Something in hot chocolate
seems to keep seniors sharp


As if another reason to love chocolate was needed, it turns out hot cocoa could be good for seniors. A new study says drinking two cups of hot chocolate a day may help older brains remain sharp.

A common form of dementia is caused by problems in the supply of blood to the brain. Harvard Medical School neurologist Farzaneh Sorond wanted to understand how blood flow in the brain affected thinking skills. She studied a group of 60 older people, with an average age of 73, who did not have dementia. Eighteen, however, had impaired blood flow in their brain.

The participants drank two cups of hot cocoa a day for a month. They were given tests of memory and thinking, and Ms. Sorond used an ultrasound to measure blood flow during the tests. She found that blood flow to the working parts of the brain increased with the cognitive tasks.

By the end of the study, the participants who had impaired blood flow had significantly improved their scores on the tests, and showed an 8.3 percent improvement in blood flow. The other participants had no change in their performance and blood flow.

There is a hypothesis that the antioxidant flavanol, which is found in cocoa, helps thinking. Alzheimer's expert Paul Rosenberg, who wrote an editorial accompanying Ms. Sorond's study in the journal Neurology, said that theory, however, did not hold up.

"Her findings go against that. She tested cocoa that was rich in flavanol and poor in flavanol, and she found no difference," said Rosenberg.

Rosenberg, of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, called her study an important first step toward future studies, though, that could lead to better drugs or treatments for Alzheimer's disease.

"Dr. Sorond's a friend, so we've talked about this, and neither of us are quite ready to jump out and say, 'take cocoa.' But it's possible there may be a drug to develop that's sitting inside your cocoa," he said.



Kerry creates religion office
as part of State Department


Secretary of State John Kerry has appointed a professor of Christian ethics as the first director of the State Department’s Office of Faith-Based Community Initiatives. The new office is the outgrowth of an initiative by former secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who said it was important to engage foreign religious groups. She paid her respects at a Sufi shrine near Islamabad when she visited Pakistan in 2009.

At Wednesday’s ceremony, her successor John Kerry followed up on that point by mentioning his recent meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah. Kerry said the king recognizes that Islam has in large measure been hijacked by people who distort the faith.

“We ignore the global impact of religion, in my judgment, at our peril,” he said.

Kerry chose Christian theologian Shaun Casey to lead the new office for religious engagement. “As religious leaders and faith communities shape their environments, they also have an influence and shape our own foreign policy concerns here in the United States. It’s essential for the United States to understand them and to bring them into our diplomacy and development efforts.” 

There was considerable controversy when the Bush administration created offices for faith-based initiatives at other government agencies. Now there are again worries that such an office at the State Department could blur the line between church and state.

Kerry promised to respect that constitutionally-mandated line. “But what we are doing is guided by the conviction that we have to find ways to translate our faiths into efforts that unify for the greater good. That can be done without crossing any lines whatsoever,” he said.

Casey said he would work with the state department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, which monitors the mistreatment of religious groups abroad.



Washington Post purchase
may have tax advantages


If tax considerations played a role in Jeff Bezos' $250 million purchase of The Washington Post, he may need to reconsider his hands-off approach if he hopes to offset gains from other ventures with losses at the newspaper.
 
In announcing the deal on Monday, the 49-year-old multi-billionaire founder and chief executive of Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc told Post staff in an open letter: “I won't be leading The Washington Post day-to-day.”
 
​Bezos will stay in Seattle where he will focus on his day job as head of the world's largest online retailer. He promised to preserve the paper's journalistic tradition while driving innovation in a business facing unprecedented challenges as advertising revenue and readership decline.
 
But tax experts said on Tuesday that playing a limited role at the Post could prevent Bezos from realizing individual income tax benefits that he might be able to claim as a result of owning the Post.
 
For the first six months of the year through June, the Post's newspaper division reported an operating loss of $49.3 million, compared with a loss of $33.2 million during the same period last year.
 
Such losses could relieve Bezos of some tax burdens. For tax purposes, a business owner or partner can deduct from income any losses from operating that business. By reducing taxable income, losses can reduce a business owner's overall tax bill.
 
It was unclear how Bezos, the world's 19th richest person with a fortune of $25.2 billion, according to Forbes magazine, would manage his new businesses for tax purposes. U.S. individual tax returns are private, meaning that he has no obligation to disclose publicly how he might use the newspaper purchase to his tax advantage. His 2012 compensation from Amazon was $1.7 million. He owns nearly 19 percent of Amazon.
 
In an effort to root out tax shelters, Congress passed tax rules that prevent an individual from claiming business tax breaks without playing an active role in the business itself.
 
Before the law, “people would be passive investors in a business, the business would throw off losses and they would use depreciation losses to offset other income,” said David Kautter, managing director of the Kogod Tax Center at the Kogod School of Business at American University.
 
To realize the business tax benefits, Bezos may need to spend 500 hours a year in managing the Post's business, tax experts said, citing Internal Revenue Service rules. That comes to an average of 9.6 hours a week.
 
Such rules may influence Bezos' participation at the Post. An Amazon spokesman for Bezos did not respond to requests for comment. A Post spokeswoman declined to comment.
 
The law is murky in defining what qualifies as business activity for tax breaks, and subject to interpretation, but it generally includes making decisions and telling people what to do, experts said.
 
“A lot of it depends on how you count hours ... It's a fair amount of time you have to spend, it's not inconsequential,” said Bill Smith, a managing director with CBIZ MHM, an accounting firm.
 
The paper's operations will be kept separate from Amazon.com. The deal is notable also because Bezos bought the Post's assets, not shares in the Washington Post Company, which would not entitle him to business tax breaks. The Post's parent company will be selling some additional publishing assets, but no real estate, into a limited liability Delaware company set up for Bezos.
 
Bezos faces the same tax considerations as anyone buying a business, accountants said.
 
“This is designed so that he can save on taxes,” said David Lifson, an accountant with Crowe Horwath LLP, who advises wealthy clients. “It's no different than if he was buying a hotdog stand.”
 
For Bezos to start receiving tax benefits, he will need to add up the value of all assets, ranging from phones to printing presses. That figure will determine how much he can deduct from his income taxes as the assets get older and lose value through depreciation and amortization.
 
In the years ahead, Bezos can realize tax savings if he pours his own money into rejuvenating the business model of the Post, the seventh largest daily newspaper in the United States. Most money an individual spends on operating a business can be deducted.
 
Should the Post start making money, that would be taxed to Bezos as ordinary business income.
 
“It's a nice problem to have,” Kautter said.



Obama continues to hammer
Republicans over gridlock


The economic policy speeches President Barack Obama has been delivering in recent weeks are turning out to be blunt attacks on Republicans, with an eye toward coming fiscal battles and the 2014 congressional elections.
 
Obama's basic message across the country, most recently sounded on Tuesday in Arizona, is that while he has made great strides in improving the economy, further progress is being thwarted by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.
 
By obstructing his proposals, Republicans are hurting the nation's “most vulnerable children,” Obama said, along with farmers, the military, home-buyers, middle-class job seekers, immigrants and businesses seeking to hire immigrants.
 
From Galesburg, Illinois, to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Phoenix, Arizona, Obama has been unrelenting in tone, attacking “slash-and-burn partisanship,” “phony scandals,” and the “gutted” farm bill, all the work of Republicans now spoiling for a fight that “could plunge us back in financial crisis.”
 
Offering what he considers a moderate position on overhauling policies governing the housing industry, Obama said in Phoenix on Tuesday: “First, private capital should take a bigger role in the mortgage market. I know that's confusing to folks who call me a socialist.”
 
Republicans, equally combative, began their counterattack even before Obama hit the road July 24. “He ought to stop threatening to shut down the government unless we raise taxes,” House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said. “Americans aren't asking the question 'where are the speeches?' They're asking 'where are the jobs?”'
 
The barbs are likely to continue for some time.
 
The president and Republicans in Congress confront two major spending showdowns this fall: the first over a bill in September to continue funding the government and the second, probably in October, to raise the government's borrowing power so it can keep paying its bills.

The midterm elections, held in years when a president is not being selected, are in November 2014 and fundraising by Democrats and Republicans is well under way. Both parties need issues to inspire contributions.
 
It is normal for a president to join the fray on behalf of his party in a midterm election, though White House officials insist that beyond fundraising for Democrats, Obama is not focused at all on the 2014 races.
 
“The president is focused on using every day in office to try to advance his agenda and when it comes to affecting the outcome of the midterms, the Republicans appear to be taking the lead on that,” said a senior White House official.
 
But bit by bit, Obama is building an argument for why he feels many Republicans are willing to do damage to the U.S. economy for political gain.
 
Brad Woodhouse, head of the liberal group Americans United For Change, said Obama's speeches are helping to crystallize where the parties stand on the issues in a way that will prove helpful to Democrats in 2014.
 
“I think all of us would just prefer get the two parties together and get something done but I think it really does lay the groundwork for a foundation about priorities in midterms,” said Woodhouse.
 
The potential for a government shutdown over the budget is tricky politics for Obama. On the one hand, Americans have generally sided with the president against attempts to shut down the federal government over budget politics.
 
But on the other hand, Obama was widely viewed as the loser in the debate over $84 billion in sequestration budget cuts that began in March. In most cases, Americans have simply shrugged and gotten accustomed to the cuts.
 
This makes it essential for Obama to make sure the blame falls squarely on Republicans for a government shutdown should one occur this fall.
 
“It feels like a campaign and it feels like they are setting it up so he  can't be blamed if they go to a government shutdown,” said one Democratic loyalist.
 
While the outcome of the budget showdown could potentially help Obama politically, he still faces difficulty in turning this into votes for more Democratic lawmakers in November 2014.
 
Democrats need a net gain of 27 seats to win control of the House. They control the Senate with a 54-46 margin and may see their majority narrowed in 2014.
 
Dave Wasserman, an expert on House races at the non-partisan Cook Political Report, said he could not see how Democrats can pick up House seats in 2014, but that Obama has to make an effort to improve chances that he can get some action taken on his agenda before he turns into a lame duck president.
 
“Obama has very little choice,” he said. “The parties in Congress are so polarized that he can't reasonably search for Republican votes in the House. They simply aren't there on big ticket issues.”



Muslim major's lawyers
say he seeks death penalty


The trial of accused Fort Hood, Texas, shooter Major Nidal Hasan came to a halt Wednesday when the three standby defense attorneys assisting him told the judge Hasan is trying to get the death penalty.  The judge may have to reconsider her previous decision to allow Hasan to defend himself.

Defense attorneys appointed by the court to help defend Major Hasan asked the presiding judge, Col. Tara Osborn, to modify their role because they say the defendant is actively seeking conviction and the death penalty. Lead defense attorney Lt. Col. Kris Poppe said they should not be forced to assist him in achieving that.

Hasan expressed disagreement with the assessment by his attorneys, and Judge Osborn said she found their request confusing.  She told the attorneys who had described Hasan's performance in court as repugnant and inadequate that it could be that they just disagree with his strategy. Osborn then ordered a recess until Thursday so she could consider the matter.

Jeffrey Addicott, a military law expert at the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, says the attorneys are probably right about Hasan wanting to be executed, but adds the attorneys must also think of their professional responsibility to prevent the death penalty from being imposed on their client.

"Their very role is to protect his rights, so instead of suggesting things to Hasan, which they could as standby counsel, I believe that they are asking the judge, 'Look, we are just going to be standby, if he wants to ask us a question, we will respond to that, but we don't want to participate in a circus,"' said Addicott.

In early June, Judge Osborn granted Hasan's request to defend himself, but required his legal team to remain in court on standby to assist him with procedural questions and research.  Not having such assistance available, legal experts say, could open the way for a possible appeal later, even though Hasan chose to defend himself.  But, if the judge agrees that Hasan's handling of his own defense has been faulty, she could reverse her previous decision and bring the appointed lawyers back to full duty.

Hasan has not followed a standard defense strategy.  Several weeks ago, he asked for, and was denied, permission to use a defense of others argument that the shooting was justified as an attack on soldiers who were, in his view, fighting against Islam in Afghanistan and Iraq.  In court on Tuesday, he admitted to having committed the crime and asked few questions of witnesses in cross-examination.



Epic study follows migration
of best known butterflies


Everyone knows all about the epic breeding journey taken each year by generations of monarch butterflies between Mexico and Canada, right? Not so fast, say researchers including University of Guelph biologists.

Until now, linking adult butterflies and their birthplaces during a complicated annual migration spanning all of eastern North America and involving up to five generations of the iconic insects had eluded scientists.

Now for the first time, researchers have mapped that migration pattern across the continent over an entire breeding season. That information might help conserve a creature increasingly threatened by loss of habitat and food sources, says Tyler Flockhart, a doctoral student in the university's Department of Integrative Biology.

“This tells us where individuals go and where they’re coming from,” he said.

Flockhart is lead author of a paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B with  Ryan Norris and co-authors based in Saskatchewan, Colorado and Australia.

Their new study traced successive generations of adult monarchs to their birthplaces between the southern United States and Ontario over a single breeding season.

Before this, scientists had only a rough idea of those annual colonization patterns, said Norris, a professor. “You could have a monarch showing up in Ontario, but we didn’t know exactly where it came from.”

Tracking migration patterns is vital to understanding why monarch numbers are declining and predicting the effects on the insects of milkweed plant loss, habitat destruction and other factors, he said.

In 2012, the smallest-ever population of monarchs was recorded in their Mexican overwintering grounds. “They’ve been declining steadily,” said Flockhart.

Monarchs normally show up in southern Ontario by June or July. This summer, few had been sighted here by the end of July.

The researchers used chemical markers in butterfly wings to match “waves” of insect generations with their birthplaces. Monarch larvae eat only milkweed. The plant’s chemical signature varies from place to place, allowing scientists to pinpoint a butterfly’s birthplace by analyzing those chemical elements in its wings.

Flockhart spent summer 2011 following the northward migration and netting more than 800 monarchs for analysis. Beginning a road trip in southern Texas, he logged 35,000 kilometers across 17 states and two provinces. “As far as I know, it’s the broadest sample of monarch butterflies through an entire breeding season across North America.”

Monarch colonies overwinter in Mexico. During the breeding season beginning in April, successive generations were born in Texas and Oklahoma, then in the U.S. Midwest, and then over a broad area spanning the northeast coast and the Midwest.

One key stop is the corn belt in the U.S Midwest. There a breeding explosion sends vast numbers of adults in several directions, including to Canada, said Norris.

He said loss of milkweed plants and planting of genetically modified corn and soy in the Midwest have affected monarch survival. “If habitats in the Midwest continue to decline, then monarchs will lose the ability to expand the breeding range, including those butterflies that end up here in Ontario.”

It’s also important to protect breeding habitat in other locations, he said, including parts of southern Texas that supply future generations to breed in the Midwest.

“To lose monarchs would be a huge blow to the environment and to the public. People can easily identify monarchs. It might be the first butterfly they see or catch as a child, and it’s often the first story they hear about how animals migrate.”

Adds Flockhart: “Every school kid knows about monarchs."



Online game addiction seen
as inviting regulations


Online game companies need to be more socially responsible for over-addictive use of their products to avoid government intervention, according to a new study by Cardiff, Derby and Nottingham Trent universities.

The study, in the journal Addiction Research and Theory, was led by Shumaila Yousafzai of Cardiff Business School with psychologists Zaheer Hussain and Mark Griffiths from the University of Derby and Nottingham Trent University.

While conventional videogames have an ending, or may become boring and repetitive, multiplayer online role playing games are an inexhaustible system of goals and success, in which the character becomes stronger and richer by moving to new levels while accumulating treasures, power and weaponry.

In recent years, the problematic use of online videogames has received increased attention not only from the media, but also from psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health organizations and gamers themselves.

A number of studies from different cultures are providing evidence that around seven to 11 percent of gamers seem to be having real problems to the point that they are considered pathological gamers. Some are reported to have been playing for 40, 60, and even near 90 hours in a gaming session.

Yousafzai said: "The warning messages on the loading screens of popular online videogames raise the question of why the online videogame industry warns its players not to overuse their product. Does the videogame industry really believe that their products have addictive features that can lead to negative consequences and the functional impairment of gamers’ lives? These warning messages also suggest that the online videogame industry might know how high the percentage of over-users is, how much time gamers’ spend playing, and what specific features makes a particular game more engrossing and addictive than others. While they do not directly admit this, by showing the warning messages, they do take some responsibility into their own hands."

Hussain said: "Online game developers are already working on bringing online role playing games to consoles. This type of game is most often implicated in cases of online game overuse and, as console systems have more market share than PCs, the number of videogame addicts will increase in the coming time."

"Previous research has suggested that responsible game operators can try to help gamers improve control over their own behavior by following a three-step strategy of combining good game design with effective gamers’ care polices, and referral services," he said.

The universities’ study warns that if game companies refuse to create restraints for players and their games grow in greater popularity, then Western governments may have no choice but to follow in the steps of their Asian counterparts, who have already taken steps to reduce the potentially problematic effects of game play by limiting usage.

Griffiths added: "The proportion of gamers who develop problems and/or become addicts may stay roughly constant but as online games get better and better, and increasing numbers of people discover them, the number of addicts is most probably going to rise.

"We therefore propose to proactively approach the main online game publishers and explore options for collaboration between academics, healthcare, and the video game industry in order to provide proper referral, customer care, and information to the general public."