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শুক্রবার, ২৬ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩
Amputee Skateboarder Hopes to Inspire Others With Disabilities ...
Christine Lee, NBC 5 Irving Reporter
Jon Comer, a professional skateboarder who lost his leg as a child, inspires others to push the limits no matter what their disabilities.
Professional Skateboarder Inspires Others
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For the second year, RISE Adaptive Sports and the city of Irving are hosting an adaptive skate event for disabled children, adults and veterans.
Among the participants is Jon Comer, a professional skateboarder who lost his leg when he was four years old. Comer said his physical disability didn't keep him from pursuing his passion, and on Saturday he will be inspiring others to do the same.?
"I got hit by a car when I was four years old and then lost my foot when I was seven just due to complications from that," said Comer.
Since he was 10 years old, skateboarding became a passion and Comer never saw his amputation as a disability and has been a professional skateboarder since 1997. He's hoping to inspire the kids to push the limits no matter what their disabilities are.?
"I would destroy my prosthetics all the time," said Comer. "And I'd go in and I'd get fixed up so I can get back out there and skate some more."
Nonprofit Rise Adaptive Sports is working with the city of Irving for the second year to help raise awareness and inspiration.?
"We want people to realize that we have a diverse population, which includes people with physical and mental disabilities, and we ought to be providing services for them as well," said Joseph Moses, city of Irving recreation superintendent.
Chris Goad, executive director of Rise Adaptive Sports, hopes the event inspires those reaching for their dreams, like Comer.?
"Doing something like this really helps with self-esteem and confidence," said Goad. "And especially if we can get kids in the fold at an early age, it helps them with school, knowing that they can accomplish things despite disabilities."
The event begins at 10 a.m. at the Lively Pointe Skate Park on Saturday, April 27.
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Source: http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Amputee-Skateboarder-Hopes-to-Inspire-Others-204562651.html
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Matt Mitrione?s suspension is already over
UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione was suspended on April 8 for his transphobic comments about trans fighter Fallon Fox. At the time, the UFC said they were "appalled" by his comments and said his words were "wholly unacceptable."
Yet now, on April 25, Mitrione is off suspension and has a fight scheduled. Mitrione will fight fellow "The Ultimate Fighter" castmember Brendan Schaub on the July 27 UFC on Fox 8 show.
122 days passed between Mitrione's last two fights. By the time he gets in the cage with Brendan Schaub at UFC on Fox 8, 112 days will have passed since his knockout of Philip de Fries. How is that a suspension?
Here we have the problem with MMA and suspensions. This isn't like football or basketball, where every athlete has the same amount of events, and a suspension of five games means the same thing for everyone. In MMA, some fighters fight once a year. Some fight four times a year. For a suspension to mean anything, it has to be for several months, and a fighter's ability to get in the cage must be affected.
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New Nobel letters reveal secrets of DNA prize
Heritage Auctions
Doctor Francis Crick's endorsement of the Nobel Prize check.
By Stephanie Pappas
LiveScience
A new cache of letters released 50 years after Maurice Wilkins, Francis Crick and James Watson won the Nobel Prize for the discovery of DNA's structure reveals that not everyone agreed on which prize the trio should receive.
Wilkins, Crick and Watson ended up winning the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for their discoveries concerning the molecular structure of nucleic acids and its significance for information transfer in living material," according to the official citation. But at least one scientist nominated them for the chemistry prize instead, researchers will report Wednesday?in the journal Nature.
Nature first published a series of three papers describing the structure of DNA by the team on April 25, 1953, making this year the 60th anniversary of the discovery. Watson, Crick, Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin (who died before the 1962 Nobel Prize was awarded) and their colleagues were the first to understand DNA's unique double-helix structure. [Photos: Crick DNA Nobel On the Auction Block]
Nobel Prize puzzler
Jan Witkowski and Alexander Gann of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York wrote to the Nobel committee to request the release of the nomination letters for the 1962 prize, as nomination letters are unsealed after 50 years. To their surprise, one letter seemed to be missing: That of Jacque Monod, a French biologist who would later win the Nobel Prize himself for research into the genetics of enzymes.
"We were surprised because both Jim Watson and Francis Crick said that Monod was one of the people who nominated them," Witkowski told LiveScience. In fact, in 1961, Crick sent Monod a nine-page letter telling the story of the DNA structure discovery, at Monod's request.
Monod worked at the Pasteur Institute in Paris, so Witkowski and Gann turned to the Institute's archives to solve the puzzle of the missing nomination. There, they found Monod's nomination letter ? only sent to an unexpected address.
"It turns out that he nominated them for the chemistry prize, and not the medicine prize," Witkowski said. That's why the medicine or physiology committee had no record of the nomination, though the committees must have shared the nomination letters to decide which of the two prizes the DNA structure scientists should win.?
Third nominee
The nomination letters also reveal that Franklin, who died in 1958, was never nominated for the Nobel Prize. There has been a lot of controversy over whether Franklin would have shared in the Nobel had she been alive in 1962, Witkowski said. (Nobels are not awarded posthumously.) Many have argued that Franklin's contributions were downplayed and overlooked by Watson and Crick.
As it turns out, Franklin died two years before the DNA structure was first nominated for the Nobel, which occurred in 1960. Wilkins, who did early work on DNA structure, was also not a major contender from the nominators' perspectives; of six nominations, not including Monod's, only one included Wilkins. Two others suggested that the committee might possibly include him, but didn't make a case for it. In his letter to Monod, Crick was insistent Wilkins should be nominated, however.
"It could be that the nomination Monod wrote, following Crick's advice, where he strongly endorsed Wilkins may have helped sway the committee," Witkowski said.
Another series of letters, these consisting of personal correspondence released in 2010, reveal that despite this nomination congeniality, there were professional rivalries between Watson and Crick and Wilkins ? not to mention sexist attitudes toward Franklin. Another letter from Crick to his son explaining DNA went for a whopping $6 million?at auction earlier this month.
Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter?and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook?and Google+. Original article on LiveScience.com.
Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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বৃহস্পতিবার, ২৫ এপ্রিল, ২০১৩
Boston victims face huge bills; donations pour in
Cost of amputating a leg? At least $20,000. Cost of an artificial leg? More than $50,000 for the most high-tech models. Cost of an amputee's rehab? Often tens of thousands of dollars more.
These are just a fraction of the medical expenses victims of the Boston Marathon bombing will face.
The mammoth price tag is probably not what patients are focusing on as they begin the long healing process. But friends and strangers are already setting up fundraisers and online crowd-funding sites, and a huge Boston city fund has already collected more than $23 million in individual and corporate donations.
No one knows yet if those donations ? plus health insurance, hospital charity funds and other sources ? will be enough to cover the bills. Few will even hazard a guess as to what the total medical bill will be for a tragedy that killed three people and wounded more than 270. At least 15 people lost limbs, and other wounds include head injuries and tissue torn apart by shrapnel.
Health insurance, as practically anyone who has ever gotten hurt or sick knows, does not always cover all costs. In the case of artificial limbs, for example, some insurance companies pay for a basic model but not a computerized one with sophisticated, lifelike joints.
Rose Bissonnette, founder of the New England Amputee Association, said that the moment she heard about the bombings, she knew immediately that her organization's services would be needed. The advocacy group helps amputees navigate things such as insurance coverage for artificial limbs.
Bissonnette shared one group member's struggle to get coverage for artificial arms as an example of the red tape some bombing victims could face. The woman "got a call from the insurance company and the person on the other end said, 'How long are you going to need the prosthetic hands?'" Bissonnette recalled.
Bissonnette herself was in a horrific car crash 16 years ago that left her with injuries similar to those facing the Boston victims. Her mangled lower left leg had to be amputated and her right ankle was partially severed. Her five-month hospital stay cost more than $250,000. Health insurance covered all her treatment, rehab and her prosthesis.
Health economist Ted Miller noted that treating just one traumatic brain injury can cost millions of dollars, and at least one survivor has that kind of injury. He also pointed out that the medical costs will include treating anxiety and post-traumatic stress ? "an issue for a whole lot more people than just people who suffered physical injuries," he said.
Adding to the tragedy's toll will be lost wages for those unable to work, including two Massachusetts brothers who each lost a leg, Miller said. They had been roofers but may have to find a new line of work.
Many survivors will also need help with expenses beyond immediate health care, including things like modifying cars for those who lost limbs or remodeling homes to accommodate wheelchairs.
Many survivors live in Massachusetts, a state that requires residents to have health insurance, "which should cover most of their required treatment," said Amie Breton, spokeswoman for Massachusetts' consumer affairs office. "The total cost of that treatment is impossible to calculate at this early stage."
Amputees may face the steepest costs, and artificial legs are the costliest. They range from about $7,200 for a basic below-the-knee model to as much as $90,000 for a high-tech microprocessor-controlled full leg, said Dr. Terrence Sheehan, chief medical officer for Adventist Rehabilitation Hospital in Rockville, Md., and medical director of the Amputee Coalition, a national advocacy group.
Legs need to be replaced every few years, or more often for very active users or those who gain or lose weight. Limb sockets need to be replaced even more often and also cost thousands of dollars each, Sheehan said.
Massachusetts is among about 20 states that require health insurers to pay for prosthetic limbs, but many plans don't cover 100 percent of those costs, Sheehan said. "Most are skimpy beyond basic prosthetics and they have not caught up with current available technology," he said.
"The insurer will use terminology such as 'not medically necessary'" to deny computerized feet or knees that can often make the patient better able to function and more comfortable and safe, Sheehan said.
Some insurers may be willing to make exceptions for the Boston blast survivors.
"We will work to ensure that financial issues/hardship will not pose a barrier to the care that affected members' need," said Sharon Torgerson, spokeswoman for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, one of the state's largest health insurers.
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, another big insurer, is changing its policy and will pay for some of the more expensive bionic limbs when there is a demonstrated need, said Dr. Michael Sherman, chief medical officer. He said that 15 blast survivors admitted to hospitals are Harvard Pilgrim customers and that the insurance company is discussing "whether we might absorb some of the copays and deductibles."
"This is a terrorist act, and our only thought here is about providing support," he said.
The 26 hospitals that have treated bombing victims have charity funds that will cover some of the costs, said Tim Gens, executive vice president of the Massachusetts Hospital Association. Some injured residents may be eligible for Massachusetts' public health funds for the uninsured or underinsured. People with huge medical bills they can't afford are eligible, regardless of income.
Gens said hospitals are still focused on treating survivors, not on costs.
"It's an extraordinary shock to so many individuals. The hospitals are working very hard to make sure that each family gets the support they need. Billing is not an issue they're addressing right now," Gens said.
At Massachusetts General Hospital, where 31 victims have gotten treatment, chief financial officer Sally Mason Boemer said bills "create a lot of stress. Our assumption is there will be sources we can tap through fundraising." Boemer added: "Now is not the time to add additional stress to patients."
Bombings survivor Heather Abbott said Thursday she has already gotten offers of help to pay for an artificial leg. The 38-year-old Newport, R.I., woman was waiting in line to get into a crowded bar when the bombs went off.
"I felt like my foot was on fire. I knew I couldn't stand up," she recalled from her hospital bed. Surgeons amputated her left leg below the knee.
A big chunk of charity money for survivors will come from One Fund Boston, established by Boston's mayor and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.
The fund has gotten more than $20 million in donations. Determining who gets what is still being worked out, but victims' insurance status and place of residence won't be a factor, said Kenneth Feinberg, the fund administrator. He oversaw the 9/11 compensation fund during its first three years, distributing more than $7 billion to 5,300 families and victims.
Grass-roots fundraising efforts include online funds set up by friends and relatives of the victims.
Those victims include Roseann Sdoia, a Boston woman who was near the marathon finish line when the blasts occurred. Sdoia was hit by shrapnel, fire and a tree that became a projectile and injured her left leg, the funding site says. Her right leg had to be amputated above the knee. After several operations, Sdoia has started rehab.
"She is a fighter and her attitude is phenomenal," said her friend and former sorority sister, Christine Hart, who set up the site. More than $270,000 has been raised for Sdoia so far, money that may help pay for an artificial leg, transportation to and from rehab, and modifications to her car or home, Hart said.
The donations will help make sure "that finances are not part of the burden" she has to bear, Hart said.
Other funds have been set up in communities like Stoneham, a Boston suburb that counts at least five current or former residents among the victims. A Stoneham Strong fundraising event is set for Friday evening, with participants asked to circle the high school track to show support for the marathon victims. Hundreds are expected, said organizer Shelly MacNeill.
"The outpouring has been unbelievable," she said.
___
AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson contributed to this report.
___
Donations: http://www.onefundboston.org; http://www.gofundme.com/BelieveinBoston
____
AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-victims-face-huge-bills-donations-pour-174957328.html
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Stress has unexpected health benefits - sometimes
Brief episodes of stress could be good for us, protecting us from the effects of ageing ? as long as we're not too frazzled to begin with. That's the surprise finding of a study measuring stress-related damage inside cells.
Chronic stress causes wear and tear to body tissues, increasing our risk of developing age-related diseases such as cancer, diabetes and dementia.
One reason for this is that the body responds to stress by burning fuel to release energy. While this helps us respond to a threat, it also swamps cells with toxic free radicals produced during metabolism. Switched on long-term, this response damages DNA, RNA and other molecules, ageing us before our time.
Kirstin Aschbacher of the University of California, San Francisco, and her colleagues wanted to test whether a short period of intense stress is more damaging if we are already living through a stressful period. They took a group of women chronically stressed by caring for close relatives with dementia, and made them give a speech in front of a sceptical panel of judges. A group of unstressed women performed the same task to act as a control group.
The researchers asked the women to say how stressful they found the test. They also measured their levels of the stress hormone cortisol, plus biochemical markers of damage inside their cells.
Unexpected effect
For the stressed women, the extra challenge indeed proved particularly harmful: the threat of the test caused more cellular damage than in the non-stressed controls. Perhaps more intriguing, though, was an unexpected effect Aschbacher and her colleagues found within the control group.
Among these normally relaxed women, those who found the task moderately stressful had lower levels of cellular damage than those who did not find it stressful at all. In other words, while chronic stress can have knock-on effects that damage cellular structures, short bursts of stress can reduce such damage and protect our health in some circumstances.
The idea that being under pressure helps to focus attention and makes us better at cognitive tasks has been around for almosta century. But Aschbacher's study is a first step to showing how it can sometimes make us physically healthier as well ? although exactly what is going on at the cellular level to explain the result is still unclear.
"It's like weightlifting, where we build muscles over time," says Aschbacher. As long as there is time to recover in between, short bursts of psychological stress "might allow us to become stronger".
Bruce McEwen, who studies the physiology of stress at the Rockefeller University in New York City, describes the research as "provocative", and says it is starting to untangle the mechanisms by which stress can have positive effects. "Mother Nature put these things there to help us adapt and survive," he says.
Journal reference: Psychoneuroendocrinology, doi.org/mb5
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