wisconsin road conditions

It didn't hit me until today. I attended Thursday's CNN Nevada Debate for Democratic candidates held at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas. I was the fly on the wall next to the upper crust of the corporate and political hierarchy - not just from Nevada but elsewhere in the country.

I'm not sure why I was fortunate enough to get a ticket. No matter. Most of those attending were dressed for the donor's dinner after the event. It explains why the audience was made up of well heeled, corporate and political movers and shakers, some actors, the target audience of undecided voters, and me.

I sat next to two young couples with Bono's One Campaign. Whenever we clapped for our candidates, most of the audience remained quiet. The main audience savored every word Hillary Clinton spoke and jeered when John Edwards mentioned lobby and corporate campaign money.

Here's the rub. Americans thought they were watching a debate with an audience from Nevada. The man next to me was from North Carolina and a lady in the parking lot was from Wisconsin. Include corporate and individual sponsors attending from all over the country. This left the entire television audience blinded to the reality of who actually occupied the seats at our state's first CNN debate.

Is this a democratic process? Corporate audiences get to cheer on their corporate candidate? Where was the middle and poor classes of Nevada--outside as usual?

Linda Wilcox

Las Vegas



Ethics board made right choice

I was extremely pleased to read the article which explained the decision and exoneration of John Bohn by the Ethics Commission. I never had a doubt about either his actions or his motives.

While I have disagreed with some positions he has taken while on the Board, I have

always found that John has done his homework, backs his position with logic and rationale, and has the strength of his convictions. He does not waffle as I've seen others on the Board do. You know where he stands whether you agree with him or not.

I wonder now if those that so publicly accused him will come forward and apologize.

You know who you are. The only fault I have with the Bonanza is how much air-time and ink they gave to the allegations made by those who leveled repeated vicious and mean-spirited character attacks. The Ethics Commission clearly and decisively dismissed those ill-founded claims. Now is the time to for those individuals to come forward and devote their ink to a public apology. It seems like the honorable thing to do.

Chuck Otto

Incline Village



Drive safe, save lives in winter

Winter has arrived. In Northern Nevada, the winter season often brings ice and snow to our roadways.

Through life's busy schedule, this ice and snow can become a burden to commuters. When safe driving practices aren't followed, it can also become deadly.

In 2006, there were five deaths and 490 vehicle crashes statewide attributable to unsafe driving behaviors in snow and ice, such as driving too fast for conditions, following too closely, or failing to maintain a lane and overcorrecting.

The Nevada Department of Transportation is dedicated to winter road safety, with over 40,000 man hours spent last year removing snow on Reno, Lake Tahoe, Carson City and Fallon state roads. County and city municipalities undertake similar efforts on county and city roads. These efforts place NDOT and our local government partners in the international forefront of winter road safety.

As NDOT clears the road, each individual motorist must also take responsibility to make their winters travels the safest they can be, both for themselves and all of those sharing the road.

How? Dial '511' for Nevada winter road conditions and weather before driving. Use seat belts and headlights. Avoid quick starts, stops and fast turns. Keep additional space between your car and other vehicles. Use extra caution on bridges, ramps, overpasses and shaded areas. Most importantly, always take it slow in ice and snow. These are just some of the tips drivers should follow to make their winter travels safe. NDOT invites all drivers to visit www.nevadadot.com/winter for more safe winter driving tips, current road conditions and chain requirement descriptions.

These important safe driving practices aren't a burden. They are an opportunity to arrive safely at your destination. Is there really anything more important?
Researchers from Japan and Wisconsin reported Tuesday that they had reprogrammed mature human cells to behave almost exactly like embryonic stem cells, a biological breakthrough that instantly recasts the field's ethical, scientific and economic landscape.

By activating a handful of dormant genes, the researchers were able to coax the cells back in time to a point in embryonic development before they had committed to becoming a particular type of tissue.


Graphic
Reprogramming cells
click to enlarge

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The rejuvenated cells were able to grow into all the main tissue types in the body, including muscle, gut, cartilage, neurons and heart cells.

The discovery provides a clear road map for creating genetically matched replacement cells that could be used to treat patients for a variety of diseases -- the personalized biological repair kits that are the ultimate goal of regenerative medicine.

For scientists, the method offers a straightforward alternative to the tricky and still unsuccessful cloning process in which a patient's DNA is inserted into a human egg to create a cloned embryo whose stem cells theoretically could be harvested.

The technique also bypasses the thorny debate over the morality of destroying embryos in the cause of alleviating human suffering.

"It's a win-win," said Richard Doerflinger, secretariat for pro-life activities at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington. "The scientists can get all the benefits they think they might get from embryonic stem cells, and the rest of us can applaud and support it."

Several key hurdles remain before the technique is ready for clinical use. The viruses employed to turn on the genes cause mutations that can lead to cancer, and one of the genes itself also has a tendency to cause tumors.

But scientists said solutions to these problems were in the works.

"This is a tremendous scientific milestone -- the biological equivalent of the Wright brothers' first airplane," said Dr. Robert Lanza, a stem cell researcher at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Mass., who wasn't involved in the research.

The White House praised the work as an example of cutting-edge research that was conducted "within ethical boundaries."

"The president believes medical problems can be solved without compromising either the high aims of science or the sanctity of human life," Press Secretary Dana Perino said.

The discovery has been eagerly anticipated since June, when three research groups achieved the same feat in mice. Scientists expected the experiments to be repeated in humans, but many said it would take years, not months.

Stem cells are coveted for their ability to grow into any kind of cell, such as insulin-secreting islet cells that diabetes patients need or brain tissue that could treat stroke victims.

Until now, the only source of such "pluripotent" cells was the inner cell mass of an early-stage embryo, and the only way to harvest them was by destroying the embryo.

The advance was made by Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, who spearheaded the reprogramming technique in mice, and his colleagues at Kyoto University. They dubbed their cells induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells.

In their new study, published in the journal Cell, they applied essentially the same recipe used with the mice skin cells to human cells taken from the subsurface layer of facial skin belonging to a 36-year-old woman.

The idea was to turn on genes that are active during embryonic development to see whether they would rewind mature adult cells. After testing combinations of 24 candidate genes, the team hit upon a group of four that produces the proteins Oct4, Sox2, c-Myc and Klf4.

Yamanaka's group used a retrovirus to turn on the genes. The proteins, known as transcription factors, initiated a still-unknown biochemical process that returned the cells to an embryonic state.

The researchers grew the iPS cells in dishes and found they behaved almost exactly like embryonic stem cells. Under the right conditions, they became neural cells, or cardiac cells that beat in unison. When injected into mice, the iPS cells formed tumors containing a jumble of body parts. record number of Wisconsinites are driving to their Thanksgiving destination this year. The State Patrol says that is making for some close quarters on western Wisconsin's roadways.

"Quite a lot of traffic, but it's moving quite sensibly," said Donna Leet of Middleton, Wisconsin.

"You try to stay with the flow," added Jim Ploen of Bloomington, Minnesota. "You don't become a hazard out there with passing and so forth. So, it works out pretty good."

"There's been more traffic after we got onto (Highway) 29," said Gary Swenson of Waupaca, Wisconsin. "And then after we got onto (Interstate) 94 here, then it really picked up around Chippewa Falls."

But, many Thanksgiving travelers say this year's heavy traffic isn't what's catching their eye.

"Lot of dead deer," said Merritt Stigen of Hudson, Wisconsin. "Wisconsin deer season!"

"A lot of dead deer on the road and some live turkeys, too," added Lee.

Trooper James Fetherston says the gun deer season tends to increase the amount of traffic over Thanksgiving. But, he says the State Patrol is ready to handle the extra load.

"Generally around the holiday season we will have more troopers than we normally probably would out patrolling," Trooper Fetherston said.

He says those troopers are on the lookout for a lot of things, including speeders.

"People are in a hurry to get to where they want to go, or they have multiple places that they need to be, so they're speeding in-between and it definitely does seem to spike around the holiday seasons."

But, Trooper Fetherston says there are ways you can help keep you and your family safe.

"Allot yourself extra time for travel, watch your speed, watch your distance between the other vehicles and just be ready for possible changing road or weather conditions."

Travelers are also seeing higher gas prices this Thanksgiving




Susan Martinovich, P.E.