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Saturday, March 31, 2012
Premier calls Arab summit 'turning point' for Iraq
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The matter of your brain
Sumit Paul-Choudhury, editor
LOOKING at your own brain is a humbling and slightly unnerving experience. Mine, depicted in a freshly acquired MRI scan, is startlingly intricate, compact - and baffling. This is as much of a portrait of my own mind as I am ever likely to see. But to my ignorant eyes (which, by way of an eerie bonus, are now looking at their own cross-sections) it looks pretty much like any other brain.
Apparently a more expert eye wouldn't help. "Whilst all my participants get very excited about seeing their brain for the first time after being scanned, and I frequently get asked 'What can you tell me about my brain?', the reality is that the brain will for a long time yet remain a mysterious mass," says the neuroscientist who scanned my brain, for research purposes. "We must be content with knowing that the 'I' is constructed in its intricacies, but we cannot explain how.?
The hope of closing the gap between the physical and mental is presumably what gets neuroscientists up in the morning, but it?s frustrating for a layperson like me. Avowed materialist though I am, I nonetheless rebel against the knowledge that the impassive blob on screen is "me".
This cognitive dissonance was what I took with me to the opening of Brains, a new show at London?s Wellcome Collection, whose subtitle, "The Mind as Matter", suggests that its curators sympathise with my materialist perspective. ?The neurosciences hold out the prospect of an objective account of consciousness - the soul or mind as nothing more than intricately connected flesh,? reads the introduction. But the bulk of the exhibition is dedicated to whole brains, brain collectors and anatomical paraphernalia, with little explicit reference to the brain?s fine structure, or how it might give rise to thought.
This remit is less restrictive than it might sound. Evolution has seen to it that the most vital of our bodily organs is well guarded against intrusion, and as a by-product, well hidden from inspection. Even today, only a small minority of the population have seen their own brains - and many (unlike me, thankfully) have done so only when they had reason to be fearful of what they found.
So the history of attempts to access, visualise and understand the brain is a rich one. But it?s also well worn, and some of the historical material - elaborate anatomical models, kooky phrenological busts and grim-looking surgical implements - is over-familiar. The scientific objects are more compelling, albeit they also tend to the grotesque - from the arachnid contraptions used to measure skull size to the spools of finely-sliced mouse-brains on tape.
Much of the fascination lies not in the objects themselves, but in the human stories behind them, told in captions whose straight-facedness sometimes comes across as drollery or clinical detachment. Trepanning tools fashioned from flint and animal teeth ?would have taken longer to cut through the skull than more modern instruments?, one informs us drily; the American Anthropometric Society was ?basically a club to enable the leading men of US science to dissect each other,? says another.
Secluded in the skull, individual brains develop relatively few distinguishing features save those given them by trauma, disease or rare accidents of birth. So brains of note tend to be associated with tales of misfortune. That?s often the case with anatomical specimens, but what?s remarkable about the brains on display here is how much they overlap with criminality. Some of the most striking have been acquired from people whose wickedness in life was deemed sufficient reason to deny them dignity in death. In other cases, the moral equation is reversed, with collectors stepping outside the bounds of decency in their desire to possess the brain; the abhorrent nadir being reached with the probable murder of "feeble" children by Nazi doctors.
The collection?s examples of brains being voluntarily donated are equally remarkable. Persuading someone to donate this most personal of organs is a tough sell, and the historical portion of the exhibition makes much of how appeals to ego have persuaded the great and good to offer up their brains for post-mortem examination. More recently, medical study has provided motivation for would-be donors. Particularly poignant is the tale of Anita Newcomb McGee, a female US army surgeon who gave up her nine-month old son?s brain, along with a photograph and a sketch of his head, with the words ?I want him to benefit the world in some way if possible.?
But this altruism is tempered by the fact that brains, unlike many of our other ?charismatic organs?, cannot conceivably be transplanted. The knowledge that someone else might gain life from my gifted heart is a powerful incentive to donate, but I have less incentive to be generous with my brain - though it would seem that distinction is not made by those who do donate. Perhaps reluctant donors might be won over by the moving photos compiled by artist Ania Dabrowska and social scientist Bronwyn Parry of cheerful would-be donors ranging from an ex-soldier to a headmistress.
And one of the exhibition?s stand-out exhibits might provide further reassurance: a documentary video of anatomists at London's Hammersmith Hospital painstakingly and precisely slicing donated brains into half-centimetre wedges in near-silence. Or perhaps not. This is well sanctioned, respectful science being conducted on freely donated organs for the betterment of human health and knowledge; and yet it nonetheless provokes one of my fellow spectators into muttering, very much to herself: "Wrong, wrong, wrong". For myself, I find the video one of the most compelling exhibits -- perhaps the only one that prompts me to contemplate offering myself up for more than a non-invasive scan in the service of medical science.
Less clear-cut, for me, are the nearby sections of Einstein's brain, preserved under deeply dubious circumstances after his death. Clearly, there's a certain fascination associated with perhaps the most famous brain there ever was; but Einstein's brain is no more legible than any other, and the slim prospect that scientific insights can be gleaned from its study seems poor recompense for the undignified proxying of a great mind by illicitly-obtained fragments of tissue.
The final insult: an accompanying 3D-printed replica of the entire organ, reconstructed for a TV documentary from archive photographs. This absurd resin relic epitomises, for me, the extent to which the objects on display at the Wellcome are imbued with significance by the knowledge that they were once the seats of consciousness. It?s the minds of the audience, rather than the brains on display, that are doing the work.
The Wellcome show confronts its visitors with the gulf between our hard-won knowledge about the form of the brain and our as-yet-meagre understanding of its function, much as my scan did to me. It didn?t narrow the gap between the grey image of my brain and my sense of self; if anything, it widened it. But it did make me appreciate what an amazing gap it is, and marvel anew at the work of those who are seeking to close it.
Brains: The mind as matter is showing at the Wellcome Collection in London until 17 June.
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food and drink ? Blog Archive ? Chocolate Peanut Biscotti
2 1/4 c All-Purpose Flour
2 1/4 ts Baking powder
1/3 c Butter, room temperature
2/3 c Granulated sugar
3 lg Eggs, room temperature
1/2 c (3 oz) semisweet-chocolate chips, melted
1 ts Vanilla extract
3/4 c Unsalted dry roasted peanuts, chopped
1/2 c Mini-size M&M?s candies
White from 1 lg egg
Mix flour and baking powder.
Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer until
blended. Beat in eggs, then melted chocolate and vanilla. Stir in
flour mixture, peanuts and mini-size candies.
Divide dough in half (2 cups per half). Wrap in plastic wrap and
refrigerate 3 hours or until firm enough to handle.
Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease one large cookie sheet.
With a fork, lightly beat egg white in a small bowl.
Put both pieces off dough on cookie sheet, about 4 inches apart.
With floured hands, shape into 14?1 1/2-inch logs. Brush with egg
white.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes until firm when pressed in center. (Tops may
crack slightly.) Remove cookie sheet from oven to a wire rack.
(Leave oven on.) Let logs cool 10 minutes, then slide them onto a
cutting board. With a large serrated knife, cut each log diagonally in
30 slices.
Lay slices on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes longer,
turning once, until dry and lightly toasted. Cool completely on
cookie sheets on wire rack. Store airtight up to 1 month or freeze.
Prep: 20 min. Chill: 3 hr. Bake: 40 min.
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Friday, March 30, 2012
Chinese firm surpasses Exxon in oil production
FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010 file photo, a worker walks past tanks at a Petrochina storage base in Suining, in southwest China's Sichuan province. A big shift is happening in Big Oil: an American giant now ranks second to a Chinese upstart. Exxon Mobil is pumping less oil than PetroChina, a company formed just 13 years ago by the Chinese government to better compete for the world's oil and natural gas. On March 29, 2012, the shift is expected to become official when the Beijing company announces that it produced more crude last year than its 130-year-old Texas rival. (AP Photo)
FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 28, 2010 file photo, a worker walks past tanks at a Petrochina storage base in Suining, in southwest China's Sichuan province. A big shift is happening in Big Oil: an American giant now ranks second to a Chinese upstart. Exxon Mobil is pumping less oil than PetroChina, a company formed just 13 years ago by the Chinese government to better compete for the world's oil and natural gas. On March 29, 2012, the shift is expected to become official when the Beijing company announces that it produced more crude last year than its 130-year-old Texas rival. (AP Photo)
NEW YORK (AP) ? A big shift is happening in Big Oil: an American giant now ranks behind a Chinese upstart.
Exxon Mobil is no longer the world's biggest publicly traded producer of oil. For the first time, that distinction belongs to a 13-year-old Chinese company called PetroChina. The Beijing company was created by the Chinese government to secure more oil for that nation's booming economy.
PetroChina announced Thursday that it pumped 2.4 million barrels a day last year, surpassing Exxon by 100,000. The company has grown rapidly over the last decade by squeezing more from China's aging oil fields and outspending Western companies to acquire more petroleum reserves in places like Canada, Iraq and Qatar. It's motivated by a need to lock up as much oil as possible.
The company's output increased 3.3 percent in 2011 while Exxon's fell 5 percent. Exxon's oil production also fell behind Rosneft, the Russian energy company.
PetroChina's rise highlights a fundamental difference in how the largest petroleum companies plan to supply the world as new deposits become tougher to find and more expensive to produce.
Every major oil company has aggressively pursued new finds to replace their current wells. But analysts say Western oil firms like Exxon Mobil have been more conservative than the Chinese, mindful of their bottom line and investor returns. With oil prices up 19 percent in 2011, they still made money without increasing production.
PetroChina Co. Ltd. has a different mission. The Chinese government owns 86 percent of its stock and the nation uses nearly every drop of oil PetroChina pumps. Its appetite for gasoline and other petroleum products is projected to double between 2010 and 2035.
"There's a lot of anxiety in China about the energy question," says energy historian Dan Yergin. "It's just growing so fast."
While PetroChina sits atop other publicly traded companies in oil production, it falls well short of national oil companies like Saudi Aramco, which produces nearly 8 million barrels a day. And Exxon is still the biggest publicly traded energy company when counting combined output of oil and natural gas. PetroChina ranks third behind Exxon and BP in total output of oil and natural gas.
PetroChina is looking to build on its momentum in 2012.
"We must push ahead," PetroChina chairman Jiang Jiemin said in January.
PetroChina has grown by pumping everything it can from reserves in China, estimated to contain more than 6.5 billion barrels. It drilled thousands of oil wells across vast stretches of the nation's northern grasslands. Some of those fields are ancient by industry standards, dating close to the beginning of China's communist government in the 1950s.
The commitment to aging fields distinguishes PetroChina from its biggest Western rivals. Exxon and other major oil companies typically sell their aging, low-performing fields, or they put them out of commission.
PetroChina also has been on a buying spree, acquiring new reserves in Iraq, Australia, Africa, Qatar and Canada. Since 2010, its acquisitions have totaled $7 billion, about twice as much as Exxon, according to data provider Dealogic.
Several other Chinese companies have become deal makers around the globe as well. Total acquisitions by Chinese energy firms jumped from less than $2 billion between 2002 and 2003 to nearly $48 billion in 2009 and 2010, according to the International Energy Agency. More times than not, the companies are paying above the industry average to get those deals done.
It's making some in the West nervous.
In 2005, for example, CNOOC Ltd., a company mostly owned by the Chinese government tried to buy American oil producer Unocal. U.S. lawmakers worked to block the deal, asking President Bush to investigate the role the Chinese central government played in the process. Chevron Corp. eventually bought Unocal for $17.3 billion.
"There's a resistance to Chinese investment in (U.S.) oil and gas," Morningstar analyst Robert Bellinski says. "It's like how Japan was to us in the 1980s. People think they're going to take us over. They're going to buy all of our resources."
That's unlikely to happen. It doesn't make economic sense to export oil away from the world's largest oil consumer.
But the Chinese could make it tougher for Big Oil to generate returns for their shareholders. China's oil companies have been willing to outspend everyone and that drives up the price of fields and makes it more expensive for everyone to expand.
"You now have to outbid them," says Argus Research analyst Phil Weiss. "If you can't, you're going to have access to fewer assets."
Longer term, Chinese expansion globally will bring benefits to the U.S. and other economies. By developing as many oil wells as possible ? especially in Africa, Iraq and other politically unstable regions ? China will help expand supply.
"Frankly, the more risk-hungry producers there are, the more oil will be on the market, and the cheaper prices are," says Michael Levi, an energy policy expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Despite its swift expansion, PetroChina and other Chinese companies still have much to prove to investors, analysts say.
PetroChina's parent, China National Petroleum Corp., for example, has spent millions of dollars in Sudan to provide highways, medical facilities and shuttle buses for the elderly. Oil companies typically don't do that. All of that increases the cost of business and minimizes the returns for shareholders.
In 2009 and 2010, PetroChina's profit margins for its exploration and production business were only about two-thirds that of Exxon Mobil's. Its stock price has climbed less than 1 percent, in the past year, compared with a 3.7 percent rise in the stock of Exxon Mobil Corp.
"You have to ask yourself: What is the purpose of PetroChina?" Bellinski says. "It is to fuel China. That's it. Although they're a public company, I'm very skeptical that they have any interest in shareholder value creation."
___
Follow Chris Kahn on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ChrisKahnAP
___
AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed to this story from Shanghai.
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More autism reported, likely from better testing
ATLANTA (AP) ? One child out of 88 in the U.S. is believed to have autism or a related disorder, an increase in the rate attributed largely to wider screening.
Advocacy groups seized on the new number as further evidence that autism research and services should get more attention.
"Autism is now officially becoming an epidemic in the United States," said Mark Roithmayr, president of Autism Speaks, at a news conference where the new figures were released Thursday.
The previous estimate was 1 in 110. The new figure is from the latest in a series of studies that have steadily raised the government's autism estimate. This new number means autism is nearly twice as common as officials said it was only five years ago, and likely affects roughly 1 million U.S. children and teens.
Health officials attribute the increase largely to better recognition of cases, through wider screening and better diagnosis. But the search for the cause of autism is really only beginning, and officials acknowledge that other factors may be helping to drive up the numbers.
"One thing the data tells us with certainty ? there are many children and families who need help," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the agency that released the estimate.
For decades, the diagnosis was given only to kids with severe language, intellectual and social impairments and unusual, repetitious behaviors. But the definition of the disorder has gradually expanded, so that now "autism" is also shorthand for a group of milder, related conditions, including Asperger's syndrome.
Still, Melissa Miller, a St. Petersburg, Fla., mom whose daughter, Chelsea, was diagnosed last year at age 2, said many people misunderstand the disorder.
"I think many people hear 'autism' and think 'Rain Man,'" she said, referring to the 1988 movie featuring Dustin Hoffman as an extremely socially impaired autistic man.
"The autism spectrum is so vast and all of our children are different. Many of them don't rock back and forth or have savant skills. They are sweet, affectionate, intelligent, goofy ? and exhausting ? kids," Miller said.
There are no blood or biologic tests for autism, so diagnosis is not an exact science. It's identified by making judgments about a child's behavior.
Meanwhile, there's been an explosion in autism-related treatment and services for children. In 1990, Congress added autism as a separate disability category to a federal law that guarantees special education services. School districts have been building up autism-addressing programs since.
The CDC study is considered the most comprehensive U.S. investigation of autism prevalence to date. Researchers gathered data from areas in 14 states ? Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin.
They looked specifically at 8-year-old children because most autism is diagnosed by that age. They checked health and school records to see which children met the criteria for autism, even if they hadn't been formally diagnosed. Then, the researchers calculated how common autism was in each place and overall.
An earlier report based on 2002 findings estimated that about 1 in 150 children that age had autism or a related disorder such as Asperger's. After seeing 2006 data, the figure was revised to about 1 in 110. The estimate of 1 in 88, based on 2008 data, is about 1.1 percent of kids that age.
The study also found that autism disorders were almost five times more common in boys, while a growing number of black and Hispanic children were also reported to have them. And an increasingly large proportion of children with autism have IQs of 85 or higher, it said ? a finding that contradicts a past assumption that most autistic kids had IQs of 70 or lower.
Higher autism rates were found in some places than others. For example in Utah, as many as 1 in 47 of the 8-year-olds had an autism spectrum disorder. In New Jersey, 1 in 49 did.
Alabama was at the other end of the scale, with only about 1 in 210 identified as autistic. The difference was attributed to less information: Researchers were not able to access school information in that state and a few others, and as a result believe they have a less complete picture.
That's a reasonable explanation, said Zachary Warren, director of an autism treatment and research institute at Vanderbilt University.
"How you go looking for something is going to affect what you find," he said.
In the early 1990s, only a few out of every 10,000 children were diagnosed with the condition, based on some small studies in individual states or cities. But the numbers began to change dramatically after 2000, when Congress directed federal health officials to do more autism research, and CDC started the larger study to see how common autism is.
CDC is also studying the cause of autism, which has remained a mystery.
Scientists say genetics play a role.
Some parents and others have believed childhood vaccines trigger autism. However, many studies have not found a connection,
CDC researchers are looking at other possible factors, including illnesses that mothers had while they were pregnant with children who later were diagnosed as autistic. The researchers also are looking into antidepressants and other medications that the pregnant women took and those given to their children when they were young. The first results of that study are expected next year.
Parents are hungry for more answers.
Approaching her second birthday, Cristina Astacio spoke only a few words, wouldn't respond to her name, and shunned other kids in her day-care group in New York. Last October her parents found out why ? specialists said the toddler had autism.
Cristina's parents knew autism was a possibility when Cristina failed to meet many of the developmental milestones they'd seen in their older son. But that didn't make the diagnosis easy to accept.
"I was blaming myself, wondering if there was anything I could have done" to have prevented it, said the girl's mother, Charisse.
___
AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner in Chicago contributed to this report.
___
Online:
CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/autism
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/more-autism-reported-likely-better-testing-212427104.html
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Top Ten Real Estate Markets for Investors (Part 2) | REALTOR.com ...
Yesterday, we announced towns 5 ? 10 that made our Top Ten Real Estate Markets for Investors list. Today, we are releasing the top 5 towns that made our list.
5. Fort Worth, TX.
One word?jobs?is the key to Fort Worth?s housing mark. With unemployment at 7.1 percent in December[vi], compared to 8.3 percent nationally[vii], demand is driving home sales. Its inventory of listings is down 26.54 percent compared with a year ago and homes are selling nearly 20 percent faster than last year. Median list price is currently $160,000 ? 8 percent higher than a year ago. Investors should move now while bargains are available.
?Fort Worth and Tarrant counties are on fire ? huge growth has taken place over the past 10 years and will likely continue to outpace the country,? said Bruce Lynn of Metroplex Home Sales.??The rental market is very hot?with demand easily outpacing supply. Good rentals with reasonable prices move quickly and investors are coming on strong.?
4. Baltimore, MD.
Baltimore?s home values are 15.6 percent below the peak and should reach bottom within the year[v]. Median list price, at $239,500, is up more than 3 percent from last year and the age of its inventory is stabilizing, suggesting that this is the time for investors to buy if they want to achieve maximum gains. Inventory is down nearly 26 percent from a year ago and flat compared to the month prior even as we head into the home buying season.
?Fort Meade, and Annapolis offer a steady- and growing- radius of employment for buyers and tenants, alike,? said Jennifer Chaney, MBA at Champion Realty, Inc. ?Recent military programs have brought more personnel to the ?Fort Meade? area, in particular, helping to fuel demand.?The healthy, steady level of employment in our area has, in my opinion, propelled us to a faster recovery than others in our nation.?
3. Kansas City, MO.
Kansas City prices fell 8.4 percent from their peak[iii], but now they are starting to recover as low unemployment (7.3 percent[iv]) stimulates demand. The age of its inventory is down nearly 15 percent and list prices in the Kansas City market are at $134,950 up nearly 4 percent year-over-year, suggesting prices are recovering and investors should act now.? Inventory is down almost 21 percent on a year-over-year basis.
?In some parts of the metro area, agents are reporting a lack of inventory to meet their buyers? needs,? said Mary Hutchison, ABR, SRES.? ?I?ve seen several new listings sell within the first few days and some have attracted multiple offers.? Buyers are willing to pay for updated, well maintained, move in ready properties in?desirable locations.? I?ve also seen first time investors enter the market for rental properties.?
2. Austin, TX.
Though Austin?s home values didn?t fall as far as those in many other markets, its potential for price growth is one of the best in the nation. High employment (6.3 percent unemployment rate in December 2011[ii]) is driving demand for housing. Homes are selling at over two times the national rate and its median list price is $229,500, about 12 percent higher than a year ago. Median age of inventory in Austin is down almost 19 percent from last year.
?Conditions in Austin are perfect for investors, and most REALTORS are now working this part of the market from at least one angle,? said Julie Holden of JB Goodwin Realtors. ?I?m working with quite a few investors ? some new to the business, others seasoned pros ? across all property types. More than once I?ve seen a carefully selected property lease within a week following an investor?s purchase.?
1. Tucson, AZ.
Tucson is a foreclosure market where prices plunged 31 percent during the housing bust. But now, foreclosure opportunities are declining. The REO inventory is down 8.19 percent from 2011, and the number of foreclosures scheduled for sale is down 40 percent from a year ago.[i] The median list price was $170,000 in February 2012 which is 3.03 percent higher than a year ago and homes are selling 12 percent faster than they were a year ago. Investors who wait will have fewer choices and will pay higher prices.
?Tucson and most of Southern Arizona are experiencing 2012 as the Year of the Short Sale,? said Sue Cartun, designated broker at Keller Williams. ?Recent pressures in financial circles are streamlining the process of the short sale and increasing the success rate of closings. To sum it up ? in Tucson, Buyers are busy!?
Read More Expert Analysis on REALTOR.com Blogs
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- Top Ten Real Estate Markets for Investors (Part 1)
- REALTOR Data: Market Continues to Stabilize
- Florida Markets Dominate REALTOR.com Top Ten Turnaround Report
- Top Ten Turnaround Towns: Midwest/West Edition
- More Experts On The Top Ten Real Estate Markets for Investors
Source: http://www.realtor.com/blogs/2012/03/29/top-ten-real-estate-markets-for-investors-part-2/
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