With Mars mission and rover Curiosity, NASA hunts building blocks of life
The last time the United States landed a mission on Mars to look for extraterrestrial life or its building blocks, Gerald Ford was president and the nation had just finished celebrating its 1976 bicentennial.
Next week, the long-delayed second attempt will try to deposit a rover on the planet’s surface.
The descent and landing in the early hours of Aug. 6 will be the most complex and hair-raising in planetary history. The destination is a deep crater with a three-mile-tall mountain that NASA could only dream about using as a landing site until very recently.
It’s the most ambitious, the most costly ($2.5 billion) and the most high-stakes mission ever to another planet. It was also described last week by the agency’s top scientist, former astronaut John M. Grunsfeld, as “the most important NASA mission of the decade.”
“There is no doubt that this is a risky mission, and that is coming from a human-spacecraft guy,” Grunsfeld said. “It’s hard to get something this big and complex to the surface of Mars, and then to get it to start roving. Thousands of people around the world working on it will be feeling their lives are riding on the mission landing successfully. We’ll all know soon if the risk was worth it.”
What the Mars Science Laboratory mission and its rover named Curiosity bring to Mars is a capacity to analyze the planet with much more sophistication than before, and to do it over a sizable and scientifically rich expanse.
The goal is not to find Martian life per se but rather to ferret out carbon-based organic compounds that are building blocks of life, and then to determine whether the Gale Crater landing site was ever suitable for creatures. Both are integral parts of the science of astrobiology — the search for life beyond Earth.
A fully loaded SUV
At 10 feet long and seven feet high at the top of its camera mast, Curiosity is the size of an SUV and weighs almost a ton, about three times more than the Spirit and Opportunity rovers sent to Mars in 2003 on a primarily geological mission. Its robotic arm for digging soil and drilling rock is seven feet long, almost three times longer than previous rover arms. This tool will provide more and better samples for the lab’s instruments, which will do their analysis on Mars and send back the results to scientists here.
Curiosity will have numerous ovens to bake soil and rocks up to 1,800 degrees and analyze what comes out; it will have a laser zapper to free up potentially important targets in rocks; it will have cameras with unprecedented capabilities, including one that will take video of the last several minutes of the high-drama landing, now dubbed “seven minutes of terror” by NASA.
Getting to Mars, and especially landing on it, is difficult. Forty-four missions — flybys, orbits and landings — have been sent to the planet by NASA, the former Soviet Union, Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China, and about one-third have made it. All six successful landings were flown by NASA. (A Soviet capsule made a soft landing in 1971 but then sent back only 14 seconds of data, so it is not considered to have succeeded.)
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Monday, July 30, 2012
'Life Of Pi' will be an exceptional film: Irrfan
'Life Of Pi' will be an exceptional film: Irrfan
New Delhi: After starring in international projects like 'Slumdog Millionaire' and the recently released 'The Amazing Spider-Man', Irrfan says his next Hollywood film, Ang Lee's 'Life Of Pi', is going to be exceptional.
'Life of Pi' is an adaptation of Yann Martel's bestselling novel of the same name and tells the story of a boy named Pi Patel and his incredible survival at sea against impossible odds.
The 45-year-old actor plays the grown-up Pi in the film that marks the 'Brokeback Mountain' helmer's first 3D creation. "'Life Of Pi' is going to be an exceptional film. It is based on a very intelligent book. It was very difficult to adapt it into a film but the director did a fantastic job with it.
It is Ang's first 3D film and I am sure people are going to like it. With this film he has done something extraordinary," said Irrfan, who was in the Capital to attend the ongoing 12th Osians Film Festival.
'Life of Pi' also stars Suraj Sharma, Tabu, Adil Hussain and Hollywood star Tobey Maguire. The fantasy film will hit Indian theatres on November 21, a month ahead of its US release.
Irrfan's latest Hollywood release, Marc Webb's 'The Amazing Spider-Man', saw him play an important role as Dr Ratha and he said that the success of the film came a surprise to him.
"I never had any hopes for that role. I was not expecting anything. I enjoyed working with the director and I am happy that the film is doing so well. I am also very happy for Andrew (Garfield, who plays Spider-Man in the film). In the
end it feels good to see a film succeed," he said.
Irrfan's last Bollywood venture was director Tigmanshu Dhulia's 'Paan Singh Tomar' based on the true story of an athlete-turned-rebel by the same name. The film that was made on a shoestring budget of Rupees 8 crore, went on to become
one of the biggest hits of this year.
"'Paan Singh' earned more than double. It is very tricky to judge a film by how much it collects at the Box Office. I have realised that a film is only considered successful if it makes money, irrespective of the content. That is something I am fighting for now," Irrfan said.
The actor has been riding on the wave of appreciation post 'Paan Singh' and when asked if he and Dhuluia are trying to redefine stardom, Irrfan said, "That is what we thought when I made 'Haasil'. We both wanted to redefine entertainment, stardom comes much later. "We had plans but it did not quite succeed. We had to
wait for it. I am still trying but I think I am getting there," he added.
New Delhi: After starring in international projects like 'Slumdog Millionaire' and the recently released 'The Amazing Spider-Man', Irrfan says his next Hollywood film, Ang Lee's 'Life Of Pi', is going to be exceptional.
'Life of Pi' is an adaptation of Yann Martel's bestselling novel of the same name and tells the story of a boy named Pi Patel and his incredible survival at sea against impossible odds.
The 45-year-old actor plays the grown-up Pi in the film that marks the 'Brokeback Mountain' helmer's first 3D creation. "'Life Of Pi' is going to be an exceptional film. It is based on a very intelligent book. It was very difficult to adapt it into a film but the director did a fantastic job with it.
It is Ang's first 3D film and I am sure people are going to like it. With this film he has done something extraordinary," said Irrfan, who was in the Capital to attend the ongoing 12th Osians Film Festival.
'Life of Pi' also stars Suraj Sharma, Tabu, Adil Hussain and Hollywood star Tobey Maguire. The fantasy film will hit Indian theatres on November 21, a month ahead of its US release.
Irrfan's latest Hollywood release, Marc Webb's 'The Amazing Spider-Man', saw him play an important role as Dr Ratha and he said that the success of the film came a surprise to him.
"I never had any hopes for that role. I was not expecting anything. I enjoyed working with the director and I am happy that the film is doing so well. I am also very happy for Andrew (Garfield, who plays Spider-Man in the film). In the
end it feels good to see a film succeed," he said.
Irrfan's last Bollywood venture was director Tigmanshu Dhulia's 'Paan Singh Tomar' based on the true story of an athlete-turned-rebel by the same name. The film that was made on a shoestring budget of Rupees 8 crore, went on to become
one of the biggest hits of this year.
"'Paan Singh' earned more than double. It is very tricky to judge a film by how much it collects at the Box Office. I have realised that a film is only considered successful if it makes money, irrespective of the content. That is something I am fighting for now," Irrfan said.
The actor has been riding on the wave of appreciation post 'Paan Singh' and when asked if he and Dhuluia are trying to redefine stardom, Irrfan said, "That is what we thought when I made 'Haasil'. We both wanted to redefine entertainment, stardom comes much later. "We had plans but it did not quite succeed. We had to
wait for it. I am still trying but I think I am getting there," he added.
Friday, July 27, 2012
Nothing quite like life in an Olympic village
Nothing quite like life in an Olympic village
Twitter has been awash with tidbits and pictures posted by sports stars, like Roland Schoeman, competing at his fourth Olympics, hailing the London base as the best village he has seen.
The high-rise apartment buildings — nine stories in the case of the block on Cheering Lane which Team SA shares with other nations including Spain — offer great views into the Olympic precinct.
Photographs of sunsets have been popular on Twitter.
But the reality is that life in the village is little different to what it is outside; training is as hard as ever.
During my brief visit into the village on Thursday afternoon, I bumped into head swim coach Graham Hill, who was heading off for a late lunch, having left the swimmers for their daily siesta. “The swimmers are sleeping,” he explained. A few hours later he would tweet a pic of himself at the Olympic pool, overseeing yet another training session.
Women’s hockey captain Marsha Marescia was rushing back from training, carrying a kitbag. “I’m late,” she shouted across the road. “I have to go for physio.”
The physiotherapists are located on the first floor, and they are visible through the windows, working tirelessly to keep Team SA fit and strong.
On top of the building SA flags have been hung to claim ownership of the block for the next few weeks. On the ground floor is the administrative office, where staff deal with mundane issues most of us would rather not know about, such as issuing meal tickets to visitors so they can eat in the legendary dining hall.
Caterers offer cuisines from around the globe — British, African, Jamaican, Indian, Asian and others are on the menu, including the famous stand hosted by MacDonald’s, one of the global sponsors of the Olympics.
Every burger and nugget is free. Legend has it that the stall is empty in the early stages of the Games, but as athletes finish their competition, suddenly the demand for junk food goes through the roof.
In the London dining hall, there were one or two people ordering at the main counter, but the real trade was going down at the McCafe side, where chocolate chip cookies — every single one free — were flying out the oven freshly baked.
For athletes not sure about what to eat, there are some nutritionists on hand, with a super-duper computer programme that will provide them with an exact menu minus anything they might be allergic to.
Much has been said of the thousands of free condoms that are reportedly being dished out in the village, but I can’t say I saw a single one. Not that I was looking.
But they are there somewhere, waiting to come out in the next week or two for those legendary orgies we have heard about.
The extraordinary achievements of Olympic athletes, however, will be on view in public and televised to millions around the world.
And that’s really why they are here.
Twitter has been awash with tidbits and pictures posted by sports stars, like Roland Schoeman, competing at his fourth Olympics, hailing the London base as the best village he has seen.
The high-rise apartment buildings — nine stories in the case of the block on Cheering Lane which Team SA shares with other nations including Spain — offer great views into the Olympic precinct.
Photographs of sunsets have been popular on Twitter.
But the reality is that life in the village is little different to what it is outside; training is as hard as ever.
During my brief visit into the village on Thursday afternoon, I bumped into head swim coach Graham Hill, who was heading off for a late lunch, having left the swimmers for their daily siesta. “The swimmers are sleeping,” he explained. A few hours later he would tweet a pic of himself at the Olympic pool, overseeing yet another training session.
Women’s hockey captain Marsha Marescia was rushing back from training, carrying a kitbag. “I’m late,” she shouted across the road. “I have to go for physio.”
The physiotherapists are located on the first floor, and they are visible through the windows, working tirelessly to keep Team SA fit and strong.
On top of the building SA flags have been hung to claim ownership of the block for the next few weeks. On the ground floor is the administrative office, where staff deal with mundane issues most of us would rather not know about, such as issuing meal tickets to visitors so they can eat in the legendary dining hall.
Caterers offer cuisines from around the globe — British, African, Jamaican, Indian, Asian and others are on the menu, including the famous stand hosted by MacDonald’s, one of the global sponsors of the Olympics.
Every burger and nugget is free. Legend has it that the stall is empty in the early stages of the Games, but as athletes finish their competition, suddenly the demand for junk food goes through the roof.
In the London dining hall, there were one or two people ordering at the main counter, but the real trade was going down at the McCafe side, where chocolate chip cookies — every single one free — were flying out the oven freshly baked.
For athletes not sure about what to eat, there are some nutritionists on hand, with a super-duper computer programme that will provide them with an exact menu minus anything they might be allergic to.
Much has been said of the thousands of free condoms that are reportedly being dished out in the village, but I can’t say I saw a single one. Not that I was looking.
But they are there somewhere, waiting to come out in the next week or two for those legendary orgies we have heard about.
The extraordinary achievements of Olympic athletes, however, will be on view in public and televised to millions around the world.
And that’s really why they are here.
Thursday, July 26, 2012
Teen was trying to get his life on track before fatal Niagara fall: youth worker
Teen was trying to get his life on track before fatal Niagara fall: youth worker
The man who died last night after a police chase ended in the suspect and the officer going over a retaining wall into the Niagara Gorge has been identified as Ryan Dube, 18, according to the Boys and Girls Club of Niagara.
JoAnne Turner, the executive director of the youth agency, said Mr. Dube had been staying at the agency’s group home on Ontario Ave., two blocks west of where the pair fell into the gorge, and that Victim Services Niagara had been at the home till 1:30 a.m. to provide grief counselling to the staff and youth at the home.
The incident happened on River Rd. between Eastwood St. and Otter St. shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday when an officer with the Niagara Regional Police Service was chasing a suspect, according to a statement from Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit.
“A short time later, they both went over the gorge wall and into the Niagara gorge,” said the statement.
The SIU is a provincial arms-length agency that investigates incidents of death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault involving police. They have assigned seven investigators and two forensic investigators to probe the circumstances surrounding Mr. Dube’s death.
Mr. Dube’s body was recovered just before 9 p.m. Ms. Turner described him as a well-liked, good-natured and respectful individual.
“It was a shock. Very, very difficult to take. It was just so tragic,” said Ms. Turner. “He’ll be very sadly missed.”
She said Mr. Dube had left the group home with a friend around 5 p.m. on what had previously been an uneventful day for him.
“The friend had come back to the residence and said that a cruiser had stopped, and an officer was talking to him and he fled.”
Shortly after, staff at the home became very aware of the rescue efforts near them and became fearful that it was Mr. Dube who had gone over the wall. It wasn’t until much later in the evening that they got confirmation from another youth agency – listed as Mr. Dube’s next of kin – that it was indeed him at the bottom of the gorge.
“The youth were very, very distraught to learn that it was him,” said Ms. Turner.
She said Mr. Dube was originally from the St. Catharines or Niagara region. It is not known if he was in touch with any family members, but the Boys and Girls Club is waiting to see if relatives will come forward to make funeral arrangements.
The deceased never had any issues of violence, although he sometimes had trouble making the 11 p.m. curfew, said Ms. Turner. Mr. Dube was trying to establish independence and had recently applied for several jobs.
She added that the police officer may have apprehended him because he was on probation for an unknown matter and may have been violating the terms of his probation.
Mr. Dube had been staying on and off at the group home since November 2011. Ms. Turner did not know where he was living while not at the shelter.
The male officer in the incident suffered a broken femur, according to the SIU statement. He was rescued using a bucket that was lowered into the gorge and transported by air ambulance on a stretcher to Hamilton General Hospital, the nearest trauma centre.
Jennifer Tracey, spokeswoman for ORNGE, said the officer was in serious condition. He was first taken by land ambulance to a local park nearby where the air ambulance had landed. She said the ride to the hospital is about 10 to 15 minutes. The helicopter left the scene at about 7:50 p.m.
Niagara Police confirmed that the officer’s name is Constable Jacob Smits and that he underwent emergency surgery. They refused to comment on the incident or confirm any of the details. Spokesman Derek Watson said only that the SIU was investigating.
Ermanno Ceniccola, 43, lives just one street away from where the officer and the suspect fell. He is the owner of a local IT company MediaVice and was working from home when he heard a lot of sirens. He went over to check out the commotion. As he watched the rescue unfold, he spoke to other witnesses on the scene who told him the suspect was a man in his twenties living on River St.
“They came running from a residence that was on River Rd. facing the gorge. They both crossed the street and jumped over,” Mr. Ceniccola said. “He was pursuing the suspect but for some reason, and this is probably strange to most people around here, is why the officer would have jumped over the wall too knowing how dangerous it is there. It’s kind of a mystery.”
It is not known if the police officer and suspect actually jumped or fell over the wall.
Mr. Ceniccola said a police cruiser was parked in the driveway of the home where the suspect and the officer came running from. He said a neighbour told him the house “is known for trouble.”
This is the second time in about two months that ORNGE has had to transport someone from the gorge. On Victoria Day, a man was rescued after attempting suicide.
The man who died last night after a police chase ended in the suspect and the officer going over a retaining wall into the Niagara Gorge has been identified as Ryan Dube, 18, according to the Boys and Girls Club of Niagara.
JoAnne Turner, the executive director of the youth agency, said Mr. Dube had been staying at the agency’s group home on Ontario Ave., two blocks west of where the pair fell into the gorge, and that Victim Services Niagara had been at the home till 1:30 a.m. to provide grief counselling to the staff and youth at the home.
The incident happened on River Rd. between Eastwood St. and Otter St. shortly after 5 p.m. Tuesday when an officer with the Niagara Regional Police Service was chasing a suspect, according to a statement from Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit.
“A short time later, they both went over the gorge wall and into the Niagara gorge,” said the statement.
The SIU is a provincial arms-length agency that investigates incidents of death, serious injury or allegations of sexual assault involving police. They have assigned seven investigators and two forensic investigators to probe the circumstances surrounding Mr. Dube’s death.
Mr. Dube’s body was recovered just before 9 p.m. Ms. Turner described him as a well-liked, good-natured and respectful individual.
“It was a shock. Very, very difficult to take. It was just so tragic,” said Ms. Turner. “He’ll be very sadly missed.”
She said Mr. Dube had left the group home with a friend around 5 p.m. on what had previously been an uneventful day for him.
“The friend had come back to the residence and said that a cruiser had stopped, and an officer was talking to him and he fled.”
Shortly after, staff at the home became very aware of the rescue efforts near them and became fearful that it was Mr. Dube who had gone over the wall. It wasn’t until much later in the evening that they got confirmation from another youth agency – listed as Mr. Dube’s next of kin – that it was indeed him at the bottom of the gorge.
“The youth were very, very distraught to learn that it was him,” said Ms. Turner.
She said Mr. Dube was originally from the St. Catharines or Niagara region. It is not known if he was in touch with any family members, but the Boys and Girls Club is waiting to see if relatives will come forward to make funeral arrangements.
The deceased never had any issues of violence, although he sometimes had trouble making the 11 p.m. curfew, said Ms. Turner. Mr. Dube was trying to establish independence and had recently applied for several jobs.
She added that the police officer may have apprehended him because he was on probation for an unknown matter and may have been violating the terms of his probation.
Mr. Dube had been staying on and off at the group home since November 2011. Ms. Turner did not know where he was living while not at the shelter.
The male officer in the incident suffered a broken femur, according to the SIU statement. He was rescued using a bucket that was lowered into the gorge and transported by air ambulance on a stretcher to Hamilton General Hospital, the nearest trauma centre.
Jennifer Tracey, spokeswoman for ORNGE, said the officer was in serious condition. He was first taken by land ambulance to a local park nearby where the air ambulance had landed. She said the ride to the hospital is about 10 to 15 minutes. The helicopter left the scene at about 7:50 p.m.
Niagara Police confirmed that the officer’s name is Constable Jacob Smits and that he underwent emergency surgery. They refused to comment on the incident or confirm any of the details. Spokesman Derek Watson said only that the SIU was investigating.
Ermanno Ceniccola, 43, lives just one street away from where the officer and the suspect fell. He is the owner of a local IT company MediaVice and was working from home when he heard a lot of sirens. He went over to check out the commotion. As he watched the rescue unfold, he spoke to other witnesses on the scene who told him the suspect was a man in his twenties living on River St.
“They came running from a residence that was on River Rd. facing the gorge. They both crossed the street and jumped over,” Mr. Ceniccola said. “He was pursuing the suspect but for some reason, and this is probably strange to most people around here, is why the officer would have jumped over the wall too knowing how dangerous it is there. It’s kind of a mystery.”
It is not known if the police officer and suspect actually jumped or fell over the wall.
Mr. Ceniccola said a police cruiser was parked in the driveway of the home where the suspect and the officer came running from. He said a neighbour told him the house “is known for trouble.”
This is the second time in about two months that ORNGE has had to transport someone from the gorge. On Victoria Day, a man was rescued after attempting suicide.
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Edwards Life 2Q Profit Up 17% as Heart Valve Sales Rise
Edwards Lifesciences Corp.'s (EW) second-quarter earnings rose 17% as sales of transcathether heart valves continued to increase.
The medical-device company raised the low end of its full-year earnings projections by two cents to $2.60 to $2.68 a share. Edwards also revised its full-year revenue view to $1.9 billion to $1.97 billion. It had previously expected revenue at the low end of its earlier range of $1.95 billion to $2.05 billion.
The company issued a downbeat outlook for the third quarter, projecting adjusted earnings of 57 cents to 61 cents a share and revenue between $465 million and $485 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected 65 cents and $484 million, respectively.
Edwards is trying to expand the market for its Sapien heart valve in the U.S. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel in June supported wider use for the devices, which are already approved in the U.S. for patients who aren't good candidates for open-heart surgery.
In the latest quarter, transcatheter heart valve sales advanced 71%, driven by the U.S. launch of its Sapien valve.
Chairman and Chief Executive Michael A. Mussallem said the company continues to expect its transcatheter technologies to continue to drive growth.
Edwards raised the low end of its 2012 global catheter-delivered valve sales projections by $30 million, now estimating sales of $550 million to $600 million. Given Sapien's strong second-quarter results, Edwards now expects U.S. sales of $240 million to $260 million this year, up from its April view of $200 million to $240 million.
For the second quarter, Edwards reported a profit of $67.8 million, or 57 cents a share, up from $58.1 million, or 48 cents, a year earlier. Excluding items such as special charges and tax settlements, per-share earnings rose to 67 cents from 49 cents. Revenue rose 12% to $482 million.
In April, Edwards projected adjusted earnings of 64 cents to 68 cents a share on revenue of $470 million to $500 million.
Gross margin widened to 73.1% from 70.4%.
Surgical heart valve therapy revenue fell 2.3%, though cardiac surgery system sales were up 5.5%. Critical care sales slipped 3.6%.
The company's stock fell 1% to $97.69 in after-hours trading and is up 35% over the past three months.
Edwards Life 2Q Profit Up 17% as Heart Valve Sales Rise
The medical-device company raised the low end of its full-year earnings projections by two cents to $2.60 to $2.68 a share. Edwards also revised its full-year revenue view to $1.9 billion to $1.97 billion. It had previously expected revenue at the low end of its earlier range of $1.95 billion to $2.05 billion.
The company issued a downbeat outlook for the third quarter, projecting adjusted earnings of 57 cents to 61 cents a share and revenue between $465 million and $485 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had projected 65 cents and $484 million, respectively.
Edwards is trying to expand the market for its Sapien heart valve in the U.S. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel in June supported wider use for the devices, which are already approved in the U.S. for patients who aren't good candidates for open-heart surgery.
In the latest quarter, transcatheter heart valve sales advanced 71%, driven by the U.S. launch of its Sapien valve.
Chairman and Chief Executive Michael A. Mussallem said the company continues to expect its transcatheter technologies to continue to drive growth.
Edwards raised the low end of its 2012 global catheter-delivered valve sales projections by $30 million, now estimating sales of $550 million to $600 million. Given Sapien's strong second-quarter results, Edwards now expects U.S. sales of $240 million to $260 million this year, up from its April view of $200 million to $240 million.
For the second quarter, Edwards reported a profit of $67.8 million, or 57 cents a share, up from $58.1 million, or 48 cents, a year earlier. Excluding items such as special charges and tax settlements, per-share earnings rose to 67 cents from 49 cents. Revenue rose 12% to $482 million.
In April, Edwards projected adjusted earnings of 64 cents to 68 cents a share on revenue of $470 million to $500 million.
Gross margin widened to 73.1% from 70.4%.
Surgical heart valve therapy revenue fell 2.3%, though cardiac surgery system sales were up 5.5%. Critical care sales slipped 3.6%.
The company's stock fell 1% to $97.69 in after-hours trading and is up 35% over the past three months.
Edwards Life 2Q Profit Up 17% as Heart Valve Sales Rise
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
‘Child Life Specialists’ Help Sick Kids Be Kids
‘Child Life Specialists’ Help Sick Kids Be Kids
Yoselyn Gaitan, an eight-year-old with a shy smile, sits quietly in an exam room at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington D.C., wearing a tiny hospital gown. She looks a little uneasy as she waits to be brought back to the operating room for the final surgery on her cleft palate.
Kelly Schraf spots her through the curtain, and tiptoes into her room.
Yoselyn Gaitan meets with Kelly Schraf, a child life specialist at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Schraf helps children and their parents navigate the medical system and cope with the emotional and physical stresses of life in the hospital (Photo by Jenny Gold/KHN).
Schraf is a child life specialist, a type of health care provider whose job is to help sick children and their families navigate difficult medical situations emotionally and psychologically while in the hospital. They do it largely through play—the basis of how a child learns and grows.
Schraf introduces herself to Yoselyn and her mother, and explains to them why she’s there: “It’s my job at the hospital to make it easier for you to be here and make it more fun.” At the word “fun,” Yoselyn begins to look a little more relaxed.
One of the scariest parts of surgery for a child is the anesthesia mask, so Schraf brings Yoselyn the mask in advance, along with some sparkly stickers for decoration.
“The doctor is going to put sleepy air through this hole, and sometimes the sleepy air is stinky. Another little girl told me it smells like dirty socks,” Schraf explains. “So what I have are special smells to put inside to make it smell good. I have bubblegum, strawberry and cotton candy.”
Yoselyn picks bubblegum and applies a generous layer of it to her mask. By the end of their visit, she’s grinning, and so is Schraf.
Schraf is straight out of college, followed by a mandatory 480-hour child life internship. She says she’s already found her perfect job. Her favorite part, she explains, “is knowing that I made a difference in a child or a family’s life. Seeing them so stressed because they’ve gone through so much that a child shouldn’t have to experience, and knowing that I can work with the hospital team and make their stay better.”
Pediatric ear, nose and throat surgeon Rahul Shah says the doctors in the outpatient surgery unit are as grateful for child life specialists like Schraf as the patients are. “It’s really profound when you hear some of the most old school physicians or surgeons asking for something you would consider warm and fuzzy,” he says. But those doctors insist that they need child life specialists, largely because they make the unit more productive.
When the child life specialists aren’t available, Shah explains, “It’s hard. You’re pulling [children] sometimes away from the parents. The parents are upset. The child is upset. It heightens their anxiety. You bring them back to the operating room, and it’s a lot harder to put them back to sleep. It’s a lot harder to give them an IV.”
Even if each visit saves only four minutes of the surgical team’s time, he says, it can allow that team to accomplish an extra surgery each day.
There are about 4,000 child life specialists in the country. Most of them work in the acute units with the very sickest children. Liz Anderson, who, like Schraf, is bubbly, blond and 24, works in the oncology unit, where children often spend months at a time.
“I get to know them very, very well,” Anderson says.
Owen O’Hara, who has leukemia, plays with child life specialist Liz Anderson, who works with children in the oncology unit at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Jenny Gold/KHN).
She’s been working with nine-year-old Owen O’Hara for several weeks. He sits in his pajamas in an isolation room, a feeding tube in his nose. It’s been less than a week since his bone marrow transplant, which his doctors hope will cure his leukemia; his immune system still too vulnerable to be in the unit’s playroom with the other kids. So yesterday, Anderson brought him a brand new set of Legos to play with.
“We’re building an alien spaceship,” Owen explains, pointing out the cockpit and several green plastic men with tentacles.
Owen’s mom Jackie O’Hara says child life specialists have made a huge difference in helping Owen understand what’s happening to him, often explaining difficult medical concepts in child-friendly words. “Medical terminology is a different language altogether and it’s scary,” O’Hara explains. “They’re able to take the scariness out of it.”
But like all things in health care, child life programs come at a price. The 16 child life specialists at Children’s National Medical Center cost about $800,000 a year, which gets added to the hospital’s overhead, like electricity or maintenance, which gets passed on to patients and insurers.
Mark Wietecha, president and CEO of the Children’s Hospital Association, says the cost is “greatly worth it.” Child life specialists can minimize the trauma caused by a hospital stay – and that can pay dividends far into the future for a sick child, he said.
“It’s really almost an insignificant amount of money on our national expenditure to let the sickest kids have some opportunity to a life and be re-assimilated,” Wietecha said.
O’Hara couldn’t agree more. The child life program, she says, is “like having a little bit of a normal life in the middle of something that’s not normal.”
Yoselyn Gaitan, an eight-year-old with a shy smile, sits quietly in an exam room at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington D.C., wearing a tiny hospital gown. She looks a little uneasy as she waits to be brought back to the operating room for the final surgery on her cleft palate.
Kelly Schraf spots her through the curtain, and tiptoes into her room.
Yoselyn Gaitan meets with Kelly Schraf, a child life specialist at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Schraf helps children and their parents navigate the medical system and cope with the emotional and physical stresses of life in the hospital (Photo by Jenny Gold/KHN).
Schraf is a child life specialist, a type of health care provider whose job is to help sick children and their families navigate difficult medical situations emotionally and psychologically while in the hospital. They do it largely through play—the basis of how a child learns and grows.
Schraf introduces herself to Yoselyn and her mother, and explains to them why she’s there: “It’s my job at the hospital to make it easier for you to be here and make it more fun.” At the word “fun,” Yoselyn begins to look a little more relaxed.
One of the scariest parts of surgery for a child is the anesthesia mask, so Schraf brings Yoselyn the mask in advance, along with some sparkly stickers for decoration.
“The doctor is going to put sleepy air through this hole, and sometimes the sleepy air is stinky. Another little girl told me it smells like dirty socks,” Schraf explains. “So what I have are special smells to put inside to make it smell good. I have bubblegum, strawberry and cotton candy.”
Yoselyn picks bubblegum and applies a generous layer of it to her mask. By the end of their visit, she’s grinning, and so is Schraf.
Schraf is straight out of college, followed by a mandatory 480-hour child life internship. She says she’s already found her perfect job. Her favorite part, she explains, “is knowing that I made a difference in a child or a family’s life. Seeing them so stressed because they’ve gone through so much that a child shouldn’t have to experience, and knowing that I can work with the hospital team and make their stay better.”
Pediatric ear, nose and throat surgeon Rahul Shah says the doctors in the outpatient surgery unit are as grateful for child life specialists like Schraf as the patients are. “It’s really profound when you hear some of the most old school physicians or surgeons asking for something you would consider warm and fuzzy,” he says. But those doctors insist that they need child life specialists, largely because they make the unit more productive.
When the child life specialists aren’t available, Shah explains, “It’s hard. You’re pulling [children] sometimes away from the parents. The parents are upset. The child is upset. It heightens their anxiety. You bring them back to the operating room, and it’s a lot harder to put them back to sleep. It’s a lot harder to give them an IV.”
Even if each visit saves only four minutes of the surgical team’s time, he says, it can allow that team to accomplish an extra surgery each day.
There are about 4,000 child life specialists in the country. Most of them work in the acute units with the very sickest children. Liz Anderson, who, like Schraf, is bubbly, blond and 24, works in the oncology unit, where children often spend months at a time.
“I get to know them very, very well,” Anderson says.
Owen O’Hara, who has leukemia, plays with child life specialist Liz Anderson, who works with children in the oncology unit at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Jenny Gold/KHN).
She’s been working with nine-year-old Owen O’Hara for several weeks. He sits in his pajamas in an isolation room, a feeding tube in his nose. It’s been less than a week since his bone marrow transplant, which his doctors hope will cure his leukemia; his immune system still too vulnerable to be in the unit’s playroom with the other kids. So yesterday, Anderson brought him a brand new set of Legos to play with.
“We’re building an alien spaceship,” Owen explains, pointing out the cockpit and several green plastic men with tentacles.
Owen’s mom Jackie O’Hara says child life specialists have made a huge difference in helping Owen understand what’s happening to him, often explaining difficult medical concepts in child-friendly words. “Medical terminology is a different language altogether and it’s scary,” O’Hara explains. “They’re able to take the scariness out of it.”
But like all things in health care, child life programs come at a price. The 16 child life specialists at Children’s National Medical Center cost about $800,000 a year, which gets added to the hospital’s overhead, like electricity or maintenance, which gets passed on to patients and insurers.
Mark Wietecha, president and CEO of the Children’s Hospital Association, says the cost is “greatly worth it.” Child life specialists can minimize the trauma caused by a hospital stay – and that can pay dividends far into the future for a sick child, he said.
“It’s really almost an insignificant amount of money on our national expenditure to let the sickest kids have some opportunity to a life and be re-assimilated,” Wietecha said.
O’Hara couldn’t agree more. The child life program, she says, is “like having a little bit of a normal life in the middle of something that’s not normal.”
Monday, July 23, 2012
A Week in the Life of Libor
A Week in the Life of Libor
The Justice Department is now expected to file criminal charges this year against at least one big bank in connection with the rate-rigging scandal, while building cases against other banks and their employees. This is welcome news: prosecuting financial crimes is essential to restoring public trust in the banking system and in the willingness of the authorities to police it.
Meanwhile, the furor over how banks fiddled with the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, for their own advantage is now in the buck-passing phase, as bankers and regulators alike attempt to minimize their role.
It is a disturbing and disheartening spectacle. On CNBC last week, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner defended his actions in 2008, when he headed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — a time when the New York Fed knew Barclays was reporting false rates but did not stop or expose the misconduct. Mr. Geithner told CNBC he briefed other American regulators and British authorities on his concerns that the Libor process was “flawed and vulnerable to misrepresentation.” But to hear him tell it, the issue was a plumbing problem, not a potentially criminal and certainly improper pattern of rate rigging.
The British authorities to whom Mr. Geithner directed his concerns — Mervyn King and Paul Tucker, the governor and deputy governor, respectively, of the Bank of England — have testified that the New York Fed’s warnings did not set off any alarms because they contained no allegations of wrongdoing and seemed to echo many concerns raised about technical difficulties in setting the rate. But documents released on Friday by the Bank of England suggest that the central bank knew about potential manipulation in 2007.
Further investigation will have to settle the who-knew-what-when controversy. For now, the trans-Atlantic back and forth is yet another example of the deplorable state of financial regulation during the run-up to the financial crisis. It also shows how hard it is to get to the bottom of a controversy when the officials in positions of power now — like Messrs. Geithner, King and Tucker — are the same people who were running things when the misconduct occurred. Going forward, Mr. Geithner should recuse himself from any investigations into the rate rigging, including any inquiries that may be conducted by the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a panel of regulators created under the Dodd-Frank law and led by the Treasury secretary himself.
And when the time comes to choose a new Treasury secretary — Mr. Geithner has said he does not expect to remain if President Obama is re-elected — the next president would do well to look for candidates among the regulators who have distinguished themselves by their willingness to confront the banking system’s manifest problems. One such person is Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which pursued the rate-rigging allegations against Barclays, securing a record fine and referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation.
Equally important, the Libor scandal cannot be reduced to a technocratic issue over how to best set interest rates. Central bankers and other financial officials need to find a replacement for Libor, which is deeply flawed.
But the real issue is how to reform the banks themselves. The Libor scandal is, in large part, the result of the bonus-driven bank culture, built on big returns and excessive risk. Speculative impulses also drove the recent multibillion-dollar losses at JPMorgan Chase and, obviously, the mortgage bubble. These impulses have not yet been curbed, let alone eliminated in federally insured banks, and until they are the taxpayers who stand behind the financial system remain in peril.
The Justice Department is now expected to file criminal charges this year against at least one big bank in connection with the rate-rigging scandal, while building cases against other banks and their employees. This is welcome news: prosecuting financial crimes is essential to restoring public trust in the banking system and in the willingness of the authorities to police it.
Meanwhile, the furor over how banks fiddled with the London interbank offered rate, or Libor, for their own advantage is now in the buck-passing phase, as bankers and regulators alike attempt to minimize their role.
It is a disturbing and disheartening spectacle. On CNBC last week, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner defended his actions in 2008, when he headed the Federal Reserve Bank of New York — a time when the New York Fed knew Barclays was reporting false rates but did not stop or expose the misconduct. Mr. Geithner told CNBC he briefed other American regulators and British authorities on his concerns that the Libor process was “flawed and vulnerable to misrepresentation.” But to hear him tell it, the issue was a plumbing problem, not a potentially criminal and certainly improper pattern of rate rigging.
The British authorities to whom Mr. Geithner directed his concerns — Mervyn King and Paul Tucker, the governor and deputy governor, respectively, of the Bank of England — have testified that the New York Fed’s warnings did not set off any alarms because they contained no allegations of wrongdoing and seemed to echo many concerns raised about technical difficulties in setting the rate. But documents released on Friday by the Bank of England suggest that the central bank knew about potential manipulation in 2007.
Further investigation will have to settle the who-knew-what-when controversy. For now, the trans-Atlantic back and forth is yet another example of the deplorable state of financial regulation during the run-up to the financial crisis. It also shows how hard it is to get to the bottom of a controversy when the officials in positions of power now — like Messrs. Geithner, King and Tucker — are the same people who were running things when the misconduct occurred. Going forward, Mr. Geithner should recuse himself from any investigations into the rate rigging, including any inquiries that may be conducted by the Financial Stability Oversight Council, a panel of regulators created under the Dodd-Frank law and led by the Treasury secretary himself.
And when the time comes to choose a new Treasury secretary — Mr. Geithner has said he does not expect to remain if President Obama is re-elected — the next president would do well to look for candidates among the regulators who have distinguished themselves by their willingness to confront the banking system’s manifest problems. One such person is Gary Gensler, the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which pursued the rate-rigging allegations against Barclays, securing a record fine and referring the matter to the Justice Department for criminal investigation.
Equally important, the Libor scandal cannot be reduced to a technocratic issue over how to best set interest rates. Central bankers and other financial officials need to find a replacement for Libor, which is deeply flawed.
But the real issue is how to reform the banks themselves. The Libor scandal is, in large part, the result of the bonus-driven bank culture, built on big returns and excessive risk. Speculative impulses also drove the recent multibillion-dollar losses at JPMorgan Chase and, obviously, the mortgage bubble. These impulses have not yet been curbed, let alone eliminated in federally insured banks, and until they are the taxpayers who stand behind the financial system remain in peril.
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