The estimated 1 million people in the United States with type 1 diabetes know that uncontrolled high blood sugar can attack the body’s organs. New research from Rockefeller University’s Bruce McEwen and colleagues at the University of South Carolina shows that the brain is one target of the disease, and that diabetes’ effects on it may be reversible.
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The changes McEwen and colleagues saw in one protein, synaptophysin, which is important for synapse function, indicates that not only have the connections between neurons in the hippocampus been reorganized, but the reorganization is more extensive than scientists previously thought. These alterations may explain why complications of diabetes and also the effects of high levels of glucocorticoids often include problems with memory and other cognitive impairments.
The results show, however, that, in spite the alterations in brain circuits, there was little damage to the neurons themselves; meaning that if the right measures are taken, the changes may be reversible....
...Chinese and Vietnamese nationals were charged up to $60,000 to marry American citizens to obtain green cards, authorities said. Couples were provided with fake wedding photographs, joint tax returns and even love letters.
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ICE launched an investigation into the Orange County-based ring three years ago after authorities began to notice U.S. citizens who were seeking green cards for more than one spouse. Operation Newlywed Game resulted in 44 people -- mostly Chinese- and Vietnamese-Americans -- being indicted on charges including conspiracy, misuse of visas and marriage fraud....
PIERRE -- Biting winds and heavy ice from a winter storm cut power to much of eastern South Dakota, and service in some areas might not be restored for a few days, Gov. Mike Rounds said Tuesday.
The storm that struck Sunday and Monday and is the worst in a nearly a decade to hit eastern and central South Dakota, he said. Visibility was often cut to zero, and blocked roads have kept utility crews from determining all of the damage, the governor said.
"They simply don't know because they haven't been able to get out and assess exactly how much of their lines are down," Rounds said.
Dusty Johnson, a member of the state Public Utilities Commission, said about 40,000 customers remained without electrical power Tuesday morning.
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"It is really going to be slow going. There has been some pretty significant damage done all across the eastern part of the state," Johnson said. "The fact that it is so widespread and dispersed geographically makes it difficult to be able to get crews out to everywhere they need to go."
The governor and other officials said they were focusing on getting people whose homes are freezing into the 62 shelters that have been set up throughout eastern and central South Dakota. The National Weather Service predicted that temperatures in the area will remain below freezing for at least a week, and electricity will not be restored to some areas for a day or two, they said.
"I cannot emphasize enough that this situation is not over," Rounds said....
ANGERED by negative portrayals of the conflict in Iraq, Bruce Willis, the Hollywood star, is to make a pro-war film in which American soldiers will be depicted as brave fighters for freedom and democracy.
It will be based on the exploits of the heavily decorated members of Deuce Four, the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry, which has spent the past year battling insurgents in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul.
Willis attended Deuce Four’s homecoming ball this month in Seattle, Washington, where the soldiers are on leave, along with Stephen Eads, the producer of Armageddon and The Sixth Sense...
...The visitor count, 591,503, was a record for October, and came despite slower Japanese arrivals. Both domestic and Canadian traffic posted strong increases.
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Cruise visitor traffic is up more than a third from last year, with 29,659 flying to Hawaii to board cruise ships and another 13,811 sailing to Hawaii on cruise ships.
Year-to-date visitor spending is up around the islands...
The Coast Guard cutter Storis is so old it was built with cork insulation instead of fiberglass. The tangle of pipes and wires wandering the 63-year-old vessel's hidden regions can pose a mystery to crewmen.
And if its engine were to break down, the only place to look for a replacement would be in a museum, the Coast Guard says.
The Kodiak-based Storis, the oldest ship in the service's fleet, will be decommissioned in 2007, the Coast Guard announced last week. The cutter Munro, currently homeported in Alameda, Calif., will fill in for it as a faster, better-equipped fisheries enforcement and search-and-rescue vessel until a new ship is built for Alaska waters, the Coast Guard said.
The upgrade is part of the Coast Guard's multiyear $19 billion to $24 billion modernization of its aircraft and cutters that began in 2002.
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Cutters, which are what the Coast Guard calls its bigger vessels, have relatively long service lives compared to other military machinery and vehicles. According to a recent U.S. Government Accountability Office report, medium-endurance cutters like the Storis have average service lives of 30 to 49 years, depending on their size. But "The Queen of the Fleet," as the Storis is called, has been in service more than six decades.
No decision has been made as to what will happen to the 230-foot cutter after it is decommissioned, the Coast Guard said. The Storis could be mothballed, scrapped, sold or donated to become a museum.
In a press release, Vice Adm. Harvey Johnson, commander, Coast Guard Pacific Area, said, "Storis has been a gallant workhouse for the Coast Guard since World War II and has earned an honored place in Coast Guard history."
Launched in September 1942, the vessel played a role in World War II, and the stories accumulated in the decades since. Thousands of Coast Guardsmen have served on it...
