Myths about myths about Thanksgiving turkey making you sleepy

Does tryptophan from turkey meat make you sleepy?

Short answer is NO.

Long answer is much, much more interesting than what you usually hear.

You have probably heard or read two types of contradictory stories:

In one type of story, eating a lot of turkey meat makes you sleepy. It is wrong in its conclusion because it makes (at least) two assumptions wrong.

In the other type of story, eating a lot of turkey meat does not make you sleepy. Its conclusion is correct, but not for the right reasons ? it still (even the best article I could find) is likely to contain at least one erroneous assumption.

Both types of stories rely on the same underlying mechanism of how, potentially, this could work, based on what we know about human physiology. But both are ignoring (or are not aware) of a mechanism that is much more plausible. Turkey does not end up making you sleepy only due to that one little factoid that pro-sleepy stories get wrong and anti-sleepy stories get right.

Let?s dissect this story, then. What are the essential lines that all (pro and con) stories have?

A) Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that we get from food. Tryptophan is a biochemical precursor of serotonin, i.e., our bodies convert tryptophan into serotonin in the brain.

B) Serotonin makes you sleepy.

C) More there is tryptophan in the body, more serotonin will be produced in the brain.

D) Since turkey meat has lots of tryptophan, eating it will result in sleepiness.

Pro-sleepy stories make all four assumptions. All four are wrong.

Most anti-sleepy stories make two or three of those four assumptions, thus they get at least one of them right. What the anti-sleepy stories usually get right is that D) is incorrect -? it is a myth that turkey meat has much tryptophan. It actually has only about 509mg per 200-Calorie serving and is thus quite an average food (some other foods served at Thanksgiving may contain more tryptophan than turkey does).

At least some of the anti-sleepy stories also figure out that B) is wrong. Serotonin may make you happy or confident, but it cannot make you sleepy. Those articles get something important right: the amino-acid tryptophan is a precursor of neurotransmitter serotonin which in turn is the precursor of hormone melatonin. It is melatonin that makes you sleepy.

Here it is in a simplified shorthand:

What really derails both the pro-sleepy and anti-sleepy stories is the insistence that this all has to happen in the brain ? the combined statements A) and C).

So they spend some time and effort figuring out how all that postulated extra tryptophan could possibly get into the brain. And that?s hard ? tryptophan does not passively pass the blood-brain barrier but is imported by a molecular carrier. The same carrier also transports other amino-acids. Thus one would have to ingest incredible amounts of pure tryptophan, no other molecules included, and somehow trick the carriers to transport all of the tryptophan into the brain, for this to work.

Once in the brain, that tryptophan would supposedly be turned into serotonin, and then serotonin would be turned into melatonin inside of the tiny pineal gland in the brain.

It appears that not everyone knows that all the enzymes needed for synthesis of melatonin (from tryptophan, via serotonin) can be found and are active in places other than just the pineal organ.

Conversion of tryptophan, via serotonin, to melatonin also happens in the retina of the eye, in the Harderian gland (located in the ocular orbit just behind the eyeball), and in the intestine.

The intestine has a large and complex semi-independent nervous system (?The Second Brain? of sensationalist reports) in which most or all of the same neurotransmitters and hormones are found as in the brain.

Actually, more melatonin is produced in the intestine than in all the other sites combined.

Normally, intestinal melatonin plays a role in control of gut motility ? peristalsis ? and perhaps some other local functions.

In most species intestinal melatonin gets degraded within the intestine. In other words, little or no melatonin ever leaves the intestine and leaks into the bloodstream.

Also, depending on the species, melatonin in the intestine is predominantly synthesized either during the day, or during the night, or continuously (Serotonin N Transferase enzyme is the ?rate-limiting? enzyme in the pathway you see above in the picture, and it is under direct control of the circadian clock). In humans, it appears that some intestinal melatonin (not much, though) leaks into the bloodstream at all times, and that most of the synthesis happens during the day.

What happens if one ingests incredibly large amounts of pure tryptophan (not just tryptophan-rich food, where other molecules may interfere with the process)?

Interestingly, it has been shown in rats and chickens that adding extra tryptophan can promote synthesis of extra melatonin. In other words, the enzymes do not get saturated or down-regulated by extra tryptophan. Either there is a lot of enzymes already there, capable of processing extra tryptophan fast, or (we don?t know yet) the enzymes may even get up-regulated by the tryptophan load.

In studies in which rats and chickens were loaded with huge amounts of pure tryptophan, extra melatonin leaks from the intestine into the bloodstream even if it normally does not do so in that particular species.

Other studies show that melatonin secreted from the intestine does not in any way affect the levels of melatonin synthesis in other locations (pineal, eye). If there is more melatonin, it came from the gut.

Melatonin does not require any carriers or transporters to cross the blood-brain barrier. No matter where it was originally produced, it easily enters the brain. Once there, it can produce sleepiness either directly or by acting on the circadian clock. It has long been known that increasing levels of melatonin in the bloodstream can phase-shift the circadian clock, place the phase into the night, and thus promote the feeling of sleepiness.

So, what anti-sleepy stories get right (and pro-sleepy stories get wrong), is that turkey is a weak agent for this. One would need enormous amounts of pure tryptophan to get an effect.

What both types of stories get wrong is their insistence that this has to happen in the brain. That is a wrong mechanism to look at ? blood-brain barrier guards against extra tryptophan, so no amount of extra loading can do the trick.

But a huge load of tryptophan (how about a gallon of saturated solution poured directly into your stomach via gastric gavage?) could have the effect, and easily so, if one knows that all that extra tryptophan would first be converted into melatonin in the intestine itself, then easily pass into the brain. The mechanism is much more plausible, it is just that the turkey meat is incapable of triggering it.

So, why are you sleepy at the end of Thanksgiving dinner? You are tired of all that travel, cooking, hugging family, watching football, serving and eating? You are overstimulated. You may have had some alcohol with your meal. And look at the clock ? it?s almost bed-time anyway.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=1f5fa5c8fced3bf8c24294b13acdc91e

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Medicare chief steps aside in political impasse (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The point man for carrying out President Barack Obama's health care law will be stepping down after Republicans succeeded in blocking his confirmation by the Senate, the White House announced Wednesday.

Medicare chief Don Berwick, a Harvard professor widely respected for his ideas on how to improve the health care system, became the most prominent casualty of the political wars over a health care overhaul whose constitutionality will be now decided by the Supreme Court.

Praising Berwick for "outstanding work," White House deputy press secretary Jamie Smith criticized Republicans for "putting political interests above the best interests of the American people."

Berwick will be replaced by his principal deputy, Marilyn Tavenner, formerly Virginia's top health care official. The White House said Obama will submit Tavenner's nomination to the Senate.

Tavenner has been at Medicare since early last year, earning a reputation as a problem solver with years of real-world experience and an extensive network of industry contacts. A nurse by training, the 60-year-old Tavenner worked her way up to the senior executive ranks of a major hospital chain. She ran Virginia's health department under former Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine.

Berwick's fate was sealed early this year when 42 GOP senators ? more than enough to derail his confirmation ? asked Obama to withdraw his nomination. He remained as a temporary appointee, and his resignation takes effect Dec. 2.

Berwick's statements as an academic praising Britain's government-run health care had become a source of controversy in politically polarized Washington. Although he later told Congress that "the American system needs its own solution" and Britain's shouldn't be copied here, his critics were not swayed.

In an email to his staff, Berwick said he leaves with "bittersweet emotions."

"Our work has been challenging, and the journey is not complete, but we are now well on our way to achieving a whole new level of security and quality for health care in America, helping not just the millions of Americans affected directly by our programs, but truly health care as a whole in our nation," Berwick wrote.

A pediatrician before becoming a Harvard professor, Berwick has many admirers in the medical community, including some former Republican administrators of Medicare. His self-styled "three-part aim" for the health care system includes providing a better overall experience for individual patients, improving the health of groups in the population such as seniors and African-Americans, and lowering costs through efficiency.

But some of his professorial ruminations dogged him in Washington. Republicans accused him of advocating health care rationing, which Berwick denies.

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said Berwick's past record of controversial statements and his lack of experience managing complex bureaucracies disqualified him from the Medicare job. Hatch, the ranking Republican on the Senate panel that oversees Medicare, led the opposition to his nomination. Hatch said Wednesday the Senate must "thoroughly examine" and "carefully scrutinize" Tavenner's nomination.

Berwick oversaw the drafting and rollout of major regulations that will begin to reshape the health care system, steering Medicare away from paying for sheer volume of services and procedures and instead putting a premium on quality care that keeps patients healthier and avoids costly hospitalizations. He also presided over significant improvements for Medicare beneficiaries, including better coverage for preventive care and relief for seniors with high prescription drug costs.

Berwick turned 65 this year, making him the first Medicare chief eligible to be enrolled in the program. He told The Associated Press in an earlier interview that he was putting in his application, but doesn't plan to retire any time soon. Instead he plans to keep working as an advocate for change in the nation's health care system.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111124/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_medicare_chief

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Olympic Villages: Catalyst for urban renewal, or post-Games hangover?

Public release date: 22-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jane Hurly
jane.hurly@ualberta.ca
780-492-6821
University of Alberta - Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation

Grandiose development dreams fall prey to economic dynamics, lack of democratic process

The Olympic Games are big business and generate substantial amounts of revenue for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through lucrative television contracts and corporate sponsorship. The Games are now also widely perceived as important promotional opportunities for cities seeking to reinforce their claims as 'world class' destinations for tourists and capital in the global economy.

Related to these latter goals, beginning with the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the Games have also been envisioned by civic elites as opportunities to develop under-utilized land through the construction of extensive Olympic Villages that can, in turn, be sold as luxury condominiums. Cities hope that once the Games are over, they'll benefit from upscale housing developments in prime areas that will attract buyers and pour millions back into city coffers.

Vancouver's aspirations were no different in 2010: to promote itself as a large, world-class, cosmopolitan gateway to the Pacific Rim and to accomplish an ambitious redevelopment of the Southeast Shore of False Creek (the North Shore was redeveloped when Vancouver hosted Expo 1986), but which had become an under-valued, derelict wasteland. "The plan was to build condominiums that would start as athlete housing and end up as a draw for global investors and tourists, in addition to the city's business and professional classes," says sociologist Jay Scherer, whose paper examining Olympic villages and large-scale urban development as deficits of democracy has just been published.

But it was a flawed process that ultimately left taxpayers responsible for the entire construction cost of the 2010 Winter Olympic Village a cost still not recouped almost two years later. To Scherer, the absence of transparency, democratic debate, open consultation with the community and many decisions made in camera about the Olympic Village were at the heart of the debacle.

Troubles began, according to Scherer, "when the City of Vancouver picked a developer who didn't have the resources and capital funding to complete this type of development in poor economic conditions. When the recession hit in 2008 and the credit crunch happened, the developer couldn't get the credit needed to build the village.."

While Vancouver city council had banked on a rising real estate market and a booming economy when they began their Olympic journey, plans unraveled in 2008 with the market crash. With the US hedge fund that had backed the developer demanding a payment guarantee of $190 million on its $750 million loan, city officials, anxious to meet their promise to VANOC to complete the village by late 2009, provided the hedge fund with a completion guarantee so that Vancouver would be obliged to complete the Olympic Village should the developer fail to do so, thereby putting the citizens of Vancouver at risk of the full cost of the development.

A furious public rebelled, ousting its mayor mainly because of one thing: transparency.

"The biggest problem," says Scherer, "is that all of the major decisions took place behind closed doors. In terms of democratic input from citizens over how their tax dollars were being spent, city officials, the developer and others argued that because of the repercussions for the private sector, they couldn't discuss it publically.

It's an argument that's become all too common in cities around the world entering into a public partnership with a private sector company, and expected that those discussions take place behind closed doors."

As the Olympic village costs mounted, some of the grandiose ideas for a green, state-of-the art, housing development (not a requirement of the IOC) had to be shelved. One of the dreams axed was to provide housing for low-income families. "When cities pursue these ventures, there has to some sort of community benefit to build on some non-market housing," says Scherer. "But when budgets are tight, those are the first things to be cut. This is what happened in Vancouver."

By comparison, notes Scherer, while Sydney, Australia entered into a similar public/private partnership to develop and build its Olympic village as a large-scale urban development, it was the luck of a buoyant economy that meant they weren't trapped in the same position as Vancouver. Yet London, which hosts the 2012 Olympic Games, bailed out the developer of its Olympic village to the tune of 326 million this year once again a decision made by government behind closed doors with no public consultation and in an economic downturn.

Going forward, Scherer says, whether it's Edmonton building a new, world-class arena or a city taking on the Olympic Games, "Cities need to be aware of taxpayers taking on a disproportionate share of the risk and the importance of democratic transparency between elected officials and the private sector with these types of projects, and to consider the public good so that the economic benefits are not only for enjoyment of some, while alienating or excluding others."

###

Dr. Scherer's paper "Olympic Villages and Large-scale Urban Development: Crises of Capitalism, Deficits of Democracy" was published in Sociology.

Contact information for Dr. Scherer:
phone 780-492-9146
jay.scherer@ualberta.ca

---

[ | 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.

Public release date: 22-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Jane Hurly
jane.hurly@ualberta.ca
780-492-6821
University of Alberta - Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation

Grandiose development dreams fall prey to economic dynamics, lack of democratic process

The Olympic Games are big business and generate substantial amounts of revenue for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through lucrative television contracts and corporate sponsorship. The Games are now also widely perceived as important promotional opportunities for cities seeking to reinforce their claims as 'world class' destinations for tourists and capital in the global economy.

Related to these latter goals, beginning with the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the Games have also been envisioned by civic elites as opportunities to develop under-utilized land through the construction of extensive Olympic Villages that can, in turn, be sold as luxury condominiums. Cities hope that once the Games are over, they'll benefit from upscale housing developments in prime areas that will attract buyers and pour millions back into city coffers.

Vancouver's aspirations were no different in 2010: to promote itself as a large, world-class, cosmopolitan gateway to the Pacific Rim and to accomplish an ambitious redevelopment of the Southeast Shore of False Creek (the North Shore was redeveloped when Vancouver hosted Expo 1986), but which had become an under-valued, derelict wasteland. "The plan was to build condominiums that would start as athlete housing and end up as a draw for global investors and tourists, in addition to the city's business and professional classes," says sociologist Jay Scherer, whose paper examining Olympic villages and large-scale urban development as deficits of democracy has just been published.

But it was a flawed process that ultimately left taxpayers responsible for the entire construction cost of the 2010 Winter Olympic Village a cost still not recouped almost two years later. To Scherer, the absence of transparency, democratic debate, open consultation with the community and many decisions made in camera about the Olympic Village were at the heart of the debacle.

Troubles began, according to Scherer, "when the City of Vancouver picked a developer who didn't have the resources and capital funding to complete this type of development in poor economic conditions. When the recession hit in 2008 and the credit crunch happened, the developer couldn't get the credit needed to build the village.."

While Vancouver city council had banked on a rising real estate market and a booming economy when they began their Olympic journey, plans unraveled in 2008 with the market crash. With the US hedge fund that had backed the developer demanding a payment guarantee of $190 million on its $750 million loan, city officials, anxious to meet their promise to VANOC to complete the village by late 2009, provided the hedge fund with a completion guarantee so that Vancouver would be obliged to complete the Olympic Village should the developer fail to do so, thereby putting the citizens of Vancouver at risk of the full cost of the development.

A furious public rebelled, ousting its mayor mainly because of one thing: transparency.

"The biggest problem," says Scherer, "is that all of the major decisions took place behind closed doors. In terms of democratic input from citizens over how their tax dollars were being spent, city officials, the developer and others argued that because of the repercussions for the private sector, they couldn't discuss it publically.

It's an argument that's become all too common in cities around the world entering into a public partnership with a private sector company, and expected that those discussions take place behind closed doors."

As the Olympic village costs mounted, some of the grandiose ideas for a green, state-of-the art, housing development (not a requirement of the IOC) had to be shelved. One of the dreams axed was to provide housing for low-income families. "When cities pursue these ventures, there has to some sort of community benefit to build on some non-market housing," says Scherer. "But when budgets are tight, those are the first things to be cut. This is what happened in Vancouver."

By comparison, notes Scherer, while Sydney, Australia entered into a similar public/private partnership to develop and build its Olympic village as a large-scale urban development, it was the luck of a buoyant economy that meant they weren't trapped in the same position as Vancouver. Yet London, which hosts the 2012 Olympic Games, bailed out the developer of its Olympic village to the tune of 326 million this year once again a decision made by government behind closed doors with no public consultation and in an economic downturn.

Going forward, Scherer says, whether it's Edmonton building a new, world-class arena or a city taking on the Olympic Games, "Cities need to be aware of taxpayers taking on a disproportionate share of the risk and the importance of democratic transparency between elected officials and the private sector with these types of projects, and to consider the public good so that the economic benefits are not only for enjoyment of some, while alienating or excluding others."

###

Dr. Scherer's paper "Olympic Villages and Large-scale Urban Development: Crises of Capitalism, Deficits of Democracy" was published in Sociology.

Contact information for Dr. Scherer:
phone 780-492-9146
jay.scherer@ualberta.ca

---

[ | 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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/uoa--ovc112211.php

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International criticism of Egypt's rulers mounts

Protesters attempt to get rid of a tear gas canister during clashes with riot police near Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. Police are clashing with anti-government protesters for a fifth day in Cairo. Tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square have rejected a promise by Egypt's military ruler to speed up a presidential election to the first half of next year. They want Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to step down immediately in favor of an interim civilian council. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

Protesters attempt to get rid of a tear gas canister during clashes with riot police near Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. Police are clashing with anti-government protesters for a fifth day in Cairo. Tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square have rejected a promise by Egypt's military ruler to speed up a presidential election to the first half of next year. They want Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to step down immediately in favor of an interim civilian council. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

A protester gestures to Egyptian riot police during clashes near Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. Egyptian police are clashing with anti-government protesters for a fifth day in Cairo. Tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square have rejected a promise by Egypt's military ruler to speed up a presidential election to the first half of next year. They want Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to step down immediately in favor of an interim civilian council. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

A boy with a face mask stands with his father in Tahrir square as clashes take place nearby with Egyptian riot police, in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. Egyptian police are clashing with anti-government protesters for a fifth day in Cairo. Tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square have rejected a promise by Egypt's military ruler to speed up a presidential election to the first half of next year. They want Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to step down immediately in favor of an interim civilian council. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

A protester points to an incoming tear gas canister during clashes with Egyptian riot police, not pictured, near Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. Egyptian police are clashing with anti-government protesters for a fifth day in Cairo. Tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square have rejected a promise by Egypt's military ruler to speed up a presidential election to the first half of next year. They want Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to step down immediately in favor of an interim civilian council. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

An injured protester, center, is aided by others during clashes with Egyptian riot police, not pictured, near Tahrir square in Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2011. Egyptian police are clashing with anti-government protesters for a fifth day in Cairo. Tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square have rejected a promise by Egypt's military ruler to speed up a presidential election to the first half of next year. They want Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to step down immediately in favor of an interim civilian council. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whitehill)

CAIRO (AP) ? International criticism of Egypt's military rulers mounted Wednesday as police clashed for a fifth day with protesters demanding the generals relinquish power immediately. A rights group raised the death toll for the wave of violence to at least 38.

The United Nations strongly condemned authorities for what it deemed an excessive use of force. Germany, one of Egypt's top trading partners, called for a quick transfer of power to a civilian government. The United States and the U.N. secretary general have already expressed their concern over the use of violence against mostly peaceful protesters.

Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, deplored the role of Egypt's security forces in attempting to suppress protesters.

"Some of the images coming out of Tahrir, including the brutal beating of already subdued protesters, are deeply shocking, as are the reports of unarmed protesters being shot in the head," Pillay said. "There should be a prompt, impartial and independent investigation, and accountability for those found responsible for the abuses that have taken place should be ensured."

She said the actions of the military and police are enflaming the situation, prompting more people to join the protests.

"The more they see fellow protesters being carted away in ambulances, the more determined and energized they become."

Clashes resumed for a fifth day despite a promise by the head of the ruling military council on Tuesday to speed up a presidential election to the first half of next year, a concession swiftly rejected by tens of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square. The military previously floated late next year or early 2013 as the likely date for the vote, the last step in the process of transferring power to a civilian government.

The clashes are the longest spate of uninterrupted violence since the 18-day uprising that toppled the former regime in February.

The standoff at Tahrir and in other major cities such as Alexandria and Assiut has deepened the country's economic and security crisis less than a week before the first parliamentary elections since the ouster of longtime authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak.

Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi tried to defuse tensions with his address late Tuesday, but he did not set a date for handing authority to a civilian government.

The Tahrir crowd, along with protesters in a string of other cities, want Tantawi to step down immediately in favor of an interim civilian administration to run the nation's affairs until a new parliament and president are elected.

The government offered more concessions on Wednesday, ordering the release of 312 protesters detained over the past days and instructing civilian prosecutors to take over a probe the military started into the death of 27 people, mostly Christians, in a protest on Oct. 9. The army is accused of involvement in the killings.

The military also denied that its troops around Tahrir Square used tear gas or fired at protesters, an assertion that runs against numerous witness accounts that say troops deployed outside the Interior Ministry were firing tear gas at protesters.

Street battles have been heaviest around the heavily fortified Interior Ministry, located on a side street that leads to the iconic square that was the epicenter of the uprising earlier this year. Police are using tear gas and rubber bullets to keep the protesters from storming the ministry, a sprawling complex that has for long been associated with the hated police and Mubarak's former regime.

The protesters, who have withstood tear gas and beatings, say they do not want to storm the ministry but are trying to keep the police and army from moving on nearby Tahrir Square.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene said a truce negotiated by Muslim clerics briefly held in the late afternoon, after both the protesters and the police pulled back from the front line street, scene of most of the fighting. State television, meanwhile, broadcast footage from the scene of the clashes showing army soldiers forming a human chain between the protesters and the police in a bid to stop the violence.

The truce was soon breached when police fired a barrage of tear gas and rubber bullets and the protesters responded with rocks. It was not clear who resumed the fighting.

A short while earlier, tension was high in the area on the side streets leading to the Interior Ministry, which is responsible for the police, with many young protesters vomiting and coughing incessantly from the tear gas fired by the police. Others wounded by rubber bullets were hurriedly ferried by motorcycle to field hospitals.

Elnadeem Center, an Egyptian rights group known for its careful research of victims of police violence, said late Tuesday that the number of protesters killed in clashes nationwide since Saturday is 38, three more than the Health Ministry's death toll, which went up to 35 on Wednesday. All but four of the deaths were in Cairo.

The clashes also have left at least 2,000 protesters wounded, mostly from gas inhalation or injuries caused by rubber bullets fired by the army and the police. The police deny using live ammunition.

Human Rights Watch on Tuesday cited morgue officials as saying at least 20 people have been killed by live ammunition.

Shady el-Nagar, a doctor in one of Tahrir's field hospitals, said three bodies arrived in the facility on Wednesday. All three had bullet wounds.

"We don't know if these were caused by live ammunition or pellets because pellets can be deadly when fired from a short distance," he said.

The turmoil broke out just days before the start of staggered parliamentary elections on Nov. 28. The votes will take place over months and conclude in March.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's strongest and best organized group, is not taking part in the ongoing protests in a move that is widely interpreted to be a reflection of its desire not to do anything that could derail the election, which it hopes win along with its allies.

Hundreds of Brotherhood supporters, however, have defied the leadership and joined the crowds in the square. Their participation is not likely to influence the Brotherhood's leadership or narrow the rift between the Islamist group and the secular organizations behind the uprising that toppled Mubarak and which are behind the latest spate of protests.

Sixty years after it was banned, the Brotherhood found itself empowered in the wake of the Feb. 11 ouster of Mubarak. It moved swiftly after the overthrow of Mubarak to form its own party, Freedom and Justice, to contest the parliamentary election.

Notorious for its political opportunism, the Brotherhood and its allies are hoping to win enough seats in the next legislature to push through a new constitution with an Islamic slant and bring this mainly Muslim nation of some 85 million people closer to being an Islamic state.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, meanwhile, was said by a spokesman to be following events in Egypt "with great concern."

"In the new Egypt, which wants to be free and democratic, repression and the use of force against peaceful demonstrators can have no place," spokesman Steffen Seibert said in Berlin. "The demonstrators' demands ... for a quick transition to a civilian government are understandable from the German government's point of view," he added.

___

Associated Press writers Maggie Michael in Cairo and Frank Jordans in Geneva contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-23-ML-Egypt/id-d72ddc59d0844ce2971dffbe54fbe9e6

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George W. Bush to raise cancer awareness in Africa (AP)

DALLAS ? Former President George W. Bush will travel to Africa next month to raise awareness about cervical and breast cancer, an effort he calls a "natural extension" of a program launched during his presidency that helps fight AIDS on the continent.

Bush, former first lady Laura Bush and officials with the George W. Bush Institute are heading to Tanzania, Zambia and Ethiopia from Dec. 1 through Dec. 5, where they'll visit clinics and meet with governmental and health care leaders.

"We believe it's in our nation's interest to deal with disease and set priorities and save lives," Bush told The Associated Press.

In 2003, Bush launched the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, to expand AIDS prevention, treatment and support programs in countries hit hard by the epidemic.

The new program, called the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon initiative, seeks to expand the availability of cervical cancer screening and treatment and breast care education in sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America.

Bush said existing AIDS clinics will be used to screen and treat cervical cancer, which is four to five times more common among those living with HIV than those who don't have the virus. Last year, 3.2 million people received antiretroviral treatments as a result of PEPFAR.

The initiative is a partnership that includes the Bush Institute, PEPFAR, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the United Nations' program on HIV and AIDS. Its goals include reducing cervical cancer deaths by 25 percent in five years among women screened and treated through the initiative.

"We want to show what works and hopefully others across the continent of Africa will join us,'" Bush said.

Dr. Eric G. Bing, director of global health at the Bush Institute, said it's often more difficult for African women to reveal they have cancer of the reproductive organs than to reveal they have HIV. There are more support groups and treatment available for HIV than cancer, he said.

"There's silence around cancer for many of these communities and in many of these nations. And that's one of the things that we hope to change," Bing said.

Bush moved to Dallas after leaving office in 2009. The George W. Bush Presidential Center, which is set to be completed in 2013 on the campus of Southern Methodist University, will include his presidential library and the already-operating policy institute. Besides global health, the institute focuses on education reform, human freedom and economic growth.

Bush said he and the former first lady will be "pouring our hearts" into the Bush presidential center as it grows.

"This is where we will spend the rest of our lives in the sense of being involved with public policy," Bush said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_re_us/us_bush_africa

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International space trio lands in Kazakhstan

By Robin Paxton

ALMATY | Tue Nov 22, 2011 6:26am EST

ALMATY (Reuters) - Three astronauts inside a Russian Soyuz capsule parachuted safely back to Earth Tuesday after nearly six months on the International Space Station (ISS), the first landing since NASA retired its space shuttles this summer.

U.S. astronaut Mike Fossum, Japan's Satoshi Furukawa and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Volkov landed at 0226 GMT, shortly before sunrise on the snowbound steppe of central Kazakhstan, NASA TV showed.

"The landing was great. Everything's good," said Volkov, flashing a thumbs-up signal after he was extracted from a Soyuz TMA-02 capsule blackened by the extreme temperatures on re-entry to the atmosphere.

The closure of NASA's shuttle program means Russian spaceships are the only way to ferry goods and crews to and from the $100-billion ISS, which is shared by 16 nations, until commercial firms develop the ability to transport crews.

Russia hopes the textbook landing will help to restore confidence in its space program after the August crash of an unmanned Russian cargo flight suspended manned space missions.

The returning crew have been replaced in orbit by NASA's Daniel Burbank and Russians Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin, whose successful launch last week allayed fears that the station would be left empty for the first time in a decade.

But the troubles have left the space station with half the usual handover time. The new crew had only six days with the outgoing astronauts to get up to speed on the quirks of life in space and the station's operations.

NASA said the Soyuz capsule had landed on its side, not unusual in windy conditions, about 90 km (55 miles) north of the town of Arkalyk. Temperatures at the landing site were 15 degrees Celsius below zero.

The three-man crew had spent 167 days in space and their return to Earth took about three-and-a-half hours.

Volkov, huddled in a thermal blanket, is a second-generation cosmonaut and was following in the footsteps of his father, NASA said. It called him: "a rising star in the cosmonaut corps."

Fossum, second to emerge from the capsule, called his loved ones by satellite phone from the landing site. Furukawa, a 47-year-old professional surgeon, was last to emerge. An assistant mopped sweat from his brow.

After initial medical checks in an inflatable tent on site, the returning crew will be taken be helicopter to the city of Kostanai in northern Kazakhstan.

The ISS will regain full, six-person occupancy with the late December launch of U.S. astronauts Don Pettit, cosmonaut Oleg Kononenko and Andre Kuipers of the European Space Agency.

(Additional reporting by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/9LSp_MmSip4/us-space-kazakhstan-idUSTRE7AL09J20111122

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Saif al-Islam Gadhafi's arrest: 4 key questions (The Week)

New York ? The last of Moammar Gadhafi's sons is in custody. What now?

Libyan militia members captured Moammar Gadhafi's son and one-time heir apparent, Saif al-Islam, on Saturday, as he reportedly tried to make his way to Libya's southern border. The arrest of the 39-year-old Gadhafi eliminated the best hope the old regime's loyalists had for finding a new leader, and sparked celebrations across Libya. What will happen to Saif al-Islam now, and what does his capture mean for the country? Here, four central questions:

1. First off, will Saif even survive?
It's "not necessarily a foregone conclusion" that Saif al-Islam will live to face trial, says Jon Lee Anderson at The New Yorker. His father and one of his brothers were taken alive in the siege of Sirte, only to be summarily executed. And the fighters who captured Saif al-Islam are resisting handing him over to the interim national government. "It is now incumbent upon Libyan authorities to ensure that justice is dispensed," says the United Arab Emirates' Khaleej Times in an editorial. Saif al-Islam must be safely brought "before the court of law."

SEE MORE: What's next for Libya: 4 theories

2. Will he be tried in Libya, The Hague, or both?
Saif al-Islam's arrest "confronts the new Libyan government with a dilemma," says Philippe Sands at Britain's Guardian. Should the new leaders satisfy Libyans' desire to see a man accused of killing peaceful protesters brought to justice on Libyan soil ? or should they just "ship him off to The Hague" to face charges of crimes against humanity filed in the International Criminal Court? As a member of the United Nations, the new regime "cannot lawfully ignore the ICC judges and decide that Saif will be tried under local law," but it might find a way to pass judgment at home before handing him over.

3. Can he get a fair trial?
Libya's interim Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keeb promised a fair trial. "We are going to show Saif al-Islam who we are ? we are not some armed band, we are freedom-seekers," el-Keeb tells The Tripoli Post. Libyan militia members holding Gadhafi say they intend to hold him in the town of Zintan until a trial is arranged, and the interim government has indicated that it wants to try him inside the country. But Western leaders fear that a trial in Libya would be a farce leading to a swift guilty verdict, say Tom Kelly and Rebecca Evans in Britain's Daily Mail, and that "the British-educated Saif could face a firing squad."
SEE MORE: Where are Moammar Gadhafi's billions?

4. Will Saif name names?
If Saif al-Islam does make it into the dock at The Hague, says the UAE's Khaleej Times, he could make world leaders very uncomfortable. It will be interesting to see which of them "were hand-in-glove with his father, and looked the other way round for reasons of exigency, as the fallen dictator indulged in grave human rights excesses."

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20111121/cm_theweek/221670

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