NEW YORK (AP) — October, with its history of big crashes on Wall Street, didn't scare off investors this time. To the contrary, the stock market seemed unstoppable.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index closed at a record high seven times and ended the month up 4.5 percent. The market climbed even after October began with the 16-day government shutdown and the threat of a potentially calamitous U.S. default.
"The market didn't waver in the face of the shutdown," said Anton Bayer, CEO of Up Capital Management, an investment adviser. "That was huge."
After being rattled by a series of down-to-the-wire budget battles in recent years, investors have become inured to the ways of Washington lawmakers. Instead of selling stocks, they kept their focus on what they say really matters: the Federal Reserve.
The central bank is buying $85 billion of bonds every month and keeping its benchmark short-term interest rate near zero to promote economic growth. The Fed stimulus has helped generate a stock market rally that has been going on since March 2009.
With October's gains, the S&P 500 is now up 23.2 percent for the year and is on track for its best year since 2009. The Dow Jones industrial average is 18.6 percent higher, and the Nasdaq composite index is up 29.8 percent.
The S&P 500 has climbed 160 percent since bottoming out at 676.53 in March 2009 during the Great Recession.
Some analysts say the precipitous rise in stocks may now make the market vulnerable to a drop.
"Because stocks have gone up so much, people will get nervous about another big sell-off at some stage," said David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan funds.
Some investors will be relieved to see October behind them. The Stock Trader's Almanac refers to October as "the jinx month" because of its fraught history.
The Dow lost 40 points on Oct. 28, 1929, a day that became known as Black Monday and heralded the start of the Depression. Almost 60 years later, on Oct. 19, 1987, the Dow suffered its biggest percentage loss, plunging nearly 23 percent in the second Black Monday. The index also plummeted 13 percent on Oct. 27, 1997.
There was no such drama on Wall Street on Thursday. Stocks were mostly flat as investors took in disappointing corporate earnings.
The S&P 500 slipped 6.77 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,756.54. The Dow dropped 73.01 points, or 0.5 percent, to 15,545. The Nasdaq composite fell 10.91 points, or 0.3 percent, to 3,919.71.
Avon slumped $4.90, or 21.9 percent, to $17.50 after the beauty products company reported a third-quarter loss, reflecting lower sales and China-related charges. The company also said the Securities and Exchange Commission is proposing a much larger penalty than it expected to settle bribery allegations.
Visa fell $7.15, or 3.5 percent, to $196.67. Its quarterly profits fell 28 percent as it set aside money for taxes. Visa also expects a slow recovery for the economy.
Overall, company earnings are beating the expectations of Wall Street analysts and lifting stock prices. Companies are benefiting from low borrowing costs and stable labor expenses, which are enabling them to boost earnings even as sales remain slack.
Earnings for companies in the S&P 500 are expected to grow 5.3 percent in the third quarter, according to data from S&P Capital IQ. That compares with 4.9 percent in the second quarter, and 2.4 percent in the same period a year ago.
The stock market is likely to keep climbing as long as the central bank keeps up its stimulus, said Up Capital's Bayer. But stocks could fall as much as 20 percent when the Fed starts to cut back on its bond-buying program, he said.
October 31, 2013 It's Halloween! Watch a Tiny Desk Concert featuring Neko Case (in costume), Kelly Hogan, as well as Eric Bachmann of Crooked Fingers and Archers of Loaf.
Set List
"Night Still Comes"
"Calling Cards"
"Local Girl"
Credits
Producers: Bob Boilen, Denise DeBelius; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Videographers: Denise DeBelius, Becky Harlan, Abbey Oldham; photo by Meredith Rizzo/NPR
For the more visually minded folks, Google's whipped up a video with Android's Nick Butcher, Adam Koch and Roman Nurik discussing some of the new design elements in Android 4.4 KitKat. Have at it, after the break!
Television cameras were allowed for the first time in one of Britain's highest courts Thursday after a partial lifting of a nearly 90-year ban on filming in courts. The landmark shift comes after years of campaigning from broadcasters such as the BBC, Sky News and ITN.
James Harding, the BBC's director of news, said broadcasting proceedings at the Court of Appeal will help viewers understand how the justice system works. In the first broadcast case, a man lost his appeal of a 7-year sentence for counterfeiting.
Lawyers' arguments, judges' comments and sentencing remarks may be filmed, but victims, witnesses and defendants may not.
Some cases will be broadcast with a 70-second delay.
Bond v. United States is testing whether Congress can use treaty laws to punish domestic criminal behavior.
Photo by NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images
It’s the Supreme Court case that sounds like a Lifetime movie: When Carol Bond found out that her husband was having an affair with her best friend, Myrlinda Haynes—and that Haynes was pregnant—Bond, a microbiologist who lived in the Philadelphia suburbs, put toxic chemicals on Haynes’ mailbox and her car. She got caught—and was indicted under a federal statute that makes it illegal to use toxic chemicals to harm other people. Congress had passed that statute to implement the U.S. government’s obligations under the Chemical Weapons Convention, the same treaty that Syria was recently forced to sign.
Next Tuesday, Bond’s lawyers will try to persuade the Supreme Court that Congress can’t use the chemical weapons treaty as an excuse for punishing run-of-the-mill criminal behavior. This superficially appealing argument is beloved by libertarians, who have dashed to Bond’s aid, but it depends on a bizarre and tendentious reading of the Constitution that honors neither the founders’ intentions nor the practicalities of governance.
The Constitution gives Congress limited (“enumerated”) powers, which are thought mostly to exclude the ordinary stuff of criminal law like the dispute Bond was involved in. Normally, we think that if we need a law that prohibits people from attacking each other with toxic chemicals, the states, not the national government, should pass it.
And it’s true that the law that nailed Bond derives its authority circuitously. Congress enjoys the power under the Constitution’s catchall Necessary and Proper Clause to enact laws that are needed to advance other powers in the Constitution. One of those other powers is the president’s power to enter treaties with the consent of two-thirds of the Senate. Thus, the government argues, the federal law that criminalizes the harmful use of chemical weapons, privately as well as by governments and terrorists, was necessary and proper to implement the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Bond’s argument is that the president and the Senate cannot, by entering a treaty, give Congress a power that it otherwise does not have. Such a reading of the Constitution crowds out the states’ police powers and gives too much sway to Congress.
This case is a strange vehicle for examining this constitutional question. True, the feds took over the case from state authorities, but that was because Constable Dogberry of the local police thought that the toxic chemical Bond smeared on Haynes’ car was cocaine and advised her to get it washed, not because Pennsylvania law allows people to assault each other with toxic chemicals. The federal law enabled the federal government to step in—the U.S. Postal Service did surveillance and caught Bond—and to punish Bond for acts that were illegal under Pennsylvania law as well.
But libertarian critics of national government power, like the Cato Institute, which submitted an amicus brief, worry that if Bond loses this case, the United States could enter a treaty with Suriname or Lesotho to abolish the death penalty or home schooling. Then Congress could pass an implementing statute that shreds state laws on the death penalty and home schooling, which (according to the libertarians) Congress is otherwise not allowed to do.
You might wonder why Suriname or Lesotho, or the United States, would enter such a treaty. And it is most doubtful that they would. Bond v. United States has become an ideological dispute, based, as such disputes so often are, on the merely theoretical possibility that the government will abuse its powers.
Cato’s brief is rooted in a literal-minded reading of the text of the Constitution. The Treaty Clause says that the president has the power to make treaties with the consent of the Senate. The necessary and proper clause says that Congress has the power to pass laws that are necessary and proper to the exercise of other powers in the Constitution. Cato concludes that therefore Congress has the power to pass laws that are necessary and proper to the making of treaties. But it doesn’t have the power to pass laws that are necessary and proper to the implementing of the treaties, because there is no separately enumerated constitutional power for implementing. And so, according to Cato, Congress can pass laws to implement treaties only if it can rely on a source of power rooted elsewhere in the Constitution. It has no such power to criminalize the domestic use of chemicals as weapons.
One can respond to this argument by observing that Congress can rely on its old broadly interpreted friend, the power to regulate interstate commerce. But libertarians object to the broad interpretation of Congress’ powers here as well. And in the Bond case, the government didn’t make this argument in the lower courts. One can also respond by arguing that “make” has a broader meaning than Cato claims, as another amicus brief gamely does.
When Bre Pettis unveiled MakerBot's Digitizer, you couldn't wipe the smile off his face. And, upon opening our own unit, it's easy to understand why. When you lift the plastic unit, swaddled in black foam, out of its cardboard box, you feel like you're stepping into the future. 3D scanning isn't ...
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Joe Biden and senior Obama administration officials convinced a number of senators on Thursday to hold off on another round of Iran sanctions as Western powers test Tehran's willingness to scale back its nuclear aims.
The full-court press didn't sway every senator who participated in the hours-long, closed-door briefing, but the chances that the Senate Banking Committee would draft new, punitive measures next week just as negotiations occurred in Geneva diminished significantly.
"As one member of the committee, my attitude is if something is going on that may lead to a positive result, let's see where that ends up," said Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., as he emerged from the session. "We can always pass a sanctions bill."
Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., said the administration was "making a good case" for delaying another round of penalties although he said he had not made a decision.
Joining Biden in the discussions with Democratic leadership and committee members were Secretary of State John Kerry and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, a lineup that underscored the administration's strong desire to get Congress to wait on a new package of penalties. Although the White House insists that tough sanctions have forced Iran to negotiate, it wants Congress to pause to give negotiators flexibility in talks with Iran.
"I like John Kerry, I got a lot of trust in John Kerry," said Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who explained that it might make sense for the committee to wait, finalize any legislation "and let them (the administration and Western powers) do their negotiations."
Unnerving for the administration is the prospect that a Senate panel would be crafting new sanctions at the same time as Iran and six world powers meet in Geneva next week for another round of negotiations.
The chairman of the Banking committee, Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said he was undecided on whether the panel would craft the bill next week. Republican and Democratic congressional aides indicated that it was unlikely on the same days as the international talks.
Western powers have been trying to determine Iran's seriousness in complying with demands it prove its nuclear program is peaceful since reformist President Hassan Rouhani took office in August. Both sides described their last round of negotiations as positive, with Tehran ready to discuss some curbs on programs that can create both atomic energy and the fissile core of nuclear arms.
Several lawmakers emerging from the session argued that this is no time to let up on Tehran.
"I have to hear something far more substantive to dissuade me from being an advocate for pursuing a new round of sanctions," said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee who has repeatedly sponsored tough sanctions legislation.
Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois, who has often partnered with Menendez, said his response to the administration's intense lobbying was to keep pushing for sanctions, dismissing the latest talks with Tehran as "a long rope a dope."
"I think we need to keep rolling with the pressure," Kirk said. "Without sanctions, you have war. Sanctions are the only way to prevent a war. I don't want to condemn our allies and Israel to a war."
The Banking Committee is weighing a bill that would blacklist Iran's mining and construction sectors. It largely mirrors a House measure that passed overwhelmingly by a 400-20 vote in July. That bill also called for all Iranian oil sales to end by 2015.
The Senate bill may narrow that time frame, block international investment in more economic sectors, try to close off Iran's foreign accounts and tighten President Barack Obama's ability to waive requirements for allies and key trading partners who continue to do business with Iran.
The powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which has considerable sway in Congress, favors more sanctions to stop Iran.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Obama is not seeking an open-ended delay to new sanctions and believes there may come a point where additional economic penalties against Iran are necessary. Kerry told senators that the president wants to keep the current sanctions regime in place while negotiating with Iran.
Even if the administration succeeds in convincing Democratic leaders and Johnson to delay a vote, Kirk said he would try to attach new sanctions to the annual defense policy bill that the Senate could consider as early as the week of Nov. 12.
"I would look for every opportunity as a senator," he said.
The mayor of Seattle has alleged that Comcast donated significant sums to his rival ahead of the November 5 election. The money could have been donated, perhaps, in hopes of scuttling the planned public-private broadband initiative in the city that could introduce new inexpensive, and fast competitive service.
In response to a question during a Reddit AMA asking what would happen to the effort – which will likely be executed with a private firm by the name of Gigabit Squared — Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn said, ”I don’t know, but I do know Comcast gave [rival candidate] Murray a big pile of money.”
That’s a stark implication. The Washington Post reported on the situation, intimating as well that Comcast could be taking a financial interest in the outcome of the election, and therefore is donating to prevent its competitive landscape from becoming steeper.
Let’s be frank: Comcast wants less competition not more, as do all corporations. It also makes political donations, as do nearly all public companies. It also donates to specific candidates, over time, because it finds the views of those candidates more palatable to its interests and perhaps in hopes of swaying them slightly during their time in elected office.
That is simple politics. If any of that surprises you, you are a bit behind.
Comcast has donated to McGinn’s rival Ed Murray in the past through his tenure as a State Senator. So, the relationship is extant. This election cycle, Comcast has made a direct $700 donation to his campaign, and a Comcast executive named Janet Turpen also donated $500.
That sort of company-executive donation is not abnormal. For example, Yahoo and one of its executives have also donated to Murray’s mayoral electoral bid this cycle. No one is accusing Yahoo of attempting to buy a vote. Now, the Post goes on to list the following larger and less public donations by Comcast to groups that have put money behind Murray:
The Broadband Communications Association of Washington PAC, which received 94 percent of its 2013 contributions from Comcast, donated $5,000 to the group People for Ed Murray less than a month after Gigabit Squared’s pricing announcement. That was the PAC’s largest single donation. Unsurprisingly, People for Ed Murray has made significant expenditures supporting Murray’s candidacy. The Web site of the Broadband Communications Association of Washington also lists Janet Turpen as president-elect.
Comcast also donated $5,000 to the PAC called the “Civic Alliance for a Sound Economy,” or CASE, whose largest expenditures were donations to People for Ed Murray, to the tune of $52,500 — over half of the money spent by the group according to the most recent disclosures online. Their second largest expenditures was $10,000 to People for a New Seattle Mayor, a group opposing McGinn’s reelection.
So, $10,000. That’s hardly big money. Perhaps $10,000 speaks more loudly than what is normal in a mayoral election, but the sums here are not out of hand.
Comcast, in a statement provided to the Post, denied that it is trying to buy the election or unduly influence it. Which is what you would expect the company to say, of course. As a firm it is spending to have an impact. You don’t spend money for no reason, of course. Comcast is supporting Murray because it favors him over McGinn. And given that McGinn has worked on creating a competitor to Comcast, that is hardly surprising.
Still, what we lack in all of this a simple answer: Does Murray favor scrapping the public-private broadband pilot, and later the full project? That is not clear. The Post says this:
The [Murray] spokesman also committed that, if elected, Murray would honor the current agreements between Gigabit Squared and the city, “but he will also makes sure that the City monitors the company’s performance to ensure that they are delivering the promised results as the project moves forward.” In other words, the limited pilot project would likely go forward in a Murray administration, but there’s more of a question about whether the rest of Seattle would be offered gigabit service via a private-public partnership.
That strikes me as a bit weak. Could it be that Murray is less enthusiastic about the broadband initiative than McGinn? Sure. It’s not his project after all. But the intimation that Comcast is trying to shift the election perhaps to dodge this specific bit of competition feels like perhaps sensible speculation, but speculation all the same.
Murray can lay this all to rest by simply stating that he is committed to the project — if he is, of course. Simple speech is the best response to innuendo.
"The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff," said Dr. Sagan. Pumpkin pies too.
You're probably used to hearing about drones as these scary, deadly things causing chaos in Pakistan, but the scientific community is actually pretty pumped up about the technology. Why wouldn't they be? Drones can makes 3D maps of mountains.
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked a judge's ruling that found the New York Police Department's stop-and-frisk policy discriminated against minorities, and it took the unusual step of removing her from the case, saying interviews she gave during the trial called her impartiality into question.
The city applauded the appeals court's decision. Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who was shouted down over the tactic by students during a speech at Brown University this week, said he was pleased by it.
"This is indeed an important decision for all New Yorkers and for the men and women of the New York City police department who work very hard day in and day out to keep this city safe," he said.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the ruling by U.S. District Judge Shira A. Scheindlin will be on hold pending the outcome of an appeal by the city. But it may be a nonissue after next week's mayoral election: Democrat Bill de Blasio, who's leading in polls, has said he would drop objections to the ruling, which calls for major changes to the police tactic.
The judge decided in August the city violated the civil rights of tens of thousands of blacks and Hispanics by disproportionally stopping, questioning and sometimes frisking them. She assigned a monitor to help the police department change its policy and training programs on the tactic.
The three-judge panel heard arguments Tuesday on whether to put the ruling on temporary hold while the city appeals the judge's decision. It did not change the deadline for the appeal and said it expected arguments in March, well after the new mayor takes office.
The panel said Scheindlin needed to be removed because she ran afoul of the code of conduct for U.S. judges by misapplying a ruling that allowed her to take the case and by giving media interviews during the trial.
Scheindlin said in a statement later Thursday she consented to the interviews under the condition she wouldn't comment on the ongoing case.
"And I did not," she said.
She said some reporters used quotes from written opinions that gave the appearance she had commented on the case but "a careful reading of each interview will reveal that no such comments were made."
She defended her decision to direct the plaintiffs to bring the case to her, saying she took the most recent case because it was related to a previous case she heard.
The 2nd Circuit said a new judge would be assigned randomly and will deal with any further rulings. It's possible the new judge could order a fresh set of reforms or review the trial testimony and decide the city didn't violate people's civil rights, but it would be highly unusual.
Stop-and-frisk has been around for decades, but recorded stops increased dramatically under Mayor Michael Bloomberg's administration to an all-time high in 2011 of 684,330, mostly of black and Hispanic men. A lawsuit was filed in 2004 by four minority men, who said they were targeted because of their races, and it became a class action case.
To make a stop, police must have reasonable suspicion that a crime is about to occur or has occurred, a standard lower than the probable cause needed to justify an arrest. Only about 10 percent of the stops result in arrests or summonses, and weapons are found about 2 percent of the time.
Scheindlin heard a bench trial that ended in the spring and coincided with a groundswell of backlash against the stop-and-frisk tactic, which became a mayoral race flashpoint. She noted in her ruling this summer that she wasn't putting an end to the practice, which is constitutional, but was reforming the way the NYPD implemented its stops.
The Center for Constitutional Rights, which represented the four men who sued, said it was dismayed that the appeals court delayed "the long-overdue process to remedy" the NYPD's stop-and-frisk practices and was shocked that it "cast aspersions" on the judge's professional conduct and reassigned the case.
De Blasio, the city's public advocate, said he was "extremely disappointed" in Thursday's decision.
"We have to end the overuse of stop and frisk — and any delay only means a continued and unnecessary rift between our police and the people they protect," he said in a statement.
His Republican challenger, Joe Lhota, a deputy under former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, praised it.
"The next mayor absolutely must continue this appeal," he said.
___
Associated Press writer Jake Pearson contributed to this report.
What do you call a political promise delivered repeatedly and emphatically only to be broken deliberately? David Firestone, an editorialist at the New York Times, calls it an "unfortunate blanket statement." We suppose another example of an unfortunate blanket statement was "I am not a crook."
Microbleeds important to consider in brain-related treatments, UCI neurologist says
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Tom Vasich tmvasich@uci.edu 949-824-6455 University of California - Irvine
Stroke prevention strategies should address both blood clotting, protection of vessels
Irvine, Calif., Oct. 31, 2013 As growing numbers of America's baby boomers reach retirement, neuroscientists are expanding their efforts to understand and treat one of the leading health issues affecting this population: age-related neurological deterioration, including stroke and dementia.
One factor coming under increased study is cerebral microbleeds, experienced by nearly 20 percent of people by age 60 and nearly 40 percent by age 80. Research into these small areas of brain bleeding, caused by a breakdown of miniscule blood vessels, is shedding light on how the condition may contribute to these neurological changes.
With microbleeds common in older individuals, physicians need to take it into consideration when treating other brain-related issues, said Dr. Mark Fisher, professor of neurology, anatomy & neurobiology, and pathology & laboratory medicine at UC Irvine. This is especially important with stroke prevention measures, which often involve medications that interfere with blood clotting and could exacerbate microbleeds. Stroke risk escalates with age, especially after 55, making stroke one of the leading causes of disability and death in the elderly.
In two current papers published online in Frontiers in Neurology and Stroke, Fisher writes about the brain's intricate system to protect itself against hemorrhaging. This system seems to break down as we get older, resulting in microbleeds that develop spontaneously and become increasingly common with aging.
"The next step in stroke prevention will require that we address both blood clotting and protection of the blood vessels," he said. "This seems to be the best way to reduce the risk of microbleeds when it's necessary to limit blood clotting for stroke prevention."
In his Stroke article, Fisher describes how newer medications interfere with blood clotting (to protect against stroke) while at the same time protecting the blood vessel wall (to help prevent bleeding). And in Frontiers in Neurology, he suggests that MRI screening be used more strategically to identify patients with microbleeds, allowing their physicians to adjust treatments accordingly.
"With the prevalence of microbleeds, it's important that we better understand this neurological factor as we develop and proceed with brain-related treatments for the elderly," Fisher said. "Identifying and controlling microbleeds may be an important step in a therapeutic approach to maximize brain health during the process of aging. This is a critical issue requiring further study."
###
His work is supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant NS 20989).
About the University of California, Irvine: Located in coastal Orange County, near a thriving employment hub in one of the nation's safest cities, UC Irvine was founded in 1965. One of only 62 members of the Association of American Universities, it's ranked first among U.S. universities under 50 years old by the London-based Times Higher Education. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UC Irvine has more than 28,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. It's Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $4.3 billion annually to the local economy.
Media access: UC Irvine maintains an online directory of faculty available as experts to the media at today.uci.edu/resources/experts.php. Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UC Irvine faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UC Irvine news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.
NOTE TO EDITORS: Photo available at
http://news.uci.edu/press-releases/microbleeds-important-to-consider-in-brain-related-treatments-uci-neurologist-says/
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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.
Microbleeds important to consider in brain-related treatments, UCI neurologist says
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
[
| E-mail
]
Share
Contact: Tom Vasich tmvasich@uci.edu 949-824-6455 University of California - Irvine
Stroke prevention strategies should address both blood clotting, protection of vessels
Irvine, Calif., Oct. 31, 2013 As growing numbers of America's baby boomers reach retirement, neuroscientists are expanding their efforts to understand and treat one of the leading health issues affecting this population: age-related neurological deterioration, including stroke and dementia.
One factor coming under increased study is cerebral microbleeds, experienced by nearly 20 percent of people by age 60 and nearly 40 percent by age 80. Research into these small areas of brain bleeding, caused by a breakdown of miniscule blood vessels, is shedding light on how the condition may contribute to these neurological changes.
With microbleeds common in older individuals, physicians need to take it into consideration when treating other brain-related issues, said Dr. Mark Fisher, professor of neurology, anatomy & neurobiology, and pathology & laboratory medicine at UC Irvine. This is especially important with stroke prevention measures, which often involve medications that interfere with blood clotting and could exacerbate microbleeds. Stroke risk escalates with age, especially after 55, making stroke one of the leading causes of disability and death in the elderly.
In two current papers published online in Frontiers in Neurology and Stroke, Fisher writes about the brain's intricate system to protect itself against hemorrhaging. This system seems to break down as we get older, resulting in microbleeds that develop spontaneously and become increasingly common with aging.
"The next step in stroke prevention will require that we address both blood clotting and protection of the blood vessels," he said. "This seems to be the best way to reduce the risk of microbleeds when it's necessary to limit blood clotting for stroke prevention."
In his Stroke article, Fisher describes how newer medications interfere with blood clotting (to protect against stroke) while at the same time protecting the blood vessel wall (to help prevent bleeding). And in Frontiers in Neurology, he suggests that MRI screening be used more strategically to identify patients with microbleeds, allowing their physicians to adjust treatments accordingly.
"With the prevalence of microbleeds, it's important that we better understand this neurological factor as we develop and proceed with brain-related treatments for the elderly," Fisher said. "Identifying and controlling microbleeds may be an important step in a therapeutic approach to maximize brain health during the process of aging. This is a critical issue requiring further study."
###
His work is supported by the National Institutes of Health (grant NS 20989).
About the University of California, Irvine: Located in coastal Orange County, near a thriving employment hub in one of the nation's safest cities, UC Irvine was founded in 1965. One of only 62 members of the Association of American Universities, it's ranked first among U.S. universities under 50 years old by the London-based Times Higher Education. The campus has produced three Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Michael Drake since 2005, UC Irvine has more than 28,000 students and offers 192 degree programs. It's Orange County's second-largest employer, contributing $4.3 billion annually to the local economy.
Media access: UC Irvine maintains an online directory of faculty available as experts to the media at today.uci.edu/resources/experts.php. Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus ISDN line to interview UC Irvine faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UC Irvine news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at communications.uci.edu/for-journalists.
NOTE TO EDITORS: Photo available at
http://news.uci.edu/press-releases/microbleeds-important-to-consider-in-brain-related-treatments-uci-neurologist-says/
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Share
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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.
When Bre Pettis unveiled MakerBot's Digitizer, you couldn't wipe the smile off his face. And, upon opening our own unit, it's easy to understand why. When you lift the plastic unit, swaddled in black foam, out of its cardboard box, you feel like you're stepping into the future. 3D scanning isn't ...
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