MAC CALLER- November 29, 2005 Tuesday 7A THE COVER Iwo Jima Memorial gets facelift Statue honors Marines who died defending U.S. BY BRETT ZONGKER Associated Press WASHINGTON The iconic U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, which faces the nation's capital, is undergoing the most extensive restoration in its more than 50-year history. Better known as the Iwo Jima Memorial, the depiction of Marines raising a flag above the World War II battleground honors a all Marines who have given their lives to defend the United States. The original design was based on news photographs and was dedicated in Arlington, in 1954.
Researchers: Mind power shows physical effects on body Expectation of pain relief gives boost to medication BY LAURAN NEERGAARD Associated Press WASHINGTON Your medicine really could work better if your doctor talks it up before handing over the prescription. Research is showing the power of expectations, that they have physical not just psychological effects on your health. Scientists can measure the resulting changes in the brain, from the release of natural painkilling chemicals to alterations in how neurons fire. Among the most provocative findings: New research suggests that once Alzheimer's disease robs someone of the ability to expect that a proven painkiller will help them, it doesn't work nearly as well. It's: a new spin on the so-called placebo effect and it raises the question of how to harness this power and thus enhance treatment benefits for patients.
"Your expectations can have profound impacts on your brain and your health," says Columbia University neuroscientist Tor Wager. "There is not a single placebo effect, but many placebo effects," that differ by illness, adds Dr. Fabrizio Benedetti of Italy's University of Torino Medical School, who is studying those effects in patients with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease and pain. The placebo effect is infamous from studies of new medications: Scientists often given either an experimental drug or a dummy pill to patients and see how they fare. Frequently, those taking the fake feel better, too, for a while, making it more difficult to tease out the medication's true effects.
Doctors have long thought the placebo effect was psychological. Now scientists are amassing the first direct evidence that the placebo effect actually is physical, and that expecting benefit can trigger the same neurological pathways of healing as real medication does. University of Michigan scientists injected the jaws of healthy young men with saltwater to cause painful pressure, while PET scans measured the impact in their brains. During one scan, the men were told they were getting a pain reliever, actually a placebo. Their brains immediately released more endorphins chemicals that act as natural painkillers by blocking the transmission of pain signals between nerve cells and the men felt better.
To return to pre-placebo pain levels, scientists had to increase the salt-water pressure. "Our brain really is on drugs when we get a placebo," says co-researcher Christian Stohler, now at the University of Maryland. More remarkable, some especially strong placebo responders suggest "many brains can actually stimulate that (pain-relief) system more." SHOPPING From 1A 45,000 retail outlets. The big winners were discounters including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and electronics chains, which attracted shoppers in the early morning hours Friday with discounted digital cameras and TVs.
Mid-price stores like J.C. Penney Co. and Kohl's which also plied shoppers with early openings and big discounts on sweaters, pulled in the crowds as well. But plenty of other mall-based apparel stores were left behind, except for teen stores such as Abercrombie Fitch which has been able to attract a loyal following without having to resort to such 1 measures. Meanwhile, in cyberspace, free shipping and heavier price cutting that started early in November has helped lure shoppers, said Heather Dougherty, an analyst at an Internet research firm.
According to comScore Networks consumers spent $305 million online on Friday, up 22 percent from $250 million a year earlier. Now a $3 million dollar project is under way to help preserve the statue for another 50 years with improvements to the plaza grounds and lighting that surrounds the statue, said John James, George Washington Memorial Parkway acting superintendent. "There's been deterioration and some problems," James said. "We're inspecting the inside of the statue to make sure that's all OK and correcting any problems that we see." James described the project as a general rehabilitation of the 78-foot-high memorial with the most noticeable changes being made to the cracking sidewalks that lead to the statue. "There's nothing really being done to change the memorial itself," James said.
Hsu Development Co. of Rockville, is completing most of the work under a contract with the National Park Service. "We don't do anything on the statue, but we're cleaning the rocks that it stands on," Walter Hsu, 39, told The Washington Post. Hsu said his company has completed dozens of high-profile federal projects, including White House restorations and renovations at the Smithsonian Institution. But he said they're especially proud of this latest project.
The original memorial cost $850,000 and was built entirely with private donations, according to the park service. Restoration work began shortly after the memorial's Nov. 10 anniversary and is expected to continue through April. The memorial remains open to visitors throughout the construction, James said. Shift in nuclear policy could cost billions Small arsenal of reliable weapons now being sought BY JAMES STERNGOLD San Francisco Chronicle After struggling in recent years to redefine U.S.
nuclear policy, Congress turned the country in a new direction this month by giving millions of dollars for a program aimed at producing a smaller arsenal of Christmas decorations stand outside a Louisiana He suggests need for federal aid akin to what was given after Sept. 11 BY LARA JAKES JORDAN WASHINGTON Congress hasn't given the same attention and aid to states slammed by hurricanes Katrina and Rita as it did to New York after the 2001 terror attacks because the storms didn't spark as much patriotism, Louisiana's economic development chief said Monday. In an interview with The Associated Press, state Economic Development Secretary Michael J. Olivier called Congress' response to terrorism very different "from an act of God" like a hurricane. "I guess it's different because it was such a patriotic deal," said Olivier, in Washington to attend ONLINE TRAFFIC Before and after Thanksgiving Day, in millions SITES UNIQUE AUDIENCE NOV.
18 NOV. 25 Target 1.2 2.9 growth) Wal-Mart 1.5 3.3 Circuit City 0.9 1.8 Best Buy 1.2 2.1 Overstock 1.1 1.9 Sources: Shopper Trak RCT; Neilsen 2 But Monday was seen as the real beginning of the online shopping season, and so retailers were offering even better deals. For example, Ebates.com, which allows users to earn cash back on purchases at more than 800 online stores, is offering double rebates on purchases at select The Iwo Jima Memorial, seen here during the Fourth of July fireworks display in Washington, D.C., is undergoing a $3 million restoration ssald meant to payeroossy 50 for preserve years. another it more-reliable warheads. Lawmakers killed the widely criticized nuclear "bunker buster" concept, which critics regarded as too aggressive, and instead appropriated $25 million for research on what is called the reliable replacement warhead, or RRW.
Though that initial sum is relatively modest, it signifies an important policy shift that could end up costing many billions of dollars. Even some arms-control advocates have applauded the decision because many see the new program as a sharp scaling back of the Bush administra- tion's once soaring nuclear ambitions. Democrats as well as Republicans were so enthusiastic that they voted for almost three times the amount of money requested by the White House, in large part because the program is viewed as an exercise in restraint. "This is about tinkering at the margins of the existing weapons systems, nothing more," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a member of the House Appropriations Committee's energy and water subcommittee, which controls the nuclear weapons budget.
"They (the White House) home damaged by Hurricane Katrina on Monday in St. Bernard Parish near New Orleans. needs more help, official says a meeting of rebuilding and economic recovery officials from the Gulf Coast. Olivier did not say precisely how much federal aid Louisiana would need to rebuild New Orleans and other devastated parts of the state but said it could range between $100 billion and $200 billion and take a decade to complete. That's up to 10 times morethan the $20 billion pledged by President Bush and approved by Congress to help New York rebuild after the Sept.
11, 2001 attacks. "But it's 10 times the area also," Olivier said. "So the magnitude has to be measured." The Louisiana Recovery Authority, which Olivier advises on economic development issues, is expected to announce a more precise aid request after a meeting Thursday, a spokeswoman said. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist declined to respond to APPEAL 1A APPEAL 1A From borne by the Caller-Times and participating agencies. Last month, Lydia, a single mother, decided to take in her nieces Jasmine, Mercedes, Cypress, and Paris because her sister is not able to care for them.
Mercedes, 12, sleeps on an air mattress, while the other children take turns sleeping on a futon in the living room. She loves sports and is interested in becoming a police officer when she gets older. "I want a bigger bike and some Air Jordan tennis shoes," Mercedes said of her Christmas list. Her 12-year-old sister, Cypress, whose interests include administration and accounting, also wants Santa to bring her some Jordan shoes for Christmas, but not the athletic kind. Paris, 10, who shares a love of acting with Luke, would prefer to perform on a different platform this Christmas preferably a cement one.
"I'd like a skateboard for Christmas," Paris said. Like her sisters, 15-year-old Jas- aren't getting what they wanted." But while the vote was decisive, just what the nuclear future will look like is not. Some experts caution that more than tinkering may be involved. "The answer to every question at this point is, 'It said Philip Coyle, a senior Pentagon official in the Clinton administration and a nuclear scientist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for 33 years. "A new warhead can be new in a wide variety of different ways, and nobody knows what that will mean yet." CPR From 1A Press Associated specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who also helped develop the guidelines.
"You have to make up fo for that lost ground," she said. "We think that the fewer the interruptions, the better for blood flow." The guidelines also recommend cooling cardiac arrest patients for 12 to 24 hours to about 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Two significant studies have shown that practice can improve survival and brain function for those who are comatose after initial resuscitation. More than 300,000 Americans die each year of cardiac arrest, when the heart suddenly stops beating. The heart association estimates that more than 95 percent of cardiac arrest victims die before they get to the hospital.
Studies show that the chest compressions create more blood flow through the heart to the rest of the body, buying time until a defibrillator can be used or the heart can pump blood on its own. Studies have also shown that blood circulation increases with each chest compression and must be built back up after an interruption, the association says in its online journal Circulation. The new guidelines also cut down on the number of times a rescuer needs to use a defibrillator and they advise rescuers not to stop after giving two rescue breaths to check for signs of circulation before starting compressions. The bottom line advice is to focus on the chest compressions. Instead of applying the defibrillator pads up to three times before beginning CPR, the guidelines advise rescuers to just give one shock and then do two minutes of CPR beginning with chest compressions before trying the defibrillator again.
Studies show that the first shock works more than 85 percent of the time. Olivier's remarks before seeing Louisiana's aid request. But spokesman Bob Stevenson said, "We have been responsive to the requests that have been coming forth, and we certainly have been working with the delegation from the Gulf Coast." Congress bristled at an earlier request for $250 billion by Louisiana's two senators, Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican David Vitter, to help the state recover. That relief package has not been approved. So far, Congress has approved $62 billion in disaster relief aid for victims of Katrina, which hit Aug.
29, and Rita, which followed on Sept. 24. But nearly all of that money was directed to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which so far has spent about half of it on immediate victims' needs like housing, food and clothing instead of longterm rebuilding projects. mine also wants clothing for Christmas. "I would like a large hooded jacket," said Jasmine, who aspires to be a psychologist.
Lydia and the children receive a total of $274 a month from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, $552 per month from Supplemental Security Income and $698 per month in food stamps. Despite the financial hardship, Lydia said she is blessed. "I handle it God helps those that need it," Lydia said. "The children come in and give me a hug and that helps a lot." As Lydia cooked dinner while the other children watched after Madison, she said Madison could use some new clothes and either a dollhouse or a toy farm for Christmas. "We could also use a new computer," Luke added with a smile.
Contact Stuart Duncan at 886-3796 or Caller-Times CHRISTMAS APPEAL A new pair of pants, a warm pair of socks or a new jacket could make a Christmas dream come true for hundreds of South Texas children. You can help by contributing to the Caller-Times Children's Christmas Appeal. Money contributed will be spent on children served by Nueces County Department of Human Services, Kleberg County Welfare, Alice Boys and Girls Club, Sinton for Youth Duval County Christmas Committee, USO of South Texas and Odyssey Afterschool Program. The United Way of the Coastal Bend serves as the accounting agency for the drive. All administrative expenses of the Children's Christmas Appeal are absorbed by participating agencies.
All money contributed goes to the children. Make your check or money order payable to: Children's Christmas Appeal, and mail to: Caller-Times Children's Christmas Appeal P.O, Box 9011 Corpus Christi, TX 78469 Please attach the coupon below Enclosed is my donation for $. Check only one of three options: I wish this contribution to the children to be listed by the Caller-Times as being given: 1. In Memory of 2. I wish my donation to be given anonymously, 3.
I wish my name to be published as listed below. This donation is from: Name: Address: City: State: For information, call Nick Jimenez, 886-3787 or Steve Arnold, 886-3624; or Nueces County Human Services, 888-0837; Kieberg County Welfare, 595-8555: Alice Boys and Girls Club. 664-0061; Sinton for Youth 364-5567; Duval County Christmas Committee, 279-3322, Ext. 269; Odyssey Afterschool Program, (361) 727-0169; USO of South Texas, 961-2391..
