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A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 8, 2015, in Vol. 15, No. 68
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 Servicio
Nacional de Guardacostas
photo
A Servicio
Nacional de Guardacostas crewman helps one of fourfishermen who were adrift on a raft in the Pacific 37 kilometers off Cabo Blanco after their boat sank. A Servicio de Vigilancia Aérea aircraft spotted the raft after the agency received distress call. Another hiker is sought in mountains By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The circumstances are all too familiar. A young man vanishes in a rural area. This time instead of a tourist, the missing man is a Costa Rican, José Pablo Soto Zúñiga. He vanished while hiking with companions in the mountains of Zurquí north of San José. The man went missing Friday, and extensive efforts to find him, including the use of trained dogs and aircraft, have not been successful. The Servicio de Vigilancia Aérea has overflown the area several days in a row, but pilots also reported bad weather. The man was reported to have moved ahead of the group with which he was hiking. They have been searching since Friday. A Parque Nacional Volcán Poás park ranger, Oscar Cruz Ramírez, then 24, vanished in a similar way in 2011. He has not been found. A Chicago area doctoral student, David Gimelfarb, 28, vanished in Parque Nacional Rincón de la Vieja north and east of Liberia Aug. 11, 2009. A Universidad de Costa Rica student vanished at the Parque Nacional Cerro Chirripó earlier the same year. More recently, a U.S. tourist from Alaska, Cody Roman Dial, 27, disappeared on Costa Rica's Osa peninsula last July. He was due to travel in the Parque Nacional Corcovado.  Ministerio
de Hacienda
photo
Tax police said they still were counting
the number of jars.
Tax police
report confiscating fake Cofal
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The ointment Cofal is the Costa Rican equivalent of Bengay, the U.S. over-the-counter medicine for sore muscles. There is a new twist with Cofal. The tax police said they found a large quantity of jars displaying the Cofal brand but that they were counterfeits. That was in San Rafael Abajo de Desamparados during a raid Tuesday. The police, an agency of the Ministerio de Hacienda said that investigators had made purchases and later tests showed that the supposed medicines were not the real thing. There is at least an infringement of intellectual property rights, the agency said. Prosecutors were involved in the case. There also is a problem in that the distributor of the bottles is not listed with the tax agency, the Dirección General de Tributación, police said. Although a fake cream for muscle aches is unlikely to be life-threatening, the agency warned about other fake medicines that could have serious effects. Police noted that the ministry maintains a complaint email address: pcfdenuncias@hacienda.go.cr Aging reported to be good for health, By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A Spanish expert on aging will be the principal speaker at a conference titled "aging is good for the health," which in Spanish is Envejecer es bueno para la salud. The expert is Francisco Javier González,and the conference is Friday at 9 a.m. in the Centro de Transferencia Tecnológica in Zapote 100 meters east of the Garantías Sociales traffic circle. Proposed law generates groundswell By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Back when most newspapers were printed on paper, the warning was never to get into an argument with someone who buys ink by the barrel. Today the Solís administration is reeling from an electronic thrashing administered by the radio and television stations. La Nación was the first to report that a proposed radio and television law contained wording and penalties that would have made Joe Stalin blush. Basically, the text would have allowed the government to assess thousands of dollars in fines and even close stations for comments officials did not like. The text is similar to laws in the more authoritarian Latin countries. Predictably, the roof fell in. Casa Presidencial quickly issued a release defending freedom of the press and characterizing the proposed law as merely a draft. The Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología y Telecomunicaciones, where the repressive proposal was created, quickly followed suit. Still lawmakers weighed in with criticism of the Luis Guillermo Solís administration. Major television networks devoted long segments critical of the proposal with selected guest commentators, including some who defended the president who had disavowed the text. Still unknown is exactly who wrote the document. Facebook use linked to depression By the University of Houston news staff
The social media site, Facebook, can be an effective tool for connecting with new and old friends. However, some users may find themselves spending quite a bit of time viewing Facebook and may inevitably begin comparing what's happening in their lives to the activities and accomplishments of their friends. According to University of Houston researcher Mai-Ly Nguyen Steers, this kind of social comparison paired with the amount of time spent on Facebook may be linked to depressive symptoms. Ms. Steers' research on the topic is presented in the article, "Seeing Everyone Else's Highlight Reels: How Facebook Usage is Linked to Depressive Symptoms" published in the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology. "Although social comparison processes have been examined at length in traditional contexts, the literature is only beginning to explore social comparisons in online social networking settings," said Ms. Steers, a long-time television professional and a doctoral candidate in social psychology. Ms. Steers conducted two studies to investigate how social comparison to peers on Facebook might impact users' psychological health. Both studies provide evidence that Facebook users felt depressed when comparing themselves to others. "It doesn't mean Facebook causes depression, but that depressed feelings and lots of time on Facebook and comparing oneself to others tend to go hand in hand," said Ms. Steers. Ms. Steers said that people afflicted with emotional difficulties may be particularly susceptible to depressive symptoms due to Facebook social comparison after spending more time on medium. For already distressed individuals, this distorted view of their friends' lives may make them feel alone in their internal struggles, which may compound their feelings of loneliness and isolation.
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and may
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 8, 2015, in Vol. 15, No. 68 | |
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| Winds can spread ash from Volcán Turrialba in
multiple directions |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Most persons, unless they are pilots, balloonists or extreme kite flyers, do not know that the wind may have a different direction at various altitudes. When Volcán Turrialba erupted again Tuesday at 2:10 a.m., the winds at the crater level were weak to moderate and coming from the east, said the Instituto Meteorological Nacional. At 8,000 meters the wind was stronger and from the southwest. The eruption was reported to have gone two kilometers into the sky. That means that some of the ash was blown out to the Caribbean, while winds at lower levels spread ash and smelly sulfur into the Central Valley, the north Pacific and the Nicoya Peninsula, said the weather institute. The Red Sismológica Nacional said that ash was detected at least 40 kilometers from the volcano in Parque Nacional Volcán Poás, Cinchona, Grecia, Ciudad Quesada and locations in that direction. Experts are paying close attention to the volcano because it seems to be more active each day. The eruption Tuesday emitted glowing cinders. The national emergency commission said Tuesday that |
 National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration graphic
Map shows direction of ash
at different levels.flight over the crater is planned for today so that experts can inspect what is taking place there. There have been plenty of inspections from the summit of the volcano, but the emergency commission is seeking access to the big picture. |
| U.S. expat finally extradited after a lengthy battle to stay
in Costa Rica |
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Special to A.M. Costa Rica
A U.S. citizen charged in connection with the operation of a series of fraudulent business opportunities has been extradited from Costa Rica to the United States, the Justice Department announced. The man is Gregory Scott Garrett, also known locally as John White. He was charged in a Nov. 29, 2011, indictment in the Southern District of Florida with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, five counts of mail fraud and 13 counts of wire fraud. He was arrested on Feb. 9, 2012, in Costa Rica. He and his lawyer then launched a lengthy effort to avoid extradition. At one point, the man sought refugee status. Garrett worked with USA Beverages Inc., Twin Peaks Gourmet Coffee, Inc., and a string of other companies that took money from U.S. citizens with the promise that they would be able to start a vending business. The scams were run out of Escazú, Santa Ana and also in offices in the Sabana Office Center, although the scammers gave would-be customers the impression that the businesses were located in the United States, the U.S. Justice Department has said. |
The
unsuccessful appeal for refugee status said that Garrett would
be subject to life imprisonment because of the penalties for
the multiple charges he faces. Such a penalty is forbidden under Costa Rican law. He lived in San Antonio de Escazú and has had two children by a Costa Rican woman. In addition to Garrett, 11 other defendants have been charged in connection with related business opportunity fraud ventures that operated in Costa Rica, said the Justice Department. Nine of those other defendants have been convicted in the United States with sentences ranging from three to 16 years in prison. Two remaining defendants have yet to be received into the custody, the agency said. If convicted, Garrett faces a statutory maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, a possible fine and mandatory restitution on the conspiracy count, said the Justice Department. He also faces a statutory maximum sentence of 25 years in prison on each of the mail and wire fraud counts, possible fines and mandatory restitution, the agency added. Garrett has argued informally that he played a small role in the businesses, which began in 2005. |
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2015 and may
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 8, 2015, in Vol. 15, No. 68 | |||||
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| Popular giant lizard makes a big comeback in scientific
literature |
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By the PeerJ news staff
Although well known as one of the most iconic dinosaurs, Brontosaurus (the thunder lizard) has long been considered misclassified. Since 1903, the scientific community has believed that the genus Brontosaurus was in fact the Apatosaurus. Now, an exhaustive new study by palaeontologists from Portugal and the United Kingdom provides conclusive evidence that Brontosaurus is distinct from Apatosaurus and as such can now be reinstated as its own unique genus. Brontosaurus is one of the most charismatic dinosaurs of all time, inspiring generations of children thanks to its size and evocative name. However, as every armchair palaeontologist knows, Brontosaurus was in fact a misnomer, and it should be correctly referred to as Apatosaurus. At least, this is what scientists have believed since 1903, when it was decided that the differences between Brontosaurus excelsus and Apatosaurus were so minor that it was better to put them both in the same genus. Because Apatosaurus was named first, it was the one that was used under the rules of scientific naming. In fact, of course, the Brontosaurus was never really gone. It was simply treated as a species of the genus Apatosaurus: Apatosaurus excelsus. So, while scientists thought the genus Brontosaurus was the same as Apatosaurus, they always agreed that the species excelsus was different from other Apatosaurus species. Now, palaeontologists Emanuel Tschopp, Octávio Mateus, and Roger Benson say that Brontosaurus was a unique genus all along. The history of Brontosaurus is complex, and one of the most intriguing stories in science. In the 1870s, the western United States formed the location for dozens of new finds of fossil species, most notably of dinosaurs. Field crews excavated numerous new skeletons mostly for the famous and influential palaeontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope. During that period, Marsh's team discovered two enormous, partial skeletons of long-necked dinosaurs and shipped them to the Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven, where Marsh worked. Marsh described the first of these skeletons as Apatosaurus ajax, the "deceptive lizard" after the Greek hero Ajax. Two years later, he named the second skeleton Brontosaurus excelsus, the "noble thunder lizard." However, because neither of the skeletons were found with a skull, Marsh reconstructed one for Brontosaurus excelsus. Brontosaurus was a massive animal, like Apatosaurus, and like another long-necked dinosaur from the western United States, Camarasaurus. Because of this similarity, it seemed logical at the time that Brontosaurus had a similarly stout, box-like skull to that of Camarasaurus. However, this reconstruction was later found to be wrong. Shortly after Marsh's death, a team from the Field Museum of Chicago found another skeleton similar to both Apatosaurus ajax and Brontosaurus excelsus. In fact, this skeleton was intermediate in shape in many aspects. Therefore, palaeontologists thought that Brontosaurus excelsus was actually so similar to Apatosaurus ajax that it would be more correct to treat them as two different species |
 PeerJ/Davide Bonadonna
This
is brontosaurus as
researchers see it today.
of the same genus. It was the second extinction of Brontosaurus, a scientific one. From now on, Brontosaurus excelsus became known as Apatosaurus excelsus and the name Brontosaurus was not considered scientifically valid any more. The final blow to Brontosaurus happened in the 1970s, when researchers showed that Apatosaurus was not closely related to Camarasaurus but to yet another dinosaur from the same area: Diplodocus. Because Diplodocus had a slender, horse-like skull, Apatosaurus and thus also "Brontosaurus" must have had a skull more similar to Diplodocus instead of to Camarasaurus, and so the popular, but untrue myth about Brontosaurus being an Apatosaurus with the wrong head was born. But now, in a new study published in the peer reviewed open access journal PeerJ and consisting of almost 300 pages of evidence, a team of scientists have shown that Brontosaurus was distinct from Apatosaurus after all. How can a single study overthrow more than a century of research? "Our research would not have been possible at this level of detail 15 or more years ago," explained Emanuel Tschopp, a Swiss national who led the study during his doctoral studies at Universidade Nova de Lisboa in Portugal. "In fact, until very recently, the claim that Brontosaurus was the same as Apatosaurus was completely reasonable, based on the knowledge we had." It is only with numerous new findings of dinosaurs similar to Apatosaurus and Brontosaurus in recent years that it has become possible to undertake a detailed reinvestigation of how different they actually were. In science, the distinction between species and genera is without clear rules. Does this mean that the decision to resurrect Brontosaurus is just a matter of personal preference? "Not at all", explains Tschopp, "we tried to be as objective as possible whenever making a decision which would differentiate between species and genus." The researchers applied statistical approaches to calculate the differences between other species and genera of diplodocid dinosaurs, and were surprised by the result. "The differences we found between Brontosaurus and Apatosaurus were at least as numerous as the ones between other closely related genera, and much more than what you normally find between species," explained Roger Benson, a co-author from the University of Oxford. Therefore, Tschopp and colleagues have concluded that it is now possible to resurrect Brontosaurus as a genus distinct from Apatosaurus. "It's the classic example of how science works," said Mateus, a collaborator on the research. "Especially when hypotheses are based on fragmentary fossils, it is possible for new finds to overthrow years of research." |
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2015 and may
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 8, 2015, in Vol. 15, No. 68 | |||||||
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| Sen. Rand Paul announces his presidential candidacy By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky became the second major Republican presidential contender to enter the 2016 primary race when he announced his candidacy Tuesday in Louisville. “I have a message, a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words. We have come to take our country back!” Paul said to a rousing reception. Paul hopes to build on his support among libertarian and Tea Party activists to become a force in what promises to be a lengthy and potentially divisive battle for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination next year. “We need to boldly proclaim our vision for America,” he said. “We need to go boldly forth under the banner of liberty that clutches the Constitution in one hand and the Bill of Rights in the other.” Paul is a first-term senator who was elected in 2010 with Tea Party support, and who has blazed his own trail in the Senate ever since. He solidified a national following during a 2013 Senate filibuster with a nearly 13-hour speech critical of the Obama administration’s use of drones to target suspected terrorists abroad. Paul’s plans to cut taxes, reduce the size of government and emphasize personal liberty should play well with Tea Party supporters looking for a candidate in the large Republican field. “Remember that the roots of the Tea Party are economic conservatism, not social conservatism,” said Republican strategist Phillip Stutts, who once worked for Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. “It is about less government. It is about cutting taxes. It is about getting sick and tired of bailouts.” Paul also has reached out to minority voters and spoken at historically black colleges, another tact that sets him apart from the Republican field. He also favors liberalizing laws regarding marijuana. Paul will get a lot of scrutiny on his foreign policy views. In the past, he has echoed his father in arguing against foreign military entanglements and endless war. Paul has modified his stance a bit in recent months by offering support for the U.S. air strikes targeting the so-called Islamic State in Iraq. In his announcement speech, Paul vowed to confront Islamic State if he’s elected president next year. “The enemy is radical Islam. You can’t get around it. And not only will I name the enemy, I will do whatever it takes to defend America from these haters of mankind!” But given the renewed focus on national security and countering terrorism abroad, Paul will need to reassure conservatives he is willing to use U.S. military force where needed, said Ford O’Connell, Republican strategist and conservative activist. “The number one thing dogging Rand Paul right now is the fact that for American voters, unlike in previous presidential elections, national security is going to be right up there in the top two or three issues, and his libertarian stance is something that Rand Paul is going to have to overcome. He’s going to have to prove to folks that he is a reluctant warrior, not an isolationist.” A conservative group already has issued a video attacking Paul for his foreign policy approach and accusing him of supporting President Barack Obama’s outreach to Iran. Rand Paul can depend on a base of support from libertarian and Tea Party activists, but must find a way to broaden his appeal throughout the party. “He has a very, very strong following. It is very deep but it is not very wide and that is going to be his biggest thing,” said O’Connell, a veteran of the McCain presidential campaign in 2008. Paul also hopes to appeal to social conservative evangelical Christian voters, although he will have competition from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Paul is 52 years old and an eye surgeon by profession. He continues to perform eye surgeries during annual visits to Central America. Paul follows in the footsteps of his father, former congressman Ron Paul, who ran for president three times. Ron Paul ran as a libertarian candidate in 1988 and as a Republican in 2008 and 2012, demonstrating an ability to build a grass roots campaign organization that depended on fervent volunteers committed to the candidate and his push for a less powerful central government. White House staffers say some computers hackable By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The White House acknowledged Tuesday that the unclassified computer systems at the U.S. presidential mansion were vulnerable to hackers. Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser, made the remarks in response to media reports that Russian hackers got access to some sensitive White House information, such as President Barack Obama's private schedule. Rhodes would not confirm that sensitive information had been accessed nor would he comment on where the threat originated. But, he said, "There's always vulnerability,'' which is why the White House operates a separate, secure system for classified data. The U.S. government has been hit by several cyberattacks, including the hacking of unclassified computers at the White House and State Department, as well as the Twitter and YouTube accounts of U.S. Central Command, which oversees the military campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria. Some of the attacks have been blamed on hackers in Russia, China and North Korea. Earlier this year, the White House announced the creation of a federal agency to analyze threats to the nation's cybersecurity and determine strategy to combat them. The Cyber Threat Intelligence Integration Center will coordinate cyberthreat intelligence from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies. The center will operate under the guidance of the director of national intelligence. Obama report links health to the changes in climate By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The Obama administration on Tuesday launched an effort to make the case that climate change is not only a future threat, but a current danger to the health of many Americans. The White House released a draft report by the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program which states that “As the climate continues to change, the risks to human health continue to grow.” Those health effects include a higher risk of asthma, lengthened allergy seasons and an increase in injuries caused by extreme weather, according to a fact sheet the Obama administration issued. The fact sheet also warned that those health concerns could be felt disproportionately by the elderly and poor, and said quick action is needed “to protect the health of our communities our kids, and those that are the most vulnerable.” Obama and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy spoke at a roundtable Tuesday afternoon about the impact of climate change on public health at a forum at Howard University in Washington. They said the costs of inaction on climate change are high in terms of physical suffering and money. Obama says some families are especially vulnerable, but the problems affect everyone. “You can't cordon yourself off from air,” the president said. During a briefing Tuesday, the White House senior adviser for climate, conservation and energy policy, Brian Deese, said doctors are already reporting an increase in patients suffering from the effects of diseases the administration is linking to climate change, particularly asthma and heat-related deaths. Late last month the White House released Obama's proposal to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by up to 28 percent below 2005 levels within the next decade as part of a global treaty to tackle climate change. The proposal includes several policies already in effect, such as higher fuel economy standards for cars and trucks, energy efficiency measures for buildings and appliances, and programs to eliminate the use of the polluting refrigerant HFC. It also outlined rules to limit emissions from the oil industry and carbon pollution from power plants. Republican opponents of the Obama plan such as Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell have said the plan is unattainable, will kill jobs and is possibly illegal. Public opinion polls consistently show the public is skeptical that the steps Obama has taken to curb pollution are worth the cost to the economy. Last year, a Pew Research Center poll showed that while most Americans believe in climate change, most don’t see it as a priority. Obama expected to talk about rights with Raúl Castro By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
President Barack Obama is expected to discuss human rights with Cuban leader Raúl Castro when, for the first time, both the U.S. and Cuban presidents attend the Summit of the Americas. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roberta Jacobson said there would be interaction between the two leaders during the summit in Panamá Friday and Saturday. But she did not specify the circumstances of their meeting. The U.S. diplomat said Obama has made clear the U.S. does not believe the human rights situation in Cuba is adequate, and added that the U.S. would not change its "willingness to speak out on human rights violations simply because we are now engaging with the Cuban government directly." In December, the White House announced a historic shift in its policy toward Cuba, moving away from 50 years of isolation to a policy of engagement meant to empower the Cuban people. During the summit, Obama is expected to meet with members of Cuba's civil society who will be attending. Ms. Jacobson said the U.S. leader would send a clear message that "in places where either political or civil space has closed in recent years or remains closed, such as in Cuba, we give support to those who continue to peacefully fight for the space to be open." With the U.S. and Cuba working to restore diplomatic ties, groups like Amnesty International are closely watching Havana’s handling of dissent and freedom of assembly, association and expression. In December, the same month Cuba released 53 activists from prison, the communist government also arrested dozens of other demonstrators and dissidents, and it even rearrested some activists it had just released. "We have been seeing that some prisoners of conscience or dissidents have been put back in jail. Some other dissidents have been harassed," said Marshelha Goncalves Margerin, Amnesty International advocacy director. While diplomats in the U.S. and Cuba are working to reopen embassies in Havana and Washington, they also have started laying the groundwork for human rights talks. Those talks will face challenges rooted in fundamentally different philosophies on human rights, according to Brookings Institution analyst Ted Piccone. “The Cubans will emphasize that 'This is our own domestic sovereign affairs and you shouldn’t be poking your nose into our human rights issues,' " said Piccone, "and the Americans will say, 'No, these are universal norms that all states have agreed to adhere to, and that includes Cuba.' ” During human rights talks, the U.S. agenda most likely will focus on Cuba’s political and civil rights record, while Cuba most likely will criticize U.S. social services as inadequate and point to events in Ferguson, Missouri, as an example of civil rights problems in the U.S. The city became a flashpoint for a national debate on the state of race relations in America after a police officer, who has been cleared of wrongdoing, fatally shot an unarmed African-American teenager during a street confrontation last August. U.S. diplomats will be ready to take on such issues with Cuban officials, Piccone said. “We have court systems, we have accountability boards, we have auditing systems," he said. "We have a free media and a press, we have a very strong Congress. These are ways we have checks and balances in our system to address the underlying human rights problems, and in the Cuban case, they don’t." However, critics of U.S. policy toward Cuba say Havana has no intention of allowing dissent or basic freedoms. Others believe that as more Cubans are exposed to the rest of the world, they will bring pressure on the Cuban government and force change on the Communist nation. Mourners unite on bridge for assassinated Russian By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Hundreds of people gathered Tuesday at the exact spot on Moscow's Bolshoi Moskvoretsky bridge where opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was assassinated 40 days ago. The timing of the commemoration of Nemtsov, who also held the post of first deputy prime minister, is in keeping with Russian Orthodox tradition. So far, five men from Russia's restive North Caucasus have been arrested. All have denied involvement in Nemtsov's assassination. Prime suspect Zaur Dadayev, has recanted an earlier confession, saying he did so only to secure the release of another suspect. Among those who attended Tuesday's memorial was Nemtsov's close colleague Ilya Yashin, a member of RPR-Parnas, the opposition party Nemtsov co-led. Yashin said "The investigation, in my opinion, has hit a dead end. Despite the initial success of the investigation and the detention, it appears that the investigation is clearly unable to establish the real perpetrators of the crime, to disentangle the chain of suspects. For this, there is neither the political will nor the resources. And they were even unable to detain and interrogate an associate of Dadayev's, named Ruslan Geremeyev. Cough medicine reported helpful in cases of diabetes By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
An active ingredient in common cough medicine has been shown to reduce blood sugar levels in both humans and mice, indicating that it could someday be used to treat diabetes. The ingredient, dextromethorphan, is in many syrups and tablets that suppress coughs. It also lowers blood sugar levels in both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes by protecting insulin-producing beta cells. It is not, however, a cure for diabetes. Eckhard Lammert, a professor of physiology and director of the Diabetes Center in Dusseldorf, Germany, and colleagues found that dextromethorphan lowers blood sugar levels in mice. "We also did a single-dose clinical trial with 20 individuals with Type 2 diabetes, and could see in these individuals that dextromethorphan is able to lower blood glucose levels similar to what we see in mice,” he said. Insulin is a hormone that helps cells absorb glucose for fuel. If beta cells do not produce enough insulin, dangerous and destructive levels of sugar can build up in the blood, leading to serious complications, including blindness and kidney failure. Type 1 diabetes is caused by a misdirected immune system, destroying insulin-producing beta cells. It affects roughly 10 percent of all diabetics. Much more common and a growing health problem worldwide, is Type 2 or adult-onset diabetes. People with this condition have insulin-resistance. The cells of their bodies become unable to absorb the amount of sugar in their blood. Lammert said dextromethorphan reduces blood sugar levels by around 10 percent. It’s tempting to buy cough medicine and give it a try. Lammert said, however, that the use of dextromethorphan is experimental, and he discouraged the use of cough medicine by people trying to treat their diabetes. “This is something we don’t want to see," he said, noting that the data gathered thus far were limited. "They make us optimistic, but they are not sufficient for anyone to self-medicate.” Eventually, Lammert said, dextromethorphan may be used as an add-on to standard diabetes medicine, such as metformin. World Bank head seeking more effort against poverty By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The head of the World Bank says slowing economic growth around the world is hurting the institution’s goal of ending extreme poverty by the year 2030. While the challenges may be great, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the goal remains within reach but only if world leaders and emerging financial and development institutions do their part. What is extreme poverty? According to the United Nations it’s a condition characterized by a lack of basic human needs, like clean drinking water, food, sanitation and education. The good news, says the World Bank president, is that the world has made some progress. “Over 25 years, we’ve gone from nearly two billion people living in extreme poverty to fewer than one billion," said Kim. Despite inroads, nearly a billion people still live on less than a $1.25 per day. Further complicating the goal of eradicating poverty is the economic slowdown in developed and emerging economies. One solution is to partner with new financial institutions such as the Asian Infrastructure and Investment Bank, led by China, and the New Development Bank founded by the so-called BRICS countries: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. “We at the World Bank Group see these development banks as potentially very strong allies in tackling the enormous challenge of bringing much needed infrastructure to the developing world," said Kim. Such banking coalitions could help address the infrastructure spending gap that the World Bank alone can't fill. Amy Studdart is deputy director in political economy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “There’s a huge infrastructure gap in Asia. The World Bank itself estimates that it was $2.5 trillion worth of investment that needs to happen in South Asia and South East Asia alone," said Ms. Studdart. Despite the perceived need for such lending groups, some, including the United States, fear such institutions could further diminish Western influence in Asia. But Kim says influence is not the issue. “The fundamental issue for us is, your enemy cannot be other institutions. Your enemy has to be poverty," he said. The World Bank is expected to address those issues when world leaders come together at the United Nations later this year to establish global priorities. Among them is ending poverty. U.S. garment factory boss facing U.S. bribery count Special to A.M. Costa Rica
A federal grand jury in Los Angeles, California, has indicted the general manager of a garment factory on charges of offering to pay bribes to an investigator with the U. S. Department of Labor in exchange for the investigator closing an investigation into wage violations. The indicted man, Howard Quoc Trinh, 41, of Arcadia, the manager of Seven-Bros Enterprises, is accused of bribery of a public official. The indictment charges Trinh with offering to pay $10,000 in bribes to a Department of Labor Wage and Hour investigator. The indictment also alleges that Trinh offered the bribe last month to secure the release of a hold known as a hot goods objection that had been placed on a shipment by the investigator. As part of the bribery scheme, Trinh actually paid the investigator $3,000, according to a criminal complaint previously filed in this case. According to the affidavit in support of that complaint, the agent was investigating Seven-Bros for violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, which sets standards for minimum wage and overtime pay. The Labor Department Wage and Hour investigator led a team that conducted an unannounced visit to Seven-Bros March 10. The investigation into wage violations covered a period from May 2012 through last March 10 and found that Seven-Bros owed approximately $100,000 to compensate employees for wage and hour violations over that period. According to the affidavit, the investigator returned to Seven-Bros March 18, at which time Trinh said he did not owe his employees any back wages and that he wanted to take care of the investigator. In response to Trinh’s statements, the Labor Department’s Office of Investigator General outfitted the investigator with recording equipment. On the evening of March 18, during a recorded meeting, Trinh is accused of offering the investigator $10,000 to close out the case without finding any violations and to lift the hot goods objection. The next day, during another recorded meeting, Trinh gave the investigator an initial payment of $3,000 in a manila envelope, according to the affidavit. If he is convicted of the bribery count in the indictment, Trinh would face a statutory maximum sentence of 15 years in federal prison. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, April 8, 2015, in Vol. 15, No. 68 | |||||||||
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 University of
Manchester/Rachael E. Antwis
Frog species Agaylchnis callidryas that was used
in the study.Frog fungus
immunity a complex issue
By
the Manchester University news service
New research from The University of Manchester and the Institute of Zoology has shed light on the complex challenge facing scientists battling one of the world’s most devastating animal diseases. Chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) is thought to be behind the decline or extinction of at least 200 species of frogs. It is also one of the reasons why 31 percent of amphibian species are currently listed as threatened by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. This latest study used bacteria from frogs in Belize to test the limitations of probiotic treatments. This form of treatment aims to introduce bacteria cultivated from amphibians that aren’t affected by the disease to those at risk of infection to boost their immunity. Rachael Antwis who carried out the study while completing her doctorate at Manchester’s Faculty of Life Sciences explains: “Using beneficial bacteria to act as probiotics for disease mitigation is already common in agriculture and human health. In fact, many bacteria that reside on amphibian skin have been shown to inhibit the growth and survival of B. dendrobatidis. However, the reliability of the potential probiotics hasn’t been tested against the shifting targets the disease presents.” To assess the effectiveness of probiotic treatments, the team used bacteria taken from frogs in Belize, where the species has shown resilience despite the long-term presence of the disease in the area. Some 56 strains of bacteria were isolated and stored for use in the laboratory. The team tried the bacteria against different genetic strains of the disease, and then looked at whether the bacteria had inhibited the growth of the disease in its various forms. They found the bacteria performed in a variety of ways with only a small number inhibiting all forms of the disease. The bacteria that had an impact on one strain of the disease didn’t have the same impact on the other genetic variations. The results of the study have been published in the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology. Dr. Antwis concluded: “A lot more work is definitely needed before we can identify an effective cure for this devastating disease. But as a scientist I believe we not only have a moral obligation to keep searching, but an ecological one too. Amphibians inhabit the middle of food chain, making up a vital part of our ecosystem. If they go then that could spell disaster for many more species.” |
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| From
Page 7: Travel fair is planned for this weekend By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The third annual edition of Expoviajes will be Saturday and Sunday at the convention center of the Hotel Wyndam San José Herradura. Organizers said that 90 travel experts will be present to offer vacations, special packages and other options for travelers. Also available will be opportunities to finance the trips. Organizers said that one advantage of the travel fair is that providers and those offering other services will be in the same event. Admission is free. |
