WASHINGTON, DC – As January 20th nears, people from around the world are preparing to travel to Washington, DC to witness the 56th Presidential Inauguration. Many will be making the journey by bus from around the country, and it is important that all visitors arrive and return home safely from the inaugural events.
When making travel plans for January 20, 2009, all bus passengers are encouraged to visit www.fmcsa.dot.gov for important pre-trip safety information including how to choose a bus carrier, how to check their safety record, what you should know before boarding, and links to additional inaugural information. It is very important that all passengers be aware of the location of emergency exits and fire extinguishers on the bus in which they are traveling, listen to all driver instructions in the event of an emergency and know who to contact if they need help.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the bus and truck safety agency within the US Department of Transportation, is working to ensure the safe and efficient transportation of these passengers. Officials in Washington, DC are expecting the number of attendees to be in the millions, with over 10,000 buses estimated to arrive in the city. To reach bus companies, drivers, and the general public traveling to and from the Inauguration, FMCSA is encouraging driver and passenger safety by distributing safety materials and making them available for passengers and organizers to download from here.
As you embark on the “Road to History” – arrive and return home safely.
(UNESCO) – Addis Ababa hosted the 3rd Ethiopian International Film Festival (3EIFF) from 24 to 30 November 2008 under the theme ‘Value Each Other’. The event attracted widespread interest with over 20,000 visitors coming to see 50 films from 7 countries; 22 of these films were produced in Ethiopia.
UNESCO worked with Ato Yirgashewa Teshome, Director of 3EIFF and Linkage Media, to create a Development Day within the Film Festival aimed at showcasing the power of films as a platform for development communication. A half-day workshop organized by UNESCO and Linkage Media on Development Day brought together over 100 film-makers, media professionals and development workers to reflect on and identify strategies for promoting development issues and messages through popular films.
According to Ato Yirgashewa, “while documentary films have been successfully used to raise awareness, much more can be done if development messages are captured and presented in regular, entertainment-oriented feature films which have greater audience appeal.” “In Ethiopia we face many development challenges, and popular films can play an important role in alleviating them,” he added, “film-makers and traditional development workers can achieve much through closer collaboration”.
The workshop provided opportunities to examine techniques and creative approaches to incorporating development themes in film. Samples of good practice were highlighted through film clips presented to the audience. Practical challenges being faced by the film industry in Ethiopia, such as limited access to training, the marketing of films locally and abroad as well as the need to create opportunities to work with foreign film makers through mentorship programmes, were highlighted.
Emerging from the workshop was a recognition and consensus that “film-makers are a dynamic and essential component of society with a shared responsibility for advocating development through film”, as Benyam Worku, film maker and Public Relation Manager from the Ethiopian Film Makers Association, pointed out.
UNESCO, through its Culture, and Communication and Information Sectors, is involved in a number of efforts aimed at building the capacity of Ethiopian film makers and supporting their growth both as a cultural industry and as a platform for addressing human development needs. In June 2008, UNESCO organized an exploratory forum to identify gaps and needs. This collaboration resulted in a decision by UNESCO to be involved in the recent Film Festival, to organize in 2009 short skill training workshops for film producers, and to make a research about the effective use of film for development communication. Exploratory discussions are also underway with the Addis Ababa University and other stakeholders on the possible establishment of a film school.
The Women’s Economic Resource Center (WERC) will host Yodit Mesfin at their first luncheon of the new year Thursday January 17th at the Tuscan Grille in Manistee beginning at 11:45.
Yodit Mesfin is currently the Program Manager for the Michigan Women’s Marketplace, an initiative of The Center for Empowerment and Economic Development, a non-profit organization based in Ann Arbor. She is also founder of “All for You”; a company dedicated to the empowerment of women through professional image consulting.
Yodit was educated at Eastern Michigan University where she studied Marketing and Public Relations. Her career began with Honeywell, Inc. where she was promoted to many positions including Customer Service Manager for Michigan and northern Ohio. Her responsibilities included measuring service performance and identifying customer retention strategies. While managing Operations of the local service center, she acted as a one of three satellite managers for the Honeywell’s national Customer Monitoring Center in Minneapolis, MN. While in this capacity she played a fundamental role in the implementation of a multi million dollar national software conversion.
In 2000, she accepted the position of Closing Department Manager for Edward Surovell Realtors. Responsibilities included managing Real Estate Closing services for 10 offices and over 300 agents. Her duties included serving as a liaison for services to the agents, balancing a multi-million dollar escrow fund and management of the Closing department and its staff.
An entrepreneurial spirit at heart, Yodit has been the visionary for several start up businesses. In 2003, Yodit founded All For You an Image Consulting firm. The company’s mission is to empower women who have struggled with personal branding in the chaos of their professional success, absence from the work force, or lack of employment in general. In many cases, their personal image had been put aside and replaced by their professional pursuits. This resonated with Yodit. Slowly she has built a business based on trust and honesty. She is not afraid to tell her clients the truth about their images, and the messages those images send.
By 2004 she had decided to pursue this endeavor full time. While in that pursuit, she learned about CEED and its service to women and minorities in Michigan. It was a natural fit. An alumni of CEED’s business class, she began volunteering at CEED. In 2004, CEED utilized Yodit’s event planning background and hired her as a consultant for the 4th Annual Michigan Women’s Business Conference and Expo. In early 2005, she was offered the position of Program Manager for the Michigan Women’s Marketplace (www.miwomen.com). The Marketplace is a statewide online women’s business community. In addition to the speaking about the Marketplace and women’s issues, Yodit works with other non-profit organizations to support and advocate for their mutual customer; the woman business owner.
Yodit is a drum major for women business owners and a dedicated entrepreneur with a vast skill set and a dynamic personality. The luncheon is open to anyone interested in learning more about tools available to women in business.
To register for the WERC Thursday, January 17, 2008 luncheon, see the WERC web site at www.manisteewerc.org or send an RSVP to [email protected]
The cost for the luncheon is $10 payable at the door. Doors open at 11:30.
WERC is organized to support the professional development and leadership of women and girls in Manistee County and the surrounding areas. Luncheons are held the third Thursday of each month.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Somalia’s president will resign Monday to try to end government infighting before the country’s Ethiopian Woyanne allies leave, a senior ally said Sunday in the latest in a series of conflicting statements on the leader’s future.
President Abdullahi Yusuf will address a special session of the country’s parliament to announce his retirement from politics, said Abdirashid Sed, a confidant of Yusuf and the most senior figure to comment so far on the president’s plans.
“He decided to step down because he does not want to be seen as an obstacle to peace in Somalia,” Sed told The Associated Press. “He wants to give a chance to the younger generation.”
The announcement came as 19 people died in clashes in the Horn of Africa nation that has been ravaged by 18 years of civil war.
The president’s position has been in doubt since parliament last week blocked his attempt to fire Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein.
The political infighting has crippled the Somali government, which came to power two years ago after Ethiopian Woyanne troops attacked an Islamic administration that had ruled much of the south and the capital for six months.
Islamist insurgents have hit back and now hold most of southern and central Somalia. Yusuf’s administration only controls a few pockets of territory in the capital and one other town.
The Ethiopian Woyanne allies are due to pull out within days and the government will be forced to rely on their own unpaid and ill-disciplined fighters to tackle the insurgency.
Hussein, a former humanitarian worker with broad international support, has welcomed talks with factions fighting in the civil war. He backed a peace deal signed with Islamic moderates that was criticized by Yusuf, a former warlord from one of Somalia’s biggest clans.
Some analysts hope Yusuf’s expected resignation and the departure of the Ethiopians Woyanne — largely Christians in a Muslim country — may persuade the strongest and most hardline Islamic militia, al-Shabab, to enter peace talks.
But some analysts say al-Shabab’s territorial gains have put it in a strong position and would have little incentive to talk with the government.
Al-Shabab fought with a moderate local Islamist group Sunday in the central Somali town of Dusamareeb, about 300 miles (480 kilometers) north of Mogadishu, leaving 10 dead, said witness Mohamud Jama Aden. The local militia accuses al-Shabab of harassing its members and destroying temples and tombs of respected clerics.
A separate clash between rival militias left five dead Sunday in the central town of Galinsoor, said clan elder Guhad Yusuf Aw-nure. Meanwhile, Ethiopian Woyanne troops in southern Mogadishu shot dead four civilians following a bomb blast near one of their bases, according to resident Abdi Haji Isaq.
In Merka, a southern port city under al-Shabab control, armed men raided the office of the U.N. World Food Program and an Italian aid agency and took cash and equipment, an employee said. He asked that his name not be used for fear of reprisals. Nairobi-based WFP spokesman Peter Smerdon said they were investigating the reports.
Any political solution would also depend on the powerful clan warlords and the businessmen who have profited from the chaos in Somalia, with its government riven with corruption and squabbling.
Impoverished Somalia has not had a functioning government since warlords overthrew its socialist dictator in 1991.
(Associated Press Writers Salad Duhul in Mogadishu, Somalia, and Malkhadir M. Muhumed in Nairobi, Kenya contributed to this report.)
A slow starvation of the brain over time is one of the major triggers of the biochemistry that causes some forms of Alzheimer’s, according to a new study that is helping to crack the mystery of the disease’s origins.
An estimated 10 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer’s in their lifetime, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. The disease usually begins after age 60, and risk rises with age. The direct and indirect cost of Alzheimer’s and other dementias is about $148 billion a year.
Robert Vassar of Northwestern University, the study’s lead author, found that when the brain doesn’t get enough of the simple sugar called glucose — as might occur when cardiovascular disease restricts blood flow in arteries to the brain — a process is launched that ultimately produces the sticky clumps of protein that appear to be a cause of Alzheimer’s.
Working with human and mice brains, Vassar discovered that a key brain protein is altered when the brain’s supply of energy drops. The altered protein, called eIF2alpha, increases the production of an enzyme that, in turn, flips a switch to produce the sticky protein clumps.
“This finding is significant because it suggests that improving blood flow to the brain might be an effective therapeutic approach to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s,” Vassar said.
The best ways to improve blood flow to the brain and thereby reduce the chances of getting Alzheimer’s is to reduce cholesterol intake, manage high blood pressure and exercise, especially entering mid-life.
“If people start early enough, maybe they can dodge the bullet,” Vassar said. For people who already have symptoms, vasodilators, which increase blood flow, may help the delivery of oxygen and glucose to the brain, he added. The study is published in the Dec. 26 issue of the journal Neuron.
No candy bars
When it comes to prevention of Alzheimer’s, eating candy bars is not the solution to improving the flow of blood glucose to the brain, Vassar told LiveScience.
A decreasing blood flow to the brain happens over time, as we age, and that slowly starves the brain of glucose. This could be a general aging phenomenon, or it could be that some individuals are particularly prone to it, Vassar said. Also, decreased blood flow is associated with atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, and hypertension, or high blood pressure.
“We need to improve our cardiovascular health, not eat more sugar,” Vassar said. “What is coming out in terms of the epidemiological studies is that exercise during mid-life is one of the best prevention strategies for Alzheimer’s disease, so people should stay active physically, and they should watch their diets and reduce cholesterol intake, because cholesterol contributes to atherosclerosis, and that is true for the heart and the rest of the body as well as for the brain.”
Vassar said it also is possible that drugs could be designed to block the elF2alpha protein that begins the formation of the protein clumps, known as amyloid plaques.
Earlier Alzheimer’s findings
Ten years ago, Vassar discovered the enzyme, BACE1, that was responsible for making the sticky, fiber-like clumps of protein that form outside neurons and disrupt their ability to send messages.
But the cause of the high levels of the protein in people with the disease has been unknown. Vassar’s new study now shows that energy deprivation in the brain might be the trigger starting the process that forms plaques in Alzheimer’s.
Vassar said his work suggests that Alzheimer’s disease may result from a less severe type of energy deprivation than occurs in a stroke. Rather than dying, the brain cells react by increasing BACE1, which may be a protective response in the short term, but harmful in the long term.
“A stroke is a blockage that prevents blood flow and produces cell death in an acute, dramatic event,” Vassar said. “What we are talking about here is a slow, insidious process over many years where people have a low level of cardiovascular disease or atherosclerosis in the brain. It’s so mild, they don’t even notice it, but it has an effect over time because it’s producing a chronic reduction in the blood flow.”
Vassar said when people reach a certain age, some may get increased levels of the enzymes that cause a build-up of the plaques. “Then they start falling off the cliff,” he said.
Contrary to popular belief, recent studies have found that there are probably ways to regenerate brain matter.
Animal studies conducted at the National Institute on Aging Gerontology Research Center and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, for example, have shown that both calorie restriction and intermittent fasting along with vitamin and mineral intake, increase resistance to disease, extend lifespan, and stimulate production of neurons from stem cells.
In addition, fasting has been shown to enhance synaptic elasticity, possibly increasing the ability for successful re-wiring following brain injury. These benefits appear to result from a cellular stress response, similar in concept to the greater muscular regeneration that results from the stress of regular exercise.
Additional research suggests that increasing time intervals between meals might be a better choice than chronic calorie restriction, because the resultant decline in sex hormones may adversely affect both sexual and brain performance. Sex steroid hormones testosterone and estrogen are positively impacted by an abundant food supply. In other words, you might get smarter that way, but it might adversely affect your fun in the bedroom, among other drawbacks.
But if your not keen on starving yourself, there are other options. Another recent finding, stemming from the Burnham Institute for Medical Research and Iwate University in Japan, reports that the herb rosemary contains an ingredient that fights off free radical damage in the brain. The active ingredient, known as carnosic acid (CA), can protect the brain from stroke and neurodegeneration such as Alzheimer’s and from the effects of normal aging.
Although researchers are patenting more potent forms of isolated compounds in this herb, unlike most new drugs, simply using the rosemary in its natural state may be the most safe and clinically tolerated because it is known to get into the brain and has been consumed by people for over a thousand years. The herb was used in European folk medicine to help the nervous system.
Another brain booster that Bruce N. Ames, Ph.D., a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California, Berkeley, swears by his daily 800 mg of alpha-lipoic acid and 2,000 mg of acetyl-L-carnitine, chemicals which boost the energy output of mitochondria that power our cells. Mitochondrial decay is a major factor in aging and diseases such as Alzheimer’s and diabetes. Elderly rats on these supplements had more energy and ran mazes better.
Omega-3s fatty acids DHA and EPA found in walnuts and fatty fish (such as salmon, sardines, and lake trout) are thought to help ward off Alzheimer’s disease. (In addition, they likely help prevent depression and have been shown to help prevent sudden death from heart attack).
Turmeric, typically found in curry, contains curcumin, a chemical with potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. In India, it is even used as a salve to help heal wounds. East Asians also eat it, which might explain their lower rates (compared to the United States) of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, in addition to various cancers. If curry isn’t part of your favorite cuisines, you might try a daily curcumin supplement of 500 to 1,000 mg.
Physical exercise may also have beneficial effects on neuron regeneration by stimulating regeneration of brain and muscle cells via activation of stress proteins and the production of growth factors. But again, additional research suggests that not all exercise is equal. Interestingly, some researchers found that exercise considered drudgery was not beneficial in neuronal regeneration, but physical activity that was engaged in purely for fun, even if equal time was spent and equal calories were burned, resulted in neuronal regeneration.
Exercise can also help reduce stress, but any stress-reducing activity, such as meditation and lifestyle changes, can help the brain. There is some evidence that chronic stress shrinks the parts of the brain involved in learning, memory, and mood. (It also delays wound healing, promotes atherosclerosis, and increases blood pressure.)
It should go without saying that short-term cognitive and physical performance is not boosted by fasting, due to metabolic changes including decrease in body temperature, decreased heart rate and blood pressure and decreased glucose and insulin levels, so you’re better off not planning a marathon or a demanding work session during a fasting period.
As part of a healthy lifestyle the prescription of moderating food intake, exercising, and eating anti-oxidant rich foods is what we’ve long known will boost longevity, but it’s good to know that we can bring our brains along with us as we make it into those golden years without being the 1 in 7 who suffers from dementia. Keep your fingers crossed and eat some rosemary chicken.
Yodit Mesfin is currently the Program Manager for the Michigan Women’s Marketplace, an initiative of The Center for Empowerment and Economic Development, a non-profit organization based in Ann Arbor. She is also founder of “All for You”; a company dedicated to the empowerment of women through professional image consulting.