"Doctors Without Borders" - Malnutrition: Child Mortality Observed 50% Lower With Better Food

Doctors Without Borders   25 May 2011   

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/226397.php

Mortality rates were observed to be 50 percent lower among a large group of young children in the west African nation of Niger in 2010, after they received a highly nutritious supplemental food, according to preliminary findings in a study by the international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

The encouraging findings reinforce the need for international donors and policymakers to make high-quality foods a cornerstone of childhood health programs, especially in areas where malnutrition is rife.

Malnutrition weakens the immune system, exposing a child to higher risk of death from other illnesses, such as malaria, respiratory infections, and diarrhea. Adding a quality supplemental food to an essential package of care-including vaccination and effective treatment and prevention of primary 'killer diseases' of young children-will accelerate the fight against child mortality.

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"Terra Daily" - New level of genetic diversity in human RNA sequences uncovered

Terra Daily May 26, 2011

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/New_level_of_genetic_diversity_in_human_RNA_sequences_uncovered_999.html

A detailed comparison of DNA and RNA in human cells has uncovered a surprising number of cases where the corresponding sequences are not, as has long been assumed, identical. The RNA-DNA differences generate proteins that do not precisely match the genes that encode them.

The finding, published May 19, 2011, in Science Express, suggests that unknown cellular processes are acting on RNA to generate a sequence that is not an exact replica of the DNA from which it is copied. Vivian Cheung, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator who led the study, says the RNA-DNA differences, which were found in the 27 individuals whose genetic sequences were analyzed, are a previously unrecognized source of genetic diversity that should be taken into account in future studies.

Genes have long been considered the genetic blueprints for all of the proteins in a cell. To produce a protein, a gene's DNA sequence is copied, or transcribed, into RNA. That RNA copy specifies which amino acids will be strung together to build the corresponding protein.

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"David Korten" - 7 Ways to Stop Wall Street's Con Game

Published on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 by YES! Magazine

http://www.yesmagazine.org/blogs/david-korten/7-ways-to-stop-wall-streets-con-game

by David Korten

Wikipedia defines a “confidence trick” as “an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. The victim is known as the mark, the trickster is called a confidence man, con man, confidence trickster, or con artist, and any accomplices are known as shills. Confidence men exploit human characteristics such as greed and dishonesty.”

Ever hear a business reporter on the evening business news say, “Today, investors drive up the price of commodities to create a hundred billion in new value,” or some such? Sounds great, almost implying we should offer thanks to these champions of the public good who are risking their fortunes to expand the pool of wealth to enrich us all. The reporter is manipulating the language to set us up as marks in the Wall Street con.

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"Richard Wolff" - The Crisis Enters Year Five

TruthOut  Wednesday 25 May 2011

by: Richard D. Wolff, Richard D. Wolff's Blog [3]

http://truthout.org/crisis-enters-year-five/1306337883

The current capitalist global crisis began with the severe contraction in the housing markets in mid-2007. Therefore welcome to Year Five.  This inventory of where things stand may begin with the good news: the major banks, the stock market, and corporate profits have largely or completely “recovered” from the lows they reached early in 2009. The US dollar has fallen sharply against many currencies of countries with which the US trades and that has enabled US exports to rebound from their crisis lows.

However, the bad news is what prevails notwithstanding the political and media hypes about “recovery.” The most widely cited unemployment rate remains at 9 % for workers without jobs but looking. If instead we use the more indicative U-6 unemployment statistic of the US Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, then the rate is 15%.  The latter rate counts also those who want full-time but can only find part-time work and those who want work but have given up looking. One in six members of the US labor force brings home little or no money, burdening family and friends, using up savings, cutting back on spending, etc. At the same time, the housing market remains deeply depressed as 1.5 to 2 million home foreclosures are scheduled for 2011, separating more millions from their homes. After a short upturn, housing prices nationally have resumed their fall: one of those feared “double dips” downward is thus already under way in the economically vital housing market.

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"Tom Philpott" - What we know—and don’t know — about the safety of eating GMOs

by Tom Philpott
Grist
16 May 2011 5:53 PM
http://www.grist.org/food-safety/2011-05-16-what-we-know-and-dont-know-about-the-safety-of-eating-gmos

Are genetically modified foods safe to eat?

The conventional answer is "yes," and it's not hard to see why. Since their introduction in 1996, genetically modified (GM) or genetically engineered (GE) corn and soy seeds quickly conquered U.S. farm fields. Today, upwards of 70 percent of corn and 90 percent of soy are genetically modified, and these two crops form the basis of the conventional U.S. diet. Nor are they GM technology's only pathway onto our plates. Nearly 80 percent of U.S. cotton is now genetically engineered, and cottonseed oil has emerged as a staple fat for the food industry. (USDA has figures on this.) Canola oil -- another crop that has largely succumbed to genetic modification -- is yet another common ingredient.

Given their swift path to ubiquity, wouldn't we know by now if GMOs posed some threat? Since no obvious problems have come to the fore, some scientists -- and certainly the agrichemical industry, which dominates GM seed production -- have seen fit to declare them safe. Pamela Ronald, professor of plant pathology at the University of California, Davis, recently summed up the conventional view: "After 14 years of cultivation and a cumulative total of two billion acres planted, GE crops have not caused a single instance of harm to human health or the environment."

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Spanish Protesters Joining "World Revolution"

by grtv

In Spain's most politically conservative of cities, an unexpected and growing revolt - against the status quo, established political institutions, and against the old acceptance that nothing much will ever change.

The country's ruling party is facing growing anger over Spain's economic problems, and many people shunned the polls and chosen to protest instead.

"Ian Fletcher" - How China Plans to Leapfrog the American Economy (And it's Not What You Think)

Ian Fletcher

HUFFINGTON POST: 05/25/11 08:38 AM ET

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-fletcher/how-china-plans-to-leapfr_b_866576.html

Many Americans are already concerned about China's growing economic challenge to the United States. Indeed, the challenge itself is hardly news anymore. But a new book, Red Alert by Stephen Leeb, argues that Americans have radically misunderstood just what this challenge consists of.

Everyone who has "woken up" to the problem (i.e. not the administration, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, or the Republican leadership) understands the threat posed by China's cheap labor and low standards for everything from child labor to environmental protection. Most people who aren't hopeless laissez-faire ideologues are twigging to the fact that China's state-directed capitalism is running rings around America's private-sector capitalism right now. But what few people realize is that China has an even more radical economic strategy up its sleeve, a strategy that aims not just to equal the United States but to surpass it and quite possibly shut America out of the economic future.

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"Richard Komaiko" - Hitler and the Chinese Internet generation

By Richard Komaiko

Asia Times, May 25, 2011

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/ME25Ad01.html

On Thursday, May 19, prominent Danish film director Lars von Trier publicly expressed sympathy for Adolph Hitler. The board of directors of Cannes, the world's pre-eminent film festival, promptly announced that Von Trier was no longer welcome at the festival. [1]

This was a brave decision, especially considering that Von Trier's latest film is considered a contender for the festival's top prize. Meanwhile, an ocean away, sympathy for Hitler is proliferating, but bravery is nowhere to be found. There is a growing trend in the Chinese blogosphere to vocalize praises and expressions of support for Hitler. If Chinese authorities fail to address this problem, dangerous consequences may ensue.

The rumor
A rumor is spreading virally throughout the Middle Kingdom that asserts that Austrian-born Hitler was raised by a family of Chinese expats living in Vienna. According to the rumors, a family named Zhang found young Adolf - born on April 20, 1889, when he fell on hard times as a young man in Vienna.

They took him in, sheltered him, fed him and paid for his tuition. As a result of this assistance, Hitler held eternal gratitude and admiration for the Chinese people. The rumor also asserts that Hitler secretly supported China in World War II, and that his ultimate ambition was to conquer the world in order to share power with China, with everything west of Pakistan to be administered by the Fuhrer, and everything east of Pakistan the province of the Chinese people.

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"Robert Reich" - Paul Ryan Still Doesn’t Get It

Published on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 by RobertReich.org

http://robertreich.org/post/5836994781

by Robert Reich

Republican House Budget chief Paul Ryan still doesn’t get it. He blames Tuesday’s upset victory of Democrat Kathy Hochul over Republican Jane Corwin to represent New York’s 26^th congressional district on Democratic scare tactics.

Hochul had focused like a laser on the Republican plan to turn Medicare into vouchers that would funnel the money to private health insurers. Republicans didn’t exactly take it lying down. The National Republican Congressional Committee poured over $400,000 into the race, and Karl Rove’s American Crossroads provided Corwin an additional $700,000 of support. But the money didn’t work. Even in this traditionally Republican district – represented in the past by such GOP notables as Jack Kemp and William Miller, both of whom would become vice presidential candidates – Hochul’s message hit home.

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"Vandana Shiva" - Nuclear Insanity

By Dr. Vandana Shiva

Global Research, May 25, 2011

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=24963

Fukushima has raised, once again, the perennial questions about human fallibility and human frailty, about human hubris and man’s arrogance in thinking he can control nature. The earthquakes, the tsunami, the meltdown at Japan’s nuclear power plant are nature’s reminders of her power.

The scientific and industrial revolution was based on the idea that nature is dead, and the earth inert matter. The tragedy in Japan is a wakeup call from Mother Nature — an alarm to tell us she is alive and powerful, and that humans are powerless in her path. The ruined harbours, villages and towns, the ships, aeroplanes and cars tossed away by the angry waves as if they were tiny toys are reminders that should correct the assumption that man can dominate over nature — with technology, tools and industrial infrastructure.

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