Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG.

Welfare and pension increases to be announced in 2017 Irish budget

CARER’S ALLOWANCE AND DISABILITY PAYMENTS TO INCREASE AND THE PRICE OF TOBACCO IS LIKELY TO RISE BY 30%

     

MINISTER FOR HOUSING SIMON COVENEY WILL DETAIL A 64% INCREASE IN THE BUDGET FOR TRAVELLER-SPECIFIC ACCOMMODATION, TO €9M.

An increase in a number of pension and welfare payments will be announced in Tuesday’s budget. Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar will later give details of the package, including an additional €5 in the pension.

It is understood agreement has been reached between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to introduce the pension increases from March.

Discussions were under way last night about the size and timing of increases to the carer’s allowance, disability payments and pensions for blind people and widows under the age of 66.

It has also been confirmed that the price of tobacco will increase in the budget, with a packet of 20 cigarettes going up by 50 cent. The Independent Alliance secured a reduction in prescription charges for the over-70s after a last-minute request ahead of the budget.

The alliance, which has five TDs, made a final plea for the measure during talks with Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohoe and Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

MENTAL HEALTH?

The group had requested a reduction in the charges from €2.50 to €2 for people over 70. Mr Donohoe agreed to cap the monthly cost for the over-70s at €20, a reduction of €5.

The move had been resisted by Fine Gael who insisted money for the health budget had already been allocated to a series of measures, including €35 million for mental health and €50 million for the disability budget.

But Minister for Transport Shane Ross said the alliance found the prescription charge “very difficult to accept in its current form”. He said he and his colleagues would be seeking a “substantial reduction” in the charges.

The Independent Alliance TDs also sought a 10 per cent increase in the Christmas bonus paid to welfare recipients and pensioners.

Mr Varadkar has agreed to an 85 per cent restoration of the payment, which equates to €159.80 for people on welfare and €196 for pensioners.

BACK-TO-EDUCATION

He will increase the one-parent family payment and the back-to-education allowance by €5 per week. The Minister will also outline a new “cost of education” allowance which will be made available to claimants of the back-to-education allowance with children. It will be €500 a year. The income disregards for the one-parent family payment and jobseeker’s transition payment will rise by €20, from €90 to €110 per week, reversing previous reductions.

Minister for Health Simon Harris has been allocated a budget of more than €14 billion, while Minister of State Helen McEntee will be allocated €35 million for mental health services. This will include one major capital project, which is understood to be the reconstruction of an old hospital.

The National Treatment Purchase Fund will also receive an additional €20 million.

Minister for Housing Simon Coveney will detail a 64 per cent increase in the budget for Traveller-specific accommodation – to €9 million in 2017. This is separate from the general social housing budget.

The threshold for rent-a-room tax relief is expected to increase by €2,000. It is also understand that Dirt will be cut by 2 per cent.

An alternative budget as AAA & PBP go after big business.

     

THE ANTI AUSTERITY ALLIANCE, PEOPLE BEFORE PROFIT HAVE PUBLISHED WHAT THEY SAY IS A RADICAL ALTERNATIVE BUDGET.

Water charges, the local property tax and the Universal Social Charge would all be abolished and replaced with a landlord’s tax, a new high earner’s tax and increasing income tax rates for those earning more than €90,000.

They say 50,000 social housing units could be acquired next year and they want to reverse all welfare cuts, add 1,000 hospital beds and increase nursing numbers by 4,000.

AAA TD Paul Murphy says they want to raise at least a further €4bn from Corporation Tax.

He said: “We think that there should be the introduction of a new rate of tax for big business profits, for profits that come in over €800,000.

“That should be a doubling of the existing rate, so 25%.

“That wouldn’t affect small businesses, but only affect big businesses.”

Donald Trump’s comments on women are ‘horrific’, says Tánaiste Fitzgerald

FRANCES FITZGERALD SAYS ‘LOCKER ROOM BANTER’ SHOULD NOT BECOME AN EXCUSE FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT

     

THE TÁNAISTE FRANCES FITZGERALD HAS SAID THAT THE COMMENTS MADE BY DONALD TRUMP ABOUT GRABBING WOMEN IN A 2005 VIDEO RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS FITNESS TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald has said comments made by Donald Trump in a 2005 video about grabbing women raise questions about his fitness to be president of the United States.

Commenting on the recorded conversation in which Republican candidate Mr Trump boasted about using his celebrity status to make sexual advances on women, Ms Fitzgerald said: “I think it’s horrific in relation to women and celebrity being some sort of an excuse for sexual assault.

“I think they are horrendous comments and I think it is very disturbing what has been said in relation to the portrayal of women and an attitude to women.”

In the video, Mr Trump boasted about having “moved” on a married woman and being able to “do anything” to women, including “grab them by the pussy” because of his celebrity.

During the latest debate on Sunday night in the US presidential campaign, moderator Anderson Cooper pressed Mr Trump on the comments. He admitted to having made them but said he had never actually acted in such a way.

‘Deeply disturbing’

Asked about her opinion on Mr Trump’s fitness to be a candidate in the US presidential election, Ms Fitzgerald said: “As I have said it’s deeply disturbing in relation to attitude and the messages it sent out to society at large and its portrayal by him as locker room banter.

“If locker room banter is to become an excuse for the sexual assault of women, I think it has become a major issue in terms of the candidacy of anyone running for president.”

Concussion research project uses Smartphone to detect symptoms

     

                           Concussion Symptoms above middle picture.

A joint Irish and Japanese research team has developed a new platform called Kiduku that can detect if a person has a concussion using a sensor and a smartphone.

For the past three years, the teams from the Insight Centre for Data Analytics based in University College Dublin (UCD) and the Japanese tech giant Fujitsu have been investing huge amounts of time into tackling the issue of concussion.

The attitude towards concussion in sport has changed rapidly over the past two years, from a condition often ignored by coaches to one given top medical priority after an incident on the pitch.

DATA UPLOADED VIA SMARTPHONE

This has largely been due to the fact that while researchers know how a concussion occurs and the immediate effects, the long-term damage remains up for debate.

In the meantime, this joint Irish and Japanese team is looking to at least aid detection immediately following a head injury, using its new platform called Kiduku: an amalgamation of the Japanese phrases “to be aware” and “to construct”.

Devised by a team of physiotherapists, engineers, programmers and data visualisation experts, Kiduku would be available as an application on a person’s smartphone. It would provide clinicians with direct, easy-to-interpret sensor readings across a range of indicators such as gait, posture and balance.

The readings are taken by low cost, off-the-shelf sensor technology and uploaded to the cloud via smartphones.

The combined team has aided in the development of algorithms to interpret the readings as quickly as possible before sending them to a clinician.

Tracking the recovery?

These same sensors can also be used to capture motion data in step-down care settings and in non-clinical environments throughout the day, giving clinicians a more objective and accurate portrait of the patient’s movement and recovery over time.

“Traditional monitoring of concussion is based on in-clinic observation and patient reports,” said Prof Brian Caulfield, director of the Insight Centre.

“Patients routinely perform better in standard motion tests under observation. By analysing data from these sensors whilst in the home or exercising, we can get a more accurate picture of how a patient is moving and balancing.”

This latest announcement marks the successful completion of the first phase of the project, with plans to present the Kiduku platform at the upcoming 5th International Consensus Conference on Concussion in Sport in Berlin on 27 and 28 October.

Interestingly, the Kiduku project began three years ago with the intention of researching monitoring services and assisted independent living for senior citizens, but it was found to be especially suited to monitoring concussion.

Risk of heart attack tripled by exercising while angry. A new study finds

EXPERTS SAY EXTREME EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS COULD HAVE SAME EFFECT ON THE BODY AS PHYSICAL EXERTION

     

MEN RUNNING AT THE GYM. HEAVY EXERTION DOUBLES THE CHANCE OF A HEART ATTACK, WHILE BEING ANGRY OR UPSET AT THE SAME TIME TRIPLES THE RISK.

Attempting to “blow off steam” through vigorous exercise could triple the risk of a heart attack within the hour, experts say.

Being very upset or angry more than doubles the risk of a heart attack within an hour, while heavy physical exertion does the same, a worldwide study suggested. But combining the two – such as using extreme exercise as a way of calming down – increases the risk even further.

Experts said the study – the biggest of its kind – provides evidence of a “crucial link” between mind and body.

The research, published in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation, suggested a doubling of the risk association between anger or emotional upset, or physical exertion, and the onset of first heart attack symptoms within one hour.

The association was much stronger – just over triple the risk – for patients who said they had been angry or emotionally upset while also engaging in heavy physical exertion.

The study’s lead author, Dr Andrew Smyth, from the population health research institute at McMaster University in Canada, said extreme emotional and physical triggers are thought to have similar effects on the body.

He added: “Both can raise blood pressure and heart rate, changing the flow of blood through blood vessels and reducing blood supply to the heart. This is particularly important in blood vessels already narrowed by plaque, which could block the flow of blood leading to a heart attack.

“Regular physical activity has many health benefits, including the prevention of heart disease, so we want that to continue. However, we would recommend that a person who is angry or upset who wants to exercise to blow off steam not go beyond their normal routine to extremes of activity.”

Researchers analysed information from 12,461 patients from 52 countries with an average age of 58. They had completed a questionnaire about the kind of “triggers” they experienced in the hour before they had a heart attack.

The results showed that 13% (1,650 people) had engaged in physical activity while 14% (1,752 people) were angry or emotionally upset.

The experts took into account the effect of other risk factors such as age, smoking, obesity, high blood pressure and other health problems.

Dr Barry Jacobs, the director of behavioural sciences at the Crozer-Keystone family medicine residency programme in Springfield, Pennsylvania, said: “This large, nearly worldwide study provides more evidence of the crucial link between mind and body.

“Excess anger, under the wrong conditions, can cause a life-threatening heart attack. All of us should practise mental wellness and avoid losing our temper to extremes. People who are at risk for a heart attack would do best to avoid extreme emotional situations.”

Maureen Talbot, a senior cardiac nurse with the British Heart Foundation, said: “This research suggests that emotional upset and excessive physical exertion can be triggers for a heart attack. Whilst this is interesting these are not the underlying causes.

“Heart attacks are mainly caused by atherosclerosis, the buildup of fatty plaque in the arteries. When plaque breaks off, a blood clot forms leading to a heart attack.

“That’s why it’s important people know their heart attack risk and take steps to reduce their risk, by quitting smoking, keeping physically active and maintaining a healthy weight.”

Silkworms can produce extra super-silk quality if you feed them correctly

      

SILKWORMS ARE PRETTY AMAZING CREATURES, AND THE SILK THEY PRODUCE FOR THEIR COCOONS HAS BEEN USED BY HUMANS TO CREATE FINE, DURABLE FABRICS FOR MORE THAN 5,000 YEARS.

Now though, silkworms just became a little bit more fascinating.

Silkworms are the larvae of silk moths and use their silk produced in their salivary glands to produce their cocoons.

Scientists from Tsinghua University, Beijing, have found that feeding silkworms graphene or single-walled carbon nanotubes means they create fibres which aren’t only significantly stronger, they conduct electricity too.

Researchers fed the silkworms with mulberry leaves sprayed with solutions containing 0.2% of either of the two substances, before collecting the silk the worms spun for their cocoons.

The fibres collected were found to be twice as tough as standard silk, withstanding at least 50% more physical stress before breaking. Furthermore, after the team carbonised the fibres by heating them to 1,050°C they found the super-silk conducted electricity, unlike regular silk.

Silk has been a huge export for China for millenia, hence the name of the famous trade route the Silk Road.

A similar form of super-silk can be created by dissolving nanomaterials into chemical solvents and then applying them to the silk. However, such solvents are toxic and require more work to make so the feeding method is more friendly towards the environment and much easier to do.

The fibres’ qualities mean it could be used to create durable protective fabrics, biodegradable medical implants and eco-friendly wearable electronics.

Various insects create silk, but it is generally silk from moth larvae which is used to create fabrics.

The researchers said their findings open up possibilities for the large scale production of the highly-useful material.    

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

AIB double-charged card users in bank’s €5m blunder

    

AIB has promised that thousands of shoppers who were double-charged when they used debit and credit cards will not end up having to pay bank charges or overdraft fees because of the blunder.

People who bought goods and services with plastic cards on Monday ended up being charged twice when they used terminals supplied to retailers by a firm part-owned by AIB.

The blunder involved some 48,000 card users who made a combined total of 88,000 transactions, valued at €5m.

And anyone who had a refund processed on the same day ended up getting double the amount of money they were due. A problem with 15,000 pointof-sale terminals supplied by AIB Card Services led to the double-charging.

If a customer paid €20 using one of the machines, €40 was deducted from their card.

Any purchases made with either Visa or MasterCard debit, credit and pre-paid cards were double-charged. The blunder affected cards issued by any bank, and not just AIB. However, Laser card transactions escaped the mess-up.

Una Dillon of the Irish Payments Services Organisation, a representative body for the payments industry, advised consumers to check their bank accounts to see if they have been overcharged, and if they have, to ensure the refunds have gone through.

A technical fault meant that terminals supplied by AIB Merchant Services (AIBMS) double-charged customers and also credited retailers on the double, in error.

AIB Merchant Services (AIBMS) said all affected customers would now be refundedThe company is a joint venture between international electronic commerce and payment services firm First Data Corporation and AIB. First Data processes AIBMS transactions.

The technical fault occurred at First Data’s processingoperation in Germany. The fault has been resolved, the card services firm said.

AIBMS said it was working to ensure that affected customers are reimbursed promptly and apologised for any inconvenience caused.

Refunds are expected to appear in customer accounts in days.

“The money will go back into customers’ accounts automatically but if they want to double-check, they can contact their branch,” an AIBMS spokeswoman said.

The double-charging could mean that some consumers could end up being overdrawn on their current accounts.

Others could incur fees and charges if the balance in their account has dipped below certain levels.

With Bank of Ireland, customers are charged transaction fees if they fail to keep at least €3,000 in their accounts. AIB charges fees if balances dip below €2,500 at any stage in a three-month period.

Yesterday, AIB Card Services insisted it would make sure there were no charges imposed on account holders in any bank due to its double-charging blunder.

Customers worried that they have been overcharged can contact the company on the following number: 0818724724, or at their local AIB branch.

Cardholders should contact their issuing bank, the bank will confirm the credit has been posted to their account, the company said.

Vibrating platform could increase strength & agility in elderly people unable to exercise

        

When the elderly can’t exercise, doing stints on a vibrating platform may help them become slightly stronger, faster and more agile, says a Spanish study.

The method used in the study, which appeared in the journal Maturitas, involves standing on top of a flat platform about the size of a boogie board that sends mild vibrations through the feet to the rest of the body.

While on the platform, the person does exercises such as standing or squatting, with bending the knees helping to transmit the vibrations.

Exercise is the best option for good health in older age, said lead author Alba Gomez Cabello, but for those unable to perform aerobic exercise, this vibration technique “could be an easy and quick treatment to improve physical fitness.”

In the study, funded by the Spanish government, 24 men and women over 65 performed 10 squats held for 45 seconds on the vibrating platform, with a minute rest in between, three times per week for 11 weeks. The study also included 25 people who did not take part in the vibration exercises.

There were some differences between the groups by the end of the study, although they were small. Those who did the exercises were, on average, able to do two more reps of upper and lower body strength exercises, had almost half an inch more lower body flexibility, and walked 33 yards one second faster than before the vibration training.

“Whole body vibration is an easy and quick way of exercise that stimulates muscles and improves fitness,” said Cabello, who studies growth and exercise at the University of Zaragoza, Spain.

In theory, vibrations help activate muscles, strength bones and improve circulation in people of all ages. But the vibrating platforms have shown mixed results in recent research, improving balance and muscle tone in some studies but failing to prevent bone loss in post menopausal women in another.

There still isn’t enough evidence to convince most exercise scientists to advocate the devices, according to Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko, who studies aging and physical activity at theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-Campaign.

“That doesn’t mean it’s a scam, it means there’s really been very little study of this kind of intervention,” he said.

The vibration group did squat reps, while the comparison group did not, so some of the fitness improvements could have been due to the squatting exercises and not the vibration.

A better assessment of the true health of older adults would take into account whether whole body vibration influences chronic conditions like heart disease and mental health, depression and anxiety, he said.

His 82-year-old mother has a whole body vibration machine in her bedroom, which she uses every morning to “loosen up her joints.”

Chodzko-Zajko gives her the same advice he’d give anyone: “I don’t think it’s going to do you any harm, but don’t stop doing your regular exercise routine.”

New Irish/EU driving licence makes its entry into motorists pockets

   

All new driving licences issued in Ireland from today will be in the form of a plastic “credit card”, as a new European Union directive comes into force.

The move is part of a move to harmonising EU-wide driving licences.

Existing licences will still be valid, and will be changed to the new format at the time of renewal, or by 2033 at the latest.

Ireland is one of the few countries in Europe to still have a paper licence.

Speaking in Brussels yesterday, EU transport commissioner Siim Kallas said the new licences were a key way of tackling fraud and road safety, as well as improving access between member states.

What drugs affects arousal in men?

 

The drug that most affects sexual arousal in men is alcohol, a new study has found. Furthermore, quitting drinking may not solve the problem.

Spanish and Columbian scientists looked at over 900 men, 550 of whom had been diagnosed with an addiction to either alcohol, cocaine, alcohol and cocaine, marijuana, heroin or heroin and cocaine.

The sexual performance of all the men was assessed. Performance was divided into four categories – sexual desire, sexual arousal, sexual satisfaction and orgasm.

The scientists looked at the effects the different drugs had on each category.

The study found that overall, the sexual performance of those using drugs was moderately to significantly impaired compared to those who did not use drugs.

Different drugs had different effects on the various categories. For example, cocaine use did not usually affect sexual desire, but did affect sexual pleasure. Meanwhile, cocaine, heroin and alcohol all affected the ability to orgasm.

When it came to sexual arousal, alcohol had the biggest detrimental affect. And this problem did not appear to resolve even if the men stopped drinking. This contradicts other studies which indicate that sexual performance returns to normal a few weeks after quitting drugs.

According to the scientists, this is the first study to show what appears to be the permanent effect alcohol can have on sexual performance.

Wyoming scientists at Notre Dame University genetically engineer silkworms to produce artificial spider silk

    

Malcolm J. Fraser Jr., a Notre Dame professor of biological sciences views the silk worms.

A research and development effort by the University of Notre Dame, the University of Wyoming, and Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. has succeeded in producing transgenic silkworms capable of spinning artificial spider silks.

“This research represents a significant breakthrough in the development of superior silk fibres for both medical and non-medical applications,” said Malcolm J. Fraser Jr., a Notre Dame professor of biological sciences. “The generation of silk fibres having the properties of spider silks has been one of the important goals in materials science.”

Natural spider silks have a number of unusual physical properties, including significantly higher tensile strength and elasticity than naturally spun silkworm fibers. The artificial spider silks produced in these transgenic silkworms have similar properties of strength and flexibility to native spider silk.

Silk fibers have many current and possible future biomedical applications, such as use as fine suture materials, improved wound healing bandages, or natural scaffolds for tendon and ligament repair or replacement. Spider silk-like fibers may also have applications beyond biomedical uses, such as in bulletproof vests, strong and lightweight structural fabrics, a new generation athletic clothing and improved automobile airbags.

Until this breakthrough, only very small quantities of artificial spider silk had ever been produced in laboratories, but there was no commercially viable way to produce and spin these artificial silk proteins. Kraig Biocraft believed these limitations could be overcome by using recombinant DNA to develop a bio-technological approach for the production of silk fibers with a much broader range of physical properties or with pre-determined properties, optimized for specific biomedical or other applications.

The firm entered into a research agreement with Fraser, who discovered and patented a powerful and unique genetic engineering tool called “piggyBac”. PiggyBac is a piece of DNA known as a transposon that can insert itself into the genetic machinery of a cell.

“Several years ago, we discovered that the piggyBac transposon could be useful for genetic engineering of the silkworm, and the possibilities for using this commercial protein production platform began to become apparent.”

Fraser, with the assistance of University of Wyoming researcher Randy Lewis, a biochemist who is one of the world’s foremost authorities on spider silk, and Don Jarvis, a noted molecular geneticist who specializes in insect protein production, genetically engineered silkworms in which they incorporated specific DNAs taken from spiders. When these transgenic silkworms spin their cocoons, the silk produced is not ordinary silkworm silk, but, rather, a combination of silkworm silk and spider silk. The genetically engineered silk protein produced by the transgenic silkworms has markedly improved elasticity and strength approaching that of native spider silk.

“We’ve also made strides in improving the process of genetic engineering of these animals so that the development of additional transgenics is facilitated,” Fraser said. “This will allow us to more rapidly assess the effectiveness of our gene manipulations in continued development of specialized silk fibers.”

Since silkworms are already a commercially viable silk production platform, these genetically engineered silkworms effectively solve the problem of large scale production of engineered protein fibers in an economically practical way.

“Using this entirely unique approach, we have confirmed that transgenic silkworms can be a potentially viable commercial platform for production of genetically engineered silk proteins having customizable properties of strength and elasticity,” Fraser said. “We may even be able to genetically engineer fibers that exceed the remarkable properties of native spider silk.”

The genetic engineering breakthrough was announced today (Sept. 29) by Fraser, Lewis and Kraig Biocraft CEOKim Thompson at a press conference on the Notre Dame campus.