0. On Thursday, April 27, 2006, the FCPS School Board will hold its regular
meeting meeting at 7:00 p.m. at Luther Jackson Middle School, 3020 Gallows
Road, Falls Church, VA. On the agenda for the meeting are two important
issues of which parents of children with disabilities should be aware. The
first is the acceptance of Strategic Target 10- Increasing the capacity for
schools to serve the needs of students with disabilities in their base
schools. Are we satisfied with a goal that provides for only 50% of
students in 80% of the schools to be served in their base school? Those
figures, if realized, would result in 60% of special ed students being
served in schools OTHER than their base school. The second agenda item of
concern involves a number of changes being made to the Student's Rights and
Responsibilities Handbook. The most disturbing of these is the plan to
eliminate the continuation of educational services to students with 504
plans when they have been suspended or expelled for any period of time. The
changes to the SR and R handbook were presented to the School Board at its
April 6th meeting, just prior to the April 7th student holiday leading to
Spring Break Week. The discussion and voting on critical policy measures
is not well publicized. These documents and more can be obtained from the
FCPS School Board site at
<http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/Public?OpenFrameSet>
http://www.boarddocs.com/vsba/fairfax/Board.nsf/Public?OpenFrameSet. Click
on the 4/27/06 Board Meeting Agenda on the left to reach individual
documents under new business.

1. This month's Montgomery County SEAC meeting topic will be "The Use of
Restraints and Seclusion". Duane Scott of the Maryland Disability Law
Center will be presenting information on the law and regulations pertaining
to the use of restraints and seclusion in Maryland. In addition, Sandi
Posner, Supervisor of the Emotional Disabilities division in the Dept. of
Special Education, will be present to provide information on the training
MCPS staff receive on restraints. This has in the past been a controversial
subject and we are looking forward to the discussion. The meeting will be
held in Room 223, Carver Building, 850 Hungerford Lane, Rockville, MD on
Thursday, April 27th. It will start at 7:00 p.m. with any public comments,
followed by the Directors' comments, and our main speakers. The meeting
will end at 9:00 p.m. Please let me know if you wish to present public
comments and bring at least 5 copies of your comments to the meeting.

2. The Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) Office of Special Education and
the Advisory Committee for Students with Disabilities are co-sponsoring a
conference for parents of students who receive special education services,
middle and high school students with disabilities, and staff and community
members. The second annual Special Education Conference: Linking Parents and
Schools will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. on Saturday, April 29,
at Marshall High School, 7731 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043 with
workshops, discussion forums, and information about FCPS' special education
services and community resources. Sessions will include discussions on
home-school communication, extended school year services, assistive
technology, behavior management, and social skills. Information will be
provided on elementary level resources, secondary curriculum, the Arc of
Northern Virginia, Special Olympics, and parent educational advocacy
training. To request accommodations or a foreign language interpreter,
contact the Parent Resource Center at 703-204-3941. For more information,
visit <http://www.fcps.edu/ss/SpecialEducationForum>
http://www.fcps.edu/ss/SpecialEducationForum or call 703-204-3941 for a
complete list of workshops being offered at the conference.

3. FCPS Workshop on The Transition to Middle School: Tips from Parents Who
Made it Work! Your child is moving to middle school; do you have questions
and concerns about how he or she is going to manage in a larger environment,
deal with locker combinations, and navigate the cafeteria? Are you confused
about choosing between team-taught classes and self-contained classes? Get
tips and advice from a panel of parents whose children have made the move
successfully! It is on Thursday, May 4, 2006 from 7:30 to 9:15 p.m. at Dunn
Loring Assembly Room, 2334 Gallows Road, Dunn Loring, VA. For more
information or to register, call the Parent Resource Center at 703-204-3941.
Email registration: tia.marsili@... <mailto:tia.marsili@...> .

4. TEACHING IN THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT (NET) FOR BEGINNER, INTERMEDIATE AND
ADVANCED LEARNERS Workshop. Teaching Skinner's operants of language
(receptive, mands, tacts, mimetics, echoics, and intraverbals) in the
child's natural setting, across several people and environments . This
training will review the pairing process necessary in starting to work with
your child in the NET. The training will also focus on the beginner,
intermediate and advanced learner in the NET. It is on FRIDAY, MAY 5th from
12:00-3:00 at ICAN of Washington, Inc., 5100 Acacia Avenue, Bethesda, MD
20814 for $65/person. PLEASE E-MAIL TO RESERVE A SPACE, AS SPACE IS
LIMITED. Contact <mailto:icanofwashington@...>
icanofwashington@... for more info.

5. On May 6th, the Howard County Autism Society is having a Visual and
Behavioral Interventions Workshop for children with Autism. The full-day
workshop features Dr. Robin Allen PhD, Behavior
Specialist with 25 years experience helping individuals with autism spectrum
disorders. It is on Saturday, May 6th, 2006 at 1st Presbyterian Church of
Howard County (Rt 29 and 108 east) from 9:00am-4:00pm. Fee is $50.00 (
Materials, Lunch and Snacks included). The Howard County Autism Society
will offer a subsidy to families who need it. Register online at
www.howard-autism.org click on the Visual and Behavioral Inventions with
Robin Allen Box. Dr. Allen will also have some great visual behavioral
support tools available to purchase, too!

6. 2006 National Capital Area Walk for Autism Research at Montgomery County
Fairground, Gaithersburg, MD. Please join us for the 5th Annual National
Capital Area Walk for Autism Research to support Autism Speaks in its
mission to aggressively fund biomedical research accelerating the discovery
of the causes, prevention, effective treatments and cure for autism spectrum
disorders and to educate the public on the critical role research plays in
achieving these goals. The Walk will take place, rain or shine, at the
Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Gaithersburg, MD. Join families and
friends for the fun day complete with entertainment, moon bounces,
face-painting, food, and an autism information exchange. Registration
starts at 1:00 on 7 May 2006, and the Walk steps out at 2:00 for a 2-mile,
stroller friendly course on paved walkways. There are many ways to support
us: join the Walk Planning Committee, become a Corporate Sponsor, donate
goods or services, form a Walk Team, volunteer to help on the day of the
event, and, best of all, register as a Walker to raise funds to support
Autism Speaks. Walker brochures and team-building material are now
available! Questions? Please email or call me. I am looking forward to a
great 5th year! For more info, contact Dale S. Glass, MS at 301-519-0770
or <mailto:dglass@...> dglass@..., or visit
http://www.autismwalk.org/site/Calendar/626181957?view=Detail
<http://www.autismwalk.org/site/Calendar/626181957?view=Detail&id=102781>
&id=102781.

7. The MD A.T. Co-op will be holding a free Open House from 1 to 5 pm on
Thursday, May 10th to enable you to review products with which you may not
be familiar. Representatives from Tool Factory and from AT KIdsystems (a
Maryland Company) will be on hand to demonstrate numerous products for
general and special students--with an emphasis on inclusive environments.
There will be time to explore on your own, so whether during school or after
school we'd love to see you! Please spread the invitation to parents as
well. In addition to their numerous award winning titles for mainstream
education, Tool Factory excels at software for Special Education, Early
Learning and Inclusion. If you are not aware of their high quality,
reasonably priced offerings, you owe it to yourself and your students to
attend the Maryland A.T. Co-op's Free Open House Wednesday, May 10, 2006
1:00pm to 5:00pm 7050 Oakland Mills Road, Suite 160, Columbia, MD 21046.
Come see several program demonstrated, then have additional hands-on time to
try others. Drop in during school or after school. The event is free, but
please send an email to communications@...
<mailto:communications@...> or 410-381-COOP so we can plan adequate
refreshments.

8. Parents Of Autistic Children of Northern Virginia (POAC-NoVA) workshop
on "Teaching Verbal Behavior in the Classroom" by Jamie Duncan, M.S., BCBA
at the Fairfax Education Association Building, 3917 Old Lee Highway,
Fairfax, VA 22030 on May 20th, 2006 from 9am-1pm. The suggested audience is
primarily school system personnel. Encourage your school or local special
education department to send your child's teacher, paraeducator, or other
education professional to learn the latest in ABA/VB. The cost is only $30.
Go to http://www.poac-nova.org/newsmanager/news_article.cgi?news_id=776
<http://www.poac-nova.org/newsmanager/news_article.cgi?news_id=776> for
more info.

9. TEACHING MANDING TO ALL LEARNERS Workshop. Teaching Manding
(requesting) to all learners (beginner, intermediate and advanced). This
training will focus on how to establish motivational operations (MO) in
order to get your child to request more frequently throughout the day. This
training is intended for parents, home instructors and teachers who are
interested in learning how to increase the manding repertoire with all
learners. It is on Thursday, June 1st from 2:00-4:00 at ICAN of Washington,
Inc., 5100 Acacia Avenue, Bethesda, MD 20814 for $45/person. PLEASE E-MAIL
TO RESERVE A SPACE, AS SPACE IS LIMITED. Contact
<mailto:icanofwashington@...> icanofwashington@... for more
info.

10. This is an excellent IEP tool for parents from TASH at
<http://www.nclid.unco.edu/HVoriginals/Advocacy/Popup/popup.html.>
http://www.nclid.unco.edu/HVoriginals/Advocacy/Popup/popup.html. It is a
pop chart of answers to common hurdles thrown at parents by school systems.
It shows the problem, a recommended answer and the legal basis of that
answer. Click on the boxes below to find responses you can use to common
"hurdle talk" - words and attitudes that keep the IEP meeting from being
successful - as you are advocating for your child's needs. Become empowered,
learn the laws and understand your rights to advocate for a communication
driven education for your child!

11. "Education Matters--A Special Case" dated 13 April 2006 by Ruth Baja
Williams from the Chronicle Newpapers at
http://www.chroniclenewspapers.com/articles/2006/04/13/chronicle/columns/col
07.txt
<http://www.chroniclenewspapers.com/articles/2006/04/13/chronicle/columns/co
l07.txt> .

"You're sitting in a fast-food restaurant. You are baffled when a little boy
runs by and steals the french fries from your tray. You are a teacher in a
school bus, trying to soothe the disconsolate piercing wails of a child
whose behavior seems to have no explanation. At a playground young mothers
cuddle then kiss away a boo-boo, but one mother's toddler doesn't want to be
touched, not even by his own mother. These are just three manifestations of
a complexity of neural impairments now generally labeled Autism Spectrum
Disability (ASD). The disability was first named by Dr. Leo Kanner of
Baltimore, MD, in 1943 and Dr. Hans Asperger of Vienna, Austria, in 1944. As
attitudes toward ASD have evolved, scientists, psychologists, and
professionals worldwide have been gathering data on the disorder. But
efforts to know more and to guarantee an education for their children have
mostly been spearheaded by parents of children with ASD, for it is these
parents whose hearts have been broken. Scott Campbell, president of Parents
of Autistic Children, (POAC) Northern Virginia says, "After a diagnosis of
autism, parents go through a grieving process. They grieve for the loss of a
future they had once imagined for their child. Some parents never reach the
final grieving stage of acceptance. Others rally their energies, join other
parents, educate themselves, or become advocates." ..."

12. "Sick babies prompt fears over 'new' TB vaccine safety" dated 16 April
2006 by Jan Battles from The Sunday Times (UK) at
<http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-2136412,00.html>
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2091-2136412,00.html.

"A new version of the BCG vaccine administered to newborns has led to
complications in dozens of Irish babies, prompting doctors to question its
suitability. Some of the infants needed surgery after severe reactions to
the new strain of the inoculation designed to combat tuberculosis (TB). The
vaccine was introduced in 2002 when the previous strain became less
effective at building immunity. Under the national immunisation programme,
the BCG - which contains live TB organisms - is usually given on the day a
baby is born. A booster is administered in the early teens if necessary.
While it is normal for babies to have mild reactions at the injection site,
these should clear up within 12 weeks. But doctors at Crumlin and Temple
Street, Dublin's two children's hospitals, undertook a study after three
infants were admitted in quick succession with complications soon after the
new strain was introduced. One was an otherwise healthy seven-week-old baby
girl who had "severe protracted complications" that required several
operations. As well as developing abscesses at the inoculation site, the
infants suffered secondary infections in their lymph nodes, mainly in their
armpits. The glands were becoming filled with pus. When drainage and
antibiotics proved to be ineffective, these had to be operated on. The
doctors notified the health department and the Irish Medicines Board (IMB)
of potential problems with the vaccine and began monitoring all cases of
BCG-related complications referred to either hospital. They found that
between August 2002, when the new vaccine was introduced, and July 2004, a
total of 58 babies were treated for severe reactions to the inoculation. Of
these, 26 required surgery, with three babies requiring more than one
procedure. The others were given antibiotics. ..."

13. "Top court hears fees debate- Final decision is awaited in education
case" dated 20 April 2006 by Erikah Haavie from the Poughkeepsie Journal at
http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060420/NEWS0
2/604200339
<http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060420/NEWS
02/604200339> .

"Attorneys for the Arlington school district and a LaGrangeville family
debated before the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday whether special education
law authorizes the awarding of expert fees to parents. The arguments - and
the questions from many of the justices - centered on what Congress intended
in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which requires states to
provide a free appropriate public education to children with disabilities.
A passage in the law says "the court, in its discretion, may award
reasonable attorneys' fees as part of the costs" to parents who prevail in
special education cases against school districts. Ted and Pearl Murphy had
sought $29,350 in reimbursement for services provided by advocate Marilyn
Arons as they worked for private school placement for their son, Joseph, now
22. Much of the debate before the justices focused on whether Congress
intended the awarding of expert fees as part of those "costs." Raymond
Kuntz, attorney for the Arlington district, said the statute's meaning is
plain. "Expert fees are not part of attorney's fees," he said. Referring
to expert fees, Kuntz said, "If it was that important, it should have been
there [in the law]." "Is there a dictionary to say costs don't include
that?" Justice Stephen Breyer asked. David Vladeck, attorney for the
Murphys and a law professor at Georgetown University Law Center, ar-gued a
directive by Congress to the General Accounting Office (now called the
Government Accountability Office) to study costs of the education law
proceedings included both attorneys and consultants. He also cited a House
conference report that said "conferees intend that the term 'attorneys' fees
as part of the costs' include reasonable expenses and fees of expert
witnesses." When asked by Justice Samuel Alito if costs would include
parents' lost wages or travel expenses, Vladeck said only costs incurred in
connection with a legal proceeding would be covered. David Salmons,
assistant for the Office of the Solicitor General, represented the U.S.
Department of Education in support of Arlington. He argued Congress was
concerned about the amount of litigation for school districts and decided
not to legislate on expert fees. The law requires parents to be notified
they can recover attorneys' fees, but it's silent on the subject of expert
fees, Salmons said. ..."

14. "Spring Fevers- Mumps makes a comeback in the Midwest" dated 21 April
2006 by Mary Carmichael from Newsweek at
<http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12425647/site/newsweek/>
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/12425647/site/newsweek/.

"A few weeks ago Ashley Ramirez was visiting a couple of close friends in
Omaha, Neb., who were hospitalized following a car accident when she started
running a fever and noticed a small lump on her neck. By the next day the
lump was "completely massive" and the University of Iowa student was a
patient in the hospital herself, hopped up on pain meds and waiting on a
diagnosis that baffled doctors couldn't give her. Still sick, she returned
to the University of Iowa and took to bed; when friends came by, they teased
her for trying to eke out a few words through her cheeks, now swollen like a
chipmunk's. By the time her doctors finally called her days later with test
results, hundreds of kids across the Midwest were suffering similar
symptoms, and Ramirez knew she was one of the unlucky ones. "They told me,
'you have the mumps,'" she says, "and I was like, 'Yeah, thanks, I kind of
figured that out.'" For the last three weeks, mumps, a virus many people
think of as an early-20th-century disease of children, has been moving
through Midwestern college towns like so many spring tornadoes. The largest
U.S. eruption of the disease in 20 years has sickened 1,165 people and
counting in eight states; seven other states are investigating whether they
may have caught the same strain. Although doctors said last week that some
recent cases in North Dakota and Michigan were not linked to the larger
Midwestern outbreak, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials
announced Thursday that the epidemic was indeed "unstable" and spreading,
and that they couldn't predict where it would show up next. It has already
made it as far west as Nebraska--assuming a possible case in California
turns out to be a false alarm--and as far east as Indiana. "It's a cascade
of transmission that's going to take a while to curtail and stop," says CDC
Director Julie Gerberding. "We are expecting more cases, definitely." ..."

15. "Blindfolded on a Balance Beam- Washington Mills Elementary students
simulate experience of autism" dated 21 April 2006 by John Teschner from the
Mount Vernon Gazette at
http://connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=64761
<http://connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=64761&paper=69&cat=104>
&paper=69&cat=104.

"Washington Mills sixth-graders were gathered around Arnold Karklis, who was
holding up a manila envelope. "We have a secret message," he told the
students. He explained how they should divide into pairs and play charades,
one student trying to communicate the message to the other through gestures.
But these messages were not book titles or catch phrases, they were the
casual messages that we use to get through our day, "I have a headache" or
"I'd like a piece of pizza," seemingly inconsequential, until you cannot
communicate them. Karklis was trying to help the elementary school students
understand what it is like to live with autism, the frustration that
accompanies living every day with an envelope stuffed with secret messages.
"Its confounding to have to live without language," said Karklis, the parent
of a six year old with autism, "A lot of elemental signs and gestures tend
to be missing from people who use language a lot... A lot of [the students]
even have trouble indicating themselves - or understanding when someone else
is." Karklis said his son does not speak much, but can name things and has
good receptive language. He sometimes comes home from school and spells out
the names of his classmates on the fridge. His son uses "instrumental
gestures." He would pull Karklis and his wife into another room "so we'd be
present when he was playing. That's all he wanted." The isolating tendencies
of autism can create insecurity that leads to a need for attention.
Fortunately, says Karklis, the children in his son's Kindergarten class are
"incredibly sweet and open to him... its touching how sweet they are." ..."

16. "'Best' Treatment for Autism Emerges- Experts: Help Comes from Simple
Behavioral Appproach, not Diets or Pills" dated 22 April 2006 by Roger
Sergel and Andrew Chang from ABC News Primetime at
<http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132380&page=1>
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/story?id=132380&page=1.

"Sophia Augier says she'll never forget what the father of an autistic child
told her shortly after her own three sons were diagnosed with the condition.
She had been desperately searching for a way to prevent her sons from
retreating from life, like so many others with autism - and he told her,
"Get busy." For Augier and her husband, Marc, that meant putting their sons
on an intense therapy called ABA, or applied behavior analysis. It's been
called controversial - but it's not new. In fact, an informal survey of
autism experts across the country shows that it is more widely practiced,
especially as the number of autism cases rises. The Centers for Disease
Control says one out of every 166 children now has an autism spectrum
disorder. ABA is a form of behavior modification which involves giving
children one simple command at a time, which is repeated to them hour after
hour, day after day, until they do it. Then they are rewarded with praise,
or a snack or a toy, until they can eventually do it on their own. "ABA is
one of the few approaches where there is strong empirical data demonstrating
effectiveness," said Cynthia R. Johnson, the director of the Autism Center
at the Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh. ..."

17. "Spellings to Examine 'No Child' Loophole" dated 22 April 2006 by BEN
FELLER and FRANK BASS from The Associated Press in The Washington Post at
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/21/AR200604210
0272.html>
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/21/AR2006042100
272.html.

"Education Secretary Margaret Spellings says her agency must do more to make
sure huge numbers of minority students are not excluded under the No Child
Left Behind law. But she rejects any state complaint that the law is hurting
school integration. Spellings' comments came in response to an Associated
Press analysis that found nearly 2 million students were not counted when
schools reported yearly progress by racial groups. "We ought to do more
about that," Spellings said in an interview Thursday at the conclusion of a
four-day AP series that highlighted the excluded scores. She declined to
specify exactly how she will address the problem, saying it will come up
during the law's renewal next year and during current federal reviews of
state education plans. "I'm going to pay very close attention to it," she
said of the racial exclusions. Spellings said the AP report amounted to a
"truth-in-advertising" exercise for state policymakers, parents and federal
officials. The AP found that about 1.9 million students _ or about 1 in
every 14 test scores _ aren't being counted under the law's racial
categories. Schools are allowed to exclude math and reading scores when a
racial group is too small to be statistically significant, and when privacy
of students could be jeopardized. But states have also been excluding scores
to reduce their chances of being labeled a failing school and facing federal
penalties, according to education experts who study the law. The federal
government approves the sizes of the racial groups that states set. ..."

18. "More in military vie for fewer services for special-needs children"
dated 25 April 2006 by SUSAN E. WHITE from The Virginian-Pilot at
<http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=103479&ran=10368>
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=103479&ran=10368.

"Terry and Stacy Derks never wanted to send their 12-year-old autistic
daughter to California. For than a year, Chelsea lived in Rosemont Forest
with her father, a Navy chief petty officer, and her stepmother. The
Derkses brought Chelsea to Virginia Beach with high hopes. Terry wanted time
with his daughter, who for years had been living with her mother in
California. The Derkses understood that Hampton Roads was a mecca for
military families who have children with special needs. They could easily
get Chelsea the medical assistance she needed, they thought. In the end,
though, they couldn't keep Chelsea here. There were too many families in
need vying for the same medical services. For nine months, the city had
paid for temporary in-home care. Three days a week, an aide helped Chelsea
with showering, dressing, eating and going to the bathroom. Chelsea also
struggled to communicate, and needed constant care - more than Stacy could
handle at the time. The aide gave Stacy a break so she could care for her
own preschool daughter. Then the city's payments stopped. There was no
government or insurance money to maintain the service and there were too
many other children in the city with more critical needs. Two weeks ago,
the Derkses sent Chelsea back to her mother in California, where services
are more readily available. They tearfully waved goodbye at the airport.
"It's been very, very hard," Stacy said. "It definitely wasn't the way we
saw things taking place. But we did the best that we could." The Derkses
are typical of military families that come to Hampton Roads expecting to
find help for their disabled children, only to wind up disappointed.
Hampton Roads is one of five preferred basing areas in the country for
families whose children have multiple or severe disabilities such as autism,
cerebral palsy, complex medical problems or complex educational
requirements. ..."

19. "Coffee being used to calm kids" dated 25 April 2006 by Jennifer Smith
from The Monitor at
http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Detail
s.cfm
<http://www.themonitor.com/SiteProcessor.cfm?Template=/GlobalTemplates/Detai
ls.cfm&StoryID=12766&Section=Local> &StoryID=12766&Section=Local.

"Forget the apple-a-day cliché. A daily cup of coffee or tea - even for kids
- could be just what the doctor ordered to treat attention deficit and
hyperactivity disorder. "I suggest drinking iced tea, black tea for
improving the effects of medications," said McAllen pediatric neurologist
Dr. Leonardo Garcia. "I prescribe it in very small amounts, specific
amounts for each child, and that's the same thing with medicines." But the
idea of using caffeinated products for youth to calm the disorder's symptoms
such as physical restlessness, poor concentration and impulsive behavior is
a controversial idea in medical circles. The limited studies available have
not definitively linked caffeine consumption to abetting or worsening the
disorder, so while some physicians suggest a latté, others warn against
prescribing a substance that can interfere with sleep. But there is no
denying with Starbucks percolating on street corners and green tea riding
the antioxidant frenzy, caffeine is the preferred beverage for many American
adults and youth. Still, several therapists and physicians remain
unconvinced caffeine and kids mix. "At one time, it was believed the coffee
would decrease the activity in the brain," said McAllen family physician Dr.
Benjamin Bujanda. "Now we have proved caffeine makes you hyper so it is not
indicated for people having these disorders." ..."

20. "NUTRITIONAL FRIEND OR FOE? VITAMIN E SENDS MIXED MESSAGES" from Ohio
State University at <http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/vite.htm>
http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/vite.htm.

"One of the most powerful antioxidants is truly a double-edged sword, say
researchers at Ohio State University who studied how two forms of vitamin E
act once they are inside animal cells. In the past couple of decades, a
slough of studies has looked at the benefits of vitamin E and other
antioxidants. While a considerable amount of this research touts the
advantages of consuming antioxidants, some of the studies have found that in
certain cases, antioxidants, including
<http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamine.asp> vitamin E, may actually
increase the potential for developing heart disease, cancer and a host of
other health problems. This study provides clues as to why this could
happen, say <http://medicine.osu.edu/mcbiochem/Faculty%20Pages/Ma.html>
Jiyan Ma, an assistant professor of
<http://medicine.osu.edu/mcbiochem/index.htm> molecular and cellular
biochemistry, and his colleague David Cornwell, an emeritus professor of
molecular and cellular biochemistry, both at Ohio State. The two men led a
study that compared how the two most common forms of vitamin E -- one is
found primarily in plants like corn and soybeans, while the other is found
in olive oil, almonds, sunflower seeds and mustard greens - affect the
health of animal cells. The main difference between the two forms is a
slight variation in their chemical structures. ..."


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