Miami Lakes Educational Center 5780 NW 158th St Miami Lakes, FL 33014 ONLINE EXCLUSIVE ONLINE EXCLUSICE The Sovereign Citizen 1 Million Kids Flee- Movement The Harbinger ing Syria By Nathalie Mairena Issue 2/Volume 14/October 2013 By Laura Gonzalez #syriaspeak | Harvest Fest Preview | A Splash of Color Blood Marker May Predict Suicide By Samantha Cardet scardet,[email protected] A recent August report indicates in the blood of these nine men changed that a substance in the blood may be along with their suicidal feelings, most responsible for putting people at risk of notable among which was a molecule suicide. made by the gene SAT1. The research, published in the In order to further study the cor- scientific journal Molecular Psychiatry, relation between suicidal thoughts and revealed that there is a notable genetic the SAT1 gene, the team then obtained difference between patients experienc- blood samples from a coroner’s office. ing high states of suicidal thinking and They found high levels of SAT1 activity those with low states of suicidal think- in the blood of nine different men who ing. had killed themselves. According to the Center for Dis- According to the study, “devel- ease Control, suicide is the 10th leading oping more quantitative and objective cause of death in the US and the 3rd ways for predicting and tracking suicid- leading cause of death among adoles- al states would have immediate practical cents. From 2008-2009, an estimated 2.2 applications and positive societal impli- million adults reported having suicidal cations.” thoughts in the past year. As of now, doctors rely on the The new report was based on a symptoms and feelings self-reported by series of four studies conducted over a patients to determine if they need help three-year period. During the studies, or attention. psychiatrists and researchers from the “Suicide is a big problem in psy- Indiana University School of Medi- chiatry…there are no objective markers. cine interviewed a large group of male There are people who will not reveal patients – all diagnosed with bipolar they are having suicidal thoughts when disorder – in order to give the patients you ask them, who then commit it and Equipment for markering DNA is in use at Barry University. Photo Taken By Ruth Reyes a score using the “Hamilton Rating there’s nothing you can do about it,” said Scale for Depression-17.” Blood was also Dr. Alexander Niculescu, associate pro- study refers to as “blood gene expres- University in Montreal said, “There are The researchers hope that these taken from the subjects during these fessor of psychiatry and medical neuro- sion biomarkers for suicidality,” doctors a lot of technical issues with this study. biomarkers will help save lives, but fur- visits. science at the Indiana University School would have an unambiguous indication There’s not a lot we can take from it at ther research is still to be done, accord- hroughout the course of the of Medicine and a lead researcher in the that a patient may be predisposed to this stage.” ing to Dr. Niculescu. “There could be studies, nine of the participants origi- studies. “We need better ways to iden- suicidal thoughts or behaviors. The results are still “amazingly gender differences. We would also like nally showed no suicidal tendencies and tify, intervene, and prevent these tragic The general response from out- strong for a small sample size,” psychia- to conduct more extensive, normative later exhibited many. The researchers cases.” side researchers has been one of caution. trist J. John Mann of Columbia Univer- studies in the population at large.” found that several biological molecules However, by identifying what the Neuroscientist Carl Ernst of McGill sity told ScienceNews. The Privatization of Prison Good Grades, Better Health By Elizabeth Martinez By Julissa Higgins [email protected] [email protected] The privatization of prisons has Doing well in school is impor- more of a likelihood they would be able become a large source of revenue for tant for obvious reasons, but recent to afford to pay for better living condi- major businesses. States signs contracts studies have found that doing well in tions later on. with private mega-corporations in the school could also be linked to leading a Studies had already been con- hopes that their spending will decrease happier life. ducted showing that longer times in and that they will instead save money. Is this a coincidence, or is there school led to, on average, better health Among these corporations are a much more solid explanation for what in old age, but this new study gives the Corrections Corp of America (CCA) seem to be two totally different subjects? further insight on the importance of and GEO Group, who have offered to Perhaps the reasoning behind this is that schooling and provides a direct correla- own and manage public prisons as long doing well in school can mean more op- tion between both things. as the prisons contain at least 1,000 beds portunities in life which in turn leads to “I think if you’re given a bet- and a 90% occupancy rate for the next long term health. ter education, you tend to make better 20 years. In this case, these two seemingly choices,” says Cindy Hernandez, 18. “Es- Although this “privatization of unrelated things seem to have some cor- sentially what the study is saying is that prisons” brings in big bucks for mega- relation. people who are well adjusted in child- corporations such as the GEO Group What is most fascinating about hood and learn to manage stress from and Cornell Company Incorporated, the these events- as found by a recent study school, live healthier lives. It makes situation has also been shown to cre- conducted in the University of Wiscon- sense; one thing leads to the other.” ate overcrowding because these deals sin- is that on average class rank has ma- It is no longer the case, especially cause petty criminals to be sentenced jor effects on the quality of life one leads in the United States, that societal elites to lengthy prison sentences in facilities many years later. are the only ones with the opportunity with minimum security. In this study, a group of more to advance. About 7% of the 1.5 million pris- ing for prisoners, they pay the company. mates because it’s cheaper than housing than 10,000 students were surveyed As history has changed drasti- oners in the United States are housed The company then spends the least them in Hawaii. throughout a period of time. Among cally, studying a profession can virtu- in private prisons, and this deal puts amount of money on each prisoner in It may be that states are compro- these, those whose class rank was ally guarantee one success on a relative pressure on the state to maintain high order to make a profit. mising security in order to save money. among the highest were found to be scale. These studies are perhaps the best occupancy rates and therefore to cre- For example, private contrac- These mega companies promise gentler much healthier as they aged. evidence for this thus far. ate harsher laws with punishments that tors are able to cut costs by building one prison facilities with minimum security The explanation found for this exceed the crime committed. state’s facilities in another. The Saguaro which has lead to the escape of prison- was that higher grades often meant bet- Instead of the state having to pay Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona is ers. In August 2010, three convicted ter professions as adults, and therefore for workers, security, and the cost of liv- run by CCA, and houses Hawaiian in- Con’t on page 2 NEWS PG A2 WORLD NEWS PG B4 FEATURES PG C6 OPINION PG D11 Does a Taser Update on Colombia SAT For Dummies Change in Inside this issue: By Alejandra Mendoza By Ruth Reyes mlecharbinger.wordpress.com Beat a Bullet? Lunch Schedule By Maria Sanchez By Jessica Plazas A2 News #SyriaSpeak Trends on Twitter Does a Taser By Flavia Cuervo Beat a Bullet? [email protected] In an age of global awareness Alberto Carvalho, has been saying for like Anthony Horta, a senior at North presence for the past two years. Using By Maria Sanchez and hashtag activism, a large part of some time. Miami Senior High School --and from Twitter, they reported on the Presiden- [email protected] civic involvement in journalism occurs “We have to meet students alumni across the country – like Javon tial Debates and Election; they later Tasers and stun guns have been on social networking sites. On Thurs- where they are,” Carvalho said, refer- Brown studying at the University of brought both to MLEC, hosting a Mock a controversial issue since police began day, September 5th, the staff of Miami ring to technology and social media. Chicago in Illinois. Long after stu- Debate and Election. their use in the 1970s. Some believe it Lakes Educational Center’s (MLEC) The The student-created hashtag became dents had finished their discussion, the Staff of the newspaper started is wrong to use them because there is Harbinger made the hashtag #Syria- a trending topic on Twitter for 15 hashtag continued to be used by people the conversation by asking questions such a high risk of causing death while Speak trend on Twitter throughout minutes and was 141st in the country, all across the country. like “Can we afford another war?” and others blame deaths on previous health an hour and a half long, student lead, receiving thousands of tweets from Ricardo Romero, student at “What happens if Congress votes no?” conditions.