Another Great Depression?

by widgette.com

Could the current economic crisis lead to another great depression? The Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank has released a study that suggests the government needs to be careful in order to avoid such a problem. Massive public intervention to maintain employment and investment, if they distort incentives enough, can lead to a great depression.

Business cycles can lead to an ordinary downturn in the economy. However, overreaction by the government can prolong and deepen the downturn leading to depression.

“A non-profit housing advocacy group said Monday it will protest at the homes of those it calls “financial predators” — investors and banking executives it says are balking at helping struggling homeowners refinance their mortgages.”

…setting up a “financial predators registry” …

“They will be subject to arrest if they violate any laws,” said Greenwich Police Lt. Daniel Allen.

Class war coming to a wealthy neighbourhood near you.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i77rfz-5Ss08X-UpgiIWdbz_3QYgD9689AKG0

Food Fight Erupts on the High Seas… Over Food (Full Article)
Activist launch rancid butter at whalers. Whalers hurl blood and blubber at activists.

Stimulus Package to Help Fight Global Warming (Full Article)
A new Greenpeace-commissioned carbon footprint analysis of the economic recovery package projects that the bill’s energy efficiency and conservation provisions alone could cut carbon dioxide emissions by over 61 million metric tons annually.

Australian Wildfires Kill (Full Article)
When this article was first published the death toll from the fires was 84. Today the total killed exceeds 130.

Blink 182 Re-unite! (Full Article)
The members of Blink 182 announced at the Grammy awards they would re-group for a new album and tour.

Ticketmaster And Live Nation To Merge? (Full Article)

Many concert goes fear the price of tickets could become even more unreasonable if two of the world’s largest ticket agencies combine. Bruce Springsteen is furious….

The Boss’s Outrage Prompts Attorney General Investigation (Full Article)
After the public outcry over Ticketmaster’s unethical behavior, the New Jersey Attorney General launches an investigation.

College Consulting Workshop
Date: March 10-11, 2009
Time: 7:00pm – 9:00pm
Where: Velocity Sports Performance (Warminster, PA)
Ticket Price: $10

FDA approves 1st drug from genetically altered animals

FDA Approves Orphan Drug ATryn to Treat Rare Clotting Disorder

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today issued its first approval for a biological product produced by genetically engineered (GE) animals.

The approval is for ATryn, an anticoagulant used for the prevention of blood clots in patients with a rare disease known as hereditary antithrombin (AT) deficiency. These patients are at high risk of blood clots during medical interventions, such as surgery, and before, during and after childbirth.

ATryn is a therapeutic protein derived from the milk of goats that have been genetically engineered by introducing a segment of DNA into their genes (called a recombinant DNA or rDNA construct) with instructions for the goat to produce human antithrombin in its milk. Antithrombin is a protein that naturally occurs in healthy individual and helps to keep blood from clotting in the veins and arteries.

GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc., the manufacturer of ATryn, received approvals from two FDA centers. The Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) approved the human biologic based on its safety and efficacy, and the Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) approved the rDNA construct in the goats that produce ATryn.

“This product offers an important new treatment option for patients with hereditary antithrombin deficiency, preventing life-threatening clots that otherwise frequently occur during high risk situations,” said Jesse Goodman, M.D., M.P.H., CBER director.

Because hereditary AT deficiency occurs in a small population (approximately 1 in 5,000 people in the United States), the FDA granted ATryn an orphan drug designation. The orphan drug designation system encourages the development of medications for patients with a rare disease or condition.
The agency held an advisory committee meeting in January to seek the opinion of outside experts, who agreed that ATryn is safe and effective. CVM also briefed the committee about the animal drug components of the application.

Hereditary AT deficiency generally is first recognized and diagnosed in teenagers or young adults when they develop clots in their blood vessels, particularly during pregnancy, surgery, or prolonged bed rest.

CBER evaluated two studies that included 31 patients with hereditary AT deficiency who received ATryn to prevent thromboemboli (TE) before, during or after surgery or childbirth. All but one patient had a prior history of at least one TE, which are likely to recur in high-risk situations if left untreated. Only one of the 31 patients treated with ATryn developed a TE. The most common adverse reactions reported were hemorrhage and reactions at the infusion site. These reactions occurred in approximately five percent of patients.

As part of its review of the GE goat, CVM assessed the safety of the rDNA construct to the animals, including a full review of the construct and its stability in the genome of the goats over seven generations. No adverse outcomes were noted. CVM reviewed and concurred with the sponsor’s plan to continue to monitor the construct and its expression for the lifetime of the approved product.

During its review, CVM determined that introduction of the rDNA construct did not cause any adverse outcomes to the health of the goats over seven generations. CVM also determined that the manufacturer, GTC, has adequate procedures in place to ensure that food from these goats does not enter the food supply. As part of the approval, CVM specified that these goats cannot be used for food or feed and validated a method suitable for identifying the rDNA construct in both animals and their products.

As required by the National Environmental Policy Act and its implementing regulations, CVM also determined that the GE goats do not cause any significant impact on the environment.

“We have looked carefully at seven generations of these GE goats; all of them are healthy and we haven’t seen any adverse effects from the rDNA construct or its expression. I am pleased that this approval makes possible another source of an important human medication,” said Bernadette Dunham, D.V.M., Ph.D., CVM director.

A summary of the information on which the FDA made its approval decision for the rDNA construct in the goats, and CVM’s guidance on the regulation of GE animals containing heritable rDNA constructs are available at http://www.fda.gov/cvm/GEAnimals.htm .

ATryn previously received approval from the European Medicines Agency for use in preventing clotting conditions during surgical procedures in patients with hereditary AT deficiency.

ATryn is manufactured by GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc., Framingham, Mass.

Compromise
There was bad news and then there was good news.

Yesterday we learned that in January, the country suffered its largest one-month job loss in 34 years.

But last night, the Senate struck a compromise on the economic recovery plan and put us on our way to giving the economy the short-term jolt and long-term investments it needs.

“Americans across this country are struggling, and they are watching to see if we’re equal to the task before us,” the President says in this morning’s Weekly Address. “Let’s show them that we are.”

REMARKS OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA
WEEKLY ADDRESS
The White House
Saturday, February 7, 2009

Yesterday began with some devastating news with regard to our economic crisis. But I’m pleased to say it ended on a more positive note.

In the morning, we received yet another round of alarming employment figures – the worst in more than 30 years. Another 600,000 jobs were lost in January. We’ve now lost more than 3.6 million jobs since this recession began.

But by the evening, Democrats and Republicans came together in the Senate and responded appropriately to the urgency this moment demands.

In the midst of our greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, the American people were hoping that Congress would begin to confront the great challenges we face. That was, after all, what last November’s election was all about.

Legislation of such magnitude deserves the scrutiny that it’s received over the last month, and it will receive more in the days to come. But we can’t afford to make perfect the enemy of the absolutely necessary. The scale and scope of this plan is right. And the time for action is now.

Because if we don’t move swiftly to put this plan in motion, our economic crisis could become a national catastrophe. Millions of Americans will lose their jobs, their homes, and their health care. Millions more will have to put their dreams on hold.

Let’s be clear: We can’t expect relief from the tired old theories that, in eight short years, doubled the national debt, threw our economy into a tailspin, and led us into this mess in the first place. We can’t rely on a losing formula that offers only tax cuts as the answer to all our problems while ignoring our fundamental economic challenges – the crushing cost of health care or the inadequate state of so many schools; our addiction to foreign oil or our crumbling roads, bridges, and levees.

The American people know that our challenges are great. They don’t expect Democratic solutions or Republican solutions – they expect American solutions.

From the beginning, this recovery plan has had at its core a simple idea: Let’s put Americans to work doing the work America needs done. It will save or create more than 3 million jobs over the next two years, all across the country – 16,000 in Maine, nearly 80,000 in Indiana – almost all of them in the private sector, and all of them jobs that help us recover today, and prosper tomorrow.

Jobs that upgrade classrooms and laboratories in 10,000 schools nationwide – at least 485 in Florida alone – and train an army of teachers in math and science.

Jobs that modernize our health care system, not only saving us billions of dollars, but countless lives.

Jobs that construct a smart electric grid, connect every corner of the country to the information superhighway, double our capacity to generate renewable energy, and grow the economy of tomorrow.

Jobs that rebuild our crumbling roads, bridges and levees and dams, so that the tragedies of New Orleans and Minneapolis never happen again.

It includes immediate tax relief for our struggling middle class in places like Ohio, where 4.5 million workers will receive a tax cut of up to $1,000. It protects health insurance and provides unemployment insurance for those who’ve lost their jobs. And it helps our states and communities avoid painful tax hikes or layoffs for our teachers, nurses, and first responders.

That’s what is at stake with this plan: putting Americans back to work, creating transformative economic change, and making a down payment on the American Dream that serves our children and our children’s children for generations to come.

Americans across this country are struggling, and they are watching to see if we’re equal to the task before us. Let’s show them that we are. And let’s do whatever it takes to keep the promise of America alive in our time.

Thank you.

A service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health

Department of Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison 53706, USA.

Recently, it has been clearly demonstrated that exogenous 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, the hormonal form of vitamin D3, can completely prevent experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a widely accepted mouse model of human multiple sclerosis (MS). This finding has focused attention on the possible relationship of this disease to vitamin D. Although genetic traits certainly contribute to MS susceptibility, an environmental factor is also clearly involved. It is our hypothesis that one crucial environmental factor is the degree of sunlight exposure catalyzing the production of vitamin D3 in skin, and, further, that the hormonal form of vitamin D3 is a selective immune system regulator inhibiting this autoimmune disease. Thus, under low-sunlight conditions, insufficient vitamin D3 is produced, limiting production of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, providing a risk for MS. Although the evidence that vitamin D3 is a protective environmental factor against MS is circumstantial, it is compelling. This theory can explain the striking geographic distribution of MS, which is nearly zero in equatorial regions and increases dramatically with latitude in both hemispheres. It can also explain two peculiar geographic anomalies, one in Switzerland with high MS rates at low altitudes and low MS rates at high altitudes, and one in Norway with a high MS prevalence inland and a lower MS prevalence along the coast. Ultraviolet (UV) light intensity is higher at high altitudes, resulting in a greater vitamin D3 synthetic rate, thereby accounting for low MS rates at higher altitudes. On the Norwegian coast, fish is consumed at high rates and fish oils are rich in vitamin D3. Further, experimental work on EAE provides strong support for the importance of vitamin D3 in reducing the risk and susceptibility for MS. If this hypothesis is correct, then 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 or its analogs may have great therapeutic potential in patients with MS. More importantly, current research together with data from migration studies opens the possibility that MS may be preventable in genetically susceptible individuals with early intervention strategies that provide adequate levels of hormonally active 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 or its analogs.

Keep up with the Joneses, save the earth and cut utility bills. Whats not to like ?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/31/science/earth/31compete.html?_r=1

If you are a small, militant country, needing to protect against liberation by the USA, step right up. All this man needs is a pen, a sheet of paper, and the contents of his head; presto, you will have a nuclear weapons program. May be now reached anywhere in Pakistan. Dr. Khan is the bomb, proven proliferator to three nations, none of whom will be liberated by the USA. Capacity is limited, lifetime of this offer is uncertain, hurry and apply now to ensure your place in the nuclear pantheon. Read all about it at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7873962.stm