>>>breaking news out of
south africa
,
oscar pistorius
and his legal team filing an appeal of bail restrictions imposed in his murder case. rohit castro in johannesburg good morning.
>> reporter: good morning, freedom but with conditions and his lawyers are returning to the court to try to challenge those conditions. they are too stringent, the order says he's not allowed to travel overseas, he was made to hand in his passport but his lawyers say he presents no flight risk. his trainer says he has no intention for traveling aboard for training or to compete on the track and the ruling that says he shouldn't be allowed to return to his luxurious home to his home in pretoria, as well as he shouldn't be allowed to drink alcohol. friends say he's incredibly distraught, spending a great deal at his uncle's home reading the bible, now due to return to the court in june but as part of this challenge his lawyers may be returning to the court much sooner than that.
>>nbc's rohit kachroo in johannesbu johannesburg, thank you very much.
House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., holds up a copy of the House Budget Committee 2014 Budget Resolution as he speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., holds up a copy of the House Budget Committee 2014 Budget Resolution as he speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
President Barack Obama, escorted by Senate Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer, waves as he arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 12, 2013, to visit with Senate Democrats in the first of four meetings with lawmakers this week to discuss the budget. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., gestures as he speaks about the 2014 Budget Resolution, Tuesday, March 12, 2013, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
One of President Barack Obama's motorcade vehicles is seen parked in front of the US Capitol Building in Washington, Tuesday, March 12, 2013. Obama traveled to Capitol Hill to visit with Senate Democrats in the first of four meetings with lawmakers this week to discuss the budget. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Barack Obama, escorted by Senate Sergeant at Arms Terry Gainer, waves as he arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, March 12, 2013, to visit with Senate Democrats in the first of four meetings with lawmakers this week to discuss the budget. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? House Republicans redoubled their efforts to roll back signature accomplishments of President Barack Obama on Tuesday, offering a slashing budget plan that would repeal new health care subsidies and cut spending across a wide swath of programs dear to Obama and his Democratic allies.
The GOP plan was immediately rejected by the White House as an approach that "just doesn't add up" and would harm America's middle class. Obama said the plan would "slash deeply" into programs such as Medicaid.
Obama has rebuffed similar GOP plans two years in a row and ran strongly against the ideas when winning re-election last year ? when its chief author, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., was on the Republican ticket.
Ryan's budget illustrates the stark differences in the visions of tea party-backed Republicans and Obama and his Democratic allies about the size and role of government ? with no obvious avenues for compromise.
Obama, in an ABC-TV interview Tuesday, said he would not seek to balance the federal budget in 10 years, as Ryan's plan attempts to do, when he submits his fiscal blueprint to Congress next month.
"My goal is not to chase a balanced budget just for the sake of balance," he said. "My goal is how do we grow the economy, put people back to work, and if we do that we are going to be bringing in more revenue."
Senate Democrats are responding with a plan that would repeal automatic spending cuts that began to take effect earlier this month while offering $100 billion in new spending for infrastructure and job training. The Democratic counter won't be officially unveiled until Wednesday, but its rough outlines were described by aides. They spoke only on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to describe it publicly.
That plan by Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., would raise taxes by almost $1 trillion over a decade and cut spending by almost $1 trillion over the same period. But more than half of the combined deficit savings would be used to repeal the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that began to hit the economy earlier this month and are slated to continue through the decade.
All this was in the works as Obama trekked to the Capitol to join Senate Democrats for their weekly closed-door policy luncheon as part of his bipartisan outreach efforts to lawmakers in both House and Senate on the budget. Obama is pressing for a "grand bargain" that would attract more moderate elements from both parties ? even as this week's competing budget presentations are tailored to appeal strictly along party lines.
Obama meets with House Republicans on Wednesday.
At issue is the arcane and partisan congressional budget process, which involves a unique, non-binding measure called a budget resolution. When the process works as designed ? which is rarely ? budget resolutions have the potential to stake out parameters for follow-up legislation specifying spending and rewriting the complex U.S. tax code.
But this year's dueling GOP and Democratic budget proposals are more about defining political differences ? as if last year's elections didn't do enough of that ? than charting a path toward a solution.
"If you look at the two budgets, there's not a lot of overlap," said Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, top Democrat on the Budget Committee. He said the lack of "common ground" makes it necessary to make uncomfortable compromises.
One such compromise might be to adopt a stingier inflation adjustment for Social Security cost-of-living increases and the indexing of income tax brackets. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, pressed for the new inflation measure in both sets of his failed previous budget negotiations with Obama, and the idea was favorably discussed in the "supercommittee" negotiations chaired by Murray in the fall of 2010.
But this "chained CPI" idea is nowhere to be found in either the Ryan or Murray budgets. Obama did propose the idea in his meeting with Senate Democrats ? but only as an element of a broader deficit-reduction pact in which Republicans would yield on approving new tax revenues.
"The president was pretty clear that there are pieces of the Social Security system he is willing to talk about. But he's going to need some give from Republicans, as we all are," said Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.
Though White House officials say Obama would still propose the inflation measure as part of a big deal, on Tuesday they refused to say whether the president would include chained CPI in the fiscal blueprint he's expected to deliver in April.
Driving the House GOP plan is a promise to pass a budget that would balance the government's books, which the measure would achieve by cutting $756 billion over 10 years from the Medicaid health program for the poor and disabled, cutting deeply into the day-to-day budgets of domestic agencies and repealing new health coverage subsidies enacted two years ago with Obama's signature health care bill.
In last year's presidential campaign, Ryan ran against both Obama's promise to raise tax rates on the wealthy and more than $700 billion worth of cuts to Medicare providers. But now, Ryan claims that money to help balance the budget ? as well as about $1 trillion in taxes over a decade passed by Democrats as part of Obama's health care overhaul.
"We're not going to refight the past, because we know that that's behind us," Ryan told reporters on Tuesday.
Ryan is moving on to a new battle over the annual cap for the 12 spending bills that Congress is supposed to pass each year. His budget assumes that the $1 trillion in savings over the coming nine years from controversial automatic spending cuts, just now starting, much of the money coming from the day-to-day agency budgets for the Pentagon and domestic agencies, will stay in effect.
Ryan, however, would restore those cuts to the Pentagon and instead makes domestic agencies absorb them. This double-whammy means, for instance, that non-defense appropriations would be limited to $414 billion next year ? which is $55 billion below the caps already mandated under the automatic cuts. That would likely mean gridlock when it comes time to advance appropriations bills this summer.
Ryan's plan promises to cut the deficit from $845 billion this year to $528 billion in the 2014 budget year that starts in October. The deficit would drop to $125 billion in 2015 and hover pretty much near balance for several years before registering a $7 billion surplus in 2023.
The White House weighed in against the Ryan plan, saying it would turn Medicare into a voucher program and protect the wealthy from tax increases.
"While the House Republican budget aims to reduce the deficit, the math just doesn't add up," said White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. "Deficit reduction that asks nothing from the wealthiest Americans has serious consequences for the middle class."
Ryan has also revived a controversial plan that would, starting in 2024 for workers born in 1959 or after, replace traditional Medicare with a voucher-like government subsidy for people to buy health insurance on the open market. Critics of the plan say the subsidies wouldn't grow with inflation fast enough and would shove thousands of dollars in higher premiums onto seniors before very long.
Meanwhile, the Senate turned Tuesday to a bipartisan, almost 600-page measure for the ongoing fiscal year that serves as the legislative vehicle to fund the day-to-day operations of government through Sept. 30 ? and prevent a government shutdown when current funding runs out March 27.
Sens. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., and John McCain, R-Ariz., held up the official start of debate on the measure, complaining that they hadn't had enough time to scrutinize it. The two are longtime thorns in the side of senators on the powerful Appropriations Committee.
March 12, 2013: Today's leading on-line learning presentation at the annual conference of the California Charter Schools Association (meeting in San Diego) "Blended Learning's Impact on Character," ?featured Kallie Berg, San Brewer and Peter McIntosh from Oakland Unity High School and Maureen Suhendra (at left, in a volunteer teaching job in Indonesia) of the Khan Academy.
In [Oakland Unity's] efforts to close students' skill gaps with our Khan Academy math program, we have found that we are in fact addressing a character gap. Do our students bring character issues into the classroom (irresponsibility, lack of effort, low confidence)? What caused this character gap? How does it impact education? What role does online learning, and Khan in particular, play in fixing this character gap? OUHS has demonstrated the largest growth in 9th grade Algebra CST performance in California over the last two years.
The Khan Academy, which runs a total above its logo a la the old McDonalds -- 245,943,747 lessons delivered, it read this morning -- is a nonprofit organization "with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere..." Its library includes over 4,000 videos on K-12 math and science ("and even reaches into the humanities with playlists on finance and history"). The videos are 10-minutes long, designed to be viewed on computers, iPads, and smartphones.
A second break-out session this afternoon, "Open, Free and Cheap: It Just Keeps Getting Better," is a panel discussion lead by Mark Miller of Learningtech?(educational technology consulting services); with Bernard Golden of Navica, and Phil and Kathleen Hermsmeyer of?River Springs Charter?(Temecula; Riverside County).?Tools and resources to foster individualized learning, online productivity, creativity, cloud-based collaboration, and world-class free content will be highlighted.
River Springs has individualized learning programs, focuses on one-to-one teaching, has student centers at various locations ("the entire community serves are the school campus"), and uses mixes of classroom teaching, on-line instruction, and home-schooling.
This undated photo provided by Paul Hanson shows his sister, Dianna Hanson. Dianna Hanson, a 24-year-old intern at the Cat Haven in Dunlap, Calif., was mauled to death by a lion at the exotic animal park on Wednesday, March 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Hanson)
This undated photo provided by Paul Hanson shows his sister, Dianna Hanson. Dianna Hanson, a 24-year-old intern at the Cat Haven in Dunlap, Calif., was mauled to death by a lion at the exotic animal park on Wednesday, March 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Hanson)
This Oct. 12, 2012 photo released by JP Marketing shows a 4-year-old male African lion named Couscous at Cat Haven, a private wild animal park in Dunlap, Calif. Authorities say the lion killed a female intern-volunteer on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, at Cat Haven, where the cat had been raised since it was a cub. The intern was attacked and fatally injured after getting into an enclosure with the lion, Fresno County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Collins said. (AP Photo/JP Marketing, Vicken Massoyan)
This 2012 photo provided by the KFSN-TV shows a 4-year-old male African lion named Couscous at Cat Haven, a private wild animal park in Dunlap, Calif. Authorities say the lion killed a female intern-volunteer on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, at Cat Haven, where the cat had been raised since it was a cub. The intern was attacked and fatally injured after getting into an enclosure with the lion, Fresno County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Collins said. (AP Photo/KFSN-TV) OUT KGPE, KSEE, KMPH, KFTV; FRESNO BEE OUT, VISALIA TIMES-DELTA OUT
This 2012 photo provided by KFSN-TV shows a 4-year-old male African lion named Couscous at Cat Haven, a private wild animal park in Dunlap, Calif. Authorities say the lion killed a female intern-volunteer on Wednesday, March 6, 2013, at Cat Haven, where the cat had been raised since it was a cub. The intern was attacked and fatally injured after getting into an enclosure with the lion, Fresno County sheriff's Sgt. Greg Collins said. (AP Photo/KFSN-TV) OUT KGPE, KSEE, KMPH, KFTV; FRESNO BEE OUT, VISALIA TIMES-DELTA OUT
Dale Anderson, founder of Project Survival Cat Haven near Dunlap, Calif. speaks to the media Thursday, March 7 2013 a day after Cat Haven sanctuary worker Dianna Hanson, 24, died from a lion attack. (AP Photo/Eric Paul Zamora, The Fresno Bee)
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) ? Family members of the young woman killed in a lion attack at a Central California animal park say they believe no rules were broken and the volunteer worker's death was a tragic accident.
Investigators think the 550-pound male African lion lifted the door of a partially closed feeding cage with its paw and killed 24-year-old Dianna Hanson as she cleaned a bigger enclosure area Wednesday, Fresno County Coroner David Hadden has said.
Hanson died immediately from a broken neck, according to the coroner's autopsy report. Other injuries were sustained after her death, the report states.
Family members say they're relieved the young woman was killed instantly when the lion swiped or lunged at her at Cat Haven, a 100-acre private zoo run by the nonprofit group Project Survival.
"We're thankful to know she didn't suffer," Hanson's brother, Paul R. Hanson, told The Associated Press.
Family members said Friday they don't believe it was a mauling, but rather a lion's rough play that turned tragic.
"It sounds like it was an accident. Maybe the latch had not been completely closed. ... You know, house cats are smart, they can open doors," Paul Hanson said. "It wasn't a vicious attack ... because you would expect severe lacerations and biting on the neck and that was not the case."
Paul Hanson and his wife Tiffany Windle-Hanson, who was the victim's college roommate, believe the facility followed safety protocols.
"It was just a tragic accident," Windle-Hanson said.
Investigators were focusing on the cage door that the 5-year-old animal managed to escape through to reach the volunteer intern.
"The lion had been fed, the young woman was cleaning the large enclosure, and the lion was in the small cage," Hadden said. "The gate of the cage was partially open, which allowed the lion called Cous Cous to lift it up with his paw."
Hadden said the lion then ran at Hanson.
The coroner said Hanson was talking with a co-worker on a cellphone in the moments before she was killed. The co-worker became concerned when the conversation ended abruptly and Hanson failed to call back. The co-worker then called authorities when she went to check on Hanson.
Family members say Hanson was actually using a walkie-talkie, which they understood to be the policy at the animal park.
"She wasn't distracted, she wasn't like that," Windle-Hanson said. "It's a safety protocol to have walkie-talkies there, which is important in case a situation like this occurs."
Sheriff's deputies shot Cous Cous after the animal couldn't be coaxed away from Hanson's body.
Hanson had been working for two months as an intern at Cat Haven.
Her father, Paul Hanson, described his daughter as a "fearless" lover of big cats and said her goal was to work with the animals at an accredited zoo. She died doing what she loves, he said.
Hanson's Facebook page is plastered with photos of her petting tigers and other big cats. She told her father she was frustrated that Cat Haven did not allow direct contact with animals.
"Dianna had a tremendous respect for big cats. It's something she wanted to do since she was 3 years old," said Dianna Hanson's aunt, Karen Postema, who lives in Laurel, Mont.
"She was a vivacious, terrific kid, and we are heartbroken about her death," she said. "But we wanted people to know that she loved what she was doing, and we don't want this accident to cast dispersions on her character or hurt the program at Cat Haven."
Dale Anderson, the owner of the zoo, said safety protocols were in place but he would not discuss them because they are a part of the law enforcement investigation.
Anderson said he's the only person allowed in the enclosure when lions are present.
"We want to assure the community that we have followed all safety protocols," Anderson said. "We have been incident-free since 1998."
He said the facility will reopen to the public Sunday.
When the attack occurred, Anderson said he and two other Cat Haven workers had left to take a cheetah to exhibit at a school. Hanson and another worker remained at the facility.
Whether Hanson was performing a function that placed her in danger is being investigated by Cal-OSHA, which also is trying to determine if employees were properly instructed about potential danger, as required.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which enforces the federal Animal Welfare Act, is also looking to understand why the lion turned on the intern.
USDA inspectors conduct multiple unannounced inspections of Cat Haven every year and never had found a violation, Sacks said. Federal regulations pertain only to animal treatment.
Cat Haven breeds and keeps lions, tigers, jaguars, lynx and other exotic cats and takes them out for public appearances. There are 29 wild cats left at the park, including one female lion that lived with Cous Cous in the same enclosure.
On Friday, Hanson's family announced that a fund has been set up in her memory and urged people to donate to the wildlife organizations she loved, including Cat Haven.
Former and current presidents of the Maldives have highlighted the importance of gender equality to national development on the occasion of International World Women?s Day on March 8.
President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, as well as former Presidents Mohamed Nasheed and Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, have all spoken during the last two days on the importance of addressing gender related issues in the Maldives in areas such as domestic abuse and education.
The comments have been made as local independent institutions and civil society groups have alleged that the country has seen a regression in the rights of women and minors in recent years.
Local NGO Voice of Women, which claims to work as an umbrella group supporting other female-focused organisations in the Maldives, said that despite increased participation of women in political activities, there had been a perceived regression in the rights of females and children during the last year.
?The institutions in place to protect them have instead targeted them directly or let them down passively due to inaction,? read a statement by the NGO.
?Experience shows that countries cannot build a true democracy without the full and unhindered participation of fifty percent of our population; today we take the opportunity to recognize the courage and valiantness of the Maldivian women who are fighting against all odds and often times against the most harsh discrimination without taking a single step back, pressing for political reform and to establish a fair democracy in the country.?
The NGO?s statement was particularly critical of the treatment of women under the administration of President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik, which in recent months has pledged to review laws that it claims have previously victimised women and minors who are victims of sexual abuse.
?The government is unable to destroy the unwavering spirit and determination of the Maldivian women who are confronted with batons, kicked with boots, handcuffed, stomped with shields, pepper sprayed directly into the eyes, and water cannoned while peacefully protesting on the streets or jailed without charges, sexually abused and humiliated while in custody; these heroic women continue to fight for their rights, rights of their children, rights of their children?s children,? the Voice for Women statement claimed.
?They continue to fight for the freedom of their country, for justice, for peace and for democracy.?
Back in April last year,?parliament passed the Domestic Violence Bill with broad cross party support as part of efforts to provide a legal framework to protect victims from domestic abuse through protective orders and improved monitoring mechanisms.
In a statement released yesterday addressing the rights of females, President Waheed delivered his best wishes to all women in the Maldives.
?The International Women?s Day is being marked to reflect on the status of women, assess their empowerment, advocate for greater opportunities for women to progress, and seek the support for all for those ends,? read a President?s Office statement.
?It is a high priority of the Maldivian government to support efforts in attaining gender equality in the society.?The President highlighted women?s increasing contribution to national development. The increase in women?s contributions to and participation in the development of the country showed the change in the outlook of the people on gender related issues.?
Former presidents speak
Speaking Thursday (March 7) ahead of International Women?s Day, former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom said that under Islam, men and women were considered equal. He therefore requested an end to the practice of gender discrimination, particularly in obtaining education.
Local newspaper Haveeru quoted Gayoom, who is currently the president of the government-aligned Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), as saying that some Maldivian females continued to be denied the opportunity to undertake higher education by their families.
He claimed that ?misguided religious beliefs? were often behind such gender discrimination.
Meanwhile, former President Mohamed Nasheed was quoted in local media yesterday as calling for a change in how Maldivian men perceived women in general.
According to the Sun Online news agency, Nasheed told Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) supporters gathered at the Dharubaaruge convention centre in Male? that greater efforts needed to be made in empowering women ?in all areas?.
?Not just because of efforts made by a gender ministry, but through transport ministry as well as health ministry as well as education ministry. We need to incorporate women into our main policies,? he was reported to have said.
Nasheed also called for new methods of protecting women against abuse during his address.
?Conservative? attitudes
Despite the calls of some of the nation?s most senior political figures, a recent national study found support for women?s equality was found to have experienced a ?significant drop? despite overall progress in improving the human rights situation nationally.
The conclusions were made in the Human Rights Commission of the Maldives (HRCM?s) second baseline?survey on behaviours?and attitudes regarding human rights in the Maldives, which was published December 10, 2012.
Male attitudes have become ?more conservative? regarding women?s rights issues, whereas female views have become more supportive of rights in some areas, was one of the conclusions raised in the The??Rights? Side of Life? [report].
Former New York City police officer Gilberto Valle, dubbed by local media the "Cannibal Cop," cries during his trial in this courtroom sketch in New York, March 7, 2013.
Reuters
NEW YORK CITY?One day last summer, New York City police officer and accused cannibal-sex plotter Gilberto Valle typed this phrase into Google: sound you make with the knife before carving.
"That is not normal," assistant U.S. attorney Randall Jackson tells a packed courtroom Thursday, as this troubling two-week trial draws to a close. In the government's version of the facts, Valle had been working up "practical and strategic" plans to kidnap, rape, torture, kill, and eat several women, including his own wife. This Google search shows he was looking for audio clips of knives being sharpened, utensils clanking, or whatever else might serve to whet his violent appetite. "Officer Valle is a sexually sadistic individual," Jackson concludes. "This is a man who is sick."
But if Valle suffers from a mental illness, no one talks about a treatment. On Thursday, the jury in the Cannibal Cop case began its deliberations. If they choose to convict, the 28-year-old father may spend the rest of his life in prison. In the view of Jackson and his fellow prosecutor Hadassah Waxman, this would make the world a safer place. "That the women were not actually kidnapped is incredibly fortunate," said Waxman in the opening of the government's summation. The defendant never touched his victims, nor did he ever buy the large cooking tray, the largest cooking tray, the huge cooking tray, or the smoker grill for which he'd also searched online. He never squirreled away a coil of rope or jar of chloroform, as he said he'd do in online chats. He never built a pulley apparatus in his basement, or bought a cabin in the mountains, as he'd also claimed to his alleged co-conspirators. Yet the government saw him as a serial killer in waiting.
The fact of Valle's failure as a kidnapper and a flesh-eater has no bearing on his guilt, of course. Some laws exist to prevent crimes before they happen, Jackson explains. As an example, he cites DUI arrests: Even if a drunken driver doesn?t end up in an accident, he puts everyone on the road at risk. The jury is left to probe the limits of this analogy?is Valle really like an inebriated motorist? A driver on the highway can be tested with a Breathalyzer: If he's above a certain threshold, then he's deemed a menace. But what about the sexual sadist whose mind is full of fantasy? How do you decide when those thoughts have gone too far?
That's what makes this case so confusing and upsetting. If Valle really planned to kill his wife and friends, then he's guilty of an enormous crime. But if he didn't plan to kill them?if this was just intense role-playing, as his lawyers have alleged?then he is completely innocent. There's no hazy middle ground, no legal space in which a drunken driver, for example, might be a little buzzed but not so blitzed that he's declared a danger to society. But Gilberto Valle must be one thing or the other. He's a monster or a martyr. There is no in-between.
The defendant shows up Thursday morning in his dark-gray suit. Right before he sits he takes a breath, puffing out his cherubic cheeks in a deep exhale. On Wednesday afternoon, as his lawyers wrapped up their modest case, Valle pinched his nose and wiped away a tear. Now his lawyer, Julia Gatto, tells the jury that his life is ruined. "He's lost everything," she says, and shows a photo of the officer in his uniform, holding up the baby girl that Valle's wife has whisked away to Reno, Nev. Valle begins to cry.
Gatto's closing claims that Valle is a decent guy who has indecent thoughts. The problem is the mooks in law enforcement who aren't hip to S&M. Valle's online life is nasty, she concedes. We've seen his porn in open court?the ultimate embarrassment for any modern man?and Valle's stash is pretty gnarly: He's looked at autopsy photos of women slashed and shot; scenes of people roasting on a spit; a video of a girl who's chained at hand and foot, with a tattoo and belly-button stud, crying out as a candle-flame effect pretends to burn her crotch. "It's gross, no dispute," says Gatto, but "the government simply doesn't understand what fantasy role-play is."
She singles out FBI special agent Corey Walsh for this attack, all but calling him a square. He's the one who went through Valle's hard drive and testified last week. "[Walsh] didn't understand that stories come in different forms," Gatto says. When the agent uncovered Valle's online chats, detailing gruesome plans to rape and kill, he split the records into piles. According to his G-man logic, 21 of 24 were fake. Though the acts described therein were violent and illegal, Valle made it clear he wasn't serious. He negotiated prices for a kidnapping, and described how he would use chloroform and rope to carry out the crime. He posted photos of his wife and friends, and offered them for sale. But he also gave disclaimers: "No matter what I say, it's make-believe," Valle wrote to one fetish friend. "I just have a world in my mind," he told another, "and in that world I am kidnapping women and selling them."
But the remaining chats?three of them?didn't have those all-important caveats. At one point Valle's partner asked him, "ARE YOU REALLY RAELLY [sic] INTO IT?" Valle typed that he was. "I am just afraid of getting caught," he said. He'd kill and eat a girl if he could.
The government cites these back-and-forths as evidence that Valle meant to carry out his plans. Gatto says that fantasists are prone to fantasizing that their fantasies are real. It's like "dark improv theater," she explains: If someone asks you, "Are you for real?" then you have to say "yes" or the scene is over. Valle didn't pause to disavow his plans in these three chats, but that doesn't prove they're real. Over and over again in her summation, Gatto reminds the jury that "80 percent" of Valle's chats were designated as "fantasy." It's a funny piece of rhetoric, since it makes it sound as though the rest might be genuine. Also, it's inaccurate: Agent Walsh assigned 21 of 24 to the fantasy pile?88 percent.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) In Catholic theology, as in the popular imagination, the closed-door conclave to elect a new pope is supposed to be guided by the Holy Spirit.
There's no horse-trading or lobbying, no insider deal-making or outside influences allowed. Just red-robed cardinals solemnly entering the Sistine Chapel, accompanied only by prayers and their consciences, sitting beneath Michelangelo's fresco of the Last Judgment and discerning God's will on who should be the next successor to St. Peter.
At least that's the theory. The last millennium has shown that papal elections can be fraught with politics or worse, and can take months or even years of wrangling to reach a resolution.
In the past century, however, as both security and secrecy improved, papal elections have swung sharply in the direction of brevity; since 1903, conclaves have averaged a mere three days in duration, and some -- including the last one, in 2005 -- lasted a mere 24 hours.
What accounts for this historic shift? While the Holy Spirit may be getting more efficient, behavioral scientists and church experts argue that a new group dynamic is playing a growing role as well, and that the "bandwagon effect" is now proving as powerful as any sacred (or profane) electioneering did before.
That's the upshot of a 2006 study by an Australian researcher who analyzed the voting patterns from seven conclaves in the 20th century (reconstructed from leaks that emerged afterwards). The study found that cardinals who changed their minds did so chiefly because they saw the votes tipping toward a single candidate and went with the expected winner.
These "strategic" voters -- as opposed to "sincere" voters who backed the same person through each ballot -- thus pushed the conclave to a speedier-than-expected resolution, according to J.T. Toman, an expert in econometrics at the University of Sydney and author of the paper, The Papal Conclave: How do Cardinals Divine the Will of God?
"There are two sources of information in the conclave cardinals could use to estimate the probability of election success for a cardinal: the observed vote counts and the verbal communications that occur at lunch and in the evenings," Toman wrote.
At the end of the day, she said, the subtle arm-twisting over coffee or cocktails didn't matter so much. Instead, "the observed vote tallies" proved to be "the dominant force" in rallying the cardinals around a single candidate.
Although Toman did not include the conclave of April 2005 in her study, a version of the bandwagon dynamic seemed to hold true there, as well: Over the course of four ballots, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger moved from just under 50 votes in the first round to 65 in the second and then 84 by the final tally, surpassing the necessary two-thirds threshold needed to become Pope Benedict XVI. He easily outpaced a lone rival, reportedly Argentine Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who will also take part in this month's conclave.
But there are other factors peculiar to the College of Cardinals that may also be spurring the rush to judgment.
One of them is the expansion of the College of Cardinals, which has doubled in size in recent decades. "The larger the group, the greater the likelihood of a bandwagon effect occurring," John-Peter Pham, a former Vatican diplomat, writes in his book "Heirs of the Fisherman: Behind the Scenes of Papal Death and Succession."
In addition, Pham says, the College of Cardinals is now far more diverse -- there are electors from some 50 countries -- and because they don't know each other that well, many of the cardinals are likely to go with what they perceive to be the wisdom of the crowd, as represented by the vote tallies.
Another element in the mix: the strong desire to make the conclave's outcome to appear to be the result of inspiration more than aspiration. A quick conclave demonstrates unity of mind and purpose, whereas a drawn-out conclave could signal dissension that might undermine a future pope's standing -- especially if the choice were controversial, as Benedict's was expected to be.
"If it was to be Ratzinger, it must be quick and clear-cut. Otherwise the reception would be disastrous," Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet has said in explaining the thinking of Benedict's supporters in the 2005 conclave.
The cardinals who are preparing for the coming papal election seem just as motivated to make a decision quickly and cleanly, which is why there appears to be a push by many to extend the pre-conclave discussions, called the General Congregations, so that the cardinals can find a consensus ahead of the actual voting.
"Someone quoted St. Thomas of Aquinas, who said you should be slow in deliberation and quick in decision-making," Chicago Cardinal Francis George said this week after the initial session. "So, decision-making is the conclave, and deliberation is the General Congregations."
Does that mean a conclave isn't guided by the Holy Spirit -- that it's not much different from the election of a class president, where the cool kids have the upper hand going in and everyone else just goes along with the inevitable? Not necessarily.
For one thing, the recent history of conclave balloting also shows that if the momentum for the early favorite breaks, then all bets are off as the electors step back to reassess and find another candidate -- albeit one who is likely to gain consensus quickly and win fast.
Moreover, going into this conclave, there appears to be no clear favorite to rally around quickly, and the cardinals also seem determined to have as open a race as possible.
At the end of the day, group dynamics will surely play a part. But the Holy Spirit blows where it will, and who will emerge as pope is still anybody's guess.
The family of a deceased St. Clair County woman says dermatologists failed to treat her skin cancer properly.
Joe Kassly, as special administrator of the estate of Sharon Kassly, filed a lawsuit Jan. 31 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Gregory & Associates Dermatology Ltd.
Sharon Kassly was a patient of Gregory and Associates Dermatology in March 2011, according to the complaint. Joe Kassly says Sharon was being treated for merkel cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, on her head and neck.
In August, Sharon Kassly died from a recurrence of the rare and aggressive cancer, the petition says. Kassly?s family claims Gregory & Associates failed to notify Sharon of available treatment, other than radiation, to combat the disease.
Joe Kassly accuses the dermatology practice of negligence and wrongful death. He asks for more than $50,000 in damages in addition to court fees. Attorney Joseph A. Bartholomew, of Belleville, represents him.
Judging by recently announced projects like Go Mobile, it's quite clear that US Bank is working hard at keeping up with the mobile banking curve. With today's introduction of its new Mobile Photo BillPay feature, the company's giving customers using an iOS or Android device yet another nifty tool to take advantage of while on the go -- one that's set to make it easy to set up bill payments by simply taking a shot of any invoice and uploading it to an account from within the app. The experience itself is rather similar to what we're accustomed to seeing when doing things like, say, depositing checks, and US Bank's quick to point out that it's one of the first major banks in the US to bring a mobile bill-paying solution to its users. Speaking of which, US Bank account holders can try out BillPay now -- links to download from Google Play and the App Store are after the break.
Nokia's throwing shade the best way it can. Its latest Windows Phone 8 app, #2InstaWithLove, is a demented valentine of sorts. It's Nokia's backhanded loveslap to Instagram; the app equivalent of a beautifully wrapped box with an impaled pig's heart inside. Created in response to the lack of Instagram's presence in the Windows Store, Nokia's offering Lumia owners a photo filtering application of its own, one that'll let "you have your voice heard," presumably, in an attempt to hasten the app's arrival on Microsoft's platform. But rather than outright ape Instagram's popular filtered options, Nokia's app offers just one filter: a "classic Polaroid" look emblazoned with the hashtag #2InstaWithLove. There's really no need to read between the lines, because as social media middle fingers go, this one's incredibly transparent. Your move, Instagram.
Contact: Marcin Opallo mopallo@ichf.edu.pl Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences
An air-breathing bio-battery has been constructed by researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. The core element providing the new power source with relatively high voltage and long lifetime is a carefully designed cathode taking up oxygen from air and composed of an enzyme, carbon nanotubes and silicate.
People are increasingly taking advantage of devices supporting various functions of our bodies. Today they include cardiac pacemakers or hearing aids; tomorrow it will be contact lenses with automatically changing focal length or computer-controlled displays generating images directly in the eye. None of these devices will work if not coupled to an efficient and long-lasting power supply source. The best solution seems to be miniaturised biofuel cells consuming substances naturally occurring in human body or in its direct surrounding.
Researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) in Warsaw developed an efficient electrode for the use in construction of biofuel cells or zinc-oxygen biobatteries. After installation in a cell, the new biocathode generates a voltage, during many hours, that is higher than that obtained in existing power sources of similar design. The most interesting is that the device is air-breathing: it works at full efficiency when it can take oxygen directly from the air.
Common batteries and rechargeable batteries are unsuitable to power implants inside the human body as they use strong bases or acids. These agents can on no account get into the body. The battery housing must be therefore absolutely tight. But in line with reducing the battery size, it must be better isolated. In extreme cases, the weight of the housing of a common, miniaturised battery would be even a few dozen times greater than the weight of the battery's active components that generate electricity. And here biofuel cells offer an essential advantage: they do not require housing. To get electricity, it is enough to insert the electrodes into the body.
"One of the most popular experiments in electrochemistry is to make a battery by sticking appropriately selected electrodes into a potato. We are doing something similar, the difference is that we are focusing on biofuel cells and the improvement of the cathode. And, of course, to have the whole project working, we'd rather replace the potato with... a human being", says Dr Martin Jnsson-Niedzi?ka (IPC PAS).
In the experiments, Dr Jnsson-Niedzi?ka's group uses zinc-oxygen batteries. The principle of their operation is not new. The batteries constructed in this way had been popular before the time of alkaline power sources came. "At present, many laboratories work on glucose-oxygen biofuel cells. In the best case they generate a voltage of 0.6-0.7 V. A zinc-oxygen biobattery with our cathode is able to generate 1.75 V for many hours.", says Adrianna Z?oczewska, a PhD student at the IPC PAS, whose research has been supported under the International PhD Projects Programme of the Foundation for Polish Science.
The main component of the biocathode developed at the IPC PAS is an enzyme surrounded by carbon nanotubes and encapsulated in a porous structure a silicate matrix deposited on an oxygen permeable membrane. "Our group had been working for many years on techniques that were necessary to construct the cathode using enzymes, carbon nanotubes and silicate matrices", stresses Prof. Marcin Opa??o (IPC PAS).
An electrode so constructed is installed in a wall of a small container. To have the biofuel cell working, it is enough to pour an electrolyte (here: a solution containing hydrogen ions) and insert the zinc electrode in the electrolyte. The pores in the silicate matrix enable oxygen supply from the air and H+ ions from the solution to active centres of the enzyme, where oxygen reduction takes place. Carbon nanotubes facilitate transport of electrons from the surface of the semipermeable membrane.
A cell with the new biocathode is able to supply power with a voltage of 1.6 V, for a minimum one and a half of a week. The cell efficiency decreases with time, likely because of gradual deactivation of the enzyme on the biocathode. "Here not everything is dependent on us, but on the progress in biotechnology. The lifetime of a biofuel cells with our biocathode could be significantly prolonged, if the enzyme regeneration processes are successfully developed", says Dr Jnsson-Niedzi?ka.
In the experiments carried out so far, a stack of four batteries connected in series successfully powered a lamp composed of two LEDs. Before, however, the biofuel cells based on the design developed at the IPC PAS get popularised, the researchers must solve the problem of relatively low electric power that is common to all types of biofuel cells.
The research presented here is important not only in view of the miniaturisation of power supply sources for medical implants, biosensors or light-emitting tattoos. The processes responsible for electricity generation in biofuel cells are potentially suitable for use in electric power generation in a larger scale. The limiting factors here are the properties of the enzymes, so that further advancement in this area is essentially dependent on the development of the biotechnology.
###
This press release was prepared thanks to the NOBLESSE grant under the activity "Research potential" of the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union.
The Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (http://www.ichf.edu.pl/) was established in 1955 as one of the first chemical institutes of the PAS. The Institute's scientific profile is strongly related to the newest global trends in the development of physical chemistry and chemical physics. Scientific research is conducted in nine scientific departments. CHEMIPAN R&D Laboratories, operating as part of the Institute, implement, produce and commercialise specialist chemicals to be used, in particular, in agriculture and pharmaceutical industry. The Institute publishes approximately 200 original research papers annually.
CONTACTS:
Prof. Marcin Opa??o
Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences
tel. +48 22 3433375
email: mopallo@ichf.edu.pl
Dr Martin Jnsson-Niedzi?ka
Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences
tel. +48 22 3433306
email: martinj@ichf.edu.pl
RELATED LINKS:
http://www.ichf.edu.pl/
Website of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
http://www.ichf.edu.pl/press/
Press releases of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the PAS.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Marcin Opallo mopallo@ichf.edu.pl Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences
An air-breathing bio-battery has been constructed by researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw. The core element providing the new power source with relatively high voltage and long lifetime is a carefully designed cathode taking up oxygen from air and composed of an enzyme, carbon nanotubes and silicate.
People are increasingly taking advantage of devices supporting various functions of our bodies. Today they include cardiac pacemakers or hearing aids; tomorrow it will be contact lenses with automatically changing focal length or computer-controlled displays generating images directly in the eye. None of these devices will work if not coupled to an efficient and long-lasting power supply source. The best solution seems to be miniaturised biofuel cells consuming substances naturally occurring in human body or in its direct surrounding.
Researchers from the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (IPC PAS) in Warsaw developed an efficient electrode for the use in construction of biofuel cells or zinc-oxygen biobatteries. After installation in a cell, the new biocathode generates a voltage, during many hours, that is higher than that obtained in existing power sources of similar design. The most interesting is that the device is air-breathing: it works at full efficiency when it can take oxygen directly from the air.
Common batteries and rechargeable batteries are unsuitable to power implants inside the human body as they use strong bases or acids. These agents can on no account get into the body. The battery housing must be therefore absolutely tight. But in line with reducing the battery size, it must be better isolated. In extreme cases, the weight of the housing of a common, miniaturised battery would be even a few dozen times greater than the weight of the battery's active components that generate electricity. And here biofuel cells offer an essential advantage: they do not require housing. To get electricity, it is enough to insert the electrodes into the body.
"One of the most popular experiments in electrochemistry is to make a battery by sticking appropriately selected electrodes into a potato. We are doing something similar, the difference is that we are focusing on biofuel cells and the improvement of the cathode. And, of course, to have the whole project working, we'd rather replace the potato with... a human being", says Dr Martin Jnsson-Niedzi?ka (IPC PAS).
In the experiments, Dr Jnsson-Niedzi?ka's group uses zinc-oxygen batteries. The principle of their operation is not new. The batteries constructed in this way had been popular before the time of alkaline power sources came. "At present, many laboratories work on glucose-oxygen biofuel cells. In the best case they generate a voltage of 0.6-0.7 V. A zinc-oxygen biobattery with our cathode is able to generate 1.75 V for many hours.", says Adrianna Z?oczewska, a PhD student at the IPC PAS, whose research has been supported under the International PhD Projects Programme of the Foundation for Polish Science.
The main component of the biocathode developed at the IPC PAS is an enzyme surrounded by carbon nanotubes and encapsulated in a porous structure a silicate matrix deposited on an oxygen permeable membrane. "Our group had been working for many years on techniques that were necessary to construct the cathode using enzymes, carbon nanotubes and silicate matrices", stresses Prof. Marcin Opa??o (IPC PAS).
An electrode so constructed is installed in a wall of a small container. To have the biofuel cell working, it is enough to pour an electrolyte (here: a solution containing hydrogen ions) and insert the zinc electrode in the electrolyte. The pores in the silicate matrix enable oxygen supply from the air and H+ ions from the solution to active centres of the enzyme, where oxygen reduction takes place. Carbon nanotubes facilitate transport of electrons from the surface of the semipermeable membrane.
A cell with the new biocathode is able to supply power with a voltage of 1.6 V, for a minimum one and a half of a week. The cell efficiency decreases with time, likely because of gradual deactivation of the enzyme on the biocathode. "Here not everything is dependent on us, but on the progress in biotechnology. The lifetime of a biofuel cells with our biocathode could be significantly prolonged, if the enzyme regeneration processes are successfully developed", says Dr Jnsson-Niedzi?ka.
In the experiments carried out so far, a stack of four batteries connected in series successfully powered a lamp composed of two LEDs. Before, however, the biofuel cells based on the design developed at the IPC PAS get popularised, the researchers must solve the problem of relatively low electric power that is common to all types of biofuel cells.
The research presented here is important not only in view of the miniaturisation of power supply sources for medical implants, biosensors or light-emitting tattoos. The processes responsible for electricity generation in biofuel cells are potentially suitable for use in electric power generation in a larger scale. The limiting factors here are the properties of the enzymes, so that further advancement in this area is essentially dependent on the development of the biotechnology.
###
This press release was prepared thanks to the NOBLESSE grant under the activity "Research potential" of the 7th Framework Programme of the European Union.
The Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences (http://www.ichf.edu.pl/) was established in 1955 as one of the first chemical institutes of the PAS. The Institute's scientific profile is strongly related to the newest global trends in the development of physical chemistry and chemical physics. Scientific research is conducted in nine scientific departments. CHEMIPAN R&D Laboratories, operating as part of the Institute, implement, produce and commercialise specialist chemicals to be used, in particular, in agriculture and pharmaceutical industry. The Institute publishes approximately 200 original research papers annually.
CONTACTS:
Prof. Marcin Opa??o
Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences
tel. +48 22 3433375
email: mopallo@ichf.edu.pl
Dr Martin Jnsson-Niedzi?ka
Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences
tel. +48 22 3433306
email: martinj@ichf.edu.pl
RELATED LINKS:
http://www.ichf.edu.pl/
Website of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Polish Academy of Sciences.
http://www.ichf.edu.pl/press/
Press releases of the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the PAS.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The United States is expected to send a delegation to Hugo Chavez?s funeral later this week in a move that could send a conciliatory message to Venezuela now that its stridently anti-American leader has died.
Senior U.S. officials also said on Wednesday that Washington had no immediate plans to respond in kind to Venezuela?s expulsion of two U.S. military attaches, which was announced on Tuesday by Vice President Nicolas Maduro just hours before he told the world of Chavez?s death.
Maduro, Chavez?s chosen successor, said on Tuesday that one of the expelled U.S. diplomats tried to stir up a military plot against Chavez. He also said Chavez?s cancer was an attack by Venezuela?s enemies ? an accusation the United States dismissed as absurd.
A senior State Department official said the United States was reviewing its response to Venezuela?s expulsion of the two military officials and said it had the right to reciprocate in kind but for now it would not be doing so.
The U.S. Embassy in Caracas has been without an ambassador since 2010, when Chavez rejected the U.S. appointee. That led Washington to revoke the credentials of Venezuela?s ambassador.
U.S. President Barack Obama issued a statement shortly after Chavez?s death was announced, expressing an interest in a ?constructive relationship? in the post-Chavez era. But analysts said Washington would be challenged to figure out a way to engage with Venezuelan leaders and the opposition without appearing to meddle in the South American oil-producing nation.
The senior State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the United States would like a ?more functional? relationship with the Venezuelan government going forward.
The official said it was too early to tell how the situation would evolve but said the United States was expected to send a delegation to Chavez?s funeral, which will be held on Friday. Details of who will be included in the delegation will be announced by the White House.
There have been no signs of security threats in Venezuela since Chavez?s death, the official said.
?We have no indication right now that there is any threat to our personnel or Americans in Venezuela,? the official said. ?After you have the kind of broadside that Vice President Maduro launched against the United States yesterday we obviously have security concerns and will remain very vigilant.?
(Reuters)
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Starting on March 9, tours of the White House will be canceled until further notice. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
By Shawna Thomas and Kristen Welker, NBC News
The White House is canceling tours of the president's famous abode starting next week, saying the budget cuts that went into effect last week are to blame.?
A phone recording on the call line for White House visitors informs callers that White House tours will be canceled, starting this weekend.?
"Due to staffing reductions resulting from sequestration, we regret to inform you that White House tours will be canceled effective Saturday March 9th, 2013 until further notice," the recording says. "Unfortunately, we will not be able to reschedule affected tours. ?We very much regret having to take this action particularly during the popular spring touring season."?
The reason for the cancellations, an official with the Secret Service told NBC News, is?because?the Uniformed Division Officers normally tasked with securing the tours will be reassigned to other security posts at the White House. The move will reduce overtime costs and may reduce the number of furloughs the Secret Service could potentially face, according to the official.?
It is unclear how many Uniform Division Officers will be impacted by the sequester. The Office of Management and Budget calculated that the Secret Service may need to cut as much as $84 million from its budget due to the cuts.
Though the White House made the ultimate decision to suspend tours, their conclusion was based on staffing decisions the Secret Service?has been?forced to make, according to a White House official.
The move, which Republicans paint as a publicity stunt, prompted at least one proposed legislative fix from a GOP congressman Tuesday.?
In an amendment to a GOP stopgap budget bill headed to the floor later this week, Rep. Louis Gohmert, R-Texas, suggested that no funds from the bill be used "to transport the President to or from a golf course until public tours of the White House resume."
House Administration Committee Chair Candice Miller, R-Mich., said in a statement that the canceled tours are "wrong" and invited tourists to Washington D.C. to tour the Capitol instead.?
"I believe closing the doors of the White House to the American people is wrong," she wrote. "I want to let those Americans planning a trip to Washington, D.C. know that the Capitol will remain open and encourage those wishing to visit to contact their member of Congress or the Capitol Visitors Center to schedule a tour."
As required by law, President Barack Obama ordered the automatic cuts into effect last Friday night. The broad budget reductions came after Congress and the administration failed to reach an agreement to avert the sequester.?
NBC's Carrie Dann contributed.
This story was originally published on Tue Mar 5, 2013 3:25 PM EST
Mar. 5, 2013 ? Men with low-risk prostate cancer who previously had to choose between aggressive treatment, with the potential for significant side effects, and active surveillance, with the risk of disease progression, may have a new option. Focal laser ablation uses precisely targeted heat, delivered through a small insertion and guided into the prostate by magnetic resonance imaging, to burn away cancerous cells in the prostate.
A small, phase 1 trial, to published early online in the journal Radiology, found that this approach, designed to treat just the diseased portion of the prostate rather than removing or irradiating the entire gland, is safe and can be performed without the troubling complications associated with more aggressive therapies.
None of the nine men treated in the study had a significant side effect. Six months after therapy, seven of the nine patients (78%) no longer had evidence of cancerous tissue in biopsies of the treated area.
"Focal therapy is the male version of a lumpectomy for breast cancer," said study author Scott Eggener, MD, associate professor of surgery at the University of Chicago Medicine. "Rather than removing the entire organ, we are testing this less-invasive way of destroying just the cancer and leaving healthy tissue in place."
"This experimental approach appears to combine the most attractive element of treatment, eradication of the cancer, with the most appealing element of active surveillance, maintaining quality of life," said Aytekin Oto, MD, professor of radiology and chief of abdominal imaging at the University of Chicago Medicine. "These early safety results are promising, but we definitely need longer-term data."
More than 2 million American men have been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Due to prostate specific antigen testing (PSA), most of these cancers are detected early, long before they cause symptoms. Because this cancer occurs primarily in older men, treatment with radiation or surgery is not always necessary as these are man are much more likely to die from another cause than from prostate cancer.
But many healthy men who are relatively young, with a life expectancy greater than 10 years, are not comfortable deferring treatment of a potentially lethal disease. Surgery and radiation can often cure the cancer, but can cause side effects, such as incontinence, impotence and decreased bowel function.
This study enrolled nine men with biopsy-confirmed, low-risk prostate cancers (Gleason score 6 or 7, less than 12 mm of cancer) with an MRI of the prostate showing a small area of cancer. Patients were treated under conscious sedation while lying in an MRI scanner. After injecting a local anesthetic, the physicians inserted a small catheter across the perineum and used it to guide a tiny optical fiber, the laser and a cooling device into the prostate.
Under MRI guidance, the laser was positioned within the cancer and used to heat the area to a temperature that would kill cancer cells. The team checked the temperatures outside the treatment region every five seconds to protect healthy tissue, especially those near critical structures such as the urethra and rectal wall.
The entire procedure took less than four hours. That decreased to 2.5 hours as the team gained experience. The actual heat treatment averaged 4.3 minutes. All patients left the hospital the same day.
No patient had a major complication or a serious adverse effect. Average scores for urinary or sexual function were not significantly different one, three or six months after treatment. No patient had symptoms of rectal wall damage.
Biopsies of the treated areas six months after the procedure found no evidence of prostate cancer in seven of the nine patients (78%). The other two patients had small (2.5 mm and 1 mm) remaining cancers.
These are preliminary results, the authors caution, following a small number of patients for a short time. It will take much longer follow-up, the authors say, to fully evaluate this approach.
Focal laser ablation is the lastest in a series of efforts to target just the cancer cells and preserve normal areas of prostate. It appears to offer "measurable advantages over other ablative therapies for focal prostate treatment, namely that we can visualize our treatment as it is happening," according to the study authors.
Laser-induced heating can destroy cancer cells with little damage beyond the precisely targeted zone. The approach is well suited for prostate tissue and can be carefully watched in real-time with magnetic resonance imaging, which can also monitor the generation and consequences of the heat treatment.
A phase 2 trial of this procedure, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, is now underway at the University of Chicago Medicine. The physicians hope to enroll 27 patients. Details are available at the NIH's ClinicalTrials.gov website, identifier: NCT01792024.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Chicago Medical Center, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
A. Oto, I. Sethi, G. Karczmar, R. McNichols, M. K. Ivancevic, W. M. Stadler, S. Watson, S. Eggener. MR Imaging-guided Focal Laser Ablation for Prostate Cancer: Phase I Trial. Radiology, 2013; DOI: 10.1148/radiol.13121652
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Former New York City police officer Gilberto Valle, dubbed by local media the "Cannibal Cop," cries during his trial in this courtroom sketch in New York, March 7, 2013. 
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The United States is expected to send a delegation to Hugo Chavez?s funeral later this week in a move that could send a conciliatory message to Venezuela now that its stridently anti-American leader has died.
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