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Classifying Antiabortion-Rights Crimes As 'Terrorism' Unnecessary, USA Today Opinion Piece States
Scott Roeder, who is charged with the murder of abortion provider George Tiller, and James von Brunn, who is charged with last week"s shooting death of a Holocaust Memorial Museum guard, "appear to be murderers, not terrorists," Jonathan Turley, a professor of public interest law at George Washington University, writes in a USA Today opinion piece. Although "liberals denounced" the tendency of conservatives to call "every possible crime an act of terrorism" while former President George W. Bush was in office, now that there are antiabortion-rights and anti-Semetic suspects, "there is an insistence that these crimes must be treated as terrorism -- as if to call them "murder" or "hate crimes" would diminish their significance," Turley states. Many people who "kill strangers out of hate for their race or religion or some other association" are "loners or rogue operators who seek to satisfy a blood lust against different groups," Turley contends, noting that classifying a crime as an act of terrorism allows for a different types of prosecution, investigation and punishment. According to Turley, the "term "terrorism" once had a clear meaning before it was used as a point of emphasis to evaluate or distinguish certain crimes." The Bush administration"s broadening of the definition to include "any prosecution that disrupts a "potential" terrorism threat" served to further divert the term from its historical definition, he adds. Now, "many want to see terrorism investigations targeting antiabortion activists and other groups that use violent speech," Turley writes."We do not advance our efforts by classifying every hate crime as terrorism," Turley continues, adding that it would be "the terrorists who will benefit from our lack of focus" in the definition. According to Turley, the "fact is that even an authoritarian nation can do little to stop a determined rogue operator from walking into a church and killing someone like Dr. Tiller." Referring to "someone such as Roeder as a murderer does not diminish the crime or the victim" because "we do not have to call murder "terrorism" to take the crime or its causes seriously," Turley writes (Turley, USA Today, 6/17).

What Is Infective Conjunctivitis? What Is Conjunctivitis? What Is Pink Eye?
There is a thin layer of cells (membrane) between the inner surface of the eyelids and the whites of the eyes, called the conjunctiva. Conjunctivitis is when the conjunctiva becomes inflamed. Another name for conjunctivitis is pink eye. Inflammation causes tiny blood vessels (capillaries) in the conjunctiva to become more prominent, giving the eye a red or pink look.
News of the day
New System Monitors Fetal Heartbeat - Noninvasive Technique Could Prevent Complications
Tiny fluctuations in a fetus"s heartbeat can indicate distress, but currently there is no way to detect such subtle variations except during labor, when it could be too late to prevent serious or even fatal complications.
Sexual Health

Medical Students Climb Everest To Study Immunity

Mountain climbers and adventurers who aspire to ascent Mount Everest have more information on immune function and the onset of acute mountain sickness (AMS), thanks to research presented today at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in Seattle. A team of medical students climbed to Everest Base Camp in order to find physical factors that would reveal information about illness severity in association with immune and hormonal responses to high-altitude exposure. "TeamEverest" included a group of 51 full-time medical students from Royal Free and University College Medical School (RUMS), London. In 2007, the team climbed together to the Everest Base Camp height of 18,500 feet. In addition to their data quest, the team raised funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital Children"s Charity in London. The expedition was designed to be one of the largest field studies to investigate the effects of AMS across all physiological systems. For this climb, the students examinedvarious high-altitude related physiological factors combined with high exposure to ultraviolet radiation, different strains of common pathogens, crowding, sub-optimal personal hygiene, sleep disturbance, and harsh environmental conditions. These factors were compared to how they may impair immune function and contribute to AMS, a condition caused by acute exposure to rapidly decreasing oxygen levels found at high altitudes. The medical students, 26 male and 25 female, were monitored for illness severity (including upper respiratory tract [URT], gastrointestinal, and oral symptoms), mood and sleep disturbance, perceived exertion, muscle soreness, and concentrations of salivary secretions daily during their 15-day trek. Most students experienced illnesses related to URT and oral symptoms, which increased with the altitude. Conversely, salivary secretions decreased, while perceived exertion increased. Based on this, the researchers theorize the suppression of the hormone cortisol (in saliva) and the increase severity of URT symptoms predispose climbers to the development of AMS. The team further expects this work to help gain a better understanding of how healthy bodies acclimatize to extreme altitudes, as well as what implications may hold for exploring uses to help patients with illness or disability. "Medical students are, by nature, explorers of the human body and its boundaries and opportunities," said Lygeri Dimitriou, Ph.D., lead author of the study. "This expedition with these climbers was their chance to be there in person, instead of third-party examiners of data coming back to them. These future clinicians generated some data that will provide aseries of simple objective measurementsthat can be used by mountaineers to easilyassess the severity of AMS symptoms." For more information on the TeamEverest experience, visit http://www.teameverest.org.uk. American College of Sports Medicine


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