Occupy Wall Street evicted. Stem cells help the heart heal itself. "Nuclear winter of the NBA?" The new Newt? The biological clock crosses the gender divide: How old is too old for fatherhood?
Will the fringes of the occupy movement help or hurt the cause?
Across the country, police have swept into Occupy Wall Street encampments to remove demonstrators amid increasing complaints about safety, sanitation and drug use.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, New York police in riot gear cleared out Zucotti Park, evicting dozens of protesters from the epicenter of what has become a worldwide movement. Most protesters left peacefully. Others refused and a temporary court order has allowed them to return to Zucotti temporarily. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says the city was unaware of the court order, and will fight in what could be a legal showdown.
Police have taken similar action to shut down camps in Oakland, Portland, Burlington, Denver, Salt Lake City and St. Louis in Missouri. In Southern California, assaults are raising concerns at Occupy LA. And up north, evicted Oakland activists say they'll march to the University of California, Berkeley to join protesters there and attempt to set up an Occupy Cal camp after police arrested dozens of protesters who tried to camp there less than a week ago.
WEIGH IN:
With health and safety concerns growing, how will the Occupy movement keep members safe? With every large public demonstration comes the fringe element, do the radical fringe help or hurt the causes they support? We'll examine how fringe groups through the ages have impacted their causes.
Guest:
Paul Brace, professor of political ccience; Clarence L. Carter chair of legal studies in the department of political science at Rice University
Stem cells help the heart heal itself
Driving to work, playing with grandchildren, even walking up a flight of stairs – all of these everyday activities might be a thing of the past for someone who has suffered a major heart attack. Most victims suffer massive and irreparable loss of tissue and permanent damage, leaving them with a severely reduced quality of life.
But researchers here at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and in a separate study at the University of Louisville in Kentucky have pioneered an innovative new treatment for reversing heart damage – one that actually allows the heart to regenerate itself. In the procedure, patients who have suffered severe heart failure received an infusion of purified cardiac stem cells, taken from their own hearts.
Among 16 patients in Kentucky and 17 patients here, the results were astounding. Following the operation, not only was there a significant reduction in scar tissue, but the patients actually grew new heart tissue. Patients in the Cedars-Sinai study regrew an average of 600 million new cells. Within a year, heart function, measured by the amount of blood the heart is able to pump with each contraction, was markedly improved.
Traditional therapies, such as widening the arteries with a stent, haven't produced such dramatic results. If the procedure can be replicated in larger groups of patients, lives could be changed forever.
WEIGH IN:
Is this the beginning of a new age of healing for heart patients?
Guest:
Dr. Eduardo Marban, M.D., Ph.D, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute
'Nuclear winter of the NBA?'
Yesterday, players rejected the latest offer from the league and started taking steps for legal action against the National Basketball Association.
Commissioner David Stern reacted with dismay, "[W]e're about to go into the nuclear winter of the NBA," he told ESPN. "It looks like the 2011-12 season is really in jeopardy. [...] It's just a big charade. To do it now, the union is ratcheting up I guess to see if they can scare the NBA owners or something. That's not happening."
Union leadership agrees the season is at risk, but at a news conference yesterday the decision was said to be unanimous among players. Now the players' association is working to dissolve their union, which could allow them to pursue an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA for continuing the lockout.
Lawyers for the players are no bench-warmers. Attorneys David Boies and Jeffrey Kessler were on opposite sides in the National Football League's labor dispute. Now they're on the same team.
"The fact that the two biggest legal adversaries in the NFL players dispute over the NFL lockout both agree that the NBA lockout is now illegal and subject to triple damages speaks for itself," said Kessler. But disbanding the union is a risky move in itself. Reason being, a judge is already considering the legality of the lockout. If he deems it is, without a union the players' guaranteed contracts could be voided.
WEIGH IN:
What is the best case scenario for fans at this point? How far can this go before the NBA cancels the season officially? What would an antitrust suit entail?
Guest:
Lance Pugmire, sports writer for the Los Angeles Times
The new Newt?
Newt Gingrich is experiencing a mini-surge in the polls. A new national CBS survey of Republican primary voters shows Gingrich tied with Mitt Romney at 15 percent, behind front runner Herman Cain at 18 percent.
The poll shows Cain has lost support among women since October. Romney, meanwhile, has seen his backing with men erode. So is Gingrich's surge real or is it a sign of uncertainty about the inevitable nominee? Or both?
Gingrich raised $1.2 million in October, which is more than his July, August, and September totals combined, and while that's considerably less compared to Romney's campaign war chest, the former speaker's recent ability to raise money may be a sign of growing support among the Republican base.
Gingrich's increased popularity coincides with his intellectual prowess. He has cast himself as the biggest thinker in the race and the only candidate who understands the mechanics of Capital Hill. To the appeal of some and dislike of others, he is a combative debater. Humility has never been his strong suit. Democratic opponents would likely portray him as a throwback to the failed economic policies of the past.
WEIGH IN:
Too much baggage? Does Newt Gingrich's experience bode well for Republican voters who are unsure of the current candidate field?
Guests:
Jonathan Wilcox, Republican strategist and former speech writer for Gov. Pete Wilson
Matt Rodriguez, Democratic strategist; former senior Obama adviser in 2008 who now runs the Los Angeles office for the Dewey Square Group
The biological clock crosses the gender divide: How old is too old for fatherhood?
For decades, the age at which people decide to get into parenting has been increasing, but women have borne the brunt of the focus. We see study after study on the countless ways a woman's age affects everything from her egg count to her child's cognitive ability. But what about men?
While older mothers are now well aware of the possible health risks of becoming an older parent, older fathers have not had the same scrutiny. Possibly because the concept of the aging lothario (see: Picasso, Tony Randall, Hugh Hefner, Michael Douglas, Rod Stewart, et al.) fathering a child with his much younger bride has long been part of our universal lexicon.
Well now the research is starting to roll in. We've seen studies connecting paternal age to failed fertilization, cleft palate and possibly even schizophrenia. It's finally becoming clear that age is a major factor in fertility for both women AND men. Men are coming face to face with their biological clock and wondering if it's winding down. And that's before we get to all the issues attendant with being an older parent.
WEIGH IN:
The fact is men have viable fertility for longer than women do, but should you just because you can? What are the pros and cons to be being an older dad? You might have a wealth of knowledge to share but if you don't have the energy to throw around a baseball are your kids missing out? Are you considering fatherhood a little later than you expected? If so, do health concerns play a role or social ones?
Guest:
Aaron Buckwalter, licensed marriage and family therapist