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A.M.
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Published Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, in Vol. 17, No. 199
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 199
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Direct
contract used for ankle monitors
By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
The Ministerio de Justicia y Paz said it has contracted with the Heredia utility to provide monitoring and support for the use of ankle devices for an initial 90 persons who have been ordered to house arrest. The utility, the Empresa de Servicios Públicos de Heredia, was selected in a direct award of a contract, and the ministry said this is allowed between public agencies. The Ministerio de Hacienda did the same thing with its plans for electronic invoicing, but that decision has come under fire. According to the plan, the Heredia utility will maintain around-the-clock monitoring and provide the devices at the request of the judicial. No amount was specified for the contract in a news release Thursday, but each ankle monitor costs about $800. An initial bid offering set the cost at 102.3 million colons, about $186,000. The monitor also comes with a base station that transmits monitor signals to a central point. In this case, this is Heredia. The ankle monitors will weigh no more than 180 grams or a bit more than six ounces. Right now there are 72 men and16 women ordered into home confinement. The monitors will track the location of the individual and send an alarm if the device is removed. Such devices need continual responses by humans because batteries go dead and other problems generate alarms. In addition, there is an alarm if the user removes the device. Those using the devices have complained about bruising and bleeding on the Internet, and governments have complained about losing the devices when inmates cut them off and throw them away. Country feels a bit of Matthew’s wrath By the A.M.
Costa Rica staff
Costa Ricans got a tiny taste of what the United States and other Caribbean nations are suffering when heavy afternoon rains drenched the nation. The Instituto Meteorológico Nacional said the rains were the indirect result of Hurricane Matthew, even though the category 4 storm was already off the coast of Florida after hundreds died in the Caribbean, including at least 283 on Haiti. Matthew was moving early today toward the northwest near 14 mph (22 kph), said the U.S. Hurricane Center. A turn toward the north-northwest was expected later today, and a turn toward the north is expected tonight or Saturday, the center said. The center of Matthew will be moving near or over the east coast of the Florida peninsula through tonight, and near or over the coasts of Georgia and South Carolina on Saturday, the center added. More than a dozen air flights were canceled between the United States and Costa Rica because of the storm. More cancellations are expected today. The weather institute said that rains in Costa Rica ranged up to 120 millimeters (4.7 inches) in San Pedro. Nuevo Arenal saw 85 millimeters or 3.4 inches. Moravia, San José and Cipreses had 95 millimeters or 3.75 inches. Cartago only received 45 millimeters, some 1.8 inches, but there was a lot of flooding, displacements of dirt and other problems. Some homes were flooded. In Tres Ríos a 2-and-a-half-year-old child fell into a drainage system and was swept toward a nearby river. The child was rescued because trash blocked the drainage, but the tot was hospitalized. There was plenty of flooding in the usual locations, and a few trees came down around the country. October traditionally is the wettest month of the year. More rain was predicted overnight. President Barack Obama has already declared a state of emergency for Florida and South Carolina. South Florida was spared damage because the storm did not approach. But the northern part of the state was expected to see heavier winds and rain. Florida Gov. Rick Scott has activated 3,500 National Guard troops. This is the first strong hurricane in 11 years for the state. Forecasters say the greatest danger from the storm is not the wind, but the heavy storm surge that can be as high as 4.5 meters above normal tides. The United Nations says nearly 6 million Haitians have been affected by the storm with 350,000 people needing immediate aid.
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A.M. Costa Rica Third News Page |
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San
José, Costa Rica, Friday, Oct.
7, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 199
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| Volcanic
gases might be the key to predicting eruptions,
scientists hope |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica staff
Two of Costa Rica’s famous volcanoes are subjects in a long-term scientific effort to predict when they will erupt. The project involves sampling the gases emitted by the volcanoes because the composition seems to change just before eruption. Volcano monitoring has taken giant strides forward in the last five decades, but scientists still admit they cannot predict what these active mountains may do. Better prediction might save untold millions in property and lives. The researchers point out that when the Eyafjallajökull volcano erupted in Iceland in 2010, it spewed massive ash clouds, disrupted air travel for millions of people and cost the airline industry nearly $2 billion. Better anticipation of eruptions could lower the human and economic toll of these natural phenomena, they said. Turrialba eruptions have shut down Juan Santamaría airport several times and unexpectedly inconvenienced travelers. The project is called the Deep Carbon Observatory which says it involves a network of nearly 900 multi-disciplinary scientists committed to investigating the quantities, movements, forms and origins of carbon in deep Earth. Scientists in the project are laying the foundation for improved volcanic eruption forecasts, the initiative said. These hard-won advances required expensive, dangerous expeditions to sniff gas emissions for clues, it added. “We are deploying automated monitoring stations at volcanoes around the world to measure the gases they emit,” said Tobias Fischer, a volcanologist at the University of New Mexico and leader in what is called the Deep Earth Carbon Degassing. “We measure carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and water vapor, the major gases emitted by all volcanoes on the planet,” he said. “In the hours before an eruption, we see consistent changes in the amount of carbon dioxide emitted relative to sulfur dioxide. Keeping an eye on the ratios globally via satellites and on-site monitoring helps us learn the precursors of volcanic eruptions. Monitoring these volcanic gas variations also helps us come up  Deep
Carbon Observatory
Map shows locations of
volcanoes that are being measured.
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 Universidad
de Costa Rica/Raúl Mora-Amador and Carlos
Ramírez U.
Volcanologist Tobias Fischer samples gases emitted
from a sulfur-caked fumarole on Póas volcano.with a more accurate estimate of total volcanic carbon dioxide emissions on Earth . . . .” The local researcher is Maarten de Moor and his team at the Universidad Nacional in Heredia. They have measured gas emissions at Póas and Turrialba volcanoes over several years, said the initiative. De Moor and colleagues have observed changes in gas compositions before eruptions at these volcanoes. “We’re getting more and more confident that changes in the carbon to sulfur ratio precede eruptions,” said de Moor in a report by the initiative. “Potentially, we can now see an eruption coming just by looking at gas emissions. What is truly fascinating is how dynamic these volcanoes are in their degassing and eruptive behavior. To understand the big picture of Earth degassing, we also need to understand the processes driving temporal variations in volcanic emissions.” A fact that may be startling to those Costa Rican residents suffering under the ash emissions of Turrialba is that on average, 40 volcanoes on land erupt into the atmosphere each month, while scores of others on the seafloor erupt into the ocean, the initiative reported. Researchers also reported that they have found a way to measure a rare form of helium found in magma that come out of volcanoes and helps with predictions. “Our goal of tripling the number of volcanoes monitored around the world by 2019 is no small task,” added Fischer. “Installing instruments on top of volcanoes is dangerous work in extremely hard-to-reach places.” |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fourth News page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 199
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| Popular
tests for blood sugar reported to be flawed a third of the
time |
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By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
In one-third of people with diabetes, the gold standard method for monitoring blood sugar levels is inaccurate. But scientists have found a way to fix the discrepancy, helping diabetics more effectively manage their disease. There are 422 million people with diabetes worldwide, according to World Health Organization estimates, and they face such devastating complications of the disease as blindness, kidney failure, heart disease and limb amputation. Keeping blood sugar levels in a range that's as close to normal as possible is considered the best way to reduce the likelihood that a diabetic will have to deal with those complications. But researchers from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital found in a study of 200 diabetics that the A1C test, considered the most accurate method for measuring glucose levels, is inaccurate in one in three people. The A1C offers a snapshot of blood sugar levels based on a three-month analysis of glycated hemoglobin, or the hemoglobin to which glucose is bound. The test is considered more accurate than daily blood sugar levels, which can vary minute by minute. But when scientists compared daily glucose monitoring to the A1C, they found discrepancies based on the age of the red blood cells, according to John Higgins, a professor of systems medicine at Harvard and a clinical pathologist. Red blood cells live an average of 45 days. But they live longer in some people, prompting this comparison by Higgins. "I think a simplistic analogy is just a sponge sitting on a damp counter," he said. "The more water you have on your counter, the more soaked that sponge is going to get. But also if you leave that sponge on a counter even longer, it's going to soak up even more water." |
So, the
A1C level of a person whose blood sugar seems
well-controlled day to day may actually be elevated if his
red blood cells are older. "And the opposite is true as well," said Higgins. "If someone has had a really high level of blood sugar but his blood cells are pretty young, it may look like he is fine when in fact his blood sugar's been high." When the age of each person's red blood cells was factored in, the error rate in the A1C's three-month blood sugar reading was cut in half in the study. The findings were reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine. One way to correct for the discrepancy, according to Higgins, would be for someone to briefly wear a device that continuously measures blood sugar level. The device, which uses a needle implanted under the skin, takes glucose readings every five minutes. Those hundreds of readings could then be compared with an A1C reading. With the data, the difference between daily blood sugar levels and the A1C level could be permanently corrected for in the lab. By factoring in the age of each patient's red blood cells, the method offers a more precise, individualized method of diabetes control. Most people think of personalized medicine as involving sophisticated, expensive genetics tests that help doctors tailor treatments for complex diseases. Higgins said adjusting a test for A1C is a form of personalized medicine using everyday lab tests. "I think this study shows that we can look at laboratory tests that are already being collected and measured," he said. "And if we think mathematically about the physiology leading to those measurements, we can personalize monitoring and treatment of some of these diseases already." |
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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| What we published this week: | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Earlier |
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A.M. Costa Rica's Fifth news page |
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San
José, Costa
Rica, Friday,
Oct. 7, 2016,
Vol. 17, No.
199
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 Brigham
and Women’s Hospital photo
Sgt. John Peck displays his new armsWounded Marine is
recipient
of a double-arm transplant By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A former United States Marine who lost both arms in an explosion in Afghanistan has received a double arm transplant. Sgt. John Peck, who was injured in 2010, had the operation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Peck lost both legs and his left arm as a result of the explosion. His right arm had to be amputated after it became infected. He was in a coma for three months. The 14-hour surgery was performed over the summer when the arms of a brain dead young man became available. It took a team of 60 surgeons, nurses and other technicians, according to CBS News. It will take some time before Peck will be able to use his new limbs as nerve connections can take a long time to develop. The process can be painful. “As those nerves grow back, sometimes they can give unusual sensations to people, sensations like electric shocks and sensations like burning,” Dr. Simon Talbot, the lead surgeon, told CBS. Peck confirmed the pain. “There was one night in the ICU, I was crying. I was in a lot of pain, even through all the meds I was on. I contemplated calling the doctor and being like, ‘Look, doctor, I can’t handle this pain right now. You gotta take these arms off me,’” Peck told CBS. Now, two months into his recovery, Peck’s main concern is that his body might reject the new limbs. “Any day my body can say, nope, not having it. And then go back to Brigham and get my arms re-amputated even higher than I was before,” Peck said. In the meantime, Peck is wearing braces on his new arm to protect them. It could be up to a year before sensation returns to his new fingers. Worldwide, the number of people who have received arm or hand transplants is less than 100, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. U.S. tries to restore faith in national election systems By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
With less than five weeks to go until the presidential election, U.S. officials are taking extra measures to reassure voters of the integrity of the election process, insisting it is safe from hackers despite a recent series of high-profile breaches, attempted attacks and warnings. “What people need to know about this is that our voting infrastructure is really quite resilient,” Lisa Monaco, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, told a Cyber Warfare Summit hosted by the Washington Post Thursday. “We ought to be very confident in our election system.” The reassurance comes as cybersecurity experts and U.S. lawmakers continue to blame Russia for the wave of online attacks they say are meant to undermine confidence in the Nov. 8 election. Most notable was the attack on the Democratic National Committee, which resulted in the leak of thousands of emails that embarrassed the party in the days leading up to its national convention in July and forced the resignation of its chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a congresswoman from Florida. Multiple U.S. government officials have said off the record that they believe Russia is trying to undermine confidence in the U.S. election process, though the White House has yet to publicly blame Moscow. Other sources close to the U.S. intelligence apparatus say that government employees were the ones who hacked into the system because they are concerned with Hillary Clinton’s ability to handle secrets if she becomes president. Various U.S. government agencies are adept at hacking, but it would undermine Mrs. Clinton’s campaign to acknowledge that National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon or similar opposed her, said these sources. Hence her campaign is blaming Russia. In reality, hacking the U.S. election would be incredibly difficult, since it is not federalized into a single entity. Instead, the election is spread across about 8,000 localities, with each one using its own methods, systems and rules. In many jurisdictions, the process is offline altogether. “Our system is decentralized,” said Thomas Hicks, commissioner of the Election Assistance Commission, who also spoke at the forum Thursday. “And with a decentralized system, you’d need an army of folks to try to get into the system.” But there are still vulnerabilities, as described by specialists at the cyberwarfare event Thursday. One risk is at the state and local level. Hackers have recently targeted voter registration systems in more than 20 states, the Department of Homeland Security said last week. In at least a few cases, officials said the hackers succeeded in gaining access to state voting-related systems. Responding to the threats, at least 21 states have asked for federal cybersecurity assistance, according to Homeland Security. So far there have been no reports of manipulation. But the threat is real and could be highest in the handful of so-called swing states that typically determine the winner of U.S. elections. A cybersecurity company, Carbon Black, warned last week that the battleground state of Pennsylvania could be the most at risk, in part because some parts of the state use electronic voting machines without adequate paper backup. It’s not just the voting process that is susceptible to hackers. Other parts of the U.S. election apparatus, including political parties and individual campaigns, are also at risk. Though the Democratic National Committee has so far experienced the worst of the hacking attacks, Republican Party operatives have also been targeted, according to Brett DeWitt, the senior policy adviser for cybersecurity for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Homeland Security. “Both political parties have been hacked,” DeWitt says. “They’re trying to undermine the integrity and confidence of the entire election system, Republican or Democrat.” The problem is complicated by the fact that many political campaigns and committees are traditionally reluctant to spend a major amount of money on cyber protections, instead preferring to concentrate funds into political ends. Soldiers among those indicted in sale of stolen high-tech gear By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
Six U.S. soldiers and two other men were indicted Thursday on charges of stealing and selling sensitive military equipment to foreign buyers including those from China, Russia and Ukraine. The soldiers are stationed at Fort Campbell, which straddles the Tennessee-Kentucky border. A federal grand jury in Nashville, Tennessee, indicted the eight defendants. The stolen equipment includes sniper telescopes, machine gun parts, body armor and grenade-launcher sights. The indictment accuses the six soldiers of stealing the equipment and passing it to the two civilians who allegedly resold it on eBay, an internet auction site. Among the customers were buyers in a number of foreign countries, including China, Russia, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Mexico. David Rivera, U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, said the allegations “should in no way stain the honor of the brave men and women who proudly serve in our country’s armed forces and selflessly give everything to protect America’s freedom.” Trio held on federal charges of sending technology abroad By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A U.S. citizen and two Russian nationals were arrested Thursday on charges relating to the alleged illegal export of sensitive military technology from the United States to Russia, the Justice Department said. The department said Alexey Barysheff of Brooklyn, New York, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested for illegally exporting controlled technology. Russian nationals Dmitrii Aleksandrovich Karpenko and Alexey Krutilin were simultaneously arrested on charges of conspiring with Barysheff, it said. All three were scheduled to appear in court Thursday afternoon. In its complaint, the government alleged the defendants had engaged in a conspiracy to obtain microelectronics from manufacturers and suppliers in the United States and export them to Russia while evading government controls on high-tech exports. The United States restricts the export of items it believes could significantly contribute to the military potential and weapons proliferation of other nations and undermine U.S. national security. The Justice Department said the microelectronics allegedly shipped to Russia included digital-to-analog converters and integrated circuits frequently used in a wide range of military systems, including radar and missile guidance systems. It said Barysheff had registered two companies in New York that were used as front companies to purchase and export the controlled technology, while concealing from their suppliers the intended final destination. If convicted of the charges, the defendants face up to 25 years in prison and a $1 million fine. Chinese corn seed spy given three years for export plot By the A.M. Costa Rica wire
services
A U.S. federal court has sentenced a Chinese national to three years in prison for agricultural espionage, stealing extremely valuable corn seed and sending it to China for analysis. Mo Hailong admitted his crime in a plea agreement earlier this year that enabled him to avoid a trial. The court ordered Mo to pay restitution to his victims and surrender two farms he bought as part of the conspiracy, which began in 2011. Several other Chinese suspects are believed to have fled the U.S. before they could be charged. The plot was uncovered when a security guard found Mo digging in a cornfield in the middle of Iowa, as another Chinese national waited nearby in a getaway car. The field was under guard by a subsidiary of the DuPont Corp. because it was used to grow several of the firm's most highly anticipated inbred corn seed products, not yet commercially available. Mo and his companion pretended they were researchers and fled before they could be detained. However, the situation eventually came to the attention of the FBI, which uncovered another incident where Mo and other Asian men were stopped at another farm for acting suspiciously. The men said they were visiting from China and driving across the U.S. farm belt looking at crops, in this case, another field of inbred corn seed, a genetically modified product that could be worth millions of dollars. Mo, who is 46, had permanent resident status in the United States, where he worked for a Chinese technological conglomerate, DBN, that operates a corn-seed business. "Theft of trade secrets is a serious federal crime as it harms victim companies that have invested millions of dollars and years of work toward the development of propriety technology," U.S. Attorney Kevin VanderSchel said this week before the sentence was announced. "The theft of agricultural trade secrets and other intellectual property poses a grave threat to our national economic security." Mo's lawyer said his client is sorry for his crimes, and that his chief concerns are his family and his health, following a cancer diagnosis last year. The FBI put Mo and his accomplices under surveillance beginning in early 2012, watching as they purchased large quantities of new seed products from multiple companies. Authorities learned that a small number of valuable pure inbred corn seeds could be isolated from the large quantities of hybrid seed the Chinese team acquired. Federal agents bugged a rented car used by two of the Chinese and recorded a conversation in which they discussed their activities and the possible consequences they could face. "They could treat us as spies!" one of the men exclaimed, according to the criminal complaint filed last January. "That is what we've been doing," his companion responded, speculating that they could face multiple criminal charges. Soon after that September 2012 conversation, when some of Mo's co-conspirators attempted to fly back to China, U.S. authorities broke open what appeared to be two factory-sealed bulk cartons of microwave popcorn in their luggage. Beneath a top layer of popcorn were 100 small envelopes holding corn seeds. Another traveler had corn seeds wrapped in paper napkins hidden in his packed clothes. A criminal complaint was filed against Mo in December 2013, and the case has been making its way through federal courts in Iowa since then. The other men involved in the admitted plot were released from detention some time ago, but are now being sought by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to face conspiracy charges. |
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| A.M. Costa Rica sixth news page |
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San José, Costa Rica, Friday, Oct. 7, 2016, Vol. 17, No. 199
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Cañas highway was
to reopen at 5 a.m. By
the A.M. Costa Rica staff
By 5 a.m. today workers are supposed to have repaired another hole in the infamous Río Virilla bridge on the General Cañas autopista. The Consejo Nacional de Vialidad said Thursday afternoon that the bridge would be closed until 5 a.m. today and that traffic would be routed through Heredia. Gaps keep opening up in the concrete deck of the bridge. This is the same bridge where an expansion joint has defied repair for at least five years. The government is reinforcing the span now, basically building a new bridge under the existing one with the goal of widening the four lanes to six. American football teams are recruiting Special
to A.M. Costa Rica
Eleven teams are participating this year in the newly established Union Nacional de Equipos de Football Americano. All teams are currently recruiting for 2017. The teams will become divided into three divisions for the 2017 championship calendar. This arrangement will allow for each team to play 10 times and then play against their division rivals twice. The 2017 championship calendar is from February to May. As well, several of the teams have youth categories and a few have flag football. There also are teams for women. Alphabetically listed, all team names have Facebook profiles: BUFALOS F.A. https://www.facebook.com/Bufalos-FA-847404688723127/ BULLDOGS F.A. https://www.facebook.com/BULLDOGSFootballCR/ CODEA FALCONS Football https://www.facebook.com/alajuelafalcons/ Cartago DRAGONS F.A. https://www.facebook.com/cartagodragonsfa/ San Ramon GIANTS F.A. https://www.facebook.com/San-Ramon-Giants-631499360289981/ LEONES Cartago F.C. https://www.facebook.com/cartagoFC/ CRC MUSTANGS & CRC BENGALS https://www.facebook.com/mustangscr/ https://www.facebook.com/CRC-Bengals-1742778485990305/ San José PANTHERS https://www.facebook.com/panthersdencr/ Pérez Zeledón PREDATORS F.A. https://www.facebook.com/pzpcr/ San José TITANS F.A. https://www.facebook.com/SanJoseTitansFA/ TOROS F.C. https://www.facebook.com/torosfootballclub/ Women’s (full contact) teams (independent games) ANGELS Football Team (Pérez Zeledón) https://www.facebook.com/Angels-Football-Team-1110422735660013/ CODEA FALCANS Football (Alajuela) with Touch and Flag https://www.facebook.com/alajuelafalcons/ Olympian GODDESSES CR F.A. (San José) https://www.facebook.com/goddessescr/ For inquiries in English, visit AmericanFootballCR.com or email AmericanFootballCR@gmail.com |
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| From Page 7: Backpage.com CEO facing pimping allegations By the A.M. Costa Rica
wire services
Police in Texas have arrested the CEO of the online advertising Web site Backpage.com and raided the company’s offices on charges of prostitution and sex trafficking. CEO Carl Ferrer was arrested on a California warrant after arriving in Houston, Texas, on a flight from Amsterdam. California Attorney General Kamala Harris accused Ferrer and his partners of setting up the world’s top online brothel and aiding criminals who used the site to advertise prostitutes. “Raking in millions of dollars from the trafficking and exploitation of vulnerable victims is outrageous, despicable and illegal,” Harris said in a statement. Backpage.com is primarily used to host advertisements for adult escorts, but is also used to advertise goods, services and jobs. Internal revenue reports obtained by the attorney general’s office show Backpage.com made 99 percent of its revenue between January 2013 and March 2015 from its adult advertisements, according to the statement. During that time, the company made around $51 million in revenue just in the state of California. The charges came after a three-year investigation, in which the California Department of Justice used undercover agents to set up meetings with people who advertised in the escort section to confirm the meetings were arranged for commercial sex. Ferrer, along with Michael Lacey and James Larkin, controlling shareholders of Backpage, were all charged with conspiracy to commit pimping, a felony. Ferrer also received charges for pimping a minor, as some of the prostitution ads were for victims younger than 18, according to Harris’ office. |
