June 28, 2013 ? Science knows that arsenic and estrogen can cause cancer. At certain very low levels, the chemicals offer little to no threats to human health.
However, new research conducted by Texas Tech University scientists has found that low doses of both chemicals together -- even at levels low enough to be considered "safe" for humans if they were on their own -- can cause cancer in prostate cells.
The combination of the two chemicals was almost twice as likely to create cancer in prostate cells, the research found. The study published online in the peer-reviewed journal The Prostate.
Kamaleshwar Singh, an assistant professor at The Institute of Environmental and Human Health (TIEHH) at Texas Tech said the findings could have an impact on health regulations regarding the "safe" doses of these chemicals and others. Most regulations are set by testing one chemical at a time on cells. Very few if any have looked at multiple chemicals at the same time.
"The majority of cancers are caused by environmental influences," Singh said. "Only about 5 to 10 percent of cancers are due to genetic predisposition. Science has looked at these chemicals, such as arsenic, and tested them in a lab to find the amounts that may cause cancer. But that's just a single chemical in a single test. In the real world, we are getting exposed to many chemicals at once."
Singh said he became interested in studying two chemicals at once after looking at arsenic's carcinogenic properties in a previous paper.
Because cigarette smoke and well water in some areas, including India, Mexico and even Lubbock county, can contain arsenic, Singh and his doctoral student, Justin Treas, wondered how the carcinogenic properties might change when paired with the presence of another carcinogenic chemical.
The two focused on estrogen because of the chemical's abundance. Many plastics, such as food can liners and bisphenol A (BPA), release small amounts of chemicals that mimic estrogen in the body.
"Co-exposure was creating a greater impact," Singh said. "That was one of the important findings of our study. The next thing we wanted to know is how these two chemicals are creating a greater effect."
Unlike stronger chemicals that do major damage to the DNA in a cell, such as benzene, arsenic and estrogen aren't major mutagens Singh said. Instead, their presence tends to stop certain genes from expressing. The process is called DNA hypermethylation.
In the experiment, human prostate cells were treated about once a week for six months with arsenic, estrogen and a combination of the two. Many of the tests involved levels of arsenic, estrogen or both at levels considered safe by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Treas said the two chemicals stopped the MLH1 gene, which is responsible for sending the signal to start the self-destruct sequence when a cell is damaged. Because the self-destruct couldn't activate, the cells became cancerous after exposure.
"With the lower dose not killing the cell, it's causing damages that go under the cell's radar," Treas said. "We found when you have two compounds together, lower doses could be more serious problem."
All Critics (147) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (144) | Rotten (3)
Hawke and Delpy remain as charming as ever, and their combined goofiness is more endearing than annoying.
Love is messy here, life cannot be controlled, satisfaction is far from guaranteed. Romance is rocky at best. But romance still is.
Though "Before Midnight" is often uncomfortable to watch, it's never less than mesmerizing - and ultimately, a joy to walk with this prickly but fascinating couple again.
"Before Midnight" is heartbreaking, but not because of Jesse and Celine. It's the filmmakers' passions that seem to have cooled.
Before Midnight is fascinating to watch, and so long as Celine and Jesse are communicating, there's still hope.
How (Jesse and Celine) try to rekindle that flame is what drives Midnight, a film that feels so authentic it's like overhearing a conversation you're not sure you should be hearing.
I'm not sure this is the end of Richard Linklater's 'Before' trilogy. It's perfection just as it is, but then again, Linklater has nine more years to work on the sequel.
Loving words mix with personal attacks, the magic moments with the unintended slights, as we witness the occasional desperation of imperfect people doing the best they can when life moves beyond meet-cute and courtship. That's authentic.
Linklater and his players bring an end to the fantasy and welcome the thrilling ups and bitter downs of reality to this love story.
Like the first two films, it reflects the real world in a way that seems almost preternatural. It's just that, here, the real world is a harsher, more disappointing place.
The duo, clearly so comfortable in their characters' skin, indulge in intelligent banter, sharp humour and emotional truths.
So much better written than contemporary novels, this film is a literary as well as cinematic achievement to cherish. For grown-ups.
As before, it's often very funny, with Jesse and Celine swapping Woody Allen-esque one-liners - nicely snarky, appealingly abrasive.
The acting, the dialogue and direction are superb.
None of the films is faultless in itself, but, tinted with complementary tones, the complete cycle comes as close to perfection as any trilogy in cinema history.
Marvelous. It's impossible to shake the feeling that we are merely eavesdropping on reality. Witty, wise, and -- most important of all -- truly romantic in ways that movies usually aren't.
It's been 18 years since Hawke, Delpy and Linklater introduced us to Jesse and Celine, and their story just gets richer, funnier and more punchy each time we see them. In 1995's Before Sunrise, they were idealistic 23-year-olds.
Hawke and Delpy are as believably real as any screen couple can ever be.
This is one of the few sequels for which the cliche 'eagerly awaited' is truly applicable.
Predictably, it's just as great as the first two.
By the end, Before Midnight inches towards a dawn of charm. But it's a troubled trip.
As an organic experiment in collaboration between actors and director, it is a triumph, co-created and co-owned by Delpy, Linklater and Hawke.
Hawke and Delpy, who are both credited on the script too, have never found co-stars to bounce off more nimbly or bring out richer nuances in their acting.
The performances and dialogue are wonderfully naturalistic; a reminder that the best special effects are often the cheapest.
Before Midnight is about the nature of long-term relationships, and the way love deepens and grows but also finds itself subject to the complications of maturity. Smart, insightful, and poignant.
For those who witnessed Jesse and Celine's tentative getting together as inter railing students almost twenty years ago, it's reassuring to see them still in love.
LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Jane Seymour continues her limited story arc on TNT's "Franklin & Bash" Wednesday night, where she needs the title characters to get her acquitted of a prostitution charge.
Seymour plays Coleen Bash, the mother of Peter (Mark-Paul Gosselaar), who happens to be a sex surrogate.
TheWrap spoke with the one-time "Bond" girl about her unique career as an actress and designer, how closely she keeps up with the "Bond" films and what it's like kissing Heather Locklear. Yes, that happens in Wednesday's episode.
The interview began with Seymour explaining her role as the TNT comedy-drama's first sex surrogate - which is not to be confused with a hooker, according to her on-camera son and attorney. In the episode, Seymour is arrested for being a lady of the night, though it's not quite the same job. She explains what goes down in the show:
Seymour: When come to get her out of jail, all the other prostitutes in jail think, "Oh, that's cool, we'll be sex surrogates too." So really the episode is about how they tried to defend and understand what it is she actually did and is doing ... It's very funny and needless to say the two guys banter with one another, and Peter is completely teased by his partner for having a mother who is a sex surrogate.
Then at one point in the office I see Heather Locklear's character, Rachel King, and I find out from a conversation over a glass of wine she hasn't had sex in six years, so I just decide to kiss her and see if there's any life in her.
TheWrap: Well that won't hurt ratings, I imagine.
Seymour: It won't hurt ratings, and all I can say is if I tell you any more I'll spoil the episode. But they say - and I haven't seen the final episode yet - that it's one of the funniest they've had in the series.
TheWrap: Good kisser?
Seymour: I think you have to wait and see!
TheWrap: So what is the difference between a prostitute and a sex surrogate, just so I understand this?
Seymour: Prostitutes always have sex with their subjects and sex surrogates don't. You have to see the episode to understand it, but a sex surrogate is someone who is paid to help someone with their sexual issues.
TheWrap: You've had such a varied career with a number of iconic roles, what are you most recognized for?
Seymour: The younger generation would say "Wedding Crashers," unless their parents forced them to watch "Dr. Quinn." Everyone for some reason still knows me as a "Bond" girl, which I find amusing, and then "Somewhere in Time" of course. More and more people are falling in love with that movie long after it came out. I meet people all the time - especially men - who are obsessed with that movie. I mean, they don't watch it once, they watch it 15 times. It's a bit of a sickness.
TheWrap: The residual checks don't hurt I'm sure.
Seymour: I don't get a penny from it. But I did have the great pleasure of working with Christopher Reeves on that one, which was lovely. I've been doing a lot of comedy recently which I really enjoy. I just did something in England with Greg Wise and James Fox called "The Unknown Heart," but I'm not sure when that's coming out here. I keep working.
AMMAN, Jordan (AP) ? U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was meeting Friday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and planned to return to Jerusalem for more talks with the Israelis as he continues his latest round of Mideast diplomacy in an effort to get both sides back to the negotiating table.
Kerry was using Amman as a base for the talks. He drove to Jerusalem Thursday night for a dinner meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that lasted about four hours.
He and his delegation returned to Amman early Friday. Around noon, he drove to a diplomatic area of Amman for a luncheon with Abbas.
"It's good to be back and I look forward to our conversation. We have a lot to talk about, obviously, as you know," Kerry told Abbas.
As reporters and photographers were ushered out of the meeting, Kerry turned to Abbas and said: "We had a good long meeting." It was an apparent reference to his meeting with Netanyahu the night before. "We're going back."
State Department officials have said little about the details of the talks. It was clear from the travel schedule given to the delegation that Kerry was going to go back to Jerusalem, but State Department officials wouldn't confirm the return trip.
It, however, was one of the first things Kerry told Abbas as the two men sat down to talk.
Kerry, who is on a two-week swing through the Mideast and Asia, left Amman on Thursday evening in a convoy of nearly a dozen vehicles for the roughly 90-minute drive to Jerusalem. A Jordanian military helicopter flew over his convoy during the trip, according to a reporter who was allowed to make the trip with Kerry and his delegation.
Netanyahu was about an hour late, apparently telling Kerry that he was delayed because he had been attending a graduation ceremony for Israeli military pilots. They talked mostly one-on-one, but advisers also were present for some of the discussion, which began around 9:30 p.m. local time in a suite at a hotel in Jerusalem and ended around 1:30 a.m. Friday.
The State Department released the dinner menu ? fish ceviche and a main course of red tuna and sea bream over lentils and mushrooms ? but offered no detailed information about their talks. The State Department said only that the two had a "productive, in-depth and wide-ranging conversation" and that Kerry reiterated his commitment to working with all parties to achieve a two-state solution.
There was no readout from the Israelis.
State Department officials say Kerry will continue to try to find common ground between the two sides that would lead to a re-launching of negotiations. On this trip, Kerry is trying to pin down precisely what conditions Abbas and Netanyahu have for resuming talks and perhaps discuss confidence-building measures.
BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) ? Brazilian protesters and police clashed Wednesday near a stadium hosting a Confederations Cup soccer match, as thousands of demonstrators trying to march on the site were met by tear gas and rubber bullets.
Brazil's senate voted to increase penalties for those found guilty of corruption, responding to a key demand made by protesters across the country.
Anti-government protesters in part angered by the billions spent in World Cup preparations picked up tear gas canisters and lobbed them back at police, along with a shower of rocks. A dense fog of the acrid gas enveloped the mass of protesters, who were about a mile (2 kilometers) away from the stadium where Brazil was playing Uruguay in a semifinal match of the warm-up tournament for next year's World Cup.
Police set up a 2-kilometer (1-mile) perimeter around the stadium, normal procedure for international tournaments. Mounted police and riot units maintained another security line about 1 kilometer (half-mile) from the stadium.
"The protesters started this when they tried to break through our outer barrier," said police Capt. Flavio Almeida. "We had no choice but to respond."
Two protesters were hurt, including a 21-year-old man who fell from an overpass and was in critical condition.
By the time the match ended in a 2-1 Brazil victory, most of the protesters had dispersed. In another area of Belo Horizonte, a group of masked young men shattered the windows of car showroom and set the shop on fire.
About 50,000 protesters had earlier massed in a central plaza in Belo Horizonte.
"We don't need the World Cup," said Leonardo Fabri, a 19-year-old protester. "We need education, we need better health services, a more humane police."
It's the latest protest to turn violent as Latin America's biggest country has been hit by nationwide protests since June 17.
Elsewhere in Brazil the situation was mostly calm, in part because Brazilian lawmakers were taking action to meet protesters' demands.
The senate on Wednesday approved legislation to ratchet up penalties for those found guilty of corruption and would take away the ability for a pardon, amnesty or bail for those convicted. The measure must be approved by the lower house before it's signed into law.
The lower house late Tuesday voted 403-9 to drop a measure that would have limited the investigative powers of federal prosecutors, a bill that many feared would make it harder to prosecute official corruption.
"This movement scored a big victory by the killing" of that legislation, said Leila Marques, a 19-year-old protester in Brasilia. "But it can't stop now. We have to do more to clean up corruption."
The wave of protests that hit Brazil began as opposition to transportation fare hikes, then expanded to a laundry list of causes including anger at high taxes, poor services and high World Cup spending, before coalescing around the issue of rampant government corruption.
It has become the largest eruption of public demonstrations Brazil has seen in two decades.
At many protests across Brazil in the past week, a sea of signs denounced the proposal to strip prosecutors of the ability to investigate, known as the "PEC 37" measure. Many demonstrators vowed to keep returning to the streets until it was knocked down.
"The PEC 37 only served to protect the corrupt," said Aline Campos, a 29-year-old publicist at a recent protest in Brasilia. "Society wants more effort to combat corruption, not less."
Federal prosecutors were behind the investigation into the so-called "mensalao" cash-for-votes scheme that came to light in 2005. It involved top aides of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva buying off members of congress to vote for their legislation.
Last year, the supreme court sentenced two dozen people in connection with the case, and it was hailed as a watershed moment in Brazil's fight against corruption. However, those sentenced have yet to be jailed because of appeals, a delay that has enraged Brazilians.
On Wednesday, the top court again flexed its anti-corruption muscles by ordering the immediate imprisonment of congressman Natan Donadon, who was found guilty on corruption charges in 2010 and who has now exhausted all appeals.
Before mass protests broke out on June 17, the PEC 37 legislation appeared heading to easy victory in the lower house of congress.
"It was on the streets that the blindness of the politicians was lifted," said Domingos Dutra, a congressman who has often butted heads with leaders of his ruling Workers Party.
Congress also approved a bill earmarking 75 percent of oil royalties to fund education and 25 percent to health services.
Earlier this week, President Dilma Rousseff announced investments of $23 billion in transportation and said her government would start projects aimed at five key areas where protesters have demanded improvements: fiscal responsibility and controlling inflation, political reform, health care, public transport and education.
Rousseff also said she would push for an assembly with the power to propose constitutional amendments that that would hear from the Brazilian public. Opposition lawmakers questioned that action, arguing that only congress has the right to call such an assembly.
After meeting with the chief justice of the supreme court on Tuesday, Rousseff's office said Wednesday she will continue to push for a plebiscite on political reform, but dropped the push for the constitutional assembly.
In Belo Horizonte, protester earlier Jose Barbosa Neto used a megaphone to try to talk to Brazil's football players outside the hotel where they were staying.
"I'm against all the money that was spent to build stadiums while our people are suffering across the country. I'm here protesting peacefully for a better country," he said. "I don't want to be watching these matches, I'd rather be protesting for a better country."
___
Associated Press writers Marco Sibaja in Brasilia and Bradley Brooks and Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo contributed to this report.
True Blood, HBO's softcore vampire epic, doesn't have anything to do with consumer audio, but that didn't stop V-Moda from releasing a pair of their popular M-80 headphones with True Blood branding. As a result of this ill-fated crossover, you can cop a pair of nice cans for $70 off the normal price.
These True Blood "V-80" headphones are actually identical to V-Moda's M-80, which are a durable pair of on-ear cans meant for city life. The sound should be decent, too. Mario Aguilar reviewed its over-ear cousin, the M-100, and liked them just fine. There's a 2500-post strong thread on HeadFi discussing these cans.
The True Blood version comes in a black and red colorway which I think is pretty handsome, at least for a cross-branded product. You also get a little True Blood logo on the cans themselves. But in exchange for advertising HBO's show, you can get these M-80s for $130?a solid $70 less than Best Buy and other retailers, and $10 less than the M-80s when they were the deal of the day a few months back.
Haven't you always wanted headphones with fake bite marks? [Amazon]
Gawker Media is looking for a new commerce editor for Gizmodo. That means we're looking for someone to write and curate Dealzmodo. You should be a strong writer who also is an amazing shopper, and you know what's a solid deal and what's worth passing on. Yes, you have to know a lot about consumer technology. More details here: [Commerce Specialist, Gizmodo]
A note on Dealzmodo: We're professional shoppers. Yes, we make money if you end up buying. That's capitalism, but we're absolutely looking out for your best interest. Read this if you want to know more.
University Hospitals Eye Institute to offer 'first bionic eye' retinal chip for blindPublic release date: 27-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: George Stamatis george.stamatis@uhhospitals.org 216-844-3667 University Hospitals Case Medical Center
1 of a select number of clinical centers in 12 major US markets to offer this breakthrough technology
CLEVELAND -- University Hospitals (UH) Eye Institute will be one of the first medical centers in the United States to offer the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System ("Argus II").
The Argus II is the first and only "bionic eye" to be approved in countries throughout the world, including the U.S. It is used to treat patients with late stage retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Argus II was developed by Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., located near Los Angeles.
In preparation for the launch of Argus II later this year, implanting centers, including UH, will soon begin to accept consultations for patients with RP. UH is one of a select number of medical centers in 12 major markets in the nation, and the only one in Cleveland and the state of Ohio, chosen by Second Sight to offer the Argus II, which received FDA approval earlier this year.
Argus II works by converting video images captured by a miniature camera, housed in the patient's glasses, into a series of small electrical pulses that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes on the surface of the retina. These pulses are intended to stimulate the retina's remaining cells resulting in the corresponding perception of patterns of light in the brain. Patients then learn to interpret these visual patterns thereby regaining some visual function.
"This is a remarkable breakthrough," said Suber S. Huang, MD, MBA, Director, UH Eye Institute's Center for Retina and Macular Disease, who also served as the Independent Medical Safety Monitor for clinical trials of the system and gave the summary closing to the FDA Ophthalmic devices panel.
"The system offers a profound benefit for people who are blind from RP and who currently have no therapy available to them. Argus II allows patients to reclaim their independence and improve their lives."
RP is a rare inherited, degenerative eye disease that often results in profound vision loss to the level of bare light perception or no light perception. It affects nearly 100,000 Americans. Noted Cleveland businessman and professional sports owner Gordon Gund is blind from this disease.
"We are thrilled that several of the nation's top hospitals will be the first to offer Argus II to patients in the U.S.," said Brian Mech, Vice President of Business Development, Second Sight. "After an intensive and difficult selection process, these sites were chosen for their cutting-edge approach to medicine and unparalleled commitment to patient care. We are confident that RP patients seeking treatment at these centers will benefit greatly from the best-in-class services these sites provide."
Argus II had more than 20 years of work in the field, three clinical trials, more than $100 million in public investment by the National Eye Institute, the Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation, and an additional $100 million in private investment.
"Second Sight conducted a highly competitive selection process and noted the UH Eye Institute's Center for Retina and Macular Disease as 'exemplary' and our collaboration with the Cleveland Sight Center, under the leadership of Dr. Steven Friedman, as a model program," said Dr. Huang, who also is the Philip F. and Elizabeth G. Searle-Suber Huang, M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology and Vice-Chair, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at UH and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Dr. Huang notes that the Argus II program is the latest in a list of remarkable recent achievements in vision research for the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, including expansion of its Retina Diseases Image and Cornea Image analysis reading centers which work with eye clinicians and researchers from around the world, award of the $12.4 million Cornea Preservation Time Study, ongoing excellence of numerous clinical research programs, and recognition of being the 5th best National Institutes of Health-funded vision research program in the country (funding to Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine).
###
Patients wishing more information should use the following contact information:
RP, an inherited retinal degenerative disease that often results in nearly complete blindness, affects roughly 100,000 Americans and has been designated by the World Health Organization as an orphan disease. In 2009, the Argus II, which is intended to help the worst affected RP patients, received a Humanitarian Use Designation (HUD), making it a candidate for an HDE approval which is intended to expedite the market introduction of technologies intended to treat smaller, underserved patient populations.
About University Hospitals
University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of hospitals, outpatient centers and primary care physicians. At the core of our health system is University Hospitals Case Medical Center. The primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, University Hospitals Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research centers of excellence in the nation and the world, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health, orthopedics and spine, radiology and radiation oncology, neurosurgery and neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, organ transplantation and human genetics. Its main campus includes the internationally celebrated UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children's hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. University Hospitals Case Medical Center is the 2012 recipient of the American Hospital Association McKesson Quest for Quality Prize for its leadership and innovation in quality improvement and safety.
For more information, go to http://www.uhhospitals.org
About the Argus II System
The Argus II System works by converting video images captured by a miniature camera housed in the patient's glasses into a series of small electrical pulses that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes on the surface of the retina. These pulses are intended to stimulate the retina's remaining cells, resulting in the corresponding perception of patterns of light in the brain. The patient then learns to interpret these visual patterns, thereby regaining some visual function.
About Second Sight
Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., located near Los Angeles, California, was founded in 1998 to create a retinal prosthesis to provide sight to patients blinded from outer retinal degenerations such as RP. Through dedication and innovation, Second Sight's mission is to develop, manufacture and market implantable visual prosthetics to enable blind individuals to achieve greater independence. US Headquarters are in Sylmar, CA, and European Headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. For more information, visit http://www.2-sight.com.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
University Hospitals Eye Institute to offer 'first bionic eye' retinal chip for blindPublic release date: 27-Jun-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: George Stamatis george.stamatis@uhhospitals.org 216-844-3667 University Hospitals Case Medical Center
1 of a select number of clinical centers in 12 major US markets to offer this breakthrough technology
CLEVELAND -- University Hospitals (UH) Eye Institute will be one of the first medical centers in the United States to offer the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis System ("Argus II").
The Argus II is the first and only "bionic eye" to be approved in countries throughout the world, including the U.S. It is used to treat patients with late stage retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Argus II was developed by Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., located near Los Angeles.
In preparation for the launch of Argus II later this year, implanting centers, including UH, will soon begin to accept consultations for patients with RP. UH is one of a select number of medical centers in 12 major markets in the nation, and the only one in Cleveland and the state of Ohio, chosen by Second Sight to offer the Argus II, which received FDA approval earlier this year.
Argus II works by converting video images captured by a miniature camera, housed in the patient's glasses, into a series of small electrical pulses that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes on the surface of the retina. These pulses are intended to stimulate the retina's remaining cells resulting in the corresponding perception of patterns of light in the brain. Patients then learn to interpret these visual patterns thereby regaining some visual function.
"This is a remarkable breakthrough," said Suber S. Huang, MD, MBA, Director, UH Eye Institute's Center for Retina and Macular Disease, who also served as the Independent Medical Safety Monitor for clinical trials of the system and gave the summary closing to the FDA Ophthalmic devices panel.
"The system offers a profound benefit for people who are blind from RP and who currently have no therapy available to them. Argus II allows patients to reclaim their independence and improve their lives."
RP is a rare inherited, degenerative eye disease that often results in profound vision loss to the level of bare light perception or no light perception. It affects nearly 100,000 Americans. Noted Cleveland businessman and professional sports owner Gordon Gund is blind from this disease.
"We are thrilled that several of the nation's top hospitals will be the first to offer Argus II to patients in the U.S.," said Brian Mech, Vice President of Business Development, Second Sight. "After an intensive and difficult selection process, these sites were chosen for their cutting-edge approach to medicine and unparalleled commitment to patient care. We are confident that RP patients seeking treatment at these centers will benefit greatly from the best-in-class services these sites provide."
Argus II had more than 20 years of work in the field, three clinical trials, more than $100 million in public investment by the National Eye Institute, the Department of Energy, and the National Science Foundation, and an additional $100 million in private investment.
"Second Sight conducted a highly competitive selection process and noted the UH Eye Institute's Center for Retina and Macular Disease as 'exemplary' and our collaboration with the Cleveland Sight Center, under the leadership of Dr. Steven Friedman, as a model program," said Dr. Huang, who also is the Philip F. and Elizabeth G. Searle-Suber Huang, M.D., Professor of Ophthalmology and Vice-Chair, Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at UH and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Dr. Huang notes that the Argus II program is the latest in a list of remarkable recent achievements in vision research for the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, including expansion of its Retina Diseases Image and Cornea Image analysis reading centers which work with eye clinicians and researchers from around the world, award of the $12.4 million Cornea Preservation Time Study, ongoing excellence of numerous clinical research programs, and recognition of being the 5th best National Institutes of Health-funded vision research program in the country (funding to Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine).
###
Patients wishing more information should use the following contact information:
RP, an inherited retinal degenerative disease that often results in nearly complete blindness, affects roughly 100,000 Americans and has been designated by the World Health Organization as an orphan disease. In 2009, the Argus II, which is intended to help the worst affected RP patients, received a Humanitarian Use Designation (HUD), making it a candidate for an HDE approval which is intended to expedite the market introduction of technologies intended to treat smaller, underserved patient populations.
About University Hospitals
University Hospitals serves the needs of patients through an integrated network of hospitals, outpatient centers and primary care physicians. At the core of our health system is University Hospitals Case Medical Center. The primary affiliate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, University Hospitals Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research centers of excellence in the nation and the world, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health, orthopedics and spine, radiology and radiation oncology, neurosurgery and neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, organ transplantation and human genetics. Its main campus includes the internationally celebrated UH Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children's hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. University Hospitals Case Medical Center is the 2012 recipient of the American Hospital Association McKesson Quest for Quality Prize for its leadership and innovation in quality improvement and safety.
For more information, go to http://www.uhhospitals.org
About the Argus II System
The Argus II System works by converting video images captured by a miniature camera housed in the patient's glasses into a series of small electrical pulses that are transmitted wirelessly to an array of electrodes on the surface of the retina. These pulses are intended to stimulate the retina's remaining cells, resulting in the corresponding perception of patterns of light in the brain. The patient then learns to interpret these visual patterns, thereby regaining some visual function.
About Second Sight
Second Sight Medical Products, Inc., located near Los Angeles, California, was founded in 1998 to create a retinal prosthesis to provide sight to patients blinded from outer retinal degenerations such as RP. Through dedication and innovation, Second Sight's mission is to develop, manufacture and market implantable visual prosthetics to enable blind individuals to achieve greater independence. US Headquarters are in Sylmar, CA, and European Headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. For more information, visit http://www.2-sight.com.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
To celebrate the second anniversary of its launch, touch publishing startup Onswipe is releasing its first Onswipe Sage report, offering data on who's actually reading its publishers' content. The big number, which is both a nice bragging point for Onswipe and a sign that its data has some broader significance, is 127,733,480 ? that's how many iOS users the company has served in the past two years (as of last night, at least). Back in December, CEO and co-founder Jason Baptiste said that Onswipe was serving 10 million monthly active users, and he told me that number is now in the "tens of millions," but this is the first time Onswipe has released a total user count.
President Barack Obama wipes his face as he speaks about climate change, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, at Georgetown University in Washington. The president is proposing sweeping steps to limit heat-trapping pollution from coal-fired power plants and to boost renewable energy production on federal property, resorting to his executive powers to tackle climate change and sidestepping the partisan gridlock in Congress. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barack Obama wipes his face as he speaks about climate change, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, at Georgetown University in Washington. The president is proposing sweeping steps to limit heat-trapping pollution from coal-fired power plants and to boost renewable energy production on federal property, resorting to his executive powers to tackle climate change and sidestepping the partisan gridlock in Congress. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barack Obama speaks about climate change, Tuesday, June 25, 2013, at Georgetown University in Washington. The president is proposing sweeping steps to limit heat-trapping pollution from coal-fired power plants and to boost renewable energy production on federal property, resorting to his executive powers to tackle climate change and sidestepping the partisan gridlock in Congress. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama declared the debate over climate change and its causes obsolete Tuesday as he announced a wide-ranging plan to tackle pollution and prepare communities for global warming.
In a major speech at Georgetown University, Obama warned Americans of the deep and disastrous effects of climate change, urging them to take action before it's too late.
"As a president, as a father and as an American, I'm here to say we need to act," Obama said.
Obama announced he was directing his administration to launch the first-ever federal regulations on heat-trapping gases emitted by new and existing power plants ? "to put an end to the limitless dumping of carbon pollution."
Other aspects of the plan will boost renewable energy production on federal lands, increase efficiency standards and prepare communities to deal with higher temperatures.
Even before Obama unveiled his plan Tuesday, Republican critics in Congress were lambasting it as a job-killer that would threaten the economic recovery. Obama dismissed those critics, noting the same arguments have been used in the past when the U.S. has taken other steps to protect the environment.
"That's what they said every time," Obama said. "And every time, they've been wrong."
Obama also offered a rare insight into his administration's deliberations on Keystone XL, an oil pipeline whose potential approval has sparked an intense fight between environmental activists and energy producers.
The White House has insisted the State Department is making the decision independently, but Obama said Tuesday he's instructing the department to approve it only if the project won't increase overall, net emissions of greenhouse gases.
"Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation's interests," Obama said. "Our national interest would be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution."
A top aide to House Speaker John Boehner said the remarks indicated that the pipeline should be approved.
"The standard the president set today should lead to speedy approval of the Keystone pipeline," Boehner spokesman Brendan Buck said.
Still, environmentalist took heart in Obama's remarks, noting it was the first time the administration had directly linked approval of the pipeline to its effect on pollution. The White House has previously resisted efforts by environmental groups to link the Keystone project to broader effort curb carbon pollution from power plants.
Obama touted America's strengths ? research, technology and innovation ? as factors that make the U.S. uniquely poised to take on the challenges of global warming. He mocked those who deny that humans are contributing to the warming of the planet, adding that he "doesn't have much patience" for anybody who refuses to acknowledge the problem.
"We don't have time for a meeting of the flat-earth society," Obama said.
Obama's far-reaching plan marks the president's most prominent effort yet to deliver on a major priority he laid out in his first presidential campaign and recommitted to at the start of his second term: to fight climate change in the U.S. and abroad and prepare American communities for its effects. Environmental activists have been irked that Obama's high-minded goals never materialized into a comprehensive plan.
By expanding permitting on public lands, Obama hopes to generate enough electricity from renewable energy projects such as wind and solar to power the equivalent of 6 million homes by 2020, effectively doubling the electric capacity federal lands now produce. He also set a goal to install 100 megawatts of energy-producing capacity at federal housing projects by the end of the decade.
Obama also announced $8 billion in federal loan guarantees to spur investment in technologies that can keep carbon dioxide produced by power plants from being released into the atmosphere.
But the linchpin of Obama's plan is the controls on new and existing power plants. Forty percent of U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, and one-third of greenhouse gases overall, come from electric power plants, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. The Obama administration already has proposed controls on new plants, but those controls have been delayed and not yet finalized.
Tuesday's announcement came just weeks after Obama's nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Gina McCarthy, assured senators during her confirmation process that the EPA was "not currently" developing any regulations on existing sources of greenhouse gases. McCarthy said if EPA were to look at such regulations, it would allow states, the public and others to "offer meaningful input on potential approaches."
Republicans quickly dismissed Obama's plan, calling it a "war on coal" and a "war on jobs," reflecting the opposition to climate legislation on Capitol Hill that prompted a frustrated Obama to sidestep lawmakers and take action himself.
"It's tantamount to kicking the ladder out from beneath the feet of many Americans struggling in today's economy," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said on the floor of the Senate.
Environmental groups offered a mix of praise and wariness that Obama would follow through on the ambitious goals he laid out. Bill Snape of the Center for Biological Diversity described it as too little, too late.
"What he's proposing isn't big enough, doesn't move fast enough, to match the terrifying magnitude of the climate crisis," Snape said.
Others hailed the plan, galvanized by the fact that Obama was taking action on his own after Congress' reluctance to tackle the issue using legislation.
"The president nailed it: this can't wait," said Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council. "We will cut this carbon pollution today so our children don't inherit climate chaos tomorrow."
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BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad hit rebel-held eastern districts of Damascus on Tuesday with mortar bombs, artillery and air strikes, opposition activists said.
The assault was focused on Zamalka and Irbin, on the edge of the government-controlled centre of the capital, according to the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Rebels in the capital's outskirts say they are facing a slow but steady army advance. A rebel push into the city a year ago was seen at the time as heralding Assad's fall, but his forces, with support from his Shi'ite Muslim allies, have fought back.
If they retake eastern districts of Damascus, mostly Sunni Muslim rebels would lose arms supply routes and suffer a severe blow in their drive to end four decades of Assad family rule.
"The areas of Irbin and Zamalka were exposed to bombings by regular forces, mortar bombs and heavy artillery," the British-based Syrian Observatory said. It said there were reports of casualties from air raids, but gave no details.
Rebels say their prospects for reversing Assad's gains in Damascus may now hinge on military support from Western and Arab backers. The United States announced unspecified military aid this month.
More than 93,000 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, which began as a popular anti-Assad protest movement but has descended into a civil war with sectarian overtones.
Nearly 1.7 million refugees have fled into neighboring countries, including Lebanon, where clashes between armed groups supporting opposing sides in Syria have fuelled fears of a lapse back into sectarian civil war.
Lebanon is still struggling to heal the wounds of its 1975-90 civil war.
The Beirut government is trying to restore calm after Sunni militiamen clashed with the army this week in the coastal cities of Sidon and Tripoli. They accuse the army of backing Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah group fighting on Assad's side.
NEW YORK (AP) ? The funeral for James Gandolfini will be held Thursday at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York City.
An HBO spokeswoman speaking on behalf of Gandolfini's family says the funeral is scheduled for 10 a.m.
The 51-year-old star of "The Sopranos" died Wednesday in Rome. Family spokesmanMichael Kobold says Gandolfini died of a heart attack.
Port Authority of New York & New Jersey spokesman Steve Coleman tells the Star-Ledger of Newark that a Signature Airlines flight carrying Gandolfini's body arrived Sunday night at Newark Liberty International Airport from Rome. The body was taken from the airport around 11:20 p.m. but Coleman did not say where it went.
The actor had been headed to Sicily to appear at the Taormina Film Festival, which paid tribute to him Saturday.
BEIJING (AP) ? An American executive held in his Beijing medical supply plant by angry workers said Tuesday's he's waiting for his lawyers to arrive to resolve a compensation dispute that highlights tensions in China's labor market.
Chip Starnes was enduring a fifth day of captivity at the factory in the capital's northeastern suburbs that makes products for Coral Springs, Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies.
About 100 workers are demanding generous severance packages identical to those offered 30 workers being laid-off from the company's plastics division. The demands followed rumors the entire plant was being closed, despite Starnes' assertion the company doesn't plan to fire the others.
"There's been no solution is terms of anything between us and them," Starnes told The Associated Press from his office. He said he was waiting for his lawyer to arrive and then would "start to work on some sort of solution to the issue one way or another."
A local union official representing the workers in talks with Starnes, Chu Lixiang, said the workers were demanding the portion of their salaries yet to be paid and a "reasonable" level of compensation before leaving their jobs. Neither gave details on the amounts demanded.
Chu said Starnes hadn't paid the workers for two months. She said they feared the plant was closing and that he would run away without paying severance.
Starnes said that since Saturday morning, about 80 workers had been blocking every exit around the clock and depriving him of sleep by shining bright lights and banging on windows of his office.
The standoff points to long-ingrained habits among Chinese workers who are sometimes left unprotected when factories close without severance or wages owed.
Such incidents have been rarer as labor protections improve, although disputes still occur and local governments have at times barred foreign executives from leaving until they are resolved.
Starnes, 42, said he'd been coerced into agreeing to meet workers' demands by Tuesday.
Starnes said the company had gradually been winding down its plastics division, planning to move it to Mumbai, India. He arrived in Beijing a week ago to lay off the last 30 people. Some had been working there for up to nine years, so their compensation packages were "pretty nice," he said.
Some of the workers in the other divisions got wind of this, and, coupled with rumors that the whole plant was moving to India, started demanding similar severance packages on Friday, Starnes said.
True Blood, HBO's softcore vampire epic, doesn't have anything to do with consumer audio, but that didn't stop V-Moda from releasing a pair of their popular M-80 headphones with True Blood branding. As a result of this ill-fated crossover, you can cop a pair of nice cans for $70 off the normal price. ![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
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