ATMs are under siege more than ever from skimming. Skimming, where ATM thieves steal your PIN and account number using remote devices, is increasing dramatically. Often done by sophisticated crime rings from the Eastern bloc countries, ATM skimming is becoming a high-tech art that's hard to detect.
That's bad news for consumers. Experts say that losses from skimming are approaching $1 billion. Nearly one in five fraud victims reported having their credit card PIN or debit card ATM PIN information stolen in 2009, according to Javelin Strategy & Research. And Robert Vamosi, an analyst handling risk, fraud and security at Javelin, sees ATM skimming continuing to rise this year and next.
"Consumers aren't aware of ATM tampering," he says. "ATMs have 40 years of trust."
Skimming isn't new. It's been around for at least 10 years. What has changed is that the "technology of the bad guy is getting better and better every year," says Robert Siciliano, a security expert based in Boston. "It's up to consumers to watch their own backs."
Typically, ATM thieves use two devices to capture your PIN and card data. One device sits near where you swipe your card and reads the magnetic stripe on your card with your account number. Even more confusing, the device mimics the card slot. "The technology has evolved to a point where the molded plastic fits like it belongs there," says Siciliano. Devices are even readily available over the Internet for as little as $300.
A camera, hidden from view, captures the PIN. "You can get the data in real time," says Siciliano. "You can be in your car with a laptop remotely accessing the device."
Thieves then burn the data onto a blank card to access your money.
U.S. Secret Service spokesman Max Milien wants consumers to be warned. "The public is notified after an event," he says. And don't take bank security for granted. Fraud can occur at any bank in any part of the country. Thieves are even sending out false text alerts to get consumer data.
Banks, they say, are slow to adopt anti-skimming measures. When Javelin surveyed 25 banks, four stood out, though, for their anti-theft measures. They are Bank of America, Chase, Citibank and Wells Fargo.
Experts add that debit card users are most at risk. Typically, consumers must report fraudulent charges within two days, limiting your liability to $50. If you report ATM skimming fraud within 60 days, you're liable for the first $500 of any transaction. Siciliano adds that thieves carefully orchestrate ATM withdrawals, maxing out cash withdrawals one day and waiting until after midnight for the next stash, which quickly adds up.
Here are four tips to help you protect your account.
1. Cover your password with your hand
Hidden cameras are disguised so they can pick up your password. By protecting it, ATM thieves can't access your account.
2. Use familiar ATMs and limit your visits
ATMs in dimly lighted spots or used late at night could be more susceptible to fraud, while ATMs under video surveillance can be safer. Stay away from ATMs at retail stores or restaurants, adds Siciliano. Recently, skimming devices were found on ATMs in a popular grocery store in central Florida. Airports, convenience stores or kiosks are equally vulnerable to ATM thieves. Still, even highly trafficked ATMs outside a bank branch have been targeted by thieves.
Also, try to limit your visits to the ATM. "With frequency, there's risk," says Siciliano.
3. Check bank balances frequently
Given the two-day window for reporting fraud, it pays to check your account frequently. If you don't report fraud within 60 days, you have unlimited liability. "Sign up for alerts and notice unusual withdrawals," says Vamosi.
With credit cards there are more protections in place, and you can dispute charges."You have at least a billing cycle," says Siciliano.
4. Observe the ATM
Vamosi cautions consumers to look at an ATM to make sure a card slot is "legitimate and not tacked on." Look for things that strike you, he says. "Some people have felt that when they inserted their card, something went awry," he says. In that case, try another ATM.
When protecting your account against ATM thieves, "it's all about awareness, paying attention and understanding risks," says Sicilano. "There are 400,000 ATMs and every one of them is susceptible to fraud. The speed and convenience of technology has replaced the security of technology."
Friday, July 16, 2010
Memory loss linked to weight gain
Women who hope to preserve their memory as they grow older may want to consider shedding some excess pounds.
That’s because researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago have found a link between memory loss and weight gain in older women. Simply put, the more an older woman weighs, the worse her memory, according to the study published this week in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society.
The findings are based on 8,745 post-menopausal women, aged 65 to 79, who took a 100-point memory test. The score for normal memory is in the 90- to 100-point range. After completing the test, the score for each woman was matched to her Body Mass Index, or BMI.
It’s a standardize measure based on weight and height.
The study revealed that for every one point increase in a woman’s BMI, her memory score dropped by one point. “Any excess fat appears to be detrimental,” said Diana Kerwin, the lead author of the study.
Previous research has shown that other conditions, including high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels and diabetes, can affect blood flow to the brain and impair cognitive function. These medical conditions often go along with being overweight. However, even when those conditions are not present, excess weight was still tied to reduced memory among the study participants. That suggests weight, by itself, is an independent risk factor for memory loss.
Furthermore, the researchers found that some types of fat – and where it’s located – seem to be worse than others. For instance, “pear-shaped” women, who tend to pack the pounds on their hips and thighs, suffered more memory impairment than their “apple-shaped” counterparts who accumulate fat around their bellies.
Dr. Kerwin said admits she was surprised by this particular discovery because other studies have indicated that it’s normally better to have a pear-shape than an apple-shape. When fat builds up around the abdomen – the traditional apple shape – it usually increases the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. “We have quite a lot to figure out,” she said, referring to the unexpected findings related to pear and apple physiques.
Even so, Dr, Kerwin said researchers already have a few clues worth following. She noted that different types of fat release different cytokines and hormones that regulate a wide range of bodily functions. Abdominal fat, for instance, produces low levels of estrogen – which may minimize the overall negative effect of fat on older women whose ovaries are no longer producing a steady stream of the female hormone.
By studying these various substances and their specific effects on the body, researchers should gain a better understanding of how fat affects memory, said Dr. Kerwin. She added that she is already making plans to do this type of study.
Nature’s speed limit
It seems that mother nature has imposed a speed limit on how fast messages travel along nerves, and that may help explain why elephants have a lumbering gait, while mice are so fast on their feet.
Researchers at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia measured the nerve speed of a variety of mammals, ranging from elephants to shrews. They found that nerves of all the animal tested, regardless of size, conducted impulses at roughly the same speed – about 50 metres a second. That essentially means large animals are going to have a delayed reaction time compared with small creatures, because they have to transmit nerve data over much longer distances. (Think how hard it would be to catch mice in the wild with your bare hands. You may be big, but they’re nibble.)
The senior author of the paper, Max Donelan, said it’s theoretically possible for large animals to exceed the nerve speed limit – but they would require much thicker nerves. In order to have the same reaction time and sensory perception as a tiny shrew, the elephant would need, for example, a sciatic nerve with a diameter of 30 metres, said Dr. Donelan. Of course, that would be impractical.
But what they lack in speed and agility, bigger beasts the big fellows tend to compensate with increased brain power. Indeed, Dr. Donelan, whose study was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, thinks the nerve speed limit may have driven large animals to become smarter. “Large animals need to think ahead and predict any changes that will occur so they have time to adapt their movements according,” he explained.
“It could be that the nervous systems of large animals evolved to become excellent predictive machines. A brain that is good at predicting movement may also become good at predicting other aspects of life,” added Dr. Donelan, who believes such forces also had a role to play in the evolution of the human brain. After all, it takes a smart person to invent a better mouse trap.
The Sunshine vitamin
Vitamin D appears to play a critical role in maintaining a healthy, well-functioning brain, two new studies indicate.
One study, involving Finish///Finnish volunteers, found that people with abnormally low levels of the nutrient were at an elevated risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, a neurological condition that results from the death of brain cells governing movement. The findings were published in Archives of Neurology.
The second study, focusing on Italian participants, revealed that older people with a severe vitamin D deficiency were more likely to have problems with memory, learning and thinking. The results appeared in Archives of Internal Medicine.
The studies, which were both released this week, add to a growing body of research that suggests vitamin D plays a much larger part in overall health than once imaged.
The vitamin is made naturally in the body when skin is exposed to sunlight. But many people have low levels of the “Sunshine vitamin” because the sun’s rays are just too weak in fall and winter to produce the nutrient. Furthermore, as people grow older, their skin becomes less efficient at making vitamin D.
“It’s estimated that one-billion people worldwide have insufficient levels of vitamin D, so this is a real cause for concern,” said the lead author of the Italian study, David Llewellyn of Exeter University in Britain.
What’s now needed, he said, is a large clinical trial to see if popping vitamin D supplements can help prevent cognitive decline in the elderly.
courtesy of the globe
That’s because researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago have found a link between memory loss and weight gain in older women. Simply put, the more an older woman weighs, the worse her memory, according to the study published this week in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society.
The findings are based on 8,745 post-menopausal women, aged 65 to 79, who took a 100-point memory test. The score for normal memory is in the 90- to 100-point range. After completing the test, the score for each woman was matched to her Body Mass Index, or BMI.
It’s a standardize measure based on weight and height.
The study revealed that for every one point increase in a woman’s BMI, her memory score dropped by one point. “Any excess fat appears to be detrimental,” said Diana Kerwin, the lead author of the study.
Previous research has shown that other conditions, including high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol levels and diabetes, can affect blood flow to the brain and impair cognitive function. These medical conditions often go along with being overweight. However, even when those conditions are not present, excess weight was still tied to reduced memory among the study participants. That suggests weight, by itself, is an independent risk factor for memory loss.
Furthermore, the researchers found that some types of fat – and where it’s located – seem to be worse than others. For instance, “pear-shaped” women, who tend to pack the pounds on their hips and thighs, suffered more memory impairment than their “apple-shaped” counterparts who accumulate fat around their bellies.
Dr. Kerwin said admits she was surprised by this particular discovery because other studies have indicated that it’s normally better to have a pear-shape than an apple-shape. When fat builds up around the abdomen – the traditional apple shape – it usually increases the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers. “We have quite a lot to figure out,” she said, referring to the unexpected findings related to pear and apple physiques.
Even so, Dr, Kerwin said researchers already have a few clues worth following. She noted that different types of fat release different cytokines and hormones that regulate a wide range of bodily functions. Abdominal fat, for instance, produces low levels of estrogen – which may minimize the overall negative effect of fat on older women whose ovaries are no longer producing a steady stream of the female hormone.
By studying these various substances and their specific effects on the body, researchers should gain a better understanding of how fat affects memory, said Dr. Kerwin. She added that she is already making plans to do this type of study.
Nature’s speed limit
It seems that mother nature has imposed a speed limit on how fast messages travel along nerves, and that may help explain why elephants have a lumbering gait, while mice are so fast on their feet.
Researchers at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia measured the nerve speed of a variety of mammals, ranging from elephants to shrews. They found that nerves of all the animal tested, regardless of size, conducted impulses at roughly the same speed – about 50 metres a second. That essentially means large animals are going to have a delayed reaction time compared with small creatures, because they have to transmit nerve data over much longer distances. (Think how hard it would be to catch mice in the wild with your bare hands. You may be big, but they’re nibble.)
The senior author of the paper, Max Donelan, said it’s theoretically possible for large animals to exceed the nerve speed limit – but they would require much thicker nerves. In order to have the same reaction time and sensory perception as a tiny shrew, the elephant would need, for example, a sciatic nerve with a diameter of 30 metres, said Dr. Donelan. Of course, that would be impractical.
But what they lack in speed and agility, bigger beasts the big fellows tend to compensate with increased brain power. Indeed, Dr. Donelan, whose study was published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B, thinks the nerve speed limit may have driven large animals to become smarter. “Large animals need to think ahead and predict any changes that will occur so they have time to adapt their movements according,” he explained.
“It could be that the nervous systems of large animals evolved to become excellent predictive machines. A brain that is good at predicting movement may also become good at predicting other aspects of life,” added Dr. Donelan, who believes such forces also had a role to play in the evolution of the human brain. After all, it takes a smart person to invent a better mouse trap.
The Sunshine vitamin
Vitamin D appears to play a critical role in maintaining a healthy, well-functioning brain, two new studies indicate.
One study, involving Finish///Finnish volunteers, found that people with abnormally low levels of the nutrient were at an elevated risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, a neurological condition that results from the death of brain cells governing movement. The findings were published in Archives of Neurology.
The second study, focusing on Italian participants, revealed that older people with a severe vitamin D deficiency were more likely to have problems with memory, learning and thinking. The results appeared in Archives of Internal Medicine.
The studies, which were both released this week, add to a growing body of research that suggests vitamin D plays a much larger part in overall health than once imaged.
The vitamin is made naturally in the body when skin is exposed to sunlight. But many people have low levels of the “Sunshine vitamin” because the sun’s rays are just too weak in fall and winter to produce the nutrient. Furthermore, as people grow older, their skin becomes less efficient at making vitamin D.
“It’s estimated that one-billion people worldwide have insufficient levels of vitamin D, so this is a real cause for concern,” said the lead author of the Italian study, David Llewellyn of Exeter University in Britain.
What’s now needed, he said, is a large clinical trial to see if popping vitamin D supplements can help prevent cognitive decline in the elderly.
courtesy of the globe
Thursday, July 15, 2010
White House Unveils Free Preventative Services
By JANET ADAMY
WASHINGTON—Treatments for the prevention of alcohol abuse, depression and obesity are among the services that will be free to consumers with new insurance plans starting in September.
As part of the new health law, the Obama administration on Wednesday released rules specifying which preventive health services insurers must provide to consumers at no additional cost. Democrats hope the change will be one of the most popular early pieces of the sweeping legislation.
"Services like these will go a long way in preventing chronic illness," First Lady Michelle Obama said Wednesday.
Under the provision, health plans initiated after Sept. 23 must cover preventive health services at no additional cost to the consumer. People who stay on their existing health plans won't benefit from the change.
For adults, the list of covered services includes mammograms, colonoscopies and other cancer screenings, diabetes screenings, counseling for tobacco use and certain types of pre-natal care. For children, it includes pediatric visits, vision and hearing screening, developmental assessments, immunizations and obesity screenings.
Insurers say the changes won't be free to consumers since plans will have to raise premiums overall to offset the cost of covering these services. The Obama administration estimates that the changes will increase the cost of premiums by an average of 1.5% a year.
The regulations don't address a different slate of covered preventive services for women, which won't be determined until August 2011. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America is pushing for birth control to be included in that segment of the regulations. Screenings for HIV and several other sexually transmitted diseases qualify as free preventive care under the guidelines released Wednesday.
"Avoiding unintended pregnancy is one of the most important medical issues for women," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood. The group wants all types of prescription birth control that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to qualify as free preventive care.
Many preventive services, particularly vaccinations, are already covered by most insurers. By 2013, the White House says, 88 million Americans will benefit from the changes.
To determine which services qualify as preventive, government officials relied largely on existing recommendations by three groups, including the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The preventive services task force drew criticism last year for recommending that women delay annual mammogram services until age 50, instead of age 40. The health law effectively ignores that recommendation, making mammograms a covered preventive service at age 40 under the law.
Often because of cost, Americans use preventive services at about half the recommended rate, according to research cited by the White House. Chronic diseases, which are often preventable, are responsible for 7 of 10 deaths among Americans each year and account for 75% of the nation's health spending.
Among the obesity services that will be covered are screenings to determine a person's body-mass index, as well as other detection and counseling services. Prenatal services will include screenings for iron deficiency. For children's immunizations, flu shots will be covered.
WASHINGTON—Treatments for the prevention of alcohol abuse, depression and obesity are among the services that will be free to consumers with new insurance plans starting in September.
As part of the new health law, the Obama administration on Wednesday released rules specifying which preventive health services insurers must provide to consumers at no additional cost. Democrats hope the change will be one of the most popular early pieces of the sweeping legislation.
"Services like these will go a long way in preventing chronic illness," First Lady Michelle Obama said Wednesday.
Under the provision, health plans initiated after Sept. 23 must cover preventive health services at no additional cost to the consumer. People who stay on their existing health plans won't benefit from the change.
For adults, the list of covered services includes mammograms, colonoscopies and other cancer screenings, diabetes screenings, counseling for tobacco use and certain types of pre-natal care. For children, it includes pediatric visits, vision and hearing screening, developmental assessments, immunizations and obesity screenings.
Insurers say the changes won't be free to consumers since plans will have to raise premiums overall to offset the cost of covering these services. The Obama administration estimates that the changes will increase the cost of premiums by an average of 1.5% a year.
The regulations don't address a different slate of covered preventive services for women, which won't be determined until August 2011. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America is pushing for birth control to be included in that segment of the regulations. Screenings for HIV and several other sexually transmitted diseases qualify as free preventive care under the guidelines released Wednesday.
"Avoiding unintended pregnancy is one of the most important medical issues for women," said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood. The group wants all types of prescription birth control that is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to qualify as free preventive care.
Many preventive services, particularly vaccinations, are already covered by most insurers. By 2013, the White House says, 88 million Americans will benefit from the changes.
To determine which services qualify as preventive, government officials relied largely on existing recommendations by three groups, including the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force. The preventive services task force drew criticism last year for recommending that women delay annual mammogram services until age 50, instead of age 40. The health law effectively ignores that recommendation, making mammograms a covered preventive service at age 40 under the law.
Often because of cost, Americans use preventive services at about half the recommended rate, according to research cited by the White House. Chronic diseases, which are often preventable, are responsible for 7 of 10 deaths among Americans each year and account for 75% of the nation's health spending.
Among the obesity services that will be covered are screenings to determine a person's body-mass index, as well as other detection and counseling services. Prenatal services will include screenings for iron deficiency. For children's immunizations, flu shots will be covered.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Hope for Patients Suffering Hair Loss From Alopecia
Losing your hair may not be the follicle death sentence that it has been for much longer, Health Day reported.
Researchers have linked alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair thinning and hair loss in over five million Americans, to eight genes, which will likely open the flood gates for new treatments.
The researchers were surprised to find that other autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes have already been linked to these same eight genes, so drugs already in development could be used for hair loss.
SLIDESHOW: Foods to Prevent Hair Loss
"This greatly accelerated our ability to think about new drugs for patients with alopecia areata because so much work has already been done in these other diseases," said senior study author, Dr. Angela Christiano, professor of dermatology and genetics and development at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. "It is a huge advantage."
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet approved any treatments for alopecia areata, which is one of the most common autoimmune diseases, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.
The disease affects men and women equally, but women seek treatment more often and are, therefore, diagnosed more frequently. The disease’s progression is unpredictable and can result in losing a small patch of hair, or all of the hair on the scalp.
“It's very traumatic for men, and it's harder for them to cover it up. Hair loss is life-altering. You have lost your outward identity. You haven't changed inside, but that's not what's seen by the world," said Vicki Kalabokes, president and CEO of the Alopecia Foundation, which helped fund the research.
Christiano’s team found a correlation between the number of genes associated with alopecia areata and the severity of the condition. Those who carried at least 16 alopecia-associated genes had a higher chance of total hair loss, or alopecia universalis, the researchers found.
One gene in particular – ULBP3 – attracted the toxic cells that attack the follicle, resulting in hair loss. Researchers observed the immune system T cells, which can invade and destroy an organ, under a microscope and compared them to bees swarming around the follicle. The follicle goes dormant when this happens, so lost hair is not replaced.
"It's like putting nectar on the hair follicle, then the 'bees' come in and do their damage.”
The study was published in the July issue of the journal Nature.
Click here to read more from Health Day.
Researchers have linked alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes hair thinning and hair loss in over five million Americans, to eight genes, which will likely open the flood gates for new treatments.
The researchers were surprised to find that other autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes have already been linked to these same eight genes, so drugs already in development could be used for hair loss.
SLIDESHOW: Foods to Prevent Hair Loss
"This greatly accelerated our ability to think about new drugs for patients with alopecia areata because so much work has already been done in these other diseases," said senior study author, Dr. Angela Christiano, professor of dermatology and genetics and development at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. "It is a huge advantage."
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has not yet approved any treatments for alopecia areata, which is one of the most common autoimmune diseases, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.
The disease affects men and women equally, but women seek treatment more often and are, therefore, diagnosed more frequently. The disease’s progression is unpredictable and can result in losing a small patch of hair, or all of the hair on the scalp.
“It's very traumatic for men, and it's harder for them to cover it up. Hair loss is life-altering. You have lost your outward identity. You haven't changed inside, but that's not what's seen by the world," said Vicki Kalabokes, president and CEO of the Alopecia Foundation, which helped fund the research.
Christiano’s team found a correlation between the number of genes associated with alopecia areata and the severity of the condition. Those who carried at least 16 alopecia-associated genes had a higher chance of total hair loss, or alopecia universalis, the researchers found.
One gene in particular – ULBP3 – attracted the toxic cells that attack the follicle, resulting in hair loss. Researchers observed the immune system T cells, which can invade and destroy an organ, under a microscope and compared them to bees swarming around the follicle. The follicle goes dormant when this happens, so lost hair is not replaced.
"It's like putting nectar on the hair follicle, then the 'bees' come in and do their damage.”
The study was published in the July issue of the journal Nature.
Click here to read more from Health Day.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Jumping genes" make each person unique: study
Stretches of DNA known as "jumping" genes are far more common than anyone thought, and almost everyone has a unique pattern of them, U.S. researchers reported on Thursday.
They also found an unexpectedly high number of these jumping genes, known as transposons, in lung tumors and said they may hold clues to the highly deadly cancer.
"We found that if you have a child, the child could have one or more new copies of these transposons that you don't have," Scott Devine of the University of Maryland School of Medicine said in a statement.
"From these findings, we predict that there is going to be more variation in human genomes than scientists first believed," added Devine, who led the research while at Emory University in Atlanta.
The findings could help fuel a revolution that scientists hope will lead to tailored medicine and far more targeted use of drugs and other therapies to treat and prevent disease.
Transposons are sequences in the DNA code that can replicate themselves. They "jump" from one place to another on the chromosomes. Devine's team found unique transposons in more than 90 percent of the 76 people they studied, they reported in the journal Cell.
These mutations can affect the functions of other genes. Stretches of DNA right in front of or behind a gene can turn it on, turn it off, or affect the way it functions.
That people have transposons is not new. "Forty-five percent of the genome is known to be transposon sequences," Devine said. But most hopped in and are now inactive, passing down unchanged and in place from one generation to the next.
"What we are interested in are the ones that are moving around today. We found an average of 15 new insertions per person," Devine said in a telephone interview.
CHEAPER NEW TECHNOLOGY
New genetic sequencing technology made it possible to find these transposons. It costs thousands of dollars to map an individual's genome, the entire genetic sequence, but companies such as Illumina , Life Technologies , Roche and others are driving the price down.
Devine's team used Roche's 454 sequencer to find 1,145 new inserted transposons that had not been documented before.
They developed a genetic probe that would target only these active jumping genes and estimated a new insertion is happening with each generation.
The human genome has 3 billion so-called base pairs - the A, C, T and G of the genetic code. "This could affect every base pair somewhere on the planet," Devine said.
"What is that doing to people? You could imagine that doing a lot of things, causing diseases."
Each person has the same basic 20,000 genes, but each gene is made up of many base pairs and there are subtle changes unique to everyone. In addition, DNA outside the genes affects the body in ways that are only beginning to be understood.
The transposons jump into these non-coding regions, but also sometimes into the genes.
"If you think of the human genome as a manual to build a complex machine like an aircraft, imagine what would happen if you copied the page that describes passenger seats and inserted it into the section that describes jet engines," Devine said.
When they looked at brain and lung tumors, Devine's team found transposons seem to be especially busy in lung cancer but not brain cancer. One of the many next steps will be to understand why this is.
SOURCE: link.reuters.com/fuq24m Cell, online June 24, 2010.
They also found an unexpectedly high number of these jumping genes, known as transposons, in lung tumors and said they may hold clues to the highly deadly cancer.
"We found that if you have a child, the child could have one or more new copies of these transposons that you don't have," Scott Devine of the University of Maryland School of Medicine said in a statement.
"From these findings, we predict that there is going to be more variation in human genomes than scientists first believed," added Devine, who led the research while at Emory University in Atlanta.
The findings could help fuel a revolution that scientists hope will lead to tailored medicine and far more targeted use of drugs and other therapies to treat and prevent disease.
Transposons are sequences in the DNA code that can replicate themselves. They "jump" from one place to another on the chromosomes. Devine's team found unique transposons in more than 90 percent of the 76 people they studied, they reported in the journal Cell.
These mutations can affect the functions of other genes. Stretches of DNA right in front of or behind a gene can turn it on, turn it off, or affect the way it functions.
That people have transposons is not new. "Forty-five percent of the genome is known to be transposon sequences," Devine said. But most hopped in and are now inactive, passing down unchanged and in place from one generation to the next.
"What we are interested in are the ones that are moving around today. We found an average of 15 new insertions per person," Devine said in a telephone interview.
CHEAPER NEW TECHNOLOGY
New genetic sequencing technology made it possible to find these transposons. It costs thousands of dollars to map an individual's genome, the entire genetic sequence, but companies such as Illumina , Life Technologies , Roche and others are driving the price down.
Devine's team used Roche's 454 sequencer to find 1,145 new inserted transposons that had not been documented before.
They developed a genetic probe that would target only these active jumping genes and estimated a new insertion is happening with each generation.
The human genome has 3 billion so-called base pairs - the A, C, T and G of the genetic code. "This could affect every base pair somewhere on the planet," Devine said.
"What is that doing to people? You could imagine that doing a lot of things, causing diseases."
Each person has the same basic 20,000 genes, but each gene is made up of many base pairs and there are subtle changes unique to everyone. In addition, DNA outside the genes affects the body in ways that are only beginning to be understood.
The transposons jump into these non-coding regions, but also sometimes into the genes.
"If you think of the human genome as a manual to build a complex machine like an aircraft, imagine what would happen if you copied the page that describes passenger seats and inserted it into the section that describes jet engines," Devine said.
When they looked at brain and lung tumors, Devine's team found transposons seem to be especially busy in lung cancer but not brain cancer. One of the many next steps will be to understand why this is.
SOURCE: link.reuters.com/fuq24m Cell, online June 24, 2010.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Health insurance, check. But what about dental?
(Reuters) - An estimated 45 million Americans do not have dental insurance, according to a government report released on Wednesday, and recently passed healthcare reform offers little direct help.
Health
Overall most non-elderly people who already have private health coverage also have a dental policy, but roughly 70 percent of those who have to buy their own health plan do not, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.
Under the health reforms passed in March, adults must buy health insurance or pay a fine starting in 2014. The law does not require them to buy other types of coverage like dental or vision, although some comprehensive health care plans include the additional coverage.
While health plans must cover at minimum services like emergency care and prescription drugs, they do not have to cover oral care for adults. Dental care for children is required.
Some advocates pushed for a wider dental component in the bill, pointing to the larger impact of oral health on conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
Among the 172 million people under 65 who already have private health insurance, nearly three-quarters have dental insurance too, mostly through an employer, the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics said.
The survey found that among those with dental coverage, 33 percent had a comprehensive plan with dental coverage, while 26 percent had a stand-alone plan. Fourteen percent had both.
Among those with employer-sponsored care, just 20 percent lacked a dental plan.
The CDC's statistics unit analyzed data from its 2008 nationwide survey of 65,495 people under age 65.
INCOME FACTOR
Not surprisingly, the researchers found a direct link between income and access to care. The higher a person's income, the more likely they were to have dental coverage.
An estimated 90 million Americans get health insurance through Medicare and Medicaid, which do not cover dental care for adults. But researchers Barbara Bloom and Robin Cohen said they could only look at private sector "because of the limited or nonexistent public coverage for dental care."
It is not clear how the new healthcare law will affect the dental insurance industry. Like its health insurance counterpart, the sector lobbied against any government-run health program while seeking to boost funds for dental care under Medicaid.
Medicaid, which serves 45 million low-income people, pays for dental care for those under 21, but patients can have trouble finding dentists. A separate government program, the Children's Health Insurance Program, also provides limited dental care.
Older Americans can buy separate dental policies from insurers.
Health insurers that offer dental plans include Aetna Inc, Cigna Corp, UnitedHealth Group Inc, Humana Inc, and Assurant Inc, according to the Association for Health Insurance Plans, which represents about 80 percent of all U.S. dental insurance plans.
Most Blue Cross Blue Shield Association plans, MetLife, and Principal Financial Group Inc also offer dental coverage, the industry's lobby group said.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Maggie Fox)
Health
Overall most non-elderly people who already have private health coverage also have a dental policy, but roughly 70 percent of those who have to buy their own health plan do not, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.
Under the health reforms passed in March, adults must buy health insurance or pay a fine starting in 2014. The law does not require them to buy other types of coverage like dental or vision, although some comprehensive health care plans include the additional coverage.
While health plans must cover at minimum services like emergency care and prescription drugs, they do not have to cover oral care for adults. Dental care for children is required.
Some advocates pushed for a wider dental component in the bill, pointing to the larger impact of oral health on conditions like heart disease and diabetes.
Among the 172 million people under 65 who already have private health insurance, nearly three-quarters have dental insurance too, mostly through an employer, the CDC's National Center for Health Statistics said.
The survey found that among those with dental coverage, 33 percent had a comprehensive plan with dental coverage, while 26 percent had a stand-alone plan. Fourteen percent had both.
Among those with employer-sponsored care, just 20 percent lacked a dental plan.
The CDC's statistics unit analyzed data from its 2008 nationwide survey of 65,495 people under age 65.
INCOME FACTOR
Not surprisingly, the researchers found a direct link between income and access to care. The higher a person's income, the more likely they were to have dental coverage.
An estimated 90 million Americans get health insurance through Medicare and Medicaid, which do not cover dental care for adults. But researchers Barbara Bloom and Robin Cohen said they could only look at private sector "because of the limited or nonexistent public coverage for dental care."
It is not clear how the new healthcare law will affect the dental insurance industry. Like its health insurance counterpart, the sector lobbied against any government-run health program while seeking to boost funds for dental care under Medicaid.
Medicaid, which serves 45 million low-income people, pays for dental care for those under 21, but patients can have trouble finding dentists. A separate government program, the Children's Health Insurance Program, also provides limited dental care.
Older Americans can buy separate dental policies from insurers.
Health insurers that offer dental plans include Aetna Inc, Cigna Corp, UnitedHealth Group Inc, Humana Inc, and Assurant Inc, according to the Association for Health Insurance Plans, which represents about 80 percent of all U.S. dental insurance plans.
Most Blue Cross Blue Shield Association plans, MetLife, and Principal Financial Group Inc also offer dental coverage, the industry's lobby group said.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Maggie Fox)
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
FTC pushes back identity theft rules deadline -- for fifth time - Businesweek
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has once again pushed back its enforcement deadline for an identity theft --lated regulation called the Red Flags Rule.
The rule requires financial institutions and other organizations that extend consumer credit to develop and implement written policies for detecting and preventing identity theft.
Before this latest deadline change, the FTC was to have started enforcing the rule on June 1. Under the new deadline, it will now start doing so only after Jan. 1, 2011.
The FTC noted in a statement that the delay was prompted by requests from "several members of Congress" who are working on limiting the scope of the Red Flags Rule.
In the statement, the FTC expressed hope that Congress would work quickly on addressing certain "unintended consequences" of the legislation.
The FTC has previously delayed enforcement of the rule on four different occasions, the most recent being in October 2009, when it pushed the deadline back from Nov. 1 to June 1 of this year.
Today's extension comes just days after the American Medical Association (AMA), along with the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and the Medical Society of the District of Columbia (MSDC), filed a lawsuit against the FTC, demanding that physicians be excluded from the requirements of the Red Flags Rule.
The lawsuit alleged that the Red Flags Rule was meant primarily for the banking sector, but was written so broadly that it now unintentionally covers physicians as well.
The suit follows almost two years of efforts by the AMA and the other two organizations to get the FTC to exclude physicians from the law. In January this year, the AMA, the AOA and two other groups formally petitioned the FTC to exempt physicians from the rule.
The recent lawsuit was filed after the FTC rejected the request.
"For two years, the AMA has made the case to the FTC that physicians are not creditors like banks and lenders, and the misguided red flags rule should not apply to them," a statement announcing the lawsuit noted.
The FTC's decision to apply the rule to physicians regardless of such complaints is 'arbitrary, capricious and contrary to the law', the lawsuit alleged.
The Red Flags Rule was developed as part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) and went into effect in January 2008. The original compliance deadline for the rules was Nov. 2008, but it has been pushed back repeatedly largely as a result of concerns in Congress about the applicability of the rules to organizations other than financial institutions.
The FTC has argued that unless the rule is tweaked by Congress, it applies equally to any entity that extends credit to consumers in any form -- like a physician would, for example, when waiting for an insurance company to make payments for services rendered earlier.
According to the FTC, entities that are covered under the Red Flags Rule include finance companies, auto dealers, mortgage brokers, health providers and telecommunications companies.
It's a position that has been challenged before. Last October, a federal court in Washington D.C ruled that the regulations could not be applied to lawyers and other legal professionals as the FTC had argued it did. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit brought by the American Bar Association against the FTC.
The AMA lawsuit argues that physicians who do not require or collect immediate payment from patients cannot be considered to be creditors, under Red Flags rules.
It also noted that requiring physicians to collect and investigate each patients identity would impose too high of an administrative burden on them and erode a lot of the patient-physician trust relationship.
The rule requires financial institutions and other organizations that extend consumer credit to develop and implement written policies for detecting and preventing identity theft.
Before this latest deadline change, the FTC was to have started enforcing the rule on June 1. Under the new deadline, it will now start doing so only after Jan. 1, 2011.
The FTC noted in a statement that the delay was prompted by requests from "several members of Congress" who are working on limiting the scope of the Red Flags Rule.
In the statement, the FTC expressed hope that Congress would work quickly on addressing certain "unintended consequences" of the legislation.
The FTC has previously delayed enforcement of the rule on four different occasions, the most recent being in October 2009, when it pushed the deadline back from Nov. 1 to June 1 of this year.
Today's extension comes just days after the American Medical Association (AMA), along with the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) and the Medical Society of the District of Columbia (MSDC), filed a lawsuit against the FTC, demanding that physicians be excluded from the requirements of the Red Flags Rule.
The lawsuit alleged that the Red Flags Rule was meant primarily for the banking sector, but was written so broadly that it now unintentionally covers physicians as well.
The suit follows almost two years of efforts by the AMA and the other two organizations to get the FTC to exclude physicians from the law. In January this year, the AMA, the AOA and two other groups formally petitioned the FTC to exempt physicians from the rule.
The recent lawsuit was filed after the FTC rejected the request.
"For two years, the AMA has made the case to the FTC that physicians are not creditors like banks and lenders, and the misguided red flags rule should not apply to them," a statement announcing the lawsuit noted.
The FTC's decision to apply the rule to physicians regardless of such complaints is 'arbitrary, capricious and contrary to the law', the lawsuit alleged.
The Red Flags Rule was developed as part of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) and went into effect in January 2008. The original compliance deadline for the rules was Nov. 2008, but it has been pushed back repeatedly largely as a result of concerns in Congress about the applicability of the rules to organizations other than financial institutions.
The FTC has argued that unless the rule is tweaked by Congress, it applies equally to any entity that extends credit to consumers in any form -- like a physician would, for example, when waiting for an insurance company to make payments for services rendered earlier.
According to the FTC, entities that are covered under the Red Flags Rule include finance companies, auto dealers, mortgage brokers, health providers and telecommunications companies.
It's a position that has been challenged before. Last October, a federal court in Washington D.C ruled that the regulations could not be applied to lawyers and other legal professionals as the FTC had argued it did. The ruling was in response to a lawsuit brought by the American Bar Association against the FTC.
The AMA lawsuit argues that physicians who do not require or collect immediate payment from patients cannot be considered to be creditors, under Red Flags rules.
It also noted that requiring physicians to collect and investigate each patients identity would impose too high of an administrative burden on them and erode a lot of the patient-physician trust relationship.
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