Dodgers prospect Yasiel Puig was arrested by police in Chattanooga, Tenn., early Sunday and charged with speeding, reckless driving and driving without proof of insurance.
A spokesman for the Hamilton County jail confirmed that Puig was booked Sunday morning and released a short time later. He has a hearing scheduled for the afternoon of May 14 in Hamilton County court.
Puig, rated the #47 overall prospect by Baseball America going into the season, was hitting .333 with a 1.010 OPS in 52 plate appearances with Double-A Chattanooga. The Dodgers signed the 22-year-old Cuban on June 27 last year on a seven-year, $42 million contract. Puig seemed to be on the fast track to the Majors. His arrest this morning is his first bump in the road.
October 29, 2012 is a date no Rockaway resident will ever forget. That?s the day Hurricane Sandy descended on this 11-mile sliver of peninsula in Queens. One of the storm?s hardest hit communities, whether The Rockaways will ever be the same is open to much speculation by locals.
One of those working hard to ensure the community?s revival is Robin Shapiro, owner/broker of Robin Shapiro Realty. With many homes damaged beyond repair, selling real estate in this storm-ravaged community over the past six months has been challenging.
?Almost every single oceanfront house had some damage, whether it was 50 percent or 100 percent, they took the brunt,? Shapiro explained. ?In the midst of all of this a fire broke out next to the church on 129th Street and spread to 130th Street, and we lost about a dozen houses,? Shapiro continued.
The summer before Sandy hit, a renaissance of sorts was occurring in The Rockaways. New businesses were sprouting up; people were coming from other areas to spend the day, and the community?s future was bright.
Six months post Sandy, this area is still working on rebuilding. ?Most of the people have rehabbed their houses, mucking out their basements and gutting their first floors,? Shapiro explained.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Shapiro?s first career was as a high school physical education teacher ? in the very high school from which she had graduated 10 years earlier. It was a brief career that ended when she met her husband Steve, a Wall Street investment banker, and became a stay-at-home mom.
Like many agents, the real estate business sort of came up and tapped her on the shoulder. Through the years she would refer friends to an agent who helped her purchase her Rockaway home. Eventually, that agent asked her to join her. When her youngest child turned 12 years old, Shapiro took her up on the offer. One thing led to another, and in 2003 Shapiro opened her own brokerage.
I asked her about the challenges she faced in starting her own real estate company. ?My husband says that I just walk through life with a halo over my head,? Shapiro laughed. ?I never felt that I had any challenges. I just was very lucky and I was very good at what I did,? she said.
?The biggest personal challenge was to be thrust into this business world and realize that some people aren?t as honorable as I am and as I would expect them to be,? she continued. ?Even to this day my biggest challenge is to learn to protect myself from other people, whether clients or other brokers. I don?t do a great job of that, but I don?t want it to change who I am,? Shapiro concludes.
Shapiro decided to branch out when her children started working with her. She opened Red Hook Realty in South Brooklyn, which her daughter Rachel ran before moving to Kenya, and Robin Shapiro Realty at Trump Village in Brighton Beach.
Confirmation of the halo over Shapiro?s head comes from the story of what prompted her to open the business at Trump Village.
?My husband grew up there. It?s a Mitchell Lama Development that was built by Frank Trump, Donald Trump?s father,? she explained. ?It was for low-to-middle-income families.
?We had always heard that it was going to be privatized when they paid off their loans,? Shapiro continues. ?So I took a chance and I started a business called Trump Village Realty hoping that all of these apartments ? and there were like thousands of them ? would be privatized and the older people and the people who inherited these apartments would want to sell them.?
The hunch paid off for Shapiro. ?I?ve sold over 100 apartments there, she explained. ?When it was first privatized there were so many apartments for sale my daughter Rachel would actually set up her appointments to ? meet five clients in the lobby,? and have a mass showing, she recalled.
Today, Shapiro?s real estate empire is run with the assistance of son David and her two daughters, Rachel ? who only lives in the area part time ? and Leah.
I asked Shapiro what she enjoys most about the business. ?I like to take the stress out of real estate. It makes me happy when other people are happy. That?s my goal.?
Tagged as: agent, broker, brooklyn, career, new york, nyc, queens, real estate, rockaway, rockaways
Police in the Northern California town of Valley Springs on Sunday released information about the man they suspect fatally stabbed a 9-year-old girl at her home over the weekend.
The Calaveras County Sheriff?s office in a statement described the intruder as a ?muscular? white or Hispanic male approximately six feet tall.
Authorities warned residents in the area to lock their doors as the suspect is considered armed and dangerous.
The victim?s 12-year-old brother reportedly encountered an intruder in his home and witnessed the man flee the residence. The boy then checked on his sister and found she had been stabbed, according to NBC?s Sacramento affiliate KCRA.
The girl was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.
The Sheriff?s office has declined to disclose details of the murder, but they plan to release more information Sunday afternoon.
Sheriff?s investigators are scouring Valley Springs and interviewing several people of interest, according to the police statement.
Contact: Katherine Leitzell leitzell@iiasa.ac.at 43-223-680-7316 International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
As temperatures warm, plants release gases that help form clouds and cool the atmosphere, according to research from IIASA and the University of Helsinki.
The new study, published in Nature Geoscience, identified a negative feedback loop in which higher temperatures lead to an increase in concentrations of natural aerosols that have a cooling effect on the atmosphere.
"Plants, by reacting to changes in temperature, also moderate these changes," says IIASA and University of Helsinki researcher Pauli Paasonen, who led the study.
Scientists had known that some aerosols particles that float in the atmosphere cool the climate as they reflect sunlight and form cloud droplets, which reflect sunlight efficiently. Aerosol particles come from many sources, including human emissions. But the effect of so-called biogenic aerosol particulate matter that originates from plants had been less well understood. Plants release gases that, after atmospheric oxidation, tend to stick to aerosol particles, growing them into the larger-sized particles that reflect sunlight and also serve as the basis for cloud droplets. The new study showed that as temperatures warm and plants consequently release more of these gases, the concentrations of particles active in cloud formation increase.
"Everyone knows the scent of the forest," says Ari Asmi, University of Helsinki researcher who also worked on the study. "That scent is made up of these gases." While previous research had predicted the feedback effect, until now nobody had been able to prove its existence except for case studies limited to single sites and short time periods. The new study showed that the effect occurs over the long-term in continental size scales.
The effect of enhanced plant gas emissions on climate is small on a global scale only countering approximately 1 percent of climate warming, the study suggested. "This does not save us from climate warming," says Paasonen. However, he says, "Aerosol effects on climate are one of the main uncertainties in climate models. Understanding this mechanism could help us reduce those uncertainties and make the models better."
The study also showed that the effect was much larger on a regional scale, counteracting possibly up to 30% of warming in more rural, forested areas where anthropogenic emissions of aerosols were much lower in comparison to the natural aerosols. That means that especially in places like Finland, Siberia, and Canada this feedback loop may reduce warming substantially.
The researchers collected data at 11 different sites around the world, measuring the concentrations of aerosol particles in the atmosphere, along with the concentrations of plant gases, the temperature, and reanalysis estimates for the height of the boundary layer, which turned out to be a key variable. The boundary layer refers to the layer of air closest to the Earth, in which gases and particles mix effectively. The height of that layer changes with weather. Paasonen says, "One of the reasons that this phenomenon was not discovered earlier was because these estimates for boundary layer height are very difficult to do. Only recently have the reanalysis estimates been improved to where they can be taken as representative of reality."
###
Reference
Paasonen, P., et. al. 2013. Evidence for negative climate feedback: warming increases aerosol number concentrations. Nature Geoscience doi: 10.1038/NGEO1800
For more information please contact:
Pauli Paasonen
IIASA Guest Research Scholar
Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases
Tel: +43 2236 807 498
Mob: +43 699 17 253 365
paasonen@iiasa.ac.at
Ari Asmi
Research Coordinator
University of Helsinki, Department of Physics, Division of Atmospheric Sciences
Tel: +358 9 191 50181
Mob: +358 40 770 9729
ari.asmi@helsinki.fi
Markku Kulmala
Academy professor
University of Helsinki, Department of Physics, Division of Atmospheric Sciences
Tel: + 358 9 191 50756
Mob: +358 40 596 2311
markku.kulmala@helsinki.fi
IIASA is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policy makers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by scientific institutions in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Oceania, and Europe. http://www.iiasa.ac.at
[ | 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.
Contact: Katherine Leitzell leitzell@iiasa.ac.at 43-223-680-7316 International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
As temperatures warm, plants release gases that help form clouds and cool the atmosphere, according to research from IIASA and the University of Helsinki.
The new study, published in Nature Geoscience, identified a negative feedback loop in which higher temperatures lead to an increase in concentrations of natural aerosols that have a cooling effect on the atmosphere.
"Plants, by reacting to changes in temperature, also moderate these changes," says IIASA and University of Helsinki researcher Pauli Paasonen, who led the study.
Scientists had known that some aerosols particles that float in the atmosphere cool the climate as they reflect sunlight and form cloud droplets, which reflect sunlight efficiently. Aerosol particles come from many sources, including human emissions. But the effect of so-called biogenic aerosol particulate matter that originates from plants had been less well understood. Plants release gases that, after atmospheric oxidation, tend to stick to aerosol particles, growing them into the larger-sized particles that reflect sunlight and also serve as the basis for cloud droplets. The new study showed that as temperatures warm and plants consequently release more of these gases, the concentrations of particles active in cloud formation increase.
"Everyone knows the scent of the forest," says Ari Asmi, University of Helsinki researcher who also worked on the study. "That scent is made up of these gases." While previous research had predicted the feedback effect, until now nobody had been able to prove its existence except for case studies limited to single sites and short time periods. The new study showed that the effect occurs over the long-term in continental size scales.
The effect of enhanced plant gas emissions on climate is small on a global scale only countering approximately 1 percent of climate warming, the study suggested. "This does not save us from climate warming," says Paasonen. However, he says, "Aerosol effects on climate are one of the main uncertainties in climate models. Understanding this mechanism could help us reduce those uncertainties and make the models better."
The study also showed that the effect was much larger on a regional scale, counteracting possibly up to 30% of warming in more rural, forested areas where anthropogenic emissions of aerosols were much lower in comparison to the natural aerosols. That means that especially in places like Finland, Siberia, and Canada this feedback loop may reduce warming substantially.
The researchers collected data at 11 different sites around the world, measuring the concentrations of aerosol particles in the atmosphere, along with the concentrations of plant gases, the temperature, and reanalysis estimates for the height of the boundary layer, which turned out to be a key variable. The boundary layer refers to the layer of air closest to the Earth, in which gases and particles mix effectively. The height of that layer changes with weather. Paasonen says, "One of the reasons that this phenomenon was not discovered earlier was because these estimates for boundary layer height are very difficult to do. Only recently have the reanalysis estimates been improved to where they can be taken as representative of reality."
###
Reference
Paasonen, P., et. al. 2013. Evidence for negative climate feedback: warming increases aerosol number concentrations. Nature Geoscience doi: 10.1038/NGEO1800
For more information please contact:
Pauli Paasonen
IIASA Guest Research Scholar
Mitigation of Air Pollution and Greenhouse Gases
Tel: +43 2236 807 498
Mob: +43 699 17 253 365
paasonen@iiasa.ac.at
Ari Asmi
Research Coordinator
University of Helsinki, Department of Physics, Division of Atmospheric Sciences
Tel: +358 9 191 50181
Mob: +358 40 770 9729
ari.asmi@helsinki.fi
Markku Kulmala
Academy professor
University of Helsinki, Department of Physics, Division of Atmospheric Sciences
Tel: + 358 9 191 50756
Mob: +358 40 596 2311
markku.kulmala@helsinki.fi
IIASA is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century. Our findings provide valuable options to policy makers to shape the future of our changing world. IIASA is independent and funded by scientific institutions in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Oceania, and Europe. http://www.iiasa.ac.at
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?
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.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republican and Democratic lawmakers in the House are proposing to step up sanctions against North Korea by punishing companies, banks and governments that do prohibited business with it.
The bill crafted by leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and introduced Friday is modeled on sanctions in force against Iran.
Congressional staffers say it's intended not only to improve enforcement of existing sanctions, but also to expand them.
The measure reflects growing concern over North Korea's nuclear weapon and missile development, and frustration over the failure of U.S. policy to stop it.
The bill was introduced by Reps. Ed Royce, R-Calif., and Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. Its prospects for becoming law are uncertain.
The draft bill does not name any particular entities but potentially could impact companies and banks in China through which the North conducts most of its business.
The draft gives the president authority to sanction governments for illicit dealings with North Korea but also authority to waive the bill's provisions on a case-by-case basis on national security grounds.
The legislation could irk Beijing at a time when the Obama administration seeks greater Chinese cooperation in pressuring Pyongyang to end war threats and honor past commitments on denuclearization.
Beijing signed up for the toughest U.N. sanctions yet on North Korea in response to a nuclear test in February.
But Royce has called for tougher unilateral steps, as the U.S. government did in 2005 against a Macau-based bank because it held about $25 million in North Korean funds. That measure had a significant impact, but proved complicated to undo when nuclear negotiations with North Korea finally got back on track.
A man has been arrested for investigation of attempted murder after he allegedly shot at the father of a player in a Little League T-ball game following an argument.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports 23-year-old Joshua Chi was arrested Wednesday and being held on $750,000 bail.
Authorities say the shooting occurred April 17 during a North Vallejo T-ball game after Chi and the father of a player argued with each other at the baseball field.
The dispute continued in the parking lot and police say when the father tried to drive away, Chi opened fire and hit the vehicle. The father was not injured.
Police didn't say what started the argument.
The North Vallejo Little League suspended games for several days after the shooting.
? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
DHAKA (Reuters) - At least 175 mainly women workers were killed in a Bangladesh building collapse and rescuers searching for survivors said on Thursday that many more were trapped in the rubble of a complex that housed factories supplying Western clothes retailers.
The disaster, which comes five months after a factory fire that killed more than 100 people, could hurt Bangladesh's reputation as a source of low-cost goods and call attention to European and North American companies that buy products there.
Rescue workers were digging through the wreckage of the eight-storey Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (20 miles) outside the capital Dhaka, which collapsed on Wednesday. More than 1,000 people were injured.
"The death toll could go up as many are still trapped under the rubble," Dhaka's district police chief, Habibur Rahman, told Reuters.
Dhaka city development authority on Thursday filed a case against the building's owner for faulty construction. It filed another case against the owner and the five garments factories for causing unlawful death, police chief Rahman said.
Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) president Mohammad Atiqul Islam said there were 3,122 workers in the factories on Wednesday. He said there had been indications from local officials that cracks had been found in the building the day before.
"We asked the garment owners to keep it closed," Islam said.
Rana Plaza's owner had told proprietors of the building's five garment factories that the cracks were not dangerous, Islam added. "After getting the green signal from the plaza owner all the garment factories opened," he said.
However, police official Mohammad Asaduzzaman said factory owners appeared to have ignored a warning not to allow their workers into the building after a crack was detected on Tuesday.
News reports beamed around the world showed young women workers, some apparently semi-conscious, being pulled out of the rubble by firefighters and troops. Doctors at Dhaka hospitals said they couldn't cope with the number of victims.
"I was at work on the third floor, and then suddenly I heard a deafening sound, but couldn't understand what was happening. I ran and was hit by something on my head," said factory worker Zohra Begum.
BUILDING FIRES, COLLAPSE
The Rana Plaza building collapse follows a fire at the Tazreen Fashion factory on the outskirts of Dhaka that killed 112 people in November and another incident at a factory in January in which seven people died, compounding concerns about worker safety and low wages in Bangladesh.
UK clothing retailer Primark, which has 257 stores across Europe and is a unit of Associated British Foods, confirmed that one of its suppliers occupied the second floor of the building.
"The company is shocked and deeply saddened by this appalling incident at Savar, near Dhaka, and expresses its condolences to all of those involved," Primark said in a statement on it's Ethical Trading website.
Canada's Loblaw, a unit of food processing and distribution firm George Weston Ltd, also confirmed a connection with the building. It said one factory made a small number of "Joe Fresh" apparel items for the company.
"We are extremely saddened to learn of the collapse of a building complex in Bangladesh and our condolences go out to those affected by this tragedy," Julija Hunter, public relations vice-president for Loblaw Companies, said in an email.
Both companies operate codes of conduct aimed at ensuring products are made in good working conditions.
Documents including order sheets and cutting plans obtained by Reuters appeared to show that other major clothing brands such as Spain's Mango and Benetton had used suppliers in the building in recent months. A Benetton spokesman said none of the factories were suppliers to the company.
About 3.6 million people work in Bangladesh's garment industry, making it the world's second-largest apparel exporter.
Following the Tazreen fire, giant U.S. retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it would take steps to alleviate safety concerns, while Gap Inc. announced a four-step fire-safety program.
"Still we are struggling to overcome the odds after the Tazreen fire, now another incident which is a strong blow for the sector," BGMEA's Islam said.
However, Edward Hertzman, a sourcing agent based in New York who also publishes trade magazine Sourcing Journal, said pressure from U.S. retailers to keep a lid on costs continues to foster unsafe conditions.
Hertzman, whose trade publication has offices in Bangladesh, said New Wave Bottoms Ltd occupied the second floor, Phantom Apparels Ltd the third, Phantom Tack Ltd the fourth and Ethar Textile Ltd the fifth.
The New Wave website listed 27 main buyers, including firms from Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Ireland, Canada and the United States.
(Additional reporting by Andrew Biraj in Bangalore, Jessica Wohl and Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Chicago, and Solarina Ho in Toronto; Writing by John Chalmers and Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Paul Tait and Alex Richardson)
Breath study brings roadside drug testing closerPublic release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bishop michael.bishop@iop.org 01-179-301-032 Institute of Physics
A group of researchers from Sweden have provided further evidence that illegal drugs can be detected in the breath, opening up the possibility of a roadside breathalyzer test to detect substances such as cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis.
Using a simple, commercially available breath sampler, the researchers have successfully identified a range of 12 substances in the breath of 40 patients recruited from a drug emergency clinic in Stockholm.
Their findings have been published today, 26 April, in IOP Publishing's Journal of Breath Research.
Blood, urine and saliva are the most popular methods for detecting illegal drugs and are already used by law enforcement in a number of countries; however, exhaled breath is seen as a promising alternative as it's easier to collect, non-invasive, less prone to adulteration and advantageous when location becomes an obstacle, such as at the roadside.
Exhaled breath contains very small particles that carry non-volatile substances from the airway lining fluid. Any compound that has been inhaled, or is present in the blood, may contaminate this fluid and pass into the breath when the airways open. The compounds will then be exhaled and can subsequently be detected.
In this study, researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm collected breath, blood plasma and urine samples from 47 patients (38 males, 9 females) who had taken drugs in the previous 24 hours and were recovering at a drug addiction emergency clinic.
Interviews were also undertaken with each patient to assess their history of drug use.
The breath samples were taken using a commercially available sampling device SensAbues and then analysed using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.
The portable sampling device consists of a mouth piece and a micro-particle filter. When a patient breathes into the mouth piece, saliva and larger particles are separated from the micro-particles that need to be measured.
The micro-particles are able to pass through and deposit onto a filter, which can then be sealed and stored ready for analysis. Breath samples were analysed for twelve substances.
Alprazolam and benzoylecgonine were detected in exhaled breath for the first time, whereas for methadone, amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, morphine, 6-acetylmorphine, tetrahydrocannabinol, buprenorphine, diazepam and oxazepam, the results confirmed previous observations.
"Considering the samples were taken 24 hours after the intake of drugs, we were surprised to find that there was still high detectability for most drugs," said lead author of the study Professor Olof Beck.
"In cases of suspected driving under the influence of drugs, blood samples could be taken in parallel with breath when back at a police station. Future studies should therefore test the correlation between blood concentration of drugs of abuse and the concentrations in exhaled breath."
###
From Friday 26 April, this paper can be downloaded from http://iopscience.iop.org/1752-7163/7/2/026006
Notes to Editors
Contact
1. For further information, a full draft of the journal paper or contact with one of the researchers, contact IOP Press Officer, Michael Bishop: Tel: +44 (0) 1179 301032
E-mail: michael.bishop@iop.org
IOP Publishing Journalist Area
2. The IOP Publishing Journalist Area gives journalists access to embargoed press releases, advanced copies of papers, supplementary images and videos. In addition to this, a weekly news digest is uploaded into the Journalist Area every Friday, highlighting a selection of newsworthy papers set to be published in the following week.
Login details also give free access to IOPscience, IOP Publishing's journal platform.
To apply for a free subscription to this service, please email Michael Bishop, IOP Press Officer, michael.bishop@iop.org, with your name, organisation, address and a preferred username.
Detection of drugs of abuse in exhaled breath using a device for rapid collection: comparison with plasma, urine and self-reporting in 47 drug users
3. The published version of the paper "Detection of drugs of abuse in exhaled breath using a device for rapid collection: comparison with plasma, urine and self-reporting in 47 drug users" (J. Breath Res. 7 026006) will be freely available online from Friday 26 April. It will be available at http://iopscience.iop.org/1752-7163/7/2/026006.
Journal of Breath Research
4. This journal is dedicated to all aspects of breath science, with the major focus on analysis of exhaled breath in physiology and medicine, and the diagnosis and treatment of breath odours.
IOP Publishing
5. IOP Publishing provides publications through which leading-edge scientific research is distributed worldwide. IOP Publishing is central to the Institute of Physics (IOP), a not-for-profit society. Any financial surplus earned by IOP Publishing goes to support science through the activities of IOP. Beyond our traditional journals programme, we make high-value scientific information easily accessible through an ever-evolving portfolio of community websites, magazines, conference proceedings and a multitude of electronic services. Focused on making the most of new technologies, we're continually improving our electronic interfaces to make it easier for researchers to find exactly what they need, when they need it, in the format that suits them best. Go to http://ioppublishing.org/.
The Institute of Physics
6. The Institute of Physics is a leading scientific society. We are a charitable organisation with a worldwide membership of more than 50,000, working together to advance physics education, research and application. We engage with policymakers and the general public to develop awareness and understanding of the value of physics and, through IOP Publishing, we are world leaders in professional scientific communications. Go to http://www.iop.org
[ | 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.
Breath study brings roadside drug testing closerPublic release date: 25-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bishop michael.bishop@iop.org 01-179-301-032 Institute of Physics
A group of researchers from Sweden have provided further evidence that illegal drugs can be detected in the breath, opening up the possibility of a roadside breathalyzer test to detect substances such as cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis.
Using a simple, commercially available breath sampler, the researchers have successfully identified a range of 12 substances in the breath of 40 patients recruited from a drug emergency clinic in Stockholm.
Their findings have been published today, 26 April, in IOP Publishing's Journal of Breath Research.
Blood, urine and saliva are the most popular methods for detecting illegal drugs and are already used by law enforcement in a number of countries; however, exhaled breath is seen as a promising alternative as it's easier to collect, non-invasive, less prone to adulteration and advantageous when location becomes an obstacle, such as at the roadside.
Exhaled breath contains very small particles that carry non-volatile substances from the airway lining fluid. Any compound that has been inhaled, or is present in the blood, may contaminate this fluid and pass into the breath when the airways open. The compounds will then be exhaled and can subsequently be detected.
In this study, researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm collected breath, blood plasma and urine samples from 47 patients (38 males, 9 females) who had taken drugs in the previous 24 hours and were recovering at a drug addiction emergency clinic.
Interviews were also undertaken with each patient to assess their history of drug use.
The breath samples were taken using a commercially available sampling device SensAbues and then analysed using liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.
The portable sampling device consists of a mouth piece and a micro-particle filter. When a patient breathes into the mouth piece, saliva and larger particles are separated from the micro-particles that need to be measured.
The micro-particles are able to pass through and deposit onto a filter, which can then be sealed and stored ready for analysis. Breath samples were analysed for twelve substances.
Alprazolam and benzoylecgonine were detected in exhaled breath for the first time, whereas for methadone, amphetamine, methamphetamine, cocaine, morphine, 6-acetylmorphine, tetrahydrocannabinol, buprenorphine, diazepam and oxazepam, the results confirmed previous observations.
"Considering the samples were taken 24 hours after the intake of drugs, we were surprised to find that there was still high detectability for most drugs," said lead author of the study Professor Olof Beck.
"In cases of suspected driving under the influence of drugs, blood samples could be taken in parallel with breath when back at a police station. Future studies should therefore test the correlation between blood concentration of drugs of abuse and the concentrations in exhaled breath."
###
From Friday 26 April, this paper can be downloaded from http://iopscience.iop.org/1752-7163/7/2/026006
Notes to Editors
Contact
1. For further information, a full draft of the journal paper or contact with one of the researchers, contact IOP Press Officer, Michael Bishop: Tel: +44 (0) 1179 301032
E-mail: michael.bishop@iop.org
IOP Publishing Journalist Area
2. The IOP Publishing Journalist Area gives journalists access to embargoed press releases, advanced copies of papers, supplementary images and videos. In addition to this, a weekly news digest is uploaded into the Journalist Area every Friday, highlighting a selection of newsworthy papers set to be published in the following week.
Login details also give free access to IOPscience, IOP Publishing's journal platform.
To apply for a free subscription to this service, please email Michael Bishop, IOP Press Officer, michael.bishop@iop.org, with your name, organisation, address and a preferred username.
Detection of drugs of abuse in exhaled breath using a device for rapid collection: comparison with plasma, urine and self-reporting in 47 drug users
3. The published version of the paper "Detection of drugs of abuse in exhaled breath using a device for rapid collection: comparison with plasma, urine and self-reporting in 47 drug users" (J. Breath Res. 7 026006) will be freely available online from Friday 26 April. It will be available at http://iopscience.iop.org/1752-7163/7/2/026006.
Journal of Breath Research
4. This journal is dedicated to all aspects of breath science, with the major focus on analysis of exhaled breath in physiology and medicine, and the diagnosis and treatment of breath odours.
IOP Publishing
5. IOP Publishing provides publications through which leading-edge scientific research is distributed worldwide. IOP Publishing is central to the Institute of Physics (IOP), a not-for-profit society. Any financial surplus earned by IOP Publishing goes to support science through the activities of IOP. Beyond our traditional journals programme, we make high-value scientific information easily accessible through an ever-evolving portfolio of community websites, magazines, conference proceedings and a multitude of electronic services. Focused on making the most of new technologies, we're continually improving our electronic interfaces to make it easier for researchers to find exactly what they need, when they need it, in the format that suits them best. Go to http://ioppublishing.org/.
The Institute of Physics
6. The Institute of Physics is a leading scientific society. We are a charitable organisation with a worldwide membership of more than 50,000, working together to advance physics education, research and application. We engage with policymakers and the general public to develop awareness and understanding of the value of physics and, through IOP Publishing, we are world leaders in professional scientific communications. Go to http://www.iop.org
[ | 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.
Academics, Beyond UCF, News, UCF Administration ? By Jacob Sadowsky on April 24, 2013 at 11:29 pm Tweet
A lecturer at UCF?s Rosen College of Hospitality Management has been placed on administrative leave following a reference to ?a killing spree? he made during class, according to media outlet Local 6.
According to Local 6, Dr. Hyung-il Jung?s held an optional review session for his Hospitality Industry Financial Accounting class on Thursday and about 25 people showed up. That?s when Dr. Jung is said to have made the comment to his class.
?Dr. Jung?s comment to his class was completely inappropriate,? Chad Binette, UCF Director of News & Information, told Local 6. ?Although most of his students interpreted the comment as a joke, we are pleased that one of them came forward and informed the university about it.?
According to Local 6, Dr. Jung has been placed on administrative leave while the university investigates what happened during the review session. The media outlet also reports that UCF officials have spoken to Dr. Jung who said he regrets making the reference.
UCF police also are investigating, according to Local 6.
Interior Design | 616 Ramona Home Improvement Guide
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? A Reuters deputy social media editor accused of conspiring with hackers to deface a Los Angeles Times story said Monday he had been fired.
His dismissal came the day before 26-year-old Matthew Keys was scheduled to appear in federal court for the first time on the felony charges. His attorneys say he plans to plead not guilty.
Federal prosecutors allege Keys provided the hacking group Anonymous with login information to access the computer system of The Tribune Co., the Times' parent company.
According to a federal indictment handed down last month, a hacker identified only as "Sharpie" used information Keys supplied in an Internet chat room to alter a headline on a December 2010 Times story to reference another hacking group.
Tribune also owns a Sacramento television station Keys had been fired from months earlier.
Keys has said he did not commit the crimes he's accused of. He did not immediately respond to a telephone message seeking comment Monday, but he did post several online messages saying Reuters had not fired him as a result of the indictment.
"Just got off the phone. Reuters has fired me, effective today. Our union will be filing a grievance. More soon," he tweeted to his more than 35,000 followers.
He later tweeted a copy of a "final written warning" he said he received from Reuters in October, which admonished Keys for mocking a Google executive from a fake Twitter account he had created, saying the action demonstrated a "serious lapse of judgment and professionalism that is unbecoming of a Reuters journalist."
His attorney Jay Leiderman confirmed the firing, but said he would not comment on it because the Newspaper Guild was representing him on the matter. He added that "there is an appeals process that I will have to let play out."
Peter Szekely, Secretary-Treasurer of the Newspaper Guild of New York, confirmed the union would be representing Keys.
"Our contract with Thomson Reuters prohibits management from dismissing anyone without just and sufficient cause. We don't believe the company has the required justification here," Szekely said in a statement. "At this point, we intend to vigorously defend Matthew Keys as we would any other hard-working member of the Newspaper Guild of New York who had been fired without cause."
Reuters hired Keys in 2012 and suspended him from his New York social media job March 14. Thomson Reuters spokesman David Girardin declined to elaborate Monday on why Keys was no longer employed.
Keys is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in federal court in Sacramento. He is charged with one count each of conspiracy to transmit information to damage a protected computer, as well as transmitting and attempting to transmit that information.
If convicted and sentenced to the maximum for each count, the Secaucus, N.J., resident faces a combined 25 years prison and a $500,000 fine, prosecutors say. However, experts say first-time offenders with no criminal history typically spend much less time in prison than the maximum term.
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Follow Garance Burke at http://twitter.com/garanceburke.
It's usually safe to presume that BlackBerry will give the most love to its home country, and that's proving reasonable with the BlackBerry Q10. Bell, Rogers and Telus have all confirmed that they'll be carrying the QWERTY-equipped smartphone on May 1st, quite possibly putting them on the cutting edge of the Q10 launch schedule. Smaller networks like Fido, Koodo, Sasktel and Virgin Mobile are also on deck. The big three are already taking pre-orders today, but we'd brace for a rather steep price premium -- they're all asking about $199 for the Q10 on a three-year contract, which is more expensive than many of the phone's touch-only rivals. BlackBerry hasn't outlined plans for the US or other countries yet, but we're hoping they get a slightly better deal.
SEOUL (Reuters) - LG Display Co Ltd reported its smallest profit since it returned to the black in the second quarter of last year, as demand for iPhone and iPad screens from Apple weakened amid concerns the U.S. company is losing its luster in the mobile device market.
Apple Inc, which analysts say provides about 30 percent of LG Display's revenue, is facing intensifying competition from Samsung and up-and-coming rivals. A disappointing forecast by a U.S. supplier to Apple last week heightened fears about slowing demand for the iPhone and iPad, pushing shares of Asian suppliers including LG Display sharply lower.
LG Display, which vies with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's panel unit for the top position in LCD flat screens globally, made 151 billion won ($135 million) in operating profit in its January-March first quarter. That compared with the average forecast of a 147 billion won profit in a Thomson Reuters poll of analysts.
It was the South Korean company's fourth straight quarterly profit after seven straight quarters of losses, as makers of liquid crystal display panels have since curtailed output after about two years of oversupply.
The result was also a sharp improvement from a loss of 211 billion won a year earlier. But it was down 74 percent from the previous quarter, hurt by a seasonal slowdown in demand and by weaker sales to Apple, which is scheduled to report quarterly results on Tuesday.
Sales of tablet and smartphone panels, which are largely bought by Apple, accounted for 27 percent of LG Display's total screen shipments in the first quarter, down from 31 percent in the fourth quarter.
Jay Yoo, an analyst at Korea Investment & Securities, estimated before the results announcement that LG Display's panel shipments for the iPhone 5 and the latest iPad had fallen 42 percent and 66 percent, respectively, from the prior quarter as Apple struggles with slowing sales growth.
On Tuesday, Apple is expected to report just an 8 percent increase in revenue for its fiscal second quarter, among the weakest showings in years, according to analysts' estimates.
Still, analysts see earnings for LG Display improving in the coming quarters as Apple is expected to introduce upgraded products later this year, and as demand for mobile device screens from affiliate LG Electronics Inc increases.
Samsung Securities analyst Harrison Cho expects Apple to introduce a less costly iPhone around July, helping LG Display improve its sales to Apple from June when initial parts shipments are expected to begin.
LG Display said on Monday that it expects panel shipments will rise by 5 percent to 10 percent in the second quarter from the previous quarter.
Shares in LG Display have fallen about 3 percent in the year to date, compared with a roughly 5 percent drop in the benchmark KOSPI index. The stock closed 2.2 percent higher prior to the results announcement.
(Reporting by Miyoung Kim; Editing by Chris Gallagher)
After years of criticism and debate, plus a Washington D.C. circuit court ordering that the TSA accept public comment, you can finally weigh in about those scanners that not-so-subtly undress you. More »
BOSTON (AP) ? A doctor involved in treating the Boston Marathon bombing suspect who died in a gunbattle with police says he had injuries head to toe and all limbs intact when he arrived at the hospital.
Dr. David Schoenfeld said 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev was unconscious and had so many penetrating wounds when he arrived at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center early Friday that it isn't clear which ones killed him, and a medical examiner will have to determine the cause of death.
The second bombing suspect, 19-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was in serious condition at the same hospital after his capture Friday night. The FBI has not allowed hospital officials to say any more about his wounds or condition.
Schoenfeld lives in the Boston suburb of Watertown and heard explosions from the shootout between the two brothers and police early Friday. He called the hospital to alert staff they likely would be getting injured people, then rushed in to coordinate preparations.
"We had three or four trauma teams in different rooms set up and ready," unsure of whether they would be treating a bombing suspect, injured police or bystanders, Schoenfeld said.
The older Tsarnaev's clothes had been cut off by emergency responders at the scene, so if he had been wearing a vest with explosives, he wasn't by the time he arrived at the hospital, the doctor said.
"From head to toe, every region of his body had injuries," he said. "His legs and arms were intact ? he wasn't blown into a million pieces" ? but he lost a pulse and was in cardiac arrest, meaning his heart and circulation had stopped, so CPR, or cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, was started.
Schoenfeld did not address police's assertion that Tsarnaev was run over by a car driven by his brother as he fled the gunfire.
The doctor said he couldn't discuss specific treatments in the case except to say what is usually done in such circumstances, including putting a needle in the chest to relieve pressure that can damage blood vessels, and cutting open the chest and using rib-spreaders to let doctors drain blood in the sac around the heart that can put pressure on the heart and keep it from beating.
"Once you've done all of those things ... if they don't respond there's really nothing you can do. You've exhausted the playbook," he said.
After 15 minutes of unsuccessful treatment, doctors pronounced him dead.
"We did everything we could" to try to save his life, Schoenfeld said.
How did the medical team react to treating the bombing suspect?
"There was some discussion in the emergency room about who it was. That discussion ended pretty quickly," Schoenfeld said. "It really doesn't matter who the person is. We're going to treat them as best we can."
YA'AN, China (AP) ? Rescuers and relief teams struggled to rush supplies into the rural hills of China's Sichuan province Sunday after an earthquake left at least 180 people dead and more than 11,000 injured and prompted frightened survivors to spend a night in cars, tents and makeshift shelters.
The earthquake Saturday morning triggered landslides that cut off roads and disrupted phone and power connections in mountainous Lushan county, in Sichuan's Ya'an city area, which is further south on the same fault line where a devastating quake wreaked widespread damage across the region five years ago.
Hardest hit were villages further up the valleys, where farmers grow rice, vegetables and corn on terraced plots. Rescuers hiked into neighboring Baoxing county after its roads were cut off, reaching it overnight, state media reported. In Longmen village, authorities said nearly all the buildings had been destroyed in a frightening minute-long shaking by the quake.
In the fog-covered town of Shuangli, corn farmer Zheng Xianlan said Sunday that she had rushed from the fields back to her home when the quake struck, and cried when she saw that the roof collapsed. She then spent the night outdoors on a worn sofa using a plastic raincoat for cover.
"We don't earn much money. We don't know what we will do now," said 58-year-old Zheng, her eyes welling with tears. "The government only brought one tent for the whole village so far, but that's not enough for us."
Along the main roads, ambulances, fire engines and military trucks piled high with supplies waited in long lines, some turning back to try other routes when roads were impassable. Rescuers were forced to dynamite boulders that had fallen across roads, and rains Saturday night slowed rescue work, state media reported.
At the farming village of Longquan, where all the houses were damaged and some destroyed in the community of about 300 people, rescuers had arrived to collect the bodies of three dead, but had not yet provided other services as of Sunday midday, villagers said. Yang Shanqing, 37, said his father, brother and nephew were killed when their house collapsed.
"Now we don't have any drinking water or power," Longquan villager Yang Yiyun, 58, told The Associated Press. "All we can do is wait for the government to come and help us out."
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had arrived Saturday afternoon by helicopter in Ya'an to direct rescue efforts, the government's official Xinhua News Agency reported.
"The current priority is to save lives," Li said, after visiting hospitals, tents and climbing on a pile of rubble to view the devastation, according to Xinhua.
Xinhua, citing the Sichuan province emergency command center, said at least 180 people were killed and 11,227 injured.
The quake ? measured by China's earthquake administration at magnitude 7.0 and by the U.S. Geological Survey at 6.6 ? struck shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday, when many people were at home, sleeping or having breakfast.
Tens of thousands of people moved into tents or cars, unable to return home or too afraid to go back as aftershocks continued to jolt the region. In Ya'an, residents sat in groups outside convenience stores watching the news on television sets early Sunday.
As in most natural disasters, the government mobilized thousands of soldiers and others, sending excavators and other heavy machinery as well as tents, blankets and other emergency supplies. Two soldiers died after their vehicle slide off a road and rolled down a cliff, state media reported.
The Chinese Red Cross said it had deployed relief teams with supplies of food, water, medicine and rescue equipment to the disaster areas.
Lushan, where the quake struck, lies where the fertile Sichuan plain meets foothills that eventually rise to the Tibetan plateau and sits atop the Longmenshan fault. It was along the same fault line that a devastating magnitude-7.9 quake struck on May 12, 2008, leaving more than 90,000 people dead or missing and presumed dead in one of the worst natural disasters to strike China in recent decades.
"It was just like May 12," Liu Xi, a writer in Ya'an city, said via a private message on his account on the Twitter-like Weibo service. "All the home decorations fell at once, and the old house cracked."
The official Xinhua News Agency said the well-known Bifengxia panda preserve, which is near Lushan, was not affected by the quake. Dozens of pandas were moved to Bifengxia from another preserve, Wolong, after its habitat was wrecked by the 2008 quake.
With the shared unveiling of Nokia's Lumia 720 and Lumia 520, the company's running flush of Windows Phone 8 models was complete. All WP8 handsets we've reviewed essentially fit into two distinct tiers based on shared core specs. That begs the question: why come out with two new models now when both share the same SoC, amount of RAM and screen resolution as the established Lumia 620 and HTC 8S? Obviously, there are differences in design, cameras, display tech and all the other bobs and bits that create the 720, but is it worth the significant markup over the 620, and more than double the price of a 520 or Huawei Ascend W1? Enough with all the rhetorical questions -- join us after the break as we find out exactly what the Lumia 720 has to offer.
?Almost every single oceanfront house had some damage, whether it was 50 percent or 100 percent, they took the brunt,? Shapiro explained. ?In the midst of all of this a fire broke out next to the church on 129th Street and spread to 130th Street, and we lost about a dozen houses,? Shapiro continued.![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vLCBmfQAG8QiecBJ1iCQpG-om5vqHdfsifemFQNtNMnf6rmnb7ppHk8rLrZgxN5jK9xUDiH_OHR2d3fsJ8zVMapLNvA20XesiEwcqxTDU=s0-d){kind=small}
Public release date: 28-Apr-2013
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