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San
José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, June 11, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 114
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Third suspect in
Grecia invasions held
By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Authorities say they detained the last member of a gang that is thought to have invaded at least three houses in Grecia. Agents from the Judicial Investigating Organization detained 26-year-old Jaison Prado Guerrero at a home in Hatillo 6 Monday. At the residence they said they found jewelry, around $300 cash, watches, and cell phones believed to be stolen from the Grecia homes. The investigation began in February after robbery complaints. One month ago police also arrested two other suspects, Adrian Vargas Durán and Jaison Arturo Pincay Montero. An organization press representative said Tuesday that the suspects would enter homes with their guns out and threaten the residents to hand over their valuables. He said they are also believed to have stolen cars in the Grecia area.  Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía y Seguridad Pública
photo
The items are believed to
have been taken from foreignersPlaya Brasilito burglar gets in but not out By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A burglar bluffed his way through hotel security and gained access to villas in Playa Brasilito in Cabo Velas de Santa Cruz in Guanacaste. He plundered the dwellings that were rented mostly to foreigners. But when he tried to flee, the hotel staff confronted him and brought in the Policía Turística, police said The intruder collected bottle of alcohol,electronic devices and costume jewelry, said police. San Pedro checkpoint uncovers coke By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A Nicaraguan man who police said was driving with 60 grams of cocaine in his car was apprehended Monday night in San Pedro de Montes de Oca. Fuerza Pública officials say they discovered the drugs thanks to a checkpoint set up in the area. Identified only by the last name of Mendes, the suspect was remanded to prosecutors. Police said they check hundreds of cars and people daily to find drugs, weapons and refugees. They claim these checkpoints have allowed them to recapture eight escaped detainees and conduct hundreds of drugs busts. The drugs were tested with field equipment and by a drug-sniffing canine to prove positive as cocaine, police said. New decree revokes one by Ms. Chinchilla By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A guideline concerning tax evaders has produced another conflict between the Luis Guillermo Solís cabinet and the preceding administration. Monday a Laura Chinchilla directive proposing the government not negotiate with tax evaders was declared unconstitutional by thenew president and scrapped. The new guideline signed by Solís and published in La Gaceta, the official public records newspaper, now allows the state to conduct conciliations with those accused of tax evasion. Solís denied that this signifies government playing favorites with the elites suspected of tax fraud after Ms. Chinchilla expressed concern that influential groups can compromise democratic ideals. Two major media companies, Grupo Nación and Teletica's Canal 7, are among the ones involve in tax cases. Ms. Chinchilla's directive was declared unconstitutional by the president's staff because it contradicts the powers given to the Procuraduría General and exceeds the constitutional powers given to the president, said Casa Presdiencial.. Researchers want to ban high seas fishing By the University of British Columbia news
staff
Fish and aquatic life living in the high seas are more valuable as a carbon sink than as food and should be better protected, according to research from the University of British Columbia. The study found fish and aquatic life remove 1.5 billion tones of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere every year, a service valued at about $148 billion U.S. This dwarfs the $16 billion U.S. paid for 10 million tones of fish caught on the high seas annually. “Countries around the world are struggling to find cost effective ways to reduce their carbon emissions,” says Rashid Sumaila, director of the university's Fisheries Economics Research Unit. “We’ve found that the high seas are a natural system that is doing a good job of it for free.” Sumaila helped calculate the economic value of the carbon stored by life in the high seas by applying prices — which include the benefits of mitigating the costs of climate change – to the annual quantity of carbon absorbed. The report argues that the high seas — defined as an area more than 200 nautical miles from any coast and outside of national jurisdiction – should be closed to all fishing as only 1 per cent of fish caught annually are exclusively found there. “Keeping fish in the high seas gives us more value than catching them,” says Sumaila. “If we lose the life in the high seas, we’ll have to find another way to reduce emissions at a much higher cost.” House majority leader beaten in primary By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, the majority leader of the Republican-controlled House, suffered a shocking defeat in a primary race for re-election to his congressional seat in Virginia Tuesday. Cantor was soundly beaten by David Brat, an economics professor at a small college who was backed by the ultraconservative Tea Party movement. Brat raised little money, but gained support from both voters and conservative media personalities by accusing Cantor of supporting a plan to grant illegal immigrants in the U.S. an easy path to citizenship, which opponents have criticized as an amnesty. Many political observers say Cantor's upset loss has scuttled any chance of passing legislation to reform the nation's immigration system. The 51-year-old Cantor was first elected to the House in 2000 from a district that includes Richmond, Virginia's capital city. He rose quickly through the Republican leadership ranks, and earned support among Tea Party lawmakers for his demands to cut government spending. Cantor was considered likely to replace House Speaker John Boehner after the November congressional elections. Brat's Democratic opponent in November is Jack Trammell, another first-time candidate who is also a professor at the same college as Brat. Brat is a favorite to win in the heavily Republican district. Our reader's opinion
High rates mean high risk, banker saysDear A.M. Costa Rica: Sorry to pour cold water on the idea of alternative banks in Costa Rica. It is essential to understand the implications of such 'opportunities'. If interest rates are higher than in other institutions, that implies a higher risk. The rates quoted in the article are higher than those on offer in such exciting places as Greece and Cyprus. If you are an inveterate gambler, high interest dollar accounts in Costa Rica might be a place to put all your money. On the other hand, qualified investment advisers would always advocate spreading your risks, even if you are willing to put some portion of funds in high risk, high return accounts. Chris Clarke
retired economist and banker Grecia
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, June 11, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 114 | |
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| Online petition backs rights of fathers here in custody cases |
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EDITOR'S
NOTE: The following news story is being republished because of a server
failure that kept most readers from seeing it Tuesday.
By Michael Krumholtz of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Not just women face discrimination based on their sex, says the leader of a fathers' rights group, Arcelio Hernández. The local lawyer who works on custody and child support court cases posted an online petition Monday morning intended to make Poder Judicial adjust Costa Rica's child support law, Ley de Pensiones Alimentarias, so to avoid perceived patriarchal discrimination. “With parental rights we are at a huge disadvantage,” Hernández said. “Usually it's women that are claiming rights issues, but in custody cases it's the man who faces prejudice.” In pursuit of 5,000 signatures, Hernández and his group Equality of Rights for Men are petitioning because they deem stipulations in the law to be unconstitutional. According to the law, Ley 7654, indefinite detainments can be issued to those unable to come up with required child support payments even without prior conviction. The lawyer has filed a Sala IV appeal against this provision. Hernández said this targets fathers, as currently 310 men are in La Reforma prison for failing to comply with child support laws, compared to only four mothers. Factors like illness or joblessness that used to play into the law are now viewed as excuses and overlooked by judicial rule. he said. “These 310 men are victims of a system that does not provide them any chance to pay,” he said. “It's not that they don't want to pay. It's that they can't.” In terms of custody battles he added that judges often rule for children to stay with their mother, citing reasons of customary belief over actual experience or law. “There's a general attitude that kids are better off with their mother,” Hernández said. This negative stereotype stuck to fathers in court puts many at risk |
 Photo by Arcelio
Hernández
Man
carries son in march Saturday and wears
a shirt that says "Shared custody: a win-win solution." of having no access to see their children or even facing prison sentences. Many women have jumped aboard in support of these fathers, Hernández said, although some women's rights advocates see it asan affront from the more dominant and privileged demographic group. With concerns growing, protesters marched through Paseo Colón and Avenida Segunda Saturday in support of fathers marginalized by the court system. Another fathers' rights group, Fundación Instituto de Apoyo al Hombre, contributed to the demonstration. Hernández has been working to support divorcee father rights since 2001 and created Equality of Rights for Men 10 years later to bring to light what he said are repeated injustices facing fathers in the country. “We were born men, and because of that we're treated with prejudice by the court system,” he said. “It's not an easy position to defend. But I've seen so many cases come through that I have to defend it.” |
| Three searches conducted in growing Caja medical supply
scandal |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Prosecutors and investigators conducted three searches Tuesday in the growing scandal involving the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social. The initial allegation is that the Caja paid for surgical devices, pins and similar for operations on patients who did not exist. For now the allegations center on the orthopedic services at Hospital Calderón Guardia in east San José. The case is being handled as an investigation of fraud. The Poder Judicial said the firm involved collected $2,317,676 for devices used in some 1,022 surgeries done at the hospital mostly in 2010 and 2011. |
The hospital was
the focus of one search and investigators sought evidence in multiple
offices. Also searched were various offices, including auditing, at the
Caja, the national health provider. Investigators also went to the Santa Ana office of the firm, Synthes Costa Rica S.C.R. Ltda. Most of the devices, implants and supplies sold to the Caja were those used in immobilizing fractures. Most are imported. Fiscal General Jorge Chavarría was quoted by the Poder Judicial as saying not much more would be disclosed about the case because the proceedings are supposed to be secret at this stage of the investigation. However, informal reports say that eventually all procurement offices in the Caja will be checked for dealings with the firm. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, June 11, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 114 | |||||
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| Intel
plans a new facility for research, development By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The visit by Luis Guillermo Solís to the U.S. headquarters of Intel Corp. generated an announcement that the firm would develop a center of research and development here. The center would come from the consolidation of the laboratory of manufacturing operations, said an announcement from Casa Presidencial. The research center would handle requests from all of the firm's locations, the announcement said. The center means 100 new jobs in Costa Rica, although it is uncertain that they will be filled by Costa Ricans. The announcement also said that some 350 persons called collaborators would be involved. These might be academics. Intel, of course,announced in early May that it was closing its manufacturing operations here and moving the tasks to Vietnam. The research center is supposed to focus on the creation of prototypes, testing and validation of integrated circuits, said the announcement. The center is supposed to be in operation in the first part of next year. |
 Casa Presidencial photo
Luis Guillermo Solís with
Brian Krzanich, CEO of Intel. |
Here's reasonable medical care
Costa Rica's world class medical specialists are at your command. Get the top care for much less than U.S. prices. It is really a great way to spend a vacation. See our list of recommended professionals HERE!amcr-prom
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Wednesday, June 11, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 114 | |||||||
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| Democrats and Republicans unhappy with prisoner swap By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said the Obama administration has made Americans less safe by releasing five Taliban prisoners in exchange for the freedom of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl. Speaking Tuesday at a news conference with other House Republican leaders, Boehner warned the United States will pay for the prisoner exchange, saying there is no doubt in his mind there will be lost lives associated with the swap. He added that he and other lawmakers had raised sharp concerns when briefed more than two years ago on the possibility of such a trade. But Boehner said that he was never briefed on any specific negotiation. In the administration's defense, Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said the White House only finalized the exchange of Bergdahl for the five detainees a day before the swap. Durbin, speaking to reporters in the Capitol, said American officials didn't learn the pickup location for Bergdahl until an hour ahead of time. Durbin presented the timeline as an explanation for why Obama didn't inform Congress 30 days before the May 31 prisoner trade. "They knew a day ahead of time the transfer was going to take place," Durbin told reporters. "They knew an hour ahead of time where it was going to take place." The Senate Armed Services Committee was briefed on the Bergdahl exchange Tuesday from Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work and other officials. Boehner said while Republican lawmakers are glad Bergdahl is free after nearly five years in captivity at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan, he repeated lawmakers' concerns that they were not informed of the deal before it happened. Durbin criticized his colleagues in Congress for focusing on the lack of notification. "Are we saying that once we decided to do the prisoner transfer, we had to notify Congress and wait 30 days? The president couldn't do that," he said. "It was impossible. It could have endangered the man's life by waiting 30 days." The law on notification "doesn't square with reality," he added. Rep. Xavier Becerra echoed Durbin's point. “Sergeant Bergdahl’s life may have hung in the balance in being able to do this quietly and quickly when the window opened,” he said. One of the loudest critics of the lack of notification is Durbin's fellow Democrat, Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee. Other Democrats remain ill-at-ease about the swap. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen emerged from the administration's classified briefing to House members of both parties Monday saying she wants more answers. Fellow Democrat Joe Manchin deplored the release of high-level Taliban militants. “It still does not justify five of the most-notorious people we have had for 10 years," he said. "If they were that important for us to keep them that long, then how can all five all of a sudden be released?” Republicans heaped scorn on the Obama administration’s defense of the swap. Sen. John McCain dismissed any suggestion that the administration had to act swiftly out of concern for Bergdahl’s life in Taliban captivity. “It is of utmost value to them to keep an American prisoner alive," he said. "Look what they got for it.” Sen. Ted Cruz, another Republican, said he plans to introduce a bill that would freeze any prisoner releases for six months. A visibly angry Sen. Jeff Sessions summed up Republican outrage this way: “We are in a war. This is what this White House does not understand. We have people now in combat, their lives at risk this very day.” Administration officials have defended their decisions, saying Bergdahl's life was in danger and there was no time to wait. In Monday's briefing the administration showed lawmakers a 90-second proof of life video that showed a debilitated Bergdahl. House Republicans said they are angered to learn on Monday that as many as 90 members of the Obama administration knew about the deal to free Bergdahl from the Taliban, but no one in Congress was informed. California Republican Dana Rohrabacher accused the president of thumbing his nose at Congress and said he will not get away with it. U.S. law requires a president to give Congress 30 days' notice before Guantanamo inmates are released, a step that was not taken in this case. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is scheduled to testify on the situation Wednesday before the House Armed Services Committee. Also Tuesday, in response to the congressional outcry over the prisoner exchange, a House panel overwhelmingly backed a measure barring the use of U.S. funds for the transfer of detainees from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Appropriations Committee voted 33-13 on Tuesday for an amendment to the defense spending bill that captured bipartisan frustration with the Obama administration for failing to give Congress 30 days' notice before Guantanamo detainees are released. The five Taliban who were exchanged for Bergdahl were sent to Qatar. The amendment was sponsored by Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, a Republican of New Jersey, and backed by six Democrats. It would prohibit money for the foreign transfer of detainees. The full House debates the bill next week. House votes to give vets access to private physicians By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The House of Representatives voted unanimously Tuesday to let U.S. veterans get medical treatment from local private doctors and have the Department of Veterans Affairs pay for it. The VA is reeling from a scandal in which tens of thousands of former military personnel have had to wait three months or more for a VA hospital appointment. Some vets reportedly died waiting to see a doctor. VA bureaucrats are accused of faking reports to hide the long waiting times. The scandal prompted Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki to resign last month. The House bill would allow veterans who face a long delay for appointments or live more than 65 kilometers from a VA facility to get VA-paid care from a non-agency doctor. The House bill also cancels all bonuses for VA employees over the next two years. The U.S. Senate is working on a similar measure. Migrant cash sent home could be $400 billion yearly By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Many migrants send amounts of money, called remittances, home to friends and family members. But with 200 million international migrants out there, those small sums add up quickly. In 2013, migrants around the world sent back $400 billion, far outweighing official aid to many countries and sometimes providing the largest source of foreign exchange. This has economists wondering if remittances can boost not just a receiving family’s budget but that country’s economy too? When Jean Claude Kazadi and his wife Myriam came to the U.S. from the Democratic Republic of Congo they immediately began sending money home. They wanted to help family members left behind. “That is the way we grew up. We believe in supporting each other. We believe in supporting our parents, specifically, and we believe in supporting our brothers and sisters,” Kazadi said. Kazadi is a doctor who works on HIV Aids for Catholic Relief Services in Maryland. He frequently visits The Congo, and says he hopes he is helping his fellow Africans through his work. But he knows that the $400 a month he sends home to his parents are a lifeline. “If we don’t do something, do you think the government will actually do something to support my parents? They will not. They don’t care about it.” Economist Adolfo Barajas of the International Monetary Fund has been studying remittance trends for a decade, watching how they affect receiving economies. “They have been growing tremendously from 1990 to 2010; they grew more than sevenfold,” he said. Barajas says massive migration drives the trend, but notes a possible downside that governments may be less efficient if they are receiving large windfalls of cash. Economists have long said that remittances generally strengthen the families who receive them by boosting their income. But some are concerned that all this cash can cause a nation’s currency to appreciate, bidding up prices and making that country less competitive when it comes to, for example, exporting goods. But economists, including Barajas, agree remittances affect a receiving country’s economy in many positive ways. Dilip Ratha, is a remittance expert with the World Bank. “They provide incomes, they are a lifeline for people, they reduce poverty, they provide funding for business investment, human capital investments, education, health,” says Ratha. Economists say that when countries are in conflict, like the Democratic Republic of Congo, private investors tend to sneak out, while remitters rush in. "Because that is precisely when the needs of the families left behind increase. And to meet those needs, migrants send money home,” says Ratha. Chinese hackers continue thefts, security firm says By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A well-known cyber security firm says the Chinese military unit at the center of recent U.S. cyber spying charges is continuing to carry out hacking activities. Mandiant, which first published a report that documented alleged hacks of U.S. businesses by a People's Liberation Army unit in Shanghai, says the group it has named APT1 is still trying to break into the data of American corporations. Richard Bejtlich, the chief security officer of Mandiant, said that his firm continues to monitor the activities of the group. “APT1 is one of the groups we continue to track. We still see plenty of their command and control, so we are able to compare that to the previous year and see if they are still active,” said Bejtlich. The news comes as a different U.S. security firm announced Monday that it has evidence that a different Chinese army unit has also been involved in hacks and attacks against Western government agencies and defense contractors since 2007. CrowdStrike said the hacking targeted the U.S. space, aerospace and communications sectors. China has denied its military is involved in stealing data from U.S. businesses. After five People's Liberation Army members were indicted by the U.S. last month, Beijing protested by suspending a joint cyber working group with Washington. But Bejtlich said he thinks China will resume the discussions in the long run for its own national interests. “They don’t want to be spied upon, and they don’t want a really bad relationship so it would break down economically," he said. "So there are plenty areas where we can collaborate, need to collaborate, so that’s why we will continue to have these discussions.” Last month, the U.S. Justice Department indicted the five People's Liberation Army members on charges related to cyber espionage. It accused them of spying on U.S. businesses to help the profits of Chinese companies. Malaria fighters seeking end of female mosquitoes By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
A new way to fight malaria aims to eliminate the female mosquitoes that spread the deadly disease. Scientists have developed mosquitoes that produce almost exclusively male offspring. Females are the ones that bite. And they are the ones that produce more mosquitoes. The researchers say their technique could wipe out mosquito populations in a few months without the use of insecticides. “Mosquitoes have been labeled as the most virulent animal in the world,” said Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. “More people die of mosquito-transmitted infections than they do of almost any other type of illness.” Spraying insecticides is one of the most effective ways to control them, but spraying comes with downsides. It can kill bees and other good insects, and cause environmental damage. And mosquitoes eventually develop resistance to the pesticide. So Imperial College London researcher Nikolai Windbichler and colleagues are trying a different approach. “We found an Achilles’ heel of these mosquitoes,” he said. The insects have around 400 copies of a particular gene on the X chromosome. That’s the chromosome that carries the traits making the insects female. A creature called a slime mold produces a protein that cuts that gene in one specific place. The Imperial College London team introduced that slime mold protein into mosquitoes using genetic engineering. It is designed to turn on when the mosquitoes make sperm. When it does, it cuts the X chromosome in 400 places. “You can imagine, that’s pretty bad for a chromosome,” Windbichler said. “It gets destroyed. It cannot be passed on to the next generation.” That leaves only male offspring. And those offspring also would only produce male offspring. Eventually the population would crash. The research is published in Nature Communications. They have more tests to do to make sure the method is safe and effective. But Windbichler says it beats the alternative. “If you compare what we are doing to, for example, insecticides, which target any insect species out there, our method is very specific,” Windbichler said. “There may be hundreds of mosquito species in the environment, but our method really only would target that one.” Baylor’s Peter Hotez, who was not involved in the research, calls it an interesting and exciting finding. But, he added, “It’s still a very early stage.” Meanwhile, he says, it will take more than just designer mosquitoes to beat malaria. New drugs and vaccines will be needed, along with bed nets and clearing their breeding grounds with good, old-fashioned puddle-draining. Network firm predicting big jump in online activity By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Faster broadband speeds, more users and more video viewing are expected to nearly triple the world’s Internet traffic in five years, a new report projects. The annual report by Cisco Systems, Inc., a California-based firm that makes networking equipment and analyzes devices, connections and data, predicts that by 2018 global Internet Protocol traffic for fixed and mobile devices will reach an annual usage rate of 1.6 zettabytes. According to TechTerms.com, a single zettabyte contains a billion terabytes, itself an almost-incomprehensible figure. The report, released Tuesday, also says video is expected to grow from 78 percent of current U.S. Internet traffic to 84 percent by 2018. That raises questions about whether Internet service providers should prioritize traffic, a controversial issue. Cisco’s report comes as the Federal Communications Commission debates legislation on Internet traffic, or net neutrality, that could allow telecommunications companies the right to prioritize some traffic. Consumer groups and some businesses have criticized the proposed revisions, saying they would create fast lanes for companies that pay up and slower traffic for others. Cisco’s vice president of government and community relations, Jeff Campbell, said that "as the FCC looks at rewriting its net neutrality rules, it is important that we allow for things like managed services and specialized services that can provide new applications for consumers." Not all Internet traffic will be the same, according to the report. Internet-connected medical devices, for example, would have a different data profile than video streaming and a higher speed urgency. By 2018, the report forecasts, most Internet traffic "will originate from devices other than personal computers," with Wi-Fi overtaking wired devices and high-definition video surpassing standard definition. The FCC voted 3-2 last month to offer a plan that could allow major Internet service providers such as AT&T and Comcast to make deals with companies such as Google and Facebook that would enable faster content delivery for consumers. Upon releasing its proposed net neutrality rules May 15, the FCC set a 120-day period for public comment, with 60 days for initial comments and another 60 days for responses. PC World reported last week that the FCC had received more than 64,000 comments, with 45,000 in May. It said thousands appear to have been generated by a comedic piece skewering the FCC and broadband providers. First airing on HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver,” it got more than 1.6 million hits on YouTube. Electrical stimulation seen as treatment for ill brains By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Modern medicine relies mainly on drugs to cure or alleviate disorders, but for some conditions doctors apply electrical stimulation. The pacemaker, for example, helps weak hearts maintain a steady beat. Scientists are now using electrical pulses in the brain to relieve symptoms of Parkinson's disease. With such advances, electrical stimulation may soon be used for a variety of other conditions. Just being able to walk and interact with people is a great gift for David Dewsnap. His Parkinson's disease was resistant to standard treatments, so doctors planted electrodes deep in his brain. The Deep Brain Stimulation System developed by the Medtronic Corp. consists of two parts: thin wires implanted in the region of the brain associated with movement and a battery pack that produces electrical pulses. Before the implants, Dewsnap says he could not even take a short walk. "It has given me my life back. This procedure has been just amazing for me. Without seeing me before, you don't really understand what it was like. The left side of my body, I could not use it really," says Dewsnap. At Rice University, electrical engineer and neuroscientist Caleb Kemere has been using brain stimulation in experiments on rats. But while he knows this treatment works, he says researchers still are not sure how. "We are probably making it work not as it is supposed to work, but in a new way that allows movements to happen faithfully or for a tremor to go away," he says. Kemere says the electrical stimulation may trick the brain by mimicking the function of the chemical dopamine in controlling motor activity. To attack other disorders, Kemere wants to develop a brain stimulation system that would work with a feedback loop to adjust its own output. "We propose to take this and then expand into something that has a much more complicated processor like the one that is found in your cell phone that can process incoming signals that we actually would be getting from the brain in real time, understand what is going on and then modulate the brain stimulation in response to that," says Kemere. He says such a system could help people with epilepsy, depression, bipolar disorder and other problems. But Kemere says, first, researchers need to overcome a couple of small problems. "We don't know what signal to use, and we don't know how to do that modulation," admits Kemere. In trying to answer those questions, Caleb Kemere is being helped by a grant from the National Science Foundation. He believes within five years there could be experimental devices to alleviate some mental disorders, just as a stimulation device helped David Dewsnap walk again. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's sixth news page |
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Lawmakers let
U.S. Coast Guard dock
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following news story is being republished because of a server failure that kept most readers from seeing it Tuesday. By the A.M. Costa Rica staff The discussion took much of the Monday legislative session but lawmakers finally agreed 42 to 10 to allow U.S. Coast Guard vessels to dock and to let the crew have shore leave. The approval, which was sought by the security ministry and the U.S. Embassy, does not include vessels of the U.S. Navy, which are considered too military to be allowed to dock in Costa Rica. At the same time the lawmakers gave approval for the brief visit June 27 to 30 of a Peruvian navy missile frigate. During the discussion, Otto Guevara Guth, a Movimiento Libertario lawmaker, pointed out that the U.S. Coast Guard is every bit a fighting force and referenced the service's Web page that says as much. Still most lawmakers see a difference between the two U.S. services. The Coast Guard and the Navy are on patrol in both the Pacific and Caribbean to counter drug smuggling. The permission to dock is from July 1 to Dec. 31. Such approval is required by the Costa Rican Constitution. Twice each year the request generates lengthy discussion in the legislative chamber. And sometimes U.S. warships have to transfer confiscated drugs and prisoners to boats of the Servicio Nacional de Guardacostas at sea. Guevara noted that the visits by the vessels is good for Costa Rica because the U.S. government buys fuel, food and water as well as other provisions for the vessels. He did not mention the boon to bartenders when crews have shore leave. Study shows cells diminish male fertility By the University of Exeter news service
Mobile phones negatively affect male fertility, a new study suggests. Men who keep a mobile phone in their trouser pocket could be inadvertently damaging their chances of becoming a father, according to a new study led by the University of Exeter. Previous research has suggested that radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation emitted by the devices can have a detrimental effect on male fertility. Most of the global adult population own mobile phones, and around 14 percent of couples in high and middle income countries have difficulty conceiving. A team led by Fiona Mathews at the University of Exeter, conducted a systematic review of the findings from 10 studies, including 1,492 samples, with the aim of clarifying the potential role of this environmental exposure. Participants in the studies were from fertility clinics and research centers. In control groups, 50-85 percent of sperm have normal movement. The researchers found this proportion fell by an average of 8 percentage points when there was exposure to mobile phones. Similar effects were seen for sperm viability. Dr. Mathews said: "Given the enormous scale of mobile phone use around the world, the potential role of this environmental exposure needs to be clarified. This study strongly suggests that being exposed to radio-frequency electromagnetic radiation from carrying mobiles in trouser pockets negatively affects sperm quality. This could be particularly important for men already on the borderline of infertility, and further research is required to determine the full clinical implications for the general population." |
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| From Page 7: Agriculture minster cites low productivity By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Costa Rican farmers produce just 17 to 20 percent of the beans residents of the country consume, and the rest have to be made up from imports. That was the report Tuesday from Luis Felipe Arauz Cavallini, the new minister of Agricultura y Ganadería, who appeared before the legislative committee. He said the country has the capacity to bring that percentage of locally grown beans to about 60 percent. He said the average yield is about 700 kilos a hectare while test plots by universities can produce as much as a ton on the same amount of land. He said the problems in agriculture are what he called disorderly administration, the low productivity of some government workers and the inadequate institutional culture. As an example, he cited the Consejo Nacional de la Producción that spent 222 million colons in 2013 to help finance the Juegos Deportivos Centroamericanos, something that has nothing to do with agriculture. That is nearly $400,000. The minister pointed out that agriculture produces 12.5 percent of the gross internal product each years and 65 percent of the calories and 60 percent of the protein consumed in the country. |
