control throughout the two-year conflict.
Workers of the Tokyo Stock Exchange chat during a morning trading at the stock exchange in Tokyo, Friday, April 5, 2013. Japan?s benchmark stock index hit 13,000 for the first time in more than four years Friday, a day after the country?s central bank announced aggressive action to lift the economy out of an extended slump. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Workers of the Tokyo Stock Exchange chat during a morning trading at the stock exchange in Tokyo, Friday, April 5, 2013. Japan?s benchmark stock index hit 13,000 for the first time in more than four years Friday, a day after the country?s central bank announced aggressive action to lift the economy out of an extended slump. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Visitors look at the stock prices on the monitors during a morning trading session at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo, Friday, April 5, 2013. Japan?s benchmark stock index hit 13,000 for the first time in more than four years Friday, a day after the country?s central bank announced aggressive action to lift the economy out of an extended slump. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
A worker of the Tokyo Stock Exchange looks at the stock prices on monitors, not in photo, at a morning trading session in Tokyo, Friday, April 5, 2013. Japan?s benchmark stock index hit 13,000 for the first time in more than four years Friday, a day after the country?s central bank announced aggressive action to lift the economy out of an extended slump. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Workers of the Tokyo Stock Exchange look at monitors at a morning trading session in Tokyo, Friday, April 5, 2013. Japan?s benchmark stock index hit 13,000 for the first time in more than four years Friday, a day after the country?s central bank announced aggressive action to lift the economy out of an extended slump. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Workers of the Tokyo Stock Exchange smile during a morning trading session in Tokyo, Friday, April 5, 2013. Japan?s benchmark stock index hit 13,000 for the first time in more than four years Friday, a day after the country?s central bank announced aggressive action to lift the economy out of an extended slump.(AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
BANGKOK (AP) ? Japan's benchmark stock index surged above 13,000 for the first time in more than four years Friday, its second straight day of big gains after the central bank announced aggressive action to lift the economy out of a prolonged slump.
The Bank of Japan unveiled plans Thursday to pump huge amounts of money into the financial system in order to spur price rises, spending and borrowing in an economy that has stagnated for years. The central bank said it wanted to double the money supply and achieve a 2 percent inflation target within about two years.
The sweeping shift in monetary policy came as a surprise to analysts, even though the BOJ's new governor Haruhiko Kuroda has vowed to do whatever necessary to break Japan's economy out of its deflationary malaise. Falling prices have stunted growth in the world's No. 3 economy for the past two decades.
"The size of monetary easing announced yesterday far exceeded expectations," said analysts at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore in a commentary.
The BOJ's plans include buying $530 billion a year in government bonds. Kuroda described the scale of monetary stimulus as "large beyond reason," but said the inflation target would remain out of reach if the central bank stuck to incremental steps.
Mark Williams, chief Asia economist at Capital Economics, said that the BOJ's credibility rests on the success of the new direction the bank is taking.
"Markets are giving it the benefit of the doubt for now. But if the broad monetary aggregates and inflation don't show signs of a shift, the new-found trust in the capacities of the BoJ will rapidly fade," Williams said in a written commentary.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo was up 3 percent at 13,010.73. The benchmark has soared 25 percent this year, rejuvenated by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's election in December and enthusiasm for his economic and monetary program that favors a massive expansion of the money supply to create inflation and jolt Japan out of its slump.
The central bank's announcement dragged down the yen, giving a boost to shares of Japan's powerhouse manufacturers. A cheaper currency makes Japanese goods less costly overseas and raises the value of repatriated profits. Nissan Motor Co. jumped 6 percent. Ricoh Co. advanced 6.1 percent. Heavy-equipment maker Komatsu soared 7.6 percent. Japanese banks also benefited. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group gained 5.9 percent.
The dollar rose to 96.30 yen from 96.13 yen late Thursday. The dollar was at about 92.80 before the BOJ's two-day policy meeting ended with its dramatic announcements Thursday and before Abe's Dec. 16 election was trading around 80 yen.
Elsewhere in Asia, however, stock markets sagged after a report showed the number of Americans seeking unemployment aid rose to a four-month high of 385,000 last week. The government will issue its employment report Friday, which investors look at closely for insight into how the U.S. economy is doing.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng tumbled 2.4 percent to 21,807.27. Analysts said the fall reflected some nervousness about a recent outbreak of deadly bird flu in China. Six people have died and authorities have ordered the slaughter of all poultry at a Shanghai market where the virus was detected. The news hurt tourism and travel-related shares. Hong Kong-listed Air China plunged 11.3 percent and China Southern Airlines sank 11.6 percent.
South Korea's Kospi dropped 1.7 percent to 1,926.05, dragged down by political jitters over the latest tensions with Pyongyang. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.4 percent to 4,896.20 as investors took profits after recent rallies.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed higher Thursday, regaining half of its decline the day before, as investors took advantage of low prices to get back into the market.
The Dow rose 0.4 percent at 14,606.11. The S&P 500 gained 0.4 percent to 1,559.98. The Nasdaq composite dropped 0.2 percent to 3,224.98.
Benchmark oil for May delivery was down 4 cents to $93.22 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.19 to finish at $93.26 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.
The euro fell to $1.2926 from $1.2939 late Thursday in New York.
___
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Stockton, Calif., will be the largest US municipality to enter bankruptcy. The question, Gordon writes, is: Who will be left holding the bag?
By Tracy Gordon,?Guest blogger / April 4, 2013
Crumbling sidewalks and shuttered businesses line a downtown street in Stockton, Calif. It will take some time to parse through the Stockton bankruptcy ruling, Gordon writes, and determine who will pay.
Kevin Bartram/Reuters/File
Enlarge
A few years ago, it was fashionable to compare California, Illinois, or whatever U.S. state was struggling financially to the troubled island nation of Greece.? Now, with?Stockton, California?the largest U.S. municipality to enter bankruptcy, it may be tempting to make another Mediterranean comparison ? this time to the troubled island nation of Cyprus.
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In Cyprus as well as Stockton (plus?San Bernardino, California and Jefferson County, Alabama), the question is:? Who will be left holding the bag?? A common theme is ?haircuts,? or possible losses for investors (bank depositors in Cyprus; bondholders in California) to spare wider pain to taxpayers, pensioners, public employees, and other local stakeholders.
One problem with haircuts is that they can impair future market access:? the government in question may have to pay higher borrowing costs to regain investor confidence.? A wider concern is contagion:? If investors fear they won?t get their money back, they might demand higher interest rates from the sector as a whole.? Moody?s Investors Service publicly worried about such contagion last summer, in a?report?critical of U.S. municipalities and what the organization viewed as changing norms toward bankruptcy.
But there are a few reasons to be skeptical about the contagion scenario applied to munis.? First, although broad (worth about?$3.7 trillion?in 2012), the municipal bond market is not very deep.? On the supply side, a few large issuers like California, New York, and Texas dominate.? On the demand side, most investors are households or institutions representing households such as money market mutual funds. ?
WASHINGTON ? A nonprofit business group in downtown Washington is doing a spring cleaning in honor of cherry blossom season.
The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District says its spring cleaning week will start Saturday and continue through the next week. The spring cleaning includes a pressure washing of sidewalks and cleanup of the seven parks in the neighborhood.
The group is also holding a cell phone recycling event called ?Flower for Phones.? Anyone who turns in an old cell phone during the recycling will get a potted plant. The cell phone recycling events will take place Tuesday and Wednesday in Farragut Square Park and Duke Ellington Park.
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The discovery, based on research in Alaska, opens a window on processes at play early in Mars' history, when it hosted an environment that could have harbored microbial life.
By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / March 30, 2013
Dunes spanning an area about the size of Texas in the Martian equivalent of the Arctic.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Enlarge
Shifting dunes on Mars, especially those near the planet's north pole, may harbor layers of liquid water not far beneath their ice-encrusted surfaces.
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That is the implication of studies of sand dunes in Alaska's Kobuk Valley National Park, some 380 miles northwest of Fairbanks. There, above the Arctic Circle, researchers using the dunes as stand-ins for dunes on Mars have found evidence for liquid water trapped between the dunes' icy winter coat and subsurface layers of ice or freeze-dried silt that form a temporary, cement-like barrier that prevents the water from percolating deeper into the dune.
The water remains liquid because it exists in an environment of temperature and pressure that allows liquid water, ice, and water vapor to exist side by side.
The discovery of this seasonal mechanism for storing liquid water on Mars-like features at Mars-like temperatures opens a window on processes that could have been at play early in Mars' history, when it hosted an environment that could have harbored microbial life.
?And it could help explain debris flows scientists have spotted on sunlit sections of crater and canyon walls in various locations around the planet.
"Mars has likely had active sand dunes during every geologic era, and some of these eras were warmer and wetter than Mars is today," notes Cynthia Dinwiddie, a researcher with the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo.
"There is some possibility that equivalent processes are currently occurring on Mars," primarily in dune fields in Mars' equivalent of the Arctic, she writes in an email. Still, "the likelihood is even greater that equivalent processes occurred on ancient Mars."
The dune field in Alaska that Dr. Dinwiddie and Southwest Research Institute colleague Don Hooper study sits on the boundary between boreal forests to the south and Arctic tundra to the north. Known as the Great Kobuk Sand Dune field, the sands were first formed during ice ages that occurred between 300,000 and 130,000 years ago.
Glaciers sculpted the Brooks Range to the north and left the sandy debris in the Kobuk River Valley. There, wind, meltwater, and more-recent ice ages would continue to rework the material to leave some 24 square miles of mobile dunes on the surface and another 250 square miles of sandy soils that don't get around much anymore.
UCLA brain-imaging tool and stroke risk test help identify cognitive decline earlyPublic release date: 3-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rachel Champeau rchampeau@mednet.ucla.edu 310-794-2270 University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
UCLA researchers have used a brain-imaging tool and stroke risk assessment to identify signs of cognitive decline early on in individuals who don't yet show symptoms of dementia.
The connection between stroke risk and cognitive decline has been well established by previous research. Individuals with higher stroke risk, as measured by factors like high blood pressure, have traditionally performed worse on tests of memory, attention and abstract reasoning.
The current small study demonstrated that not only stroke risk, but also the burden of plaques and tangles, as measured by a UCLA brain scan, may influence cognitive decline.
The imaging tool used in the study was developed at UCLA and reveals early evidence of amyloid beta "plaques" and neurofibrillary tau "tangles" in the brain the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease.
The study, published in the April issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, demonstrates that taking both stroke risk and the burden of plaques and tangles into account may offer a more powerful assessment of factors determining how people are doing now and will do in the future.
"The findings reinforce the importance of managing stroke risk factors to prevent cognitive decline even before clinical symptoms of dementia appear," said first author Dr. David Merrill, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.
This is one of the first studies to examine both stroke risk and plaque and tangle levels in the brain in relation to cognitive decline before dementia has even set in, Merrill said.
According to the researchers, the UCLA brain-imaging tool could prove useful in tracking cognitive decline over time and offer additional insight when used with other assessment tools.
For the study, the team assessed 75 people who were healthy or had mild cognitive impairment, a risk factor for the future development of Alzheimer's. The average age of the participants was 63.
The individuals underwent neuropsychological testing and physical assessments to calculate their stroke risk using the Framingham Stroke Risk Profile, which examines age, gender, smoking status, systolic blood pressure, diabetes, atrial fibrillation (irregular heart rhythm), use of blood pressure medications, and other factors.
In addition, each participant was injected with a chemical marker called FDDNP, which binds to deposits of amyloid beta plaques and neurofibrillary tau tangles in the brain. The researchers then used positron emission tomography (PET) to image the brains of the subjects a method that enabled them to pinpoint where these abnormal proteins accumulate.
The study found that greater stroke risk was significantly related to lower performance in several cognitive areas, including language, attention, information-processing speed, memory, visual-spatial functioning (e.g., ability to read a map), problem-solving and verbal reasoning.
The researchers also observed that FDDNP binding levels in the brain correlated with participants' cognitive performance. For example, volunteers who had greater difficulties with problem-solving and language displayed higher levels of the FDDNP marker in areas of their brain that control those cognitive activities.
"Our findings demonstrate that the effects of elevated vascular risk, along with evidence of plaques and tangles, is apparent early on, even before vascular damage has occurred or a diagnosis of dementia has been confirmed," said the study's senior author, Dr. Gary Small, director of the UCLA Longevity Center and a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences who holds the ParlowSolomon Chair on Aging at UCLA's Semel Institute.
Researchers found that several individual factors in the stroke assessment stood out as predictors of decline in cognitive function, including age, systolic blood pressure and use of blood pressurerelated medications.
Small noted that the next step in the research would be studies with a larger sample size to confirm and expand the findings.
###
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grants PO1-AG025831, AG13308, P50 AG 16570, MH/AG58156, MH52453, AG10123 and MO1-RR00865); the UCLA Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, funded by the National
Institute on Aging (grant 5P30AG028748); the American Federation for Aging Research; and the John A. Hartford Foundation Centers of Excellence National Program.
UCLA owns three U.S. patents on the FDDNP chemical marker. Small and study author Dr. Jorge Barrio are among the inventors.
Additional UCLA authors included Prabha Sidarth, Pushpa V. Rajaa, Nathan Saito, Linda M. Ercoli, Karen J. Miller and Helen Lavretsky, Vladimir Kepe, and Susan Y. Bookheimer.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
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UCLA brain-imaging tool and stroke risk test help identify cognitive decline earlyPublic release date: 3-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Rachel Champeau rchampeau@mednet.ucla.edu 310-794-2270 University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
UCLA researchers have used a brain-imaging tool and stroke risk assessment to identify signs of cognitive decline early on in individuals who don't yet show symptoms of dementia.
The connection between stroke risk and cognitive decline has been well established by previous research. Individuals with higher stroke risk, as measured by factors like high blood pressure, have traditionally performed worse on tests of memory, attention and abstract reasoning.
The current small study demonstrated that not only stroke risk, but also the burden of plaques and tangles, as measured by a UCLA brain scan, may influence cognitive decline.
The imaging tool used in the study was developed at UCLA and reveals early evidence of amyloid beta "plaques" and neurofibrillary tau "tangles" in the brain the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease.
The study, published in the April issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, demonstrates that taking both stroke risk and the burden of plaques and tangles into account may offer a more powerful assessment of factors determining how people are doing now and will do in the future.
"The findings reinforce the importance of managing stroke risk factors to prevent cognitive decline even before clinical symptoms of dementia appear," said first author Dr. David Merrill, an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA.
This is one of the first studies to examine both stroke risk and plaque and tangle levels in the brain in relation to cognitive decline before dementia has even set in, Merrill said.
According to the researchers, the UCLA brain-imaging tool could prove useful in tracking cognitive decline over time and offer additional insight when used with other assessment tools.
For the study, the team assessed 75 people who were healthy or had mild cognitive impairment, a risk factor for the future development of Alzheimer's. The average age of the participants was 63.
The individuals underwent neuropsychological testing and physical assessments to calculate their stroke risk using the Framingham Stroke Risk Profile, which examines age, gender, smoking status, systolic blood pressure, diabetes, atrial fibrillation (irregular heart rhythm), use of blood pressure medications, and other factors.
In addition, each participant was injected with a chemical marker called FDDNP, which binds to deposits of amyloid beta plaques and neurofibrillary tau tangles in the brain. The researchers then used positron emission tomography (PET) to image the brains of the subjects a method that enabled them to pinpoint where these abnormal proteins accumulate.
The study found that greater stroke risk was significantly related to lower performance in several cognitive areas, including language, attention, information-processing speed, memory, visual-spatial functioning (e.g., ability to read a map), problem-solving and verbal reasoning.
The researchers also observed that FDDNP binding levels in the brain correlated with participants' cognitive performance. For example, volunteers who had greater difficulties with problem-solving and language displayed higher levels of the FDDNP marker in areas of their brain that control those cognitive activities.
"Our findings demonstrate that the effects of elevated vascular risk, along with evidence of plaques and tangles, is apparent early on, even before vascular damage has occurred or a diagnosis of dementia has been confirmed," said the study's senior author, Dr. Gary Small, director of the UCLA Longevity Center and a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences who holds the ParlowSolomon Chair on Aging at UCLA's Semel Institute.
Researchers found that several individual factors in the stroke assessment stood out as predictors of decline in cognitive function, including age, systolic blood pressure and use of blood pressurerelated medications.
Small noted that the next step in the research would be studies with a larger sample size to confirm and expand the findings.
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The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grants PO1-AG025831, AG13308, P50 AG 16570, MH/AG58156, MH52453, AG10123 and MO1-RR00865); the UCLA Claude Pepper Older Americans Independence Center, funded by the National
Institute on Aging (grant 5P30AG028748); the American Federation for Aging Research; and the John A. Hartford Foundation Centers of Excellence National Program.
UCLA owns three U.S. patents on the FDDNP chemical marker. Small and study author Dr. Jorge Barrio are among the inventors.
Additional UCLA authors included Prabha Sidarth, Pushpa V. Rajaa, Nathan Saito, Linda M. Ercoli, Karen J. Miller and Helen Lavretsky, Vladimir Kepe, and Susan Y. Bookheimer.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
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For the people of Stockton, a federal judge?s anticipated decision Monday on the city?s bankruptcy petition will affect their day-to-day lives for decades to come.
But the Chapter 9 bankruptcy case also is being closely watched nationally for the potential precedent-setting implications: whether federal bankruptcy law trumps the California law that says debts to the state pension fund must be honored.
After a three-day trial last week, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Klein is to decide whether Stockton becomes the most populous city in the nation to enter bankruptcy, despite the objection of creditors who argued the city failed to pursue all other avenues for straightening out its financial affairs.
If it receives bankruptcy protection, the city begins a months-long process of negotiations over debt repayment that some say could end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.
?This case is worthy because of the conflict between the U.S. Bankruptcy Code and the state statutes governing CalPERS and the importance of the issue being decided,? said attorney Karol Denniston, a municipal restructuring expert who monitored the trial.
The $900 million Stockton owes to the California Public Employees? Retirement System to cover pension promises is its biggest debt _as is the case with many struggling cities across California. So far Stockton has kept up with pension payments while it has reneged on other debts, maintaining that it needs a strong pension plan to retain its pared-down workforce.
The creditors who challenged Stockton?s bankruptcy petition are the bond insurers who guaranteed $165 million in loans the city secured in 2007 to pay its contributions to CalPERS. That debt got out of hand as property tax values plummeted during the recession, and money to pay the pension obligation fell short.
Attorneys for the creditors argued that it was unfair for them to be paid 17-cents on the dollar for the loans while the retirement fund negotiated in flush times remains untouched.
Legal observers expect the creditors aggressively to challenge Stockton?s repayment plan in the next phase of the process.
?That?s where it will be precedent-setting. Does bankruptcy code apply to CalPERS or not? If bankruptcy code trumps state law, then that?s huge and it has huge implications in terms of what happens next for other municipalities across California,? said Denniston.
The city of nearly 300,000 has become emblematic of both government excess and of the financial calamity that resulted when the nation?s housing bubble burst. Its salaries, benefits and borrowing were based on anticipated long-term developer fees and increasing property tax revenue. But those were lost in a flurry of foreclosures beginning in the mid-2000s and a loss of 70 percent of the city?s tax base.
By 2009 Stockton had accumulated nearly $1 billion in debt on civic improvements, money owed to pay pension contributions and the most generous health care benefit in the state _ coverage for life for all retirees plus a dependent, no matter how long they had worked for the city.
Since cities can?t be liquidated, Stockton has attempted to restructure some debt by renegotiating labor contracts and cutting the health benefit for retirees, but creditors argued that by ignoring bond debt they haven?t created a plan that shares the pain equitably, as required under bankruptcy code.
Attorney Guy Neal, who represents creditors, spent a good deal of his trial time showing that for years Stockton had granted bloated labor contracts and benefits, and then allowed employees to boost their retirement benefits further by cashing out vacation time and sick leave in their last year of employment, thus raising their benchmark annual salary for retirement benefit purposes.
He argued that employees who shared in the wealth during good times should have to equally share the pain now, including cuts to CalPERS.
?The city simply wants to wipe out its debt but hold onto the benefits that the proceeds of that debt provided,? Neal argued.
Stockton?s City Manager Bob Deis testified that CalPERS is a trustee for city employees, not a creditor.
Judge Klein indicated at several points during the trial that the CalPERS attorney monitoring the case would have his time to speak during the repayment phase of the trial, an indication that the pension obligation could be a part of discussions.
?I know that issue is downstream, if we wind up going downstream,? Klein said during closing arguments.
The state pension plan manages $255 billion in assets today but was underfunded by $87 billion in 2011, the last time calculations were made. CalPERS is in the process of setting new rates to close the liability, said spokeswoman Amy Norris, which could further strain cities in financial peril such as San Bernardino, San Jose Compton, Fairfield, Watsonville, Atwater and at least two dozen other cities.
?Just about everybody has an unfunded liability,? said Norris.
Attorneys watching the case expect that this first-ever Chapter 9 bankruptcy case questioning state pension obligations will be appealed to decide whether the 10th Amendment giving rights to states is more powerful than federal bankruptcy code. Even Klein, who was inclined at first to approve bankruptcy without a trial, said he was going forward with the hearing to create an appellate record.
?You might have the court not approve the plan because the bondholders keep raising objections until CalPERS is impaired in some way. That will be cutting edge. That?s where this case will get interesting,? said bankruptcy attorney Michael Sweet.
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) ? The Arizona Cardinals have acquired quarterback Carson Palmer from the Oakland Raiders.
The Cardinals gave up a conditional 2014 draft pick and swapped one of their sixth-round picks this year for Oakland's seventh-round selection.
Palmer reworked his contract as part of his move to the desert, agreeing to a two-year deal worth up to $20 million, with $10 million guaranteed.
New Arizona coach Bruce Arians gets a starting quarterback at a bargain basement price.
But at least the Raiders were able to get something for the quarterback rather than just release him. Oakland acquired quarterback Matt Flynn on Monday in a deal that sent two draft picks to the Seahawks.
The 33-year-old Palmer put up big numbers with the Raiders last season but the production didn't translate into sufficient wins.
In 15 games in 2012, Palmer threw for 4,018 yards, becoming the second quarterback in Raiders history to throw for more than 4,000 yards in a season. He threw for 22 touchdowns with 14 interceptions.
His abilities fit the "throw long downfield" philosophy of Arians, who inherited a team with a woeful situation at quarterback.
Last year, Arizona had four starting quarterbacks ? John Skelton, Kevin Kolb, Ryan Lindley and Brian Hoyer. They combined to throw for 3,383 yards with 11 touchdowns and 21 interceptions and a quarterback rating of 63.1 in an offense that ranked last in the NFL. The Arizona quarterbacks were sacked 58 times in 608 pass attempts. By contrast, Palmer was sacked 28 times last year in 585 throws.
The Cardinals have released Skelton and Kolb and have signed Hoyer to a tender offer. They also have signed free agent Drew Stanton, the backup last season to Andrew Luck in Indianapolis, where Arians was interim head coach.
Palmer was the first overall draft pick in 2002 by Cincinnati and was with the Bengals until his trade to Oakland two years ago. In two seasons with the Raiders, he started 24 games, completed 61 percent of his passes for 6,771 yards and 35 touchdowns and 30 interceptions. His career passer rating is 85.5.
"We'd like to thank Carson Palmer for his services over the past two seasons," Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie said in a news release, "and we wish him well with the Cardinals."
For his career, Palmer has completed 62.5 percent of his passes for 29,465 yards and 189 touchdowns with 132 interceptions.
He would be the fourth different starting quarterback to open the season with Arizona since Kurt Warner retired in 2009.
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Public release date: 3-Apr-2013
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