Urban poor aging faster at cellular level - study

New blood tests show that poor populations in urban areas of the United States are actually aging faster at the cellular level than others, thanks to chronic stress connected to income and identity, according to a new study by scientists.

Conducted on a small group of black, white and Mexican adults in three Detroit neighborhoods, the tests were an attempt by scientists to learn what contributed to early aging-related diseases and excessive mortality rates in the urban poor.

The study of racial, ethnic and socioeconomic health inequality involved collaboration between social researchers and cellular biologists at Stanford University. It was based on blood test samples from 239 people, ages 25-64, with a community survey of residents in three Detroit neighborhoods. The blood tests were used to measure telomere length (TL), an indicator of stress-mediated biological aging.

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Previous studies have argued that racial, ethnic and socioeconomic health inequality affect a person's mortality, but many of the studies were based on social research. The Stanford study marks the first collaboration between science and social research that measures telomeres – the caps on chromosomes that protect them from deteriorating.

The telomeres shorten with cell division and over time, as a person ages, they shorten to mark cellular death. Several large studies have argued that telomere length can be affected by stressful life experiences and contribute to early aging, leading to higher risk of infectious and chronic disease like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Other studies find no significant association between TL and mortality.

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What the Stanford study found was that "the poverty rates for the study participants [in Detroit] were more than double the national rate for blacks and Mexicans and six times the national rate for whites.

" In Detroit, poverty rates are roughly comparable for whites, blacks and Mexicans at 55.6 percent, 50 percent and 52.3 percent, respectively. They found poor whites had the shortest TL compared to nonpoor whites, and that poor and lower middle class blacks had equivalent TL. But poor Mexicans had longer telomeres than Mexicans with higher incomes.

To account for the different results, the study's author reasoned that poor whites had the shortest TL readings because of an association between short TL and having less than a high school education. Researchers also considered the mass exodus of whites and jobs from Detroit, which led to a growing black population and a white population that then became a minority.

With the city experiencing an overall reduction in taxation, shrinking benefits from labor union membership and public pensions, the effects of urban austerity has taken a significant toll, particularly on whites.

"Lacking the financial resources, social networks, and identity affirmation of the past, remaining Detroit whites may have less to protect them from the health effects of poverty, stigma,"

said Dr. Arline Geronimus, visiting scholar at the Stanford Center for Advanced Study and lead author of the report.

READ MORE: 'Endless & vicious cycle' of misdemeanor charges targeting America's poor - reportWhen reasoning why Mexicans might have longer telomeres, other factors were at play.

"If they're immigrants, then they come with a different cultural background and upbringing that didn't stress that as Mexicans they were somehow 'other' or 'lesser' than other Americans,

" Dr. Geronimus told The Huffington Post.

"They come with a set of support systems and with a cultural orientation that doesn't undermine their sense of self-worth,”

she added. “They then often live in these ethnic enclaves, many of them don't speak anything other than Spanish, and so they're not interacting with Americans who view them as 'other' or who treat them badly. It's not that they're immune to that treatment but they're not as sensitive to it and they also just don't experience it as often."

Geronimus said there are "effects of living in high-poverty, racially segregated neighborhoods -- the life experiences people have, the physical exposures, a whole range of things -- that are just not good for your health."

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British voters take stock of ballot box shock

Euronews reporter Sarah Chappell, in London for the British General Election, filed this analysis of the nights dramatic events.

“After weeks of talks about deals, red lines and coalition combinations British voters actually what no one expected, a conclusive result. As the dust begins to settle on the unexpected news, Britons take stock of a dramatic election night and start to look to the future,” she said.

The electorate awoke to headlines claiming a Conservative victory and an end to the coalition government.

On the streets of London voters gave their views of events:
“I think it’s a good result in terms of having a stronger government, having a majority government in power. I think a lot more will get done to better the country without a coalition.”

The Labour supporting Daily Mirror ran a black front page carrying a message of doom “Five more damned years?”

As in all elections opinion is divided: “I am not surprised, really, to be honest if you consider the reaction against the Liberal Democrats in England and the rise of the SNP against Labour in Scotland. But it is not good, I have to be honest,” said a disappointed voter.

For one Scot in London the result was a double whammy:
“It wasn’t what I’d expected. I was a bit shocked when I woke up this morning to see all that blue all over the map, particularly in England. I am actually from Scotland, so I was quite shocked about that result as well.”

The shock result has left a lot of political debris in its wake, three leaders have already resigned, Scotland has ditched Labour and the Liberal Democrats have been humiliated.

The next few weeks will be a hive a political activity as the losers dust themselves down and try to come up with a strategy to breathe fresh life into a bruised and battered agenda.

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London stocks surge as Conservatives claim election victory

British financial markets reacted with glee as the Conservatives claimed election victory.
Investors breathed a sign of relief as the prospect of a hung parliament faded as the results rolled in.
The outcome put sterling on course for its biggest one-day rise against the euro since 2009.
European markets are also upbeat.
Fidel Helmer is from Hauck & Aufhaeuser Bank:
“I think right now the clear election result is seen in a positive light. A tight result would have raised the question of how Great Britain wants to set up a government and under what conditions. This could have provoked instability.”
The stability may well be short-lived the Conservatives have vowed to hold a referendum on EU membership and after the resounding success of the Scottish National Party north of the border another call for Scottish independence will be reverberating around Westminster.

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First phase of 'Clean Ganga' campaign to be completed by 2016

Kanpur: The first phase of 'Clean Ganga' campaign will be completed by October 2016 for the conservation of the river, Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti said Saturday.

The work for the completion of the first phase of 'Ganga Samagra Abhiyan' is in full swing and is expected to be completed by October next year, Bharti said at a meeting here.

A report on the conservation of the river's ecological system till Rishikesh has also been submitted by an IIT Kanpur professor and another report on the 'Ganga Sagar' is expected to be submitted by him in 1-2 months, she said.

"We have identified 23 sewers adjacent to the Ganga and have initiated the treatment of the sewage. There will be no delay of any scheme due to lack of funds falling under 'Namami Ganga,'" she said.

She also claimed that Narendra Modi will continue to serve as the Prime Minster for three more terms and what he has done for the economic development and foreign policies for India in one year was not even achieved by Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.

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Master orchestrator of genome discovered

Washington: A team of researchers has discovered the "master orchestrator" of genome and has described how a single nuclear protein functions like an orchestra conductor, programming the "symphony of biology."
University at Buffalo research provides evidence that it all begins with a single "master" growth factor receptor that regulates the entire genome.
Senior author Michal K Stachowiak said that the finding provides a new level of understanding of the fundamental aspects of how organisms develop, adding that the research shows how a single growth factor receptor protein moves directly to the nucleus in order to program the entire genome.
The research challenges a long-held supposition in biology that specific types of growth factors only functioned at a cell`s surface. For two decades, Stachowiak`s team has been intrigued by the possibility that growth factors function from within the nucleus, a point, he says, this current paper finally proves.
A more advanced understanding of how organisms form, based on this work, has the potential to significantly enhance the understanding and treatment of cancers, which result from uncontrolled development as well as congenital diseases, the researchers say.
The new research, which was conducted on mouse embryonic stem cells, not human cells, will also contribute to the understanding of how stem cells work.
The study is published in PLOS ONE.

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Only accredited agencies can do EIA: Javadekar

Chennai: Only accredited agencies will be allowed to do Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and there will be more such agencies which can do the EIA, Union Environment and Forests Minister Prakash Javadekar said here Saturday.

"Only accredited agencies will be allowed and there will be more number of accredited agencies which can do Environment Impact Assessment (EIA)," he told reporters here.

Asked on the EIA done by Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History for a Rs 1,500 crore Neutrino Observatory project in Tamil Nadu, which is not accredited by agencies like Quality Council of India, he said "I will have to check, I do not know the facts, the file has not come to me."

He, however, said the government would take cognisance of EIA done only by recognised institutes, those accredited by the QCI.

"Only accredited bodies will do it...Many went to court, individuals also," he said, adding that a clarificatory notification will be issued in this regard.

"We will issue clarificatory notification to avoid this kind of situation, with proper notification and explanation we will put all facts before court and sooner we will have a system where only accredited agencies will be allowed and there will be more number of accredited agencies which can do EIA," he said.

On marsh lands, he said "it will be protected and nurtured and more migratory birds will come."

To a query on action against some green NGO's, he said "we are taking all NGOs on board who are on field and there are thousands of them."

Earlier, Javadekar chaired a meeting of top officials of the Tamil Nadu Forest Department. Over the interaction, the minister said "we had a good meeting."

Under the urban green campaign of the Centre, lands under forest category sans greenery will be brought under forest cover across the country including Tamil Nadu, he said.

It will be ensured that such forest lands were encroachment free with proper compound wall and made useful, he said.

"In a growing city like Chennai, which also faces water scarcity, we also need to create water harvesting in green spaces and this has also been discussed with the Forest officials," he said.

The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill has been introduced in Parliament and the Centre wants to unlock about Rs 38,000 crore in the Fund and provide it to states for such efforts, he said.

The funds are "locked in bank accounts as per supreme court orders."

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