Tag Archives: united

Is there a hidden scandal lurking in ObamaCare?

America, we are in trouble – and we better wake up and act.   Just look at the state of affairs in our country today.  We are seeing scandal after scandal, with the Benghazi controversy, the IRS targeting of conservative groups, and the freedom of the press being challenged by the Department of Justice. The word scandal is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage.”  I think the implementation of ObamaCare fulfills that definition. I remember back in 2010 when then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi made her infamous remark about the Affordable Care Act, saying “we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what’s in it....” Well the bill has been passed, and now we see what’s in it: An utter mess with incomprehensible rules. If we compare the assertions the president made about ObamaCare when it was first introduced to the current bill as it has been passed today, we find that all the president’s guarantees regarding ObamaCare are not there.   The truth of the matter is that we were not fully informed.  For example, President Obama maintained that this bill would lower the cost of health care, especially in regards to insurance premiums.  That is simply not true.  Many different analyses clearly show that in some markets, insurance premiums can increase as high as 30 to 40 percent. One of the main reasons for this increase can be attributed to all the hidden taxes that this bill contains, which the insurance industry will likely pass on to consumers.   Another false guarantee given by the administration was that individuals would be able to keep their doctors and current level of service through ObamaCare.  Again, this is not true. The so-called insurance exchanges being set up in many states by the federal government will most likely create a non-competitive environment, meaning patients who cannot afford other types of insurance will be forced to buy insurance from the government.  And if their current doctors are not willing to participate in that single-payer health care system, these patients will ultimately lose the guarantee of keeping their own doctors. So what does this all mean? It means that if everything goes according to the president’s plan, the health care landscape is going to completely change over the next decade. A potential scenario is that private doctors will be employees of one large health care system. Health standards such as maintaining an ideal weight and eliminating habits like drinking alcohol and soda will be placed on families so that they can qualify for health care.  So in other words, your individual freedom will be targeted. I know many people argue that it’s better if everyone has health insurance and maintains a healthy lifestyle.  Yes it is, but I still believe that an individual’s health care should not be dictated by the government. Instead it should be a choice made by the individual and his or her health provider. Many senior politicians and consultants have found as of late that ObamaCare is a train wreck.  And yet, the person in charge of implementing ObamaCare, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, continues to drive the train forward.  Rather than work with leaders who are suggesting changes ,she has decided to enlist the help of the private sector in getting donations to help fund ObamaCare.   Many have questioned this move, but one thing Secretary Sebelius knows is how to organize her community of followers.  Recently, she has teamed up with Nancy-Ann DeParle, former director of the White House Office of Health Reform, placing her in charge of asking insurance companies to donate $1 million or more to Enroll America, a non-profit organization promoting enrollment in the subsidized insurance markets, according to a report from Politico. You see, folks, ObamaCare is all about politics and control, and to me, that is a formula for disaster.  This is something that should not be taken for granted but rather openly evaluated by the American public.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/29/is-there-hidden-scandal-lurking-in-obamacare/

Toxic waste from Greek yogurt poses danger to waterways

Greek yogurt has become an increasingly popular low-calorie treat in the United States, as it is thicker and contains more protein than regular yogurt.  In fact, the yogurt is in such high demand that total yogurt production has nearly tripled in New York state over the last five years. But the new diet fad harbors a dark secret. When Greek yogurt is strained, a thin, runny waste product known as acid (sour) whey is left over.  According to a new report from Modern Farmer, whey acid – a liquid containing mostly water, lactose (sugar), protein and yogurt cultures – is extremely toxic to the environment, making it illegal to dump.  The substance is so detrimental to the environment that if it enters nearby streams and rivers, it robs the water of so much oxygen that fish and other aquatic life start to die off over potentially large areas. The Modern Farmer report stated that for every 3 to 4 ounces of milk used, Chobani and other manufacturers can only make 1 ounce of Greek yogurt – the rest becoming acid whey.  Chobani is so desperate to get rid of the whey, the report maintained, they pay nearby farmers to haul the whey somewhere else.  They claim that 70 percent of their excess whey winds up in livestock feed. But the yogurt industry has remained relatively secretive on the issue, as there are currently no industry-wide statistics regarding where all of this excess whey is going.. Fortunately, the Modern Farmer report noted a possible consumer of excess whey: babies.  Dave Barbano, a dairy scientist at Cornell University, believes that the tiny amount of protein left over in acid whey could be used in infant formula.  Cheese manufacturers have managed to sell similar products from sweet whey, a byproduct of cheese. Whey protein is sold as an ingredient in body building supplements and in other foodstuffs – and Greek yogurt manufacturers are eager to try the same tactics. “There are a lot of people coming in and out of New York state looking at whether this is a good opportunity for investment,” Barbano told Modern Farmer. Other researchers at the Center for Dairy Research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, are trying to figure out a way to extract the sugar from acid whey, which could be used as an ingredient in things like icing and bread.  And a farm in Scipio Center, N.Y., is hoping to convert the whey’s lactose into methane – which could ultimately be used to generate electricity. No matter what, the Modern Farmer report maintained that a solution needs to be found as soon as possible, because the development of excess whey isn’t slowing down. Click for more from Modern Farmer.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/29/toxic-waste-from-greek-yogurt-poses-danger-to-waterways/

Pork industry hunts for deadly pig virus

The sudden and widespread appearance of a swine virus deadly to young pigs - one never before seen in North America - is raising questions about the bio-security shield designed to protect the U.S. food supply. The swine-only virus, the Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV), poses no danger to humans or other animals, and the meat from infected pigs is safe for people to eat. Though previously seen in parts of Asia and Europe, the virus now has spread into five leading hog-raising U.S. states. How it arrived in the United States remains a mystery. While the U.S. imports millions of pigs each year from Canada, it imports pigs from virtually no other country, and no Canadian cases of PEDV have been confirmed. Veterinarians and epidemiologists say pigs are infected through oral means, and that the virus is not airborne and does it not occur spontaneously in nature. In recent years, with the emergence of dangerous pathogens such as H1N1, also known as swine flu, and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) or mad cow disease, the United States and other countries have sought to secure defenses both on the farm and at the national borders to protect against barnyard epidemics. “We're just trying to get a handle on what's happening,” said Tom Burkgren, executive director of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians. “It's like drinking water out of a fire hose. We're getting hits from all over the place.” Overall numbers of confirmed cases and mortality rates are not yet available, though anecdotal evidence suggests there are devastating losses for farms that are hit. “If you've got it, it's bad,” said Mark Greenwood, vice president of agri-business capital at AgStar Financial Services, who said none of his clients have been affected. “I spoke to a farmer in the Midwest who had it show up in a 2,000-head barn of pigs, and had a 40 percent death loss.” A spokeswoman for U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service told Reuters the agency is working with state agencies and pork industry officials to discover where the virus originated. THE VIRUS SPREADS Confirmed cases have been reported in five hog-raising states including Iowa, the largest U.S. hog producer with 20 million hogs, according to the USDA. While only seven farms have had confirmed cases since May 17, more cases are expected as labs sift through samples, say sources investigating the outbreak. Colorado, Indiana, Illinois and Minnesota reportedly have positive tests for PEDV, according to state veterinarians and agriculture department officials, and the National Veterinary Services Laboratory in Ames, Iowa. PEDV, most often fatal to very young pigs, causes diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration. It also sickens older hogs, though their survival rate tends to be high. Known as a “coronavirus” because of the crown-like spikes on its surface, the virus afflicted China in recent years and killed more than 1 million piglets. PEDV is spread most commonly by pigs ingesting contaminated feces. Investigators are focused on physical transmission, perhaps a PEDV infected pig, equipment marred with feces, or even a person wearing dirty boots or with dirty nails. The mystery about how the virus entered the United States is raising concern about potential holes in the bio-security shield designed to protect the U.S. food and farming sectors. “Like everything else, we screw up from time to time,” said Ronald L. Plain, professor of agricultural economics at University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. “We know so little about the transmittal of this virus. We can't be sure if it's happening because of something we're supposed to do right and didn't - or by some mechanism we don't know that we're supposed to do differently.” Initial reporting about the virus may have been delayed, say sources, because its symptoms can be confused with a more common malady, transmissible gastroenteritis (TGE). Also, states are not required to report cases of PEDV to the federal government, and farmers are not required to report to state veterinarians. As part of its assessment of the situation, USDA will email epidemiological surveys to swine veterinarians who are dealing cases of PEDV. Meanwhile, the veterinarians are sending samples to diagnostic labs, where technicians are scrambling gathering the tools needed to check the samples for PEDV - supplies many labs did not have prior to the outbreak. While most farmers are taking a wait-and-see approach, some told Reuters they are turning away unnecessary visitors and double checking to ensure their safety protocols are being followed. LOOKING NORTH The search for leads also has turned to the nation's borders and ports of entry - specifically, Canada, where the United States imported 5.7 million head of live hogs last year. Canada has never had a confirmed case of the virus, though it does not test for it, government officials said. “Canada has very effective import measures in place to address this risk,” said Dr. Rajiv Arora, senior staff veterinarian for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency's foreign animal disease section. Canada can import live breeding pigs, under permits, from either the United States or the European Union, Arora said. The animals are quarantined by CFIA for a period of time, then inspected and tested - although not for PEDV - before released. Canada imported C$1.7 million ($1.6 million) worth of live swine in 2012, including both slaughter-ready and breeder pigs, according to Canada's Agriculture Department. CHINA HARD HIT Veterinarians and agricultural epidemiologists in the United States are drawing grim lessons from the devastating effect PEDV has had in other countries where it has hit. The first reports of suspected PEDV came in 1971 in the United Kingdom. As years passed, PEDV spread across parts of Europe and Asia. Veterinary researchers later concluded that lax bio-security measures contributed to PEDV's spread in Asia. One of the worst known outbreaks of the virus hit China's pig herds in late 2010, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal. Vaccines had limited effectiveness and PEDV over ran southern China killing more than 1 million piglets. The death rate for virus-infected piglets ranged from 80 percent to 100 percent. Biosecurity measures in the U.S. food supply have been beefed up over the years, and especially after the outbreaks of mad cow disease and swine flu. Both outbreaks posed risks to human health. Today, trucks carrying live animals are supposed to be cleaned before entering and leaving farms. At commercial hog operations, visitors routinely shower and change clothing before stepping into a barn. Overseas visitors typically wait several days before being in the presence of a commercially raised hog. But the food shield is not impermeable. “If it becomes clear that this is not a novel way for to be transmitted, and that there had to be physical contact, that's going to be a major concern,” said William Marler, a leading food-safety attorney. “It means that there was a failure in the system.”source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/29/pork-industry-hunts-for-deadly-pig-virus/

Pesticide exposure tied to Parkinson’s disease

Need another good reason to go organic? According to data published in the journal Neurology, exposure to weed killer, solvents and pesticides increases people’s risk for Parkinson’s disease by 33 to 80 percent, Medical Daily reported. Researchers collected data from 104 studies from around the world to analyze how pesticides, insecticides, weed killers, and many other agricultural chemicals influenced an individual’s risk for Parkinson’s disease. Though researchers found links between many chemicals and Parkinson’s, they found no link between Parkinson’s and the chemical dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), which has been banned in the United States for decades, Medical Daily reported. However, people who were exposed to the weed killer paraquat or the fungicides maneb and mancozeb had a two-fold greater risk for contracting the disease. Additionally, researchers showed a direct link between the length of time people were exposed to pesticides and their likelihood of contracting Parkinson’s. The data also indicated that agricultural workers had a 33 percent higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than people who didn’t work in agriculture.  The study did not distinguish between people who came in contact with pesticides through their skin or through breathing the chemicals. Parkinson's disease is a neurological condition, characterized by a decrease of the brain’s ability to produce the neurotransmitter dopamine, which ultimately leads to tremors and a decrease in motor control.  Treatment options for Parkinson’s patients are limited. Click for more from Medical Daily.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/28/pesticide-exposure-tied-to-parkinsons-disease/

Scientists put bowel cancer under the microscope

Patients with bowel cancer — the third most commonly diagnosed form in the United Kingdom — could enjoy increased survival rates as a result of a new study led by an expert from London’s Kingston University. Professor Helmout Modjtahedi is heading an investigation examining why some tumours are hard to treat and how they can be targeted with the most effective therapies. During the study, specimens from patients with tumours of the colon or rectum, known as colorectal or bowel cancer, will be examined for biomarkers — proteins on the surface of cells. This would help pinpoint which individuals were most likely to benefit from specific therapies, particularly two new antibody-based drugs, Professor Modjtahedi said. …

Should monetary incentives be offered for blood donation? Study says yes

With Memorial Day weekend approaching, blood centers across the country will likely experience a dip in donations, as they do every year during summer months and around holidays. As part of an effort to increase blood donations both in the United States and in countries where blood shortages are much more severe and often deadly, a group of researchers is encouraging the World Health Organization (WHO) and other blood collection agencies to reconsider stances opposing gift or monetary incentives for blood donation.   “The WHO guidelines strongly encourage donations to come from unpaid volunteers – and national blood agencies’ guidelines incorporate that strong advice against compensation for blood donors,” Mario Macis, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School in Baltimore, Md., told FoxNews.com. Blood donation guidelines were originally developed 40 years ago, based on evidence suggesting that offering incentives for blood donation would have a detrimental effect on the frequency and quality of donated blood.   “The concern is that economic incentives for altruistic activities would undermine intrinsic motivation to perform activities like giving blood,” Macis said. “Also, that monetary incentives would induce people who are in poor health to donate (contaminated blood).” In a paper published in Science, Macis and his co-authors argued that those concerns are based on old evidence from uncontrolled studies, random samples and artificial scenarios relying on hypothetical questions. According to new research conducted by Macis and his colleagues, real-world incentive programs have actually proven to increase blood donations with no significant effect on the percentage of tainted blood received. Macis and his fellow researchers examined data from nearly 100,000 donors at 72 American Red Cross blood drives in northern Ohio. Gift cards were offered at half of the donor sites; no incentives were offered at the other half of the donor sites. Macis pointed out that the gift cards were publicized as tokens of thanks – not payments – for donating. “It’s not cash for blood,” Macis said. “They are presented as rewards or gifts, which we think has a big effect on the resulting behavior…People like to be recognized for their generosity.” Furthermore, gift cards were distributed to all participants upon arrival – before the screening or donation process began. Researchers believe this prevented people with blood-contaminating health issues from concealing their health concerns during the screening process in order to claim their reward. “You present to donate, you get your reward. So you have no incentive to misrepresent your health history,” Macis said. When blood drive locations advertised $5 gift cards, it increased the likelihood of giving blood among people with a history of donating by 26 percent. When sites offered a $10 gift card, that number increased by 52 percent, and an even bigger rise was seen when a $15 gift card was offered. Beyond that, donors that received gift cards would often encourage other people – including those with no history of giving blood – to donate as well.   “The findings make us conclude that one-time rewards can be used to smooth donations over time – increasing the donations at times or in places where they are scarce,” Macis said. Research suggests that a similar benefit could be seen by implementing these rewards systems in developing or middle-income countries. “We did a study in Argentina…and found a positive effect of incentives,” Macis said, adding that offering incentives increased the number of donors - without significantly increasing the amount of tainted blood collected.  Macis acknowledged that numerous ethical debates surround medical incentive programs such as these. “While we are having an ethical debate we should look at evidence as well, and recent evidence points to a positive effect of incentives,” Macis said.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/24/should-monetary-incentives-be-offered-for-blood-donation-study-says-yes/

Heat-related deaths may increase with climate change

Heat-related deaths in New York City's borough of Manhattan may rise about 20 percent over the next decade, according to a new study. Researchers at Columbia University in New York analyzed the relationship between daily temperatures and temperature-related deaths across all seasons between 1982 and 1999 in Manhattan, which comprises the most densely populated county in the United States. The findings were published online May 19 in the journal Nature Climate Change. Using projections from 16 global climate models, the scientists found that the number of heat-related deaths in the city could increase by 20 percent by the 2020s, and in some worst-case scenarios, could rise by 90 percent or more by the 2080s, said study co-author Patrick Kinney, an environmental scientist at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. [Top 10 Surprising Results of Global Warming] To make their estimates, Kinney and his colleagues used the 1980s as a baseline, during which about 370 Manhattan residents died yearly from overheating. With this figure as a reference, a 20 percent increase could mean 74 additional yearly heat-related fatalities in Manhattan by the 2020s. “What we found was that there could be some benefits, in terms of reduced fatalities in the wintertime because of warmer temperatures, but our analysis suggests that those benefits are outweighed by extra fatalities that will occur in the hotter times of the year,” Kinney said. Mercury rising Daily readings in Manhattan's Central Park demonstrate that average monthly temperatures have increased 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) between 1901 and 2000. Last year was the warmest year on record in Manhattan, and projections predict rising temperatures over the next six decades, the researchers said. In 2011, 206 people died due to extreme heat in the United States. “The warming that's anticipated from climate change is happening throughout the year, so the months that are already hot like June, July and August are going to get hotter, but months that are more moderate, like May and September, may become uncomfortably hot or fatally hot,” Kinney explained. In their study, Kinney and his colleagues applied climate models to two scenarios: one that assumed rapid global population growth with limited efforts to control emissions, and another that assumed slower population growth combined with technological advances to decrease emissions by the year 2040. The researchers found that both projections pointed to increases in temperature-related fatalities. “It was a little surprising that no matter which climate model we used, and which scenario of greenhouse gases we used, they all consistently showed this effect of increasing fatality risk in the future,” Kinney said. More of the same And Manhattan is not alone, Kinney added. The trend toward more fatalities is also expected for other cities, particularly in the northern United States. “Climate models of future temperatures do vary a bit from place to place, but generally the story is pretty much the same,” Kinney said. The effects are not limited to cities, but heat waves are typically more severely felt in densely populated areas. This is because cities tend to concentrate heat, with buildings and pavement surfaces soaking up heat during the day and releasing it at night, the researchers said. “This serves as a reminder that heat events are one of the greatest hazards faced by urban populations around the globe,” study co-author Radley Horton, a climate scientist at Columbia University, said in a statement. The way of the future The researchers acknowledge uncertainties in their projections, including that heat's effects could be made better or worse with changing demographics, and how fatalities may be prevented with better infrastructure or public policies. Still, the findings suggest that cities and governments need to do more to address the potential dangers posed by heat waves, said Richard Keller, an associate professor of medical history and bioethics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved with the study. “We have needed to rethink the dangers of heat for years,” Keller said. “The Chicago heat wave of 1995, and especially the European heat wave of 2003 both caused catastrophic excess mortality.” Major federal programs provide heating assistance in the winter, but there is no concomitant program for cooling assistance in the summer, Keller said. Kinney said that to combat the effects of deadly heat waves, cities can open community cooling centers, plant trees or construct “green” roofs. The new findings demonstrate the importance of developing strategies to adapt to future higher temperatures. “Heat is a major and often underestimated killer,” Keller said. “While we evacuate in the face of hurricanes and floods, we tend to ignore extreme heat, with deadly consequences. The 2003 heat wave killed nearly 15,000 people in France alone eight times the mortality associated with Hurricane Katrina.” Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/23/heat-related-deaths-in-nyc-may-increase-with-climate-change/

Polish man gets face transplant just 3 weeks after injury

WARSAW, Poland – & A 33-year-old Polish man received a face transplant just three weeks after being disfigured in a workplace accident, in what his doctors said Wednesday is the fastest time frame to date for such an operation. It was Poland's first face transplant. Face transplants are extraordinarily complicated and relatively rare procedures that usually require extensive preparation of the recipient over a period of months or years. But medical officials said the Polish patient's condition was deteriorating so rapidly that a transplant was seen as the only way to save his life. The patient is now being watched for any potential infections. In a photo taken Tuesday, just six days after the surgery, the patient, identified only by his first name, Grzegorz, was shown giving a thumbs-up sign from his hospital bed. Another picture, based on computer tomography, showed the extensive damage to his skull. He was injured in an April 23 accident at his job at a stone mason's workshop near the southwestern city of Wroclaw when a machine used to cut stone tore off most of his face and crushed his upper jaw. He received intensive treatment at a hospital in Wroclaw that saved his life and eyesight. But an attempt to reattach his own face failed, leaving an area close to the brain exposed to infections, doctors said. The damage was too extensive for doctors to temporarily seal the exposed areas. So he was taken to the Cancer Center and Institute of Oncology in Gliwice, the only place in Poland licensed to perform face transplants. The center has experience in facial reconstruction for patients disfigured by cancer and its experts have practiced face transplants on cadavers. Doctors at the center said the 27-hour face and bone transplant was performed May 15 soon after a matching donor was found. The surgery reconstructed the area around the eyes, the nose, jaws and palate and other parts of the man's face. Pictures show stitches running from above the patient's right eye, under the left eye and around the face to the neck. The donor, a 34-year-old man, was chosen from a national registry of potential donors after his age, gender, blood group and body features were determined to be a good match for the injured man. The head of the team of surgeons and other specialists, Dr. Adam Maciejewski, said it was the first time a face transplant was carried out so soon after the damage. Face transplants are usually a last resort after conventional reconstructive and plastic surgeries have been tried. “In such an extensive injury, where the structures close to the skull base and in contact with the brain area are exposed, any infection would be dangerous, not to mention the impossibility to function normally, including problems with breathing, with eating,” Maciejewski said. “All that led us in one direction.” “We assume the surgery will allow the patient to return to normal life. He will be able to breathe, to eat, to see.” Maciejewski said that over time, the face will mold to the man's facial bone structure and he will not look like the donor. The patient is now breathing on his own and responds to questions by nodding his head or squeezing the hands of doctors. But his condition is serious and it will be months before the procedure can be declared a full success, said Dr. Krzysztof Olejnik, head of the team of anesthesiologists. Another member of the transplant team, surgeon Dr. Maciej Grajek, told The Associated Press that the patient was receiving drugs to ward off any potential viral, bacterial or skin infections, but the face is alive and is healing. Though he is in sterile isolation, the patient has started the rehabilitation process. He will stay on special drugs for the rest of his life to prevent rejection of his new face. More than two dozen transplants of the face or parts of the face have been performed around the world. The first one was a partial face transplant in a woman maimed by her dog in France in 2005. Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, who in 2011 led a team in the United States that performed a full face and double-hand transplant on a woman mauled by a chimpanzee, said in an email he believes that in the future surgeons will decide more swiftly on a transplant, just as the Polish team did. “This is the way we likely will practice in the future,” said Pomahac, a reconstructive surgeon at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. However, he cautioned that patients should be given more time to be fully involved in a decision that will have a life-long impact on them. “I still think that a traumatized patient, even with all the psychological support, probably has a hard time making the right decision within hours/days after life-changing trauma,” Pomahac said. Dr. Zbigniew Wlodarczyk, who has performed limb transplants in Poland but was not involved in the face transplant, told the AP the surgery was groundbreaking because it was carried out on a fresh injury and on tissues that have not healed, but that leaving such an extensive wound open would have led to infection and the patient's death. “Such rare but spectacular procedures show the possibilities of medicine today and advance it,” he said.  ”This places Poland in the elite group of countries performing such transplants.  source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/23/polish-man-gets-face-transplant-just-3-weeks-after-injury/

Software company to recruit people with autism as programmers

German software company SAP is looking to recruit people with autism as programmers and product testers, drawing on skills that can include a close attention to detail and an ability to solve complex problems. SAP has asked start-up Danish recruitment company Specialisterne to help it find, train and manage employees diagnosed with the disability. “They bring a special set of skills to the table, which fits with SAP,” said a spokesman for the company, which has already hired people with autism in India and Ireland. Specialisterne Chief Executive Steen Thygesen said the partnership was his first with a multinational company to help with its worldwide recruitment. The Danish company says it has already helped several hundred autistic people to find a job. Sufferers often find it harder to communicate and some have lifelong learning disabilities. Those with a form of autism known as Asperger syndrome can sometimes have above-average intelligence. As children, they may prefer mathematics and other subjects rooted in logic and systems, according to Britain's National Autistic Society. “People with autism have some unique abilities to really focus on their task and stay focused for long periods of time. They are also good at spotting discrepancies in data,” said Thygesen, a former manager with Microsoft and Nokia whose 14-year-old son has Asperger syndrome. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in every 88 children in the United States and almost 1 in 54 boys are diagnosed with autism. The SAP spokesman said the company aimed to reflect the proportion of people diagnosed as autistic in society within its 65,000-strong workforce - or about 1 percent. A Berlin-based company, Auticon, already exclusively employs autistic people as software testers. It has a team analyzing data for Vodafone Germany, an Auticon spokesman said.source : http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/22/software-company-to-recruit-people-with-autism-as-programmers/