Word: agent
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Scientists had thought ginkgo extract might work as an anti-inflammatory agent to keep brain connections healthy and promote steady flow of nutrients to neurons. They also thought ginkgo, a strong antioxidant, helped inhibit oxidative damage to brain neurons caused by free radicals found in pollutants or made as a by-product of many metabolic processes. But if ginkgo were working in this way, says DeKosky, he and his team would almost certainly have detected a difference between the treatment and placebo groups. (Read about a life-extending drug in the Year in Health...
...tsunami helped extinguish a decades-old conflict between Indonesian government troops and separatist rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (known as GAM by its initials in Bahasa Indonesian), who laid down their weapons in 2005. Despite sporadic political violence, Aceh's war is over. One enterprising local travel agent even offers "guerrilla tours" to GAM's former jungle strongholds...
...Meanwhile, private foundations and individuals have taken the lead. Early efforts to identify and measure dioxin levels at Agent Orange hot spots were undertaken by the U.S.-based Ford Foundation in the 1990s. Later, with technical assistance from the EPA, Ford "capped" the most contaminated section of what is now the Da Nang International Airport, installing a filtration system to stop dioxins from flowing into the city's water supply and building a wall to keep people from entering the area. At another abandoned U.S. air base in the Aluoi Valley, a Vietnamese botanist raised $25,000 in donations...
...Groups caring for children born with horrific deformities from Agent Orange - such as malformed limbs and no eyes - are wondering why they haven't seen any of that money. Bedridden and unable to feed themselves, many patients need round-the-clock care. As they age, and parents die, who is going to look after them? asks Nguyen Thi Hien, director of the Danang Association of Victims of Agent Orange. She says donations to her group, which cares for 300 children, are down 50% because there is a belief that local charities are flush with cash thanks...
...Still, the Vietnamese people (and the government, though more quietly) contend it's the U.S. that should be doing more - much more. Some point out that the U.S. spends only a fraction on Agent Orange cleanup compared to the $50 million it spends every year on searching for the remains of American soldiers missing in action. Thao Griffiths, country director of Vietnam Veterans of America, which works on lingering war issues, points out that the legacy of each is equally painful. "The issue of MIAs for Americans holds the same importance that Agent Orange does for the Vietnamese," she says...