More rain expected for already swollen Midwest rivers

CLARKSVILLE, Mo. (AP) ? Communities along the Mississippi River and other Midwestern waterways are vigilantly eyeing ? and in some cases hastily fortifying ? makeshift levees to hold back floodwaters that meteorologists say could worsen or be prolonged by looming storms.

An inch of rain was expected to fall from Oklahoma to Michigan through Tuesday, a new drenching that led the National Weather Service to heighten the forecast crest of some stretches of rivers while blunting the progress of other waterways' slow retreat.

Mark Fuchs, a National Weather Service hydrologist, said the latest dousing could be especially troubling for communities along the Illinois River, which he said is headed for record crests.

"Along the Illinois, any increase is going to be cause for alarm, adding to their uncertainty and, in some cases, misery," he said late Monday afternoon.

Last week's downpours brought on sudden flooding throughout the Midwest, and high water is blamed for at least three deaths. Authorities in LaSalle, Ill., spent Monday searching for a woman whose van was spotted days earlier near a bridge, and a 12-year-old boy was in critical condition after being pulled from a river near Leadwood, Mo., about 65 miles south of St. Louis.

The additional rain isn't welcome news in Clarksville, Mo., about 70 miles north of St. Louis.

Days after bused-in prison inmates worked shoulder to shoulder with the National Guard and local volunteers to build a makeshift floodwall of sand and gravel, the barrier showed signs of strain Monday. Crews scrambled to patch trouble spots and build a second sandbag wall to catch any water weaseling through.

In Grafton, Ill., some 40 miles northeast of St. Louis, Mayor Tom Thompson said small community was holding its own against the Mississippi that by early Monday afternoon was 10 feet above flood stage. Waters lapped against some downtown buildings, forcing shops such as Hawg Pit BBQ to clear out and detours to be put up around town ? one key intersection was under 8 inches of water.

"If it gets another foot (higher), it's going to become another issue," Thompson said. Many businesses "are kinda watching and holding their breath. ... Some things are going to really be close to the wire."

Elsewhere, smaller rivers caused big problems. In Grand Rapids, Mich., the Grand River hit a record 21.85 feet, driving hundreds of people from their homes and flooding parts of downtown.

Spots south of St. Louis aren't expected to crest until late this week, and significant flooding is possible in places like Ste. Genevieve, Mo., Cape Girardeau, Mo., and Cairo, Ill. Further downriver, flood warnings have been issued for Kentucky and Tennessee.

___

Salter reported from St. Louis.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/more-rain-expected-already-swollen-rivers-070400840.html

kevin rose sessions march madness scores doonesbury padma lakshmi daughtry lakers trade

Boston mayor says authorities may never question bomb suspect

(Reuters) - Boston Mayor Tom Menino said on Sunday authorities may never be able to question the Boston Marathon bombing suspect, who lies seriously injured and unable to speak after eluding police for 24 hours.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, was in "very serious" condition at a Boston hospital after being captured Friday night, Menino told ABC's "This Week" program.

"And we don't know if we'll ever be able to question the individual," he said without elaborating.

Tsarnaev's brother, Tamerlan, 26, was killed in a firefight with police earlier on Friday as officers hunted them for the twin blasts on Monday that killed three and injured 176.

U.S. Senator Dan Coats, a member of the Intelligence Committee, said it was questionable whether Tsarnaev would be able to talk again.

"The information that we have is that there was a shot to the throat," Coats told the ABC program.

"It doesn't mean he can't communicate, but right now I think he's in a condition where we can't get any information from him at all," said Coats, an Indiana Republican.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Susan Cornwell; Editing by Vicki Allen and Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-mayor-says-authorities-may-never-bomb-suspect-151354409.html

ricky rubio day light savings time peter paul and mary edgar rice burroughs dallas clark litter marinol

Reese Witherspoon charged with disorderly conduct

This combination of undated photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections shows Reese Witherspoon, left, her husband James Toth. The Oscar-winning actress was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while Toth was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta. (AP Photo/City of Atlanta Department of Corrections)

This combination of undated photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections shows Reese Witherspoon, left, her husband James Toth. The Oscar-winning actress was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while Toth was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta. (AP Photo/City of Atlanta Department of Corrections)

This undated photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections shows Reese Witherspoon. The Oscar-winning actress was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while her husband, James Toth, was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta. (AP Photo/City of Atlanta Department of Corrections)

This undated photo provided by the City of Atlanta Department of Corrections shows James Joseph Toth. Oscar-winning Actress Reese Witherspoon was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while Toth, her husband, was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta. (AP Photo/City of Atlanta Department of Corrections)

FILE - In this Friday, March 8, 2013 file photo, actress Reese Witherspoon and her husband, Jim Toth, watch the Toronto Raptors take on the Los Angeles Lakers in an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles. Police in Georgia say that Witherspoon has been arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a traffic stop involving her husband in Atlanta. A Georgia State Police incident report says that Witherspoon was arrested early Friday, April 19, 2013, and charged with disorderly conduct. The report says a state trooper observed that a car driven by Toth was failing to stay in its lane. The officer writes that Witherspoon disobeyed multiple orders to stay in the car while he performed a field sobriety test on Toth. After she refused to return to the car, she was handcuffed and arrested. (AP Photo/Reed Saxon, File)

ATLANTA (AP) ? Oscar-winning actress Reese Witherspoon was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after a state trooper said she wouldn't stay in the car while her husband was given a field sobriety test in Atlanta.

Witherspoon was released from jail after the Friday morning arrest and was in New York Sunday night for the premiere of her new film "Mud." She posed for cameras on the red carpet but did not stop to talk to reporters.

The trooper noticed the car driven by her husband wasn't staying in its lane early Friday morning, so a traffic stop was initiated. Her husband, James Toth, had droopy eyelids, watery, bloodshot eyes, and his breath smelled strongly of alcohol, according to the report.

Toth told the trooper he'd had a drink, which Witherspoon said was consumed at a restaurant two hours before the traffic stop, the trooper writes.

Before the field sobriety test began, the 37-year-old Witherspoon got out of the car, was told to get back in and obeyed, the report said. After the "Walk the Line" star got out a second time, the trooper said he warned her that she would be arrested if she left the car again.

As the test continued, "Mrs. Witherspoon began to hang out the window and say that she did not believe that I was a real police officer. I told Mrs. Witherspoon to sit on her butt and be quiet," Trooper First Class J. Pyland writes.

Toth, 42, was then placed under arrest. He was charged with driving under the influence and failure to maintain the lane.

At that point, the report says, Witherspoon got out and asked the trooper what was going on. After being told to return to the car, she "stated that she was a 'US Citizen' and that she was allowed to 'stand on American ground,'" the report states.

The trooper then began to arrest Witherspoon. The report says Witherspoon was resistant at first but was calmed down by her husband.

"Do you know my name?" Witherspoon is quoted as asking the trooper. She also said: "You're about to find out who I am" and "You're about to be on national news," according to the report.

Toth and Witherspoon were then taken to jail.

A message left at the office of Witherspoon's publicist, Meredith O'Sullivan Wasson, wasn't immediately returned Sunday.

News of the arrest broke shortly before Witherspoon arrived on the "Mud" red carpet.

"I can't say anything because I don't know," said director Jeff Nichols. " I literally ? the first guy on the press line to say something was the first time I heard about it so I gotta go figure it out."

Matthew McConaughey, who plays the lead role in "Mud" and is represented by Toth, said "I'm not going to comment on that because it's too fresh."

__

AP reporter Lauri Neff contributed to this report from New York.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-04-21-Reese%20Witherspoon%20Arrest/id-ffbcc35b0fc64fc198fab266dea58f0b

fox sports obama speech Art Modell Frank Ocean Gay bill clinton andy roddick Costa Rica Earthquake

Social stress and the inflamed brain

Apr. 21, 2013 ? Depression is the leading cause of disability with more than 350 million people globally affected by this disease. In addition to debilitating consequences on mental health, depression predisposes an individual to physiological disease such as heart disease, and conversely heart disease increases the risk of depression. According to the World Health Organization by the year 2020 heart disease and depression will be the number one and number two leading causes of disability in developed countries. While the co-occurrence of these disorders is well recognized, an understanding of the underlying mechanisms that lead to this relationship are lacking.

Dr. Susan K. Wood, a Research Associate at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, investigates brain-related biomarkers for depression-heart disease comorbidity. She uses a rodent model of social stress likened to bullying in people that she has found to produce depressive-like behaviors and dysfunctional cardiovascular changes in a susceptible subset of rodents. Her previous work highlighted a role for the stress-related neurohormone corticotropin-releasing factor in rendering an individual vulnerable to stress-induced depression and heart disease. Intrigued by what other biomarkers may be distinct her latest study is the first to identify gene and protein expression differences in the brains of rodents that are either vulnerable or resilient to developing stress-induced depressive-like behaviors and cardiovascular dysfunction.

The study, conducted in male rats, compared expression of 88 genes involved in signaling within the brain between socially stressed and non-stressed rats. It revealed more than 35 genes in stressed rats that had altered expression compared with non-stressed controls. Many of the genes that were differentially expressed were related to inflammation. Follow-up studies measuring protein levels revealed that Interleukin-1? and Monocyte chemotactic protein-1, inflammatory markers known to play a role in depression and heart disease, were suppressed in the brains of the resilient subset of rats and Interleukin-1? was increased in the vulnerable group. Dr. Wood measured the gene and protein levels under resting conditions 24 hours after just 5 daily 30-minute exposures to social stress.

The identification of factors in the brain that distinguish susceptibility and resiliency to depression and heart disease comorbidity would be a major advance in predicting, preventing and treating these disorders. Dr. Wood is continuing these studies as an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine with the hope that these findings will uncover new targets to treat the mind and body.

Her findings will be presented April 21st, 2013 during Experimental Biology 2013 in Boston, MA.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/mind_brain/mental_health/~3/bG-TTU4qHd8/130421153839.htm

Hurricane Sandy Nyc Saanvi Venna vikings Colin Powell Tyrann Mathieu noaa Jessica Ridgeway

Fallout for states rejecting Medicaid expansion

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Rejecting the Medicaid expansion in the federal health care law could have unexpected consequences for states where Republican lawmakers remain steadfastly opposed to what they scorn as "Obamacare."

It could mean exposing businesses to Internal Revenue Service penalties and leaving low-income citizens unable to afford coverage even as legal immigrants get financial aid for their premiums. For the poorest people, it could virtually guarantee that they will remain uninsured and dependent on the emergency room at local hospitals that already face federal cutbacks.

Concern about such consequences helped forge a deal in Arkansas last week. The Republican-controlled Legislature endorsed a plan by Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe to accept additional Medicaid money under the federal law, but to use the new dollars to buy private insurance for eligible residents.

One of the main arguments for the private option was that it would help businesses avoid tax penalties.

The Obama administration hasn't signed off on the Arkansas deal, and it's unclear how many other states will use it as a model. But it reflects a pragmatic streak in American politics that's still the exception in the polarized health care debate.

"The biggest lesson out of Arkansas is not so much the exact structure of what they are doing," said Alan Weil, executive director of the nonpartisan National Academy for State Health Policy. "Part of it is just a message of creativity, that they can look at it and say, 'How can we do this in a way that works for us?'"

About half the nearly 30 million uninsured people expected to gain coverage under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul would do so through Medicaid. Its expansion would cover low-income people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, about $15,860 for an individual.

Middle-class people who don't have coverage at their jobs will be able to purchase private insurance in new state markets, helped by new federal tax credits. The big push to sign up the uninsured starts this fall, and coverage takes effect Jan. 1.

As originally written, the Affordable Care Act required states to accept the Medicaid expansion as a condition of staying in the program. Last summer's Supreme Court decision gave each state the right to decide. While that pleased many governors, it also created complications by opening the door to unintended consequences.

So far, 20 mostly blue states, plus the District of Columbia, have accepted the expansion.

Thirteen GOP-led states have declined. They say Medicaid already is too costly, and they don't trust Washington to keep its promise of generous funding for the expansion, which mainly helps low-income adults with no children at home.

The remaining states are still weighing options. Concerns about the unintended consequences could make the most difference in those states.

A look at some potential side effects:

?The Employer Glitch

States that don't expand Medicaid leave more businesses exposed to tax penalties, according to a recent study by Brian Haile, Jackson Hewitt's senior vice president for tax policy. He estimates the fines could top $1 billion a year in states refusing.

Under the law, employers with 50 or more workers that don't offer coverage face penalties if just one of their workers gets subsidized private insurance through the new state markets. But employers generally do not face fines under the law for workers who enroll in Medicaid.

In states that don't expand Medicaid, some low-income workers who would otherwise have been eligible have a fallback option. They can instead get subsidized private insurance in the law's new markets. But that would trigger a penalty for their employer.

"It highlights how complicated the Affordable Care Act is," said Haile. "We wanted to make sure the business community understood."

?The Immigrant Quirk

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, called attention this year to this politically awkward problem when she proposed that her state accept the Medicaid expansion.

Under the health law, U.S. citizens below the poverty line ? $11,490 for an individual, $23,550 for a family of four ? can only get coverage through the Medicaid expansion. But lawfully present immigrants who are also below the poverty level are eligible for subsidized private insurance.

Congress wrote the legislation that way to avoid the controversy associated with trying to change previous laws that require legal immigrants to wait five years before they can qualify for Medicaid. Instead of dragging immigration politics into the health care debate, lawmakers devised a detour.

Before the Supreme Court ruling, it was a legislative patch.

Now it could turn into an issue in states with lots of immigrants, such as Texas and Florida. It could create the perception that citizens are being disadvantaged versus immigrants.

?The Fairness Argument

Under the law, U.S. citizens below the poverty line can only get taxpayer-subsidized coverage by going into Medicaid. But other low-income people making just enough to put them over the poverty line can get subsidized private insurance through the new state markets.

An individual making $11,700 a year would be able to get a policy. But someone making $300 less would be out of luck, dependent on charity care at the emergency room.

"Americans have very strong feelings about fairness," said Weil. "The notion of 'Gee, that's just not fair' is definitely a factor in the discussion."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fallout-states-rejecting-medicaid-expansion-072613081.html

phish gluten free diet barry zito mac virus santorum drops out bby zimmerman website

Genetics defines a distinct liver disease

Apr. 21, 2013 ? Large-scale genetic study defines relationship between primary sclerosing cholangitis and other autoimmune diseases.

Researchers have newly associated nine genetic regions with a rare autoimmune disease of the liver known as primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC). This brings the total number of genetic regions associated with the disease to 16.

Approximately 70 per cent of people who suffer from PSC also suffer from IBD. The team showed that only half of the newly associated genetic regions were shared with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). For the first time, this definitively proves that PSC, although genetically related to IBD, is a distinct disease.

PSC is a chronic, progressive disease of the bile ducts that channels bile from the liver into the intestines. It can cause inflammation of the bile ducts (cholangitis) and liver scarring that leads to liver cirrhosis and liver failure. There are no effective treatments available. Although PSC affects only one in 10,000 people, it is a leading cause of liver transplant surgery.

?Before our study, it was never quite clear whether PSC was a complication of IBD or a distinct disease in its own right,? says Dr Carl Anderson, lead author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. ?We have proven it to be a unique disease, and hope that our results will inform the development of more effective treatments, designed to target the biological pathways involved in causing the disease?.

The work involved an international group of scientists from the International PSC study group recruiting patients from 13 countries within Europe and North America. Without this large collaborative effort it would not have been possible to obtain the large number of patient DNA samples necessary for the study.

The team used DNA genotyping technology to survey more thoroughly regions of the genome known to underlie other immune-related diseases to discover if they also play a role in PSC susceptibility.

In addition to the nine genetic regions newly associated, they also saw strong signals at three regions of the genome previously associated with the disease. Of these twelve genetic regions, six are also associated with IBD, while the six other regions showed little to no association in a recent large study of IBD.

?Using the Immunochip genotyping chip, we can pull apart the genetic relationships between these autoimmune diseases and begin to see not only their genetic similarities, but also the differences,? says Jimmy Liu, PhD student and first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. ?As PSC is a rare disorder, sample collection is more difficult than for other, more common, autoimmune diseases. We hope that with more samples from patients, we?ll be able to link more genetic regions to the disease, and it will become easier to identify underlying pathways that could act as therapeutic targets.?

Three of the genetic regions associated with PSC fall within a single biological system that underlies variation in T cells, cells important to our immune response. One gene that controls this pathway, HDAC7, is known to be a key factor in immune tolerance and the new data strongly suggests exploring the possibility that drugs affecting HDAC7 function may serve as future therapeutics in PSC.

In an extended analysis, the team identified an additional 33 genetic regions that are also involved in several common immune-mediated conditions (celiac disease, Crohn?s disease, ulcerative colitis, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, sarcoidosis and psoriasis). This analysis shows that PSC shares many genetic risk loci with other immune-mediated diseases and opens up the possibility for testing drugs known to be effective in genetically similar diseases for efficacy in PSC.

The next step for the team is to do a high-powered search throughout the entire genomes of PSC patients to find specific regions associated with PSC outside of the regions included on the Immunochip genotyping chip.

?This study has uncovered more about the genetics underlying PSC than any before it, but this is only the first step? says Dr Tom Hemming Karlsen, lead author from Oslo University Hospital, Norway. ?We hope the ongoing scientific and clinical research being conducted through the International PSC study group will help improve the outlook for those currently suffering at the hands of this disease?

?Our study, which is the largest of its type for PSC, would not have been possible without the help of the patients with this rare disorder,? adds Dr Hemming Karlsen.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Jimmy Z Liu, Johannes Roksund Hov, Trine Folseraas, Eva Ellinghaus, Simon M Rushbrook, Nadezhda T Doncheva, Ole A Andreassen, Rinse K Weersma, Tobias J Weism?ller, Bertus Eksteen, Pietro Invernizzi, Gideon M Hirschfield, Daniel Nils Gotthardt, Albert Pares, David Ellinghaus, Tejas Shah, Brian D Juran, Piotr Milkiewicz, Christian Rust, Christoph Schramm, Tobias M?ller, Brijesh Srivastava, Georgios Dalekos, Markus M N?then, Stefan Herms, Juliane Winkelmann, Mitja Mitrovic, Felix Braun, Cyriel Y Ponsioen, Peter J P Croucher, Martina Sterneck, Andreas Teufel, Andrew L Mason, Janna Saarela, Virpi Leppa, Ruslan Dorfman, Domenico Alvaro, Annarosa Floreani, Suna Onengut-Gumuscu, Stephen S Rich, Wesley K Thompson, Andrew J Schork, Sigrid N?ss, Ingo Thomsen, Gabriele Mayr, Inke R K?nig, Kristian Hveem, Isabelle Cleynen, Javier Gutierrez-Achury, Isis Rica?o-Ponce, David van Heel, Einar Bj?rnsson, Richard N Sandford, Peter R Durie, Espen Melum, Morten H Vatn, Mark S Silverberg, Richard H Duerr, Leonid Padyukov, Stephan Brand, Miquel Sans, Vito Annese, Jean-Paul Achkar, Kirsten Muri Boberg, Hanns-Ulrich Marschall, Olivier Chazouill?res, Christopher L Bowlus, Cisca Wijmenga, Erik Schrumpf, Severine Vermeire, Mario Albrecht, John D Rioux, Graeme Alexander, Annika Bergquist, Judy Cho, Stefan Schreiber, Michael P Manns, Martti F?rkkil?, Anders M Dale, Roger W Chapman, Konstantinos N Lazaridis, Andre Franke, Carl A Anderson, Tom H Karlsen. Dense genotyping of immune-related disease regions identifies nine new risk loci for primary sclerosing cholangitis. Nature Genetics, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/ng.2616

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Eq8ub1bLGf0/130421152410.htm

Carnival Triumph charles barkley valentines valentines day George Ferris happy valentines day all star game

Most Beautiful Items: April 13-April 19, 2013

Safe to say we all need a little escape at the end of this crazy week. So rest your weary eyes on some architecture and design in the most beautiful items we found this week. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/t2waewz4waI/most-beautiful-items-april-13+april-19-2013

Super Bowl Ads 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Superbowl Start Time Jim Harbaugh Who Won The Superbowl Super Bowl Halftime Show 2013 Super Bowl Commercials 2013