Bram Stoker's Dracula, published in 1897, continues to send shivers down the spine of anyone who reads it. It is dark Gothic at its best, a brilliant, imaginative and can't-put-down work of art. The atmosphere it creates is, in this writer's opinion, spookier than any Stephen King novel.
But...many people who have read the book are not aware that the character Dracula the vampire is based on was a highborn member of a Romanian court, prominent in European history — and much more terrifying than his fictional descendant. While not the black-cloaked, centuries-old, fanged bloodsucker of literary fame, the infamy of the historical figure outperforms that of Stoker's creation.
Prince Vlad, or as he was called even in his own time, Dracula (which means "Son of the Dragon") tops the list of Romania's many, many Christian crusaders who, in the transition years between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, fought to keep the Muslim-faithed Ottoman Turks out of their country.
Odd that a name known for stirring nightmares actually belonged to a crusader of a religious cause!
Still, Dracula was not a saint. He ruled his military kingdom of Wallachia — southern Romania — with a heavy and blood-soaked fist. To not only the Turks but also to many of his own countrymen he was Vlad The Impaler, Vlad Die Tepes (pronounced Tee-pish). Determined not to be overtaken by the intrigue of an intriguing political underhandedness, in a world in which princes fell daily to smiling, hypocritical "allies," paranoia among the aristocracy was, and probably needed to be, utmost in a sovereign's disposition. Dracula built a defense around him that dared not open kindness nor trust to anyone. During his tenure, he killed by the droves, impaling on a forest of spikes around his castle thousands of subjects who he saw as either traitors, would-be traitors or enemies to the security of Romania and the Roman Catholic Church. Sometimes, he slew merely to show other possible insurgents and criminals just what their fate would be if they became troublesome.
Vlad Dracula
Vlad Dracula
(AP)
A pamphlet published in Nuremburg, Germany, immediately following his death in 1476, tells of his burning beggars after allowing them free food at his court. "He felt they were eating the people's food for nothing, and could not repay it," the broadside explains. And there are countless of other tales of Dracula's wickedness written down ages ago, many of which will be related in this article.
But, Vlad Dracula was more than just a medieval despot. Biographers Radu R. Florescu and Raymond T. McNally call him "a man of many faces". He was a politician; a voivode (warrior); an erudite and well-learned gentleman when the occasion-to-be fit; and, as has been indicated, he was a mass murderer. He spoke several languages — Romanian, Turkish, Latin and German — and steeped himself in the use of broadsword and crossbow. He was an equestrian, riding at the head of his attacking army like a Berskerker. At three separate times, Dracula governed Wallachia, Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire one of three Hungarian principalities that later merged with the others — Transylvania (to the north) and Moldavia (to the east) — to become the country of Romania. Because Wallachia, his province, sat directly above the open Danube River Plain, which separated the Ottoman Empire from free Romania, his was the frontal defense against the non- Christian Turks. Despite his cruelties and severe punishments, and because of his seething hatred for anything Turkish, he is considered today a national hero by the populace. Because he died in warfare against the foe, even fought against a brother whom he considered a sell-out to the enemy, he is often upheld as a martyr. Statues stand in his honor, and his birthplace at Sighisoara and resting-place at Snagov are considered almost canonical.
"Though many Westerners are baffled that a man whose political and military career was as steeped in blood as was that of Vlad Dracula," writes Elizabeth Miller for Journal of the Dark magazine, "the fact remains that for many Romanians he is an icon of heroism...It is this duality that is part of his appeal."
The adventurous life led by Dracula put him in contact with the era's most fascinating people, among them "White Knight" Jonas Hunyadi, Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus and the ambitious Sultan Mehmed of Turkey. In his lifetime, Dracula witnessed the rising use of gunpowder as a means of destruction, the Holy Crusades, the fall of Constantinople and the nouveau philosophy of art, alchemy and culture that became known as the Renaissance.
It was no idle choice that the red-bearded Irish novelist Bram Stoker in 1896 chose the factual Impaler as the model for his nosferatu, his "undead" vampire. Although admittedly never having set foot on Romanian soil, having done most of his research at the London Library, it is obvious that the infamous Count Dracula emulates his historical counterpart. Poring over texts such as An Extraordinary and Shocking History of a Great Berserker Called Prince Dracula, The Historie and Superstitions of Romantic Romania and Wilkinson's Account of Wallachia and Moldavia, Stoker chanced upon the tales of Dracula. (It has been suggested by scholars that such histories would be incomplete without generous space attributed to the man.) In the tomes he studied, Stoker assuredly read of the voivode Dracula, whose atrocities trembled the Christian Western World and whose audacity saved it from Allah.
A few 20th Century authors have denied any connection between the Romanian prince of fact and the bloodthirsty count of fiction, opining that Stoker merely used the rhythmical name he discovered in the pages of old histories. They base their interpretation primarily on two premises. The first is that Stoker's ghoul resides in a castle in the Transylvanian Alps and not in Wallachia's foothills, the better part of some 150 miles. The other is that the vampire is described by Stoker as being of Szekely blood, from a race of people in the "northern country," and not of an older Wallachian stock.
Other writers, however, recognizing the liberties afforded by literary license, point to the striking similarities that speak very strongly beyond coincidence. Most notable are the references to Count Dracula's past as uttered by the fictional nobleman himself. They paint a history parallel to Vlad Dracula's.
In the novel, when Jonathan Harker, a British solicitor, visits Dracula's castle in Transylvania for the purpose of closing a real estate deal (the vampire is relocating to London to pursue fresh blood), the count describes the land over which Harker has just journeyed as "ground fought over for centuries by the Wallachian, the Saxon and the Turk...enriched by the blood of men, patriots or invaders."
In a subsequent chapter, Count Dracula relates to Harker a virtual history of his own royal heritage. "Is it a wonder that we were a conquering race," he asks, "that we were proud; that when the Magyar, the Lombard, the Avar, the Bulgar or the Turk poured his thousands on our frontiers we drove them back?...To us, for centuries, was trusted the guarding of the frontier of Turkeyland; aye, and more than that, endless duty of the frontier guard."
At one point, Count Dracula alludes to an "ancestor" who "sold his people to the Turk and brought the shame of slavery on them!" Vlad Dracula had such a brother.
There are other tens of references, actually, throughout the novel that not-too-subtly point to Vlad Dracula as the accurate source — references Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire to particular military campaigns in which he took part, contemporaries with whom he acquainted, and places he visited.
In summary, had Stoker not taken his character from the crimson cloth of Vlad the Impaler, he then certainly adorned his creation with a cloak colored amazingly close to the same hue.
Following is the story of the real Dracula, a man who, whether he would have preferred or not, became, in another incarnation, a figure whom the World Index has called, "one of the top ten most recognizable names in the English-speaking world."
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Ambassador Seijiro Yoshizawa 0.ww Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
363. Secretary Ichiro Kawasaki is Ordered Home
On September 6, 1941 Foreign Minister Toyoda ordered that Secretary Kawasaki in Santiago return to Japan.[949] Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
(d) Colombia
364. Special Courier to Bring Secret Documents to Bogota
According to a dispatch on October 14, 1941 a special courier from Santiago was departing for Bogota with secret documents.[950] Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
365. Minister Iungo Yanai Condemns Lack of Security in Commercial Dispatches
The insecure communications of Japanese business firms had been of great concern to Minister Tomii in Argentina. In addition, on August 16, 1941, Japan's Minister to Colombia, Mr. Jungo Yanai, who had just returned from Ecuador,[951] expressed anxiety over a plain text telegram regarding the purchase of platinum, which an undisclosed Tokyo commercial firm had sent to its representative. The same message had been handled in Japanese diplomatic code some days before. The Japanese Minister advised that if this practice were to continue, it would not only damage Japan's import trade, but it would jeopardize the reputations of both himself and Naval Attache Shigehiro. If such secret information leaked out, Japan would not be able to make any further purchases of platinum, and Minister Yanai urged that more caution be taken in the future.[952]
On October 1, 1941 Minister Yanai again warned against laxity in transmitting commercial messages. Referring to a cable received by a businessman of Bogota from a Mitsui official in New York, which included not only detailed explanations of some secret plan, but had also transmitted the wrong instructions, Minister Yanai warned that he did not believe it safe to send messages between New York, Tokyo and Colombia on this matter. He asked that the Japanese Navy Department issue orders to the Mitsui Company to this effect.
The fact that the local press was calling the attention of the public to the large amounts of valuable materials secretly being exported to Japan and Germany caused Minister Yanai to reiterate his pleas for caution at this time. He revealed that the government of Colombia, in an attempt to check these exports, was sending secret investigators throughout the country.[953]
366. Minister Yanai Requests Additional Funds
On October 7, 1941 Minister Yanai, indicating that he had been successful in obtaining some desired items, requested additional funds from the Naval Attache in Mexico City.[954]
(e) Ecuador-Peru
367. Messrs. Watanabe and Makizawa Leave Peru for Ecuador
Messrs. Noboru Watanabe and Makizawa, two Japanese officials, were scheduled to leave Callao, Peru on the Santa Luisa on September 11, 1941. After making a landing at Quayaquil, they would travel to Quito by train.[955]
[949] III, 694.
[950] III, 695.
[951] III, 696.
[952] III, 697.
[953] III, 698.
[954] III, 699.
[955] III, 700.
[197]
368. Peruvian-Ecuadorean Border Dispute Continues
A border dispute between Peru and Ecuador continued through August and October, 1941 with armed conflicts taking place sporadically throughout the period. Little traffic concerning Ecuador was intercepted during this period, but Minister Yanai accredited to Bogota, Colombia kept the Japanese government informed of current events.
369. Ecuador Blames Standard Oil Company for Border Incident
The President of Ecuador believed that Peru's aggression had been incited by the Standard Oil Company, which he said, possessed vested interests in the southern part of Peru, and was attempting to encroach upon the rights of the Shell Oil Company in the Cuenca and adjacent area of Ecuador.
The United States had sold fifteen bombers to Peru, but had refused to send five planes or any military supplies to Ecuador. Because of this Ecuador could not subscribe to the United States' plan for Pan-American solidarity. The Japanese Minister believed that Ecuador would not send a representative to the approaching Good Neighbor conference unless the border question was settled.[956]
370. President Arroyo Del Rio Clears Japanese Commercial Experts
On September 18, 1941 Minister Yanai reported that Mr. Juan Martinez, an intimate friend of the Provisional President of Ecuador, Dr. Carlos A. Arroyo Del Rio, had made a special report which had resulted in a complete transformation of the President's attitude toward Japanese commercial experts who had been forced to leave the country. The President stated that all suspicions formerly directed against the Japanese experts had been dispelled, but owing to the unstable internal and foreign conditions of the country, he felt that their return at this time would be a bit premature. However, by the end of the month he might ask them to return.[957]
371. Peruvian Minister Accuses Ecuador of Creating Border Incident
According to a confidential report given to Minister Hisashi Nanjo at Havana by the Peruvian Minister, negotiations were being carried on between the United States and Ecuador for a ninety-nine year lease of the Galapagos, off the west coast of Ecuador. Since Ecuador was not able to withstand American pressure, its government was attempting to obtain as much as possible under the circumstances. The Peruvian Minister stated that Ecuador had deliberately instigated a border dispute in order to benefit from an advantageous solution by the United States, which would be asked to mediate in the name of hemispheric cooperation. Ecuador even hoped to obtain lend-lease materials from the United States.
According to the Peruvian Minister, this maneuver had not been successful for although the Acting Secretary of State, Mr. Sumner Welles, had summoned the Peruvian Ambassador in Washington and had made a veiled threat by announcing that the United States had decided to give two destroyers to Ecuador, Brazil had withdrawn from the mediation and the situation was disadvantageous to Ecuador.[958]
372. Minister Sakamoto Requests Azuma Maru Be Sent to Lima
On October 8, 1941 Minister Sakamoto in Lima requested that the Japanese Navy Department order the Azuma Maru to stop at a Peruvian post on its return voyage to Tokyo to take on materials accumulated there. It was expected that possibly 2,000 tons of cargo in excess of the previous estimate could be loaded. Minister Sakamoto requested an immediate reply.[959]
[956] III, 701.
[957] III, 702.
[958] III, 703.
[959] III, 704.
[198]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
373. Japan Attempts to Bribe Peruvian Officials
Foreign Minister Toyoda informed Minister Sakamoto in Lima that he was shipping to the Peruvian Finance Minister a set of European style dishes specially manufactured by the Nagoya China Company, and five Cloisonne flower vases to the Chief Assistant to the Finance Minister. These gifts were to be presented to the Peruvian officials with the compliments of Japan, and with the secret hope that Japan would get what it wanted from them more easily.[960] However, on October 14, 1941 Minister Sakamoto advised Tokyo that there was no hope of negotiating with the Peruvian government.[961]
374. Mr. Kihara Replaces Secretary Matsumoto in Peru
Minister Sakamoto in Lima advised the Japanese office in Panama that Secretary Bunazburo Matsumoto planned to leave Lima with secret documents and was scheduled to arrive in Cristobal, Venezuela on the Imperia on October 12, 1941.[962 ]When Tokyo requested that the Lima office reserve passage on the Terukawa Maru for Mr. Matsumoto, who desired to sail on that ship,[963] Mr. Sakamoto responded on October 14, 1941 that the new successor to Secretary Matsumoto, Secretary Jitaro Kihara, was encountering difficulty in obtaining travel expenses. He urged that Tokyo investigate this matter immediately.[964]
375. Japan Continues Trade with Peru
On October 14, 1941 the Terukawa Maru, according to Foreign Minister Toyoda had space available for 135 tons of cargo, which Japanese officials in Lima were to fill with materials necessary to Japan. Although the proper procedure was to have the Japanese Minister obtain these materials from the Peruvian government, the Japanese Foreign Office had decided that the respective private firms would import the materials and issue their own letters of credit. The Foreign Minister advised that every precaution be taken to avoid misunderstanding in the settlement of price between the Peruvian government and the sellers on the one hand and the Japanese firms on the other.
Since there were no prospects at present for assigning a ship to transport salt, the Foreign Minister asked that the Japanese representatives bargain with the Peruvian government for 250,000 sol of salt by telling them that a ship would soon be assigned by Japan to export it. Japan desired to remit the price each time an importation of salt was effected. Foreign Minister Toyoda also advised that a supply of sugar be obtained so that Japanese dealers could sell it in Peru.[965]
Upon learning that the Terukawa Maru might take aboard freight at Callao, Minister Yanai at Bogota, Colombia urged that the Japanese Embassy in Argentina be informed when the ship put into port.[966] Foreign Minister Toyoda replied that the Terukawa Maru would not be able to stop at Bogota and asked that Minister Yanai confer with the Argentina Ambassador to urge that he board this ship at Callao.[967]
[960] III, 705.
[961] III, 706.
[962] III, 707.
[963] III, 708.
[964] III, 709.
[965] III, 710.
[966] III, 711.
[967] III, 712.
[199]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
PART C—JAPANESE DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
(f) Japanese-British Relations
376. British Freezing Order Impels Japanese to Evacuate Hongkong
Suspecting that an order freezing Japanese assets would be put into effect throughout the British Empire, Japanese representatives in Hongkong reported to their Foreign Minister in August, 1941 that considerable unrest was apparent among the Japanese residents who feared that Japanese ships would be denied entrance to the harbor.[968] When disclosing this situation to its representative in Canton on August 6, 1941, Tokyo inquired about the possibility of evacuating Japanese nationals by way of Canton.
In the meantime, an attempt was made to secure guarantees from English officials that Japanese ships would be permitted to leave Hongkong.[969] On August 8, 1941 Hongkong reported that since the Shirogane Maru was leaving Canton unimpeded and that since British authorities were not impeding the Takuun Maru then docked at Hongkong, no interference with Japanese shipping was anticipated, though the British had not as yet given any guarantee.
Nevertheless, preparations continued for the evacuation of approximately 110 subjects, the majority of whom were families of the Japanese staff and residents in Hongkong. With all mail steamers filled to capacity, it was suggested that the Kamo Maru, after leaving Kakao on August 20, 1941, take aboard some of these people at Hongkong. At the same time Japanese vessels were warned to prepare for detailed inspection of all cargoes by the British civil administration.[970]
Realizing that an official order to evacuate Hongkong would heighten the already critical situation, the Chief of the East Asia Bureau advised on August 10, 1941 that the withdrawal of Japanese subjects should give the appearance of being carried out under their own initiative.[971]
378. Rumors Indicate Japanese Evacuation Near Johore
In other sections of the Near East Japanese subjects were also preparing to return to their home land. Learning from a Singapore news dispatch of August 16, 1941 that Japanese near Johore in the Malay States had been ordered to evacuate, Tokyo, on August 23, 1941, requested verification of the report and complete details.[973]
379. Japanese Officials and News Correspondents Prepare to Leave London
At this time high ranking officials, including Lieutenant Colonel Yoshii and Commander Nakano, the assistant military and naval attaches at the Japanese Embassy in London, as well as Mr. Hasegawa and Mr. Nakamura, special news correspondents representing the Domei and Asahi syndicates respectively, prepared to leave London. The Japanese Ambassador in London inquired on August 20, 1941 concerning the advisability of these men returning to Japan via Panama in view of their military status and the existing international situation.[974]
[968] III, 713.
[969] III, 714.
[970] III, 715.
[971] III, 716.
[973] III, 718.
[974] III, 719.
[201] [200 blank]
380. Japanese Considers Bartering with British
Although evacuation plans were of major importance during the months of August and September, 1941, the problem of stabilizing trade relations between Japan and Great Britain was of equal concern. Since, according to Tokyo, by freezing Japanese funds and by abrogating treaties Great Britain had greatly curtailed Japanese commerce, Japan was willing to give careful consideration to a British proposal for the use of barter in trade between the two countries. Japan decided that the agreement would facilitate the settlement of its banks' financial problems, yet was anxious lest too prompt acceptance of the British proposal expose Japan's position. However, on August 15, 1941 Tokyo instructed its Embassy in London to order Mr. Kitaro Kato to arrange negotiations with the British and Netherlands East Indies banks.[975]
At the same time Japan continued to study the terms of the proposed agreement pertaining to the type of British commodities which would be supplied under it, and also the areas in which the agreement would be carried out. In Japan's opinion the new trade relationship should be put into effect throughout Great Britain's colonies, and not be limited to England itself.[976]
381. Japan Investigates British Military Preparations in Iran
In view of its alliances under the Tripartite Pact, Japan believes that it had to fear not only British economic pressure in the Far East but also the effects of British military preparations in other parts of the world on its ally, Germany. Since the European War had allied Great Britain with Russia, Tokyo was concerned with the trend of events in Iran where unforeseen developments might easily turn the tide of the Russo-German war.
For information gathered by the head of the Mitsubishi Branch in Iran, Tokyo learned of an increase in British shipping at ports on the Persian Gulf. By docking an average of five ships daily, Great Britain had brought the number of British and Australian troops in the area up to 200,000. In addition, trucks, speedboats equipped with depth bombs, machine guns and other military supplies were being unloaded rapidly. Yet in spite of the twenty-eight cranes used in these unloading operations, many ships were still anchored in the outer harbor at Basra waiting to put their cargoes ashore.[977]
In view of the fact that the British army had commandeered in Basra between 350 and 400 lighters, and had equipped them with plank covers, it seemed probable that the British were preparing to land their men and supplies in frontal assault on German lines. This theory was further substantiated by British use of the newly-completed railroad from the Basra harbor to Kuweit and by indications of a new connection with Bahrein Island.
Apparently, the Iranian government feared British preparations for war on its territory. On August 5, 1941 at the commemoration of the promulgation of the Constitution, Mr. Mobangaru, an influential member of the Iranian Parliament, warned his fellow members that Iran must prepare against joint British and Russian pressure. Mr. Mobangaru had been attacked by the Director of the British Imperial Bank in Iran because of the pro-German attitude in the country.[978]
After receiving this information concerning British military activities in Iran, the Japanese representative there went to the German Minister. In spite of the fact that the source of Japanese information was supposedly authentic, the German Minister refused to believe that either British troops or supplies were as numerous as reported; he considered the information to be English propaganda. Nevertheless, the Japanese representative in his message to the
[975] III, 720.
[976] Ibid.
[977] III, 721.
[978] Ibid.
[202]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
Foreign Minister on August 18, 1941 warned his government that the situation in Iran had grown extremely critical since the onset of the Russo-German war.[979]
Although the Iranian Foreign Office denied the rumor, there seemed to be some truth in the statement that Great Britain had requested permission to transport its troops through the country. It was rumored, too, that on August 5, 1941 the American Legation had secretly advised the evacuation of Americans from Iran.
Once the Russo-German war had been concluded, Japanese sources warned, the dangerous situation existing in Iran would be brought to a head, for then German troops would encroach upon the northern border of Iran and Great Britain would use Iran as a buffer state for the protection of India.
The statement by Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Anthony Eden, that Britain only wished to protect Iran from German Fifth Columnists was regarded merely as a British excuse. In fact, because the German Minister in Iran realized that the British government might make the first move to protect British oil companies, he was attempting to align the Iranians with the Axis by a policy of not irritating them in any manner.[980]
382. Japanese Business Firms Charge Singapore Police with Oppression
The Kobayashi firm, which for the past three years had been granted permits to carry on its business activities in Singapore, reported in August 1941 that oppressive measures were being taken against it. In order not to aggravate the situation, on August 25, 1941 Tokyo advised that the books of this concern be put in order to meet the control measures of the British authorities in Singapore. However, in retaliation not only was a strong protest to be made to Ambassador Robert Craigie, but British propaganda in Japan was to be curtailed.[981]
383. Tokyo Continues Negotiations for Barter with British
A Japanese Cabinet meeting on August 26, 1941 decided to continue negotiations for reciprocal trade with the British.[982] Since the proposed use of a barter system was designed to adjust the existing trade balances between British and Japanese banks, Tokyo believed that the terms should be drawn up by the Yokohama Specie Bank and by the British Dutch Bank, without any public announcement before or after a final plan was evolved.[983] Therefore, on August 27, 1941 Mr. Hisaakira Kano, branch manager of the Specie Bank in London, was notified of the arrangement.[984]
Although the original British proposal was acceptable almost as submitted, certain revisions in the articles and phraseology were still under discussion. Because the transportation of the material would be effected largely by Japanese ships, the Japanese government believed that England should furnish the necessary fuel and should extend certain facilities to Japan's cargo vessels. On August 27, 1941 Tokyo requested its London Embassy to present this stipulation in writing to the British.[985]
384. Foreign Minister Toyoda Criticizes Editorial Policy of Singapore Herald
Foreign Minister Toyoda warned the Japanese representatives in Singapore on August 28, 1941 to see to it that the Herald did not publish more editorials which were anti-Axis in tone.[986] Japanese authorities in Singapore replied that, whereas it was impossible for them to
[979] III, 722.
[980] Ibid.
[981] III, 723.
[982] III, 724.
[983] III, 725.
[984] III, 726.
[985] III, 725.
[986] III, 727.
[203]
direct the writing of each article, they had informed the paper of what its editorial policy should be: namely, to avoid provoking the British and to give the impression that Japan's aims, interfering in no way with the rights and interests of the English, were directed toward a Far Eastern peace.
A month before, in July 1941, British authorities in Singapore, through Mr. Scott, the former chief of the Far Eastern Section, had warned Mr. Jones, the Herald's editorial writer, that it was particularly inadvisable for an Englishman to write such analytical and critical editorials for a Japanese newspaper. Nevertheless, Mr. Jones had chosen to remain on the staff. According to the Japanese report, it was clear that the Herald's editorial, which had aroused much comment, had not been written under Japanese direction, but it was regrettable that Japan had permitted the publication of material suitable for use in British propaganda.[987]
385. Canada Imposes Restrictions on Foreign Messages
Because of Canada's proximity to the United States and England, its reactions to international diplomatic situations were carefully noted by the Japanese Embassy in Ottawa as an indication of trends common among the Allied nations. It was reported from Ottawa on August 26, 1941 that because of its entrance into the European war, Canada was prohibiting even the clearance of official foreign code and clear text telegrams when addressed to or sent by a private individual.
Although conscious that inconveniences would naturally arise, the Canadian government was resolute in allowing the transmission of only those official messages between Japanese consular offices in Canada and the United States which were clearly marked "Japanese Consul" or "Japanese Consul General."[988]
386. Canada Plans to Exchange Ministers with Chungking Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Only a few days later Japan received evidence of Canada's tendency toward pro-Chinese and anti-Japanese policies. From Ambassador Seijiro Yoshizawa in Ottawa came a report on August 30, 1941 of a rumor that Canada was planning to exchange ministers with the Chungking government. To determine the truth of the story appearing in local Canadian newspapers, the Japanese Ambassador in Ottawa questioned Prime Minister MacKensie King. He learned that diplomatic negotiations to effect such an exchange had been underway for some time, aided by the British Ambassador in Chungking.[989]
In view of the establishment of the Japanese-sponsored regime at Nanking,[990] Ambassador Yoshizawa impressed the Canadian Prime Minister with the advisability of notifying Japan prior to any official decision.[991]
387. Tokyo Permits British Evacuation from Japan
Although diplomatic relations were still not severed, both Japan and England continued arrangements for evacuating their nationals from the other's territory.
At the request of the British Ambassador in Tokyo, the Japanese government issued an oral statement granting the same facilities for the arrival and departure of British evacuation ships at Japanese ports, as had been guaranteed to Ambassador Mamoru Shigamitsu in London, when the Fushimi Maru removed Japanese subjects from Great Britain.[992]
[987] III, 728.
[988] III, 729.
[989] II, 730.
[990] Japan has set up a puppet government in Nanking. See II, Japanese-Nanking Relation.
[991] III, 730.
[992] III, 731.
[204]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
In return for the safe passage of British ships, Japan instructed its Ambassador in London, on August 28, 1941, to obtain further assurance that nothing would hinder its vessels from taking Japanese nationals aboard at Karachi, British India.[993]
388. Tokyo Evacuates Nationals in British Territory
As preparations for the evacuation of Japanese nationals from all British territories progressed, Tokyo, on August 29, 1941, ordered its Ambassador in London to explain to the British authorities that the Matsumoto Maru at Calcutta and another ship at Durban had no accommodations for the evacuees from Mombasa in Kenya, South Africa. Since it would be necessary to dispatch two other Japanese ships for that purpose, a guarantee of safe passage was requested by the Japanese government.[994]
389. Britain Guarantees Safe Passage for Hakone Maru
Negotiations were continued in order to obtain further guarantees on the part of both the Japanese and British governments that no obstacle would be placed in the way of the evacuation ships.
According to an agreement with Ambassador Robert Craigie in Tokyo, safe transit for the Hakone Maru, sailing through the Persian Gulf en route to Bombay, was assured. In exchange, English ships, sent to Japan and China for the evacuation of British and Allied nationals, were granted similar facilities.[995]
390. British and Japanese Banks Negotiate Trade Settlements
The beginning of September 1941 found Japanese and British banking concerns negotiating for further trade between the two countries. Tokyo revealed that authorities of the British Netherlands Bank had approached the London branch of the Yokohama Specie Bank about the possibility of establishing a settlement account to facilitate commercial payments.
The Yokohama Specie Bank proposed that before arranging such a system, a list of materials for export by both the British and Japanese governments be drawn up for discussion. The Japanese government was anxious to carry on trade with British territories and colonies in cotton goods and other miscellaneous materials known to be lacking in these areas. Tokyo felt that such a measure would alleviate some of the trade problems which had resulted from the British freezing order.[996]
391. Japanese Embassy in London Discloses Background of Atlantic Charter
On September 2, 1941 the Japanese government sent to Berlin a report received from the Japanese Embassy in London concerning the background of the Atlantic Charter signed by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill on August 14, 1941.[997]
From the information received it was learned that the eight points of the Atlantic Charter were originated by President Roosevelt. Because these points touched upon the question of the distribution of territories throughout Europe, Prime Minister Churchill hesitated to sign the document at first, fearing that diplomatic problems might arise in consequence. President Roosevelt then pointed out that the American public had assumed an extremely heavy burden of taxation in order to give necessary aid to Britain. If the American public came to feel that it was involved in a war merely for the benefit of Great Britain, great dissatisfaction would result. When President Roosevelt stressed that therefore a statement must be issued precisely
[993 Ibid.
[994] III, 732.
[995] III, 733.
[996] III, 734.
[997] III, 735.
[205]
because the European war was so serious a problem involving not only Great Britain but the entire world, Prime Minister Churchill agreed to adopt the Atlantic Charter.
As had been expected, the question of the distribution of territories caused friction between the allied European countries. Soviet Russia, in particular, had many questions to pose regarding this problem.
With regard to the problems in the Far East, the Japanese Embassy in London stated that Great Britain believed America's attitude toward Japan to be more lenient than its own, since the United States was continuing its informal conversations with Japan.[998]
392. Japanese Embassy Comments on Situations in Iran and Africa
This same report from the Japanese Embassy in London commented on the situations in both Iran and Africa. With regard to its invasion of Iran, Great Britain realized the difficulty of preserving peace in neighboring countries if she resorted to conquest by force. Therefore, Great Britain hoped to carry out only a minor aggression in Iran and to attain its major objectives by negotiations with the Iranian government.
Although developments in Iran at first gave hope to these expectations, the British government faced the fact that the Russian troops showed no signs of stopping their advance into Iran from the north. Only after the Soviet forces had secured the northern end of the railroad and the area adjoining the Caucasus did they intend to cease operations. The British troops had already secured the oil fields in the southern part of the trans-Iran railroad, however, and since neither army had sent troops to Teheran, efforts were still underway for peaceful negotiations with the Iranian government.
Meanwhile, in Africa, the Vichy government was attempting to forestall a move for independence on the part of the French African colonies by putting General Huntziger in command of all African forces. Because of his great popularity, the Vichy government could not risk dismissing General Weygand; therefore, it had been necessary to make him second in command.
The British government had refrained from aiding the pending struggle for independence among the French African colonies since it was felt that once this independence was secured, Berlin would take advantage of the situation by sending German troops into Spain.[999]
393. British-Russian Advance Cuts Off German Escape
By the first part of September 1941 the situation in Iran had become so critical that the German Legation burned its general documents and prepared to flee Teheran. Because of the rapidly advancing British and Russian troops, however, escape was cut off. The German nationals in Teheran were faced either with becoming captives of the Allies, or with taking cover and carrying on anti-British and anti-Russian activities until aid from the German army reached them. Whatever their choice, it was now obvious that once Iran capitulated, British-Russian occupation would leave the Caucasus open to Allied aid and German forces, fighting in Russia, would be placed in a precarious position.[1000]
394. Japanese Intelligence Discloses Possibility of German Attack on Turkey
On September 5, 1941 the Japanese Embassy in London sent Tokyo reliable information concerning the possible occupation of Near-East territories by British, Soviet, and German troops. The Japanese Embassy disclosed that when the British and Russian governments had first demanded the expulsion of Germans from Iran, Turkey and Egypt had been sympathetic with the Iranian government. However, both Iran and Turkey asked that, in case Russia should
[998] Ibid.
[999] Ibid.
[1000] III, 736.
[206]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
invade Iran, Britain then enter the country presumably to prevent Russian occupation of Teheran and possible outrages against the populace and king. If Great Britain should fail to make this move, the Turkish militarists, pro-German in their sentiments, would find it an excuse to collaborate with the Axis nations.
Although the German Ambassador to Turkey, Mr. Papen, had made no special demands on that government, his return to Berlin was considered an indication of a future German invasion of Turkey. On the other hand, Japanese intelligence reports pointed out that Germany recognized the difficulty of breaking through the plains of Anatolia and, rather than risk failure, the Berlin government might refrain from an attack at the present time.
Though Admiral Raeder had recently visited Bulgaria, a well-informed person disclosed that the purpose of his visit was to negotiate for the use of Bulgaria's harbors in the event of a war on the Black Sea. While an Italian squadron might be able to assist Germany by invading the Black Sea, Japanese intelligence reports pointed out that the Dardanelles Straits would still have to be controlled before this move could prove of any real value.[1001]
395. Disposition of British Fleet Affects German-French Peace Negotiations
Information from the Japanese Embassy in London on September 5, 1941 also disclosed certain problems connected with the establishment of final peace negotiations between Vichy France and Germany. The disposition of the British fleet, threatening the German and Italian supply route to Libya, had been largely responsible for the resignation of Admiral La Rocque, Vichy's director of naval strategy, and the demotion of General Weygand. Because German and Italian ships feared attack by the British, a route to Libya through the harbor of Bizerte in French-held Tunis had been contemplated. Since General Weygand and Admiral La Rocque had opposed this move, there had been a shake-up in the French military and naval high command which had had a telling affect upon French politics.
Furthermore, Italy's claims on the French colonies in Africa, Corsica, Nice, and Savoy and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany had such a bad affect upon French public opinion that Vichy could not afford to ratify peace negotiations with Germany at the present time.[1002]
396. Canadian Prime Minister Advocates American Aid to Britain
On September 5, 1941 Tokyo also received information concerning a speech made by Canada's Prime Minister, Mr. MacKenzie King, at an informal dinner-party given by the Mayor of London.
Since his arrival in Great Britain, Prime Minister King had openly advocated all-out aid to Britain by the United States as a means of attaining a common objective. With the backing of Prime Minister Churchill, King made a speech emphasizing that a new world order, based on freedom, could only be achieved by complete British-American cooperation.
The attitude of other British leaders toward the European war was causing a political rift in Great Britain. Recently, Mr. Moore-Brabazon, the Minister of Aircraft Production, had openly declared that Great Britain could take advantage of the war-exhaustion of Germany and Russia to advance its own production of war materials. As a result of this statement, Mr. Tanner, the head of the Amalgamated Engineers' Union, had attacked Minister Moore-Brabazon at a meeting at which Air Minister Attlee and Economic Warfare Administrator Dalton were present. At the coming session of Parliament, careful attention was to be given to the problems which had arisen from the differing views of the two men.[1003]
[1001] III, 737.
[1002] Ibid.
[1003] Ibid.
[207]
397. Japan Fears British-Chinese Collaboration
Since British relations with Far Eastern territories had a definite bearing on their attitude toward Japan, Tokyo watched with growing concern the obvious tendencies toward increased British-Chinese collaboration. Although both British and Chinese authorities were avoiding any definite statement concerning the extent of cooperation between their countries, and while no actual treaty was believed to exist, Mr. Tateki Horiuchi, in Shanghai, quoted a Reuters dispatch from Chungking in the early part of September 1941, which stated that British and Chinese military leaders constantly coordinated their activities.
A United Press news report quoted the British Naval Attache to the United States as saying that if America entered the war, Britain would permit it to use Singapore. Furthermore, Ambassador Archibald Kerr had admitted that relations between England and China were closer than imagined by the world at large.[1004]
A little over a week later confirmation of British-Chinese military cooperation was found in a Japanese intelligence report. After investigating the distribution and quartering of troops around Lashio, a Japanese spy revealed that military conferences between the British and Chinese leaders had been held twice monthly since July, 1941. On September 6, 1941 Lashio was filled with Chinese soldiers, who were holding maneuvers with British troops.[1005]
By September 10, 1941 Chinese forces had been strengthened by 1000 men ready to move southwards from Lashio in trucks. Other detachments arriving from Kunming in the latter part of September 1941 were apparently to be stationed near Wanten and Shaho, where military barracks were under construction and underground ammunition dumps, invisible from the sky, were nearly completed.[1006]
Later in September 1941 another spy report disclosed that thousands of trucks carrying gasoline, arms, ammunition, cotton and miscellaneous equipment had been arriving at Yunan during August, and arms and ammunition had been sent to reinforce the Chinese at Fushan.[1007]
398. Britain Suppresses Japanese Propaganda in China
In order to protect its interest in China, Great Britain found it necessary to suppress Japanese propaganda there. Disturbed by Japan's varied activities in China, the British authorities curtailed travel and placed restrictions on newspaper articles and radio talks. Furthermore, all mail from Chinese nationals in occupied territories was opened and censored, and all Chinese working with Japan were watched by the police. Members of the Chinese Communist party, who had been merely feigning anti-Japanese sentiments, found their activities suppressed by British officials.[1008]
In an attempt to counteract the effects of this British surveillance, Japanese authorities at Singapore suggested to Tokyo on September 9, 1941 that the National government of China establish a radio station to broadcast pro-Japanese propaganda, which would emphasize the futility of China's continuing its resistance to Japan. It would also stress that the present National government, established in the occupied areas of China, was actually the legitimate successor to the Nationalist party established by Mr. Sun Yat-sen.[1009]
399. Britain Seeks Chinese Translators
British preparations for war in the Far East were reported by the Japanese, who stated that British authorities were making a survey of Englishmen in North China, Hongkong and Shang-
[1004] III, 738.
[1005] III, 739.
[1006] III, 740.
[1007] III, 741.
[1008] III, 742.
[1009] Ibid .
363. Secretary Ichiro Kawasaki is Ordered Home
On September 6, 1941 Foreign Minister Toyoda ordered that Secretary Kawasaki in Santiago return to Japan.[949] Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
(d) Colombia
364. Special Courier to Bring Secret Documents to Bogota
According to a dispatch on October 14, 1941 a special courier from Santiago was departing for Bogota with secret documents.[950] Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
365. Minister Iungo Yanai Condemns Lack of Security in Commercial Dispatches
The insecure communications of Japanese business firms had been of great concern to Minister Tomii in Argentina. In addition, on August 16, 1941, Japan's Minister to Colombia, Mr. Jungo Yanai, who had just returned from Ecuador,[951] expressed anxiety over a plain text telegram regarding the purchase of platinum, which an undisclosed Tokyo commercial firm had sent to its representative. The same message had been handled in Japanese diplomatic code some days before. The Japanese Minister advised that if this practice were to continue, it would not only damage Japan's import trade, but it would jeopardize the reputations of both himself and Naval Attache Shigehiro. If such secret information leaked out, Japan would not be able to make any further purchases of platinum, and Minister Yanai urged that more caution be taken in the future.[952]
On October 1, 1941 Minister Yanai again warned against laxity in transmitting commercial messages. Referring to a cable received by a businessman of Bogota from a Mitsui official in New York, which included not only detailed explanations of some secret plan, but had also transmitted the wrong instructions, Minister Yanai warned that he did not believe it safe to send messages between New York, Tokyo and Colombia on this matter. He asked that the Japanese Navy Department issue orders to the Mitsui Company to this effect.
The fact that the local press was calling the attention of the public to the large amounts of valuable materials secretly being exported to Japan and Germany caused Minister Yanai to reiterate his pleas for caution at this time. He revealed that the government of Colombia, in an attempt to check these exports, was sending secret investigators throughout the country.[953]
366. Minister Yanai Requests Additional Funds
On October 7, 1941 Minister Yanai, indicating that he had been successful in obtaining some desired items, requested additional funds from the Naval Attache in Mexico City.[954]
(e) Ecuador-Peru
367. Messrs. Watanabe and Makizawa Leave Peru for Ecuador
Messrs. Noboru Watanabe and Makizawa, two Japanese officials, were scheduled to leave Callao, Peru on the Santa Luisa on September 11, 1941. After making a landing at Quayaquil, they would travel to Quito by train.[955]
[949] III, 694.
[950] III, 695.
[951] III, 696.
[952] III, 697.
[953] III, 698.
[954] III, 699.
[955] III, 700.
[197]
368. Peruvian-Ecuadorean Border Dispute Continues
A border dispute between Peru and Ecuador continued through August and October, 1941 with armed conflicts taking place sporadically throughout the period. Little traffic concerning Ecuador was intercepted during this period, but Minister Yanai accredited to Bogota, Colombia kept the Japanese government informed of current events.
369. Ecuador Blames Standard Oil Company for Border Incident
The President of Ecuador believed that Peru's aggression had been incited by the Standard Oil Company, which he said, possessed vested interests in the southern part of Peru, and was attempting to encroach upon the rights of the Shell Oil Company in the Cuenca and adjacent area of Ecuador.
The United States had sold fifteen bombers to Peru, but had refused to send five planes or any military supplies to Ecuador. Because of this Ecuador could not subscribe to the United States' plan for Pan-American solidarity. The Japanese Minister believed that Ecuador would not send a representative to the approaching Good Neighbor conference unless the border question was settled.[956]
370. President Arroyo Del Rio Clears Japanese Commercial Experts
On September 18, 1941 Minister Yanai reported that Mr. Juan Martinez, an intimate friend of the Provisional President of Ecuador, Dr. Carlos A. Arroyo Del Rio, had made a special report which had resulted in a complete transformation of the President's attitude toward Japanese commercial experts who had been forced to leave the country. The President stated that all suspicions formerly directed against the Japanese experts had been dispelled, but owing to the unstable internal and foreign conditions of the country, he felt that their return at this time would be a bit premature. However, by the end of the month he might ask them to return.[957]
371. Peruvian Minister Accuses Ecuador of Creating Border Incident
According to a confidential report given to Minister Hisashi Nanjo at Havana by the Peruvian Minister, negotiations were being carried on between the United States and Ecuador for a ninety-nine year lease of the Galapagos, off the west coast of Ecuador. Since Ecuador was not able to withstand American pressure, its government was attempting to obtain as much as possible under the circumstances. The Peruvian Minister stated that Ecuador had deliberately instigated a border dispute in order to benefit from an advantageous solution by the United States, which would be asked to mediate in the name of hemispheric cooperation. Ecuador even hoped to obtain lend-lease materials from the United States.
According to the Peruvian Minister, this maneuver had not been successful for although the Acting Secretary of State, Mr. Sumner Welles, had summoned the Peruvian Ambassador in Washington and had made a veiled threat by announcing that the United States had decided to give two destroyers to Ecuador, Brazil had withdrawn from the mediation and the situation was disadvantageous to Ecuador.[958]
372. Minister Sakamoto Requests Azuma Maru Be Sent to Lima
On October 8, 1941 Minister Sakamoto in Lima requested that the Japanese Navy Department order the Azuma Maru to stop at a Peruvian post on its return voyage to Tokyo to take on materials accumulated there. It was expected that possibly 2,000 tons of cargo in excess of the previous estimate could be loaded. Minister Sakamoto requested an immediate reply.[959]
[956] III, 701.
[957] III, 702.
[958] III, 703.
[959] III, 704.
[198]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
373. Japan Attempts to Bribe Peruvian Officials
Foreign Minister Toyoda informed Minister Sakamoto in Lima that he was shipping to the Peruvian Finance Minister a set of European style dishes specially manufactured by the Nagoya China Company, and five Cloisonne flower vases to the Chief Assistant to the Finance Minister. These gifts were to be presented to the Peruvian officials with the compliments of Japan, and with the secret hope that Japan would get what it wanted from them more easily.[960] However, on October 14, 1941 Minister Sakamoto advised Tokyo that there was no hope of negotiating with the Peruvian government.[961]
374. Mr. Kihara Replaces Secretary Matsumoto in Peru
Minister Sakamoto in Lima advised the Japanese office in Panama that Secretary Bunazburo Matsumoto planned to leave Lima with secret documents and was scheduled to arrive in Cristobal, Venezuela on the Imperia on October 12, 1941.[962 ]When Tokyo requested that the Lima office reserve passage on the Terukawa Maru for Mr. Matsumoto, who desired to sail on that ship,[963] Mr. Sakamoto responded on October 14, 1941 that the new successor to Secretary Matsumoto, Secretary Jitaro Kihara, was encountering difficulty in obtaining travel expenses. He urged that Tokyo investigate this matter immediately.[964]
375. Japan Continues Trade with Peru
On October 14, 1941 the Terukawa Maru, according to Foreign Minister Toyoda had space available for 135 tons of cargo, which Japanese officials in Lima were to fill with materials necessary to Japan. Although the proper procedure was to have the Japanese Minister obtain these materials from the Peruvian government, the Japanese Foreign Office had decided that the respective private firms would import the materials and issue their own letters of credit. The Foreign Minister advised that every precaution be taken to avoid misunderstanding in the settlement of price between the Peruvian government and the sellers on the one hand and the Japanese firms on the other.
Since there were no prospects at present for assigning a ship to transport salt, the Foreign Minister asked that the Japanese representatives bargain with the Peruvian government for 250,000 sol of salt by telling them that a ship would soon be assigned by Japan to export it. Japan desired to remit the price each time an importation of salt was effected. Foreign Minister Toyoda also advised that a supply of sugar be obtained so that Japanese dealers could sell it in Peru.[965]
Upon learning that the Terukawa Maru might take aboard freight at Callao, Minister Yanai at Bogota, Colombia urged that the Japanese Embassy in Argentina be informed when the ship put into port.[966] Foreign Minister Toyoda replied that the Terukawa Maru would not be able to stop at Bogota and asked that Minister Yanai confer with the Argentina Ambassador to urge that he board this ship at Callao.[967]
[960] III, 705.
[961] III, 706.
[962] III, 707.
[963] III, 708.
[964] III, 709.
[965] III, 710.
[966] III, 711.
[967] III, 712.
[199]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
PART C—JAPANESE DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITIES THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
(f) Japanese-British Relations
376. British Freezing Order Impels Japanese to Evacuate Hongkong
Suspecting that an order freezing Japanese assets would be put into effect throughout the British Empire, Japanese representatives in Hongkong reported to their Foreign Minister in August, 1941 that considerable unrest was apparent among the Japanese residents who feared that Japanese ships would be denied entrance to the harbor.[968] When disclosing this situation to its representative in Canton on August 6, 1941, Tokyo inquired about the possibility of evacuating Japanese nationals by way of Canton.
In the meantime, an attempt was made to secure guarantees from English officials that Japanese ships would be permitted to leave Hongkong.[969] On August 8, 1941 Hongkong reported that since the Shirogane Maru was leaving Canton unimpeded and that since British authorities were not impeding the Takuun Maru then docked at Hongkong, no interference with Japanese shipping was anticipated, though the British had not as yet given any guarantee.
Nevertheless, preparations continued for the evacuation of approximately 110 subjects, the majority of whom were families of the Japanese staff and residents in Hongkong. With all mail steamers filled to capacity, it was suggested that the Kamo Maru, after leaving Kakao on August 20, 1941, take aboard some of these people at Hongkong. At the same time Japanese vessels were warned to prepare for detailed inspection of all cargoes by the British civil administration.[970]
Realizing that an official order to evacuate Hongkong would heighten the already critical situation, the Chief of the East Asia Bureau advised on August 10, 1941 that the withdrawal of Japanese subjects should give the appearance of being carried out under their own initiative.[971]
378. Rumors Indicate Japanese Evacuation Near Johore
In other sections of the Near East Japanese subjects were also preparing to return to their home land. Learning from a Singapore news dispatch of August 16, 1941 that Japanese near Johore in the Malay States had been ordered to evacuate, Tokyo, on August 23, 1941, requested verification of the report and complete details.[973]
379. Japanese Officials and News Correspondents Prepare to Leave London
At this time high ranking officials, including Lieutenant Colonel Yoshii and Commander Nakano, the assistant military and naval attaches at the Japanese Embassy in London, as well as Mr. Hasegawa and Mr. Nakamura, special news correspondents representing the Domei and Asahi syndicates respectively, prepared to leave London. The Japanese Ambassador in London inquired on August 20, 1941 concerning the advisability of these men returning to Japan via Panama in view of their military status and the existing international situation.[974]
[968] III, 713.
[969] III, 714.
[970] III, 715.
[971] III, 716.
[973] III, 718.
[974] III, 719.
[201] [200 blank]
380. Japanese Considers Bartering with British
Although evacuation plans were of major importance during the months of August and September, 1941, the problem of stabilizing trade relations between Japan and Great Britain was of equal concern. Since, according to Tokyo, by freezing Japanese funds and by abrogating treaties Great Britain had greatly curtailed Japanese commerce, Japan was willing to give careful consideration to a British proposal for the use of barter in trade between the two countries. Japan decided that the agreement would facilitate the settlement of its banks' financial problems, yet was anxious lest too prompt acceptance of the British proposal expose Japan's position. However, on August 15, 1941 Tokyo instructed its Embassy in London to order Mr. Kitaro Kato to arrange negotiations with the British and Netherlands East Indies banks.[975]
At the same time Japan continued to study the terms of the proposed agreement pertaining to the type of British commodities which would be supplied under it, and also the areas in which the agreement would be carried out. In Japan's opinion the new trade relationship should be put into effect throughout Great Britain's colonies, and not be limited to England itself.[976]
381. Japan Investigates British Military Preparations in Iran
In view of its alliances under the Tripartite Pact, Japan believes that it had to fear not only British economic pressure in the Far East but also the effects of British military preparations in other parts of the world on its ally, Germany. Since the European War had allied Great Britain with Russia, Tokyo was concerned with the trend of events in Iran where unforeseen developments might easily turn the tide of the Russo-German war.
For information gathered by the head of the Mitsubishi Branch in Iran, Tokyo learned of an increase in British shipping at ports on the Persian Gulf. By docking an average of five ships daily, Great Britain had brought the number of British and Australian troops in the area up to 200,000. In addition, trucks, speedboats equipped with depth bombs, machine guns and other military supplies were being unloaded rapidly. Yet in spite of the twenty-eight cranes used in these unloading operations, many ships were still anchored in the outer harbor at Basra waiting to put their cargoes ashore.[977]
In view of the fact that the British army had commandeered in Basra between 350 and 400 lighters, and had equipped them with plank covers, it seemed probable that the British were preparing to land their men and supplies in frontal assault on German lines. This theory was further substantiated by British use of the newly-completed railroad from the Basra harbor to Kuweit and by indications of a new connection with Bahrein Island.
Apparently, the Iranian government feared British preparations for war on its territory. On August 5, 1941 at the commemoration of the promulgation of the Constitution, Mr. Mobangaru, an influential member of the Iranian Parliament, warned his fellow members that Iran must prepare against joint British and Russian pressure. Mr. Mobangaru had been attacked by the Director of the British Imperial Bank in Iran because of the pro-German attitude in the country.[978]
After receiving this information concerning British military activities in Iran, the Japanese representative there went to the German Minister. In spite of the fact that the source of Japanese information was supposedly authentic, the German Minister refused to believe that either British troops or supplies were as numerous as reported; he considered the information to be English propaganda. Nevertheless, the Japanese representative in his message to the
[975] III, 720.
[976] Ibid.
[977] III, 721.
[978] Ibid.
[202]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
Foreign Minister on August 18, 1941 warned his government that the situation in Iran had grown extremely critical since the onset of the Russo-German war.[979]
Although the Iranian Foreign Office denied the rumor, there seemed to be some truth in the statement that Great Britain had requested permission to transport its troops through the country. It was rumored, too, that on August 5, 1941 the American Legation had secretly advised the evacuation of Americans from Iran.
Once the Russo-German war had been concluded, Japanese sources warned, the dangerous situation existing in Iran would be brought to a head, for then German troops would encroach upon the northern border of Iran and Great Britain would use Iran as a buffer state for the protection of India.
The statement by Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Anthony Eden, that Britain only wished to protect Iran from German Fifth Columnists was regarded merely as a British excuse. In fact, because the German Minister in Iran realized that the British government might make the first move to protect British oil companies, he was attempting to align the Iranians with the Axis by a policy of not irritating them in any manner.[980]
382. Japanese Business Firms Charge Singapore Police with Oppression
The Kobayashi firm, which for the past three years had been granted permits to carry on its business activities in Singapore, reported in August 1941 that oppressive measures were being taken against it. In order not to aggravate the situation, on August 25, 1941 Tokyo advised that the books of this concern be put in order to meet the control measures of the British authorities in Singapore. However, in retaliation not only was a strong protest to be made to Ambassador Robert Craigie, but British propaganda in Japan was to be curtailed.[981]
383. Tokyo Continues Negotiations for Barter with British
A Japanese Cabinet meeting on August 26, 1941 decided to continue negotiations for reciprocal trade with the British.[982] Since the proposed use of a barter system was designed to adjust the existing trade balances between British and Japanese banks, Tokyo believed that the terms should be drawn up by the Yokohama Specie Bank and by the British Dutch Bank, without any public announcement before or after a final plan was evolved.[983] Therefore, on August 27, 1941 Mr. Hisaakira Kano, branch manager of the Specie Bank in London, was notified of the arrangement.[984]
Although the original British proposal was acceptable almost as submitted, certain revisions in the articles and phraseology were still under discussion. Because the transportation of the material would be effected largely by Japanese ships, the Japanese government believed that England should furnish the necessary fuel and should extend certain facilities to Japan's cargo vessels. On August 27, 1941 Tokyo requested its London Embassy to present this stipulation in writing to the British.[985]
384. Foreign Minister Toyoda Criticizes Editorial Policy of Singapore Herald
Foreign Minister Toyoda warned the Japanese representatives in Singapore on August 28, 1941 to see to it that the Herald did not publish more editorials which were anti-Axis in tone.[986] Japanese authorities in Singapore replied that, whereas it was impossible for them to
[979] III, 722.
[980] Ibid.
[981] III, 723.
[982] III, 724.
[983] III, 725.
[984] III, 726.
[985] III, 725.
[986] III, 727.
[203]
direct the writing of each article, they had informed the paper of what its editorial policy should be: namely, to avoid provoking the British and to give the impression that Japan's aims, interfering in no way with the rights and interests of the English, were directed toward a Far Eastern peace.
A month before, in July 1941, British authorities in Singapore, through Mr. Scott, the former chief of the Far Eastern Section, had warned Mr. Jones, the Herald's editorial writer, that it was particularly inadvisable for an Englishman to write such analytical and critical editorials for a Japanese newspaper. Nevertheless, Mr. Jones had chosen to remain on the staff. According to the Japanese report, it was clear that the Herald's editorial, which had aroused much comment, had not been written under Japanese direction, but it was regrettable that Japan had permitted the publication of material suitable for use in British propaganda.[987]
385. Canada Imposes Restrictions on Foreign Messages
Because of Canada's proximity to the United States and England, its reactions to international diplomatic situations were carefully noted by the Japanese Embassy in Ottawa as an indication of trends common among the Allied nations. It was reported from Ottawa on August 26, 1941 that because of its entrance into the European war, Canada was prohibiting even the clearance of official foreign code and clear text telegrams when addressed to or sent by a private individual.
Although conscious that inconveniences would naturally arise, the Canadian government was resolute in allowing the transmission of only those official messages between Japanese consular offices in Canada and the United States which were clearly marked "Japanese Consul" or "Japanese Consul General."[988]
386. Canada Plans to Exchange Ministers with Chungking Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Only a few days later Japan received evidence of Canada's tendency toward pro-Chinese and anti-Japanese policies. From Ambassador Seijiro Yoshizawa in Ottawa came a report on August 30, 1941 of a rumor that Canada was planning to exchange ministers with the Chungking government. To determine the truth of the story appearing in local Canadian newspapers, the Japanese Ambassador in Ottawa questioned Prime Minister MacKensie King. He learned that diplomatic negotiations to effect such an exchange had been underway for some time, aided by the British Ambassador in Chungking.[989]
In view of the establishment of the Japanese-sponsored regime at Nanking,[990] Ambassador Yoshizawa impressed the Canadian Prime Minister with the advisability of notifying Japan prior to any official decision.[991]
387. Tokyo Permits British Evacuation from Japan
Although diplomatic relations were still not severed, both Japan and England continued arrangements for evacuating their nationals from the other's territory.
At the request of the British Ambassador in Tokyo, the Japanese government issued an oral statement granting the same facilities for the arrival and departure of British evacuation ships at Japanese ports, as had been guaranteed to Ambassador Mamoru Shigamitsu in London, when the Fushimi Maru removed Japanese subjects from Great Britain.[992]
[987] III, 728.
[988] III, 729.
[989] II, 730.
[990] Japan has set up a puppet government in Nanking. See II, Japanese-Nanking Relation.
[991] III, 730.
[992] III, 731.
[204]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
In return for the safe passage of British ships, Japan instructed its Ambassador in London, on August 28, 1941, to obtain further assurance that nothing would hinder its vessels from taking Japanese nationals aboard at Karachi, British India.[993]
388. Tokyo Evacuates Nationals in British Territory
As preparations for the evacuation of Japanese nationals from all British territories progressed, Tokyo, on August 29, 1941, ordered its Ambassador in London to explain to the British authorities that the Matsumoto Maru at Calcutta and another ship at Durban had no accommodations for the evacuees from Mombasa in Kenya, South Africa. Since it would be necessary to dispatch two other Japanese ships for that purpose, a guarantee of safe passage was requested by the Japanese government.[994]
389. Britain Guarantees Safe Passage for Hakone Maru
Negotiations were continued in order to obtain further guarantees on the part of both the Japanese and British governments that no obstacle would be placed in the way of the evacuation ships.
According to an agreement with Ambassador Robert Craigie in Tokyo, safe transit for the Hakone Maru, sailing through the Persian Gulf en route to Bombay, was assured. In exchange, English ships, sent to Japan and China for the evacuation of British and Allied nationals, were granted similar facilities.[995]
390. British and Japanese Banks Negotiate Trade Settlements
The beginning of September 1941 found Japanese and British banking concerns negotiating for further trade between the two countries. Tokyo revealed that authorities of the British Netherlands Bank had approached the London branch of the Yokohama Specie Bank about the possibility of establishing a settlement account to facilitate commercial payments.
The Yokohama Specie Bank proposed that before arranging such a system, a list of materials for export by both the British and Japanese governments be drawn up for discussion. The Japanese government was anxious to carry on trade with British territories and colonies in cotton goods and other miscellaneous materials known to be lacking in these areas. Tokyo felt that such a measure would alleviate some of the trade problems which had resulted from the British freezing order.[996]
391. Japanese Embassy in London Discloses Background of Atlantic Charter
On September 2, 1941 the Japanese government sent to Berlin a report received from the Japanese Embassy in London concerning the background of the Atlantic Charter signed by President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill on August 14, 1941.[997]
From the information received it was learned that the eight points of the Atlantic Charter were originated by President Roosevelt. Because these points touched upon the question of the distribution of territories throughout Europe, Prime Minister Churchill hesitated to sign the document at first, fearing that diplomatic problems might arise in consequence. President Roosevelt then pointed out that the American public had assumed an extremely heavy burden of taxation in order to give necessary aid to Britain. If the American public came to feel that it was involved in a war merely for the benefit of Great Britain, great dissatisfaction would result. When President Roosevelt stressed that therefore a statement must be issued precisely
[993 Ibid.
[994] III, 732.
[995] III, 733.
[996] III, 734.
[997] III, 735.
[205]
because the European war was so serious a problem involving not only Great Britain but the entire world, Prime Minister Churchill agreed to adopt the Atlantic Charter.
As had been expected, the question of the distribution of territories caused friction between the allied European countries. Soviet Russia, in particular, had many questions to pose regarding this problem.
With regard to the problems in the Far East, the Japanese Embassy in London stated that Great Britain believed America's attitude toward Japan to be more lenient than its own, since the United States was continuing its informal conversations with Japan.[998]
392. Japanese Embassy Comments on Situations in Iran and Africa
This same report from the Japanese Embassy in London commented on the situations in both Iran and Africa. With regard to its invasion of Iran, Great Britain realized the difficulty of preserving peace in neighboring countries if she resorted to conquest by force. Therefore, Great Britain hoped to carry out only a minor aggression in Iran and to attain its major objectives by negotiations with the Iranian government.
Although developments in Iran at first gave hope to these expectations, the British government faced the fact that the Russian troops showed no signs of stopping their advance into Iran from the north. Only after the Soviet forces had secured the northern end of the railroad and the area adjoining the Caucasus did they intend to cease operations. The British troops had already secured the oil fields in the southern part of the trans-Iran railroad, however, and since neither army had sent troops to Teheran, efforts were still underway for peaceful negotiations with the Iranian government.
Meanwhile, in Africa, the Vichy government was attempting to forestall a move for independence on the part of the French African colonies by putting General Huntziger in command of all African forces. Because of his great popularity, the Vichy government could not risk dismissing General Weygand; therefore, it had been necessary to make him second in command.
The British government had refrained from aiding the pending struggle for independence among the French African colonies since it was felt that once this independence was secured, Berlin would take advantage of the situation by sending German troops into Spain.[999]
393. British-Russian Advance Cuts Off German Escape
By the first part of September 1941 the situation in Iran had become so critical that the German Legation burned its general documents and prepared to flee Teheran. Because of the rapidly advancing British and Russian troops, however, escape was cut off. The German nationals in Teheran were faced either with becoming captives of the Allies, or with taking cover and carrying on anti-British and anti-Russian activities until aid from the German army reached them. Whatever their choice, it was now obvious that once Iran capitulated, British-Russian occupation would leave the Caucasus open to Allied aid and German forces, fighting in Russia, would be placed in a precarious position.[1000]
394. Japanese Intelligence Discloses Possibility of German Attack on Turkey
On September 5, 1941 the Japanese Embassy in London sent Tokyo reliable information concerning the possible occupation of Near-East territories by British, Soviet, and German troops. The Japanese Embassy disclosed that when the British and Russian governments had first demanded the expulsion of Germans from Iran, Turkey and Egypt had been sympathetic with the Iranian government. However, both Iran and Turkey asked that, in case Russia should
[998] Ibid.
[999] Ibid.
[1000] III, 736.
[206]
THE "MAGIC" BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR
invade Iran, Britain then enter the country presumably to prevent Russian occupation of Teheran and possible outrages against the populace and king. If Great Britain should fail to make this move, the Turkish militarists, pro-German in their sentiments, would find it an excuse to collaborate with the Axis nations.
Although the German Ambassador to Turkey, Mr. Papen, had made no special demands on that government, his return to Berlin was considered an indication of a future German invasion of Turkey. On the other hand, Japanese intelligence reports pointed out that Germany recognized the difficulty of breaking through the plains of Anatolia and, rather than risk failure, the Berlin government might refrain from an attack at the present time.
Though Admiral Raeder had recently visited Bulgaria, a well-informed person disclosed that the purpose of his visit was to negotiate for the use of Bulgaria's harbors in the event of a war on the Black Sea. While an Italian squadron might be able to assist Germany by invading the Black Sea, Japanese intelligence reports pointed out that the Dardanelles Straits would still have to be controlled before this move could prove of any real value.[1001]
395. Disposition of British Fleet Affects German-French Peace Negotiations
Information from the Japanese Embassy in London on September 5, 1941 also disclosed certain problems connected with the establishment of final peace negotiations between Vichy France and Germany. The disposition of the British fleet, threatening the German and Italian supply route to Libya, had been largely responsible for the resignation of Admiral La Rocque, Vichy's director of naval strategy, and the demotion of General Weygand. Because German and Italian ships feared attack by the British, a route to Libya through the harbor of Bizerte in French-held Tunis had been contemplated. Since General Weygand and Admiral La Rocque had opposed this move, there had been a shake-up in the French military and naval high command which had had a telling affect upon French politics.
Furthermore, Italy's claims on the French colonies in Africa, Corsica, Nice, and Savoy and the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine by Germany had such a bad affect upon French public opinion that Vichy could not afford to ratify peace negotiations with Germany at the present time.[1002]
396. Canadian Prime Minister Advocates American Aid to Britain
On September 5, 1941 Tokyo also received information concerning a speech made by Canada's Prime Minister, Mr. MacKenzie King, at an informal dinner-party given by the Mayor of London.
Since his arrival in Great Britain, Prime Minister King had openly advocated all-out aid to Britain by the United States as a means of attaining a common objective. With the backing of Prime Minister Churchill, King made a speech emphasizing that a new world order, based on freedom, could only be achieved by complete British-American cooperation.
The attitude of other British leaders toward the European war was causing a political rift in Great Britain. Recently, Mr. Moore-Brabazon, the Minister of Aircraft Production, had openly declared that Great Britain could take advantage of the war-exhaustion of Germany and Russia to advance its own production of war materials. As a result of this statement, Mr. Tanner, the head of the Amalgamated Engineers' Union, had attacked Minister Moore-Brabazon at a meeting at which Air Minister Attlee and Economic Warfare Administrator Dalton were present. At the coming session of Parliament, careful attention was to be given to the problems which had arisen from the differing views of the two men.[1003]
[1001] III, 737.
[1002] Ibid.
[1003] Ibid.
[207]
397. Japan Fears British-Chinese Collaboration
Since British relations with Far Eastern territories had a definite bearing on their attitude toward Japan, Tokyo watched with growing concern the obvious tendencies toward increased British-Chinese collaboration. Although both British and Chinese authorities were avoiding any definite statement concerning the extent of cooperation between their countries, and while no actual treaty was believed to exist, Mr. Tateki Horiuchi, in Shanghai, quoted a Reuters dispatch from Chungking in the early part of September 1941, which stated that British and Chinese military leaders constantly coordinated their activities.
A United Press news report quoted the British Naval Attache to the United States as saying that if America entered the war, Britain would permit it to use Singapore. Furthermore, Ambassador Archibald Kerr had admitted that relations between England and China were closer than imagined by the world at large.[1004]
A little over a week later confirmation of British-Chinese military cooperation was found in a Japanese intelligence report. After investigating the distribution and quartering of troops around Lashio, a Japanese spy revealed that military conferences between the British and Chinese leaders had been held twice monthly since July, 1941. On September 6, 1941 Lashio was filled with Chinese soldiers, who were holding maneuvers with British troops.[1005]
By September 10, 1941 Chinese forces had been strengthened by 1000 men ready to move southwards from Lashio in trucks. Other detachments arriving from Kunming in the latter part of September 1941 were apparently to be stationed near Wanten and Shaho, where military barracks were under construction and underground ammunition dumps, invisible from the sky, were nearly completed.[1006]
Later in September 1941 another spy report disclosed that thousands of trucks carrying gasoline, arms, ammunition, cotton and miscellaneous equipment had been arriving at Yunan during August, and arms and ammunition had been sent to reinforce the Chinese at Fushan.[1007]
398. Britain Suppresses Japanese Propaganda in China
In order to protect its interest in China, Great Britain found it necessary to suppress Japanese propaganda there. Disturbed by Japan's varied activities in China, the British authorities curtailed travel and placed restrictions on newspaper articles and radio talks. Furthermore, all mail from Chinese nationals in occupied territories was opened and censored, and all Chinese working with Japan were watched by the police. Members of the Chinese Communist party, who had been merely feigning anti-Japanese sentiments, found their activities suppressed by British officials.[1008]
In an attempt to counteract the effects of this British surveillance, Japanese authorities at Singapore suggested to Tokyo on September 9, 1941 that the National government of China establish a radio station to broadcast pro-Japanese propaganda, which would emphasize the futility of China's continuing its resistance to Japan. It would also stress that the present National government, established in the occupied areas of China, was actually the legitimate successor to the Nationalist party established by Mr. Sun Yat-sen.[1009]
399. Britain Seeks Chinese Translators
British preparations for war in the Far East were reported by the Japanese, who stated that British authorities were making a survey of Englishmen in North China, Hongkong and Shang-
[1004] III, 738.
[1005] III, 739.
[1006] III, 740.
[1007] III, 741.
[1008] III, 742.
[1009] Ibid .
Friday, May 22, 2009
July American 8.fra.0065 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Parents often report that it takes two to four years for children with Fragile X syndrome to begin sleeping through the night. Typically developing children usually adopt normal sleep patterns by the time they are six to eight months old.
Many neurological disorders are accompanied by sleep difficulties, says Yung-Hui Fu of the University of California, San Francisco, but the reason for those sleeping problems is often unknown.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
An international team of scientists led by David Nelson, a human geneticist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, set out to investigate why. The study appears in the July American Journal of Human Genetics and is the first to suggest a mechanism for the sleep disruptions that accompany Fragile X syndrome.
Many neurological disorders are accompanied by sleep difficulties, says Yung-Hui Fu of the University of California, San Francisco, but the reason for those sleeping problems is often unknown.Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
An international team of scientists led by David Nelson, a human geneticist at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, set out to investigate why. The study appears in the July American Journal of Human Genetics and is the first to suggest a mechanism for the sleep disruptions that accompany Fragile X syndrome.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
hydration 9.hyd.0002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Global warming may turn out to be more than just a pain in the neck: Rising average temperatures might trigger an increased prevalence of kidney stones.
About 12 percent of men and 7 percent of women in the United States will be stricken during their lifetime with symptoms of a kidney stone, which forms when minerals dissolved in urine crystallize somewhere in the kidney or urinary tract.
One of the primary causes of these painful deposits is low urine volume, brought about either by low fluid intake or by increased fluid loss, says Margaret S. Pearle, a urologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
Although people in all parts of the nation can suffer kidney stones, the ailment is much more common in some regions than in others.
Prevalence of stones in the Southeast is as much as 50 percent higher than it is the Northwest, Pearle says. Urologists have long known of a “kidney stone belt,” which stretches from the Carolinas through Texas to southern and central California, she notes.
Overall, differences in average annual temperature among various U.S. regions account for about 70 percent of the variation in kidney stone prevalence. Dramatic increases in the ailment among soldiers deployed to arid regions, as well as seasonal variations in frequency of the malady, bolster the link between temperature and prevalence, the researchers propose.
Now, in the July 15 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Pearle and her colleagues estimate how the prevalence of kidney stones — and the costs needed to treat them — might increase as climate change boosts average temperatures.
In one climate change scenario —in which the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide rise to 850 parts per million by 2100, up from about 380 ppm today — average annual temperature in some parts of the United States would rise as much as 3.25 degrees Celsius, says Tom H. Brikowski, a hydrologist at the University of Texas at Dallas and coauthor of the paper.
Under such a scenario, kidney stone prevalence will undoubtedly rise. However, Pearle notes, the specific relation between average annual temperature and prevalence isn’t clear. While some urologists suggest that an increase in temperature will lead to a proportional increase in kidney stone prevalence, others propose that above a certain temperature threshold — say, 15° C — the risk of developing stones doesn’t increase.
In the model where the risk of stones rises proportionally with an increase in average annual temperature, the largest bumps in kidney stone cases by the year 2050 are concentrated in California, Texas, Florida and the East Coast, the researchers report. Under the other model, the increase in kidney stone prevalence over that period would be largely confined to Northern California and a swath running from Kansas to Virginia, because the average annual temperature in much of the Southeast already sits above 15° C. In some regions, kidney stone prevalence could rise about 30 percent, the analysis suggests.
Between now and 2050, climate change could cause an additional 1.6 million to 2.2 million cases of kidney stones, the researchers speculate. At that time, annual medical costs for stone-related emergency room visits, out-patient appointments and surgery would Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire run between 900 million and 1.3 billion year-2000 dollars, the researchers estimate.
“These costs are pretty staggering,” says Anthony Smith, a urologist at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. He describes the new research as “a fascinating study … that indicates climate-related changes in the environment will have large economic and human costs.”
The new research “is really a seminal piece of work,” says Mark S. Litwin, a urologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. Kidney stones are one of the largely unrecognized — and largely preventable — consequences of climate change, he adds.
More aggressive efforts to maximize hydration could result in a decreased incidence of stone problems, says Ira Sharlip, a urologist in San Francisco.
Litwin agrees: “The irony is, the cure is fairly simple,” he notes. “Just drink more water.”
About 12 percent of men and 7 percent of women in the United States will be stricken during their lifetime with symptoms of a kidney stone, which forms when minerals dissolved in urine crystallize somewhere in the kidney or urinary tract.
One of the primary causes of these painful deposits is low urine volume, brought about either by low fluid intake or by increased fluid loss, says Margaret S. Pearle, a urologist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
Although people in all parts of the nation can suffer kidney stones, the ailment is much more common in some regions than in others.
Prevalence of stones in the Southeast is as much as 50 percent higher than it is the Northwest, Pearle says. Urologists have long known of a “kidney stone belt,” which stretches from the Carolinas through Texas to southern and central California, she notes.
Overall, differences in average annual temperature among various U.S. regions account for about 70 percent of the variation in kidney stone prevalence. Dramatic increases in the ailment among soldiers deployed to arid regions, as well as seasonal variations in frequency of the malady, bolster the link between temperature and prevalence, the researchers propose.
Now, in the July 15 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Pearle and her colleagues estimate how the prevalence of kidney stones — and the costs needed to treat them — might increase as climate change boosts average temperatures.
In one climate change scenario —in which the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide rise to 850 parts per million by 2100, up from about 380 ppm today — average annual temperature in some parts of the United States would rise as much as 3.25 degrees Celsius, says Tom H. Brikowski, a hydrologist at the University of Texas at Dallas and coauthor of the paper.
Under such a scenario, kidney stone prevalence will undoubtedly rise. However, Pearle notes, the specific relation between average annual temperature and prevalence isn’t clear. While some urologists suggest that an increase in temperature will lead to a proportional increase in kidney stone prevalence, others propose that above a certain temperature threshold — say, 15° C — the risk of developing stones doesn’t increase.
In the model where the risk of stones rises proportionally with an increase in average annual temperature, the largest bumps in kidney stone cases by the year 2050 are concentrated in California, Texas, Florida and the East Coast, the researchers report. Under the other model, the increase in kidney stone prevalence over that period would be largely confined to Northern California and a swath running from Kansas to Virginia, because the average annual temperature in much of the Southeast already sits above 15° C. In some regions, kidney stone prevalence could rise about 30 percent, the analysis suggests.
Between now and 2050, climate change could cause an additional 1.6 million to 2.2 million cases of kidney stones, the researchers speculate. At that time, annual medical costs for stone-related emergency room visits, out-patient appointments and surgery would Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire run between 900 million and 1.3 billion year-2000 dollars, the researchers estimate.
“These costs are pretty staggering,” says Anthony Smith, a urologist at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. He describes the new research as “a fascinating study … that indicates climate-related changes in the environment will have large economic and human costs.”
The new research “is really a seminal piece of work,” says Mark S. Litwin, a urologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. Kidney stones are one of the largely unrecognized — and largely preventable — consequences of climate change, he adds.
More aggressive efforts to maximize hydration could result in a decreased incidence of stone problems, says Ira Sharlip, a urologist in San Francisco.
Litwin agrees: “The irony is, the cure is fairly simple,” he notes. “Just drink more water.”
Monday, May 4, 2009
shed 7.she.002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
A drug already approved for diabetes enables obese people to lose substantial weight and keep it off over the course of a year, researchers report in the September Diabetes Care.
The drug, pramlintide, received U.S. regulatory approval in 2005 for the treatment of diabetes. Pramlintide is a synthetic version of a natural hormone made in the pancreas that signals satiety when a person has eaten enough and also slows the movement of food through the stomach.
Both processes suppress appetite, but the satiety signal reaching the brain has the stronger effect, says endocrinologist Christian Weyer of Amylin Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, which makes the drug and markets it as Symlin. http://Louis-j-sheehan.com
Weyer and other Amylin researchers teamed with scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City and Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge for the new study. The scientists randomly assigned 411 obese volunteers to get a regimen of two or three injections daily for four months. One in seven received placebo shots while the rest got pramlintide in low, medium or high doses.
None of the volunteers had diabetes. The researchers counseled all of them to reduce their calorie intake and to boost their exercise. Each volunteer received a weight-loss manual and a digital pedometer.
After four months, the placebo-treated people had lost 6 pounds on average while the pramlintide group had lost 8 to 13 pounds, with the highest-dose volunteers losing the most. Roughly one-fourth of the placebo-treated people lost at least 5 percent of their body weight, compared with nearly half of those treated with pramlintide.
At the end of the full 12-month trial, people in the placebo group had regained most of their lost weight. Volunteers getting the medium-to-high doses of pramlintide had lost 14 to 18 pounds on average.
The main side effect of pramlintide is nausea, and 9 to 29 percent of volunteers, depending on dosages, complained of this symptom. As the dosage of the drug increased, more volunteers reported nausea. But Weyer says the nausea largely dissipated after a few weeks and wasn’t much different from nausea induced by other hormone-based drugs. “In essence, the body gets used to it,” he says.
Amylin is now giving obese volunteers a combination of pramlintide and a synthetic form of leptin, another satiety hormone the body makes. Leptin and pramlintide probably have a naturally occurring synergy that earlier tests suggested could lead to even greater weight loss, Weyer says. “In nature, they don’t act alone.”
While the new findings are encouraging, it’s unlikely that pramlintide would work as a stand-alone intervention for obesity over a longer term, says George Blackburn, a physician and nutritionist at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. But the Amylin researchers are on the right track in trying to combine it with a synthetic form of leptin, he says. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire The most promising trend in obesity research adds combinations of such potent medications to lifestyle changes that people can manage, he says.
“Getting weight off isn’t the challenge; keeping it off is,” he says. Medication provides an edge that raises an individual’s morale and motivation to comply with beneficial lifestyle changes, he says.
The drug, pramlintide, received U.S. regulatory approval in 2005 for the treatment of diabetes. Pramlintide is a synthetic version of a natural hormone made in the pancreas that signals satiety when a person has eaten enough and also slows the movement of food through the stomach.
Both processes suppress appetite, but the satiety signal reaching the brain has the stronger effect, says endocrinologist Christian Weyer of Amylin Pharmaceuticals in San Diego, which makes the drug and markets it as Symlin. http://Louis-j-sheehan.com
Weyer and other Amylin researchers teamed with scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City and Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge for the new study. The scientists randomly assigned 411 obese volunteers to get a regimen of two or three injections daily for four months. One in seven received placebo shots while the rest got pramlintide in low, medium or high doses.
None of the volunteers had diabetes. The researchers counseled all of them to reduce their calorie intake and to boost their exercise. Each volunteer received a weight-loss manual and a digital pedometer.
After four months, the placebo-treated people had lost 6 pounds on average while the pramlintide group had lost 8 to 13 pounds, with the highest-dose volunteers losing the most. Roughly one-fourth of the placebo-treated people lost at least 5 percent of their body weight, compared with nearly half of those treated with pramlintide.
At the end of the full 12-month trial, people in the placebo group had regained most of their lost weight. Volunteers getting the medium-to-high doses of pramlintide had lost 14 to 18 pounds on average.
The main side effect of pramlintide is nausea, and 9 to 29 percent of volunteers, depending on dosages, complained of this symptom. As the dosage of the drug increased, more volunteers reported nausea. But Weyer says the nausea largely dissipated after a few weeks and wasn’t much different from nausea induced by other hormone-based drugs. “In essence, the body gets used to it,” he says.
Amylin is now giving obese volunteers a combination of pramlintide and a synthetic form of leptin, another satiety hormone the body makes. Leptin and pramlintide probably have a naturally occurring synergy that earlier tests suggested could lead to even greater weight loss, Weyer says. “In nature, they don’t act alone.”
While the new findings are encouraging, it’s unlikely that pramlintide would work as a stand-alone intervention for obesity over a longer term, says George Blackburn, a physician and nutritionist at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. But the Amylin researchers are on the right track in trying to combine it with a synthetic form of leptin, he says. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire The most promising trend in obesity research adds combinations of such potent medications to lifestyle changes that people can manage, he says.
“Getting weight off isn’t the challenge; keeping it off is,” he says. Medication provides an edge that raises an individual’s morale and motivation to comply with beneficial lifestyle changes, he says.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
tests 0.ters.002 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Scientists fluent in the language of DNA — be it from intestinal bacteria, Neandertals or the consumer kits that promise to tell people about their ancestry — gathered in November in Philadelphia for the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics. Following are highlights from talks given November 13:
Talk like a Neandertal
Neandertals may have had the genetic gift for gab, new research shows.
Analyses of the Neandertal genome reveals that the extinct human relatives had the same version of a gene linked to speech as humans do, says Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. Mutations that reduce activity of the gene, called FOXP2, also disable speech in humans.
Humans have a version of FOXP2 that differs by two amino acids from the chimpanzee version of the gene. Neandertals share the version of the gene found in humans, Pääbo reported at the human genetics meeting.
Many other genes may be required for speech but, in humans at least, no other genes have shown such a dramatic effect. The result could mean that Neandertals could speak, Pääbo says.
“From what little we know, there’s no reason they couldn’t talk,” he says.
Gut diversity
A study of twins reveals that each person has a unique mix of microbial species living in their intestines.
Scientists had previously thought that people may share a core set of microbial species in addition to other, unique bacteria. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire But a new study of 154 people showed that each person had unique mixtures of gut microbes, Jeffrey Gordon of Washington University in St. Louis reported.
Although the microbe species differed from person to person, microbes living in the intestines tend to do many of the same jobs, fulfilling tasks such as breaking down carbohydrates, Gordon says. That’s similar to other macro-ecosystems, he says. Grasslands look the same around the world, even though a grassland in North America contains different species of plants than one in Africa. http://Louis2J2Sheehan2Esquire.US
A person’s individual mix of microbial species changes slightly over time, but it may not matter which species are at work as long as the job gets done. The researchers have also shown that obese people have groups of microbes that contain more genes for digesting carbohydrates than do microbes from lean people.
Mail-order DNA ancestry
As many as 30 companies now offer to genetically determine an individual’s ancestry. The tests can be done at home and are easy to use. But the tests’ results are still imprecise and their meaning is often not clear, scientists say.
During its annual meeting, the American Society of Human Genetics released a statement (available at www.ashg.org/pdf/ASHGAncestryTestingStatement_FINAL.pdf) concerning direct-to-consumer tests of personal ancestry. A committee of scientists from the society plans to release a more comprehensive academic discussion of the topic in the spring.
For now the society recommends that companies and academic scientists do more to educate people about the limitations of what this type of ancestry testing can actually tell someone about their family. Historical, social, political and privacy issues associated with genetic testing should also be discussed, members of the committee said at a press conference November 13.
“We’ve got to be cautious not to let science trump the culture,” says Edward McCabe of the University of California, Los Angeles.
Psychological impacts of the testing should also be considered, the committee recommends. Results of ancestry tests may change a person’s view about their own identity, says Charmaine Royal of the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy. “For some people, the genetics is truth. They get that information and it challenges everything they ever knew,” she says. Other people view genetic results as just another piece of family history.
Talk like a Neandertal
Neandertals may have had the genetic gift for gab, new research shows.
Analyses of the Neandertal genome reveals that the extinct human relatives had the same version of a gene linked to speech as humans do, says Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. Mutations that reduce activity of the gene, called FOXP2, also disable speech in humans.
Humans have a version of FOXP2 that differs by two amino acids from the chimpanzee version of the gene. Neandertals share the version of the gene found in humans, Pääbo reported at the human genetics meeting.
Many other genes may be required for speech but, in humans at least, no other genes have shown such a dramatic effect. The result could mean that Neandertals could speak, Pääbo says.
“From what little we know, there’s no reason they couldn’t talk,” he says.
Gut diversity
A study of twins reveals that each person has a unique mix of microbial species living in their intestines.
Scientists had previously thought that people may share a core set of microbial species in addition to other, unique bacteria. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire But a new study of 154 people showed that each person had unique mixtures of gut microbes, Jeffrey Gordon of Washington University in St. Louis reported.
Although the microbe species differed from person to person, microbes living in the intestines tend to do many of the same jobs, fulfilling tasks such as breaking down carbohydrates, Gordon says. That’s similar to other macro-ecosystems, he says. Grasslands look the same around the world, even though a grassland in North America contains different species of plants than one in Africa. http://Louis2J2Sheehan2Esquire.US
A person’s individual mix of microbial species changes slightly over time, but it may not matter which species are at work as long as the job gets done. The researchers have also shown that obese people have groups of microbes that contain more genes for digesting carbohydrates than do microbes from lean people.
Mail-order DNA ancestry
As many as 30 companies now offer to genetically determine an individual’s ancestry. The tests can be done at home and are easy to use. But the tests’ results are still imprecise and their meaning is often not clear, scientists say.
During its annual meeting, the American Society of Human Genetics released a statement (available at www.ashg.org/pdf/ASHGAncestryTestingStatement_FINAL.pdf) concerning direct-to-consumer tests of personal ancestry. A committee of scientists from the society plans to release a more comprehensive academic discussion of the topic in the spring.
For now the society recommends that companies and academic scientists do more to educate people about the limitations of what this type of ancestry testing can actually tell someone about their family. Historical, social, political and privacy issues associated with genetic testing should also be discussed, members of the committee said at a press conference November 13.
“We’ve got to be cautious not to let science trump the culture,” says Edward McCabe of the University of California, Los Angeles.
Psychological impacts of the testing should also be considered, the committee recommends. Results of ancestry tests may change a person’s view about their own identity, says Charmaine Royal of the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy. “For some people, the genetics is truth. They get that information and it challenges everything they ever knew,” she says. Other people view genetic results as just another piece of family history.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
cadence 8.cad.0023 Louis J.Sheehan, Esquire
The heart’s got rhythm, thanks to molecular timekeepers.
Researchers at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City have discovered a new role for a well-known metabolic protein — as a conductor setting the pace of the heart’s daily cadence and the rise and fall of blood pressure. The finding, reported in the Dec. 3 Cell Metabolism, links the heart’s daily clock with other metabolic functions of the body, helping to explain why sleep disturbances may lead to high blood pressure and diabetes.
Heart rate and blood pressure rise and fall over the course of the day in a regular pattern, one of the body’s best-known circadian rhythms. Blood pressure falls at night, rises sharply just before a person wakes up and then peaks about midmorning. The steep rise in blood pressure may be the reason people are more likely to have heart attacks and strokes in the morning than at other times of day.
Most of the body’s daily patterns are controlled by a master clock in the brain, but each cell in the body contains timekeeping proteins as well. Scientists knew that heart rate and blood pressure are governed by a daily clock, but didn’t know whether the heart and blood vessels keep their own time or dance to the beat of the body’s master clock.
Tianxin Yang, a physiologist at the University of Utah, and his colleagues stumbled upon the answer to that question while investigating the cardiovascular side benefits of some widely used diabetes drugs, such as rosiglitazone. The drugs not only help treat type 2 diabetes, but also improve cardiovascular health.
The team sought to understand the protein these drugs target: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma, or PPARgamma, is involved in controlling how the body uses glucose and lipids. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz To learn more about the protein’s role in the vascular system, the researchers genetically engineered mice to lack the protein only in the heart and blood vessels.
The team found that mice lacking PPARgamma only in the heart and blood vessels don’t have dramatic differences in blood pressure over the course of the day the way normal mice do. That result means that PPARgamma must be involved in setting the clock that governs heart and blood pressure rhythms, the team reports. The researchers demonstrated that PPARgamma and the diabetes drugs probably set the clock by stimulating production of another protein, BMAL1, which is a major gear in all the body’s molecular clocks.
The possibility that the main brain-clock helps set the pace of the heart and blood vessels cannot be ruled out, but the finding is evidence that the vascular system has its own clock, one that is tied to other metabolic processes, says Yang. “This peripheral clock is definitely required to maintain the normal cardiovascular rhythm,” he says.
Because PPARgamma is affected by metabolism and diabetes drugs, it is likely a clock that can be wound by outside factors. “This is a nice paper that clarifies one mechanism by which environmental influences can impinge on the molecular clock,” says Garret FitzGerald, a pharmacologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
Other metabolic factors are also likely to influence the body’s rhythms, says FitzGerald.
“The more we learn about the clock from mutant mice, the more important it appears to be in the regulation of cardiovascular and metabolic function,” he says.
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* More On Circadian Rhythm
Again and again. Genes are organisms, even as now interdependent members of their genome communal cooperative, they were born with the environmental habit and need to sleep.Louis J.Sheehan, Esquire
The need to sleep is innate in genes, as evidenced by the Circadian Rhythm. It was daylight's energy that trans-phased the pre-alive RNA oligomers into individual living polymers, the primal genes, and it was daylight's energy that continued being the ONLY source of energy for the early genes, organisms, in the pre-biotic Earth surface. And this state of affairs persisted along the course of evolution of genes into communal cooperative genomes, with chromosomes enclosed in cells and later also in nuclei. It took many many following years for Earth to start evolving its biosphere and to furnish to its life alternative energy sources, as life evolved the capability to exploit the additional types of energy.Louis J.Sheehan, Esquire
Organisms' "biological clock" is thus an inherited matter, an innate characteristic.
Dov Henis
Researchers at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City have discovered a new role for a well-known metabolic protein — as a conductor setting the pace of the heart’s daily cadence and the rise and fall of blood pressure. The finding, reported in the Dec. 3 Cell Metabolism, links the heart’s daily clock with other metabolic functions of the body, helping to explain why sleep disturbances may lead to high blood pressure and diabetes.
Heart rate and blood pressure rise and fall over the course of the day in a regular pattern, one of the body’s best-known circadian rhythms. Blood pressure falls at night, rises sharply just before a person wakes up and then peaks about midmorning. The steep rise in blood pressure may be the reason people are more likely to have heart attacks and strokes in the morning than at other times of day.
Most of the body’s daily patterns are controlled by a master clock in the brain, but each cell in the body contains timekeeping proteins as well. Scientists knew that heart rate and blood pressure are governed by a daily clock, but didn’t know whether the heart and blood vessels keep their own time or dance to the beat of the body’s master clock.
Tianxin Yang, a physiologist at the University of Utah, and his colleagues stumbled upon the answer to that question while investigating the cardiovascular side benefits of some widely used diabetes drugs, such as rosiglitazone. The drugs not only help treat type 2 diabetes, but also improve cardiovascular health.
The team sought to understand the protein these drugs target: Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma, or PPARgamma, is involved in controlling how the body uses glucose and lipids. http://Louis-J-Sheehan.biz To learn more about the protein’s role in the vascular system, the researchers genetically engineered mice to lack the protein only in the heart and blood vessels.
The team found that mice lacking PPARgamma only in the heart and blood vessels don’t have dramatic differences in blood pressure over the course of the day the way normal mice do. That result means that PPARgamma must be involved in setting the clock that governs heart and blood pressure rhythms, the team reports. The researchers demonstrated that PPARgamma and the diabetes drugs probably set the clock by stimulating production of another protein, BMAL1, which is a major gear in all the body’s molecular clocks.
The possibility that the main brain-clock helps set the pace of the heart and blood vessels cannot be ruled out, but the finding is evidence that the vascular system has its own clock, one that is tied to other metabolic processes, says Yang. “This peripheral clock is definitely required to maintain the normal cardiovascular rhythm,” he says.
Because PPARgamma is affected by metabolism and diabetes drugs, it is likely a clock that can be wound by outside factors. “This is a nice paper that clarifies one mechanism by which environmental influences can impinge on the molecular clock,” says Garret FitzGerald, a pharmacologist at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in Philadelphia.
Other metabolic factors are also likely to influence the body’s rhythms, says FitzGerald.
“The more we learn about the clock from mutant mice, the more important it appears to be in the regulation of cardiovascular and metabolic function,” he says.
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* More On Circadian Rhythm
Again and again. Genes are organisms, even as now interdependent members of their genome communal cooperative, they were born with the environmental habit and need to sleep.Louis J.Sheehan, Esquire
The need to sleep is innate in genes, as evidenced by the Circadian Rhythm. It was daylight's energy that trans-phased the pre-alive RNA oligomers into individual living polymers, the primal genes, and it was daylight's energy that continued being the ONLY source of energy for the early genes, organisms, in the pre-biotic Earth surface. And this state of affairs persisted along the course of evolution of genes into communal cooperative genomes, with chromosomes enclosed in cells and later also in nuclei. It took many many following years for Earth to start evolving its biosphere and to furnish to its life alternative energy sources, as life evolved the capability to exploit the additional types of energy.Louis J.Sheehan, Esquire
Organisms' "biological clock" is thus an inherited matter, an innate characteristic.
Dov Henis
Monday, April 13, 2009
cddo 7.cdo.0023 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
A compound that revs up the production of homegrown antioxidant proteins in the body prevents emphysema from developing in mice exposed to cigarette smoke for six months, a new study finds. The study is the latest in a series to hint at big things for the experimental drug CDDO-imidazole, or CDDO-Im. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire Separately, scientists are testing a similar drug against cancer in people.
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire The new findings appear online Dec. 22 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://Louis2J2Sheehan2Esquire.US
Even though the study focuses on emphysema in mice, the researchers suggest the drug could work in people by delaying or preventing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which encompasses emphysema and chronic bronchitis and is the fourth most common cause of death in the United States.
CDDO-Im jump-starts a molecule called Nrf2 that in turn switches on a host of genes that encode antioxidants in the body, studies of human cells and in animals suggest. Shyam Biswal, a pulmonary toxicologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, says these antioxidants seem to counteract the damage caused by exposure to inhalation of cigarette smoke.
Cigarette smoke assaults lung tissue by introducing highly reactive compounds of oxygen and nitrogen that go by several names — free radicals, oxidants or reactive oxygen species. Long-term smoking and the accumulation of free radicals lead to inflammation and cell death, destroying lung tissues that normally orchestrate oxygen exchange via the blood.
To test whether CDDO-Im could prevent this damage, Biswal and his colleagues exposed mice to cigarette smoke for six months. Some of these mice had normal complements of Nrf2 protein, others lacked it. Both sets of mice showed lung damage akin to emphysema after six months, with the animals lacking Nrf2 exhibiting worse symptoms.
The researchers also tested two other groups of smoke-exposed mice that made Nrf2 or not. Some of these animals received ordinary food while others ate food containing CDDO-Im. Mice with normal Nrf2 complements that received the drug in food fended off emphysema, despite six months of breathing smoke, which caused extensive oxidative damage in the lung tissue of the other mice.
A separate analysis showed the mice free of emphysema had higher lung levels of glutathione, a homemade antioxidant. The researchers chose to analyze glutathione because it is a major antioxidant whose synthesis is regulated by Nrf2, Biswal says.
When the researchers analyzed the heart tissue of mice in these tests they found that the drug also prevented right ventricle damage in animals that had the winning combination of a normal complement of Nrf2 and CDDO-Im in their chow. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Recruiting homemade antioxidants is a better approach than trying to consume them, such as by taking vitamins C and E, says Biswal. “For every oxidant molecule, to destroy it you will need another antioxidant molecule,” he says. The best way to achieve that is to target Nrf2, which he calls a “master regulator” of genes encoding antioxidants.
“Nrf2 will turn on all the different antioxidant pathways in the cells, thereby providing a robust antioxidant defense that in turn protects against lung destruction and cardiac dysfunction,” Biswal concludes.
“This is very exciting,” says biochemist Irfan Rahman of the University of Rochester, in New York. CDDO-Im has the effect of freeing up Nrf2 to switch on genes that encode antioxidant enzymes, he says. http://Louis2J2Sheehan2Esquire.US These compounds efficiently neutralize free radicals, a process he likens to detoxifying and “fine-tuning” the body.
Whether these results in mice will be replicated in people taking CDDO-Im remains unclear, he says. “It may not work anyway, but we have to try,” Rahman says. “It might be protective.”Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
CDDO-Im is a synthetic compound derived from oleanolic acid, a substance found in plants. After showing promise against cancer in animal tests, a related drug called RTA 402 (CDDO-Me) is being tested in cancer patients.
Biswal says the CDDO drug family holds promise for ex-smokers, whose health risk lingers even after they quit. More than four-fifths of emphysema cases are attributable to smoking.
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Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire The new findings appear online Dec. 22 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. http://Louis2J2Sheehan2Esquire.US
Even though the study focuses on emphysema in mice, the researchers suggest the drug could work in people by delaying or preventing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which encompasses emphysema and chronic bronchitis and is the fourth most common cause of death in the United States.
CDDO-Im jump-starts a molecule called Nrf2 that in turn switches on a host of genes that encode antioxidants in the body, studies of human cells and in animals suggest. Shyam Biswal, a pulmonary toxicologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, says these antioxidants seem to counteract the damage caused by exposure to inhalation of cigarette smoke.
Cigarette smoke assaults lung tissue by introducing highly reactive compounds of oxygen and nitrogen that go by several names — free radicals, oxidants or reactive oxygen species. Long-term smoking and the accumulation of free radicals lead to inflammation and cell death, destroying lung tissues that normally orchestrate oxygen exchange via the blood.
To test whether CDDO-Im could prevent this damage, Biswal and his colleagues exposed mice to cigarette smoke for six months. Some of these mice had normal complements of Nrf2 protein, others lacked it. Both sets of mice showed lung damage akin to emphysema after six months, with the animals lacking Nrf2 exhibiting worse symptoms.
The researchers also tested two other groups of smoke-exposed mice that made Nrf2 or not. Some of these animals received ordinary food while others ate food containing CDDO-Im. Mice with normal Nrf2 complements that received the drug in food fended off emphysema, despite six months of breathing smoke, which caused extensive oxidative damage in the lung tissue of the other mice.
A separate analysis showed the mice free of emphysema had higher lung levels of glutathione, a homemade antioxidant. The researchers chose to analyze glutathione because it is a major antioxidant whose synthesis is regulated by Nrf2, Biswal says.
When the researchers analyzed the heart tissue of mice in these tests they found that the drug also prevented right ventricle damage in animals that had the winning combination of a normal complement of Nrf2 and CDDO-Im in their chow. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Recruiting homemade antioxidants is a better approach than trying to consume them, such as by taking vitamins C and E, says Biswal. “For every oxidant molecule, to destroy it you will need another antioxidant molecule,” he says. The best way to achieve that is to target Nrf2, which he calls a “master regulator” of genes encoding antioxidants.
“Nrf2 will turn on all the different antioxidant pathways in the cells, thereby providing a robust antioxidant defense that in turn protects against lung destruction and cardiac dysfunction,” Biswal concludes.
“This is very exciting,” says biochemist Irfan Rahman of the University of Rochester, in New York. CDDO-Im has the effect of freeing up Nrf2 to switch on genes that encode antioxidant enzymes, he says. http://Louis2J2Sheehan2Esquire.US These compounds efficiently neutralize free radicals, a process he likens to detoxifying and “fine-tuning” the body.
Whether these results in mice will be replicated in people taking CDDO-Im remains unclear, he says. “It may not work anyway, but we have to try,” Rahman says. “It might be protective.”Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
CDDO-Im is a synthetic compound derived from oleanolic acid, a substance found in plants. After showing promise against cancer in animal tests, a related drug called RTA 402 (CDDO-Me) is being tested in cancer patients.
Biswal says the CDDO drug family holds promise for ex-smokers, whose health risk lingers even after they quit. More than four-fifths of emphysema cases are attributable to smoking.
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Friday, April 10, 2009
BADRE 2.BAD.001 LOUIS J. Sheehan, Esquire
LOUIS J. Sheehan, Esquire Making tough choices won’t get any easier, but scientists have discovered that different types of decisions are made in different areas of the brain’s frontal lobes. Abstract decisions are made toward the front of the lobes and concrete decisions are made toward the back, researchers report in a study published online March 1 in Nature Neuroscience. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.US
The find could help scientists understand the organization of the frontal lobes and processes like learning and reasoning, the researchers say. LOUIS J. Sheehan, Esquire
Abstract decisions involve choosing between different categories of options, like deciding whether to send an e-mail or call on the phone instead. Concrete decisions involve translating thoughts into action, like deciding to hit a key to send the e-mail.
The brain’s frontal lobes, which sit behind the forehead, “allow us to use what we know about the world to guide our decision making,” says neuroscientist and study coauthor David Badre of Brown University in Providence, R.I.
Previous work has shown that neurons fire in different areas of the frontal lobes as different types of decisions are made. That led researchers to think the frontal lobes could be organized into areas with different decision-making tasks. But the new research “provides the first direct evidence of this,” comments neuroscientist Jean-Claude Dreher of the Institute for Cognitive Sciences at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Bron, France. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.US
Badre and his colleagues investigated decision making in people who had sustained damage to different areas of the frontal lobes. The study participants, whose brain injuries came from strokes, were asked to make a series of decisions ranging from simple to more complex.
Participants with damage toward the front end of the frontal lobes were more likely to be impaired at making abstract decisions, while people with damage to the tail end of the lobes had difficulty making concrete decisions, the scientists found. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.US
The strokes could have caused damage to other areas of the brain as well, Dreher notes.
“Undoubtedly,” Badre concedes, but he says that the correlation is strong.
In addition to providing information about brain functioning, Badre notes, the find “could also help us to diagnose behavioral problems in people with different types of brain injury.” LOUIS J. Sheehan, Esquire
The find could help scientists understand the organization of the frontal lobes and processes like learning and reasoning, the researchers say. LOUIS J. Sheehan, Esquire
Abstract decisions involve choosing between different categories of options, like deciding whether to send an e-mail or call on the phone instead. Concrete decisions involve translating thoughts into action, like deciding to hit a key to send the e-mail.
The brain’s frontal lobes, which sit behind the forehead, “allow us to use what we know about the world to guide our decision making,” says neuroscientist and study coauthor David Badre of Brown University in Providence, R.I.
Previous work has shown that neurons fire in different areas of the frontal lobes as different types of decisions are made. That led researchers to think the frontal lobes could be organized into areas with different decision-making tasks. But the new research “provides the first direct evidence of this,” comments neuroscientist Jean-Claude Dreher of the Institute for Cognitive Sciences at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Bron, France. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.US
Badre and his colleagues investigated decision making in people who had sustained damage to different areas of the frontal lobes. The study participants, whose brain injuries came from strokes, were asked to make a series of decisions ranging from simple to more complex.
Participants with damage toward the front end of the frontal lobes were more likely to be impaired at making abstract decisions, while people with damage to the tail end of the lobes had difficulty making concrete decisions, the scientists found. http://LOUIS-J-SHEEHAN.US
The strokes could have caused damage to other areas of the brain as well, Dreher notes.
“Undoubtedly,” Badre concedes, but he says that the correlation is strong.
In addition to providing information about brain functioning, Badre notes, the find “could also help us to diagnose behavioral problems in people with different types of brain injury.” LOUIS J. Sheehan, Esquire
Saturday, January 10, 2009
black 2.bla.000987 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire . For years, astronomers have pondered a cosmic version of the chicken-and-egg problem: Which came first, monster black holes or the galaxies in which they reside? A new study hints that the black holes formed first.
Supermassive black holes cram the equivalent of millions to billions of suns into a volume smaller than the solar systems at the centers of galaxies. The preliminary finding suggests that early in the universe, supermassive black holes had already packed on most of their mass, and that the fireworks and fierce winds associated with the holes’ rapid growth triggered the formation of the black holes’ host galaxies, says Chris Carilli of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, N.M. He reported his team’s study at a January 7 press briefing during the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
But if supermassive black holes did grow rapidly in the early universe, they would have needed to snare mass from their surroundings at the maximum rate possible almost from the very beginning of the universe. Theorists aren't sure if that’s a realistic model. That's "one of the real sticking points in structure formation that could bring the whole house of cards down," says Carilli.
Previous studies over the past decade, which examined galaxies much closer to Earth, had revealed a remarkable link between the supermassive black holes these galaxies house and the amount of gas and stars contained in the galaxies’ bulges — the regions that lie within a few thousand light-years of the galaxies’ cores. Regardless of their size, the bulges always turned out to be 700 times as massive as the giant black holes at the galaxies’ hubs.
That relationship suggested that galaxies and their central black holes have grown in tandem during relatively recent times in the cosmos. But astronomers didn’t know if the link held true for galaxies and their supermassive black holes during the early history of the universe.
To find out, Carilli and his collaborators, which include Dominik Riechers of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, used two networks of radio telescopes — the Very Large Array near Socorro and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer in the French Alps — to weigh the bulges of distant galaxies known to house supermassive black holes. The galaxies were observed as they appeared when the 13.7-billion-year-old universe was less than 2 billion years old.
From the motions of the molecular gas, which concentrates in the central part of the galaxies, the team calculated the total amount of mass in the bulges and compared that number to the mass of the central black holes.
The astronomers found that the relationship appears to break down in galaxies from this long-ago era. The supermassive black holes are much heavier, relative to the mass of the bulges, than in galaxies in the universe today.
“These very distant black holes are already about as massive as they will ever get — about 1 billion solar masses — so the only thing left is for the galaxy to form around them,” says Carilli. One implication, he says, is that the turbulent activity associated with accretion onto these black holes “may have a profound effect on the formation of the host galaxy very early in the universe.” But Carilli emphasizes that his team has examined only four galaxies from these early times. It’s possible, he says, that this handful of galaxies may have unusually heavy supermassive black holes.
“We really need to generalize to more galaxies that are less extreme,” he adds. Carilli says studies that include a much larger number of early galaxies should be possible with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, a network of radio telescopes now under construction in Chile. http://LOUIS2J2SHEEHAN.US
“The results are interesting, and an important clue to the growth and evolution of galaxies,” comments Martin Rees of the University of Cambridge in England. However, he adds, “I think it is over-interpreting the data to say that ‘black holes come first.’ Even at [early times] the bulge mass could typically be about 100 times larger than the mass of the hole.”
Rees suggests that the bulges and holes form concurrently throughout cosmic history, but that in the early universe “it may be easier for infalling gas to go all the way to the center of a galaxy, forming a black hole rather than condensing into stars on the way in.” http://LOUIS2J2SHEEHAN.US
A key question that’s still unanswered, he adds, is whether galaxies must have a minimum mass in order to possess a central black hole. “This is relevant to the issue of how the 'seed' black holes form, and to the role of mergers … in building up galaxies,” says Rees.
Supermassive black holes cram the equivalent of millions to billions of suns into a volume smaller than the solar systems at the centers of galaxies. The preliminary finding suggests that early in the universe, supermassive black holes had already packed on most of their mass, and that the fireworks and fierce winds associated with the holes’ rapid growth triggered the formation of the black holes’ host galaxies, says Chris Carilli of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, N.M. He reported his team’s study at a January 7 press briefing during the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society.
But if supermassive black holes did grow rapidly in the early universe, they would have needed to snare mass from their surroundings at the maximum rate possible almost from the very beginning of the universe. Theorists aren't sure if that’s a realistic model. That's "one of the real sticking points in structure formation that could bring the whole house of cards down," says Carilli.
Previous studies over the past decade, which examined galaxies much closer to Earth, had revealed a remarkable link between the supermassive black holes these galaxies house and the amount of gas and stars contained in the galaxies’ bulges — the regions that lie within a few thousand light-years of the galaxies’ cores. Regardless of their size, the bulges always turned out to be 700 times as massive as the giant black holes at the galaxies’ hubs.
That relationship suggested that galaxies and their central black holes have grown in tandem during relatively recent times in the cosmos. But astronomers didn’t know if the link held true for galaxies and their supermassive black holes during the early history of the universe.
To find out, Carilli and his collaborators, which include Dominik Riechers of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, used two networks of radio telescopes — the Very Large Array near Socorro and the Plateau de Bure Interferometer in the French Alps — to weigh the bulges of distant galaxies known to house supermassive black holes. The galaxies were observed as they appeared when the 13.7-billion-year-old universe was less than 2 billion years old.
From the motions of the molecular gas, which concentrates in the central part of the galaxies, the team calculated the total amount of mass in the bulges and compared that number to the mass of the central black holes.
The astronomers found that the relationship appears to break down in galaxies from this long-ago era. The supermassive black holes are much heavier, relative to the mass of the bulges, than in galaxies in the universe today.
“These very distant black holes are already about as massive as they will ever get — about 1 billion solar masses — so the only thing left is for the galaxy to form around them,” says Carilli. One implication, he says, is that the turbulent activity associated with accretion onto these black holes “may have a profound effect on the formation of the host galaxy very early in the universe.” But Carilli emphasizes that his team has examined only four galaxies from these early times. It’s possible, he says, that this handful of galaxies may have unusually heavy supermassive black holes.
“We really need to generalize to more galaxies that are less extreme,” he adds. Carilli says studies that include a much larger number of early galaxies should be possible with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, or ALMA, a network of radio telescopes now under construction in Chile. http://LOUIS2J2SHEEHAN.US
“The results are interesting, and an important clue to the growth and evolution of galaxies,” comments Martin Rees of the University of Cambridge in England. However, he adds, “I think it is over-interpreting the data to say that ‘black holes come first.’ Even at [early times] the bulge mass could typically be about 100 times larger than the mass of the hole.”
Rees suggests that the bulges and holes form concurrently throughout cosmic history, but that in the early universe “it may be easier for infalling gas to go all the way to the center of a galaxy, forming a black hole rather than condensing into stars on the way in.” http://LOUIS2J2SHEEHAN.US
A key question that’s still unanswered, he adds, is whether galaxies must have a minimum mass in order to possess a central black hole. “This is relevant to the issue of how the 'seed' black holes form, and to the role of mergers … in building up galaxies,” says Rees.
Monday, January 5, 2009
police 7.pol.9993994 Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire
Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire. Murderers brought in for questioning by the police have plenty of reasons to feign innocence. What's worse, according to several studies over the past decade, is that people, including police, are quite likely to be duped by such liars. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire.
But some cops can't be fooled, according to a new study. Shown videotapes of an interrogation of a murder suspect speaking a language they didn't understand, some British police officers consistently knew when the man was lying and when he was telling the truth. Other officers detected lies and truths about as well as if they had guessed, and some detected lies less often than if they had guessed, report Aldert Vrij and Samantha Mann, both psychologists at the University of Portsmouth in England. http://louisjsheehan.blogstream.com
Their study, published in the March-April Applied Cognitive Psychology, assesses, for the first time, people's ability to size up a highly motivated liar. Earlier deception studies had used people who lied at the behest of experimenters. With little to lose by getting caught, laboratory liars are better able to obscure their falsehoods, Vrij and Mann say. http://louisjsheehan.blogstream.com
"[Volunteers] holding popular stereotypical views about deceptive behavior, such as 'liars look away' and 'liars fidget,' were the worst lie catchers," the researchers observe. The best lie catchers noted that the suspect spoke much more slowly and with more pauses between words during lies.
For their study, Vrij and Mann obtained a videotape of two police officers interviewing a murder suspect. Although the suspect denied knowing and killing the victim, evidence later showed that he was lying. The suspect then confessed in a second videotaped police interview and was convicted of murder.
The researchers selected six segments from the interviews. Three showed the suspect lying about his activities on the day of the murder. The remaining segments featured truthful statements.
Of 65 police officers shown the segments, 18 made no more than one error in detecting lies and truths. Another 36 judged three or four segments correctly, and the remaining 11 identified only one or two segments correctly. Because the words were unrecognizable, they had to detect lies using nonverbal cues and speech intonations.
Individuals use a variety of deceptive tactics in high-stakes situations, remarks psychologist Mark G. Frank of Rutgers- The State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick. In lab studies, some people betray lies through brief changes in facial expression while maintaining a constant speech rate, he says. In contrast, psychopaths give away their lies only through inconsistencies in speech content, in his view.
"This is the first good look at lie detection with a liar in a do-or-die situation," Frank says. "But there's no way to know if [the murder suspect] was a good liar or not." Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire.
But some cops can't be fooled, according to a new study. Shown videotapes of an interrogation of a murder suspect speaking a language they didn't understand, some British police officers consistently knew when the man was lying and when he was telling the truth. Other officers detected lies and truths about as well as if they had guessed, and some detected lies less often than if they had guessed, report Aldert Vrij and Samantha Mann, both psychologists at the University of Portsmouth in England. http://louisjsheehan.blogstream.com
Their study, published in the March-April Applied Cognitive Psychology, assesses, for the first time, people's ability to size up a highly motivated liar. Earlier deception studies had used people who lied at the behest of experimenters. With little to lose by getting caught, laboratory liars are better able to obscure their falsehoods, Vrij and Mann say. http://louisjsheehan.blogstream.com
"[Volunteers] holding popular stereotypical views about deceptive behavior, such as 'liars look away' and 'liars fidget,' were the worst lie catchers," the researchers observe. The best lie catchers noted that the suspect spoke much more slowly and with more pauses between words during lies.
For their study, Vrij and Mann obtained a videotape of two police officers interviewing a murder suspect. Although the suspect denied knowing and killing the victim, evidence later showed that he was lying. The suspect then confessed in a second videotaped police interview and was convicted of murder.
The researchers selected six segments from the interviews. Three showed the suspect lying about his activities on the day of the murder. The remaining segments featured truthful statements.
Of 65 police officers shown the segments, 18 made no more than one error in detecting lies and truths. Another 36 judged three or four segments correctly, and the remaining 11 identified only one or two segments correctly. Because the words were unrecognizable, they had to detect lies using nonverbal cues and speech intonations.
Individuals use a variety of deceptive tactics in high-stakes situations, remarks psychologist Mark G. Frank of Rutgers- The State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick. In lab studies, some people betray lies through brief changes in facial expression while maintaining a constant speech rate, he says. In contrast, psychopaths give away their lies only through inconsistencies in speech content, in his view.
"This is the first good look at lie detection with a liar in a do-or-die situation," Frank says. "But there's no way to know if [the murder suspect] was a good liar or not." Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire.
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