Lithuanian nuclear closure depends on EU funds-PM

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@EARTHLINK.NET>]

Index:



Lithuanian nuclear closure depends on EU funds-PM

NMR May Help Predict Effectiveness of Cholesterol-Lowering Medication

Report: Energy Dept. Misled FBI on Lee

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Lithuanian nuclear closure depends on EU funds-PM



VILNIUS, Aug 14 (Reuters) -Lithuania's prime minister said on Tuesday 

the date the country closes its Chernobyl-style nuclear plant would 

depend on European Union funding. 



Lithuania, hoping to complete EU membership talks next year, has 

already agreed to shut down the first of the Ignalina plant's two 

reactors by 2005, under pressure from the 15-nation bloc. 



It has not set a closure date for the second one, but the EU has said 

it would like to see it shut down in 2009. 



"The shorter the period set for Ignalina's closure, the larger the 

annual investment that has to be set," Prime Minister Algirdas 

Brazauskas told Reuters after talks with German Finance Minister Hans 

Eichel about Lithuania's EU preparations. 



"(We ask) that Germany support our stand that special funds should be 

set aside for the closure of the plant and that (these funds) not be 

included in overall funding allocated to Lithuania," Brazauskas said. 





The EU considers Ignalina a danger because it was built to the same 

design as Ukraine's Chernobyl, site of the world's worst civilian 

nuclear disaster in 1986. 



It has said Vilnius must decide next year -- two years earlier than 

Lithuanian originally planned -- on a date to throw the final switch 

on reactor number two. 



The Baltic state's top EU negotiator said two weeks ago Lithuania 

would adhere to the Brussels's timetable for making a decision, but 

this did not mean it accepted the 2009 date. 



Brazauskas declined to give a date for Unit Two closure but 

reiterated that the country would fix on one before winding up EU 

entry talks, expected next year. 



For Lithuania, closure of the plant is sensitive because of the costs 

associated with it and because the country gets most of its 

electricity from Ignalina. 



Last year, Lithuania received pledges from the international 

community totalling 208 million euros ($186.4 million) to close 

Ignalina's first reactor. 



"On the one hand (Ignalina) is an issue of safety and on the other it 

is a big economic problem...but, I think, we -- Lithuania and the 

European Union -- will find a way to settle that issue," Eichel told 

a news briefing in Vilnius. 

--------------



Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy May Help Predict 

Effectiveness of Cholesterol-Lowering Medication

  

CHICAGO, Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers at Northwestern 

University Medical School, the Centers for Disease Control and North 

Carolina State University are using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) 

spectroscopy to identify which patients may benefit most from 

specific cholesterol-lowering medications. 



NMR spectroscopy uses radio waves to analyze the size and 

concentration of lipoproteins -- the small spheres that carry 

cholesterol around the body and deposit it in various locations, such 

as the coronary arteries or the liver. 



Results of this study may be especially important now that the new 

heart health guidelines are projecting that as many as 36 million 

Americans should be taking cholesterol-lowering drugs.   However, 

research has shown that the cholesterol-lowering effects of these 

medications may vary according to the individual. 



"By evaluating specific medications with the NMR technology, 

physicians will be better able to select cholesterol medications that 

will have optimal results for the patient depending on his or her 

lipoprotein size and concentration," explained Robert Rosenson, M.D., 

director of the Preventive Cardiology Center at Northwestern 

University Medical School and a cardiologist at Northwestern Memorial 

Hospital. 



"Ultimately, this will help patients get effective and even life-

saving help quicker, and reduce the cost often involved in switching 

therapies," Rosenson said. 



In a study to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal 

Atherosclerosis, Rosenson and colleagues analyzed the effect of a 

particular cholesterol-lowering drug, pravastatin, over a six-month 

period in a group of 262 patients with high-risk heart disease. 



Paravastatin belongs to the popularly prescribed class of statins. 

Several million Americans currently are receiving statin therapy to 

lower cholesterol levels. 



"In the past, we had thought that a simple lipid test [blood test] 

could show us how well a particular cholesterol-lowering medication 

was working. But by using this new technology -- which gives us 

significantly more data than a cursory lipid test -- we found the 

medication is suitable for a broader base of patients than originally 

thought," Rosenson said. 



The researchers found, in contrast to findings from earlier studies, 

pravastatin was equally effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels 

[bad cholesterol] in all patients regardless of the LDL size at the 

beginning of the study. 



Study participants with small LDL particles gained at least as much 

benefit from the medication as those with large LDL.  Results of the 

study showed reductions in the number of total and small LDL 

particles and increases in average LDL and HDL particle size. 



The NMR technology used in this study is also used as a diagnostic 

tool to identify people at greatest risk for developing heart 

disease. It was developed by LipoMed, Inc., Raleigh, N.C. 



"Sadly, almost half of the people who have so-called 'normal' 

cholesterol levels actually go on to develop heart disease," explains 

Dr. Rosenson. "Millions of them will die from it," he adds.  "The 

good news is that the new technology enables us to more accurately 

identify individuals at silent but lethal risk, and allows the 

physicians to select and begin treatments early on." 

----------------



Report: Energy Dept. Misled FBI on Lee



WASHINGTON August 14 (AP) - Former nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee was 

singled out for an investigation into suspected Chinese espionage 

because the Energy Department misled the FBI, a government report 

said. 



Two heavily censored chapters of the Justice Department report, 

declassified Monday, take to task both the DOE and the FBI for the 

botched probe that lasted years and landed Lee in prison for nine 

months. 



``Had either the FBI or DOE done what it should have done, the FBI 

could have been investigating in the year 1996 what it is now 

investigating in the year 2000,'' said the report, completed in May 

2000 by former federal prosecutor Randy Bellows. 



The report criticizes the FBI for accepting the DOE assertion that 

Lee, a former nuclear scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in 

New Mexico, was ``the only individual ... who had opportunity, 

motivation and legitimate access'' to the nuclear weapons information 

believed to have been leaked to the Chinese. 



The DOE targeted Lee because of meetings with Chinese nuclear 

scientists - both in China and acting as host to the scientists in 

the United States. Another FBI inquiry into Lee's conduct at the 

laboratory was also ongoing at the time. 



But the DOE ignored locations other than Los Alamos where the nuclear 

secrets could have been compromised by numerous other potential 

suspects. 



``The message communicated to the FBI was that the FBI need look no 

farther within DOE for a suspect. Wen Ho Lee was its man,'' the 

report said. ``The FBI never should have accepted this message, as 

is.'' 



The report also faults DOE for giving misleading information to the 

FBI about its early investigation. 



A group of DOE investigators concluded that there was a high 

probability that U.S. intelligence had helped China ``avoid blind 

alleys in their own research and development.'' 



The FBI ``actively pursued corrective action to improve and enhance 

its counterintelligence program'' when it received the Bellows 

report, the bureau said in a statement. 



The Energy Department said, ``this administration continues to 

strengthen our security procedures,'' adding that it will review the 

report in case other policy changes are necessary. 



Lee's attorneys were traveling and could not be reached. 



``The abysmal handling of the initial phases of this case caused 

serious harm and delay in resolving fundamental questions about a 

grave compromise of our nuclear secrets,'' said Senate Judiciary 

Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. 



Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who has looked into several problems at 

the FBI, said the report ``shows what can happen when investigators 

focus too narrowly.'' 



Lee was held in solitary confinement for nine months and indicted on 

59 felony counts alleging he transferred nuclear weapons information 

to portable computer tapes. 



He was not charged with spying, and denied giving information to 

China. He eventually pleaded guilty to one felony count of 

downloading sensitive material. 



The report was declassified under a judge's order. Notra Trulock, the 

DOE's top security officer during the Lee investigation, says he was 

defamed by two other investigators who said the Taiwanese-born Lee 

was targeted because of his race. 



While the report says the DOE inappropriately targeted Lee, it 

concludes it was not because of his race. 



Larry Klayman, Trulock's attorney, said the report's finding 

vindicates his client, and the harsh criticism of DOE's handling of 

the investigation was not Trulock's fault. 



Trulock said he did not want the investigation to focus on one 

individual, Klayman said, but that is what superiors instructed him 

to do. 



``To the extent that's what happened at the highest levels of the 

Energy Department and the FBI, shame on them,'' he said. 



Lee has also sued the government for allegedly leaking information to 

the media that made it appear that he had spied.





On the Net: 



Department of Energy: http://www.energy.gov 



FBI: http://www.fbi.gov 



Los Alamos National Lab: http://www.lanl.gov 



Wen Ho Lee supporters: http://www.wenholee.org



------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sandy Perle					Tel:(714) 545-0100 / (800) 548-5100   				    	

Director, Technical				Extension 2306 				     	

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Service		Fax:(714) 668-3149 	                   		    

ICN Pharmaceuticals, Inc.			E-Mail: sandyfl@earthlink.net 				                           

ICN Plaza, 3300 Hyland Avenue  		E-Mail: sperle@icnpharm.com          	          

Costa Mesa, CA 92626                    



Personal Website: http://www.geocities.com/scperle

ICN Worldwide Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com



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