MRI detects early effects of chemotherapy on children's hearts

June 10, 2013 ? MRI scans of children who have had chemotherapy can detect early changes in their hearts finds research in biomed Central?s open access journal Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.

Chemotherapy with anthracyclines, such as Doxorubicin, is one of the most effective treatments against many types of cancer, including leukaemia and Hodgkin's lymphoma, breast, lung, and ovarian cancer. However it can also lead to irreversible heart damage, which may not be apparent until several years after treatment. Being able to detect this damage at an early stage, in order to initiate preventative therapy of affected people, is especially important in children.

Researchers from University of Alberta performed MRI scans on children and young adults (aged 7 to 19) at the Stollery Children?s Hospital who were in remission following anthracycline treatment. They found that they were able to identify changes in heart muscle related to the formation of fibrosis, using an emerging MRI method called T1 mapping, even in children whose heart function was apparently normal by ultrasound.

Explaining in more detail, the study funded by the Women?s and Children?s Health Research Institute led by Dr Edythe Tham and Dr Richard Thompson said, ?In childhood cancer survivors, MRI changes were related to anthracycline dose given to the children. These changes are also mirrored by thinning of the heart wall and a reduction in the exercise capacity. By detecting these changes early we can only hope that future research using these techniques may guide early identification and treatment in attempts to delay the onset of heart damage in children who have survived cancer.?

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by BioMed Central Limited, via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Edythe B Tham, Mark J Haykowsky, Kelvin Chow, Maria Spavor, Sachie Kaneko, Nee S Khoo, Joseph J Pagano, Andrew S Mackie and Richard B Thompson. Diffuse myocardial fibrosis by T1-mapping in children with subclinical anthracycline cardiotoxicity: relationship to exercise capacity, cumulative dose and remodeling. Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, 2013 DOI: 10.1186/1532-429X-15-48

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/heart_disease/~3/-Z6aWMWs0pY/130609220839.htm

american idol memphis grizzlies aretha franklin Beyonce Pregnant Riot Fest Granbury Tx Jaden Smith

Fort Hood suspect's paralysis could slow trial

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Bell County Sheriff's Department shows Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage that left 13 dead. The Army psychiatrist charged in the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood is paralyzed from the waist down, after being shot by police. A judge has permitted him to represent himself at trial, but his compromised health means that his upcoming court martial will have shorter periods of testimony, more breaks and possible lengthy delays to write legal motions. (AP Photo/Bell County Sheriff's Department, File)

FILE - This undated file photo provided by the Bell County Sheriff's Department shows Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist charged in the deadly 2009 Fort Hood shooting rampage that left 13 dead. The Army psychiatrist charged in the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood is paralyzed from the waist down, after being shot by police. A judge has permitted him to represent himself at trial, but his compromised health means that his upcoming court martial will have shorter periods of testimony, more breaks and possible lengthy delays to write legal motions. (AP Photo/Bell County Sheriff's Department, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 18, 2012 courtroom sketch, U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Hasan, center foreground with back showing, is seen sitting between members of is defense team during a hearing in Fort Hood, Texas. The Army psychiatrist charged in the 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood is paralyzed from the waist down, after being shot by police that day. A judge has permitted him to represent himself at trial, but his compromised health means that his upcoming court martial will have shorter periods of testimony, more breaks and possible lengthy delays to write legal motions. (AP Photo/Brigitte Woosley, File)

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) ? The paralysis-related health problems of the Army psychologist charged with carrying out the deadly attack on Fort Hood could significantly slow the pace of his upcoming court-martial, including delays for stretch breaks and fewer daily hours for testimony.

Maj. Nidal Hasan was left paralyzed from the abdomen down when police shot him during the Nov. 5, 2009, attack on the Texas Army post that left 13 people dead and nearly three dozen wounded. If convicted, he faces execution or life in prison.

Jury selection was to begin last week, with testimony set to start in early July. But everything was pushed back again last week, at least briefly, during a hearing in which the Army judge, Col. Tara Osborn, granted Hasan's request to represent himself. Before she did, she warned him that doing so would be "a far more physically taxing enterprise than you can imagine."

She's expected to rule Tuesday on his request for a three-month delay.

While Hasan can maneuver his wheelchair, his doctor said Hasan cannot sit upright more than 12 hours a day without his concentration being affected. Inmates at Hasan's jail must wake up before dawn, so daily testimony would have to conclude by 5 p.m. at the latest, Dr. Prasad Lakshminarasimhiah told the judge last week.

A court-martial already has the potential to take longer because military jurors are allowed to submit questions to witnesses after they have testified, so many judges allow testimony to continue until late at night, if witnesses and the jury want to keep going. But that would not be possible at Hasan's trial.

To avoid muscle spasms, Hasan also must have 15- to 20-minute breaks for stretching every four hours. To avoid developing sores, he also must relieve pressure by lifting himself off his wheelchair for about a minute every half hour.

It's unclear if the breaks for stretching and meals could be taken at the same time, and Fort Hood officials have not said if the trial's daily schedule will be set with Hasan's medical issues in mind.

Hasan, who uses a catheter and adult diapers, refuses to take medication that would help regulate his digestive system, and he must eat at the same time each day to avoid accidents, Lakshminarasimhiah said. The jail serves breakfast at about 4:30 a.m., lunch about 10:30 a.m. and dinner at about 4:30 p.m., but the American-born Muslim told the judge that he fasts frequently and misses a meal on those days.

Hasan is housed in the nearby Bell County Jail, which has a contract with Fort Hood to hold all of its defendants because the Army post does not have holding facilities.

Hasan has lost weight since his arrest; his face is gaunter than his Army photo taken before the rampage. It's unclear if the weight loss is due to his fasting or a health problem.

In September, Hasan was hospitalized a few days for undisclosed reasons. His former defense attorney, John Galligan, said he believes Hasan was hospitalized because of problems related to his incontinence. Hasan had health problems stemming from his catheter, including blood in his urine, about a year before he was hospitalized, Galligan said.

Because he has "poor trunk support," Hasan has difficulty writing more than a few pages at a time, and nerve damage in his left hand makes typing more challenging, his doctor told the judge.

When Osborn asked how he would write legal motions, a necessity for an attorney during a trial, Hasan answered, "I'll do the best I can."

Medical experts not involved in Hasan's case say a paraplegic may be able to do the same tasks as others, but first must develop the strength and stamina over time.

"If he has not been doing (these things), sitting up for 12 hours may be stretching it," said Dr. Rita Hamilton, director of spinal cord injury medicine for the Baylor Institute for Rehabilitation in Dallas.

In addition to ruling on Hasan's request for a three-month trial delay on Tuesday, the judge is expected to discuss his "defense of others" strategy, which requires him to prove the shootings were necessary to protect others from imminent harm or death. Hasan told the judge that U.S. troops deploying from the Army post posed an immediate threat to Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.

Witnesses said the day of the rampage a gunman wearing an Army combat uniform shouted "Allahu Akbar!" ? "God is great!" in Arabic ? and opened fire in a crowded medical building where deploying soldiers get vaccines and tests. Witnesses said the gunman fired rapidly, pausing only to reload, even shooting at some soldiers as they hid under desks and fled the building.

Government documents show that in the years before the shooting, Hasan told some colleagues that the U.S. was at war with Islam. In some emails to a radical Muslim cleric, Hasan indicated that he supported terrorists and was intrigued with the idea of U.S. soldiers killing comrades in the name of Islam.

___

Follow Angela K. Brown on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AngelaKBrownAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-09-Fort%20Hood%20Shooting-Hasan's%20Health/id-6b023ade97ce4ed2a0d7ad457132b9d0

kim kardashian and kanye west henrik stenson jobs act greg mortenson jim marshall died 2013 toyota avalon the secret life of bees

NSA contractor risks steep jail time for data leak

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The man who gave classified documents to reporters, making public two sweeping U.S. surveillance programs and touching off a national debate on privacy versus security, has revealed his own identity. He risked decades in jail for the disclosures ? if the U.S. can extradite him from Hong Kong where he has taken refuge.

Edward Snowden, 29, who says he worked as a contractor at the National Security Agency and the CIA, allowed The Guardian and The Washington Post newspapers to reveal his identity Sunday.

Both papers have published a series of top-secret documents outlining two NSA surveillance programs. One gathers hundreds of millions of U.S. phone records while searching for possible links to known terrorist targets abroad, and the second allows the government to tap into nine U.S. Internet companies to gather all Internet usage to detect suspicious behavior that begins overseas.

The revelations have reopened the post-Sept. 11 debate about individual privacy concerns versus heightened measures to protect the U.S. against terrorist attacks. The NSA has asked the Justice Department to conduct a criminal investigation into the leaks. Government lawyers are now "in the initial stages of an investigation into the unauthorized disclosure of classified information by an individual with authorized access," said Nanda Chitre, Justice Department spokeswoman.

President Barack Obama said the programs are authorized by Congress and subject to strict supervision of a secret court, and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper says they do not target U.S. citizens.

But Snowden claims the programs are open to abuse.

"Any analyst at any time can target anyone. Any selector. Anywhere," Snowden said in a video on the Guardian's website. "I, sitting at my desk, had the authority to wiretap anyone, from you or your accountant to a federal judge to even the president if I had a personal email."

Some lawmakers have expressed similar concerns about the wide reach of the surveillance.

"I expect the government to protect my privacy. It feels like that isn't what's been happening," said Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "Again, there's a line, but to me, the scale of it and the fact the law was being secretly interpreted has long concerned me," he said Sunday on CNN, adding that at the same time, he abhors leaks.

Senate intelligence committee chairman, Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California, contends the surveillance does not infringe on U.S. citizens' privacy, and that it helped disrupt a 2009 plot to bomb New York City's subways and played a role in the case against an American who scouted targets in Mumbai, India, before a deadly terrorist attack there in 2008. Feinstein spoke on ABC's "This Week."

Clapper has decried the revelation of the intelligence-gathering programs as reckless and said it has done "huge, grave damage."

The spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence Shawn Turner said intelligence officials are "currently reviewing the damage that has been done by these recent disclosures."

The disclosures come as the White House deals with managing fallout from revelations that it secretly seized telephone records of journalists at The Associated Press and Fox News.

Snowden says he was a former technical assistant for the CIA and a current employee of defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, which released a statement Sunday confirming he had been a contractor with them in Hawaii for less than three months, and promising to work with investigators.

Snowden could face many years in prison for releasing classified information if he is successfully extradited from Hong Kong, according to Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer who represents whistleblowers.

Hong Kong, though part of China, is partly autonomous and has a Western-style legal system that is a legacy from the territory's past as a British colony. A U.S.-Hong Kong extradition treaty has worked smoothly in the past. Hong Kong extradited three al-Qaeda suspects to the U.S. in 2003, for example.

But the treaty comes with important exceptions. Key provisions allow a request to be rejected if it is deemed to be politically motivated or that the suspect would not receive a fair trial. Beijing may also block an extradition of Chinese nationals from Hong Kong for national security reasons.

"The government could subject him to a 10 or 20 year penalty for each count," with each document leaked considered a separate charge, Zaid said.

Snowden told the Guardian newspaper he believes the government could try to charge him with treason under the Espionage Act, but Zaid said that would require the government to prove he had intent to betray the United States, whereas he publicly made it clear he did this to spur debate.

"My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them," Snowden told the Guardian.

The government could also make an argument that the NSA leaks have aided the enemy ? as military prosecutors have claimed against Army Pvt. Bradley Manning, who faces life in prison under military law if convicted for releasing a trove of classified documents through the Wikileaks website.

"They could say the revelation of the (NSA) programs could instruct people to change tactics," Zaid said. That could add more potential jail time to the punishment.

Snowden told the Post he was not going to hide.

"Allowing the U.S. government to intimidate its people with threats of retaliation for revealing wrongdoing is contrary to the public interest," he said in the interview published Sunday. Snowden said he would "ask for asylum from any countries that believe in free speech and oppose the victimization of global privacy."

Snowden told The Guardian he lacked a high school diploma and served in the U.S. Army until he was discharged because of an injury, and later worked as a security guard with the NSA at a covert facility at the University of Maryland.

He later went to work for the CIA as an information technology employee and by 2007 was stationed in Geneva, Switzerland, where he had access to classified documents.

During that time, he considered going public about the nation's secretive programs but told the newspaper he decided against it, because he did not want to put anyone in danger and he hoped Obama's election would curtail some of the clandestine programs.

He said he was disappointed that Obama did not rein in the surveillance programs.

"Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in the world," he told The Guardian. "I realized that I was part of something that was doing far more harm than good."

Snowden left the CIA in 2009. He said he spent the last four years at the NSA, briefly as a contractor with consulting giant Booz Allen Hamilton and, before that, Dell.

The Guardian reported that Snowden was working in an NSA office in Hawaii when he copied the last of the documents he planned to disclose and told supervisors that he needed to be away for a few weeks to receive treatment for epilepsy.

He left for Hong Kong on May 20 and has remained there since, according to the newspaper. Snowden is quoted as saying he chose that city because "they have a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent", and because he believed it was among the spots on the globe that could and would resist the dictates of the U.S. government.

"I feel satisfied that this was all worth it. I have no regrets," Snowden told The Guardian.

___

Follow Dozier on Twitter at http://twitter.com/kimberlydozier or at http://bigstory.ap.org/tags/kimberly-dozier

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nsa-contractor-risks-steep-jail-time-data-leak-102058950.html

steelers scarlett johansson peter frampton Sandy Hook Elementary School Colors Victoria Soto nbc sports morgan freeman

Sony DualShock 4 hands-on (update: video)

Sony just wrapped its E3 press event, delighting attendees and future console buyers with showstopping news: a $399 retail price and lack of used game restrictions on the PlayStation 4. Now, with all those important bits behind us, it's time to once again focus on the hardware, specifically the PS4 controller. We got our grips on the controller immediately following Sony's E3 2013 presser -- our first chance to check out the new DualShock -- and it feels great!

We're glad to say that the thumbsticks have dramatically improved and no longer allow your thumbs to easily slip out. The triggers are also much improved, with a little lip enabling a comfortable cradle. The front face buttons are nigh identical with the DualShock 3, as is the d-pad (despite a slight visual alteration) -- the biggest difference is the new touchpad. It's clicky and feels like a surprisingly nice addition to the DualShock. It's easily clickable from the standard two hand position on a controller, though the share and options buttons are a bit out of reach (at least for our small hands). We'll have a closer look at the DualShock 4 this week from E3 and some impressions of it with actual games, so stay tuned for more from E3 2013!

Gallery: PlayStation DualShock 4 controller hands-on

Update: We've got our hands-on video embedded after the break, so head on down to check it out.

Zach Honig and Ben Gilbert contributed to this report.

Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, HD, Sony

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/10/sony-ps4-controller-hands-on/?utm_medium=feed&utm_source=Feed_Classic&utm_campaign=Engadget

lesotho a wrinkle in time benjamin netanyahu storm shelters nick lachey lifelock chevy volt

Hillary Clinton starts tweeting

She's back. (Not that she ever really left.)

Hillary Clinton issued her first tweet on Monday, causing a stir in social media as well as in the political world.

The former secretary of state used her maiden tweet, sent from her new @HillaryClinton account, to cheekily capitalize on the 2012 "Texts from Hillary" Tumblr meme, writing to that site's creators:

Clinton in 2012 met with the "Texts from Hillary" Tumblr's creators and even issued her own submission.

Clinton's new Twitter account for now offers no direct mention of the 2016 presidential bid she is widely assumed to be considering, but she alludes to it in her profile. "Wife, mom, lawyer, women & kids advocate, FLOAR, FLOTUS, US Senator, SecState, author, dog owner, hair icon, pantsuit aficionado, glass ceiling cracker, TBD...," the profile reads.

TBD indeed.

Forty minutes after her tweet, Clinton's account showed she had more than 48,000 followers.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/hillary-clinton-starts-tweeting-172204268.html

tulsa shooting doug fister the perfect storm mickelson how to tie a tie sweet potato recipes the sound of music

Apple Unveils iTunes Radio, A Streaming Music Service With The Full Power Of The iTunes Library

Apple had no shortage of new things to announce at WWDC 2013 today, and iTunes Radio is one of the highlights. The company’s new music service has been long-rumored, but now the curtains are drawn and we can see what the Pandora-like streaming radio offering actually looks like. iTunes Radio is essentially what we’ve been hearing it would be: a streaming music service that takes your tastes into account in order to play tracks that are likely to be in line with your tastes. Apple really has essentially taken its Genius jukebox-style feature, which combs your library and builds genre-based playlists, or suggests recommended artists and tracks based on what you’re currently listening to. The difference with the new service is that it can access the entire iTunes catalog, which, at this point, is well over 26 million tracks. Sony, Universal and Warner are all on board. The service will be free for U.S. users, and will use both text and audio ads to support the free streaming. iTunes Match subscribers won’t receive ads, making the subscription service a bit more compelling. Track skipping is supported, which was something that was reported to be a sticking point in?negotiations?with music label partners leading up to this product launch. What’s striking is that it looks a lot like Pandora. On iOS, you create your custom stations, you can give a thumb up if you like a song. In the corner of every song, iOS shows a “Buy” button to make to funnel song purchases in the iTunes Store. It was probably one of the requirements to sign the deals with major music companies and could become a good revenue generator for the iTunes Store. As a reminder, Google has just introduced its own streaming music service, All Access for Google Play, which will cost users $9.99 per month after June 30 and provides complete access to 18 million songs available on Play. This service competes more with Spotify and Rdio than with Pandora. Google is also releasing an app for iOS devices to provide access to the service. Pandora, which has around 20 million tracks, offers its basic product for free, but also has a premium tier called Pandora One for $3.99 per month that drops ads, provides access to a desktop app and ups the number of skips a user is allowed per day. Apple’s iTunes Radio will arrive sometime in

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/yBYUD5Tj5Ts/

march madness scores doonesbury padma lakshmi daughtry lakers trade ann arbor news nick young

Arizona's McCarthy on medication after seizure

PHOENIX (AP) ? Arizona's Brandon McCarthy is taking medication and says he's confident he'll be fine after he collapsed at a restaurant with a seizure related to the head injury he sustained while pitching last September.

The Diamondbacks' right-hander underwent extensive examinations at the Mayo Clinic after the incident Monday. He was having dinner with his wife at a Phoenix restaurant when he passed out.

"It's something you get through," he said. "Now we know a little bit more about it. We know kind of how we'll treated it going forward, so I guess it means it's good to get one out of the way. At least now we know what we're dealing with."

McCarthy, speaking before Arizona played San Francisco on Sunday, said he knew that after a traumatic brain injury a person can become more "seizure-prone."

"There's always a chance of happening any time you have a bruise on your brain it doesn't actually ever heal, which always kind of leaves you at least somewhat vulnerable to it," he said. "So we knew the possibility was there. We had hoped we had kind of gotten past that."

McCarthy, on the 15-day disabled list with what has become an annual problem with his shoulder, said he will be taking anti-seizure medicine for the foreseeable future. He doesn't believe the seizure will impact his return to pitching.

"It's just a new thing to deal with, I guess, but it doesn't change me as a pitcher, what I do and how I go about my business," he said. "This just might be something else I have to deal with at some point. Outside of that there's no point in really changing anything."

While pitching for Oakland last Sept. 5, McCarthy sustained what was described at the time as life-threatening injuries when he was struck in the head by a line drive off the bat of Erick Aybar of the Los Angeles Angels. He had an epidural hemorrhage, brain contusion and a skull fracture. Emergency surgery was performed that night and he was released from the hospital six days later.

McCarthy, who signed a two-year free agent contract with the Diamondbacks, was 2-4 with a 5.00 ERA in 11 starts before going on the DL on May 31. He said he expects to begin throwing off the mound in the next couple of days and that the seizure would not set back that timetable.

For a time, McCarthy said, there was a chance that the situation would be much more serious after an initial CT scan showed a spot on his brain. The spot could have indicated bleeding and would have required surgery.

"When we went to sleep that night there was a chance that we wake up in the morning and someone would confirm it and we'd have to go through that whole process again," he said.

Instead, doctors concluded it was only a normal shadow.

Manager Kirk Gibson said he didn't want to comment too much on the situation because he considered a "somewhat personal" issue.

"I don't know what to say," Gibson said. "Everything that happened to him last year, when he got hit in the head, the first thing is you have a huge fear that this going to reoccur and is he OK. They're on it. He certainly won't pitch if he's not."

McCarthy insists he's not at any added risk for a brain injury despite what's happened.

"I'm not at any more risk than anybody else," he said.

___

Follow Bob Baum at www.twitter.com/Thebaumerphx

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/arizonas-mccarthy-medication-seizure-194829437.html

Jay Z Open Letter glee glee masters live frozen four Rehtaeh Parsons National Sibling Day