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| A.M. Costa Rica's Second news page | |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Monday, June 23, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 122
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 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía y Seguridad Pública
photo
K-9 dogs and their handlers are
patrolling bus terminals in San José, and the animals can sense
even a few grams of marijuana, police said. The dogs led to two arrests
Sunday.Dollar takes a slight hit against colon By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
The U.S. dollar has lost about 10 colons in value in the last two weeks. The dollar was strongest June 12 when the price to buy a dollar was 560.99 colons and the price received in selling a dollar was 550.07 colons. The rate today is expected to be 551.11 colons to buy a dollar. Selling one will fetch 540.12, according to the Banco Central de Costa Rica. The prices at various banks and other outlets will be different. The Central Bank has issued bonds valued at 2.2 billion colons in order to stabilize the financial system. This is good news for consumers who were hit with rising prices because the colon devalued since the end of last year. The value of the colon is reflected in imported goods, petroleum and even in electrical costs. However, with a strengthening U.S. economy, the dollar is likely to continue its rise. Last-second goal gives Portugal a tie By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
In World Cup football action Sunday in Brazil, Portugal scored in the dying moments of the match against the United States to gain a 2-2 draw in Group G in Manaus. The tally came in the last 30 seconds of five minutes of added stoppage time after the regulation 90 minutes. It kept Portugal's hopes alive while, at least for now, kept the U.S. from reaching the second round. Earlier in the day in Group H, Belgium clinched a berth in the second round with a 1-0 win over Russia in Rio de Janeiro, and Algeria defeated South Korea 4-2 in Porto Alegre. Local reaction to win over Italy . . . HERE!
If Algeria wins its final group match against Russia, it will advance to the next round. Russia has one point in Group H and plays Algeria on Thursday. If the Russians win, they would reach the next round. The scenario is more complicated in Group G, the so-called Group of Death. The U.S. and Germany both have four points to lead the group, while Portugal and Ghana each have one point. On Thursday, the U.S. faces Germany and Portugal plays Ghana. If the U.S. and Germany draw, both advance. Saturday Argentine superstar Lionel Messi and prolific German scorer Miroslav Klose rescued their teams with clutch goals in World Cup action. Messi scored during injury time to give Argentina a 1-0 win over Iran and qualify the Argentines for the coveted round of 16. Klose found the back of the net in the 71st minute for the final goal in a 2-2 draw against Ghana. Argentina's Group F match against Iran at Mineirao Stadium in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, appeared headed for a draw. But Messi, a four-time world player of the year, superbly curled the ball past diving goalie Alireza Haghighi during the first minute of stoppage time to derail an unheralded Iranian team that fought hard. "With Messi, everything is possible," Argentina's coach Alejandro Sabella said. "Not even two goalkeepers could have stopped that Lionel shot." Argentina has six points from two wins in the tournament. But the world's 5th-ranked team will need to improve its sometimes lackluster play when facing more elite opponents in the round of 16, also known as the knockout round. Argentina beat Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2-1, last week. "If we analyze both matches, we might say we can play better," said Messi, who has drawn comparisons to fellow Argentine legend Diego Maradona. "We know we're not playing as well as we're expected to." Saturday's Group G match between Germany and Ghana at Arena Castelao in Fortaleza was thrilling. Germany took a 1-0 lead early in the second half. But Ghana answered with two goals to go up, 2-1, by the 63rd minute. In the 71st minute, Klose tapped the ball in on a perfectly executed corner kick to tie the game and celebrated by doing a somersault. It was the 15th World Cup goal for the veteran German striker, tying him with Brazilian legend Ronaldo for the most goals in World Cup history. He is also Germany's all-time leading scorer with 70 goals in 133 games. "Twenty matches and 15 goals isn't bad at all," Klose told German television. "I don't know how long it's been since I did a somersault, but at least it worked out." Germany, the world's second-ranked team, would have secured a spot in the knockout round with a win against Ghana. Group G is known as the "group of death" because of the extremely stiff competition. Last week, the U.S. beat Ghana, 2-1, and Germany crushed a tough Portugal team, 4-0. In the last game Saturday, Nigeria kept its hopes alive of reaching the knockout round and won its first World Cup game since 1998 with a 1-0 decision over Bosnia-Herzegovina at Arena Pantanal in Cuiaba. Nigeria's Peter Odemwingie scored the only goal of the Group F match in the first half. Bosnia striker Edin Dzeko had a goal disallowed due to a questionable offside call in the first half. His strike in the final seconds of the match hit the goal post. "We were aware of the 16-year gap with no wins for our country," Odemwingie said. "This is very exciting for us and very important, too, as the fans were disappointed by our previous performance," a scoreless draw against Iran. Bosnia, which was making its first World Cup appearance, was eliminated from the tournament.  Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía y Seguridad Pública photo
Agents
will try to figure out where these parts originated.
Stolen car leads to valley chop shop By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Police tracked a Toyota stolen in Herradura near Jacó to a garage in Desamparados de Alajuela and uncovered what they said Sunday was a chop shop where cars were broken up for parts. The Fuerza Pública said that two men were detained. Both have police records, officers said. Officers said that the vehicle they were seeking already had the seats removed and was due for disassembly. The facility also contained a number of other vehicle parts, including tires, fenders and bumpers, officers said. Allah only for Muslims, Malay court
rules
By
the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Malaysia's highest court has upheld a government ban against a Roman Catholic newspaper using the world Allah to refer to God. The federal court ruled in a four-to-three decision Monday that the church's Malay-language newspaper, The Herald, had no grounds to appeal a lower court decision last year that Allah should be reserved exclusively for Muslims, because if other religions use the word, it could be confusing and lead Muslims to convert. Such conversion is illegal in Malaysia, where more than 60 percent of the population of 30 million are Muslim, the country's official religion. Just over 9 percent are Christian. Monday's ruling ends a dispute that has been ongoing since 2007, when Malaysia's Home Ministry threatened to revoke the publishing permit of The Herald for using the Arabic word in its Malay-language edition. The editor of the newspaper, the Rev. Lawrence Andrew, said he is disappointed by the decision, and said the four judges who voted against the appeal did not touch on fundamental basic rights of minorities. Christian groups argue that they have used the word Allah to refer to God in their Bibles and songs for many years, long before authorities began enforcing the ban several years ago.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, June 23, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 122 | |
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| Bootleggers can pollute the legitimate market for alcoholic
products |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
When an expat pours a drink of alcohol, there is a possibility that the glass contains home brew of some other substance. Costa Rican law enforcement officials raided two storefronts Sunday and confiscated 7,000 bottles of alcohol. These were not bottles smuggled in from Panamá to avoid taxes. The alcohol was bootlegged, and the contents of the bottles included impure water and undistilled alcohol among other substances, and the bottles lacked the tamper-proof tops usually found on alcoholic beverages. The twin raids brought out a litany of enforcement agencies: The Ministerio de Salud, the Ministerio de Trabajo, the Municipalidad de Pococí, the Fábrica Nacional de Licores, Tributación Directa, the Policía de Control Fiscal, agents of the Judicial Investigating Organization and the Fuerza Pública de Pococí, The number of bottles shows that the alcohol was not just for local consumption. Such adulterated bottled usually work their way into the chain of legitimate commerce. Blindness and death can be a result. There is a long tradition of making home brew alcohol in Costa Rica. The usual name is chirrite, and this is mainly for local consumption. The various fruits and sugar cane juice make it easy to do small-scale bootlegging. But the major confiscations are products that are headed for public consumption. So far Costa Rica has been lucky that it has avoided mass deaths like those that have taken place from bad alcohol in other countries. There also is a possibility that the kidney diseases that affect agricultural workers in Guanacaste and elsewhere in Central American are the result of home brew. Obviously there must be some form of corruption or illegal activity involved to move the fake alcohol into the normal supply chain. |
 Ministerio de Gobernación,
Policía y Seguridad Pública photo
Police officer examines one of
the 7,000 bottles confiscated Sunday.A still in Tibás three years ago was producing brand name guaro that appeared to be identical to the original product. Depending on where the fake products enter the supply chain, the retailer may not be aware that he is selling bootlegged and dangerous alcohol. So even brand name alcohol purchased at a reputable store, even a chain store, may not be safe. |
| Northern zone appears to have received the brunt of weekend
rains |
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By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Experts will continue to assess today the impact of flooding in the northern zone. More than 200 homes were flooded, three bridges were damaged and five rivers poured out of their banks late last week, according to the Comisión Nacional de Prevención de Riesgos y Atención de Emergencias. Rain continued to fall over the weekend, and the Instituto Meteorológico Nacional said that some 30 to 50 centimeters fell Saturday. That is nearly two inches. |
In addition,
storms could be seen over the area Sunday night. The weather institute attributed the rain to a low pressure area generated by a tropical wave and instability generated by the northern movement of the zone of intertropical convergence, the belt where winds from the north and south meet. Rain in the Central Valley predicted in an 8 a.m. Sunday bulletin failed to materialize. However, there was rain again late in the evening. Only the Arenal area appears to have received significant rain Sunday during the day. There about an inch fell, according to the automatic weather stations maintained by the weather institute. There also was rain in the southern part of the country Sunday night. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page | |||||
| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, June 23, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 122 | |||||
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| Huge public celebration follows World Cup victory over Italy |
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By
Michael Krumholtz
of the A.M. Costa Rica staff Confetti popped above the crowd as if sprung from a hundred tiny volcanoes. A sea of onlookers jumped and hugged, creating a red and blue wave in front of the giant screen. Celebratory horns blew as many emptied into the streets to march towards Parque Central or San Pedro. This scene at Plaza de la Democracia after a 1-0 Costa Rica victory over Italy in the World Cup mirrored celebrations across the country Friday. From Limón to the corners of Guanacaste, Costa Ricans everywhere were chanting Oé, oé, oé, oé, Ticos, Ticos.” Even President Luis Guillermo Solís and his cabinet members had a game party at Casa Presidencial before Solís joined the masses in swallowing the streets. The president walked from Zapote to the Circunvalación bridge over the Fuente de la Hispanidad in San Pedro where a mass of people had conglomerated. Before the game, Solís had announced that all public workers were allowed to take a recess. Now, they'll be expecting a national holiday for next weekend's octavos. Costa Rica's historic win against another former World Cup champ vaults them beyond group play for only the second time in its history. Last time the Ticos advanced to the round of 16 they topped Sweden 2-1 on June 20, 1990. Twenty-four years to the day. In the group of death where Costa Rica was considered the weak link, the Ticos have not only survived, they've thrived. With an insurmountable advantage of six points, the team faces an already eliminated English squad in Tuesday's formality. Though they are locked in for the next round, there is a slight possibility that the Italy-Uruguay winner could take away first place in Group D from Costa Rica. For example, if the Ticos lose to England and Italy were to beat Uruguay by at least two goals (to even up or exceed goal differential), then the Italians would win the group. Where Costa Rica finishes will decide their next opponent. |
 Casa Presidencial photo
President Luis Guillermo
Solís waves from the bridge. Usually presidents get a public
opinion boost when national teams do well.If they remain in first, they'll take on the second-best finisher in Group C. Right now Ivory Coast is likely to keep that spot. But if they lose to Greece and Japan beats Colombia, then Japan would take second place in the group. And, to enter more hypotheticals into the World Cup machine, if either one of Uruguay or Italy bumps Costa Rica into second, then the Ticos will meet Group C's first place team, which will almost certainly be Colombia, barring a major turnaround in goal differentials. With a first place finish, the Ticos will be playing Sunday at 2 p.m. A second place finish in the group would put La Sele into Saturday's slot, also a 2 p.m. kickoff. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, June 23, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 122 | |||||||
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| Sunni militants continue to have successes in Iraq By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Sunni militants in Iraq have seized two more border crossings, one with Syria and one with Jordan, in addition to the four nearby towns captured by insurgent forces since Friday. Jordan began to beef up border security after the crossings fell Sunday. Security officials say the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant is now in control of Qaim, Rawa, Ana and Rutba in Iraq's western Anbar province. The blitz takes the al-Qaida-inspired group closer to its goal of carving out a purist Islamic state straddling both Syria and Iraq. Meanwhile, at least six people were killed Sunday by a suicide bomber and a car bomb in the provincial capital of Ramadi. The attack targeted mourners at the funeral of an Iraqi police officer. In a televised interview, U.S. President Barack Obama warned that the insurgents' strength could grow and destabilize other countries in the Middle East. The American leader said the U.S. must remain vigilant, but would not play Whac-A-Mole and send U.S. troops occupying various countries wherever these organizations pop up." Demonstrators protested outside of the White House in Washington against renewed U.S. involvement in Iraq Saturday. The United States has begun a new diplomatic bid to unite Iraq's fractious leaders and repel insurgents. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry landed in Egypt Sunday at the start of a visit to the Middle East and Europe, mainly to consult with partners about Iraq, where Sunni militants have made new advances in an offensive that has alarmed the world. Kerry's unannounced stop in Cairo early Sunday was part of a diplomatic mission to push Egypt toward democracy. While in Cairo, Kerry said the U.S. wanted the Iraqi people to find a leadership that is prepared to represent all Iraqis but that Washington would not pick or choose the leadership in Baghdad. Kerry also urged Iraqi leaders to rise above sectarian considerations, and said that Washington was not responsible for the crisis. Kerry was to stop in Jordan Sunday before heading to Brussels for the NATO foreign ministers' meeting, and then to Paris for meetings with regional partners and Gulf allies. Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sunday he is against U.S. intervention in neighboring Iraq, where Islamic extremists and Sunni militants opposed to Tehran have seized a number of towns and cities, the official IRNA news agency reported. The statement by Khamenei was the clearest statement of opposition to a U.S. plan to dispatch of up to 300 military advisers in response to pleas from the Iraqi government and runs counter to speculation that old enemies Washington and Tehran might cooperate to defend their mutual ally in Baghdad. “We strongly oppose the intervention of the U.S. and others in the domestic affairs of Iraq,” Khamenei was quoted as saying, in his first reaction to the crisis. “The main dispute in Iraq is between those who want Iraq to join the U.S. camp and those who seek an independent Iraq,” said Khamenei, who has the final say over government policies. “The U.S. aims to bring its own blind followers to power since the U.S. is not happy about the current government in Iraq.” Khamenei said Iraq's government and its people, with help of top clerics, would be able to end the sedition there, saying extremists are hostile to both Shi'ites and Sunnis who seek an independent Iraq. Earlier on Sunday Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said some countries feed terrorists by their petrodollars, in a veiled reference to the Arab Gulf states, and warned that such support would come back to haunt them. Rouhani has said his countrymen will not hesitate to defend Shi'ite shrines in Iraq if need be, but he has also said, like Khamenei, that Iraqis are capable of doing that job themselves. Thousands of Shi'ite Iraqis have responded to calls to take up arms and defend the country against the insurgency. Tehran and Washington have been shocked by the lightning quick offensive, spearheaded by the Islamic State of Iraq, that has seen large swathes of northern and western Iraq fall to the hardline extremist group and other Sunni fighters since June 10, including the north's biggest city Mosul. The towns of Qaim, Rawah, Anah and Rutba are the first seized in the mainly Sunni Anbar province since fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and their allies overran the city of Fallujah and parts of the provincial capital of Ramadi earlier this year. The capture of Rawah on the Euphrates River and the nearby town of Anah appeared to be part of a march toward a key dam in the city of Haditha, the destruction of which would damage the country's electrical grid and cause major flooding. Taking Rutba gives the insurgents control over the final stretch of a major highway to neighboring Jordan, a key artery for passengers and goods that has been infrequently used for months because of deteriorating security. Iraqi military officials said more than 2,000 troops were quickly dispatched to the site of the dam to protect it. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. There was a lull in fighting at Iraq's largest refinery, Beiji, near Tikrit, Sunday morning. The site had been transformed into a battlefield since Wednesday as Sunni fighters launched an assault on the plant. Militants entered the large compound but were held off by Iraqi military units. A black column of smoke rose from the site. Refinery officials said it was caused by a controlled burning of waste. The chief military spokesman, Lt. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, acknowledged the fall of the Anbar towns, saying government forces had made a tactical retreat and planned to retake them. He provided no further details. The Islamic State and allied militants have carved out a large fiefdom along the Iraqi-Syrian border. Control over crossings like that one in Qaim allows them to more easily move weapons and heavy equipment. Rebels control the Syrian side of the crossing. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shi'ite-dominated government has struggled to push back against the Sunni militants, who have seized large swaths of the country's north since taking control of Mosul on June 10 as troops melted away. Iraq has requested U.S. air strikes to help halt the advance, but Obama has yet to order any, and has instead called on Iraqi leaders to form a more representative government in thinly veiled criticism of al-Maliki. The U.S., however, has been drawn back into the conflict. It is deploying up to 300 military advisers to join about 275 troops in and around Iraq to provide security and support for the U.S. Embassy and other American interests. The fighting has threatened to tear the country apart for good, reducing Iraq to separate Sunni, Shi'ite and ethnic Kurdish regions. It has highlighted divisions among regional powers, especially Iran, which has said it would not hesitate to protect Shi'ite shrines in Iraq if asked, and Sunni Saudi Arabia, which has warned Iran to stay out of Iraq. Iraq's Kurds have meanwhile expanded their territory in the northeast, including the long-prized oil city of Kirkuk. Relations between the diverse Sunni groups have not been entirely smooth. Sunday morning, clashes raged for a third day between the Islamic State of Iraq and Sunni tribes backed by the Naqshbandi Army, a group led by former army officers and Baathists, around Hawija, local security sources and tribal leaders said. Saturday, heavily armed Shi'ite fighters paraded in Baghdad in a dramatic show of force aimed at Sunni militants who seized an Iraqi town that borders Syria, widening a western front in an offensive threatening to rip apart the country. Thousands of fighters loyal to powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr have vowed to fight the Islamic State of Iraq. Those who fought in Iraq wonder if all was in vain By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
Paris, Illinois is a patriotic town awash in red, white and blue. American Legion Post Commander Tom Noel said it’s been that way since the Iraq War began in 2003. “Instantly, the flag sales went up, you see flags flying everywhere,” said Noel. Noel said that while the patriotism has not faded, the mood did change in 2004, when news of the mounting casualties from the town’s Illinois National Guard unit, the 1544th Transportation Company, starting filtering in. “Five right here from our unit, right next door, all at once, that was a real shock,” recalled Noel. Army Sgt. First Class Jeremy Deters served in Iraq with 1544th Transportation Company. He is still with the unit. The cost of the eight-year-long war is clear to him. He lost five friends in that mortar attack near Baghdad in 2004, including Sgt. Shawna Morrison, the first female Illinois National Guard soldier to die in the conflict. “We heard the mortars falling… went over there and saw what had happened and everything,” said Deters. “You come to terms with it, but it never leaves you. “I think about my colleagues, my comrades, my brothers in arms every day,” said Kristopher Skinner, another veteran. Skinner served as a U.S. army officer near Mosul, an area now under the control of Islamic State of Iraq militants. “Seeing what’s happening there, it almost feels as if some folks gave their lives in vain. It’s hard not to consider it, especially now. But that’s a freedom, I guess that’s a liberty that I have because I came back and I am still here safely,” said Skinner. Marine Sgt. Michael Hjelmstad spent part of three deployments to the region training the Iraqi National Army, which has suffered dramatic defeats in recent weeks. “It is hard to watch them struggle and to know that maybe some of those guys we were training are the ones getting killed right now,” said Hjelmstad. In a training environment using lessons learned from two combat tours in Iraq, Deters now prepares a new generation of soldiers for the harsh realities of war. He doesn't second-guess past decisions. Deters said that instead, he focuses on the mission ahead and passing on information that could help save lives in the future. “We can’t just let the future generations go in it blind and not know what’s going to happen. Myself and the others that have stayed in, it’s because we believe it’s our job to pass on the knowledge, because we believe in it,” said Deters. And if they are called to serve again, Tom Noel says they will return to a town that continues to be grateful for their service. “We regret that we had to give lives, but to give service, there is no regret,” said Noel. But a constant reminder of the cost of the Iraq War exists behind Noel’s American Legion hall… a baseball field named in honor of Shawna Morrison. Presbyterian Church decides to hit Israel with sanctions By the A.M. Costa Rica
wire services
The U.S. Presbyterian Church has voted to divest its financial holdings from three American companies doing business in parts of Israel considered by Palestinians to be occupied territory. The governing General Assembly voted Friday, 310-303, to remove holdings in Caterpillar Inc., Hewlett-Packard and Motorola from the church’s portfolio of investments, according to a statement posted on its Web site. Though largely symbolic, the decision comes amid building pressure on other churches, companies, organizations, universities and others by the Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement, known as BDS. The statement said the Assembly members included a preface to its resolution saying the church was committed to peace in Israel and Palestine. “We recognize the complexity of the issues, the decades-long struggle, the pain suffered and inflicted by policies and practices of both the Israeli government and Palestinian entities. We further acknowledge and confess our own complicity in both the historic and current suffering of Israeli and Palestinian yearning for justice and reconciliation,” the resolution stated. The resolution explicitly noted that the vote “does not mean an alignment with the overall strategy of the global BDS movement.” That movement, started by Palestinian groups almost a decade ago, seeks to put financial pressure on Israel to reach accommodation with Palestinians on the status of refugees, territories in the West Bank and a comprehensive peace deal. The church, which reportedly holds about $21 million in investments in the three companies, held a similar vote two years ago that failed. In addition to supporters of the divestment, this year’s vote had attracted intense lobbying from Jewish groups. In a statement posted Friday night on its Facebook page, the Israeli Embassy in Washington called the resolution shameful. "Voting for symbolic measures marginalizes and removes its ability to be a constructive partner to promote peace in the Middle East," the statement said. The embassy statement said officials there would have hoped that the Presbyterian church would have joined them in promoting peace and denouncing terrorism. The companies targeted have contracts to sell earth-moving equipment, surveillance technology and other goods that activists say are used by Israel to build settlements and violate rights of Palestinians. The Presbyterians, which have around 1.8 million members in the United States, is not the first American church to have divested from investments connected to Israel. But it is the most prominent U.S. religious group to endorse divestment as a protest against Israeli policies toward Palestinians. The Mennonite church and the Quakers had taken similar steps in recent years, and last week a panel of the United Methodist Church said it had sold holdings in a company that has contracts with Israel’s prison system. U.S. administration moving to reduce flow of illegal kids By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The Obama administration is moving to stop the flow of mainly Central American children arriving at the southern U.S. border. U.S. officials say tens of thousands of unaccompanied children have made their way illegally across the southwestern border over the last eight months. Their numbers have overwhelmed U.S. immigration facilities, and the Obama administration on Friday announced new measures to deal with the influx, including plans to open new detention centers and dispatch more judges, lawyers, and asylum officers to deal with the cases. While some of the immigrants are being considered for asylum, many are not eligible for entry into the United States. The administration is targeting what White House spokesman Josh Earnest said is false information leading many to make the dangerous journey north. “So much of what we're seeing on the southern border is the result of a deliberate misinformation campaign that is propagated by criminal syndicates in Central America," he said. "That misinformation is causing some people who are in a rather desperate situation to risk their lives to come to the United States border expecting that they'll be able to stay in this country. That is simply not true.” Vice President Joe Biden Friday took that message to Guatemala, where he met with officials from the region. The administration has announced it will start detaining families at the border. Until now, U.S. authorities have in some cases held families briefly before releasing them in the U.S., pending court dates. The immigrants transit through Mexico. Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama spoke with his Mexican counterpart, Enrique Peña Nieto, by telephone about the two countries' shared responsibility to address the root causes of the mass migration. Rheumatism drug is found to reverse some baldness By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The long sought after cure for some types of baldness may have been discovered. Researchers at Yale University School of Medicine report a case of a man who had virtually no hair on his entire body, a disease called alopecia universalis, growing a complete head of hair after receiving a treatment for plaque psoriasis, a common skin disease. According to a news release, the 25-year-old only had hair on the scaly red areas of psoriasis on his head. He was treated with tofacitinib citrate, commonly used to battle rheumatoid arthritis but also used to fight psoriasis. The drug caused the patient to grow hair not only on his head, but eyebrows, eyelashes, armpit hair and other hair. The drug had proved effective in reversing alopecia areata, which is a less severe form of alopecia, in mice. “The results are exactly what we hoped for,” said Brett A. King, assistant professor of dermatology at Yale University School of Medicine in a statement. “This is a huge step forward in the treatment of patients with this condition. While it’s one case, we anticipated the successful treatment of this man based on our current understanding of the disease and the drug. We believe the same results will be duplicated in other patients, and we plan to try.” According to King, the drug caused hair growth by “turning off the immune system attack on hair follicles that is prompted by the disease.” The patient had “full regrowth of hair” and reported no side effects, according to researchers. While the drug caused hair growth, it was only mildly effective in treating the psoriasis. Gary Sherwood, a spokesman for the National Alopecia Areata Foundation wrote in an email that he was encouraged by the Yale results. “While we remain hopeful, we wish to remind the alopecia areata community this is a preliminary study with the effects of the drug studied on only one individual,” he added. “It should be considered preliminary and not validated at this point, and remains to be further studied in clinical trials.” He urged Yale to pursue a clinical trial and said he was excited for a clinical trial of the drug scheduled to start at Columbia University later this summer. King hopes to perform a clinical trial of a cream form of tofacitinib as a treatment for alopecia areata. King’s paper, entitled “Killing Two Birds with One Stone: Oral Tofacitinib Reverses Alopecia Universalis in a Patient with Plaque Psoriasis” appeared online in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology. Quake in Pacific off Panamá By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
A 4.6 earthquake took place at 1:43 a.m. today off the coast of Panamá about 28 kilometers southeast of the Costa Rican community of Laurel de Corredores, according to the Laboratorio de Ingenieria Sismica at the Universidad de Costa Rica, The quake was felt in Ciudad Neily, Golfito and, of course, Corredores. |
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| San José, Costa Rica, Monday, June 23, 2014, Vol. 14, No. 122 | |||||||||
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Beware of that good looking bad soil Editor's note: Beginning today we will publish from time to time gardening information by Victoria Torley of Nuevo Arenal. Welcome to Life is a tropical Garden. I suppose a few words of introduction are in order. In 2012, I dragged my reluctant husband to Costa Rica, bribing him with a sailboat, and now we live between two volcanos. We lived most of our lives in the U.S., where I gardened in New Jersey,
So, how do you garden in the tropics? First, the most basic element. Let’s talk about dirt versus garden soil. Dirt can be just about anything, but soil is composed of inorganic material, organics (think compost), nutrients, fungi, animals (think worms), water, and, surprisingly, air. About a quarter of garden soil is made up of air. Air for the plants and animals that live in the soil and air between the particles of dirt that allows water to filter to plant roots. Without an aerated soil, your chance of growing anything is small. Some of our soil here looks marvelous. I have a patch of rich-looking black soil that I dig out to use as fill in garden low spots. There is just one problem. From the surface and down 30 cm (about 15 inches), there are no worms. None. And, no matter how good your soil looks, if there are no worms, your soil does not have enough organic nutrients (think compost again) to be healthy. Adding a commercial fertilizer will help plants grow but it won’t give you truly healthy garden soil. Understand I have no qualms about adding commercial pelleted fertilizers. No one has shown that plants can tell the difference between a prepared nitrogen molecule and one from rotted manure, but many of my friends still shudder at the mention of pelleted fertilizers. However, I do agree with organic gardening friends that only fertilizers like compost provide an environment where worms can thrive. So, how do you make healthy soil? In New York, it was dirt, peat moss, and composted manure. In Georgia, it was dirt, composted manure and soil amendment. Here in Costa Rica, because of our varied environments, from black dirt to clay to sand, we need to make a lot of local adjustments. Healthy garden soil needs few additions. Sandy soil requires solid doses of compost and even some light clay to hold moisture. And clay? I had my clay dug out to a depth of 15 cm (about 8 inches). Some of it I crushed and added to my black dirt (see above) with a lot of compost. More about these adventures in the next column. But now, the plant
If you would like to suggest a topic for this column, simply send a letter to the link above. And, for more garden tips, visit the Arenal Gardeners Facebook page. |
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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
| The contents of this page and this Web site are copyrighted by A.M. Costa Rica.com Ltda. 2014 and may not be reproduced anywhere without permission. Abstracts and fair use are permitted. Check HERE for details | ||||||
| From Page 7: Those mean with money seen as untrustworthy By
the University of Oxford news service
Humans distrust others who are mean with their money, according to the findings of a series of lab experiments conducted at Oxford University. The study participants had no face-to-face contact but played a series of interactive games. They had to make decisions about whom to trust in their dealings with other players, based on information they were given on the level of these other players' generosity in previous games. The experiments revealed that participants who had been mean with their money were trusted less, and indeed were more likely to be untrustworthy. The findings by researchers from the University of Oxford and the European University Institute, Italy are published in the journal PLOS One. |
