The top guys at American Eagle?s pilot union expressed the union?s ?profound disappointment? Friday that PSA Airline pilots had approved a concessionary contract.
The message came from Bill Sprague and Matt Rettig, the chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the Air Line Pilots Association?s Master Executive Council at American Eagle.
?While we respect the right of the PSA pilots to determine what is best for them and their families, we believe it was a colossal mistake to unnecessarily drive the industry standard to such a miserable level,? Sprague and Rettig wrote.
?This deal in some ways mimics what was negotiated by Endeavor Air (formerly Pinnacle Airlines Inc.), a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, during their effort to avoid liquidation in bankruptcy,? they wrote.
?One significant difference is that the Endeavor pilots were compensated for many of the concessions they provided.? The only potential gain for the PSA pilots in this deal is the possibility of new aircraft,? Sprague and Rettig concluded.
They told American Eagle pilots that the PSA deal will be reviewed by ALPA president Lee Moak to see if it conforms to ALPA standards.
?If it takes effect, this new low bar will make it more difficult for other pilot groups, including us at Eagle, to have fair and livable pay and work rules,? the pair wrote.
?Everyone likes shiny new jets, but they must not be financed by cutting the pay and benefits that we have worked so hard to achieve.? We believe this is exactly what the PSA pilots have signed the industry up for,? Sprague and Rettig warned.
Keep reading for the entire message to American Eagle pilots.
Fellow Eagle Pilots:
It is with profound disappointment that we learn of the ratification of the concessionary TA at PSA. While we respect the right of the PSA pilots to determine what is best for them and their families, we believe it was a colossal mistake to unnecessarily drive the industry standard to such a miserable level.? This deal in some ways mimics what was negotiated by Endeavor Air (formerly Pinnacle Airlines Inc.), a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, during their effort to avoid liquidation in bankruptcy.? One significant difference is that the Endeavor pilots were compensated for many of the concessions they provided.? The only potential gain for the PSA pilots in this deal is the possibility of new aircraft.
It is unclear whether this deal is contingent upon the pending lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice challenging the merger, but it appears unlikely to occur without one.? The next step in the process is for the ALPA President to decide whether the agreement conforms to the direction and goals of the Association membership.? Our MEC strongly encourages him to be deliberate in his examination of the agreement prior to signing it.? If it takes effect, this new low bar will make it more difficult for other pilot groups, including us at Eagle, to have fair and livable pay and work rules.? Everyone likes shiny new jets, but they must not be financed by cutting the pay and benefits that we have worked so hard to achieve.? We believe this is exactly what the PSA pilots have signed the industry up for.
Please try to keep your efforts and actions positive, constructive and oriented toward drawing us together as a team. It is critical that we stand together as a unified group while we navigate the difficult road ahead.? Please communicate all ideas, suggestions and offers of assistance to your local reps as one of our strengths is having the perspective and experience of 2900 airline pilots.
We remain open to any reasonable proposal from management which could bring airplanes to Eagle to replace the ones we?re retiring and ensure Eagle?s viability. We look forward to an earnest discussion with management about how best to proceed.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has this morning a landmark report which places the blame for climate change squarely at the feet of humankind.
Scripps research institute scientists discover important wound-healing processPublic release date: 26-Sep-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mika Ono mikaono@scripps.edu 858-784-2052 Scripps Research Institute
LA JOLLA, CA -- September 26, 2013 -- Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered an important process by which special immune cells in the skin help heal wounds. They found that these skin-resident immune cells function as "first responders" to skin injuries in part by producing the molecule known as interleukin-17A (IL-17A), which wards off infection and promotes wound healing.
"This appears to be a critical and unique component of mammals' defense against skin wounds, and we hope that it will point the way towards better therapies for people with difficulties in healing wounds," said TSRI Professor Wendy L. Havran.
Havran was senior author of the study, which was published this week online ahead of print by the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
More than Sentinels
Havran and other researchers have shown in recent years that special immune cells known as dendritic epidermal T cells (DETCs) are the only resident T cell population in the outer layer of skin (epidermis) of mice -- and are resident in human skin, too. These cells are now thought to serve as the immune system's principal sentinels in the skin -- when they detect damage signals from nearby wounded skin cells, they summon other, non-skin-resident immune cells to the site of the wound. Skin injuries in mice that have been bred to lack DETCs take much longer than normal to heal.
In the new study, Havran's laboratory looked for new ways in which DETCs contribute to wound healing.
In one set of experiments, Senior Research Associate Amanda S. MacLeod, the lead author of the study, and other members of the team tried to determine whether DETCs in mice produce IL-17A in response to skin wounding. IL-17A had been considered mainly a recruiter of other immune cells and thus a promoter of inflammation in most places in the body. Havran and her colleagues had found evidence that it appears in and around skin wounds in mice soon after an injury occurs.
The scientists soon determined that mice that lack IL-17A activity healed wounds on their skin much more slowly than normal -- very much like mice that lack DETCs. Applying IL-17A to the skin of such mice repaired their wound-healing defects. The team then showed that the rise in local IL-17A levels after a skin wound depended critically on the activation of skin-resident DETCs -- pointing to these DETCs as the likely source of the immune signaling molecule. In the mice that lack IL-17A, adding normal DETCs from other mice fully restored a healthy wound-healing capacity and did so only when the added DETCs contained the gene that allows these cells to produce IL-17A.
The scientists found that DETCs are indeed the primary producers of IL-17A after skin injuries, but she observed that some and not all DETCs perform this function. "Only a subset produces IL-17A upon skin injury, although the surface markers on these cells seem identical to those of other DETCs," MacLeod said. "Why only some DETCs respond to wounds in this way is something we plan to explore further."
In a last series of tests, the scientists observed that DETCs started pumping out IL-17A as soon as they detected damage signals from nearby skin cells, called keratinocytes. The surge in IL-17A levels didn't merely summon other immune cells into the skin. Even before those other immune cells arrived on the scene and inflammation set in, the IL-17A induced local keratinocytes to start making special proteins that are known to combat bacteria, viruses and other microbes -- and are also known to promote the crucial skin regrowth and remodeling that are needed to heal a wound.
"This 'cross-talk' between skin-resident T cells and nearby keratinocytes is critical for re-establishing the skin barrier following wounding," MacLeod said.
Next Steps
One of the next steps, Havran noted, will be to investigate whether a similar process occurs in human skin following wounds. "We've previously shown that skin-resident T cells normally contribute to wound healing in people, and that those same T cells are defective in some patients with chronic wounds," she said. "Chronic wounds are an increasing clinical problem, particularly in the elderly, the disabled and people with diabetes, and so we hope that our results, particularly the wound-healing role of IL-17A, will help lead to better ways of treating such conditions."
She notes, too, that IL-17A is often considered chiefly a pro-inflammatory factor, which some anti-inflammatory therapies are designed to suppress. "IL-17 inhibitors are now used in the treatment of the skin condition called psoriasis, which raises the possibility that those patients might become more susceptible to the development of chronic wounds," she said.
Havran, MacLeod and their colleagues also hope to learn further details of the molecular cross-talk between DETCs and keratinocytes, as well as the role of DETCs in protecting against other environmental threats, such as the ultraviolet radiation that causes sunburn and skin cancers. "We suspect that these skin-resident T cells also help protect keratinocytes from ultraviolet-induced DNA damage," MacLeod said.
###
Other contributors to the study, "Dendritic epidermal T cells regulate skin antimicrobial barrier function," were Saskia Hemmers, Olivia Garijo, Marianne Chabod, Kerri Mowen and Deborah A. Witherden, all of TSRI. For more information on the paper, see http://www.jci.org/articles/view/70064
The study was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (R01AI036964, R01AI067460 , R01A1099728 and 5T32AI007244), Deutsche Dermatologische Gesellschaft and Arbeitskreis Dermatologische Forschung.
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Scripps research institute scientists discover important wound-healing processPublic release date: 26-Sep-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mika Ono mikaono@scripps.edu 858-784-2052 Scripps Research Institute
LA JOLLA, CA -- September 26, 2013 -- Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered an important process by which special immune cells in the skin help heal wounds. They found that these skin-resident immune cells function as "first responders" to skin injuries in part by producing the molecule known as interleukin-17A (IL-17A), which wards off infection and promotes wound healing.
"This appears to be a critical and unique component of mammals' defense against skin wounds, and we hope that it will point the way towards better therapies for people with difficulties in healing wounds," said TSRI Professor Wendy L. Havran.
Havran was senior author of the study, which was published this week online ahead of print by the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
More than Sentinels
Havran and other researchers have shown in recent years that special immune cells known as dendritic epidermal T cells (DETCs) are the only resident T cell population in the outer layer of skin (epidermis) of mice -- and are resident in human skin, too. These cells are now thought to serve as the immune system's principal sentinels in the skin -- when they detect damage signals from nearby wounded skin cells, they summon other, non-skin-resident immune cells to the site of the wound. Skin injuries in mice that have been bred to lack DETCs take much longer than normal to heal.
In the new study, Havran's laboratory looked for new ways in which DETCs contribute to wound healing.
In one set of experiments, Senior Research Associate Amanda S. MacLeod, the lead author of the study, and other members of the team tried to determine whether DETCs in mice produce IL-17A in response to skin wounding. IL-17A had been considered mainly a recruiter of other immune cells and thus a promoter of inflammation in most places in the body. Havran and her colleagues had found evidence that it appears in and around skin wounds in mice soon after an injury occurs.
The scientists soon determined that mice that lack IL-17A activity healed wounds on their skin much more slowly than normal -- very much like mice that lack DETCs. Applying IL-17A to the skin of such mice repaired their wound-healing defects. The team then showed that the rise in local IL-17A levels after a skin wound depended critically on the activation of skin-resident DETCs -- pointing to these DETCs as the likely source of the immune signaling molecule. In the mice that lack IL-17A, adding normal DETCs from other mice fully restored a healthy wound-healing capacity and did so only when the added DETCs contained the gene that allows these cells to produce IL-17A.
The scientists found that DETCs are indeed the primary producers of IL-17A after skin injuries, but she observed that some and not all DETCs perform this function. "Only a subset produces IL-17A upon skin injury, although the surface markers on these cells seem identical to those of other DETCs," MacLeod said. "Why only some DETCs respond to wounds in this way is something we plan to explore further."
In a last series of tests, the scientists observed that DETCs started pumping out IL-17A as soon as they detected damage signals from nearby skin cells, called keratinocytes. The surge in IL-17A levels didn't merely summon other immune cells into the skin. Even before those other immune cells arrived on the scene and inflammation set in, the IL-17A induced local keratinocytes to start making special proteins that are known to combat bacteria, viruses and other microbes -- and are also known to promote the crucial skin regrowth and remodeling that are needed to heal a wound.
"This 'cross-talk' between skin-resident T cells and nearby keratinocytes is critical for re-establishing the skin barrier following wounding," MacLeod said.
Next Steps
One of the next steps, Havran noted, will be to investigate whether a similar process occurs in human skin following wounds. "We've previously shown that skin-resident T cells normally contribute to wound healing in people, and that those same T cells are defective in some patients with chronic wounds," she said. "Chronic wounds are an increasing clinical problem, particularly in the elderly, the disabled and people with diabetes, and so we hope that our results, particularly the wound-healing role of IL-17A, will help lead to better ways of treating such conditions."
She notes, too, that IL-17A is often considered chiefly a pro-inflammatory factor, which some anti-inflammatory therapies are designed to suppress. "IL-17 inhibitors are now used in the treatment of the skin condition called psoriasis, which raises the possibility that those patients might become more susceptible to the development of chronic wounds," she said.
Havran, MacLeod and their colleagues also hope to learn further details of the molecular cross-talk between DETCs and keratinocytes, as well as the role of DETCs in protecting against other environmental threats, such as the ultraviolet radiation that causes sunburn and skin cancers. "We suspect that these skin-resident T cells also help protect keratinocytes from ultraviolet-induced DNA damage," MacLeod said.
###
Other contributors to the study, "Dendritic epidermal T cells regulate skin antimicrobial barrier function," were Saskia Hemmers, Olivia Garijo, Marianne Chabod, Kerri Mowen and Deborah A. Witherden, all of TSRI. For more information on the paper, see http://www.jci.org/articles/view/70064
The study was funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (R01AI036964, R01AI067460 , R01A1099728 and 5T32AI007244), Deutsche Dermatologische Gesellschaft and Arbeitskreis Dermatologische Forschung.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The FBI has been using drones to support its law enforcement operations since 2006 and has spent more than $3 million on the unmanned aircraft, the Justice Department's internal watchdog said Thursday.
The disclosure came in a new report by the Justice Department's inspector general, Michael Horowitz, who revealed that the department also has awarded $1.26 million to at least seven local police departments and nonprofit organization for drones.
In addition, the IG said another Justice Department component, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, plans to use drones to support future operations. To date, the ATF has spent almost $600,000, the IG report stated.
From 2004 to May 2013, the Justice Department spent almost $5 million on the unmanned aircraft.
In June, then-FBI Director Robert Mueller told Congress that the FBI occasionally uses the unmanned aerial vehicles but was developing guidelines in anticipation of issues that will arise "as they become more omnipresent." In one instance earlier this year, the FBI used drones at night during a six-day hostage standoff in Alabama.
In a letter in July to Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the FBI revealed it had used drones 10 times since 2006 for surveillance in kidnappings, search and rescue missions, and drug and fugitive investigations. Among them was last winter's standoff between authorities and Jimmy Lee Dykes, who was shot to death after holding a 5-year-old boy hostage in an underground bunker in Alabama, the letter said.
The IG's report cited the Alabama case, but no others, saying only that a review of available records showed that the FBI appeared to be operating drones only after obtaining required approvals from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Civil liberties groups critical of domestic drone use say such operations could invade people's privacy. The government worries drones could collide with passenger planes or crash, concerns that have slowed more widespread adoption of the technology.
Paul, mentioned as a possible 2016 GOP presidential candidate, had been thwarting the Senate confirmation vote of Mueller's successor, James Comey, over his concerns about the FBI's domestic use of drones and had asked the FBI to address his concerns.
The FBI's letter to Paul also said that while the Supreme Court had not ruled on the use of drones, prior rulings on aerial surveillance held that court warrants were not needed because the areas monitored were open to public view and "there was no reasonable expectation of privacy."
The agency also wrote that a warrant would not be needed because drones don't physically trespass on private property.
The IG report, however, suggested that drones might present special challenges in the realm of civil liberties.
For example, said the IG report, drones have the "unique capability" to maneuver effectively yet covertly in the areas surrounding a home, where expectations of privacy are not clear or well-defined. In addition, said the IG, drones are capable of extended flight times of several hours or even days, which could have legal implications whether the tracking was performed on private or public property.
The IG recommended the formation of a Justice Department working group to determine whether drones require their own legal policy, distinct from those of manned aircraft. The deputy attorney general's office agreed with the recommendation.
Civilian versions of unmanned military aircraft that have tracked and killed terrorists in the Middle East and Asia are in demand by police departments and border patrol units. Justice Department officials told the IG's office that none of their drones were armed. Law enforcement agencies want drones for a bird's-eye view that's too impractical or dangerous for conventional planes or helicopters to obtain.
The drones purchased by the Justice Department are what the FAA calls "small UAVs," unmanned aerial vehicles that weigh up to 55 pounds.
The FBI has said its unmanned aerial vehicles are used only to conduct surveillance operations on stationary subjects. In each instance, the FBI first must obtain the approval of the FAA to use the aircraft in a very confined geographic area.
Two other Justice Department components, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the U.S. Marshals Service, have purchased drones for testing, but said they had no plans to deploy them operationally, the IG's report said. The Marshals service spent $75,000. The DEA acquired its drone from another federal agency at no cost, and said it planned to transfer the craft to another agency. The Marshals Service said it planned to destroy its drones because they were obsolete and no longer operable.
Regarding potential privacy concerns, both the FBI and ATF told the IG's office they did not believe there was any practical difference between how a drone collects evidence and how that's done by a manned aircraft, the report said.
The FBI told the IG that bureau guidelines require that agents get supervisor approval before conducting any aerial surveillance and comply with aviation laws and policies. As of May, the ATF said it was developing a checklist to guide how drone operators conduct flights.
"These officials did not believe that there was a need to develop additional privacy protocols" for drones, the IG's report said.
A senior policy analyst with the American Civil Liberties Union, Jay Stanley, said: "We urge the Justice Department to make good on its plans to develop privacy rules that protect Americans from another mass surveillance technology."
He added that Congress should pass legislation requiring law enforcement to get judicial approval before deploying drones, and explicitly forbid the arming of such machines.
Florida, Idaho and Tennessee require that law enforcement agencies obtain a search warrant before using drones for surveillance.
In April, Virginia enacted a two-year moratorium on drone use except in cases of imminent loss of life. Many other state legislatures and municipalities are considering similar measures.
In addition to the money spent by the FBI and ATF, the Justice Department has awarded $1.26 million for drones to at least seven local police departments and nonprofit organizations since 2007.
The Justice Department money was used by Eastern Kentucky University, the Sheriff's Association of Texas, the Center for Rural Development in Kentucky, the Gadsden, Ala., Police Department, the Miami-Dade Police Department, the North Little Rock, Ark., police department and the San Mateo County, Calif., Sheriff's Office.
Five of the seven grants were used to buy drones. The awards to Miami-Dade and San Mateo were provided solely to evaluate drones for use in the field.
The drones met with varying success. In 2009, the Gadsden Police Department attempted to use its drone for a surveillance mission. "However, Gadsden Police Department officials stated that during the mission the ground control station lost communication with the unmanned aircraft system, causing the UAV to collide with a tree."
The aerospace industry forecasts a worldwide deployment of almost 30,000 drones by 2018, with the United States accounting for half of them.
The top guys at American Eagle?s pilot union expressed the union?s ?profound disappointment? Friday that PSA Airline pilots had approved a concessionary contract.
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Public release date: 26-Sep-2013
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