Could Trip to Mars Cause Alzheimer's?

Space travel has always been portrayed as risky -- no air or water, extreme temperatures -- a place where even a small miscalculation can be fatal. It can also be hazardous to your brain health, particularly on a three-year-long mission to Mars, according to a study published this week in the scientific journal PLOS ONE.

The eight-year long study, conducted at the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory at Brookhaven National Laboratory on New York's Long Island, found that the cosmic radiation on such a mission could accelerate the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

NASA is working on sending astronauts to a passing asteroid in the 2020s, and talks of a trip to Mars in the 2030s. It would take three years, with current technology, to get there and back. Current spacecraft are not heavily shielded from the cosmic radiation crew members would encounter beyond Earth's protective magnetic field.

Researchers used mice that were genetically engineered to be predisposed to Alzheimer's disease. They exposed them to cosmic radiation that was simulated in the lab.

"Galactic cosmic radiation poses a significant threat to future astronauts," said Dr. M. Kerry O'Banion, senior author and professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

The study team wanted to see if radiation had the potential to accelerate Alzheimer's in those who were genetically vulnerable. Mouse models have been used extensively in this type of research and the rate at which they develop the disease is well understood.

Scientists have long worried about the potential dangers of working and living in deep space. Cosmic radiation beyond low Earth orbit, researchers say, could lead to cancer, cardiovascular disease, even cataracts.

Radiation exposure can cause acute effects such as nausea, vomiting, fatigue, skin injury and changes to white blood cell counts and the immune system, according to the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. Longer-term radiation effects include damage to the eyes, gastrointestinal system, lungs and central nervous system.

On Earth, humans are protected by the planet's atmosphere and magnetic field. Crew members on the International Space Station, at an altitude of 200 miles, are still within the magnetic sheath that surrounds us. The 24 Apollo astronauts who flew to the moon between 1969 and 1972 were not protected, but the longest missions lasted less than two weeks.

Once out of low orbit, astronauts are exposed to showers of different radioactive particles. Though engineers say they can protect themselves from the radiation associated with solar flares, so far, they cannot block other forms of cosmic radiation.

The longer astronauts are in deep space, the greater the exposure to this low-level radiation.

This is the first such study to explore effects of radiation on the nervous system, a phenomenon known as neurodegeneration, according to the authors.

"The possibility that radiation exposure in space may give rise to health problems such as cancer has long been recognized," said O'Banion. "However, this study shows for the first time that exposure to radiation levels equivalent to a mission to Mars could produce cognitive problems and speed up changes in the brain that are associated with Alzheimer's disease."

O'Banion has spent the last 20 years studying Alzheimer's disease.

He and his fellow researchers studied a form of radiation from so-called high-mass, high-charged particles, which come in various forms and fly through space at high speeds. Some come from distant stars that have exploded.

At Brookhaven, where a portion of the research was conducted, particle accelerators were able to recreate some of the radioactive particles found in space.

"It is extremely difficult from an engineering perspective to effectively shield against them," said O'Banion. "One would have to essentially wrap a spacecraft in a six-foot block of lead or concrete."

For the study, researchers used mice that had been engineered to have two human gene mutations associated with familial Alzheimer's.

"Essentially, they were healthy mice with nasty genes," said O'Banion. Under natural conditions, mice do not get the disease.

The mice were exposed to the radiation for several minutes. Six months later, researchers evaluated the exposure to see if it had any effect.

"A minute or two [of exposure] is like three years in human life," O'Banion said. "It's apples and oranges, a very different kind of exposure, but the total dose is equivalent to what an astronaut would receive [on a three-year Mars mission]."

Cosmic radiation is unlike anything on earth, according to O'Banion, similar only to what might be experienced in a nuclear accident.

"The big problem NASA faces is that shielding is not effective, and a spacecraft is not bulky enough to protect them over long periods of travel," said O'Banion. "At least not now. In scenarios I have heard of sending people to Mars, they would then build an underground shelter on a long-term mission in order to protect them from radiation."

While the research does not solve the problem of radiation in space or explain why humans develop Alzheimer's disease, it is important, according to O'Banion.

"My own bias is this," he said. "It's just another example of how the environment can influence diseases. The mice had a genetic predisposition and you have added an environmental injury -- an insult to their system. And now they show exacerbation of the disease."

There may even be parallels with the development of the disease after brain injuries in football players, he said.

Jeff Chancellor, a scientist in radiation physics at the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, said the Rochester team's study is solid.

"I know most of the authors and they are very well respected, and I have full confidence in their results," he said. . "The main benefit of their research is being able to further enhance the field and perhaps provide justification for more research."

"Any time you identify a mechanism for how a disease or a condition is induced, you further the ability to mitigate it," he said. "It provides more tools for the researchers and for M.D.s ... There are great benefits to all these studies."

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/could-trip-mars-cause-alzheimers-234906232--abc-news-health.html

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Cyborg cockroach obeys your tweets

22 hrs.

Devin Coldewey , NBC News

An artist outfitted a cockroach with a special high-tech backpack that allows its movements to be controlled ? by anyone. Anyone on Twitter, that is. For a period,?eager tweeters were able to direct the roach's behavior with nothing more than a few keystrokes.

The backpack is a modification of a RoboRoach kit, which you can buy for $100 from Backyard Brains. It essentially replaces the natural electrical?signals from the roach's antennae with signals provided by a circuit board. The user gives the cockroach the impression that?one of its antennae has been touched, so it moves in the opposite direction. (The "surgery" to implant it is interesting, but not for the squeamish.)

Brittany Ransom, an artist based in?Dallas, Texas, added a new feature: A Twitter account. During short, designated times, people can tweet at the?@TweetRoach?account?with a special hashtag that?sends a signal to the backpack, telling the cyber-roach to go in the direction indicated. In order to preserve the roach's insectile sanity, commands only come every 30 seconds, no matter how frequent the tweeting is.

But this isn't just?some form of?wanton cruelty directed at everyone's least favorite bug. The goal of the project is to explore whether the creature could learn to ignore the frequent and confusing instructions being sent by the backpack, and cease being controlled at all.

Ransom notes on the project page that more information about the project and her custom roach rig will be available soon.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBCNews Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/cyborg-cockroach-obeys-your-tweets-1C7786306

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Kids' Obesity A Global Threat | Your Health Journal

From Your Health Journal?..?The Toronto Sun has some amazing articles, including the one being reviewed here today about childhood obesity. Please visit The Sun?s site to read many great articles. This article discusses obesity in Canada, where according to the Childhood Obesity Foundation, 1.6 million Canadian children are considered overweight or obese. Reports have shown that obesity has overtaken hunger as a larger global threat. Data from reports have also shown the last 20 years showed a worldwide 82% increase in obesity ? meaning an increase in diseases such as early type 2 diabetes, heart and circulatory disease. Not only does this data apply to Canada, but worldwide. Please visit The Sun?s web site (listed below) to read the complete article.?

From the article?..

Are your kids too chubby? According to the Childhood Obesity Foundation, 1.6 million Canadian children are considered overweight or obese. And we are not alone. A recent report, called the Global Burden of Disease, indicated that obesity has overtaken hunger around the world as the biggest threat to global health. So now that the holiday cookies have all been eaten, it?s time to get kids on track nutritionally.

The above-mentioned report which compared data from the last 20 years showed a worldwide 82 % increase in obesity ? meaning an increase in diseases such as early type 2 diabetes, heart and circulatory disease as well as other ailments caused by carrying too much weight.

The good news is that obesity can be prevented, says Dr. Jonathan Maguire, a pediatrician at St. Michael?s Hospital in Toronto, who is involved in a massive research study called TARGet Kids! The program (a collaborative effort between his hospital, Toronto?s Hospital for Sick Children, and various participating children?s clinics) follows children from birth with the aim of understanding and preventing common problems that can impact their health later on.

?We know that children who are obese are likely to be adolescents who are obese and adults who are obese. We know that obesity can be prevented, but we don?t know much about how to do that,? says Dr. Maguire, adding that diets just don?t work. ?If we can understand why one child becomes obese and another child does not, maybe we can develop tools and interventions to keep kids from being obese before it starts.?

Already, 5,500 Canadian children are involved in the program (check it out at www.targetkids.ca) which is studying not only obesity but also iron deficiency, and the impact of vitamin D on colds and asthma in kids. Early results on the study?s obesity arm have already shown that screen time is associated with the development of obesity in kids: Limiting TV and computer time is a step that parents can take to help their kids, Dr. Maguire says.

To read the full article?..Click here

Source: http://www.lensaunders.com/wp/?p=11107

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Survivors of fatal Ore. bus crash say some ejected

A piece of heavy equipment strains to move a bus which plummeted 200 feet down an embankment in rural Eastern Oregon Sunday, killing nine and sending multiple to hospitals, Monday, Dec. 31, 2012. Survivors of the bus crash said Monday some passengers were thrown from the tour bus through broken windows after the vehicle skidded out of control, smashed through a guardrail and went down. (AP Photo/The Oregonian, Randy L. Rasmussen)

A piece of heavy equipment strains to move a bus which plummeted 200 feet down an embankment in rural Eastern Oregon Sunday, killing nine and sending multiple to hospitals, Monday, Dec. 31, 2012. Survivors of the bus crash said Monday some passengers were thrown from the tour bus through broken windows after the vehicle skidded out of control, smashed through a guardrail and went down. (AP Photo/The Oregonian, Randy L. Rasmussen)

Workmen move the bus which plummeted 200 feet down an embankment in rural Eastern Oregon Sunday, killing nine and sending multiple to hospitals, Monday, Dec. 31, 2012. Survivors of the bus crash said Monday some passengers were thrown from the tour bus through broken windows after the vehicle skidded out of control, smashed through a guardrail and went down. (AP Photo/The Oregonian, Randy L. Rasmussen)

Emergency personnel respond to the scene of a multiple-fatality accident after a tour bus careened through a guardrail along an icy highway and fell several hundred feet down a steep embankment, authorities said, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 about 15 miles east of Pendleton, Ore. The charter bus carrying about 40 people lost control around 10:30 a.m. on the snow- and ice-covered lanes of Interstate 84, according to the Oregon State Police. (AP Photo/East Oregonian, Tim Trainor)

Jaemin Seo, 23, a Korean student from Vancouver, B.C., speaks Monday Dec. 31, 2012, in Pendleton, Ore., about waking up to people screaming and then being thrown from a bus that crashed in rural Eastern Oregon, Sunday. The crash killed nine and sent multiple people, including Seo, to hospitals. He was injured in his arm and leg. (AP Photo/The Oregonian, Randy L. Rasmussen)

Map locates Vancouver-bound tour bus that crashed in Oregon, killing nine people.

PENDLETON, Ore. (AP) ? Survivors of a bus crash that killed nine people on a partly icy section of interstate in rural Eastern Oregon said Monday some passengers were thrown from the vehicle through broken windows after it skidded out of control, smashed through a guardrail and plummeted 200 feet down an embankment.

When the tour bus came to a rest, terrified passengers looked around for their loved ones.

"Some mothers screamed to find their son or daughter," said Jaemin Seo, a 23-year-old exchange student from Suwon, South Korea.

The charter bus, owned by a British Columbia company, crashed Sunday just east of Pendleton while returning to Canada from Las Vegas ? one of the stops on a nine-day western tour.

Aboard were 48 people, some of them exchange students from South Korea. Some passengers were from British Columbia, and some from Washington state. Investigators say there also may have been a Japanese passenger and one from Taiwan, and they're working with consular officials from those nations to identify them.

The survivors, who range in age from 7 to 74, were sent to 10 hospitals in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. At least 10 were released Monday, police said.

Authorities said Monday it could be a month or more before investigators and prosecutors decide whether to file any charges against the bus driver, a 54-year-old Vancouver, B.C., man who was among the injured. He has spoken with investigators, Lt. Gregg Hastings said.

The bus was traveling westbound in the left lane of Interstate 84 when it hit a concrete barrier, veered across both westbound lanes and plunged through the guardrail and down the embankment, Hastings said. Police haven't determined how fast the bus was going when it struck the center barrier.

The crash occurred near a spot on the interstate called Deadman Pass, at the top of a steep, seven-mile descent from the Blue Mountains. That section of road is so notorious that state transportation officials published a warning for truck drivers saying it has "some of the most changeable and severe weather conditions in the Northwest."

Still, Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman Tom Strandberg said that while there were icy spots where the crash occurred, it was nothing unusual for this time of year.

He said a sanding truck had applied sand a few hours earlier and was behind the bus making another run when the crash occurred. The sand truck driver was among the first at the scene.

The highway has been shut down several times this winter, mostly due to crashed trucks blocking the roadway, Strandberg said. A decision to close the road or require chains is made by the local maintenance crew, he said.

Seo said he was awakened by screaming and was ejected from a broken window as the bus careened down the hill. Seo had a broken ankle, a gash in his arm that required stitches and shallow scratches across his face. He is an exchange student from South Korea studying in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Berlyn Sanderson, 22, of Surrey, British Columbia, said she also was thrown from the bus.

"It's kind of like one of those dreams you have of the world ending," Sanderson told reporters.

Rescuers faced the challenge of bringing survivors 200 feet up a steep cliff, Pendleton Fire Chief Gary Woodson said. They descended the hill and used ropes to help retrieve people from the wreckage in freezing weather.

Some survivors were carried on backboards by six or eight rescuers. Others were hoisted in baskets, and an all-terrain vehicle arrived toward the end of the operation, Woodson said.

Officials said 39 people were taken to hospitals, and 10 of them had been treated and released.

The National Transportation Safety Board said two investigators were expected to arrive at the crash site Monday. They will look into why the bus left the road, the condition of the road at the time, the condition of the guardrail, the actions of the driver, and the operations of the company that owns the bus, the agency said.

The Oregonian newspaper quoted one survivor, 25-year-old Yoo Byung Woo, as saying he and some other passengers thought the driver was "going too fast."

"I worried about the bus," Yoo said, adding it was snowing and foggy at the time. He said one rider was frightened and asked if they could take another route. Some passengers were dozing when the driver slammed on the brakes.

Yoo said rocks smashed through windows after the bus crashed through the guard rail and rolled down. The NTSB said the bus rolled at least once.

Umatilla County Emergency Manager Jack Remillard said the bus was owned by Mi Joo Tour & Travel in Vancouver, B.C.

A bus safety website run by the U.S. Department of Transportation said Mi Joo has six buses, none of which have been involved in any accidents in at least the past two years.

A spokesman for the NTSB, Peter Knudson, said seatbelts aren't required on such buses. "We have been concerned about this for some time," Knudson said.

The local Red Cross shelter has been offering food, clothing and hotel arrangements for survivors as they are released from the hospital. Passengers' relatives also have gone to the shelter, seeking information about their loved ones.

Jake Contor, a Pendleton resident who speaks Korean and helped translate for the Red Cross, said he had spoken with several of the survivors.

"The stories have been fairly consistent: braking, swerving, sliding on the ice, hitting the guardrail, then sliding down the embankment," Contor said.

He said the victims told him the bus left Boise, Idaho, on Sunday morning and was supposed to arrive in Vancouver that night. The survivors who spoke to Contor were seated at the back of the bus and said it appeared that the front and center of the coach sustained the most damage.

The interstate links Boise and Portland through the Blue Mountains and the Columbia Gorge.

___

Online:

http://www.oregon.gov/OSP

___

AP correspondent Jeff Barnard in Grants Pass, Ore., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-31-Tour%20Bus%20Crash/id-3f460e49152e48b7b07d4d4eb02173c9

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Egypt prosecutors investigate popular TV comedian

In this Saturday Dec. 8, 2012 photo, Egyptian TV host Bassem Youssef addresses attendants at a gala dinner party in Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian prosecutors launched an investigation on Tuesday against Youssef a popular television satirist for allegedly insulting the president in the latest case raised by Islamist lawyers against outspoken media personalities. The case against Youssef comes as opposition media and independent journalists are growing increasingly worried about press freedoms under a new constitution widely supported by Morsi and his Islamist allies. (AP Photo/Ahmed Omar)

In this Saturday Dec. 8, 2012 photo, Egyptian TV host Bassem Youssef addresses attendants at a gala dinner party in Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian prosecutors launched an investigation on Tuesday against Youssef a popular television satirist for allegedly insulting the president in the latest case raised by Islamist lawyers against outspoken media personalities. The case against Youssef comes as opposition media and independent journalists are growing increasingly worried about press freedoms under a new constitution widely supported by Morsi and his Islamist allies. (AP Photo/Ahmed Omar)

CAIRO (AP) ? Egyptian prosecutors launched an investigation on Tuesday against a popular television satirist for allegedly insulting the president in the latest case raised by Islamist lawyers against outspoken media personalities.

Lawyer Ramadan Abdel-Hamid al-Oqsori charged that TV host Bassem Youssef insulted President Mohammed Morsi by putting the Islamist leader's image on a pillow and parodying his speeches.

The case against Youssef comes as opposition media and independent journalists are growing increasingly worried about press freedoms under a new constitution widely supported by Morsi and his Islamist allies.

Other cases have been brought against media personalities who have criticized the president. Some of the cases have ended with charges being dropped. Morsi's office maintains that the president has nothing to do with legal procedures against media critics.

On Tuesday, the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, one of Egypt's most widely circulated newspapers, said Morsi's office filed a complaint accusing it of "circulating false news likely to disturb public peace and public security and affect the administration."

The paper had published a report earlier this week attributed to sources saying that Morsi was due to visit the hospital where ousted President Hosni Mubarak is receiving treatment after being injured in his prison cell. Mubarak is serving a life sentence for failing to stop the killing of nearly 900 protesters during the uprising against him.

A visit by Morsi would have enflamed public anger. The paper later updated the story to say that Morsi's wife had only visited a relative in that hospital.

The paper said a reporter and an editor were summoned for interrogation.

A local committee of journalists and editors has called for stronger guarantees of press freedoms and a rejection of the current constitution, fearing it allows for jailing journalists under broadly-worded articles regarding media offenses.

Authorities ordered the closure of TV station "Al-Fareen" last summer after bringing its owner, Tawfiq Okasha, to trial for scathing attacks against Morsi and his Brotherhood group. Okasha had emerged as one of the most popular TV personalities of post-Mubarak Egypt by railing against the uprising that toppled Mubarak's 29-year rule in February 2011.

Another prominent case was directed at the editor of a prominent opposition newspaper, al-Dustour, who has since stepped down. He went on trial briefly for "spreading lies" and fabricating news.

Youssef, a doctor, catapulted to fame when his video blogs mocking politics received hundreds of thousands of hits shortly after the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime leader Mubarak.

Youssef's program is modeled after Jon Stewart's "The Daily Show," where he has appeared as a guest.

Unlike other local TV presenters, Youssef uses satire to mock fiery comments made by ultraconservative clerics and politicians, garnering him a legion of fans among the country's revolutionaries and liberals.

Among his most popular clips are the ones where he pokes fun at the president's speeches and decisions.

While holding a red, furry pillow with Morsi's picture on it, Youssef satirizes Morsi's style of speech.

"He tells us things we never knew," he says, before wordy clips of Morsi going into detail about the day of the week and other basic facts.

"It's October 6! Tell us when it's Christmas!" Youssef shouts to the camera as the audience erupts in laughter and applause.

Youssef, 38, is one of Egypt's most popular TV presenters with 1.4 million fans on Facebook and nearly 850,000 followers on Twitter, just shy of the president's number of followers.

Also Tuesday, police said they arrested a suspect in a shooting that seriously wounded a protester in Cairo's central Tahrir Square, where an open-ended sit-in protesting the Morsi regime is taking place.

According to witnesses, before dawn on Monday, gunmen shot and wounded 19-year-old Muhanad Samir, who has said he was jailed and tortured under Egypt's former ruling military council after he witnessed the killing of another activist. Lawyers say the attacked appeared to target Samir, who is battling for his life with pellets embedded in his head.

Security officials dismiss allegations Samir was the victim of a political assassination. On Tuesday, they said they arrested the owner of a cafe in downtown Cairo who told police that he fired on the square after people manning makeshift checkpoints there searched his car and shot at him. The officials spoke anonymously in line with regulations.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-01-Egypt/id-35ddb3c187e84bdaa091c88d4958d669

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ACS using volunteer 'champions' to recruit ... - MedCity News

In 1959, Elmo Ligon of Eastern North Carolina was diagnosed with leukemia and agreed to enroll in a research study at Duke Hospital that was testing the effectiveness of a new drug called Cytoxan.

The drug worked, and Ligon lived for 16 more years, until 1975, when he died at age 57.

Thirty years later, in April 2005, Ligon's granddaughter, Cheryl Burgess, was diagnosed with breast cancer. And she learned a surprising thing:

"The drug he took in the clinical study ended up being one of the drugs that I took for my breast cancer treatment," said Burgess, now 46, of Lincolnton. "You just never know how what you do is going to benefit somebody else."

That's what medical research is all about.

Patients who may not even be helped themselves volunteer for studies that might help others in the future.

Cheryl, grateful for her grandfather's decision, is now a volunteer "community champion" for a long-term research project sponsored by the American Cancer Society.

It's a national study that aims to enroll 300,000 people nationwide to help understand factors, such as lifestyle, environment and genetics, that could cause or prevent cancer.

Enrollment began in 2006 through the cancer society's Relay For Life events across the country. Last year, recruiting expanded to other sites, such as hospitals and churches.

Recruiters are coming to the Charlotte area in March, hoping to enroll 1,200 people at nine locations over four days.

Participants must be between the ages of 30 and 65 and never have had cancer. They will be asked to complete a survey and give a blood sample. Then for 20 to 30 years, they'll be asked to fill out a survey every two or three years. The blood will be stored so that, if participants develop cancer later, it can be analyzed for markers that might give clues about cause or prevention.

"We have made great strides in treating cancer, but we still don't know how to prevent it," said Denise Goodwin-Hockaday, a director with the cancer society's South Atlantic Division, based in Charlotte.

"Imagine what could come out of this study?...Wouldn't it be wonderful if we talked about cancer the way we talk about polio? Children would say: 'Ma, what's that?' "

So far, the study has enrolled 185,000 people, and enrollment will close at the end of 2013.

Research will focus on environmental factors.

"Society has become more obese," Goodwin-Hockaday said. "....We live close to power lines. Everyone has cellphones to our ears. And we're all sitting at work...We're eating processed food."

Before enrollment begins in the Charlotte area, the cancer society plans to sign up 240 volunteer "champions," who like Burgess, will personally recruit others to participate.

Champions could be cancer survivors who want to give back to the community, said Kari Dahlstrom, a cancer society spokesperson.

"It's a great way for them to do something meaningful that doesn't take a lot of time."

Garloch: 704-358-5078 ___

[Image from flickr user Jim Wienecke] Copyright 2012 MedCity News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://medcitynews.com/2012/12/acs-using-volunteer-champions-to-recruit-participants-for-environmental-study-of-cancer/

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Biden May Be the Most Influential Vice President Ever

Barack Obama just can?t get enough out of Joe Biden these days. And anybody who?s been following Biden?s steady ascent in stature over the last several years -- from gaffe-happy presidential contender to one of the most powerful vice presidents in U.S. history? -- couldn?t be less surprised.

Perhaps the only surprise at all is that, in contrast to a year ago,? it took Biden quite this long to become the president?s point man on the latest round of fiscal talks. The exact reason for the delay is not clear. Perhaps it is that, only a week and a half ago, Obama had called on his vice president to lead a commission to expedite recommendations on a truly serious national issue, gun violence (as opposed to the present trumped-up issue, fiscal reform, which requires only the smidgeon of political courage necessary to depart from? ideological rigidities). Maybe Obama wanted to keep his veep?s powder dry for that.

Or maybe it is just that, in the awkward pattern of political dance partnerships that have emerged over the last couple of years, whenever Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner fail to execute ? as they did after the ?Plan B? debacle -- it?s Biden and his old Senate colleague, Mitch McConnell, who step into the spotlight. The Biden-McConnell duo didn?t cut it during last year?s cliffhanger over the debt limit, of course. But in a sign of just how important a figure the vice president has become in Washington, Biden?s absence until now has been one reason that Republicans doubted Obama?s seriousness about cutting a deal, my colleague Chris Frates reported last week.

As the inevitable brinksmanship plays out, it?s useful to step back and look at just how central a role Biden has played throughout Obama?s presidency.

Over the past four years Biden has insinuated himself into the White House, while seeming hardly to try, in a way that no other vice president in memory has done. He and Obama, both consummate pragmatists though they tend to be liberal in outlook, have achieved something close to a mind meld across a whole range of issues, including foreign policy, the economy, and political strategy. Biden said it outright in his speech during the presidential campaign: ?I literally get to be the last guy in the room with the president. That?s our arrangement.? That?s no small thing in a town where power is often measured in minutes of presidential face time.

It wasn?t long ago that Biden?s predecessor, Dick Cheney, was seen as the gold -- some might say sulfurous -- standard in vice presidential power. Biden himself, ironically enough, once described Cheney as ?probably the most dangerous vice president we?ve had? because of what many observers saw as Cheney?s undue influence over George W. Bush.?

But in terms of the sheer number of issues Biden has influenced in a short time, the current vice president is bidding to surpass even Cheney. Fiscal issues and guns are only a small sampling of this vice president?s portfolio. Back in 2010 it was Biden?s office that, in the main, orchestrated the handover to the Iraqis. It is Biden?s view of Afghanistan that has, bit by bit, come to dominate thinking inside the 2014 withdrawal plan. On financial reform it was Biden who prodded an indecisive Obama to embrace, at long last, Paul Volcker?s idea of barring banks from risky trading, according to Austan Goolsbee, formerly the head of Obama?s Council of Economic Advisers. The VP also tilted the discussion in favor of a bailout of the Big Three auto companies, according to Jared Bernstein, Biden?s former economic adviser. ?I think he made a difference in president?s thinking," Bernstein said. "He understood the importance of the auto companies to their communities, and throughout the country.?

In an interview in the fall of 2010, Biden could hardly contain his enthusiasm for his partnership with Obama. The phrase ?Barack and I ? ? fell from his lips naturally, with no hint of diffidence. He told me then that to his continuing surprise Obama has continued to ?turn over big chunks? of policy to him to handle, whether it?s Iraq, middle-class issues, overseeing the recovery act.? At an early meeting, ?all of sudden Obama stopped. He said, ?Joe will do Iraq. Joe knows more about Iraq than anyone.?. The [Economic] Recovery Act, he just handed it over? to Biden, according to a senior administration official who attended the meetings and would talk about internal discussions only on condition of anonymity.

All of this power makes for quite an irony. Until his ascent to veep, Joe Biden was largely known as an amiable guy with a brilliant smile and a rather big mouth in which he frequently inserted his foot. And it?s not as if anyone could have expected that he?d be much more impressive as vice president. The vice presidency is a job that has tried to be taken seriously throughout U.S. history?and usually failed. John Adams, the nation?s first vice president, bitterly derided his job as ?the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived.?? Like Adams, it was often men who had tasted real power who had the most disdain for the job. John Nance Garner, a former House speaker and FDR?s equally slighted No. 2, declared the job wasn?t ?worth a bucket of warm spit? (it?s believed he used an even saltier term). In modern times the vice presidency began to grow in stature, especially as the hair-trigger calculus of the Cold War required presidents to keep their putative replacements informed. But the job remained for the most part a funeral-attending, snooze-inducing post, barren of almost all constitutional duties.

The previous two vice presidents, Cheney and his predecessor, Al Gore, significantly changed that power dynamic. But on Biden?s watch the ?OVP??Office of the Vice President-- has become something even more: almost a conjoined twin to the presidency, organically linked and indivisible from the Oval Office. Cheney succeeded for a time by creating a kind of shadow presidency, yet there?s nothing shadowy about Biden. Indeed Biden remains, in many respects, the anti-Cheney.

Yet in two critical respects the Delaware Democrat?and the Wyoming Republican do resemble each other. Both are known to be confident in pushing their views, and both became masters of the Washington insider game. Whereas John Adams was not invited to participate in meetings of George Washington?s Cabinet, Biden handles so many issues that when, say, the national security team leaves the Oval Office, he is often left alone chatting with Obama because he needs to be part of the discussion when the economic team arrives to brief the president. He will also often sit down with Obama in the residence before an important National Security Council meeting.?

Now, if Barack Obama does leave a lasting legacy on gun violence that comes out of the terrible tragedy in Newtown, Conn., Biden will be a big part of it. And if anything like an agreement is reached on fiscal issues, Biden is likely to be part of? that as well. His long Senate tenure, and the many relationships he developed across the aisle, are once again proving crucial.? As I reported in the fall of 2010, shortly before the looming congressional election that gave the Republicans?and the Tea Party?the House, no one has more experience working with the other party, reaching across the aisle, and that talent may be critical to just keeping the government going in the coming months. ?He can sit down in foreign policy or other issues and find a common interest and drive the ideas forward. Look at what he did with Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond? in passing the chemical weapons treaty and crime bills, respectively, in the ?90s, his former chief of staff (and later successor), Ted Kaufman, noted back then. ?I mean, Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond! You don?t get more conservative than that.?

Actually, you do, as the current breed of Republicans has demonstrated in this era. But if anyone can talk to Mitch McConnell, it?s Joe Biden. Whose stock is still rising steadily.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/biden-may-most-influential-vice-president-ever-133153208--politics.html

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