Addicts' cravings have different roots in men and womenPublic release date: 30-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bill Hathaway william.hathaway@yale.edu 203-432-1322 Yale University
When it comes to addiction, sex matters.
A new brain imaging study by Yale School of Medicine researchers suggests stress robustly activates areas of the brain associated with craving in cocaine-dependent women, while drug cues activate similar brain regions in cocaine-dependent men. The study, expected to be published online Jan. 31 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, suggests men and women with cocaine dependence might benefit more from different treatment options.
"There are differences in treatment outcomes for people with addictions who experience stress-induced drug cravings and those whose cravings are induced by drug cues," said Marc Potenza, professor of psychiatry, child study, and neurobiology and first author of the study. "It is important to understand the biologic mechanisms that underlie these cravings."
The researchers conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging scans of 30 cocaine-dependent individuals and 36 control subjects who were recreational drinkers. While undergoing brain scans, researchers then presented subjects with personalized cues (situations or events) the participants had indicated were personally stressful and other cues involving cocaine or alcohol.
As expected, cocaine-dependent individuals showed greater activation in broad regions of the brain linked to addiction and motivation than the control subjects. Patterns of activation between the groups, however, differed markedly in men and women when presented with stress or drug cues.
Potenza said the findings suggest that women with cocaine dependence might benefit from stress-reduction therapies that specifically target these cravings. Men, on the other hand, might derive more benefit from elements of cognitive behavioral therapy or 12-step programs based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous.
###
The senior author of the paper is Rajita Sinha of Yale. Other Yale authors are Kwang-ik Adam Hong, Cheryl M. Lacadie, Robert K. Fulbright, and Keri L. Tuit.
The study was supported by the Yale Stress Center, Women's Health Research at Yale, the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and grants from the National Institutes of Health and its Office of Research on Women's Health.
[ | 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.
Addicts' cravings have different roots in men and womenPublic release date: 30-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Bill Hathaway william.hathaway@yale.edu 203-432-1322 Yale University
When it comes to addiction, sex matters.
A new brain imaging study by Yale School of Medicine researchers suggests stress robustly activates areas of the brain associated with craving in cocaine-dependent women, while drug cues activate similar brain regions in cocaine-dependent men. The study, expected to be published online Jan. 31 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, suggests men and women with cocaine dependence might benefit more from different treatment options.
"There are differences in treatment outcomes for people with addictions who experience stress-induced drug cravings and those whose cravings are induced by drug cues," said Marc Potenza, professor of psychiatry, child study, and neurobiology and first author of the study. "It is important to understand the biologic mechanisms that underlie these cravings."
The researchers conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging scans of 30 cocaine-dependent individuals and 36 control subjects who were recreational drinkers. While undergoing brain scans, researchers then presented subjects with personalized cues (situations or events) the participants had indicated were personally stressful and other cues involving cocaine or alcohol.
As expected, cocaine-dependent individuals showed greater activation in broad regions of the brain linked to addiction and motivation than the control subjects. Patterns of activation between the groups, however, differed markedly in men and women when presented with stress or drug cues.
Potenza said the findings suggest that women with cocaine dependence might benefit from stress-reduction therapies that specifically target these cravings. Men, on the other hand, might derive more benefit from elements of cognitive behavioral therapy or 12-step programs based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous.
###
The senior author of the paper is Rajita Sinha of Yale. Other Yale authors are Kwang-ik Adam Hong, Cheryl M. Lacadie, Robert K. Fulbright, and Keri L. Tuit.
The study was supported by the Yale Stress Center, Women's Health Research at Yale, the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and grants from the National Institutes of Health and its Office of Research on Women's Health.
[ | 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.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Eugene Temkin was intent on having a hitman kidnap, torture and kill a former business partner and his family because he felt he wasn't repaid for a deal that soured nearly a decade earlier.
Temkin not only tried once, he tried again four months after FBI agents learned about the plot and warned him to stay away from Michael Hershman. In both instances Temkin, 51, unwittingly tried to hire an undercover law enforcement officer to carry out the hit.
On Monday, Temkin is scheduled to be sentenced in a Los Angeles federal courtroom after being convicted last year of three murder-for-hire-related counts with prosecutors asking for a 20-year prison sentence.
Court documents portray the fear, helplessness and frustration of Temkin's victims, who said they were terrorized and traumatized while getting little help from authorities.
For Hershman and his family, the last several years have been painful and agonizing. His 20-year-old son died from an accidental drug overdose in late 2010 and he slept with a machete because Temkin hired people to stalk and harass him, Hershman said. His college-age daughter has been placed in a psychiatric clinic in Texas where she has hallucinations and believes she's been kidnapped by Temkin and put there by him, he said.
"Every day he is thinking and plotting revenge on us, his life revolves around it," Hershman wrote in a letter to U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson. "He will not stop. Please help us."
The men met one another when they were selling drugs in the 1980s, according to court documents. In 2001, Temkin lent Hershman $500,000 ? money from a second mortgage on an apartment building he owned ? to invest in a casino in Equatorial Guinea. When Hershman was unable to repay Temkin right away because the casino had not fared well, Temkin sued his then-business partner after losing the apartment complex in foreclosure.
The lawsuit was settled in 2006, but authorities said Temkin wanted about $5 million for unrealized profits he would have received had he sold the apartment building before the real estate market crashed.
Temkin repeatedly threatened and harassed Hershman and his family, investigators said. Pictures and other heirlooms were stolen from Hershman's storage unit. Their e-mails were hacked and his children said they were followed by strange men.
Temkin was never charged in connection with those incidents but Hershman obtained a restraining order against him in 2007, saying Temkin made gun signals to him with his hands, according to an affidavit.
Hershman said he pleaded with numerous law enforcement agencies to investigate Temkin but they did nothing.
The investigation took a turn in late 2009 when one of Temkin's friends approached Los Angeles County sheriff's detectives saying Temkin wanted to extort money from Hershman before killing him.
A series of meetings were arranged between an undercover detective posing as a hitman and Temkin, who gave varying scenarios how Hershman should be killed.
One plot involved a crew kidnapping Hershman and his family in the Dominican Republic and have the undercover officer kill them.
"Hang him from a door, throw him from a fishing boat, all works for me," Temkin said during one of the recorded conversations with the investigator.
In March 2010, FBI agents met with Temkin who told them about the dispute but denied making threats. The agents then told Temkin not to threaten, hurt or kill Hershman, according to court documents. Temkin agreed.
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller says it's not uncommon for law enforcement agencies to receive cases where death threats are made.
"The government has to prove a legal intent that someone planned to go through with it," Eimiller said.
Temkin apparently wasn't dissuaded because several months later authorities learned he was still interested in killing Hershman. Another undercover officer, acting as a hit man, began meeting with Temkin, who indicated he had another hired hand to kill Hershman but would call the officer if plans fell through.
In July 2010, Temkin gave the officer the green light to kill Hershman, his wife and a business partner, authorities said.
Temkin provided the undercover officer with Hershman's passport number, photographs of the would-be victims and 30 $100 bills for the job expected to cost $30,000.
Temkin was arrested six days later at his home outside of Santa Barbara.
In arguing for a sentence no greater than six years, defense attorney Richard Callahan said Temkin called off plans to kill Hershman after the meeting with FBI agents.
"While Mr. Temkin was angry and fixated on Hershman's debt, he never took action on it for almost 10 years despite clear opportunities to do so," Callahan wrote. It wasn't until the FBI intervened that Temkin "crossed the line."
"It is submitted that without the intervention of the FBI, that 'line' would never have been crossed," he added.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Former Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush, whose endorsement would be a prize for any of the Republican presidential candidates, has remained neutral.
This follows a pattern in early GOP contests: Gov. Terry Branstad in Iowa didn't choose sides. Nor did influential Sen. Jim DeMint in South Carolina.
New Jersey's Gov. Chris Christie threw his support to Romney, but there hasn't been a delegate-selection contest yet in New Jersey.
The New York Times reported in Monday's editions that Romney has sought to win over Jeb Bush, a brother of former President George W. Bush.
Asked about that in a Fox News Channel interview on Monday morning, Romney replied: "Jeb Bush and I haven't spoken. He's a good man. I'd love to get his opinion on any number of issues."
NEW YORK - A little more than two months before opening day, Major League Baseball still doesn't know whether there will be eight playoff teams this year or 10.
Add a bat or an arm to compete for that extra wild card? No telling whether that makes any sense.
"That's the last thing on my mind," Cleveland Indians manager Manny Acta said. "I'm trying to win my division and I can't be concerned about that stuff. But the more the merrier.
"It gives us and everybody else a better chance to make the playoffs. But it's not on my mind because you don't build a system or build a team counting on the commissioner is going to change the playoff format," he said.
While MLB and the players' association still are discussing whether the expanded playoffs will start in 2012 or 2013, they've reached a consensus that ties for division titles will be broken on the field under the new playoff format, a person familiar with the talks told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because a deal hadn't been finalized.
Since 1995, head-to-head record has been used to determine first place if both teams are going to the postseason. But with the start of a one-game, winner-take-all wild-card round, the sides agreed that the difference between first place and a wild-card berth is too important to decide with a formula and a tiebreaker game would be played.
Negotiators plan to talk again next week and decide by March 1 on whether the extra round will begin this year.
"I think most clubs at this point no matter who you are are focused on trying to win a division," Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said. "If that doesn't work, then you make your adjustments."
Under the new format, whenever it begins, the non-division winners in each league with the two-best records will be the wild-cards, meaning a third-place team could for the first time win the World Series.
Being able to finish third and still go to the postseason could create more of an opportunity in the AL East for teams other than the rich New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, or in the AL West, where the two-time champion Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels have spent big bucks to improve.
In the AL Central, Kansas City general manager Dayton Moore watched Dombrowski add Prince Fielder to his already formidable batting order this week.
"We're focused on putting the best team on the field we can to compete to win the Central. That's the first goal," Moore said. "If that appears to be unattainable, we'll evaluate what we need to do to improve the team to continue to strive for that goal. If it becomes apparent that's not going to happen, you begin to focus on the wild card. You want to get in the playoffs any way you can and take your chances there."
___
AP Sports Writer Tom Withers contributed to this report.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
advertisement
More newsDilip Vishwanat / Getty Images
Not quite ready for spring
DeMarco: Just because Prince? Fielder finally signed, that doesn't mean the offseason is out of storylines. Here's what has to be sorted out before spring training starts in three weeks.
Evelyn Solomon of Boca Raton, Fla., a supporter of Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich waits during a Republican Jewish Coalition rally at the South County Civic Center, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Delray Beach, Fla. Romney and Gingrich square off over immigration and other issues as they look to woo Hispanics a day after a feisty, final debate before Tuesday?s Florida primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Evelyn Solomon of Boca Raton, Fla., a supporter of Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich waits during a Republican Jewish Coalition rally at the South County Civic Center, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Delray Beach, Fla. Romney and Gingrich square off over immigration and other issues as they look to woo Hispanics a day after a feisty, final debate before Tuesday?s Florida primary. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Audience members cheer as Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns at Astrotech Space Operations in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Republican presidential contenders are making a pitch to voters that sounds a lot like a children's game: Follow the leader.
When Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich aren't puffing up their own leadership credentials, they're running down the leadership skills of one another and President Barack Obama.
If anyone missed Monday's conference call from the Romney campaign about Gingrich's record as a "failed leader," not to worry. They could have tuned in to Tuesday's conference call. Or Wednesday's. Or Thursday's. Or checked out the "unreliable leader" banner splashed across a Romney news release that labeled Gingrich "unhinged." Romney's political biography, meanwhile, is all about his leadership as a businessman, Massachusetts governor and savior of the 2002 Olympic Games.
It's hard to miss Gingrich's frequent broadsides at Romney, meanwhile, for failing to provide consistent, visionary leadership. Or the former House speaker's pronouncements that he, by contrast, offers "exactly the kind of bold, tough leader the American people want." Or Gingrich's muscular descriptions of all that was accomplished in his four years as speaker in the 1990s.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, lagging them in the polls, keeps trying to muscle his way into the leader palooza by offering himself as the steady bet who can be counted on to offer more reliable conservative leadership than "erratic" Gingrich or "moderate" Romney.
In a race where all the candidates are trying to out-conservative one another, stressing leadership credentials gives the GOP rivals a way to try to distinguish themselves. And in a year when Obama's own leadership skills are seen as one of his weakest qualities, it gives the Republicans another arrow in their quiver as they argue over who would be most electable in a matchup with Obama come November.
Leadership is always a part of the equation in presidential elections. In 2008, for example, the candidates all were abuzz with claims that they offered "transformational" leadership. Obama announced he was running by declaring, "I want to transform this country."
This year, leadership is getting an extra dose of attention, perhaps because of statistics such as this: The share of Americans who view Obama as a strong leader slipped from 77 percent at the start of his presidency to 52 percent in a Pew Research Center poll released this month. And among Republicans, only about a fourth of those surveyed in the most recent poll viewed Obama as a strong leader, compared with 80 percent of Democrats.
At a campaign debate last week in Tampa, Fla., Gingrich and Romney both turned a question about electability into an answer about the L-word.
"This is going to come down a question of leadership," Romney said. Then the former Massachusetts governor recited his track record as a leader in business and government and took a dig at Gingrich for having to "resign in disgrace" when he was speaker in the 1990s.
Gingrich, answering the same question, aligned himself with the leadership record of conservative hero Ronald Reagan and offered himself as someone "prepared to be controversial when necessary" to bring about great change.
The answers offer a window into how differently the two candidates define leadership ? Romney more as a manager with business school credentials, Gingrich more as a big-thinking visionary.
The leadership argument is a particularly potent campaign weapon for Romney because a number of Republicans who served in Congress with Gingrich have been happy to describe his shortcomings in running the House.
"If you were somebody trying to serve with him, you were always sort of left standing with your hands empty in terms of moving forward with an actual plan or putting a plan to paper," Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., said of Gingrich on a Romney campaign conference call on Thursday. "So for me, it's an example that he's just not an effective leader. I think Mitt has the temperament and the ability to lead."
Gingrich, who resigned after a spate of ethics problems and a poor showing for House Republicans in the 1998 elections, managed to turn even his resignation as speaker into evidence that he's a strong leader.
"I took responsibility for the fact that our results weren't as good as they should be," he said in the Tampa debate. "I think that's what a leader should do."
As for the turbulence of his tenure as speaker, Gingrich casts that, too, as evidence of his bold leadership.
"Look, I wish everybody had loved me, but I'd rather be effective representing the American people than be popular inside Washington," he said earlier in the campaign.
Stephen Wayne, a presidential scholar at Georgetown University, said the harsh judgment of Obama's presidential leadership by Republicans and even some Democrats in part is due to the high hopes that he raised during the 2008 campaign. Obama the president has been measured against the words of Obama the candidate ever since.
Now that it's campaign season again, says Wayne, "he's not competing against his own image, he's competing against a real life person that has frailties. ... In a sense, that lowers the bar for Obama."
___
AP Deputy Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.
___
Follow Nancy Benac at http://www.twitter.com/nbenac
Sharper imaging in glaucoma focus of $1.85 million NIH grantPublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lisa Merkl lkmerkl@uh.edu 713-743-8192 University of Houston
UH vision scientist hopes techniques lead to earlier diagnoses in glaucoma
HOUSTON -- A University of Houston (UH) vision scientist has received a $1.85 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate whether his techniques are more effective than others in understanding the earliest changes of glaucoma, which could lead to developing a way to earlier diagnose this potentially blinding disease.
Jason Porter, an assistant professor of vision science and biomedical engineering, uses a state-of-the-art instrument that takes sharper, higher-resolution images of the eye than current clinical instruments. The adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope, or AOSLO, device Porter uses corrects for the eye's optical imperfections and captures high-resolution movies on a cellular-level in the living eye. Since 2009, his team has been using the AOSLO to image normal and diseased eyes, and the instrument has become a key component of their work in glaucoma, with the goal of using it to better understand retinal diseases.
"Even when wearing glasses or contact lenses, our eyes still have subtle optical imperfections, and these imperfections limit the ability of current clinical instruments to obtain high-resolution images in the eye on a cellular-level," Porter said. "The AOSLO uses a technology called adaptive optics to correct for these subtle imperfections, thereby improving the eye's optical quality and allowing our instrument to capture sharp images of single cells in living eyes. This could potentially lead to more sensitive imaging techniques that may better clarify the causes of glaucoma."
The knowledge resulting from this research, Porter explains, will enhance clinicians' understanding of the development and progression of glaucoma and may provide earlier recognition of structural damage from the disease. The study's results also may result in more sensitive, improved imaging diagnostics used by optometrists and ophthalmologists to prevent vision loss by earlier detecting structural damage to the retina and optic nerve head, as well as help eye doctors to better evaluate and track the effectiveness of glaucoma treatments.
Porter's work concentrates on examining the lamina cribrosa, which is the sponge-like, porous part of the eye in the optic nerve head that provides structural and functional support to the retinal axons as they exit the eye and move to the brain. Signals detected by the retina are transmitted through retinal axons that exit the eye through the optic nerve head and tend to travel in bundles, weaving their way through the pores in the lamina cribrosa and exiting the eye to go to the brain.
Porter says a growing body of research shows that the lamina cribrosa changes in glaucoma, a disease in which pressure may increase in the eye, leading to a bowing and stretching backward of this structure in early stages of the disease. This bowing, he says, could cause changes in the relative geometry of the lamina's pores, potentially damaging the axons coursing through them and, thus, the axons' ability to transport signals to the brain. This damage to the axons results in the loss of ganglion cells in the retina and losses in vision. Porter and his colleagues are interested to see if changes in the lamina cribrosa pores occur before changes in axon loss and vision loss in glaucoma.
"While my lab has expertise in high-resolution imaging of the eye and the lamina, we provide only one piece of the puzzle in glaucoma," Porter said. "It is very important that we relate the changes we see in our images of the lamina cribrosa with other changes that occur in the retina and in a patient's vision. Therefore, our work is really a collaborative effort between several scientists and clinicians in the College of Optometry."
Porter's group works closely with Ronald Harwerth, John and Rebecca Moores Professor and chair of the department of basic sciences, who is a leading expert in how structural changes in the optic nerve head and retina are related to vision loss in glaucoma. They also work in partnership with Laura Frishman, John and Rebecca Moores Professor and associate dean for graduate research, who is a leading expert in the functional changes in vision that occur in the retina and visual pathways in glaucoma, as well as other optic neuropathies. As the study progresses, Porter's team also will collaborate with Danica Marrelli, a clinical professor and optometric glaucoma specialist, who will help recruit normal and glaucomatous patients, as well as interpret the clinical data acquired in these eyes.
Working directly with Porter on lamina cribrosa imaging are two of his graduate students. Kevin Ivers is a Ph.D. candidate in the College of Optometry's vision science and physiological optics graduate program and has developed a great deal of the methodology for imaging the lamina cribrosa using the AOSLO. Nripun Sredar, a Ph.D. computer science student and jointly advised by Porter and professor George Zouridakis in the College of Technology, is developing methods to model the lamina cribrosa in 3-D to improve their understanding of how the lamina pores may change with disease progression.
###
Editorial Note: High-resolution photos of Jason Porter in his lab are available to media by contacting Lisa Merkl.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the nation's best colleges for undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city, UH serves more than 38,500 students in the most ethnically and culturally diverse region in the country.
About the UH College of Optometry
Since 1952, the University of Houston College of Optometry (UHCO) has educated and trained optometrists to provide the highest quality vision care. One of only 20 optometry schools in the country, UHCO offers a variety of degree programs, including Doctor of Optometry (O.D.), a combined Doctor of Optometry/Doctor of Philosophy (O.D./Ph.D.), Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). UHCO serves an average of 36,000 patients a year through The University Eye Institute and its satellite clinics.
For more information about UH, visit the university's Newsroom at http://www.uh.edu/news-events/.
To receive UH science news via e-mail, sign up for UH-SciNews at http://www.uh.edu/news-events/mailing-lists/sciencelistserv/index.php.
For additional news alerts about UH, follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/UHNewsEvents and Twitter at http://twitter.com/UH_News.
[ | 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.
Sharper imaging in glaucoma focus of $1.85 million NIH grantPublic release date: 26-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lisa Merkl lkmerkl@uh.edu 713-743-8192 University of Houston
UH vision scientist hopes techniques lead to earlier diagnoses in glaucoma
HOUSTON -- A University of Houston (UH) vision scientist has received a $1.85 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to investigate whether his techniques are more effective than others in understanding the earliest changes of glaucoma, which could lead to developing a way to earlier diagnose this potentially blinding disease.
Jason Porter, an assistant professor of vision science and biomedical engineering, uses a state-of-the-art instrument that takes sharper, higher-resolution images of the eye than current clinical instruments. The adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope, or AOSLO, device Porter uses corrects for the eye's optical imperfections and captures high-resolution movies on a cellular-level in the living eye. Since 2009, his team has been using the AOSLO to image normal and diseased eyes, and the instrument has become a key component of their work in glaucoma, with the goal of using it to better understand retinal diseases.
"Even when wearing glasses or contact lenses, our eyes still have subtle optical imperfections, and these imperfections limit the ability of current clinical instruments to obtain high-resolution images in the eye on a cellular-level," Porter said. "The AOSLO uses a technology called adaptive optics to correct for these subtle imperfections, thereby improving the eye's optical quality and allowing our instrument to capture sharp images of single cells in living eyes. This could potentially lead to more sensitive imaging techniques that may better clarify the causes of glaucoma."
The knowledge resulting from this research, Porter explains, will enhance clinicians' understanding of the development and progression of glaucoma and may provide earlier recognition of structural damage from the disease. The study's results also may result in more sensitive, improved imaging diagnostics used by optometrists and ophthalmologists to prevent vision loss by earlier detecting structural damage to the retina and optic nerve head, as well as help eye doctors to better evaluate and track the effectiveness of glaucoma treatments.
Porter's work concentrates on examining the lamina cribrosa, which is the sponge-like, porous part of the eye in the optic nerve head that provides structural and functional support to the retinal axons as they exit the eye and move to the brain. Signals detected by the retina are transmitted through retinal axons that exit the eye through the optic nerve head and tend to travel in bundles, weaving their way through the pores in the lamina cribrosa and exiting the eye to go to the brain.
Porter says a growing body of research shows that the lamina cribrosa changes in glaucoma, a disease in which pressure may increase in the eye, leading to a bowing and stretching backward of this structure in early stages of the disease. This bowing, he says, could cause changes in the relative geometry of the lamina's pores, potentially damaging the axons coursing through them and, thus, the axons' ability to transport signals to the brain. This damage to the axons results in the loss of ganglion cells in the retina and losses in vision. Porter and his colleagues are interested to see if changes in the lamina cribrosa pores occur before changes in axon loss and vision loss in glaucoma.
"While my lab has expertise in high-resolution imaging of the eye and the lamina, we provide only one piece of the puzzle in glaucoma," Porter said. "It is very important that we relate the changes we see in our images of the lamina cribrosa with other changes that occur in the retina and in a patient's vision. Therefore, our work is really a collaborative effort between several scientists and clinicians in the College of Optometry."
Porter's group works closely with Ronald Harwerth, John and Rebecca Moores Professor and chair of the department of basic sciences, who is a leading expert in how structural changes in the optic nerve head and retina are related to vision loss in glaucoma. They also work in partnership with Laura Frishman, John and Rebecca Moores Professor and associate dean for graduate research, who is a leading expert in the functional changes in vision that occur in the retina and visual pathways in glaucoma, as well as other optic neuropathies. As the study progresses, Porter's team also will collaborate with Danica Marrelli, a clinical professor and optometric glaucoma specialist, who will help recruit normal and glaucomatous patients, as well as interpret the clinical data acquired in these eyes.
Working directly with Porter on lamina cribrosa imaging are two of his graduate students. Kevin Ivers is a Ph.D. candidate in the College of Optometry's vision science and physiological optics graduate program and has developed a great deal of the methodology for imaging the lamina cribrosa using the AOSLO. Nripun Sredar, a Ph.D. computer science student and jointly advised by Porter and professor George Zouridakis in the College of Technology, is developing methods to model the lamina cribrosa in 3-D to improve their understanding of how the lamina pores may change with disease progression.
###
Editorial Note: High-resolution photos of Jason Porter in his lab are available to media by contacting Lisa Merkl.
About the University of Houston
The University of Houston is a Carnegie-designated Tier One public research university recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the nation's best colleges for undergraduate education. UH serves the globally competitive Houston and Gulf Coast Region by providing world-class faculty, experiential learning and strategic industry partnerships. Located in the nation's fourth-largest city, UH serves more than 38,500 students in the most ethnically and culturally diverse region in the country.
About the UH College of Optometry
Since 1952, the University of Houston College of Optometry (UHCO) has educated and trained optometrists to provide the highest quality vision care. One of only 20 optometry schools in the country, UHCO offers a variety of degree programs, including Doctor of Optometry (O.D.), a combined Doctor of Optometry/Doctor of Philosophy (O.D./Ph.D.), Master of Science (M.S.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.). UHCO serves an average of 36,000 patients a year through The University Eye Institute and its satellite clinics.
For more information about UH, visit the university's Newsroom at http://www.uh.edu/news-events/.
To receive UH science news via e-mail, sign up for UH-SciNews at http://www.uh.edu/news-events/mailing-lists/sciencelistserv/index.php.
For additional news alerts about UH, follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/UHNewsEvents and Twitter at http://twitter.com/UH_News.
[ | 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.
Google?s winning smartphone strategy was to make Android open source and invite anyone and everyone to create a device for their mobile platform. It worked, as HTC, Motorola and others jumped on the opportunity to create smartphones to rival the iPhone. However, the market was reset when Apple released the iPad. Yet another game-changer, the iPad set new standards for tablets, and is already prepping for a third generation release. All the while, Google?s been building an Android platform designed for tablets, eventually releasing Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich towards the end of last year. While Android?s been unable to topple iOS in the tablet arena, the tides are finally starting to turn as Android?s tablet market share rose to 39 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011.
According to Strategy Analytics, that?s up from 29 percent in the year-earlier period. The iPad still accounted for 68.2 percent of tablet sales, but the pattern is following a path similar to the smartphone market since the iPhone was first released in 2007.
?In other words, Android tablets are rising at broadly the same rate as Android smartphones did in the past,? says Neil Mawston, executive director of the global wireless practice of Strategy Analytics.
That?s good news for device makers, who have been anxious to release better Android tablets into the market. Price is certainly a factor, with gadgets like the Amazon Kindle Fire appealing to a broad range of consumers. Companies like Samsung have been able to rise to the top of the Android competition with one of the best iPad alternatives in terms of features. And while Samsung faces a slew of patent infringement lawsuits from Apple, Android OEMs can apply some of the lessons learned from their smartphone experiences, making improvements in their tablet strategies moving forward.
Tablets boost the mobile market
More Android tablets could be a boost for carriers as well, which rely on a diverse mobile device line up to draw in consumers. AT&T may have lost a few billion in the failed T-Mobile merger, but the wireless provider still managed to beat Wall Street?s expectations last quarter with total revenue of $32.5 billion, an increase of 3.6 percent from the same period last year. AT&T had its best-ever quarter for smartphones, setting records for Android and iPhone activations. If tablets truly are to follow the smartphone market, networks like AT&T will be able to further their revenue streams around tablets and data plans over the next few quarters.
House Speaker John Boehner listens as President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)
House Speaker John Boehner listens as President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address in front of a joint session of Congress Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Saul Loeb, Pool)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Why do Mitt Romney and other wealthy investors pay lower taxes on the income they make from investments than they would if they earned their millions from wages? Because Congress, through the tax code, has long treated investment more favorably than labor, seeing it as an engine for economic growth that benefits everyone.
President Barack Obama and the Occupy Wall Street movement are challenging that value system, raising volatile election-year issues of equity, fairness ? and Romney's tax returns.
Romney, who released his 2010 and 2011 tax returns this week, has been forced to defend the fact that he paid a tax rate of about 15 percent on an annual income of $21 million. His tax rate is comparable to the one paid by most middle-income families. His income, however, is 420 times higher than the typical U.S. household.
The Republican presidential candidate's taxes were so low because the vast majority of his income came from investments. The U.S. has long had a progressive income tax, in which people who make more money pay taxes at a higher rate than those who make less. But for almost as long, the U.S. has taxed capital gains ? the profit from selling an investment ? at a lower rate than wages.
"There are two ways to look at: There is a moral argument and an economic growth argument, and they both point to lower taxes on capital gains," said William McBride, an economist at the conservative Tax Foundation.
McBride says it is unfair to tax income more than once, and capital gains are taxed multiple times. If you got the original investment from wages, that money was taxed. If the stock you own gains value because the company you invested in makes a profit, those profits are taxed through the corporate tax. And if that company issues dividends, those are taxed as well.
Lots of people are double taxed, says Chuck Marr, director of federal tax policy for the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "Check out your last pay stub: There's income tax and payroll tax, so you're double taxed, too," Marr said.
And, he noted, when you buy something, you probably pay a sales tax.
Under current law, the top tax rate is 15 percent on qualified dividend and long-term capital gains ? the profits from selling assets that have been held for at least a year. The top income tax rate on wages is 35 percent, though that applies only to taxable income above $388,350.
Congress started taxing capital gains at a lower rate than wages following World War I. The concern then was that high taxes on capital gains actually reduced revenue because people would simply hold onto their investments and restrict the flow of capital, according to the Encyclopedia of Taxation and Tax Policy.
At the time, however, the top tax rate on wages was a whopping 73 percent. In 1922, Congress lowered the top capital gains rate to 12.5 percent, a rate that lasted until 1934.
For much of the next 70 years, the top tax rate on long-term capital gains hovered between 20 percent and 30 percent, going as high as 39.9 percent in the 1970s but never falling below 20 percent until 2003, when Congress passed a gradual reduction to the current rate.
The 2003 law also started taxing qualified dividends at the same rate as capital gains.
Liberals and some moderates argue that lower taxes on investments are a giveaway to the rich because they are the ones who get the most benefit. Last year, two-thirds of all capital gains went to people making more than $1 million, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, the official scorekeeper for Congress.
Only 5 percent of capital gains went to people making less than $100,000, and only 13 percent went to people making less than $200,000.
"I'm a liberal person and I believe strongly that the wealthy should pay more than the working poor," Marr said, regardless of whether the income is from investments or labor.
Obama has taken up this argument, though his budget proposals have called for only small tax increases on capital gains and dividends, to a top rate of 20 percent.
Instead, Obama has developed the "Buffet Rule," named after billionaire investor Warren Buffet, which says rich people shouldn't pay taxes at a lower rate than their secretaries. To impose this rule, Obama said at his State of The Union address Tuesday that people making more than $1 million should pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.
"Now, you can call this class warfare all you want," Obama said. "But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense."
The proposal has little chance of passing a divided Congress this year, and the Obama administration has released few details on how the tax would work.
Conservatives argue that increasing investment taxes would make it harder to for businesses to raise capital, restricting job growth and hurting financial markets, reducing income for people who rely on pension funds and 401(k) accounts as well as billionaires and millionaires.
"In my view the rationale for taxing capital gains and dividends at a lower rate has nothing to do with what an individual pays versus another individual," said Jim McCrery, who was a senior Republican member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee when the 2003 tax cuts were enacted. "It has everything to do with the creation of jobs in this country."
McCrery now works for the Alliance for Savings and Investment, a coalition of companies and business groups that want to keep the current tax rates on capital gains and dividends.
Debate continues over whether "Bridesmaids" deserves its Oscar nominations.
By Christopher Bahn
Did "Bridesmaids" get left behind at Oscar's Best Picture altar? Or are the raunchy comedy's two nominations already more than it deserves?
Some early buzz suggested that Kristen Wiig's R-rated wedding-disaster hit was a contender for the Academy Awards' top prize, especially now that the field is open to more than just five films. That didn't happen, but "Bridesmaids" did score a supporting-actress nod for Melissa McCarthy, who played the endearingly obnoxious and sexually voracious Megan, and an original screenplay nomination for writers Wiig and Annie Mumolo.?
Best Picture was always going to be a long shot. The fact is that the Oscars have never been kind to comedies, as a look at recent years makes clear. Of the nine movies nominated for Best Picture this year, only Woody Allen's "Midnight In Paris" is considered a comedy, and of the 10 nominations in 2010 and 2011, only the animated movies ?"Toy Story 3" and "Up" qualify.?
Another thing to note is that all three of those films lean more toward the heartwarming than the edgy side, and the Oscars don't tend to favor that kind of tone unless it's in a serious, weighty drama. The bold use of gross-out humor in "Bridesmaids" surely didn't work in its favor for the big nomination. Instead, it was honored in traditionally safe, relatively minor categories for envelope-pushers ? supporting actress and script.
?
But in any case, along with successful showings for "Moneyball" and "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," the nominations for "Bridesmaids" are a victory for mainstream, populist entertainment in a race that usually leans too heavily toward the self-consciously serious.?
Some fans were thrilled for Melissa McCarthy.
McCarthy in particular makes an unusual Oscar choice ? her character is neither the long-suffering martyr or dainty model that usually gets picked. Megan is brassy, bawdy, and confidently sexual ? a testament to McCarthy's fearless improv-comedy skills. But she's much more likely, in the end, to be a crowd-pleasing favorite who's mobbed on the red carpet, but?who doesn't walk down the aisle at the Kodak Theater.?
Still, her nomination is winning acclaim among mainstream filmgoers ? based on a totally unscientific scan of Twitter, popular sentiment is solidly, maybe 80/20, in her favor. One commenter compared McCarthy's performance to Nicole Kidman's in "The Hours," pointing out what the Oscars often miss: "Great comedy is harder than sticking on a prosthetic nose & looking morose." Another took the opposite view, encapsulating the unease many feel about "Bridesmaids" and its raunchy, body-fluid-heavy humor being honored among the best achievements in cinema: "Dear God: Please don't let Melissa McCarthy win an Oscar for pooping in a sink."
Is "Bridesmaids" Oscar material? Does Melissa McCarthy have a chance in the supporting actress category? Tell us on Facebook.
Were two Oscar nominations right for 'Bridesmaids'?
WASHINGTON ? A look at where the 2012 Republican presidential candidates stand on a selection of issues.
They are former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Texas Rep. Ron Paul, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
___
ABORTION:
Gingrich: Platform calls for conservative judges and no subsidies for abortion but not a constitutional abortion ban.
Paul: Says federal government should have no authority either to legalize or ban abortion.
Romney: Says Roe v. Wade should be reversed by a future Supreme Court and states should decide their own abortion laws.
Santorum: Favors constitutional abortion ban and opposes abortion, including in cases of rape.
___
DEBT:
Gingrich: As House speaker in 1990s, engineered passage of a seven-year balanced-budget plan. It was vetoed but helped form a bipartisan balanced budget later.
Paul: Would eviscerate federal government, slashing nearly half its spending, shut five Cabinet-level agencies, end spending on existing conflicts and on foreign aid.
Romney: Defended financial sector bailout, criticized GM and Chrysler bailout. Cap federal spending at 20 percent of GDP.
Santorum: Freeze social and military spending for five years to cut $5 trillion from federal budgets.
___
ECONOMY:
Gingrich: Repeal the financial industry regulations that followed the Wall Street meltdown. Restrict the Fed's power to set interest rates artificially low.
Paul: Return to the gold standard, eliminate the Federal Reserve, eliminate most federal regulations.
Romney: Lower taxes, less regulation, balanced budget, more trade deals to spur growth. Replace jobless benefits with unemployment savings accounts. Repeal new financial-industry regulations.
Santorum: Eliminate corporate taxes for manufacturers, drill for more oil and gas, and slash regulations.
___
EDUCATION:
Gingrich: Shrink Education Department. But supported Obama administration's $4 billion Race to the Top grant competition for states.
Paul: Abolish the Education Department and end the federal role in education.
Romney: Supported No Child Left Behind law. Once favored shutting Education Department, later saw its value in "holding down the interests of the teachers' unions."
Santorum: Voted for No Child Left Behind law, now regrets vote. Wants "significantly" smaller Education Department but not its elimination.
___
ENERGY:
Gingrich: Let oil and natural gas industries drill offshore reserves now blocked from development, end restrictions on Western oil shale development.
Paul: Remove restrictions on drilling, coal and nuclear power, eliminate gasoline tax, provide tax credits for alternative fuel technology.
Romney: Supports drilling in the Gulf, the outer continental shelves, Western lands, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and offshore Alaska; and exploitation of shale oil deposits.
Santorum: Favors drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, scaling back "oppressive regulation" hindering drilling elsewhere, and eliminating energy subsidies in four years.
___
ENVIRONMENT:
Gingrich: Convert EPA into "environmental solutions agency" devoted to research and "more energy, more jobs and a better environment simultaneously." Once backed tougher environmental regulation.
Paul: Previously said human activity "probably does" contribute to global warming; now calls such science a "hoax." Says emission standards should be set by states or regions.
Romney: Acknowledged that humans contribute to global warming, but later said "we don't know what's causing climate change." Cap and trade would "rocket energy prices."
Santorum: The science establishing human activity as a likely contributor to global warming is "patently absurd" and "junk science."
___
GAY MARRIAGE:
Gingrich: If the Defense of Marriage Act fails, "you have no choice except a constitutional amendment" to ban gay marriage.
Paul: Decisions on legalizing or prohibiting gay marriage should be left to states.
Romney: Favors constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, says policy should be set federally, not by states.
Santorum: Supports constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, not leaving decision to states. "We can't have 50 marriage laws."
___
HEALTH CARE:
All would seek repeal of Obama's health care law.
Gingrich: Prohibit insurers from cancelling or charging hefty increases to insurance holders who get sick. Offer "generous" tax credit to help buy insurance. Previously supported mandatory coverage.
Paul: Opposes compulsory insurance and all federal subsidies for coverage.
Romney: Opposes federal mandate to obtain coverage; introduced mandate in Massachusetts. Proposes "generous" subsidies to help future retirees buy private insurance instead of going on Medicare.
Santorum: Would seek to starve Obama's health care law of money needed to implement it. Supported Bush administration's prescription drug program for the elderly, now regrets doing so.
___
IMMIGRATION:
Gingrich: In contrast to most rivals, supports option of giving legal status to illegal immigrants with deep roots in the U.S. and who have lived otherwise lawfully. Supports path to citizenship for illegal immigrants' children who perform U.S. military service. Make English the official language. Divert more Homeland Security assets to at Mexican border.
Paul: Do "whatever it takes" to secure the border, end right to citizenship of U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants, no social services for illegal immigrants, aggressive deportation.
Romney: Would veto legislation that seeks to award legal status to some young illegal immigrants who attend college or serve in the armed forces. Favors complete U.S.-Mexico border fence, opposes education benefits to illegal immigrants.
Gingrich: Give younger workers the option of diverting Social Security taxes to private retirement accounts.
Paul: Says younger workers should be able to opt out of Social Security taxes and retirement benefits; benefits for today's retirees should be protected.
Romney: Starting with workers now under 55, raise age to qualify for full benefits, and limit inflation increases for wealthier beneficiaries. Protect status quo for people 55 and older.
Santorum: Proposes immediate steps to lower benefits for wealthier retirees, raise the age to qualify for full benefits and restrict inflation increases in benefits, both for current and future retirees. Supports option of private retirement accounts.
___
TAXES:
All support eliminating the estate tax and keeping Bush-era tax cuts.
Gingrich: Choice of filing under current system or paying a 15 percent tax, preserving mortgage interest and charitable deductions. Cut corporate tax to 12.5 percent.
Paul: Eliminate the federal income tax and the IRS, and defund close to half the government.
Romney: No one with adjusted gross income under $200,000 should be taxed on interest, dividends or capital gains. Cut corporate tax rate to 25 percent.
Santorum: Triple the personal exemption for dependent children, reduce the number of tax brackets to two ? 10 percent and 28 percent, exempt domestic manufacturers from the corporate tax and halve the top rate for other business.
___
TERRORISM:
Gingrich: Supports extending and strengthening investigative powers of Patriot Act. Supports continued use of Guantanamo Bay detention for suspected terrorists. Supported creation of Homeland Security apparatus. In 2009, said of waterboarding: "It's not something we should do."
Paul: Opposes Patriot Act as an infringement on liberty. Says terrorists would not be motivated to attack America if the U.S. ended its military presence abroad. Says: "Waterboarding is torture. And it's illegal under international law and under our law. It's also immoral."
Romney: No constitutional rights for foreign terrorism suspects. Campaign says he does not consider waterboarding to be torture.
Santorum: Defends creation of Homeland Security Department. Voted to reauthorize Patriot Act. Says airport screeners should employ profiling; "Muslims would be someone you'd look at, absolutely." Supports continued use of Guantanamo Bay detention but says Americans accused of being enemy combatants should have right to challenge indefinite detention in court. Says waterboarding has proved effective.
___
WAR:
Gingrich: Supported Iraq war and opposed early withdrawal. Said U.S. forces should not have been used in Libya campaign, after he had called for such intervention. Opposes "precipitous" pullout from Afghanistan.
Paul: Bring most or all troops home from foreign posts "as quick as the ships could get there." Opposed U.S. intervention in Libya. Cut Pentagon budget.
Romney: Has not specified the troop numbers behind pledge to ensure the "force level necessary to secure our gains and complete our mission successfully" in Afghanistan.
Santorum: Says he would order bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities unless they were opened for international arms inspectors. Proposes freezing defense spending for five years.
___
Associated Press writers Brian Bakst and Chris Tomlinson contributed to this report.
Both have been promised as coming soon in recent weeks, and now Boxee has confirmed that two fairly big new rollouts are underway. The first is the Boxee Box Live TV dongle, which is now shipping and will let you augment your Boxee Box with some OTA TV channels for $50. You can get a closer look at it in our hands-on from CES earlier this month. Alongside it, Boxee is also rolling out its Boxee 1.5 software update, which boasts a new UI and a number of other refinements including better search, new library screens and filtering options, browser pop-up management, and the addition of Rotten Tomatoes listings. Boxee says it's staggering the release over the next 72 hours, but those eager to check it out can find instructions for a manual update at the support link below.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 30-Jan-2012
Share ] 
Google?s winning smartphone strategy was to make Android open source and invite anyone and everyone to create a device for their mobile platform. It worked, as HTC, Motorola and others jumped on the opportunity to create smartphones to rival the iPhone. However, the market was reset when Apple released the iPad. Yet another game-changer, the iPad set new standards for tablets, and is already prepping for a third generation release. All the while, Google?s been building an Android platform designed for tablets, eventually releasing Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich towards the end of last year. While Android?s been unable to topple iOS in the tablet arena, the tides are finally starting to turn as Android?s tablet market share rose to 39 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011.
