Monday, August 25, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Syria welcomes U.S. strikes against ISIS there, with conditions
By GEORGE BAGHDADI CBS NEWS August 25, 2014, 8:05 AM

Syria's foreign minister said on Monday his country welcomed any potential military strikes by by the U.S. in Syria targeting the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria's terrorist bases, but warned that the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad should be warned first.

The Assad regime is mired in a three-year-old civil war, and has been losing ground to Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) militants.

"Syria is ready to cooperate and coordinate with regional and international efforts to combat terror in accordance with U.N. resolutions and respect of Syrian sovereignty," Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told a press conference in Damascus.

"Everyone is welcome, including Britain and the United States, to take action against ISIS and Nusra with a prior full coordination with the Syrian government," al-Moallem continued.

The foreign minister warned that any action taken without direct agreement from Damascus would be an "aggression" against Syrian territory and that Syria would not stay idle.

The Obama administration has been hinting about Syrian intervention since ISIS carried out what American officials called its first "terrorist attack" against the U.S., referring to the killing of American journalist James Foley. On Sunday, Joint Chiefs chair Martin Dempsey indicated the Pentagon was ready for a broader intervention against the militant group if they threaten the U.S. Homeland.

During his press conference, al-Moallem said the alleged failed rescue mission for Foley inside Syria that was revealed after his death.

"I can assure you that had there been a coordination between the U.S. administration and the Syrian government, the reported rescue operation by Washington wouldn't have failed," said the 73-year-old veteran diplomat, denouncing in "strongest terms" the killing of the U.S. journalist and welcoming the release of the other.

The United States has avoided a military entanglement in the Syrian civil war for more than three years, despite the death toll there rising to almost 200,000.

However ISIS, with its safe haven largely in Syrian territory, now poses a threat the White House cannot ignore.

The U.S. has already begun airstrikes on ISIS in Iraq, but intervening in Syria would be a completely different situation as the U.S. has denounced the Assad government.

The legality of striking Syria is also debatable. Iraqi and Kurdish forces asked for U.S. intervention to deal with ISIS, but the Syrian government has not done so.

The Western-backed opposition, which oversees the Free Syrian Army, has, however, urged the United States and other allies to stop the ISIS advance amid what they say a shortage of rebel fighters and ammunition.

ISIS, which controls large parts of Syria's northern territory, sent its fighters into neighboring Iraq in June and quickly seized large swaths of territory straddling the border between the two countries.

"As we are the sons of this region, we know better when and where a strike would be useful," al-Moallem said, adding it is also important to dry up the funding and support to the terrorist group.

Al-Moallem vowed however his country would keep the fight until defeat of terror, a term the Syrian government has used to refer to Islamic extremists and moderate rebels alike.

The remark comes a week after the army, backed by pro-regime paramilitary troops and Lebanon's Shiite Hizbollah movement, reclaimed a strategic district in the countryside of Damascus, after a suffocating siege on rebels that lasted more than a year.




"'Syria is ready to cooperate and coordinate with regional and international efforts to combat terror in accordance with U.N. resolutions and respect of Syrian sovereignty,' Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem told a press conference in Damascus. 'Everyone is welcome, including Britain and the United States, to take action against ISIS and Nusra with a prior full coordination with the Syrian government,' al-Moallem continued.... The Western-backed opposition, which oversees the Free Syrian Army, has, however, urged the United States and other allies to stop the ISIS advance amid what they say a shortage of rebel fighters and ammunition.... 'As we are the sons of this region, we know better when and where a strike would be useful,' al-Moallem said, adding it is also important to dry up the funding and support to the terrorist group.”

Syria's Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem has stated that if the US had coordinated its attempt to rescue our hostages with the Syrian government, the attempt would not have failed. Syria has made clear that US bombing must be made in cooperation with the government or it will be considered a hostile attack on Syria. Having said that, they are grateful for the help of Britain and the US against ISIS, which has conquered a large amount of Syrian territory. I'm glad to hear that, because I do feel that ISIS must be defeated, and we need to go into Syria to do that, where ISIS has set up its base of operations. I expect Obama will announce air strikes within Syria within the next days or weeks.




Is it time to rethink U.S. policy toward hostage negotiations?
By REBECCA KAPLAN CBS NEWS August 25, 2014, 6:00 AM

Less than a week after journalist James Foley was killed by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the news broke that Peter Theo Curtis, another reporter who had been held by an al-Qaeda offshoot in Syria since 2012, had been released.

Curtis was held by the Jabhat al-Nusra front in Syria, an al Qaeda-backed jihadist group, and his release was negotiated by the Qatari government, though it's not known exactly what the group's demands were nor whether any of their demands were met.

In the case of James Foley, ISIS attempted to extort more than $130 million in exchange for Foley's release. Denied, they beheaded him as apparent punishment for U.S. airstrikes against the militant group.

Curtis' mother Nancy asserted that a ransom wasn't involved in the release of her son, saying in a statement circulated by the White House: "While the family is not privy to the exact terms that were negotiated, we were repeatedly told by representatives of the Qatari government that they were mediating for Theo's release on a humanitarian basis without the payment of money."

White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz added that "we continue to hold in our thoughts and prayers the Americans who remain in captivity in Syria -- and we will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to see that the remaining American hostages are freed."

Whether those tools will ever include paying ransom is increasingly up for debate, but former U.S. officials say now is not the time to rethink the nation's policy toward hostages taken by terrorist groups abroad.

"The U.S. policy of not paying ransom to kidnappers is longstanding and it is sound. It would be a mistake of strategic proportions to change that policy," said Michael Morell, the former deputy director of the CIA and a CBS News national security analyst. "If we were to do so, many more Americans would be kidnapped...and we would be become an ATM for militant groups around the world."

Morell noted that many more Europeans than Americans are kidnapped abroad, a likely result of the fact that some European governments will quietly arrange to pay the hefty ransoms demanded for the hostages' release.

A New York Times investigation published last month found that al Qaeda and its affiliates had brought in at least $125 million through ransom payments since 2008, including $66 million in 2013. That money came largely from European governments.

Meanwhile, much of ISIS' funding is coming from extortion and "multiple kidnappings for ransom," a counterterrorism source told CBS News.

Echoing Morell, former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey told CBS News that practice "inspires [ISIS] to take more hostages."

"They relish in their ability to negotiate with us," he said. "It makes them look like heroes throughout the Middle East.

But it can be a hard argument to swallow when a large cash payment might have saved someone's life. In an interview with Yahoo News, Foley's brother, Michael, said that "more could have been done directly on Jim's behalf."

"I really, really hope that Jim's death pushes us to take another look at our approach to terrorist and hostage negotiation," he said.

Gary Noesner, the FBI's former chief hostage negotiator, told CBS News Correspondent Holly Williams last week that prisoner swaps or humanitarian aid payments could sometimes be effective to secure a hostage's release.

"It's not a one-size-fits-all. And saying we won't negotiate does little to help resolve the situation, and it does even less to prevent Americans or others from being grabbed," he said.

But Jeffrey said that any policy which leads terrorist groups to believe they have leverage could be dangerous, in part because hostages can often be killed as they are being captured. The policy exists to protect the maximum number of American citizens, he said.

Additionally, "there is the moral slippery slope" if the U.S. decides to negotiate with a group like ISIS.

"What a terrorist organization wants to do is essentially destroy your or my world...force us to make a stark choice, join them or die, while at the same time not paying the price of total condemnation and total rejection that that kind of ideology deserves," he said

ISIS is also one of the most extreme terror groups the U.S. has faced in a while - too dangerous even for al Qaeda, which disavowed the group because it felt it could not control it. It's "hard to imagine" being able to strike a deal with them, Jeffrey said, noting that the U.S. had much more success in securing the release of people taken by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"I really have to underline the problems of humanizing inhuman monsters by negotiating with them on these things," he said.

He is even skeptical of the strategy of using intermediaries like Qatar, which he said likely intervened in Curtis' case in an attempt to prevent Jabhat al-Nusra from being considered as extreme as ISIS.

If the U.S. played a behind-the-scenes role in the release and it becomes public, Jeffrey said, "it's essentially almost as bad as if we were doing it ourselves."

U.S. officials have not yet revealed what role they played in driving the Qataris to secure Curtis' release. But Secretary of State John Kerry hinted that they might have encouraged it.

"Over these last two years, the United States reached out to more than two dozen countries asking for urgent help from anyone who might have tools, influence, or leverage to help secure Theo's release and the release of any Americans held hostage in Syria," he said.




“Curtis' mother Nancy asserted that a ransom wasn't involved in the release of her son, saying in a statement circulated by the White House: 'While the family is not privy to the exact terms that were negotiated, we were repeatedly told by representatives of the Qatari government that they were mediating for Theo's release on a humanitarian basis without the payment of money.'.White House deputy press secretary Eric Schultz added that "we continue to hold in our thoughts and prayers the Americans who remain in captivity in Syria -- and we will continue to use all of the tools at our disposal to see that the remaining American hostages are freed." ….'The U.S. policy of not paying ransom to kidnappers is longstanding and it is sound. It would be a mistake of strategic proportions to change that policy,' said Michael Morell, the former deputy director of the CIA and a CBS News national security analyst. 'If we were to do so, many more Americans would be kidnapped...and we would be become an ATM for militant groups around the world.'.... U.S. officials have not yet revealed what role they played in driving the Qataris to secure Curtis' release. But Secretary of State John Kerry hinted that they might have encouraged it. 'Over these last two years, the United States reached out to more than two dozen countries asking for urgent help from anyone who might have tools, influence, or leverage to help secure Theo's release and the release of any Americans held hostage in Syria,' he said.”

Qatar had reasons of its own for intervening with Curtis, “'in an attempt to prevent Jabhat al-Nusra from being considered as extreme as ISIS.” However Kerry acknowledged that the US contacted a large number of countries for help. There is no information on what the US has used to convince them to help, however Gary Noesner of the FBI stated, 'prisoner swaps or humanitarian aid payments could sometimes be effective...'” International relations is a very complicated thing, and if they got him out without paying ransom, I think it's great. I do see the logic behind refusing to pay cash for a hostage's release.




Experimental warning system gave 10-second alert before California earthquake
CBS NEWS August 24, 2014, 5:05 PM

An early warning system designed to detect coming earthquakes worked successfully prior to the Bay Area earthquake Sunday morning, giving seismologists a 10-second advanced alert prior to the 6.0 temblor.

Richard Allen, director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory told CBS San Francisco that the experimental warning setup is now only in the demonstration phase, pushing out information to only a few test users, but it detected the earthquake in the early morning hours and at Allen's lab a warning came through.

 "By getting 10 seconds of warning, individuals could take cover under sturdy tables and reduce the number of injuries from falling debris," he explained. "Also, automated systems and hazardous systems can be put into a safe mode, and so for example that's why the BART train system uses a warning system so it can slow and stop trains and reduce the likelihood of derailment during a major damaging earthquake."

It's a system that scientists intend to go statewide and it could be unveiled in the next few years, according to the Los Angeles Times. When it is finished, it could give people in Los Angeles up to 50 seconds of warning of a coming earthquake.

Allen says it won't solve California's earthquake problem, but it can help reduce the impact. The California legislature passed a measure supporting a statewide system, but it has not found the funding it needs to be completed.




“Richard Allen, director of the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory told CBS San Francisco that the experimental warning setup is now only in the demonstration phase, pushing out information to only a few test users, but it detected the earthquake in the early morning hours and at Allen's lab a warning came through.... It's a system that scientists intend to go statewide and it could be unveiled in the next few years, according to the Los Angeles Times. When it is finished, it could give people in Los Angeles up to 50 seconds of warning of a coming earthquake.... The California legislature passed a measure supporting a statewide system, but it has not found the funding it needs to be completed.”

Earthquake prediction has been studied for the last twenty or so years, and was always considered so difficult that it might be impossible. This case is not a long enough time period to be very useful, but the article says that the BART train system is already using an earthquake warning system which gives them enough time to slow and stop the trains as needed. It would be very interesting if the scientists had divulged how this new system works. It is now only “in the demonstration phase,” so hopefully when it is proven and ready for use there will be more information.





Gaza fighting rages on as hundreds of Israelis flee homes
CBS/AP August 25, 2014, 5:02 AM

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Fighting between Israel and Gaza militants raged on Monday despite claims of new cease-fire efforts as hundreds of Israelis living in communities near the coastal strip were fleeing their homes following a deadly mortar attack over the weekend.

The Israeli Defense Ministry said it is helping anxious Israelis leave homes close to the war zone in what is effectively the government's first large-scale voluntary evacuation effort in the nearly eight weeks of fighting.

There has so far been no end in sight to the war, which has already killed more than 2,100 Palestinians since the fighting erupted on July 8. On the Israeli side, 68 people have been killed, all but four of them soldiers. At least seven Palestinians were reported killed in new airstrikes Monday, and at least 60 rockets were fired from Gaza onto Israel.

The latest escalation in the conflict erupted last week after a six-day temporary truce collapsed. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said there were new efforts underway Monday to reach an extended cease-fire agreement, but neither side seemed to be easing its attacks.

While the Israeli public has widely supported Israel's campaign to halt rocket attacks out of Gaza, the government has come under criticism for its inability to stop the fire and anger has risen, especially following the death of a 4-year-old boy who was killed Friday when a Palestinian mortar landed in Nahal Oz, a kibbutz near the Gaza border.

Israel's air raid sirens and rocket-defense system are ill equipped to deal with mortar fire, which is fired from short ranges, giving little time for people to scramble for cover.

"It looks like we will not return to Nahal Oz, no way," Gila Tragerman, the mother of the Israeli boy killed in the mortar attack, told Army Radio on Monday.

Livnat Ginzbourg, a spokeswoman for Israeli communities along the Gaza border, said some 100 families were leaving their homes on Monday, following a similar number the previous day.

It is another major exodus of residents during the fighting. Many people fled last month after the discovery of Hamas tunnels that had been burrowed into Israel. Residents were encouraged to return home after Israel said it destroyed the tunnels and a preliminary truce was reached.

Ginzbourg said some families had stayed in Israeli government-funded accommodations during the recent war, but Monday's evacuation was the first time the government was coordinating and financing temporary accommodation for all families wishing to flee. She estimated that 70 to 80 percent of residents in communities closest to the Gaza border have fled, mostly families with young children.

Defense Ministry spokesman Jonathan Mosery said it was not a mandatory evacuation, but the government was assisting Israelis who live up to 3 miles from the Gaza border, paying for them to stay at youth hostels and other accommodations in areas farther away.

The need to uproot families yet again, just days before the start of the school year, has led to widespread exasperation.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the Israeli residents of the Gaza border area, saying the government would "do our utmost to help you through these difficult days" and promising an "extraordinary package of assistance for your communities."

The Israeli military said it carried out at least 16 airstrikes on Gaza early Monday, targeting a mosque it said was used to store weapons and another it said militants used as a meeting point.

The military also said that Palestinian militants from the densely populated strip fired at least 60 rockets into Israel on Monday. Three rockets were intercepted midair and the others landed in open areas.

Palestinian health officials said seven people were killed, including a 42-year woman who was killed by tank fire in northern Gaza.

The latest exchanges came a day after Netanyahu warned that the Israeli military campaign in Gaza could go into September.

Since the fighting began, Israel has launched some 5,000 airstrikes at Gaza and bombarded targets with tank and artillery fire, while Gaza militants have fired close to 4,000 rockets and mortars, according to the Israeli military.

The Gaza war stems from the abduction and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank by Hamas operatives in June, which triggered a massive Israeli arrest campaign in the West Bank, followed by an increase in rocket fire from Gaza. In an apparent revenge attack, a Palestinian youth was seized and slain in early July.

Israel first launched an air campaign July 8, then sent in ground troops nine days later. It says it is targeting sites linked to militants, including rocket launchers, command centers and weapons depots. The U.N. says about 75 percent of the Palestinians killed have been civilians.

Several rounds of indirect talks in Cairo between Israel and a Palestinian delegation that included Hamas have collapsed, along with temporary cease-fires that accompanied them.

In the West Bank Monday, hospital officials and relatives said 14-year-old Hassan Ashour died from his wounds after being shot Friday near the West Bank city of Nablus by Israeli troops clashing with rock-throwing demonstrators protesting Israel's military campaign in Gaza.





“The Israeli Defense Ministry said it is helping anxious Israelis leave homes close to the war zone in what is effectively the government's first large-scale voluntary evacuation effort in the nearly eight weeks of fighting..... The latest escalation in the conflict erupted last week after a six-day temporary truce collapsed. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said there were new efforts underway Monday to reach an extended cease-fire agreement, but neither side seemed to be easing its attacks.... Israel's air raid sirens and rocket-defense system are ill equipped to deal with mortar fire, which is fired from short ranges, giving little time for people to scramble for cover..... The Israeli military said it carried out at least 16 airstrikes on Gaza early Monday, targeting a mosque it said was used to store weapons and another it said militants used as a meeting point..... The U.N. says about 75 percent of the Palestinians killed have been civilians.”

I have never understood why Hamas persists in attacking Israel from its cities, houses and mosques. It isn't intelligent. Israel will inevitably fire rockets at those same locations, resulting in massive civilian deaths. It may show how uncaring Hamas is about its civilian supporters. I also don't understand how an organization like Hamas continues to have that support. Hamas is just wasting ammunition – very few Israelis are killed, but when Israel fires at their homes, mosques and schools there is devastation. It is all very sad, but it's all in the name of hatred, and as such feeds on itself. I really wish it would stop.


Ukraine: Russian forces enter southeast "in the guise" of rebels
CBS/AP August 25, 2014, 9:50 AM

KIEV, Ukraine -- A column of Russian tanks and armored vehicles has crossed into southeastern Ukraine, away from where most of the intense fighting has been taking place, a top Ukrainian official said Monday.

Col. Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's National Security Council, told reporters that the column of 10 tanks, two armored vehicles and two trucks crossed the border near Shcherbak and that the nearby city of Novoazovsk was shelled during the night from Russia. He said they were Russian military vehicles bearing the flags of the separatist Donetsk rebels.

"This morning there was an attempt by the Russian military in the guise of Donbass fighters to open a new area of military confrontation in the southern Donetsk region," Lysenko said, according to Reuters.

In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Monday he had no information about the column.

The reported incursion and shelling could indicate an attempt to move on Mariupol, a major port on the Azov Sea, an arm of the Black Sea. Mariupol lies on the main road between Russia and Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which Russia annexed in March. Capturing Mariupol could be the first step in building a slice of territory that links Russia with Crimea.

Although Mariupol is in Ukraine's separatist Donetsk region, most of the fighting between separatist rebels and Ukrainian troops has been well to the north, including around the city of Donetsk, the rebels' largest stronghold. A full offensive in the south could draw Ukrainian forces away from the fight for Donetsk.

Lysenko said Mariupol has enough defenders "to repel any attack of uninvited guests."

Ukraine and the West say that Russia is supporting and supplying the rebels and that since mid-August, Russia has fired into Ukraine from across the border and from within Ukrainian territory. Moscow denies those allegations.

Fighting continued elsewhere in the east, notably around the town of Olenivka, 15 miles south of Donetsk. Lysenko said Monday about250 separatists had been killed in that fighting, but did not specify in what time period. On Sunday, rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko said two-thirds of Olenivka had been wrested away from Ukrainian control.

Ukrainian forces had made significant inroads against the separatists in recent weeks, but the rebels have vowed to retake lost territory.

Russia announced plans, meanwhile, to send a second aid convoy into rebel-held eastern Ukraine, where months of fighting have left many residential buildings in ruins.

Russia's unilateral dispatch of over 200 trucks into Ukraine on Friday was denounced by the Ukrainian government as an invasion and condemned by the United States, the European Union and NATO. Even though the tractor-trailers returned to Russia without incident on Saturday, the announcement of another convoy was likely to raise new suspicions.

Lavrov said Monday that Russia had notified the Ukrainian government it was preparing to send a second convoy along the same route in the coming days, but Lysenko said he had no information on that plan.

Lavrov also said the food, water and other goods delivered to the hard-hit rebel city of Luhansk was being distributed Monday and that Red Cross workers were at talks on how best to distribute it. There was no immediate confirmation on that from the Red Cross.

In sending in the first convoy, Russia said it had lost patience with what it called Ukraine's stalling tactics. It claimed that soon "there will no longer be anyone left to help" in Luhansk, where weeks of heavy shelling have cut off power, water and phone service and made food scarce.

The Ukrainian government had said the aid convoy was a ploy by Russia to get supplies to the rebels and slow down government military advances.

On Sunday, as Ukraine celebrated the anniversary of its 1991 independence from Moscow, President Peter Poroshenko announced that the government would be increasing its military spending in a bid to defeat the rebels.

In rebel-held Donetsk, captured Ukrainian soldiers were paraded Sunday through the streets, jeered by the crowd and pelted with eggs and tomatoes.




Russia has again sent in supplies for the rebels, though it says the Red Cross is distributing the first load within Luhansk. The Red Cross has not confirmed this. Russia is said to be trying to set up a Russian held corridor between Crimea and Eastern Ukraine, which could presumably be used to transport soldiers, military equipment and supplies. Meanwhile the Ukrainian troops are occupied at Donetsk and if they go south to fight there it will weaken them in Donetsk. That is bad. The US is clearly not going to intervene. I am very much concerned about Ukraine's future.






People With Down Syndrome Are Pioneers In Alzheimer's Research – NPR
by JON HAMILTON
August 25, 2014

When researchers at the University of California, San Diego wanted to study an experimental Alzheimer's drug last year, they sought help from an unlikely group: people with Down syndrome.

"I had a CAT scan on my head, and I was in a special machine. It's called an MRI," says Justin McCowan, 39, whose parents drove him 125 miles from Santa Monica so he could participate in the study. McCowan also took brain function tests and spent hours with a needle in his arm so researchers could monitor levels of certain chemicals in his blood.

Alzheimer's researchers are increasingly interested in people like McCowan because "people with Down syndrome represent the world's largest population of individuals predisposed to getting Alzheimer's disease," saysMichael Rafii, director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at UCSD.

Down syndrome is a genetic disorder that's best known for causing intellectual disability. But it also causes Alzheimer's. "By the age of 40, 100 percent of all individuals with Down syndrome have the pathology of Alzheimer's in their brain," Rafii says.

Down syndrome is caused by the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21. And one of the genes on chromosome 21 happens to control the production of amyloid, the substance that forms the sticky plaques associated with Alzheimer's.

Because their bodies produce extra amyloid, most people with Down syndrome develop problems with thinking and memory by the time they reach 60. Rafii has chronicled the decline of one of his patients, a woman named Irma, by collecting her signatures from medical forms over the years.

The first one is from 1999, when Irma was in her mid-50s. "You can see her signature is on the line, it's clear, she wrote it in script," Rafii says. By 2005, though, she has switched to large block letters. By 2009, Irma is misspelling her name. By 2011, "there are only a few characters written that resemble letters," Rafii says. "And in the very last year it's completely blank."

People like Irma used to be rare because the medical problems associated with Down syndrome meant they rarely lived long enough to get dementia. Today, though, better medical treatments mean people with the disorder often live into their 60s.

And that has created a huge opportunity for Alzheimer's research, says William Mobley, chairman of the neuroscience department at UCSD. "This is the one group in the world that you could argue would benefit most by the institution of early therapy," he says.

Early therapy means starting people on drug treatment years before the symptoms of Alzheimer's appear. The approach has been hard to test because, in the general population, there's no good way to know who is going to develop Alzheimer's. But for people with Down syndrome, it's a near certainty.

Finding a drug that prevents Alzheimer's in people with Down syndrome could help millions of people who don't have the disorder, Mobley says. "This approach to treating Alzheimer's disease might apply to all of us," he says. "Imagine someday a drug that we all start taking when we're 25 so we never get Alzheimer's disease."

That's a long-term goal. But already, people with Down syndrome are making a difference in Alzheimer's research. Early work with Down patients helped confirm the importance of amyloid. More recently, people with the disorder helped test an eye exam that may offer a simple way to screen for Alzheimer's.

And then there's the study that Justin McCowan signed up for. It involves a drug from Transition Therapeutics called ELND005that, in mice, can prevent the brain changes associated with Alzheimer's. Scientists hope the drug can do the same thing in people, including those with Down syndrome.

McCowan says he volunteered for the study because he wants to help other people, especially a friend of his named Maria, who also has Down syndrome. "I feel very sad about Maria because she doesn't remember anything," McCowan says.

His parents, Don and Annamarie McCowan, say their son's memory is still sharp. They hope that what scientists are learning from people like Justin will keep it that way.




"'I had a CAT scan on my head, and I was in a special machine. It's called an MRI,' says Justin McCowan, 39, whose parents drove him 125 miles from Santa Monica so he could participate in the study. McCowan also took brain function tests and spent hours with a needle in his arm so researchers could monitor levels of certain chemicals in his blood. Alzheimer's researchers are increasingly interested in people like McCowan because 'people with Down syndrome represent the world's largest population of individuals predisposed to getting Alzheimer's disease,' saysMichael Rafii, director of the Memory Disorders Clinic at UCSD.... "By the age of 40, 100 percent of all individuals with Down syndrome have the pathology of Alzheimer's in their brain," Rafii says.... Down syndrome is caused by the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21. And one of the genes on chromosome 21 happens to control the production of amyloid, the substance that forms the sticky plaques associated with Alzheimer's.... Finding a drug that prevents Alzheimer's in people with Down syndrome could help millions of people who don't have the disorder, Mobley says. 'This approach to treating Alzheimer's disease might apply to all of us,' he says. 'Imagine someday a drug that we all start taking when we're 25 so we never get Alzheimer's disease.' … Early work with Down patients helped confirm the importance of amyloid. More recently, people with the disorder helped test an eye exam that may offer a simple way to screen for Alzheimer's.... It involves a drug from Transition Therapeutics called ELND005that, in mice, can prevent the brain changes associated with Alzheimer's”

I had no idea that Down Syndrome and Alzheimer's were related. This article doesn't say that chromosome 21 has an extra copy in the brains of those with Alzheimer's, but the same damage from amyloid occurs in both cases. If there is a drug which could be developed and given to all people early in the adult years, thus preventing the development of Alzheimer's, it would save many from a very sad fate it would be miraculous. The modern understanding of the human genome is making amazing things occur. This is a great news article – very encouraging.