Transcripts For CSPAN Washington Journal 20140221

Their budget. 31,000 employees. In the meantime, we want to go through the newspapers and look at some of the news stories, including ukraine and the violence of there. The president budget is being previewed and the gop tax plan is being unveiled next week. Have a Public Policy discussion item that you would like to add to the table, we are going to put the numbers up on the screen. You can dial in. Republicans, 202 5853881. Democrats, 202 5853880. Independents, 202 5853882. Go to social media. cspanwj is our twitter handle. In our participate conversation on the nih on facebook. Facebook. Com cspan. Here are some headlines on the ukraine. Ukraines bloodiest day. This picture is taking a most of the front page. Bodies of some of the protesters that were killed. Here is the front page of the pittsburgh postgazette. Their headline is ukraines president open to early elections. M politico, John Mccain White house on ukraine stunning. Sanctions on the ukraine and slammed the administration for its handling of the u. S. Relationship with russia. This is the most naive president in history, mccain said theres a. Mccain said on thursday. Here is the Financial Times this morning. Yanukovych will send in military. Fears grew that the army may inn be called into the fray a development that observers warned could have devastating repercussions for the nation. This came out from the boston globe. A deal ending crisis is to be in. To be inked. A deal has been negotiated and tended to end intended to and. He battle between protesters officent yanukovychs has said they have agreed to initial the deal reached after all my negotiations with the eu diplomats. One more paragraph from the story. European officials caution it is too early to declare a breakthrough in a standoff that has plunged ukraine into the deadliest violence it has seen since winning independence from the soviet union. Budget will not include Social Security changes. The white house said thursday that president obamas soon to be unveiled budget will not include his past offer to expect to accept lower increases ing Social Security and other benefits. In return for changing how a costofliving adjustment is calculated, obama had expected republicans to agree to some increases in tax revenue, which republicans balked at. Obama will drop chained cpi. Table if grandhe bargain talks with congress ever continue. Obamas budget will contain 56 billion in increased spending, 20 billion for domestic, 20 billion for defense. Defense andon for 28 billion for domestic. The new domestic initiatives obama will propose, the official said, are the creation of 45 manufacturing institutes across the country. Top initiative for Energy Efficiency to support states that implement policies to cut energy waste and modernize the grid, a Jobs Training Program that will expand apprenticeships and help connect students with employers, and funding towards obamas goal for universal prekindergarten. The budget is due out in the. Irst week of march finally, this from the Financial Times. Forblican to unveil plan sweeping overhaul of tax code. The top tax writer in congress will release a plan to revamp the entire u. S. Tax code in a move that will be closely scrutinized across corporate america. It prevents peril and promise for his party ahead of the november midterm elections. Of the house ways and Means Committee will release a draft tax reform plan that represents the most farreaching overhaul of the u. S. Tax code since 1986 under president ronald reagan. Tax rates for both individuals and corporations and pays for the effort by scrapping or limiting a wide range of popular tax breaks. Decision to release his tax plan clashes with an effort by Republican House leaders to remove issues from the partys agenda ahead of the november midterm elections. Republicans, 202 5853881. Democrats, 202 5853880. Independents, 202 5853882. Sydney, pollock, louisiana. Caller you had the ambassador to the ukraine on yesterday. He said what would our government do if we were marching on the white house, throwing rocks, throwing firearms and shooting the police. We are good about condemning other countries, but we forget what we do. We overthrew the reigning government in 1953 for the oil. If we hadnt overthrown them, maybe the ayatollahs would not have taken over the country. We have overthrown all kinds of governments in south america. Others for the same things we do. Thank you. Host thank you, sydney. Mortgage woes approach prerecession levels. Five years after the end of the u. S. Recession, the number of americans who are behind on their mortgages are finally narrowing to prerecession levels. The u. S. Mortgage to leak with to 6. 3 ninel percent of loans in the Fourth Quarter of 2013. That is down from 7. 09 a year ago. It is the lowest rate since the early months of the recession in the First Quarter of 2008, according to a report thursday by the organs bankers association. The wall street journal, this article. Cable deal. Ses oppositionvoiced his to comcasts proposed takeover of time warner cable. It would create unprecedented media concentration in one company. Deal announced last week has renewed speculation on wall street that directv and respectively could seek to merge to gain scale and remain competitive. Ergen has acknowledged benefits to a merger, but expressed uncertainty about whether regulators would bless the deal. The satellite giants attempted a merger more than a decade ago that was blocked by regulators. Fourthquarters reports on friday. White plains, new york, michael, youre on the air. Britain inare like 1945. We are nearly bankrupt, we should have done this 12 or 20 years ago. As far as the cable industry, unfortunately, we are losing control of our country. The american, the rich, the corporations, it is going to end in a disaster. Thank you. Bitcoin today atm. Bitcoin has come to texas. Organizers unveiled one of the first bitcoin atms at handlebar. Other bitcoin machines in boston and albuquerque only offer bitcoins for cash, not cash for bitcoins. The atms are being rolled out in austin in time for sxsw. Digital currency that is traded mostly online and persontoperson, rather than through banks. Chicago, ann, good morning. I want to talk about the president saying he is going to get schools for the young folks. Upchicago, the mayor closed 50 schools. They are going to be auctioned off. I have asked everybody that i know. I cannot get a letter to the president. Nothing gets accepted. Schools that were closed up need to be changed and turned into trade schools to teach these young folks how to build a house and how to plant a garden and do some things besides shoot each other. I want to see trade schools in chicago. I want to see urban gardens in chicago. The mayor also [indiscernible] a mother and a father that works out there has a 14yearold boy who was worried about how theyre going to pay their rent. The gangs are trying to recruit him. It is no wonder our young folks are in gangs. They have to join gangs so they can help pay the rent. N, in chicago. Sturmer makers led by stern ruger and smith wesson. Than a. 5 7 million guns were produced in 2012. From 2011. 31 vince, republican, oklahoma city. You gave your remark about the wall street journal about the Cable Television merger. Caveat ort make any journalistic type of statement thet the source of paychecks given to those who host these and where the money comes from who hosts cspan and where the money comes from. Comcast is the main supplier and main source of revenue for your payment and for the payment of your colleagues. Company is out of control. It is one of the most heavily lawyered and lobbyist filled company in the country. The journalistic integrity of cspan requires that you Say Something about comcast and the relationship that you have with the Cable Television providers who pay you and others for your reporting. Thank you. How do you get your cable tv . Caller internet. Host thank you for calling in this morning. Durham bill, new york. Listening to the caller from chicago and talking about what is going on there. It has been going on for a long time. It is a tragedy in this country. You look at what is going on in the ukraine right now. That is coming here. Long look at hard what these people are doing. Host who are these people . Have the police force shooting down their own people with sniper rifles they have lived this. They have lived under the oppression of the soviet union for decades. They do not want to go back. I dont know what is pushing them there, but it has a lot to do with the Financial System in this world. Do when you going to the sec is sitting next to you saying justify what you are putting on the tv . What you do. I will stand up and fight for you. Host are you talking about the announcement yesterday that the fcc is not going to going to newsrooms . Caller they want to ask why they and directors are doing what they are doing. Host if you want to get the that, there was an oped in the wall street journal on february 10. They said this was the case, that the fcc was going to going to newsrooms. Tom wheeler put out a statement saying it is not going to happen and i will be glad to read those next if you want to wait. If you lock like your doctor, you can keep your dr. , sir. Goodbye. Intent to muzzle press. The federal Communications Commissions is trying to reassure House Republicans and has no plans to restrict the freedom of the press. A letter was released yesterday. Tom wheeler told republican they have no intention otherulating political or speech of journalists and broadcasters. Asdefended new fcc research a step towards pinpointing market barriers that might affect the diversity of media voices. Republicans expressed concerns that the sec study was in it the f c c was an attempt to broadcasting. That is the hill this morni ts morning. Has be stirred the sleeping media to the threat to life as we know it. They want to embed government researchers on the newsroom floor to track on newspapers, radio and television stations select stories and cover the news. It will be on a hunt for bias. Concluded. It is bias is in the eyes of the beholder. Consumers are best and quick to judge which outlets serve their needs. It is none of the governments men and how Newspaper Television journalist do their jobs. The government can get the news when everybody else does. New hampshire, good morning. Good morning. Magazine, there is an article on the trillion il problem in norway. Arway has a surplus of trillion dollars. They drilled for oil, which they consider a national resource. From profits and so forth, they get 67 of the money. They use it for health care and education and other national needs. Interesting way of having money. I thank you. You, catherine. David, st. Joseph, missouri. You are on the washington journal. David . Helps if i push the right button. Hang on. David, you with us . I apologize. Caller thats ok. It happens. Article about the comments from the man from the fcc. First he says they are not doing it and then he says they are going to do it. It is more corruption from the administration. They do not this and the majority of the Democratic Party want to silence anybody that opposes them. That this president and his supporters do not want a dictatorship in this country, you have to be blind. All of his executive orders, fast and serious, the list goes on and on. It is like every dictator from sees , like the not the nazis and the communists. It is all the same. All want to destroy opposition and they want to have absolute control over everybody. That is all i have to say. Host david, st. Joseph, missouri. Quite a bit of reaction on twitter about the fcc story. , how can we trust anything from the white house . Trust or respect. The people have no representation. Potard and his leftist fccers think they can stick their nose in the newsrooms. Tweetsre a couple of the we received regarding that issue. Companies in minimum wage campaign. The white house is using its influence to portray gop legislators as hostile to the november voters who would gain from an increased minimum wage of 10. 10 per hour. President obama praised a wednesday decision by gap, inc. To raise wages to nine dollars an hour. Walmart, they have announced they remain neutral on the issue. Theyre looking at the impact of some of the proposals. , despiteuncement democrats hope of getting walmart on their side, the company has not asked its trade associations, such as the National Retail federation, to stop lobbying against popular proposal. 71 support for a 9 minimum wage. All morning long were going to be live. We will be at the National Institute of health. Or do 1 billion a year, average budget. 31 billion a year, average budget. 31,000 employees. We will be joined by story dr. Aland then guttmacher will join us. Dr. Steven katz is the director of the National Institute of arthritis and musculoskeletal and skin diseases. We will talk about what they do, where the money goes, and we will be taking your calls throughout the program. Sumter, South Carolina. Caller good morning. I was calling about what went on in the volkswagen plant in chattanooga. I was hoping that you guys might bring up some more coverage on the journal about what happened. It. E senator bob koger got heavily involved in a 1500 person vote norquist trying to influence the outcome. Is a chance for them to try new method of union labor and management relations using the german model. It could have been quite significant, especially considering the difference in the rich and the poor. I am asking you guys, maybe look into it a little bit more and do a show on a. Ost here is the front page South Carolina governor and other states say they do not want auto union jobs. It is open season on unions and the south. Antiunion groups have vowed to use the same game plan against the union in alabama, mississippi, South Carolina, and elsewhere. What you think about that . The republicans are the ones that are always screaming about noninterference from corporate america. Back off, let them do their thing. They are all over this. It is a complete contradiction to their general philosophy of business. Of private it is disturbing. I believe the south is selling themselves short and are being influenced by political systems. Host are you a member of the union in South Carolina . Caller no. I am retired military, a Small Business owner. I am definitely a union guy. There have been problems. Out is why i was excited about the that is why i was excited about the german model. They are more cooperative with the companies. Host we appreciate your time this morning. Being host fort a National Political convention. The may be embroiled in nations largest municipal bankruptcy in the u. S. History, but it is still exploring the possibilities of throwing its name into contention to host a National Political convention in the summer of 2016. It may be a long shot, considering the hurdles to be crossed. Detroit free press. Steve, high. Steve, hi. Caller i was wondering a couple of things. Arrestedter that was the reporter that was arrested at fox, why dont the other reporters back him up . The other thing is on srm. S. That is solar radiation management. What are they thinking . Theyre going to spray our skies and dim the sunlight . They will only kill 10 million more people from asthma like conditions. This is absurd. Keith needs to back up and people need to wake up and look up. Is going on above us. Host this is glenn, also from washington. Olympia, washington. Caller i wanted to make a to the about kiev, but people that listen to cspan, eventually, if you are conservative and they do not like her voice, they will censor you. I am writing a letter to the american cable association, 11 congressmen, 11 senators, about cspan because if i make a conservative comment. I have had to change my phone number four times in four months. You will know that you are being censored because when you call, it never gives you a busy signal and it endlessly rings. The people in the back room that make this judgment as to conservative voices, you need to hand them their lunch pail and tell them to go home. Host what is the point you want to make . Caller conservatives have a right to make a point on this channel. I guarantee you i will write this letter until i hear from the right people. You should not be able to ask us what our common is going to be. It never used to be that way. I have been watching you for 14 years. I know for a fact it never used to be that way. That is how they hear your message. They dont like your message, click. What is the message you want to get out to america . Caller you are censoring me right now. You do not want the message to come out of what i am saying. Host i dont . Caller it appears you like to censor conservatives. The man that calls from carolina, jim. He calls every other day from illinois and from South Carolina and you let cspan cspan lets him get on every day. What is the democratic policy want to criticize . Straighten up cspan. Hisll have to sacrifice phone number because i will be censored as soon as i get off the phone. Endless rain,n change her phone number. Thank you. Glenn, olympia, washington. Hope to hear from you again in 30 days. We are going to be live at the National Institutes of health, talking to several of the directors. First up is story landis. We will be right back. The National Governors association kicks off its winter meeting. They will have panels on homeland security, Early Education and drug abuse. The story of the allied forces tasked with recovering artifacts stolen by the not sees the nazis. Films produced from the 1930s to the 1970s by government, industry, and educational institutions. The beauty of america is that we have the ability to write the script of our own life. Seat ofn the driving our own future. Our biggest decisions in life are made by us. You are living off the great capitalist explosion of wealth that you did not create. It is hard to know where to begin. Dash. Said america is the there are a couple of assertions you have to take on face. Americas great invention was wealth creation. Of theout the theft entire continent. That was a theft. 90 of theot mean residents who lived here were. Urdered a debate on what is so great about america. Washington journal continues. Are 27 separate institutes and the budget is about 31 billion. They are located in the bethesda, maryland area. Joining us now is story landis. What is a neurological disorder . There are many. It affects the brain or the example,rd, for stroke, the fourth leading cause of death and disability in this country. Disease. s multiple sclerosis. Epilepsy, those are the common ones. Theres a whole host of rare disorders. In aggregate, there are somewhere between 300 and 600 nor logical disorders. Neurological disorders. Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death and disability. There are 500 patients that have parkinsons disease. 2. 5 million that have a very large number. If you put together all of the Brain Disorders, including mental illness, and drug addiction, it is the largest source of disability in this country. Progress have we made on strokes . Guest extraordinary progress. The rates, incidence of strokes have decreased. We have treatments that can if you have an acute stroke, it will allow you to if you get to the hospital in time and you get the right treatment, there is a one in three chance that you will leave the hospital with no consequences of that stroke. Is therease in incidence recognition that the same risk factors that we have for cardiovascular disease. Also, cholesterol is risk is responsible for causing strokes. Host for your institute, what is your budget . Guest it used to be 1. 6 billion. We lost 90 billion during the sequester 90 million during the sequester. We hope we will see additional increases. One of the things that we recognize is that it is a scientific opportunity to understand the causes and develop treatment for nor logical diseases has never been better. Now is makingve difficult choices among the excellent signs that we could fund to make roberts. Are there signs that some of these Neurological Disorders, are they inherited . Guest yes, indeed. I would make distinctions between the different diseases. One of the most exciting doesnt advances in parkinsons disease is the wreck mission that it has ation genetic basis. There are a number of gene mutations that have been shown to cause parkinsons disease. There are a number of genes which have been shown to increase your risk for getting parkinsons disease. , recognitionf als that there are genes that can cause it and genes that can increase your risk factors. For multiple sclerosis, we do not have any genes that we know of that can cause the disease, but people have begun to describe factors that increase your risk for getting it. Host you are not a medical doctor, is that right . I am a phd with a degree in developmental marrow biology. Host what does that mean . When i had a research laboratory, what i was interested in understanding is how, during development, the then forms and all of appropriate connections responsible for brain function actually get made. Heres a story by jim walsh, out of the minneapolis star tribune. A pacemaker like device offering hope for epilepsy patients. All were involved in the critical the medical trials for the device. They enrolled the highest number of patients in these trials. The system was approved for commercial availability in the United States. It talks about how the system developed and how it is being used. s role when it comes to developing Something Like this and working with the fda . Guest i should back up a little bit. Has multiple causes. For about two thirds of patients, the seizures can be controlled either by medication or by surgery. For about a third of the patients, the current treatments do not work. We have been thinking about alternative strategies for treating patients that do not respond to drugs or surgical ablation. What we did was to support recorded fromwho areas of the brain to determine where the seizure would start and develop algorithms to detect when a seizure would begin. That was one set of studies. A second step the studies learn how you can stop a seizure before they started. If you put those things together, you have a device, neuropace, that allows you to detect when a seizure might begin and gives brain stimulation before it really gets started. We supported everything that went into that device. Partnership, we provided funding to get the device made. Role in thecritical development of that device. Host when it comes to working with the fda on approval processes, is that something the nih institutes do . Guest we work closely with the fda to understand what the andoval processes will be think about helping the people who develop drugs or devices to understand what kinds of evidence they will have to to bring to the fda to bring up to get approval. Phone numbers are on the screen divided by region. You can see the numbers there. We heard a lot about concussions during football season. Website, the nih and nfl tackle concussion research. What are you doing . Guest we have a partnership through the foundation with nih with the Football League that will allow us to get a much better understanding of how repeated, mild concussions actually gives rise to pathological changes in the brain. That, over time accumulates and can result in behavioral disturbances and dementia. At two funded a project institutions. The will be looking at neuropathological changes that occur in Football Players and soldiers with evidence of detections over time, to the brain changes. The goal would be to move from looking at autopsy brains, brains of people who have died, to developing strategies to actually diagnose the effects of concussions in living people. That is one of the projects. Your researchof done on the campus in bethesda . Guest yes. We have a project that is joint and the Navy Hospital across the street. It is looking at traumatic brain injury injury in civilians. Host lets take some calls and tweets. We will begin with a tweet from james. Pop that aspirin the second you feel funny. What is your reaction to that . Guest i am not a physician. The institute has worked hard with the American Heart Association to educate people about the signs of stroke and if you feel weakness on one side or have difficulty talking. There are seven signs you are supposed to look for. What we would recommend is that you actually go to an emergency room as quickly as possible so that you can be diagnosed and treated by a stroke specialist. What the current treatments for strokes, and what are the symptoms . The most common cause of stroke is a clot in a blood vessel that deprives a part of the brain of oxygen and nutrients. A consequence, brain cells begin to die. A point where it is salvageable. If it happens quickly enough, within three hours or even 4. 5 hours, you can prevent cell death. That is the first thing you want to do. We are interested in figuring out how you could protect brain cells from dying for a longer period of time. That is a major area of research. If you do not treat the stroke completely, we are interested how we can help people recover as much function as possible. Story landis is the director. Susan is calling from north richland hills, texas. Is not why called in. What i wanted to mention was the concussions. Kidse been encouraging my and grandkids not to let their Children Play football. What i called about was about a asr and a half ago, i got up usual, early saturday morning. Go get my coffee and something popped in my right eye. That i cannot see out of that i and i found out later that had i been able to get somewhere they might have been able to save the site. I ended up in the emergency room and they did a cat scan and so forth. And euros ahey minute left eye. An aneurysm in the left eye. I did a coil behind the left eye. It has changed my life. I am functioning. It has been an interesting experience. Guest i am glad they were able to detect the aneurysm and the other eye. We go back to the question of kids playing football. I think there is significant that mildn now concussions should be and can be prevented. Many football programs, particularly in junior high and high school and in college are beginning to limit the amount of full contact play that happens in practice. There is much more attention to whether a player may have received a mild concussion and removing them from play and making sure they are out of play for a week or two weeks or longer until recovery has been complete. One of the problems as we do not have good ways of detecting a mild concussion. All decisions are made based on selfreports of confusion, dizziness, headaches, nausea. Nih is trying to develop more effective ways of knowing when a child or young adult or an adult Football Player has suffered a concussion. Host there is a new project that you are working on. What is that . Guest we have methods that allow us to image the human brain, the living human brain. See tracks, develop a wiring diagram. We can also see what parts of the brain are active in a human brain in a particular activity. Two we have done is to Fund Institutions to create a database with 1200 human connect ions. This data will be available to any investigator to ask interesting and important questions. The questions coming up are the brains of of identical twins identical. One of the most important weervations here is that have developed the tools that allow us to make these maps of the human brain, and having better tools will out west to learn even more having better tools will allow us to learn even more. This is to give us tools that will help us understand how the brain works, to actually translate the language of the brain at the speed of thought. A very exciting initiative. We are looking forward to Additional Advances that will make a difference, not only for understanding normal function, but for helping us to think about disease. Host story landis has been the director of National Institute of Neurological Disorders since 2003. She joined the institute in 1995. Does the u. S. Government earn any money by Licensing Technology that is developed in nih laboratories or by nih Research Contractors . If an investigator in our Intramural Program, an investigator who is on the nih campus, develops and patents something, then that investigator and the nih will get funds if it is licensed. Patentst get funds from and things that are developed at the university. 9 10 of our money goes out to universities and medical schools across the whole country. Every state has nih funding. That case, the investigator and the university hold the orent and they get royalties income from their discoveries. Host joe, pennsylvania. Caller good morning. I was wondering, does your agency do any investigation into chiropractic manipulation injuries . The a survivor, one of luckiest people alive. We talked about many kinds of stroke, Blood Pressure, so on and so forth, but nobody talks about this. Hope, somewhere along the line, you will open your chapter up and investigate that. Many people are injured by chiropractors and their neck manipulation. Chiropractic manipulation way that kind of dissection can a cure. That is a topic that we investigate, no matter what the cause is. Itare interested in why occurs and what are the best treatments for that. There is another part of the study complementary and alternative practices like chiropractor he. They would be the group that would look at how you can make. Ure the use of that how many studies is the nih doing to study the treatment of Brain Disorders and seizures using medical cannabis . Been recently, there has a developed evidence that particular derivatives of be effectivemaybe in sees treating seizures. One of the goals most of these are anecdotes. They are not in a real, Clinical Trial. That would give you compelling evidence for the use. We are considering whether or not that time to trial should be something we should fund. Host does the nih track incidence of stroke by region . Are there pockets where it is significantly higher . Studies like that are through the center for disease control. Nds has funded studies that look at stroke in the incidents. That tracks incidents across the country. It has enrolled 30,000 people. It is clear, even before that theres something called the stroke belt which runs through the south. Is buckle of the belt georgia, South Carolina, north carolina. Learning why there is a stroke belt. Are born in the stroke belt, you will take that higher risk with you when you move someplace else. Lots of Interesting Data coming out of that study. Host why is there a stroke belt . Have you discovered that . Diet it has to do with and a number of aspects of behavior of people who live in that belt. Ares also clear that there differences in risk of stroke. Stroke is one of the diseases where there is the most asperity mostcaucasians disparity between caucasians, african americans, and hispanics. We are trying to figure out why those disparities exist and are trying to develop strategies for reducing them. One of the most significant is highwe believe Blood Pressure, hypertension. Which of those groups have higher stroke rates . Guest africanamericans have a much higher stroke rate than caucasians and hispanics have a slightly reduced from africanamericans, but much higher than caucasians. Collins,n, tennessee texas. Is shut down due to a lawsuit. Host what is 23 and me . Testing through google. It is shut down right now due to a medical lawsuit. I was wondering what she can do to get that resolved. Second question is, why is there a fourhour test to determine if deepson is able to get brain stimulation . It is a fourhour test to determine if you have dementia or not. There are tests that 100 of the people have failed and i have read the articles. Why would you require a person to do a dementia test to get deep brain stimulation . Is this something youre familiar with . ,uest deep brain stimulation if you have parkinsons disease, a movement disorder, we have excellent ways to treat the symptoms of parkinsons disease. In the early stages of the disease, this is by replacing a narrow transmitter, which is lost is a particular population in ourselves do. A compound that will replace that lost signal. Treatment with a dopamine replacement does not work any longer, it is a benefit for movement disorders, but it is of for the cognitive difficulties that occur in the later stages of parkinsons disease. There would be no reason to give a patient who was having cognitive problems in parkinsons deep brain stimulation. It would not be a benefit. And there is simply no treatment now for using deep brain stimulation for other types of dementia like alzheimers or frontal temporal dementia. It is a way of making sure the patients that wont benefit from deep brain stimulation are not given it. Are you familiar with this 23 host are you familiar with this 23 and me company . Aest 23 and me will give you list of a broad range of disorders. You send in a scraping of your cheek and they do a dna analysis. The concern is that you are not will not a position be helping you understand what the results of that dna testing a physician will not be helping you understand what that result of the dna testing is. You cannot put it into perspective. People mayncern that not be able to interpret the data that they are getting from 23 and me without discussing that with a physician. This is not an nih issue. This is an fda issue. Host there is another trend where people get preventive mris , or early mris, just to see where their body is and where it stands. Do you think that is a good idea . Guest i would not want to offer an opinion on that. Host how closely does your Institute Work with Mental Health and aging institute . Guest we work extremely Close Institute . Guest we work extremely closely with them. The one that the institute is primarily responsible for, but we find a lot of the early research. We work with them to decide which ones we will pursue and which ones they will pursue. In the case of Mental Health, there are some diseases like tourettes where we both Fund Research and we want to make sure that we are doing, luminary things and not overlapping things. Nihof the institute at which fund Neuroscience Research are part of something called the brain blueprint. We have a small pot of money that people have contributed for Major Projects and one of those projects, for example, is the human brain can and dont connectome project that i just mentioned and another is ways to get new treatments for Brain Disorders. Host and finally, story landis, jd letting tweets in wondering about the neuron brain mapping that mrs. Landis was talking about earlier. Is there open Source Software for that . There is opensource Source Software for neuroscientist to use to analyze neuroimaging data. There is also an open Source Software for neuroscientist to use to understand the behavior of small groups of nerve cells. And a big part of the Brain Initiative will be not only developing tools that will allow us to understand brain function theer, but also computational tools that will be needed to interpret those data. The story landis is director of the neurological orders and stroke institute, at the National Institutes of health. Thank you very much. I hope you can come back sometime and talk with our viewers again. We are talking with several other directors this morning. Coming up next is dr. Alan guttmacher, the director of National Institute of child health and Human Development. As soon as we get him seated out at nih, we will beginning to talk we will begin talking to him and take your calls. In the meantime, we will take some calls. Josh in indianapolis, good morning to you. Caller good morning. Guestwe dont have a right now, but if you have a comment you would like to make. Original callmy was a question, but my general comment would be, my wife was diagnosed with ms years back. There were some strong drugs and some of which were hard to get off of, because they didnt she didnt like the way they made her feel. My question is about marijuana. I hear about it in different parts of the country and how it seems to help people. Option , it not an it is not an option. I dont know if it would help her, and ive been afraid, because its illegal and i didnt want to be involved in criminal activity. Have you heard reports or seen somewhere that marijuana helps ms patients . Yeah, we did various researches on our own, because the only options we had were things like klonopin and valium and ssri inhibitors, which is the equivalent of prozac, you know, really strong things. The thing that kept coming up in our research was that marijuana seems to help people with the symptoms, because there is a lot of pain involved when you have a flareup. That was one of the things where people get those medical marijuana cards for it in places where it is available. Host and its not available in indiana . No, its not available and its a crime. I would have to go somewhere and we would have to move. When youre a guy like me, you dont want to be involved in stuff like that any kind of your taste you, because you wonder if its something that could help. Visit a lot of propaganda that you are hearing from around the country . It actually available doesnt actually help and its just not available because of the stigma around it . Im just confused because in indiana we cannot even have access to it and im wondering if it would help or not. Host have you ever reached out to nih or look at the website for research or anything . No, ive done a lot of web searches where you google all over the place. I found area resources that said marijuana was bad. I dont know if that came from the nih or not. After listening with this conversation to this conversation with the director, i might go there. Understand that medical marijuana dispensaries are even available in washington, d. C. , so it even says something to the rest the nation if the feds are saying its ok to get marijuana or miracle medical to get marijuana for medical reasons. That is josh in indianapolis. Thanks for calling in. There are 27 institute at the National Institutes of health. 31 billion is their budget. 31,000 employees and another one of the directors is dr. Alan guttmacher, the director of the institute of child health and development. Dr. Guttmacher, thank you for joining us. What are some of the issues that your institute looks at . Guest we look at a broad swath of issues, really. Oh gives away that we are very interested in child health, and we are also interested in physical health, but also intellectual development and cognitive development, but also an outgrowth of our original interest in Childrens Health with Maternal Health and a lot of Womens Health issues and Gynecologic Health issues. We are particularly risk interested in Reproductive Health and biology. And another area we are particularly interested in is rehabilitation medicine. Host what is one of your current focuses . Guest we have a number of them. That we are intensifying is to see what we can do to prevent preterm birth, premature birth. The reason for that is that it continues to be a huge problem both in the United States and globally. We have been working on this and doing research on it for years, both in terms of prevention and also better treatment for those kids who were born prematurely. And we have made real inroads with that, but there are still a long way to go, both in figuring out the causes of preterm birth so we can do better at preventing it, but also in treating kids born prematurely, so that they will have fewer health and mental consequences for being born early. Whatat extent host advances have been made in recent years and what are some of the nih contributions to that . Guest if you go a little bit longer than 20 years back at about the same time that our institute was created we were born as an institute in 1962 when president kennedy signed an act creating our institute in an interesting submission of traditional president ial multitasking. He signed that on the same day as day three of the human missile crisis, the same day that the joint chiefs were asking whether to bomb cuba. He took it upon himself to create our institute. Only a couple of months before that, he had had a son who was born at 34 and a half weeks, that is about five and a half weeks early. And he lived only for two days. The president n of of the United States that lived for only two days. Today, a child born at 34 and a half weeks would have overwhelming odds of not only surviving, but thriving and doing well. It is those kind of improvements real improvements because of research. Back when kennedys baby was born, we did not have the knowledge of biology that we do today. One thing we would like to do is drive down the rate of preterm birth in the United States. We do not stack up so well compared to a number of other developed come countries in terms of preventing preterm earth. We have made inroads in the last for five years, but we need to be doing a better job of that as well. Host what is the budget for child health and Human Development . Guest our budget is about one and one third billion dollars a year 1. 3 billion a year. Where do your Research Dollars go . Majority go all over the country and to some degree, all over the world, but really mostly in the United States. 80 of our budget goes to what we call extramural investigators, investigators in academic institutions and also private companies and other types of instant plate other types of institutions around the country. Have a Research Budget here at our Intramural Program where we have over 1000 scientists, technicians, and other folks working on various scientific problems here at the nih. Has been guttmacher with the nih since 1999, originally coming to work on the Human Genome Research project. Why is the official name of your institute the unit Kennedy Shriver . The eunice Kennedy Shriver . Wast as i mentioned, it created by kennedy in 1962. That is because a couple of people effectively lobbied a couple of years leading up to that. One of them was bob cook, the head of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins in baltimore. He had a longterm career as a researcher in mental retardation, what today we would call intellectual development to disabilities. In doing that research, he had become quite well acquainted with a woman you use own family had been a woman whose own family had been touched by issues of mental retardation and that was eunice Kennedy Shriver. The two of them as a team spoke to many folks in congress and in the nation. There is an advantage if you want to lobby for something in washington to have your brother be the sitting president of the United States. Eunices work was instrumental in creating the nih and in those days it really focused on the issues of developmental disabilities. Also child element in general. Host recent studies by your institute, one in eight u. S. Children obese by kindergarten. Guest i think your fund room purring i think you are referring to a study that we from atlanta. Ch what they did was they looked at longitudinal studies conducted by the government, primarily conducted by the department of education, though nih has been a contributor for years. A launch a student longitudinal study of kids for years. They analyzed the data from the study and noticed a couple of interesting things. One of them was, if a child was overweight in kindergarten, they had a one in three chance of obese, even more overweight by the time they were in eighth grade. A fourtime greater chance than other kindergartners who were at normal weight of that happening. The other thing we noticed that was very interesting was that there was very little change in the kids weight status after they reached the age of 11. By the time they reached 11, they sort of self determined whether they were going to be normal weight, overweight, or obese, and this seemed to last for a long time after that. And we clearly know that kid to our obese in adolescents have a much greater risk of various kinds of Health Consequences in adulthood. Us toe ways, it helps think about obesity almost the way we think about cigarettes. Its the kind of thing that once again instituted, its very hard to stop. Its possible. If you are obese, you can actually gain normal weight, but it is very difficult to do, just as once you start smoking cigarettes, you can stop but it is very difficult to do. We probably need to increase our efforts to prevent, just as we do with cigarettes, prevent kids from becoming obese, and doing it at a very early age, because to show now have data that as early as kindergarten this pattern seems to be set, and we have some suspicion that it is even before that. Host the numbers are on the screen. If you would like to talk to dr. Alan guttmacher, director of Child Development and Human Development at the National Institutes of health. We will begin with lane in ohio. Theer i want to make comment that my husband was a whennt at nah nih back dr. Devito was the director, i 196465. Y in i just wanted to tell them thank you so much. He was given less than six months when he went in. He had hodgkins and was on chemotherapy at the time. Die. Gave him six months to he was 29 and he did not die until he was 61 and he was cancer free when he did die. Host what was the process . What year was this approximately . Caller about 19641965. Host the nih was pretty young 1964, 1965. Bout host the nih was pretty young then. Caller are you familiar with dr. Devito . Guest what she is talking about is wonderful to hear. We had something called the Nih Clinical Center, which is one of the Worlds Largest research hospitals. You can only be a patient of this hospital if youre on a research protocol. And it continues to this day to offer hope to patients who may not have it other places. From all overs the United States. It does a wonderful job. I can tell you myself i happen to be a cancer patient on a protocol at the Nih Clinical Center myself. I can well appreciate lynns is a story that we repeat every day here at the nih. Host dr. Guttmacher, you are currently a cancer patient . I am, and i get my Cancer Research protocol there. I know it has been good for me. It makes me feel good, because i know in doing this, ive created a Research Legacy myself. Ive contributed to a study of an experimental drug that was just approved by the fda last month for more general loose general use for folks with leukemia, like i have. It has been wonderful and has helped me, but in doing this research i like to think it has helped other people as well. Host when it comes to Something Like leukemia, which is maybe a little bit outside your area, but child leukemia i know is a disease that is pretty how do you work with the private organizations and other hospitals and the fda . O coordinate Leukemia Research or is it not coordinated . Guest it is very coordinated. It is very important that it be cord needed. Leukemia is a rare disease, but among childhood it is quite common. For kids born in the 1960s or 70s it was almost a death sentence. The chance of dying from it very quickly was well over 80 . We have reverse those numbers now, so the chance of dying from it is well less than 20 . That is because of research, but also coordination. For instance, working with private industry. Nih does not manufacture drugs. What we do is the very Important Fundamental Research first to come up with drug targets, ideas of where in this complex biological mechanism we can create any cancer, leukemia in this situation, and where are the places we might be able to attack to really try to do something effective and treat the cancer. The fundamental research and as he gets closer to application, very often there is a coordinated handoff to private industry so they can actually develop the drug and help pay for the testing of the drugs, which is quite expensive. And then once it is developed, make those available to people. Aware of the National Institutes of health, so part of it is developing products based upon those ideas that else people. We work very closely with the fda. For instance, the drug that i just mentioned, it is an fda approval process that it had to go through. We are trying to work closely at the nih with the fda to try to get our different processes in sync as much as we can to make our research as effective and rapid as possible, while still looking at questions of patient safety. Host stan is calling in from atlanta. You are on the washington journal with dr. Alan guttmacher. Caller good morning. I have two questions. One is just the funding of the nih for the benefit of the public. There is a lot of money spent early on to investigate. Does the benefit to does the public the extent that private organizations tend to . The second question is concerning children. Early on, does that do Health Protocols maintain the quality as opposed to being exposed to soda commercials that really take down the health due to lack of nutrition or missing elements in your food . Host thank you, sir. Dr. Guttmacher. Guest i think you bring up a couple of good points. Agency. Ike any federal we received our budget each year. The administration suggests a budget and the Congress Debates that budget in both the house and the senate. They come to agreement and come up with a budget and the president signed that bill. That is how we get the budget. Does it help people . I think if you look at the advances in help health over the last century, however you want to look at it, they have been dramatic. We live longer and healthier lives, and a lot of that comes medical research. Nih is a primary funder of biological research not just in the United States, but in the world. We have an impact on Health Hearing home, and globally it is very effective as well. It is not the major reason for our existence, but it is a form of soft diplomacy. There are many folks around the world that have think the u. S. For the ways we have improved their health. It is thing clearly is that the biomedical sector is such an important driver for the american economy. We provide lots of jobs throughout the country. Again, we dont exist primarily to help the economy, but we certainly do that. What we exist primarily to do is to do the kind of research that really improves health. I can tell you as the director, we when we decide what kinds of things to fund, one of the foremost considerations in our minds is what impact this might have on the public health. It is is it Something Interesting to know or will this knowledge improve Peoples Health . We certainly focus on that. And leading into your second question, one of the nice things is we are not a disease institute. We are focused on normal health and normal development and how we maintain that. Yes, we are very aware, for instance, to talk about the specific point that you brought up, we have something called the ,edia smart Youth Campaign which works with kids around the country to help them to be able to interpret, deal with the bombardment of media messages and other things they get about health, some of which may not be such healthy messages. We really give tools to the kids to help interpret and understand those things so that they can make healthy choices in childhood. And we hope and have reason to believe they will be healthy choices that will stay with them regarding their health throughout their lives. Host curtis in georgia, good morning. Caller thanks for having your dust on. I want to your guest on. I just want to thank all of them pediatric field. My wife was 5. 5 month pregnant and we had to go through the counseling of them telling us about the chances of our child being born stillborn or being retarded and all of that. We went home that same night and we made the decision to go ahead with the pregnancy. We finally got to hold him after that month. He was born right at two pounds. We finally got to take him home. In the first graded tested him for the gifted grade they tested him for the gifted program. He and another person scored the highest sat scores in the whole southeast state of georgia. What kind of medical care did he get when he was in the hospital for that first month when you could not hold him . I had a very good paying job that ive had for eight years and i would deliver all of the parts that night just so i could be at the hospital during the day. I watched him do many things. Of course, i know nothing about the medical field. 24 seven. Ere with him. 24 7 it was like he was their baby. I couldnt touch him or do nothing, but just look at him. Host curtis, thank you for sharing. Any response to that caller question mark guest it is certainly a to that caller . Guest it is a heartwarming story. These are specialized facilities all over the country that did not exist years ago, but today are giving effective care to lots of premature babies, babies born maybe at term, but have particularly Severe Health problems. Theres a whole range of medicine, specialized therapy, medicine, all coming into play to care for these kids. Some of them are born and dont do as well as curtiss son will stop some continue to need care, whether in terms of Health Problems or mental issues. We treat them all over the country with tons of benefits to tens of thousands of kids all throughout the year. There a direct connection to nih work prior to some of that medical equipment getting out into the hospitals . Guest absolutely. Nicus a network of that do lots of research, some with quality of care to improve what they are doing and to see what kinds of best practices there are. We have a Small Business Innovation Research awards with development of a particular kind of reference respirators and other types of Technology Used in that setting. Without knowing the details of curtiss son, im sure they benefited from nih research. Host if someone is concerned about their child right now and they wanted to contact the nih, what is the process they would go through you go through . Our website is chock full of information for parents and for others. They could put nichd in their search engine. That is probably the place to start. Questions, further it can guide you. Sometimes it might be the nih or possibly other kinds of organizations. Iki even in the world of w and everything else, your own doctor is a place to go. The best place to start is with your pediatrician or family physician taking care of your child. If you have other questions, our website can be quite useful. Host the next call for dr. Guttmacher is from california. Caller i think the dr. May have just answered some of my questions. 1968 and heorn in was two months premature. School,ld in grammar the teachers inform me that he was having problems. I took him to two different psychiatrist that found him to be quite a delightful little boy and could not find anything wrong with him. But as he grew up, he was always , but heally inclined could not follow instructions very well and he could not hold a job. He has been with me all these years now. He is 46 years old. I guess, a lot of the questions and the things that the dr. Has have answered my questions. Mikael in alexandria, youre on the washington journal washington journal. Aller i wanted to ask question because i went on the website and they were talking about like a phosphate and ddt that will build up in the body. There was a study by a navy doctor that correlated the increase in dementia as well as alzheimers. Was,hen the other thing the food that is modified. Usually, it is modified to be able to grow with more pesticides. I went to a place called whole foods. They say that 70 of the u. S. Food is genetically modified, and canada there is a huge percentage also. Can you address that russian mark can you address that . There are agents myanmar meant which can be unhealthy. We fund a lot of there are agents in the environment which can be unhealthy. We fund a lot of research and our lead on those kinds of studies. Fund a lot of research to find out what kinds of chemicals in the environment might be unhealthy, and which might be safe and good to have because and may help agriculturally other ways that are important. We fund a lot of research on that. The question about the link to various kinds of things to autism is something we are spending a lot of research to figure out. It does appear that the autism rates in the United States have been increasing, but we dont know what the agents are that might play a role. Autism is almost like every other Health Condition where clearly, genes for averill and nongenetic factors play into the environment broadly. Its not just toxins in the air, but there could be other kinds of things that have an influence on it. We are trying to figure out what the factors are that play a role there and we are making roads there, but we have a ways to go. In terms of genetically modified foods, there are reasons for people to discuss its impact on the agriculture, economy, and other kinds of things. In terms of its health impact, there has been no data whatsoever that show negative Health Impacts from genetically modified foods themselves. We continue to look at each at the issue. The one thing about the research is there always more questions to look at, etc. To think is no reason that genetically modified foods are a damage to your health. Andr impact in the economy agriculturally is a different and more complex issue, i think. Host here is a tweet from American Hero joe. There sure are. There are questions ethical about allssues kinds of issues. There are all kinds of ethical issues about who gets to define the quality of life. What about the childs role in this . They are way too young to have an opinion. They are very complex issues. We Fund Research looking at these ethical issues because they are so complex and important to us, both as Health Care Providers, but also important to all of us as a society. Host and finally, dr. Guttmacher, if his name sounds a little bit familiar to you, quite a medical pedigree. Who are some of your relatives that have been in the medical field . Might be some proof that going into medicine is genetic and environmental, i suppose. Both of my parents were and are physicians. My father died many years ago. My mother, i suspect is watching right now. They were both psychiatrist. I am named for mike fathers identical twin brother my fathers identical twin brother. He was also a renowned dr. And he, in fact, delivered me. I have a very good uncle and a very good obstetrician, im proud to say. Host and he was one of the founders of planned parenthood, correct . Guest he was not one of the founders, but he was involved in a very active timeframe of planned parenthood back in the 1960s and 1970s. Host and your involvement in the Jfk Assassination in what way . Guest [laughs]. Hat might be a bit misleading my father was involved in the lee harvey shooting by jack ruby. He was the lead defense in determining whether he was fit to stand trial. You have thoroughly done your homework. Host we appreciate your time. Guest glad to be with you. Dr. Garying up next is gibbons, the director of the institute for heart, lungs, and blood. That is the next topic. We are live this morning at the National Institutes of health,riginally founded in 1887 located in bethesda, maryland, just north of the district of columbia, 27 separate institutes, 31,000 employees, and 31 billion per year budget. As we get dr. Gibbons seated, we will talk with maria in los angeles. No guest, but what is your comment . Gone . he is i wanted to ask him about language department. Think the following dr. On your program can answer it. What is host what is your concern about it . Why does it interest you . Caller you can hear i have an accent. I was 27 when i came here from the soviet union. I got accepted to ucla and i was having a terrible time with the language. Ive been here many years now, but i wanted to ask him what the brain does or does not do to acquire the language faster. That was my question. I was kind of looking forward to getting his answer. Host hunh. And the fact that you were in ucla a year after leaving the soviet union, do you think it helped . Caller i remember nightmares. Like, 72 hours a day. It was a very difficult time. No social life, no nothing. It was extremely hard. That is maria in l. A. And this is jerry in cottontail, alabama. Good morning, jerry. Caller good morning. I was wanting to talk to dr. Guttmacher, too. Host he is gone, but what was your question going to be . Caller i was going to ask about an experiment at a local university. I have a friend who went through the program. ,he went through 2. 5 years ago a program in emory. She was fixing to go to hospice. She had given up. He had stage four cancer i think it was seven cancers through her body. She went through this program at emory and they implanted some type of device in her back. I dont know and what this device days, a cut off the blood supply to those cancers. And today, she is 2. 5 years out of that program cancer free. I wanted to know if that treatment system was ever going. O be made available how much longer he would be an Experimental Program and when it would become available. I try to keep up with most cancers. My wife died of cancer twoandahalf years ago. We have cancer in my family. And this treatment was so successful and so good, i was just wondering how much longer it would be before it he came available to the general public. Host think you, sir. We will try to work a question in as we go this morning. And now has to go to the National Institute of health, dr. Gary gibbons, who is the director of the heart, lung, and Blood Institute. What is the connection between the heart, lungs, and blood . Guest the thing that connects them all is the blood vessels. In our portfolio, the number one cause of death in america for both men and women is hard to see. Our portfolio also includes toding chronic diseases determine the leading causes of death in this nation. It is an important part of our portfolio and has an impact on the health of all americans. And that is why, indeed it is important to continue to invest in Biomedical Research so that then we can reduce the morbidity of these chronic diseases. Host what are chronic diseases . Guest diseases like Heart Disease that promote ongoing disability. For example, Heart Failure makes it difficult to walk from exercise, creates chronic shortness of breath and has a negative impact on their quality of life. Part of what we are trying to do is to develop preventive strategies that can keep the heart healthy so that it does not fail to act as it should as a pump and to keep people healthier, so they live longer and more productive lives. Causes, andre the how many causes are there of Heart Disease . Guest the major problem with Heart Disease is the clogging of the blood vessels that feed the heart. As you are probably aware, the Research Done with the heart study that we funded identified oneweek all risk factors for the development of those clogged arteries. It relates to things like high blood cholesterol, high Blood Pressure, cigarette smoking. And these risk factors injure the blood vessels that feed the heart, clogging the arteries come and up writing the heart of od flow and oxygen clogging the arteries, depriving the heart of blood flow and oxygen. When this happens, we call that a heart attack. They can cause death immediately, or can injure the heart in a way that predisposes the feeling of the heart failing of the heart. Host is that recoverable . Guest that is part of the good news. Due to the research that the nih has funded, we have learned so much more about what causes the clogging of the arteries and that has lead to interventions that can actually prevent and even reverse the clotting process. Some of the drugs that maybe some of your audience is aware of, the staten drugs, they actually lower the bad cholesterol, the ldl cholesterol. In studies done by the nih and others they have been shown to prevent heart attacks and in that way, it is reducing the burden of this disease. Host dr. Gary gibbons is our guest, the director of the heart, lung, and Blood Institute, one of the larger institute at nih. Annual budget of about 3 billion, about 917 federal employees. How long have you been with nih, dr. Gibbons . Guest im still a relative newbie. Ive been here about 18 months. It has been a privilege. Host prior to that, what are you doing . Guest i was a professor at a Research Institute in georgia. And a graduate of harvard ino at brigham hospital baltimore. We hear eat fish for your heart from exercise for your heart. What is common sense advice . Those are good pieces of common sense advice. All three work. Our nih research forms the basis of all of those recommendations. For example, we funded a study that developed the dash dietary plan. It is rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, fish, poultry, and that diet has been shown to lower Blood Pressure. Indeed, it lowers Blood Pressure almost as well as the pills you can take. We recognize that eating healthy reduces those risk factors i talked about before that drive the development of the clogging of the arteries that leads to. Eart attacks a healthy diet is critical. We also know that smoking stopping smoking is critical to prevent heart attack. Clearly, moving more, eating healthier, all good things for your heart. Host can we still enjoy a good steak . Guest as your grandmother probably told you, all things in moderation. It is important to recognize that having a diet in which proteins are really low in fat is a critical aspect of the healthy lifestyle. Is also, what were learning what is the connection between diet and Heart Disease . Intriguing Research Suggests that fruits and vegetables are also changing our whole bodies metabolism. Your bodys metabolism is influenced by bacteria and microbes that live with in your gut and when you eat certain dietary foods, youre actually feeding the bacteria in your gut that are helping to digest the food. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables and low in red meat actually preis predisposes you to the kinds of microbes that are beneficial in helping us digest food in ways beneficial to unclogging the arteries. That is the linkage between those healthy dietary habits and the pathways and processes that protect your heart. Host dr. Gibbons, do you eat red meat at all anymore . Guest i must admit, on occasion. I do try to practice what i preach, however, so it is just on occasion. Part, my diet is fruits and vegetables, wholegrain, lean fish, and poultry. Host another heart cure that we have had heard about over the years is red wine. Guest i dont know if i would call it a cure, but we have learned that there are chemicals in both fruits and vegetables come as you know in chemicals in both fruits and vegetables. As you know, one is made from fruit. These chemicals are called phytochemicals. And they are broken down by the bacteria that cohabitate with us and coexist with us in our gut. Gives wineerial that its color is broken down to a chemical that actually changes how our bodys immune system works and affects our metabolism that probably does contribute to the beneficial effects. But i should caution, all things in moderation. Host cardiovascular disease by the numbers in 2010, 700 88,000 deaths. 788,000 it is the leading cause of death in the state. The death rate increased, cardiovascular death, from 1920 until it peaked in 1968. And in 2010, the rate was below the alltime low in 1900. How did we peaked and then go down from 1968 . Really a great testimony for the importance of investing in Biomedical Research. I think it is one of the great obiries in which the nh 1949 to study in determine what the determinants of Heart Disease and heart attacks were. That was a death sentence in that timeframe. It unlocked and really discovered these risk factors that i talked about. And that you mentioned. Cigarette smoking, high Blood Pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes as determinants of the statistics that you talked about. Similarly, researchers began to identify the pathways that created things like high cholesterol and high Blood Pressure. Moreover, as part of a partnership between the ,overnment and private sector and identification of the pathways, the drug targets that could change cholesterol and let pressure, Blood Pressure, this development of lowerceuticals that could Blood Pressure. The nih funded Clinical Trials to show that if you lower Blood Pressure and ldl cholesterol, you can save lives. It took a lot to bend those curves and change the statistics that you described. It is a testimony to how important it is to continually invest in Biomedical Research in ways that turn science into enhancements that are helpful to the nation. Host boring file clerk tweet into you, doctor, our youth experiencing more Heart Disease than in the past . What is the cause of this question mark is a diet, stress, or both . Guest we are concerned about the youth in america. Heart disease is something that is thought of as something that happens only to the elderly, and certainly it is quite prevalent. But one of the concerns we have is with the growing obesity epidemic. And the fact that our children are increasingly overweight and obese. We now recognize related to cardiovascular disease starts very early. And indeed, the earliest signs of a begin in childhood. Being overweight and obese as a child puts that individual on a trajectory so that by the time they reach middle age, they are at an increased risk for developing Heart Disease. One of the possibilities is that despite those trends and advances that you described earlier, you we could have a that actually may have Heart Disease at an earlier age than the current term duration. That would be the current generation. That would be sad. The key thing is that this is preventable. The important thing is that we as families get together and make sure that our children are more physically active and that they maintain a normal body weight. Host richard from franklin texas, you are on with dr. Gary gibbons, director of the heart, lung, and Blood Institute. Caller all right. Ive been waiting a little bit. I had two questions. One for the previous guest, and he is gone, but i will make it comment and a question to the current guest. From the statement made by the previous dr. What was his name . Guttmacher, yeah. He made all the statements about the great things that the nih is doing. I would like to make this comment. If you get on any website, you can see that we rate number 27 around the world in longevity. If we have such a Great Program here at 31 billion a year, what are these other countries spending and why are they living longer . Host thank you. Lets get an answer from dr. Gibbons. Guest the caller raises a good question. Its important to recognize that america still remains the preeminent leader in Biomedical Research. And the Research Results that we describe actually do go around the world. This is new knowledge that is put into action by citizens throughout the world in advancing science and advancing medicine. What the caller also points out is that it is important to translate discovery science, the new knowledge we generate into. Hanges in health indeed, some of that relates to the Health Behaviors and we must adopt, as weve been describing. Much of it is at the level of the individual. We talk about stopping smoking and exercising more, and eating a heart healthy diet. I might point out that many of the dietary elements i mentioned, the dash diet, high in fruits and vegetables, lean , is probablyish different from the typical american diet. And we know that americans to the glee eat higher fat food, typically eat higher fat food, calorie dense food. And some of those statistics relate to the fact that we, as americans, are still not adhering to the most heart healthy diet as the leading cause of death and disability. Host from smith, arkansas. Caller good morning. 2008 andeart attack in they did a thing called eeoc. Are you familiar with it . Guest i have some familiarity with it. Host what is that . Caller it is a procedure where they put the balloons on your leg and on your body, and you are tied up to the computer. Goes up to ais a maximum of 200 pounds of pressure and it pushes the blood on the heartbeat. In the middle of the heartbeat when it momentarily stops, it balloons up. It puts pressure. I had the bottom of my heart, due to diabetes, the little vessels were stopped up. Anyway, its been 5. 5 years. Testcently ran a stress and there was virtually no change in the stress test that i had at the end of that 35 day program and my current status. I was rather impressed with it. Host thank you. A response for the caller . Guest i think it is always important to consult your care provider in these cases. There are many things we dont know about the colors disease. Is when you have a heart attack, there are several critical things that are important, that we note works through critical trial data. That is, if you had a heart attack and your smoking, stop smoking and you reduce the likelihood of having a repeat heart attack. We know that it is critical that you be on a medicine, a class of them, thatcall lowers the allele cholesterol. That is critically important. And depending on how much damage is done, other therapies are important to institute after a heart attack, particularly if there is damage to the heart to pump blood. There are clear guidelines that have been developed that are based on evidence and Clinical Trial work that shows what really benefits patients after a heart attack. We encourage them we encourage patients to follow those legal guidelines. Host do you recommend to your patience and aspirin a day question mark guest and aspirin a day . Guest yes, that is one of those things that been shown that has been shown to be beneficial. As one of the medications that a person after heart attack should be on. Host the last 20 to 30 years when it comes to heart and lung diseases, cardiovascular diseases, how has our world changed . Guest i have enough gray hairs to recognize that when i was in training how we treated patients coming in for a heart attack is dramatically different than the way it is today. There have been a number of advances in our ability to diagnose disease, prevent disease, intervene in the , andxt of a heart attack literally open up an artery that is clogged in the midst of a heart attack. That has been shown to be beneficial. The advent of the things you and wiresing balloons to keep a blood vessel open. These are incredible advances in the last couple of decades. And more important, we are excited about the opportunities in the future, the advances in our knowledge that have led to their. , new drugs two therapeutics new drugs that are helping us fight disease. And Biomedical Research is advancing our knowledge even further. We are now recognizing that there may be other molecules and other cholesterols and fats in the blood that could be problematic. Weve learned about new pathways. Sk9 and itled pc advances our understanding of the genetic basis of disease and that is leading to new development of therapeutic targets that are being tested. We still have some Unfinished Business in further reducing Heart Disease. I think research will lead to results. There is a promising future. History of your long working with hearts and heart medication, has the socalled zipper club been reduced dramatically, the openheart surgery folks . Guest well, certainly, there are probably fewer members of that club every year. That relates to a number of changes. Is, how cardiothoracic surgeons approach Heart Disease is changing. There are advances and robotices that use tools that are less interested in terms of the effect on the chest wall. Some of these that i have we are getting nonsurgical approaches to open longertermies with effectiveness, using stints and other strategies. Those advances are influencing our ability to what we call e the heart. T on with dr. You are given. Dr. Gibbons. Caller thank you. I have been ignorant of the nih. I have had a person not, door frequently. I disregarded the person and now i change my mind. Im going to contact them. Host why is nih knocking on your door . Caller they evidently want to do research. After listening to your program, im so impressed. How did i get put into their database . Host can you give us at least a generic explanation of your situation, why they would contact you . Caller i dont know if it is my records from my Doctors Office sent to a database. I dont know. Host host dr. Gibbons, any response for her without knowing her situation . Its a little difficult to comment without knowing the details, but i suspect its highly unlikely that the National Institutes of health solicited a person mo didnt voluntarily come to seek engagement in a Clinical Research study. Tiply Funds Research ins to do they solicited individuals to participate. But its always a voluntary done under the oversight of what are called ensure that theres informed consent involved. There are close safeguards on privacy issues. Sharing ofnot a information. That would enable someone to trace someone down for research. Are a lot of safeguards that would prevent that from happening. Dr. Gibbons, do you currently have patients at. I. H. . Guest im sorry, i didnt get that last question. Currently at heart lung and Blood Institute patients . Have guest there is a program at. I. H. On the bethesda, maryland campus in which we have the Largest Research hospital in world. Which patients come from all world. E its an integral program in which patients are undergoing Research Studies in the clinical center. Host from virginia, good you. Ng to caller hi, how are you doing. About researchon biomedical. I have a chronic illness and i and since thent problems. Ll kinds of im diabetic. Im certain to have trouble with and starting to cough up blood, and blow out blood and nose. Out of any and the stress of it is really great diet,ave a vitamins every day. But i do not have a doctor or insurance right now and im wondering if youre having these bloodms like coughing up and stuff, is there any kind of, to say, Research Thing that yall could get me into . Guest well, certainly those symptoms are of concern. You toould encourage seek a Health Care Provider to really try to diagnose whats going on there. Those are clearly symptoms that and they do need to be checked out. So. Courage you to do those could be of substantial significance, and its more important to find out whats going on and get the appropriate thatment, as opposed to being a research matter. So, again, i encourage you to clinical care. Host dr. Gibbons, when it comes to the issue of asthma, how much is hereditary, how much of that is environmental . What kind of research is being done right now . Pointingll, as you are out, asthma is one of our most common chronic conditions, it the most chronic condition for children, it causes millions of lost school days each year for children and work days for adults. So this is a critical problem, expecting tens of millions of americans. And its one in which its a classic example of both genes and environment playing a role. Al of the emergence 1,000of what may be a genome in which well know all the genetic codes of a given it all offers a lot of promise for personalizing precision medicine. Were starting to unlock what of asthma and identifying new pathways that preventingful in. His chronic disorder were starting to identify pathways, and the environment get overreved up and cause problems like asthma. For newa lot of promise therapeutics that can target these pathways and be more treating this disease. This is a condition that is particularly problematic in populations, africanamerican children, latino children, particularly high disproportionate burden of this, with high room visits and hospitalization. So this is a top provide or toy we can takee how Research Results and have public impact. Host dr. Gary gibbons is the director of the national heart, one ofd Blood Institute, 27 institutes at the National Institutes of health. For your time. Guest thank you. Host one more Institute Director coming up and thats dr. Stephen katz, National Institute of arthritis and and skineletal diseases. Hell be joining us in just a to takes we continue your calls. Anthony in virginia, if youd make a comment, go ahead we have no guest at this point. A comment tove make wed like to hear from you. You. R thank id like to make a comment to dr. Gibbons that im very grateful for his organization and what they do for the country, i think its very honorable. Is thation or comment the chairman of the world health who, has recently stated that 85 of the worlds Health Problems derive from smoking cigarettes. Understand that 1400 fromcans die per day smoking cigarettes. I was just wondering, why is such a monster being sold in the United States and the world, and why is it legal . Thats anthony in stewart, virginia. Mark yet in north carolina, hi. Caller hi. I have heard that theres a lot drugstroversy over statin and particularly for women. And i was going to ask the doctor about that. Host where did you hear that there was controversy over statins . Caller well, you hear it, you everywhere, you know. Doctor see it on lots of it. S on tv, you read about so thats where ive heard about it. Host thank you for sharing that. Maureen in beaver dam, kentucky, maureen, we dont have any guest us yet, but what kind of comment would you like to make regarding. I. H. . Caller well, with dr. Gibbons disease, i lost several members of my family recently, and out of eight siblings, seven of us have had heart surgery and high cholesterol and so forth, and high Blood Pressure. Wondering why the study of the use of marijuana has not allowed, and im disabled from multiple car wrecks, glaucoma, Neurological Disorders, and the studies and ive looked at all marijuana the use of would benefit my health and could be more myself and i was wondering why theyre not use of that and allowing that. Tried it on your own, regardless of what the says . Of kentucky caller yes, i have. You . Does it help caller yes. Ad all of the drugs, 14 drugs day, have more affect on my than what the marijuana would have. Medications for over 20 years. An effect on my knowing whether one part of the body, just because this is bad for you, well, they need to look hemp and marijuana that morea lot less effect and benefits for people like me. Host all right. Kentucky, beaver dam, thank you. One more Institute Director, we want to introduce you to at. Morning and thats dr. Stephen katz, national anditute of arthritis musculoskeletal disease and skin diseases, thats a mouthful, dr. Katz. What is it that your institute on . Entrates guest well, i should say that i nihns, just to be short, and we greatly appreciate featuring the. In i. H. On your program so that will learneople about the things we do here at n. I. H. Betweenon feature arthritis musculoskeletal and skin diseases is the connective tissue. Youve much these components is made of primarily of connective other cells of course. So even though you dont think likenes and skin as a organ, they are alike in that uponhave a basic structure which other molecules build. In the case of bones, its which makes up our bones. Array ofa broad diseases, maybe common and chronic diseases, many diseases that have a propensity for occurring in women and more so than men and majority. And we feature our research on joints, andes, skin. That is a wide array of mission. Ility and host dr. Katz, could you give us some disease names that be familiar with . Guest are of course. Sayhe first of all i should that the diseases that we cover touch virtually every family not country but in the world. So osteoporosis, for example, thinning of bones that leads to fractures. Osteo excuse me. Osteoporosis is one. Another thatl be well be talking about. Osteoarthritis is another that causes degenerative arthritis. Millions andn millions of people in the area diseases. Mune diseases like rheumatoid art lupus. Nd is sorry about this. Host no problem. Lupus is another one. Were going to put the numbers up. Area of skin the diseases, psoriasis, for example, and dermatitis, among others. Host these are the numbers if youd like to participate in our conversation with dr. Stephen katz. Well begin taking your calls in just a minute. Comes to ahen it disease like arthritis or osteoporosis, number one, are inherited . Are they reversible . Heard fromyouve others that many of these diseasesare complex that are contributed to by both the genes and environment. We know, for example, that osteoporosis, when i was in school, we learned that bones just eroded as you age, but thats not true. Very dynamic organ. Now there are drugs that can reverse some of the effects of osteoporosis to make bones stronger, to make them less susceptible to fracture. That advanced with regard to osteoarthritis. We do know some of the risk factors, but were not that advanced. Psoriasis, for example or rule toy arthritis, which are know amune diseases, we lot about the diseases, we know treatment. The we are learning more about early diagnosis, because Early Intervention becomes very, very important in terms of stopping isity of these diseases and most of these are chronic of which are very painful. In the case of skin diseases, many of them are very itchy. Host dr. Katz youve been working at n. I. H. For quite a while. A lot of the diseases you deal with involve drugs. Betweenhe interaction n. I. H. And the Drug Companies and the research . Whats the dynamic . Well, you have partnerships with pharmaceutical companies. Give threee to examples. The first example is something that weve been doing for about or 13 years which is the osteoarthritis initiative. Initiativethritis was instituted by our institute the National Institute of aging, as well as other i. H. , and of the n. Four pharmaceutical companies. That partnership was to identify progression of degeneration who wereints in people susceptible to degeneration of the joints. Because Drug Companies cant take 20o studies that or 25 years to develop the drug. So what were looking for are bio markers. Biomarkers can be markers of disease or they can be markers of disease progression. Thats the type of partnership the we have in osteoarthritis initiative. With that resource thats available to the whole world, the whole world is using that resource to try to identify of thehanges and trends joint space thinning, so that one doesnt get bone on bone causes the osteoarthritis. The area of bone quality, we theres a which many of your listeners that predictsut ofewhat the possibility developing fractures. Its good, but its not so good. We need better markers. So in collaboration with the wendation for the n. I. H. , and other institutes at the n. I. H. Have just recently launched the bone quality initiative, because its not only the density of bone that counts, of bone thatity counts in terms of predisposition to fractures. Most recent of the partnerships is one that francis featured in december in the washington journal as well as the National Press club recently and that is the medicineing partnership, which is a partnership between four n. I. H. Institutes and 10 pharmaceutical companies. To advance really the understanding of targets that may be used for the pharmaceuticals. So in our case there are actually three components to this. Component is to target hear abouthat youll from jeff rogers when you speak with him. The other is on alzheimers disease, by the doctor from the National Institute of aging is othersd with, and the are Rheumatoid Arthritis, lupus and other auto immune diseases we at the nims are particularly involved with. This is a partnership where and theutical companies n. I. H. Contribute equally to iselop information that called precompetitive information, that is nobody is get advantage of this except its going to move the field forward. So that things that we couldnt do individually can be done in with openp information so that the whole world will know about it and be to developlize that intellectual property and develop certain pharmaceuticals accelerated manner. Called what is otherwise the a. M. P. Initiative. The n. I. H. See any financial return from the successful experiment and research . Guest so, in the precompetitive are no intellectual developed. That are if something is developed from this knowledge, it depends on where its developed. Developed within the n. I. H. Campus here, by one of our there areors, yes, royalties that come through not only the individual investigator by also to the n. I. H. In general. In these investigators community that we support and as youve heard we support many hundreds of thousands of investigators throughout the country and the world, if the discovery is made by them, then the intellectual property goes them as well as to their academic host center, as well as the pharmaceutical companies. Whate not, and ill repeat Francis Collins said a few weeks ago, or a few months ago, were in the business of making pills. Were in the business of developingknowledge, new discoveries that will lead identification of ins dents host dr. Stephen katz its our guest. Barbara from missouri, you are up. T caller good morning. I want to ask questions about patient participation in your toearch, and what i want if, are you really there to help the person who would participate . And the other question is how do become a participant as a patient . Host thank you for that question. Cover ae at the niams broad slot of information. Very, very basic research to translational to theh to translation patient, and to translation to the public in terms of prevention. When there are certain studies that normal individuals participate in, that will be of no benefit to them, but they them. Articipate in the arthritis initiative is one where we have asked people to participate. They can be treated for their as at the oh arthritis, but is that of the to the study. There are other studies where we ask patients to participate when we are developing new interventions, and when we ask them to participate they may from those studies, they may not benefit from those studies. If theres studies where some patients get the intervention placebo,patients get a its blinded, so that we dont gets what so the evaluation can be much more critical. How do you participate in clinical studies at the n. I. H. , good question. Terrific website that no matter what disease or what problem youre looking to research, you dont even have to well,ow to sell it very because theres a spelling correction on it, its called trials. Gov, probably one of the most used websites in all of medicine. To do is put that disease name in or the problems name in at the Clinical Trials. Gov and youll find out what studies are being done in disease. Icular host art from clearwater, kansas, youre on with katz. Ephen caller yes, good morning, for this thank cspan Great Program this morning. Had a littleo i of i got remission on the symptoms was on a drug last august that. Ing very well on but among the areas of research do . You guest it is amongst the diseases that we do here. Who was on the program earlier this Program Leads the National Institute of diseases and strokes. And that condition aegis. Nder that but important for patients to know, that may be associated a skin disease. And those two are auto immune comeses that somehow together to target the molecules that attack the thymus, also be ak the skin, and it can problem for a small percentage of patients. But theres a Clear Association diseases and two researchport a lot of in that. Host an individual tweets in to dont carbon ated beverages block absorption of vitamins . Ls and kids who drink cola five times as likely to break bone . That theyret know five times as likely to break bones. But the premise is correct, that inhibit absorption of minerals. Concerned about children as well. Theres a very recent study showing that if you take young that is, Young Children age 8 to 12, 8 to 13, and if they actually break a wrist from standing position, then they densityeal low bone that is concerning. Itiously if they break during some football accident or some other accident, it may not with anyated osteoporosis. Again do believe that, talking about osteoporosis, that it is important to build up your bone bank early on in life, after the age of 20, 25, the breakdown of bone is a little greater than the buildup of bone. Made up of lots of different cells, but at age 25, degenerating start more than it builds up. Host whats the best way to bank . Up your bone guest well, one of the best ways to build up your bone bank diet iske sure your right, make sure you have a proper level of calcium and vitamin d. Your nutritional intake is proper. Builds uping that exercise,rly is particularly exercise like running. Example, fromfor in space, that, one of the major problems that astronauts have had in the past losing massive amounts of because ofscle, conditions. Ngravity so exercise and diet are very important elements. Thatct, there are studies show that Young Children who can box, for example, five times a day or six times a those whored to dont, eventually will have a density. T higher bone if you take tennis players, their tennis arm has a higher, much higher bone melts density than the arm thats not the major arm for playing tennis. Youre ambidextrous. But those are proof that that type of exercise does help build bones. Host caller from virginia, holding, youre on with dr. Stephen katz. Morning, dr. Katz. I recently had an experience hospitalizedho was and in intensive care for two days. Doctors couldnt figure out what he had. But he finally, through an appointment with a got thelogist, diagnosis of a rare disease, still disease i. Wonder if you have any insight about that disease, or any contact point that might be helpful in helping him get over this. He seems to be doing much better, hes taking prednisone a rheumatologist, so maybe this is not anything au can add here, but its rare disease and i thought maybe it. Had some insight about guest thank you for the question. You are doing all the right things for your son. Sounds like hes moving in the right direction. One of the other i haventlities that talked about that all of us at dissemination the of knowledge. And i would encourage you to go nims ebsite, will findgov, and you that we have information on onset stills disease, and youll learn a little more in lay language about the disease, the prognosis. We are learning more about it fromse were learning actually Rare Diseases, were learning a lot about more common diseases. Stills disease is one of the Rare Diseases that is telling us more commonout the forms of arthritis. Host i want to read a couple of average american has tweeted in. Philosophical. This is the first one, doctor. How can a patient in a research guarantee that they get the experimental treatment and placebo . , followed by this tweet, how many control patients need to effective new treatment can be approved for mainstream use . Questions. Llent so the first, in answer to the first question, there are phases of studies. So, for example, in a phase one not beenere a drug has a ghostanyone, its finding study so that everyone getting the drug starting at a lower dose to a higher dose. At most studies are done in double blind fashion so that whoher the physician or ever is doing the study is blinded to the fact as to gettingthe patient is the active ingredient or the placebo. The importance of that is that some molecules that are thought be good, and thats why the study is done, may actually not only not work, but they may be bad. And the only way to find that objectivedo really studies. A doubleot possible in blind study to pick and choose what you want to happen. Are some surgical studies that are done as crossover put in forre if you one group and you are not, you no success out of that, you cross over to the other group and then you obviously know youre in. Palisades, pacific california, good morning. Caller good morning, hi, dr. Katz. Hi name is holly, im 58 years old. Was young i had severe legse spasms, and in my like charlie horses, and my neck. And throughout the years i developed couplen casts for a years. But when i turned 40 my osteoporosis became very, very developed i had surgery in 2000 that was successful. And i was literally hunched over the and on a walker. Years ago my upper neck disintegrated and dr. Patrick constructiveone and to hold my spinal cord. But the question is ive also renauds. Kin disease, is there a connection between the arthritis, the muscular diseases . Im just curious if there is a connection linking all of those, and i have been dieing a having auto immune a. A. N. Guest holly, are you the only member of your family who has conditions . Atler my grandmother died 73, and they said that her spine had also disintegrated when she in conjunction with also had colitis. Host well get the answer from dr. Katz. Guest so im a dermatologist and an immune olds, i know a lot diseases, auto immune diseases and skin diseases. But i do know about connections between these diseases and others. There is really no connection as reauds know between and as at the oh arthritis of the neck. The osteoporosis that you have, we know that in theres a muchs greater predisposition for one of thend thats big risk factors for developing history. Is family has anyone in your family had a of 55. E before the age if they have, maybe you want to test earlier on which the bones endocrinologists have identified people of an early osteoporosis. There are very good interventions which will stop the degeneration or deterioration of bone density. Host dr. Katz, how is your time divided between being an administrator, researcher and a physician . I probably spend 150 of my time being an administrator. Probably 40 of my time being im just kidding. Spent probably 75 of my time being an administrator. My time with my laboratory, and i spent about 5 to 10 of my time seeing patients. Have been following patients autocertain types of immune skin diseases for the past 40 plus years. N. I. H. Hem here at the host in the last 20, 25 years, forhave treatments arthritis, fibromyalgia, how ore they changed and advanced . Guest so if you start with arthritis, particularly in the arthritis,umatoid theres a sea change, and that about from very fundamental studies of actually mice that dying. They had whats called and they had a certain molecule that we now know which is far less important in cancer than inflammatory diseases. The start of the anticnf,t of the which has changed the lives of withons of people Rheumatoid Arthritis and other diseases. Because of the development of these anticnf and other thebodies that work against inflammatory molecules. In the area of fibromyalgia, which is very important disease primarily in women, much more so in women than in men, our advances have not been as great because we have not underlyingo identify pathologicactors. But we do have constant that. Ment in weve done genetic studies as well as in the area of weve done, supported many behavioral therapy treatments to see if we can lessen the devastation of some of the pain that people have, andnic pain, sleeplessness have. Symptoms that they host dr. Stephen katz, director of the arthritis and skinloskeletal and diseases institute, one of 27 at the National Institutes of health. Thank you, sir, for your time this morning. Guest thank you very much. Ant a little less than half hour left in our program. Were going to open up the phones. Public policya issue that weve discussed this morning, we want to talk about n. I. H. , whatever youd like to talk about Public Policy wise, well be glad to listen to you. Is the area code. Well begin taking those calls in just a few minutes. The washington journal. This weekend, American History tv debuts its new series, real america, featuring archival films produce bid the u. S. Government, industry and al institutions to take you on a vivid journey into americas past. Films on washington d. C. During world war two, and americasers during military buildup of the 1940s. Months ago, the industry rolled out the materials of war, a plea for up. Went above the clamor of trains, the clear, among a thousand stops where idle ships labord cargoes held up by shortage. That was the call for help, which was still echoing in the when women began to respond. Convinced they could do factory or anything within their strength that men could do for sam. Overhead, yourgs sisters are singing, it is the song of women, american women on the war path. Reel america, starting this at 4 00 p. M. Eastern, on tv. An 3, American History me in that spot for two reasons, one he thought could handle it, and secondly he wanted young people of both races to come into the supreme all do by, as they the hundreds and thousands, and somebody to say who is that man there with that coat on, and somebody would say but hes a negro. Thurgood marshall served as solicitor general for the Johnson Administration from 1965 to 1967. Hear more from the justice as concludes its series of oral history interviews with former supreme atrt justices, later today 4 00 eastern, in washington at cspan. Org andat nationwide on Xm Satellite Radio channel 120. Washington journal continues. Host 202 is the area code if you want to talk with us this morning and share your opinion Public Policy issues. Republican. 5853880 for democrats. 5853882 for independents, you can also contact us via social media. There is quite a conversation going on on facebook, mainly focused on the n. I. H. Issue that weve had going all morning. To make a comment about n. I. H. , some of their funding, et cetera, go to facebook. Com, send us an email also. This new news coming out from the yahoo news, ukraine oppositionnd the have signed a crisis deal. Ukraines Opposition Leader friday with the president and european and russian mediators for early a new government in hopes of ending a deadly political crisis. It could be a breakthrough over anaines future and, identity that wore ended sharply this week and left scores dead in the worst violence in history as an nation. Ent Jenna Bush Hager who interviewed first lady obama will join nbcs interview withan former president george w. Today daughter and correspondent Jenna Bush Hager, showske part in the love yourselfy series, which issues. Us on body image and Jenna Bush Hager talking about selfies. From the wall street journal morning, tensions escalate on the streets of venezuela testers against protesters against the government burning tires and cars. Five people, four protesting the government, have died since protests by over high students crime and a crumbling economy week. Violent last michigan, whats on your mind this morning . Caller hi, peter. Dr. Katzned in when was on, and i wanted to ask him, an lpn oft to say im i have worked all those years fulltime and i have osteoporosis and hypo thyroidism. Through lowound out bone density that i did have the osteo. Studied flurry ride action the Fluoride Network and i see that 179 Million People in our fluoridationwater going on and were drinking this rat poison, fluoride. I wanted to ask the doctor about the action of that drug, if you call it a drug, because it is in chloridebiotics now, is host do you drink any flouridated water any more . Not any more. We use fluoride us . T were bad for all of asked. Thats what ive host does that make sense . Rationale . Caller first of all, you have to understand that the f. D. A. Toxic drugs, pharmaceuticals, that cause at verse reactions and side effects. Host they only approve toxic drugs . Caller they only approve anything thats anythingt approval thats healthy. Host why would that be . Know. i dont i believe thats their philosophy. But we are talking to medical this doctor said fluoride is unique, that it whileates bone formation, the other osteoporosis medications improve bone density reabsorption. Bone however the bone formed by fluoride appears to be weaker normal bone and may be more prone to fracture. Fluoride also causes freak side effects such as stomach upset, pain in the joints and lower is notties and fluoride an f. D. A. Approved treatment of osteoporosis in the United States. Right. Ll thats from lansing, michigan, appreciate your calling in this morning. Marilyn is calling from bellingham, washington. Hi. Caller hi, i have a question that i would like to ask, but i i will justne, so state it. On the patent website for the n. I. H. , it says that the cannabinoids are found to have application in protecting the brain, for in the example in limiting neurological damage following things like stroke and trauma, or and this thehe important part, in treatment of neurodegenerative alzheimersh as disease, parkinsons disease, h. I. V. Dementia. Why thejust wondering n. I. H. Does not talk to the websitewhich on its says because the cannabinoid known medical benefits they are being oneduled as a schedule drug, which means its more dangerous than many, many other drugs. So the cabinnoids, you are right. Anas caller theyre the ingredients in marijuana and in industrial hemp. You use it and do you fine it helpful for any of your conditions . Caller well, i have tried the hemp oil because it does have, it doesnt have the t. H. C. That makes you high. Related, but they are not the same because hemp does not make you high. Theusband died of antipsychotic drugs they gave him for his alzheimers out just and i found before starting to give them to him that he could have had hemp instead, which would have stopped the violence. Doctors wouldnt even discuss it with me. Host really, why not . Wouldnt caller i dont know why. Host if hemp were such a good thing, wouldnt somebody be marketing it and making money it . Caller well, in this country youre only allowed to buy it in washington and colorado that have made medical marijuana legal. Youre not allowed to buy the hemp oil as a medicine unless get a permit to buy the high. Ana, which makes you host well have to leave it this and move on and talk to harold. Caller i constantly get calls asking for money for a lot things, and Breast Cancer especially. And i ask that why they dont use the girls not to Birth Control pills, which according to the research cause breastes cancer. They respond, well, men also get cancer, thats what they say. Now, in the meantime, why do the research that particularly in europe, norway, denmark, those countries, theyve done Extensive Research that shows that why dont we use i hope you replay this program, i took crazy notes the whole time, i like all the stuff youre teaching us today. But in the meantime, why dont we use the research . Now, when it comes to sexually diseases, when the federal government is giving Birth Control pills to young girls and they dont have the intelligence to be careful who they use it to, increase the sex actually transmitted disease likely increase the Breast Cancer why dont we use the research . Host thats harold in new jersey. Sole tweets tweets in, says our poisoning has been u. S. A. With floor i daition of years so alcoa can get rich. Front page of the new york morning, a billionaires socalled isriotic given, this jennifer steinhower writing thet david rubenstein, expansive reach of rubenstein into the public life of the nationals capital can be seen from his Downtown Office at the that heequity firm cofounded and that made him a billionaire, across the street the national archives, a new him which he after bought for 23 million is on loan. Ent your way to the earthquake damaged Washington Monument which will reopen this a 15 million repair, paid for by to theensteen, then zip john f. Kennedy center for the performing arts where his 75 million has bought, among new pipe organ. End up at the national zoo where baobao frolicked in the panda habitat mr. Rubenstein endowed, part of a 7 million gift. He stands nearly alone in shoring up institutions generally under the purview of the federal government, about 200 million of the 300 million away has been what he calls patriotic giving. This is a little bit of the new article this morning. Hugeubensteen is also a sponsor of the library of Congress National book festival every year that cspan covers and book tv covers. Book tv, tomorrow, 48 hours of nonfiction books beginning at 8 00 a. M. On cspan 2. Its every weekend, 48 hours, nonfiction books. Theres the website. Book tv. Org. Tomorrow at 11 00 a. M. The Monuments Men will be joining us for a callin program. So if youre interested, see the movie, if youre interested in the topic of the Monuments Men you can join us at 11 00 a. M. Tomorrow morning and talk with of theedsel, the author original Monuments Men. Hes got an interesting story, background is also very interesting as well. Every weekend, 48 hours of American History. So you can go to cspan 3 beginning tomorrow morning at tv, a. M. And youll find ah American History tv. So if youre bored with cspan 1 to look at books or American History, go to cspan 2 cspan 3. Caller from jersey sit, thanks air. Olding, youre on the were going to put you on hold you turn down your tv. So we dont get the feedback. Miller place, new york, good morning. Caller hi, thank you so much for this opportunity. Make a statement to the cspan watchers and then hopefully youll allow me to finalize with a request to cspan. A woman, i think her name was betty, called in and gretta for leaning toward the republican side and this morning a gentleman was accusing youe and of being on the other side of the agenda. Offensive whent anybody criticizes you folks, because you provide so much to us. So many channels that provide absolutely nothing, hundreds of channels. One place youthe can find a vast amount of nonstop help, i mean you guys are outstanding, and you provide such a wonderful society. O how anybody could criticize you folks, i dont think they realize the barrage of that you folks are constantly absorbing and having to sift through, whether its propaganda or otherwise. But yet you still, every day, 7 00 in the morning, there you inform us, go with the topics host youre very, very kind. Whats the other statement you wanted to make . Caller i do apologize for the length. Cspan like to request to please bring back the 2010 cam winners. T it was a bunch of Young Children, young girls and ladies, they were wonderful, and were the grand Prize Winners in 2010, and they supported Nuclear Energy and safe, thishat it was that and the other thing. At the time i was concerned at theyaccess to information were getting. I felt as though, because i did the same report when i was their a totallycame up with different conclusion. And i couldnt understand what was different between what they being said and i was being fed. Because to embrace that technology, as youve seen, is good thing, and we always waste than theyre filled to capacity with the waste thats now been this technology. Host anthony what do you do in miller place, new york . Hernia, so ima a health care provide information a young lady with down syndrome. Aior to that i was construction, carpenter and stuff like that. Whatever i have to do, rake leaves. Know. Host we appreciate your watching, we appreciate your comments, thank you for calling in. From the washington times, 260 million americans have signed a petition to get rid of justin bieber, send him back to with the canadian womens hockey team, i believe, petition to get rid of them as well. Douglas in jersey city, hi, douglas. Douglas . We have to move on, douglas. Up hist going to hang phone. West haven, connecticut, ronny. Caller hi. To talk about a recent refusal of the v. W. Workers to the union. Ive been a union member for 33 myrs, my father, grandfather, im talking specifically, im from and im talking specifically the carpenters union. Around 2000 all our president s, our Business Managers were all voted in by the rank and file. Tound 2000 they went somerville, massachusetts, took if youday seminar, were you came back as a business agent. Now, by this new paradigm it everything in the voteds, can you not get out. But international has to vote or fire you, realistically. Now what theyre doing is they want an open door policy. When i was there you had to get get yourin order to vested rights, now its five. So host bring this to a conclusion. Work, theyre promising you gotta make a lot of money. Host you have to bring this to conclusion. Caller the conclusion is it an open door policy, now its only to get vested. And its ridiculous. Sir, all right, thank you, were going to have to leave it there, i apologize, and move annapolis. O in hi. Caller ive been waiting all vietnam veteran. West moreland fourth infantry. Please goe listening, ahead. Caller and i havent got paid all my back money, ive been military since ive been home in 69. Itthere any way you can put out there, because im broke. Im actually broke. Int thats ricardo annapolis who has put this situation out there in to america, and jennifer is calling connecticut. Caller yes, hi. Thanks for taking my call. Program. I missed the doctor from n. I. H. To discussed neurology. Have m. S. And for many years i experienced sleep allergy, its weird allergy to have. Blurry. Eye would go i had all kinds of stuff going on in my life, but looking back eyes were blurry then too, back to the 1980s. M. S. Symptoms in the late 80s and i was dieing a notioned officially by 1995. Said, jennifer, where are you going with this . Caller im putting it out there if anybody else has beef allergies, stop eating beef. Cannot be good for you in a lot of different ways, for your heart. Host all right, jennifer, thank much. Ry i want to close with this op ed that was written by the president of the catholic of america here in washington d. C. , its in the wall street journal this morning. Why were keeping a 1 million gift. Where the two of us work, the president and the dean of the business school, why were keeping, we recently received a the of 1 million from charles koch foundation, make new hires to conduct research of principle entrepreneurships. Faithful america, and catholic scholars for launched atice have drive expressing concerns. One group asked that we return the money. Koch foundation has made gifts to 170 universities, including 25 catholic ones, so why the fuss in this case. No doubt it has something do our institutions unique status. Catholic university of america is a National University of the catholic church, established by in 1887. Harter the gift that if we accept gifts for aproper purposes we send confusing message to catholics. Does the kochs, donation represent such a gift . Objection is a rather strong form of guilt by association, they go onto write, with this,ey close were grateful for the keeping itand were because it would be an unhealthy precedent for a university to refuse support for valuable research because the money somewhere back up the line once donor whose views on other subjects were unpopular community. Academic that, if you want to read the thee thing, is available at wall street journal. Com. Middletown, new york. Hi. Caller good morning. Were still on open phones, right . Host yes, sir. Caller well, im calling to maybe call everyones attention piece of law that was passed in new york state in the commonwealth process of litigation. And it appears to be for the of newime in the history york injuries prudence granting finally to the private that enter into all agreements with their home municipality, county, state and federal government. Beenhey have historically immune, even where they have, to act criminally they remain untouchable. Landone is en titled and if theres an ethical attorney out there they can find me through the court system. To hire my own guys out. Host i apologize, eric, we are out of time. Live now over to the Brookings Institution. There holding a seminar on situation in syria. Live coverage on cspan. We are live here this morning at the Brookings Institution for discussion on the syrian refugee crisis. Millions of syrians have fled the country during the almost