(GiaVang.com.vn – Giá vàng Việt Nam và Thế Giới) – Nguồn tin từ Market News International trích lời 2 quan chức dấu tên của Trung quốc nói rằng nước này đang xem xét mua số lượng vàng bán ra của IMF. Bài báo cho biết quan chức của Trung quốc nói “Trung quốc đang xem xét khả năng mua lại số vàng này nếu giá cả là hợp lý (if the price is right ) “

Nguồn tin từ Market News International   trích lời 2 quan chức dấu tên của Trung quốc nói rằng nước này đang xem xét mua số lượng vàng bán ra của IMF.

Bài báo cho biết quan chức của Trung quốc nói “Trung quốc đang xem xét khả năng mua lại số vàng này nếu giá cả là hợp lý (if the price is right ) “

Trong ngày 18/9, ban điều hành IMF đã chấp thuận bán ra số lượng vàng 403.3 tấn, ước tính  sẽ trị giá khoảng 13 tỉ U$. Giá vàng sáng nay giảm xuống mức thấp 996 và sau đó tăng trở lại lên mức trên 1.000. 

Một số nhà phân tích cho rằng Trung quốc sẽ bàn bạc kế hoạch liên quan đến việc mua vàng của IMF trong kỳ hợp G20 tới đây. Tuy nhiên thị trường chưa có phản ứng đáng kể nào đối với thông tin này.

Hiện tại lượng vàng dự trữ của Trung quốc chỉ là 1,000 tấn quá nhỏ so với tỉ lệ dự trự trữ ngoại tệ của nước này.

Một quan chức của ngân hàng TW Trung quốc những người không liên quan đến các phát biểu trên cho hãng tin Reuters biết rằng Trung quốc có thể mua số vàng của IMF, tuy nhiên cần có sự giảm giá lớn. Vị quan chức này nói, về quan điểm cá nhân của tôi, Trung quốc nên mua số vàng này nhằm tăng cường an toàn cho khoản dự trữ ngoại tệ 2 ngàn tỉ U$ của mình.

IMF đang nỗ lực bán ra 1/8 lượng vàng dự trữ của mình cho các ngân hàng trung ương, tuy nhiên nếu không có thỏa thuận nào đạt được, số vàng này sẽ được bán ra thị trường.

Số vàng Trung quốc đã mua hồi đầu năm không mấy tác động đến thị trường thế giới bởi NHTW nước này chủ yếu mua từ các nhà khai thác trong nước.

Source: Trung quốc đang xem xét mua số lượng vàng bán ra của IMF

(GiaVang.com.vn – Giá vàng Việt Nam và Thế Giới) – Nguồn tin từ Market News International trích lời 2 quan chức dấu tên của Trung quốc nói rằng nước này đang xem xét mua số lượng vàng bán ra của IMF. Bài báo cho biết quan chức của Trung quốc nói “Trung quốc đang xem xét khả năng mua lại số vàng này nếu giá cả là hợp lý (if the price is right ) “

Nguồn tin từ Market News International   trích lời 2 quan chức dấu tên của Trung quốc nói rằng nước này đang xem xét mua số lượng vàng bán ra của IMF.

Bài báo cho biết quan chức của Trung quốc nói “Trung quốc đang xem xét khả năng mua lại số vàng này nếu giá cả là hợp lý (if the price is right ) “

Trong ngày 18/9, ban điều hành IMF đã chấp thuận bán ra số lượng vàng 403.3 tấn, ước tính  sẽ trị giá khoảng 13 tỉ U$. Giá vàng sáng nay giảm xuống mức thấp 996 và sau đó tăng trở lại lên mức trên 1.000. 

Một số nhà phân tích cho rằng Trung quốc sẽ bàn bạc kế hoạch liên quan đến việc mua vàng của IMF trong kỳ hợp G20 tới đây. Tuy nhiên thị trường chưa có phản ứng đáng kể nào đối với thông tin này.

Hiện tại lượng vàng dự trữ của Trung quốc chỉ là 1,000 tấn quá nhỏ so với tỉ lệ dự trự trữ ngoại tệ của nước này.

Một quan chức của ngân hàng TW Trung quốc những người không liên quan đến các phát biểu trên cho hãng tin Reuters biết rằng Trung quốc có thể mua số vàng của IMF, tuy nhiên cần có sự giảm giá lớn. Vị quan chức này nói, về quan điểm cá nhân của tôi, Trung quốc nên mua số vàng này nhằm tăng cường an toàn cho khoản dự trữ ngoại tệ 2 ngàn tỉ U$ của mình.

IMF đang nỗ lực bán ra 1/8 lượng vàng dự trữ của mình cho các ngân hàng trung ương, tuy nhiên nếu không có thỏa thuận nào đạt được, số vàng này sẽ được bán ra thị trường.

Số vàng Trung quốc đã mua hồi đầu năm không mấy tác động đến thị trường thế giới bởi NHTW nước này chủ yếu mua từ các nhà khai thác trong nước.

Source: Trung quốc đang xem xét mua số lượng vàng bán ra của IMF

Very sad.Some doctors, despite fancy degrees,make a cursory examination and arrive at a prognosis.
In this case brain activity should have been mapped or at least pupil dilation examination should have been more thorough.
It is very hard to digest that that this should happen because of inefficiency of the doctors.
Many of us regard doctors next to God, forgetting that medicine is an evolving science ; most of the treatments are exploratory in Nature and these procedures have contra indications as well;some of the medications are effective with out anybody knowing why and how it cures.Classic example is grand mal seizure .We know that this seizure is triggered by sudden increase in electrical discharges in the brain and Eption is prescribed to treat this.But none knows how it works or whether it has side effects.
Because of commercialization of medicine , neither the doctor nor the patient has the time to discuss family history of the patient;nor are the patients interested in slow and steady cure or allowing body to take care with minimal supportive treatment.
It is imperative for patients to inform and discuss with the doctor,your family history,your known allergies and your symptoms.
It is also mandatory on the part of the patients to check the medicines prescribed for contra indications.If yes, inform the doctor and have the medicine changed.Even then you should also chek up on internet about the medicine’s efficacy.This may sound tedious, but will save not only money, but your life as well.
When going for surgery check before hand the anesthesia that is about to me administered and see if it it is compatible with your system for some anesthetics are incompatible.
If you had any disease prior to surgery that has resulted in Edema(especially pulmonary), Nitrous oxide is to be shunned.
While getting tests being carried out make sure at the lab, it is done for the part for which you have problem i.e.what the doctor has prescribed and see that the report is yours when you collect it.Never depute somebody else to collect it.
Also popping pills based on advertisement or based on what your doctor has prescribed earlier ailments is dangerous.
All these jobs are to be carried out by Doctors.Unfortunately,Doctors have no time for patients for they are too busy.

Story:

Conscious but unable to communicate for 23 years after a car accident that was thought to have put him into a deep coma, a quadriplegic Belgian man has described how medical science finally put an end to his agonizing years of silence.

Now able to make himself understood via a computer and specially built keyboard, the man, Rom Houben, said in the Monday issue of the German magazine Der Spiegel that when doctors made the correct diagnosis, it was like starting a second life.

“I shall never forget the day when they discovered what was truly wrong with me — it was my second birth,” Mr. Houben, now 46, was quoted as saying.

Mr. Houben, who was an engineering student at the time of the accident, lives in a care home near Brussels. He was assumed to be in a persistent vegetative state until three years ago, when the breakthrough was made.

In the interview he recalled the aftermath of the car accident that paralyzed him and the realization that no one understood that he was fully conscious.

“I screamed, but there was nothing to hear,” he said. He added that he then became a witness to his own suffering as doctors and nurses tried to speak with him until they gave up all hope.

Using brain scanning techniques, Dr. Steven Laureys, a neurological researcher at the Liège University Hospital, discovered that Mr. Houben’s cerebral cortex was still active.

On Monday, Dr. Laureys, who recently published a paper on comas, said that as many as 4 out of 10 similar patients may have been misdiagnosed.

He also described the moment he realized, for the first time that Mr. Houben was fully conscious. “It was one of those rare moments where you really see that what you are doing is useful,” he said in a telephone interview.

“It was a very big moment not just for me but for the whole team, one of those few much-needed moments” for medical professionals.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/world/europe/24iht-coma.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a4

While monopoly media power has to be curbed, it is also imperative that Government also ensures that it does not interfere.But this is followed more in the breach.
Story:
The BBC has been holding discussions with City advisers about floating part of BBC Worldwide, its commercial arm, in response to pressure from the government and commercial rivals to dilute its media market power.

As Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust, told the Financial Times on Tuesday that he had “an open mind” about the future ownership of Worldwide, people with knowledge of the matter said a partial flotation was one of several possible outcomes, including no change to its status.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e5f8c2b8-d93c-11de-b2d5-00144feabdc0.html

I’m going to slow down posting to celebrate Thanksgiving and give myself a very much needed break. But before I do, let me mention a few things.

First, I’m the new Editor-at-Large of Consider magazine a recently resurrected weekly student publication here at Michigan. The idea is an ambitious one and I’m excited to help bring the magazine to its full potential. What I do right now is edit and write for the mag’s blog The Conversationalist. Some of my posts will be crossposted here but like my work at Gaper’s Block, some of it will be exclusively available over there.

Secondly —and maybe more impressively— Reuters blogger extraordinaire Felix Salmon was kind enough to respond to my questions on an earlier post he wrote about the Chicago Parking Meter hubub. The post is awesome except for the lack of grammar in my questions. I need to reread my writing before I send, I know, I know.

Atrocious.Whose money is this for politicians to dole out without debate and arrange it secretly?
How much more money has been paid or being to whom?What has the Treasury auditor’s doing?
Banks are operated for share holders for profits?Why should public money be paid to them for their mess?They know how to blackmail , stating that ‘investor confidence shall melt?’
The Mafia of Banks and politicians is far more dangerous than Drug cartels.
Incidentally which party and politician has received how much?

The Bank of England has revealed for the first time that it lent Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HBOS £61.6bn in emergency funding last autumn.
Bank governor Mervyn King told a committee of MPs it “was to prevent a loss of confidence spreading through the financial system as a whole”.
The money was repaid in full by January this year, he added.
A spokesman for the prime minister said it was “a powerful reminder” of how the banking system had nearly collapsed.

It was also revealed that Chancellor Alistair Darling had agreed to underwrite any losses which the Bank may have made on the loans.
The Liberal Democrats have called on Mr Darling to explain to the House of Commons why the Treasury guarantees were kept secret.
Vince Cable, the party’s Treasury spokesman, called it a “shocking cover-up”.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne said the revelations about the secret loans showed the need to reform the system of banking regulation.
“The scale of these loans raises the question of how Labour’s tripartite regulatory structure allowed these banks to come so close to collapse in the first place, and underlines the need for fundamental reform to put the Bank of England back in charge,” he said.
Secrecy
It is the first time that the central bank has detailed this support for the two institutions.

We may feel numbed these days when there is talk of the hundreds of billions of pounds in taxpayer support to the banks.
Even so, the revelation of these secret emergency loans to RBS and HBOS a year ago is breath-taking.
The Bank of England only felt it was safe to reveal this covert support now, once the ink was dry on longer-term bailout deals agreed with the banks a couple of weeks ago.
Lloyds shareholders were being asked to approve the takeover of HBOS. Yet they were not told about a Northern Rock-style cash bailout of HBOS.
The authorities argue that disclosing the loans would have caused greater disturbance to the whole system. But bank shareholders might well see it differently.
Mervyn King said the Bank was acting in its capacity as the lender of last resort.
The loans, which were given in October and November of 2008, were in addition to other financial support measures extended to the banks by the government.
The chairman of the Treasury Committee, John McFall, said that when he saw the amount there had been “a little bit of an intake of breath thinking how many universities, how many colleges, how many jobs you could support with this”.
The Bank of England said it had carefully considered the public interest case for disclosure but decided that the assistance should only be revealed “once the Bank considers that the need for secrecy has ceased”.
RBS has since signed up for the government’s Asset Protection Scheme while Lloyds Banking Group – which took over HBOS – has announced plans to raise capital from its shareholders.
The BBC’s chief economics correspondent Hugh Pym said that the £62bn of emergency loans were agreed just as shareholders were being asked to approve the takeover of HBOS. He suggested that shareholders might be unhappy at not being told earlier.
Profound challenges

In his parliamentary testimony Mr King also discussed the wider UK economy, reiterating his view that the recovery was still in the early stages.
He told the Treasury Committee that the economy still faced “profound challenges”.
Regarding the Bank’s policy of quantitative easing – pumping money into the economy to try to boost lending by the commercial banks – Adam Posen, one of Mr King’s colleagues on the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), said he hoped the initiative was “coming to an end”.
Last month, the MPC voted to increase its quantitative easing programme by a further £25bn to £200bn.
However, minutes released subsequently showed a three-way split on the decision, with seven of the nine MPC members voting for it, one wanting a larger increase in the scheme, and one calling for no additional spending.
Mr King also told MPs that he did not think there was any “immediate risk” of the UK having a credit downgrade.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8375969.stm

By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) – Financial markets did a quick about-face from the previous session’s patterns on Tuesday with stocks falling, the dollar recovering some losses and gold dropping back a bit from record highs.

Wall Street profits revive, bank bonuses may jump (Reuters)Stocks decline in early morning trading

Cent percent true.Admission of past mistakes calls for guts and statesmanship, which is absent among leaders ,if any , in Pakistan.
Major problem in Pakistan seems to be that its people are apathetic about their country, excepting during Cricket matches against India.They project to the world a people who seem to be oblivious to the problems of Militancy, Terrorism, suicide bombings,Political skulduggery,corruption, nepotism, back door entry of people to the highest office, a military which, in its passion to hate India is more a divided house than taking care of its borders, short sighted policy of engaging India with Jingoism , when in reality it can not match India in terms of progress,poverty,illiteracy,Fundamentalism and a bankrupt Country living on the doles of US(thus hawking national Honor).
Where are elite and educated?
Where are people who think for the country?
Story:

Courtesy BBC: Guest columnist Ahmed Rashid on how the real problems facing Pakistan are being sidelined by a surge of conspiracy theories

Switch on any of the dozens of satellite news channels now available in Pakistan.

You will be bombarded with talk show hosts who are mostly obsessed with demonising the elected government, trying to convince viewers of global conspiracies against Pakistan led by India and the United States or insisting that the recent campaign of suicide bomb blasts around the country is being orchestrated by foreigners rather than local militants.

Viewers may well ask where is the passionate debate about the real issues that people face – the crumbling economy, joblessness, the rising cost of living, crime and the lack of investment in health and education or settling the long-running insurgency in Balochistan province.

“ The principle obsession is when and how President Asif Ali Zardari will be replaced or sacked ”

The answer is nowhere.

One notable channel which also owns newspapers has taken it upon itself to topple the elected government and appears to hardly ever air democratic views.

Another insists that it will never air anything that is sympathetic to India, while all of them bring on pundits – often retired hardline diplomats, bureaucrats or retired Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) officers who sport Taliban-style beards and give viewers loud, angry crash courses in anti-Westernism and anti-Indianism, thereby reinforcing views already held by many.

Collapse of confidence

Pakistan is going through a multi-dimensional series of crises and a collapse of public confidence in the state.

Suicide bombers strike almost daily and the economic meltdown just seems to get worse.

But this is rarely apparent in the media, bar a handful of liberal commentators who try and give a more balanced and intellectual understanding by pulling all the problems together.

The explosion in TV channels in Urdu, English and regional languages has bought to the fore large numbers of largely untrained, semi-educated and unworldly TV talk show hosts and journalists who deem it necessary to win viewership at a time of an acute advertising crunch, by being more outrageous and sensational than the next channel.

On any given issue the public barely learns anything new nor is it presented with all sides of the argument.

Every talk show host seems to have his own agenda and their guests reflect that agenda rather than offer alternative policies.

Recently one senior retired army officer claimed that Hakimullah Mehsud – the leader of the Pakistani Taliban which is fighting the army in South Waziristan and has killed hundreds in daily suicide bombings in the past five weeks – has been whisked to safety in a US helicopter to the American-run Bagram airbase in Afghanistan.

In other words the Pakistani Taliban are American stooges, even as the same pundits admit that US-fired drone missiles are targeting the Pakistani Taliban in Waziristan.

These are just the kind of blatantly contradictory and nut-case conspiracy theories that get enormous traction on TV channels and in the media – especially when voiced by such senior former officials.

The explosion in civil society and pro-democracy movements that bought the former military regime of President Pervez Musharraf to its knees over two years has become divided, dissipated and confused about its aims and intentions.

Even when such activists do appear on TV their voices are drowned out by the conspiracy theorists who insist that every one of Pakistan’s ills are there because of interference by the US, India, Israel and Afghanistan.

The army has not helped by constantly insisting that the vicious Pakistani Taliban campaign to topple the state and install an Islamic emirate is not a local campaign waged by the dozens of extremist groups, some of whom were trained by the military in the 1990s, but the result of foreign conspiracies.

Economic crisis

Such statements by the military hardly do justice to the hundreds of young soldiers who are laying down their lives to fight the Taliban extremists.

Nor has the elected government of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) tried to alter the balance, as it is mired in ineffective governance and widespread corruption while failing to tackle the economic recession, that is admittedly partly beyond its control.

Moreover the PPP has no talking pundits, sympathetic talk show hosts or a half decent media management campaign that can attempt to refute the lies and innuendo that much of the media is now spewing out.

At present the principle obsession is when and how President Asif Ali Zardari will be replaced or sacked, although there is no apparent constitutional course available to get rid of him except for a military coup, which is unlikely.

The campaign waged by some politicians and parts of the media – with underlying pressure from the army – is all about trying to build public opinion to make Mr Zardari’s tenure untenable.

Nobody discusses the failure of the education system that is now turning out hundreds of suicide bombers, rather than doctors and engineers.

Or the collapsing and corrupt national health system that forces the poorest to seek expensive private medical treatment, or the explosion in crime or suicides by failed farmers and workers who have lost their jobs.

Pakistan cannot tackle its real problems unless the country’s leaders – military and civilian – first admit that much of the present crisis is a result of long-standing mistakes, the lack of democracy, the failure to strengthen civic institutions and the lack of investment in public services like education, even as there continues to be a massive investment in nuclear weapons and the military.

Pakistan’s crisis must be first acknowledged by officialdom and the media before solutions can be found.

The alternative is a continuation of the present paralysis where people are left confused, demoralised and angry.

Ahmed Rashid is the author of the best-selling book Taliban and, most recently, of Descent into Chaos: How the war against Islamic extremism is being lost in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Central Asia.
http://pakteahouse.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/pakistans-conspiracy-theories-stifle-debate/

November 22, 2009–A newfound creature nicknamed “Dumbo” (pictured) may look like it’s all ears–but the protrusions are actually fins that help propel the animal through the darkness 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) under the sea.

Netted during a recent Census of Marine Life (CoML) expedition to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, this Dumbo is among the thousands of deep-sea creatures the census has documented so far that live without ever knowing sunlight. Reaching six feet (two meters) in length and weighing 13 pounds (6 kilograms), the jumbo Dumbo is the largest of the octopus-like animals ever found.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/11/photogalleries/new-deep-sea-creatures-dumbo-pictures/images/primary/091122-01-new-dumbo-deep-sea_big.jpg

Cover up and buck passing begins.
The UK government “distanced itself” from talk of removing Saddam Hussein in early 2001 despite concerns about his threat, the Iraq inquiry has been told.
Sir Peter Ricketts, a top intelligence official at the time, said it was assumed it was not “our policy” despite growing talk in the US about the move.
Senior diplomats have finished their evidence on the war’s origins on the first day of public hearings.
The inquiry chairman has said he hopes to conclude his report in late 2010.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8375439.stm

<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/8376061.stm“>

Difference between Mind and Matter is one of degree ,not of kind.While mind vibrates at a higher rate, matter vibrates at a lower frequency.
Lower frequencies are associated with past experiences, higher frequencies are linked to present and Ultra high frequencies with the future.
Consciousness is a stream that is Universal.Individual variations are due to limitations of Space and Time.Mind can relate to and transcend Time and Space with proper discipline.
The exposition of this thought will take too much space;separate blog follows.
What the current studies attempt to prove and proved partially have already been practiced in Hinduism.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2009) — The human brain is bombarded with all kinds of information, from the memory of last night’s delicious dinner to the instructions from your boss at your morning meeting. But how do you “tune in” to just one thought or idea and ignore all the rest of what is going on around you, until it comes time to think of something else?

Researchers at the Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience and Centre for the Biology of Memory at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) have discovered a mechanism that the brain uses to filter out distracting thoughts to focus on a single bit of information. Their results are reported in 19 November issue of Nature.
Think of your brain like a radio: You’re turning the knob to find your favourite station, but the knob jams, and you’re stuck listening to something that’s in between stations. It’s a frustrating combination that makes it quite hard to get an update on swine flu while a Michael Jackson song wavers in and out. Staying on the right frequency is the only way to really hear what you’re after. In much the same way, the brain’s nerve cells are able to “tune in” to the right station to get exactly the information they need, says researcher Laura Colgin, who was the paper’s first author. “Just like radio stations play songs and news on different frequencies, the brain uses different frequencies of waves to send different kinds of information,” she says.
Gamma waves as information carriers
Colgin and her colleagues measured brain waves in rats, in three different parts of the hippocampus, which is a key memory center in the brain. While listening in on the rat brain wave transmissions, the researchers started to realize that there might be something more to a specific sub-set of brain waves, called gamma waves. Researchers have thought these waves are linked to the formation of consciousness, but no one really knew why their frequency differed so much from one region to another and from one moment to the next.
Information is carried on top of gamma waves, just like songs are carried by radio waves. These “carrier waves” transmit information from one brain region to another. “We found that there are slow gamma waves and fast gamma waves coming from different brain areas, just like radio stations transmit on different frequencies,” she says.
You really can “be on the same wavelength”
“You know how when you feel like you really connect with someone, you say you are on the same wavelength? When brain cells want to connect with each other, they synchronize their activity,” Colgin explains. “The cells literally tune into each other’s wavelength. We investigated how gamma waves in particular were involved in communication across cell groups in the hippocampus. What we found could be described as a radio-like system inside the brain. The lower frequencies are used to transmit memories of past experiences, and the higher frequencies are used to convey what is happening where you are right now.”
If you think of the example of the jammed radio, the way to hear what you want out of the messy signals would be to listen really hard for the latest news while trying to filter out the unwanted music. The hippocampus does this more efficiently. It simply tunes in to the right frequency to get the station it wants. As the cells tune into the station they’re after, they are actually able to filter out the other station at the same time, because its signal is being transmitted on a different frequency.
The switch
“The cells can rapidly switch their activity to tune in to the slow waves or the fast waves,” Colgin says, “but it seems as though they cannot listen to both at the exact same time. This is like when you are listening to your radio and you tune in to a frequency that is midway between two stations- you can’t understand anything- it’s just noise.” In this way, the brain cells can distinguish between an internal world of memories and a person’s current experiences. If the messages were carried on the same frequency, our perceptions of the world might be completely confused. “Your current perceptions of a place would get mixed up with your memories of how the place used to be,” Colgin says.
The cells that tune into different wavelengths work like a switch, or rather, like zapping between radio stations that are already programmed into your radio. The cells can switch back and forth between different channels several times per second. The switch allows the cells to attend to one piece at a time, sorting out what’s on your mind from what’s happening and where you are at any point in time. The researchers believe this is an underlying principle for how information is handled throughout the brain.
“This switch mechanism points to superfast routing as a general mode of information handling in the brain,” says Edvard Moser, Kavli Institute for Systems Neuroscience director. “The classical view has been that signaling inside the brain is hardwired, subject to changes caused by modification of connections between neurons. Our results suggest that the brain is a lot more flexible. Among the thousands of inputs to a given brain cell, the cell can choose to listen to some and ignore the rest and the selection of inputs is changing all the time. We believe that the gamma switch is a general principle of the brain, employed throughout the brain to enhance interregional communication.”
Can a switch malfunction explain schizophrenia?
People who are schizophrenic have problems keeping these brain signals straight. They cannot tell, for example, if they are listening to voices from people who are present or if the voices are from the memory of a movie they have seen. “We cannot tell for sure if it is this switch that is malfunctioning, but we do know that gamma waves are abnormal in schizophrenic patients,” Colgin says. “Schizophrenics’ perceptions of the world around them are mixed up, like a radio stuck between stations.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091120000140.htm

Nothing can replace physical work ,open air, sea and sky for curing depression and insomnia.Any drug,whether habit forming or not,barbiturate based or not, will cause only serious side effects.One may note people above fifty normally fall in the bath room and in most cases it is the onset of further disorders coming to the fore.Safe it is for the elderly not to lock the bathroom/toilet from inside and keep people informed in advance that the room is engaged.It is the safest prevention from calamity.I have known at least two cases of people around 50,in robust health, having had a fatal heart attack while they were in the bathroom.
Beware.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 24, 2009) — Falls among elderly people are significantly associated with several classes of drugs, including sedatives often prescribed as sleep aids and medications used to treat mood disorders, according to a study led by a University of British Columbia expert in pharmaceutical outcomes research.

The study, published Nov. 23 in the Archives of Internal Medicine, provides the latest quantitative evidence of the impact of certain classes of medication on falling among seniors. Falling and fall-related complications such as hip fractures are the fifth leading cause of death in the developed world, the study noted.
Antidepressants showed the strongest statistical association with falling, possibly because older drugs in this class have significant sedative properties. Anti-psychotics/neuroleptics often used to treat schizophrenia and other psychoses and benzodiazepines such as valium were also significantly associated with falls.
“These findings reinforce the need for judicious use of medications in elderly people at risk of falling,” says principal investigator Carlo Marra, a UBC associate professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences. “Safer alternatives, such as counseling, shorter-term or less-sedating therapies, may be more appropriate for certain conditions.”
The UBC study examined the effects of nine classes of drugs. It updated, expanded and analyzed 22 international observational studies from 1996-2007 investigating falls among people aged 60 years or older. The analysis included data on more than 79,000 participants and both prescription and over-the-counter medications.
Narcotics (painkillers) were found not to be statistically associated with falling among the classes studied, a finding that requires further research, says Marra, a Canada Research Chair in Pharmaceutical Outcomes in the Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation based in the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and a member of the Centre for Hip Health and Mobility, part of Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute.
Other medication classes studied include anti-hypertensives (used to reduce blood pressure); diuretics; beta-blockers used to treat heart conditions; and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen. “Elderly people may be more sensitive to drugs’ effects and less efficient at metabolizing medications, leading to adverse events, which in turn lead to falls,” adds Marra, who is also a research scientist at the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences at Providence Health.
Prescribing medications to seniors has increased substantially over the past decade, according to the study. For example, the BC Rx Atlas, recently published by UBC researchers, shows that more than one in seven people aged 80 or older filled at least one antidepressant prescription in 2006. In addition, determining which medication classes are associated with falls remains a challenge since seniors are often on multiple medications for multiple health conditions, with new drugs entering the market on a regular basis, says Marra.
In follow-up research, he aims to explore how pharmacists can identify patients at risk of falling and educate them about medication use to ensure their safety.
Co-authors include: Dr. Karim Khan; John Woolcott; Kathryn Richardson; Matthew Wiens; Bhavini Patel; and Judith Marin.
Research was supported (in part) by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091123171410.htm

Could this be the mutated Strains of known Bacteria whose growth /mutation may be attributed to indiscriminate use of Antibiotics?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Cases of a drug-resistant bacterial infection known as MRSA have risen by 90 percent since 1999, and they are increasingly being acquired outside hospitals, researchers reported on Tuesday.

They found two new strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — MRSA for short — were circulating in patients and they are different from the strains normally seen in hospitals.

Ramanan Laxminarayan of Princeton University in New Jersey and colleagues studied data on lab tests from a national network of 300 microbiology laboratories in the United States for their study.

“We found during 1999-2006 that the percentage of S. aureus infections resistant to methicillin increased more than 90 percent, or 10 percent a year, in outpatients admitted to U.S. hospitals,” they wrote in a report published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.

“This increase was caused almost entirely by community-acquired MRSA strains, which increased more than 33 percent annually.”

MRSA is now entrenched in U.S. hospitals. It was also known to be circulating in the community but it was not clear whether patients were carrying the infections out of hospitals, or the other way around.

Laxminarayan’s team found that many more people were being diagnosed with the community-acquired strains, and these strains were not replacing the known hospital strains. Instead, they are just adding to the overall number of MRSA cases.

“Our findings have implications for local and national policies aimed at containing and preventing MRSA,” they wrote.

For one thing, new, fast tests are needed so patients can be diagnosed and treated quickly. It is possible to treat MRSA but doctors need to know straight away so they start patients on the correct antibiotics.

“Lastly, infection control policies should take into account the role that outpatients likely play in the spread of MRSA and promote interventions that could prevent spread of MRSA from outpatient areas to inpatient areas,” they added.

MRSA is one of the most common causes of hospital-acquired infections. It can also now be picked up in schools, at fitness centers and elsewhere.

Symptoms range from abscesses to bloodborne infections that can kill quickly.

The researchers estimate that 20,000 people in the United States die each year from MRSA, and treating MRSA can range from $3,000 to more than $35,000 per case.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE5AN0N020091124

Figures do not really make one cheerful.
Apart from rise in unemployment, figures relating to investments in Commercial buildings,GDP growth and increased import do not augur well for the economy.
Another paradox is slightly increased demand should have resulted in in higher inventories as compared to slow down period;yet decrease in inventories.Does the inventory level relate to consumer products or infrastructural products like steel, cement?If it relates to consumer products it is logical that demand for consumer products to have come down.If not, infrastructural products must have picked up.As commercial building investment is less, it is obvious that the figures relate to consumer products as reflected in increased consumer demand,which is the reason for US’s economic ills.Rather than promoting infra structure, it is not good for the economy to invest on non revenue yielding consumer products.
Unless consumer product consumption is curbed and infrastructural products are given priority along with Agriculture, and less imports, the Economic slide down shall continue to haunt US.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. economy grew more slowly than first thought in the third quarter, but house prices rose for the fifth month in September and U.S. consumer confidence was up in November in data published on Thursday, suggesting a slow economic recovery is still intact.

The U.S. Commerce Department’s second estimate of third quarter economic output, published on Tuesday, showed growth at a 2.8 percent annual rate, rather than the 3.5 percent pace it estimated last month.

It was still the fastest pace since the third quarter of 2007, reflecting government fiscal stimulus, but slightly less than expectations for a growth pace of 2.9 percent.

The return to growth in the third quarter, after four straight quarters of declining output, probably ended the most painful U.S. recession in 70 years. The economy contracted at a 0.7 percent rate in the April-June period.

Gross domestic product growth was constrained by consumer spending that was not as robust as first thought, and by strong imports and weak investment in commercial buildings. But corporate profits surged as businesses raised output even as they were cutting payrolls.

“This will be a muted, slow recovery and it will be strewn with setbacks,” said T.J. Marta, chief market strategist at Marta on the Markets. “I don’t have a lot of high hopes.”

U.S. stocks opened lower, while Treasury debt prices rose slightly after the report was released.

U.S. DEMAND SATED BY IMPORTS

An upward revision to U.S. imports was one factor behind the softer than previously reported GDP figures, showing more domestic demand was sated by overseas production.

Imports jumped at 20.8 percent annual rate, the biggest gain since the second quarter of 1985, instead of 16.4 percent. They knocked 2.53 percentage points off the change in GDP.

Another drag came from the construction of nonresidential structures, which dropped at a 15.1 percent pace rather than 9 percent, as previously reported, highlighting the problems in the commercial property market and shaving just over half a percentage point off GDP growth.

Consumer spending, which normally accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, rose at a 2.9 percent rate, instead of the 3.4 percent pace reported last month. It was the biggest rise since the first quarter of 2007 and represented a turnaround from a 0.9 percent second quarter fall.

Businesses also reduced inventories at a slightly faster rate than had been anticipated. While that revision trimmed third quarter GDP growth, analysts said it helps lay the groundwork for future production.

“That sets up for a better fourth-quarter GDP with more restocking,” said John Canally, economist at LPL Financial in Boston.

Excluding inventories, GDP rose at a 1.9 percent rate instead of 2.5 percent. That marked a pickup from the 0.7 percent pace in the second quarter, but showed demand was somewhat lackluster.

After-tax corporate profits grew 13.4 percent in the third quarter, the largest gain since the first quarter of 2004 and more than double what markets had expected.

The strong profit growth reflected deep cost-cutting by companies, mostly headcount reduction, to deal with tepid demand.

Home building activity rose at a 19.5 percent rate in the third quarter, below previous estimates of 23.4 percent. It was the first time home construction contributed to GDP since 2005.

HOUSING MARKET RECOVERING TOO

A separate report on Tuesday showed U.S. home prices rose for a fifth straight month in September, the latest sign of stability in a sector that was at the heart of the recession.

The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index of home prices in 20 metropolitan areas rose 0.3 percent in September. Analysts said a tax credit for first time homebuyers helped support the market.

The 20-city index had an annual decline of 9.4 percent.

“We have seen broad improvement in home prices for most of the past six months,” David M. Blitzer, chairman of the Index Committee at S&P, said in a statement. “However, the gains in the most recent month are more modest than during the seasonally strong summer months.”

The national index for the third quarter increased 3.1 percent from the prior quarter, the same as in the second quarter, resulting in an 8.9 percent annual drop. That was a significant improvement from the 14.7 percent annual downturn reported in the prior quarter and 19 percent slump

The November extension of the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit, and the addition of a $6,500 credit for move-up buyers, should support home sales and prices in coming months, economists said.

CONSUMER CONFIDENCE UP

U.S. consumer confidence edged higher in November after an unexpected drop in October, with less consumers expressing doubt about the a worsening jobs market, according to a report from the U.S. Conference Board.

The Board’s index of consumer attitudes increased slightly to 49.5 in November from 48.7 in October.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast a reading of 53.1, matching the previous month’s figure.
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN2429697120091124?feedType=nl&feedName=ustopnewsearly&pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=11617&sp=true

WINNIPEG, Canadá (Reuters) – Algunas provincias canadienses detuvieron el uso de un lote particular de vacunas contra la influenza pandémica H1N1 después de que seis personas experimentaran reacciones alérgicas graves, informó el lunes la autoridad sanitaria del país.

La Agencia de Salud Pública de Canadá y el laboratorio GlaxoSmithKline Plc solicitaron a los gobiernos de Manitoba, Columbia Británica, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario e Isla del Príncipe Eduardo -casi la mitad de las 13 provincias canadienses- que detengan el uso de un lote de 172.000 dosis.

Seis reacciones alérgicas en un lote de ese tamaño es un porcentaje más elevado de lo habitual, dijo la portavoz de la agencia sanitaria.En general, la cantidad de reacciones alérgicas severas tras la vacunación contra la cepa de gripe H1N1 es menor a una por cada 100.000 dosis, que es la norma para las demás inmunizaciones.

Las seis personas que experimentaron estos síntomas alérgicos se recuperaron, añadió la portavoz.Manitoba recibió 63.000 dosis de ese lote de la vacuna y sólo le quedan 930, dijo una portavoz del departamento de salud provincial. Por el momento, los funcionarios sanitarios almacenaron esas dosis restantes.Las personas vacunadas con ese lote no tienen motivos para preocuparse si no padecen una reacción alérgica inmediata, añadió la portavoz.

(Reporte de Rod Nickel; Editada en español por Ana Laura Mitidieri)

Fuente http://lta.reuters.com/article/topNews/idLTASIE5AM0YJ20091123

Hope for people with Breast Cancer.
AUSTRALIAN scientists are poised to begin radical new surgery to help breast cancer victims regrow their own breasts within months, using stem cells.

The world-first trial could also revolutionise the billion-dollar international cosmetic surgery industry by allowing women to grow their own bigger natural breasts.

The experimental technique, called Neopec, could replace breast reconstructions and implants within years.

The trial offers new hope to more than 5000 Australian women who lose their breasts to cancer each year.

Five Melbourne women have been selected to undergo the procedure at St Vincent’s Hospital early next year.

The trial is believed to be just the second time in the world tissue engineering has been carried out in a human.

Bernard O’Brien Institute director Professor Wayne Morrison said using the stem cells of our own fat to regenerate body parts was a huge step forward.

If successful, the Neopec technology could be widely available to cancer patients after a three-year trial but it will probably be a decade before it could be used for cosmetic purposes.

Neopec relies on surgeons implanting a biodegradable synthetic breast-shaped chamber beneath the skin to act as a scaffold for the new breast.

They then redirect a blood vessel from the woman’s underarm to a 5ml piece of the patient’s own fat which grows to fill the space and form a new breast over four to six months.

The fat tissue stops growing when it reaches the chamber, which then degrades.

The technique has already been proven in pigs, which grew new breasts in just six weeks.

Prof Morrison said the breast replacement technique could be the tip of the iceberg.

“If it is satisfactory we could use this method to treat any type of contour defect, whether it is breast, a congenital deformity or trauma such as where someone has suddenly lost chunks of themself,” Prof Morrison said.

He also expects the research will lead to huge commercial outcomes. “We strongly believe that if this works it will replace silicone implants,” Prof Morrison said.
http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,26338832-5003426,00.html

Our unconscious is always awake to stmulii.We can hear/feel even during deep sleep.
Inthe Epic Mahabharata, Lord Krishna instructs his disciple and sister’s husband on a specific war strategy(Chakra Vyuha, a method of organizing armies in the battle field )At that time Krishna’s sister was pregnant with the child.
The child, when he became a young man, could vividly remember the details heard when he was in his mother’s womb, in the battle field.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 20, 2009) — They were in a deep sleep, yet sounds, such as a teakettle whistle and a cat’s meow, somehow penetrated their slumber.

The 25 sounds presented during the nap were reminders of earlier spatial learning, though the Northwestern University research participants were unaware of the sounds as they slept.
Yet, upon waking, memory tests showed that spatial memories had changed. The participants were more accurate in dragging an object to the correct location on a computer screen for the 25 images whose corresponding sounds were presented during sleep (such as a muffled explosion for a photo of dynamite) than for another 25 matched objects.
“The research strongly suggests that we don’t shut down our minds during deep sleep,” said John Rudoy, lead author of the study and a neuroscience Ph.D. student at Northwestern. “Rather this is an important time for consolidating memories.”
Most provocatively, the research showed that sounds can penetrate deep sleep and be used to guide rehearsal of specific information, pushing people’s consolidation of memories in one direction over another.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091119193632.htm

Oxidants cause many diseases, including heart attack.Oxidants can be avoided if deep frying is not resorted to in cooking. Recycling or using used oil again contains high level of Oxidants.Packaged snacks contain anti oxidants; but the they do not completely nullify the effect of oxidants in these products.Better avoid them.Most of the Chinese preparations have a higher quantity of oxidants.Ajonomoto used in these foods has higher level of sodium which is quite harmful
Less oil, preferably no oil in cooking is advisable and consumption of cleaned raw vegetables , especially leafy ones, are ideal for health.
ScienceDaily (Nov. 20, 2009) — Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine discovered that a dietary antioxidant found in such vegetables as broccoli and cauliflower protects cells from damage caused by chemicals generated during the body’s inflammatory response to infection and injury. The finding has implications for such inflammation-based disorders as cystic fibrosis (CF), diabetes, heart disease, and neuro degeneration.

Through cell-culture studies and a synthesis of known antioxidant biochemistry, Zhe Lu, MD, PhD , Professor of Physiology, Yanping Xu , MD, PhD , Senior Research Investigator, and Szilvia Szép , PhD, postdoctoral researcher, showed that the antioxidant thiocyanate normally existing in the body protects lung cells from injuries caused by accumulations of hydrogen peroxide and hypochlorite, the active ingredient in household bleach. These potentially harmful chemicals are made by the body as a reaction to infection and injury. In addition, thiocyanate also protects cells from hypochlorite produced in reactions involving MPO, an enzyme released from germ-fighting white blood cells during inflammation.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091116165741.htm

Die Schuldverschreibungen, von der iranischen Bank Tejarat auf 4 Jahre ausgegeben, sind nicht unbedingt ein Zeichen grenzenlosen Selbstvertrauens. Man achte auf den horrenden Zinssatz (15.5%). Da schwingt Panik mit.

Iranian refinery to issue bonds worth 2.5tn rials

Reuters – Iran’s largest refinery will start issuing bonds on Sunday worth a total of 2.5 trillion rials (about $ 250 million) to help finance expansion of gasoline production, state broadcaster IRIB reported yesterday.

Iran is the world’s fifth-largest crude exporter but lacks sufficient refining capacity to meet its gasoline needs, leaving it potentially vulnerable to any Western sanctions targeting such trade. Iran is under US and UN sanctions over its disputed nuclear program.

Iran’s Bank Tejarat will sell the bonds issued by state-owned Abadan refinery, IRIB said, making clear they would be rial-denominated debt paper. The four-year bonds would pay an annual interest of 15.5 percent, IRIB said, citing the managing director of the company advising Abadan on the issue, Amin Capital Procurement Company. Abadan is located in the country’s south-west by the Gulf.

Amin managing director Mohammad Aran also said the aim was to raise Abadan’s gasoline output by six million litres per day, without giving details or comparisons. Iran has earlier announced plans to issue bonds to help fund development of its all-important energy sector, including of the South Pars natural gas field in the Gulf.

Last Tuesday, it said it temporarily boosted gasoline output by about 30 percent to 58.5 million litres per day to show the West it can cope with any sanctions targeting its fuel imports. Domestic consumption stands at 66.5 million litres. A US Senate panel last month cleared a bill to impose sanctions on companies providing Iran with gasoline and limit other business dealings with it if negotiations fail to resolve the standoff over Iran’s nuclear activities.

Iran says its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity but the United States and other Western governments say they believe it is seeking to build an atomic bomb.

Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi said last week work was under way to boost gasoline production capacity at existing refineries by 33.5 million litres per day by 2013. A new refinery to be completed by 2014 would produce 35 million liters.

Iran has taken steps to reduce consumption of subsidized fuel, including launching a rationing scheme in mid-2007 and a government plan to end energy subsidies over five years.

For years it has struggled to develop its huge gas and oil reserves, with Western firms wary of investing in the country for fear of US and UN sanctions. Last month, the Iranian government approved a plan to issue bonds worth up to 1.5 billion euros on international markets to help finance priority development projects.

Quelle: Reuters

WASHINGTON, nov 23 (Reuters) – El Departamento del Tesoro deEstados Unidos dijo el lunes que su subasta de 44.000 millones dedólares en bonos a dos años bajo el sistema holandés obtuvo lossiguientes resultados: NOTAS A 2 AÑOS

* TASAS:
* Alta 0,802 pct
* Media 0,770 pct
* Baja 0,655 pct
* PRECIO/ACEPTACIONPrecio 99,897034/Aceptados en máximo 95,78 pctRatio cobertura de ofertas 3,16
* CANTIDADES OFRECIDAS Y ACEPTADAS (en miles de dólares)
* Total aceptado 44.000.042.200
* Ofertas públicas totales ofrecidas 138.984.692.200
* Ofertas competitivas aceptadas 43.483.420.000Ofertas no competitivas aceptadas 416.622.200
* DETALLES DE LAS NOTASFecha de emisión: nov. 30, 2009Fecha de madurez: nov. 30, 2011

Reuters reported yesterday that a buttload (yes, 5,600 constitutes a “buttload”) of hitherto undiscovered sea-creatures, including the uncreatively-named “Dumbo,” because they have flaps that look like the ears of one unfortunately named cartoon elephant. Said Robert Carney (I see a theme developing here) of Louisana State University, who co-leads a study of the ocean depths as part of a wider international Census of Marine Life (COML):

“The diversity of life in the deep sea is much, much greater than we’ve believed.”

Really? I’m a lay-person, and based on what I’ve seen of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel, I believe there’s a series of numerous buttloads (see what I did there?) out there in the ocean’s depths. Among the discovered living sea-creatures was a tubeworm filled with crud…ehr, crude. Oil that is. Apparently, life, being the wacky rapscallion it is, deemed to evolve this little guy to be able to thrive on the chemicals produced from decomposing oil.

And speaking of fossil fuels, there’s news from Africa by way of Washington where an announcement came Friday from research buddies Paul Sereno and Hans Larsson, of the University of Chicago and McGill University, respectively, detailing the discovery of three new extinct crocodile fossils. Among them were Kaprosuchus saharicus, aka “BoarCroc”; Araripesuchus rattoides, aka “RatCroc”; and Laganosuchus thaumastos, aka “PancakeCroc.” The first was found in Niger, the second in Morocco, and the third seems to have gotten around and was found in both. Said Larsson, presumably with a French-Canadian accent, of the “BoarCroc:”

“BoarCroc was a 20-foot-long meat-eater with an armored snout for ramming and three sets of dagger-shaped fangs for slicing. The tusks stuck out above and below the jaw like a modern warthog. This has never been seen before on any crocodile.”

And for good reason, this thing sounds ridiculous. No wonder the thing went extinct, the predecessors of modern crocodiles probably took one look at that thing and went “you ain’t putting your genes in me” and swam away much like girls do at the bar when I’m around…if we were in a bar…by a pool. Anyway:

PancakeCroc was also 20-feet-long, but was a squat fish-eater with, get this, a pancake-like flat head, while RatCroc was 3-feet-long and ate plants and grubs. The latter possessed a pair of buckteeth in its lower jaw, which it used to dig for food. This however bore it no dignity, and somewhere along the line it shriveled up and died.

Not Pictured: This Croc's Dignity.

So what did we learn today, class? Life presses forward, despite the mistakes it made in the past and the ridiculous names scientists press onto these poor animals. Of course, then again, they don’t have to bear the name Homo. Thanks science.