White Stone ARCPEN ? Handmade luxury stylus

The White Stone ARCPEN is a handmade solid wood stylus for capacitive touch screens. It has a luxury high-end look and is available in 3 finishes including Bubinga, Maple Cherry and Maple White with an?ergonomic chrome plated grip and a silicone tip. Included with the stylus is a?leather case that will protect it when it [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/02/27/125721/

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Comet just might hit Mars in 2014

Chris Smith / NASA file

An artist's conception shows a comet streaking through Martian skies.

By Nancy Atkinson
Universe Today

There is an outside chance that a newly discovered comet might be on a collision course with Mars. Astronomers are still determining the trajectory of the comet, named C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring), but at the very least, it is going to come fairly close to the Red Planet in October of 2014.

"Even if it doesn?t impact, it will look pretty good from Earth, and spectacular from Mars, probably a magnitude -4 comet as seen from Mars' surface,"?Australian amateur astronomer Ian Musgrave wrote.

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The comet was discovered in the beginning of 2013 by comet-hunter Robert McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia. According to a?discussion on the IceInSpace amateur astronomy forum,?when the discovery was initially made, astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey in Arizona looked back over their observations to find "pre-recovery" images of the comet dating back to Dec. 8, 2012. These observations placed the orbital trajectory of comet C/2013 A1 right through Mars orbit on Oct. 19, 2014.

However, after 74 days of observations,?comet specialist Leonid Elenin?notes that current calculations put the closest approach of the comet at a distance of 67,853 miles (109,200 kilometers), or 0.00073 AU from Mars in October 2014. That close pass has many wondering if any of the Mars orbiters might be able to acquire high-resolution images of the comet as it passes by.

But as?Ian O?Neill from Discovery Space?points out, since the comet has only been observed for 74 days (so far), so it?s difficult for astronomers to forecast precisely where the comet will be 20 months from now. "Comet C/2013 A1 may fly past at a very safe distance of 0.008 AU (650,000 miles)," O'Neill wrote, "but to the other extreme, its orbital pass could put Mars directly in its path. At time of Mars close approach (or impact), the comet will be barreling along at a breakneck speed of 35 miles per second (126,000 miles per hour)."

Elenin said that since C/2013 A1 is a hyperbolic comet and moves in a retrograde orbit, its velocity with respect to the planet will be very high, approximately 56 kilometers per second (126,000 mph). "With the current estimate of the absolute magnitude of the nucleus M2 = 10.3, which might indicate the diameter up to 50 kilometers [30 miles], the energy of impact might reach the equivalent of staggering 2?10^10 megatons!"

While the massive Comet Shoemaker?Levy 9 (9.3 miles or 15 kilometers in diameter) that crashed into Jupiter in 1994 was spectacular as seen from Earth orbit by the Hubble Space Telescope, the sight of C/2013 A1 slamming into Mars would be off the charts.

Astronomers are certainly keeping an eye on this comet, and they will refine their measurements as more data comes in. You can see the orbital parameters available so far at?JPL?s Solar System Dynamics website.

More about comets:

This report originally appeared on the Universe Today website as "Is a Comet on a Collision Course With Mars?" Copyright 2013 Universe Today. Reprinted with permission.

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/26/17107085-comet-just-might-hit-mars-in-2014?lite

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Strong Links to a Healthy Life All Around Us

When you come to an intersection, you probably walk when the light is green or the signal icon tells you it's OK to cross. You do not need a multi-year research study to tell you how to proceed. Not so with science-based behaviors. Here, we would need to study years of people walking across the street, controlling for ambient light, traffic density and patterns, weather conditions, color patterns in pedestrian clothing, eyesight, and a number of other factors. If we had been waiting to cross that street we would, in all likelihood, have expired long ago.

So it is with the research findings called "startling" about the health benefits of Mediterranean diets, just published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Fresh fruits and vegetables, lots of fish, olive oil, and nuts, and healthy wine consumption were linked to big reductions in heart attacks, strokes, and deaths. These are not marginal benefits at the edge of healthy behaviors. They are the big ones.

I am happy for the research. Even while longevity gains continue, they would be far more impressive if people took proper care of themselves. For those who do, typical life spans should be well into the 90s, not the mid-80s, which is the average for all Americans now age 65. Healthier lifestyles are also likely to reduce one of the biggest financial stresses of retirement: big medical bills that aren't fully covered by Medicare. Lifetime out-of-pocket healthcare spending for a typical 65-year-old couple now averages north of $250,000 and can easily be double or triple that for affluent retirees.

[Read: What People Who Live to 100 Have in Common.]

Of course, I also was happy years ago when I read about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet in earlier research findings. Beyond physical benefits, it is increasingly likely that this diet also helps ward off Alzheimer's and cognitive decline in general.

Still, we stand on the corner waiting to cross the street. Why?

For many years, the odds have overwhelmingly supported the notion that we can receive a huge future payoff from an investment today in better health, diet, and lifestyle choices. Sadly, the compelling logic of the wellness argument is often defeated by one of the cardinal findings of behavioral economics: People have a lot of trouble making a tangible sacrifice today in exchange for a possible reward in the future. Even if the sacrifice is modest and the reward enormous, the time mismatch is a game-ender for many. It's like positioning the fulcrum of a teeter-totter near one end instead of in the middle. No matter how hard the person on the short end tries, it's just too hard to balance the board.

One way to correct this imbalance is to make the sacrifices seem less difficult and the rewards truly astronomical. You see this approach used all the time. Particularly with diet: The marketing messages stress how easy it is, how little effort is required before those pounds slide away, how you become irresistibly attractive, your life and career improve, you discover eternal life, and so on.

[Read: How to Plan for a Long Life.]

On our teeter totter, diet and exercise are perched on the short end, and improved health and longevity on the long end. And it's at the long end that some astounding future benefits await. Thirty years of vigorous living versus a wheelchair in a neglected corner of a nursing home.--or worse. Regular cardiovascular exercise is also associated with lower rates of dementia. Get your blood flowing, add oxygen, and marvelous healthful results may ensue. We're not talking about running marathons, either. Moderate exercise works if it's done frequently. Spend 30 minutes a day walking and you can be there.

Key components of the Mediterranean lifestyle and diet include:

-- Getting plenty of exercise and eating your meals with family and friends

-- Eating a generous amount of fruits and vegetables (legumes are best)

-- Consuming healthy fats such as olive oil and canola oil

-- Using herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor foods

-- Nuts, chocolate with a high cocoa content, low-fat cheese, and even lots of eggs

-- For wine drinkers, a glass a day of red wine is recommended

-- Consuming very little red meat

-- Eating fish or shellfish two to three times a week, including at least some high-fat fish such as salmon and tuna

[See 10 Ways to Save on Food Costs]

The real breakthrough we need, however, is not in research but in figuring out how to change human behavior. It's likely, of course, that it can be costly to follow a Mediterranean diet, placing the best eating practices beyond the budgets of many Americans. But there is no defensible reason healthy and affordable foods can't be more widely available and consumed.

When government tries to mandate healthy behaviors, many people howl about "big brother," such as when New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg wanted to regulate oversized soft drink containers. We should also be howling when the nation's eating habits lead to chronic diseases that effectively waste hundreds of billions of healthcare dollars each year that we can't afford.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/strong-links-healthy-life-around-us-191003090.html

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Law Firm SEO Tactics to Avoid in 2013 ? Slaw

Over the past year, Google has made a number of significant changes to its delivery of search engine rankings. In light of those changes, law firms that employ various aggressive search marketing tactics need to reconsider them. In this column, I want to highlight some of the major web-spam filters that Google has created and offer some important (and ethical) lessons for maintaining a strong search engine presence.

Let?s start by discussing a couple of those changes.

Penguin and Panda

Major alterations to Google?s ranking methods tend to be given nicknames, kind of like hurricanes ? but for some businesses, these ?filters? on search results can (at least virtually) be just as devastating. In 2012, Google used Penguin and Panda to cull from their search results a number of websites that used questionable methods. Occasionally these filters also caught a few high-quality websites; but for the most part, the new search results were an improvement.

The first of these tweaks, Penguin, went after sites whose inbound link profiles were built around artificial or low-quality links ? websites that had few or no real incoming links or signs of engagement. A firm that built its website marketing around links coming from thousands of unattended (spammy) websites, for example, would be at risk for a Penguin-driven removal of their domain from the search results. Even more blatant examples might include a site that constructed its own network of ?empty? linked websites, or purchased links to such a network from a third party.

The Panda filter, to describe it simply, targeted websites that published (in many cases, mass-published over a short period of time) too much low-quality content ? pure web-spam. These are websites that have been overtly replicated: often built in an automated fashion, with repetitive or mildly tweaked messages. Publishing the same copied material on multiple-domains owned by the same business can now push those domains out of the search results.

Few law firms employ the tactics targeted by either of these filters, but there are still some lessons lawyers can learn:

• You still want fresh inbound links to your website, but buying them is never the answer. Don?t do it.
• Avoid re-publishing the same articles on multiple firm-owned domains. Instead, create a customized summary for each particular audience, and link over to the original piece.
• Websites with unique content that generate a variety of engagement styles (links, comments, social media conversations, etc.) always paint a positive picture with Google.
• Find out who exactly is linking into your firm website. If those links look like spam, they probably are. Reconsider how those links came to be, and whether you?re marketing to the right audience.

Dialed-up Anchor Text Filters for Homepages

One of the hallmark signals for search relevance has long been the words or phrases we make into clickable links. For the past ten years, websites in competitive markets have battled to acquire the most links that utilized their target search phrase, building up what?s called ?link text?.

Abuse and spam? You bet. So Google alleviated the problem by filtering out those sites with excessive ?commercial? link text profiles. But for those firms flirting with the edge of ?optimization?, this kind of filtering remained somewhat rare, and it still worked ? at least until the second half of 2012. Google has now turned up the dial significantly.

Firms that chose to swap and build links with marketing-oriented link text (in some cases, with almost nothing but) have watched their search rankings dip in recent months. Probably the worst affected were new websites under a year old and without any other search signals to offer Google (reflecting a lack of ?domain trust?).

The homepages of some law firms, in my view, could be at a similar risk, and should beware of the link text running into their homepage, because it sends mixed signals to Google. Firm homepages are normally branded around the firm?s name, which is reasonable; but if the links coming in all say ?DUI lawyers? in the link text, those two pieces don?t match ? at least, not in Google?s eyes.

Here at Stem, we?ve been advising our clients to steer clear of commercial link text directed at their homepage. Branded links ? linking on the firm?s name, ?Smith LLP?, for example ? are performing much better. And while pointing some commercial link text at the homepage remains an effective (and safe) approach, and is even somewhat required in competitive markets, lowering the percentage of commercial link text aimed at your firm homepage is smart.

More search lessons for 2013:

• You need to understand which terms and phrases are considered ?commercial? by Google. To do this, conduct searches for your firm?s services and observe the number of paid advertisements displayed.
• Sending mass amounts of commercial link text at a new or unmarketed website is a recipe for disaster.
• Domain age counts. New websites are fragile, and they get clipped by over-optimization filters faster than their older counterparts.
• Build search trust around your firm?s name and your lawyer?s names; then let your practice pages and content deliver commercial search term exposure.

Exact Match Domain Names

I wrote a piece here at Slaw a couple years ago that discussed, among other topics, the effectiveness of commercial keywords in domain names. That approach of registering two or three commercial terms in a domain name, and getting instant results with little effort, is drawing to a close. Those domains targeting commercial search phrases have recently become less effective, and when Google deems domains to be ?low quality?, they may even be filtered out of the search results.

These domain names aren?t necessarily ?dead?, but other measurable signs of engagement are also now required. Simply having a great domain name, alone, is no longer enough to jump to the top of the search rankings. At the very least, having social media presence, and a regular flow of original content (and deep links flowing into that content) is going to be a requirement before these types of sites can rank well. Or, put another way, the playing field has been leveled: there are no more shortcuts to top placement.

More lessons?

• Reduce the number of commercial terms in microsite and blog domains. A maximum of two seems sensible. (avoid: toronto-vancouver-drunk-driving-lawyers.com)
• No hyphens in domain names; this has always looked ?spammy?, and still does.
• Keep the quality signals high: good links come from established organizations who publish on the same topics as your firm does. PageRank isn?t always the best measure, but avoid links from sites with a ?PR0? or ?PR1?.
• And an optional personal tip ? I avoid online press releases for new websites. These releases often get scraped and published as ?instant content? for scam websites, sending a high volume of low-quality links into your new web property.

Conclusion

Remember, Google?s role is to index your website and then measure its relevance against the rest of the web. With billions of websites competing against each other, sites that can demonstrate their audience?s engagement are going to be considered stronger.

Some law firms (and some search consultants) will look at those measurable search signals (links, likes, +1s) and ask, ?How do we get those attributes? At all costs, how much, and how fast can we make that happen?? Not only is this the wrong approach, but it?s the type of manipulative behaviour that Google is now trying to eliminate.

The better approach is to treat these signals as the aftermath of your marketing. SEO, based on long-term thinking, can be truly effective when we make good choices: on publishing, building audiences, coding, classification, proper description, and most important, connecting with people. Many of the issues mentioned in this column are simply the result of short-term thinking and poor marketing choices.

Next column, I?ll turn the tables and look at some of the best SEO investments for 2013.

Source: http://www.slaw.ca/2013/02/27/law-firm-seo-tactics-to-avoid-in-2013/

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Tunisia: 4 in custody for politician's slaying

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) ? Four suspects belonging to a radical Islamic group have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the murder of a leftist politician that plunged Tunisia into crisis, but the killer himself remains at large, the interior minister said Tuesday.

Ali Larayedh, who has been tapped to be the next prime minister, said the Tunisian suspects, some of whom had been arrested in the last 48 hours, were accomplices to the murder and that the identity of the assassin is known.

The assassination of Chokri Belaid, an opposition politician from the Popular Front coalition, occurred outside his home on Feb. 6. It shocked the country, and many blamed the Islamist-led governing coalition, unleashing days of protests. On Sunday, thousands demonstrated in downtown Tunis over the lack of results in the investigation.

Many have accused the moderate Islamist Ennahda Party, which dominates the government, of complicity in the attack, citing its alleged use of gangs to intimidate political opponents. But Ennahda has denied ever resorting to any violence and has vehemently condemned the assassination.

Larayedh, who is a member of Ennahda, did not identify the group he was holding responsible for the assassination, but denied there were any foreign links to the killing.

Since the overthrow of Tunisia's secular dictatorship in January 2011, there has been a rise in ultraconservative Muslims known as Salafis, some of whom have resorted to violence. On Sept. 14, a band attacked the U.S. Embassy and damaged the surroundings. Tunisia's government has blamed the radical Islamic group Ansar al-Shariah for that attack and said it is trying to track down its leader.

Larayedh said that he was holding Tuesday's news conference in response to pressure for results of the investigation and media leaks the night before that had erroneously claimed the murderer himself had been arrested.

"The investigation is ongoing, and I will give you the latest conclusions," he said. "We cannot give any details that would affect the inquiry."

The four suspects range in age from 26 to 34 and are part of a "radical religious group," the minister said, adding that one had confessed to accompanying the actual assassin. At least some of the others detained had been involved in checking out the site a few days before the attack, the minister said.

Belaid was shot four times as he got in his car outside his house. The suspect involved in the actual attack took part in a reenactment of the crime scene outside Belaid's home on Tuesday wearing a mask and under heavy police guard.

"It was an ignoble crime with repercussions on the country's security and social peace, and has threatened to take us into chaos and the unknown," Larayedh said at the press conference.

The assassination resulted in the resignation of the country's prime minister, and Larayedh has been appointed his successor to form a new coalition government.

Authorities also have discovered many weapons caches and clashed with militants crossing into the country from neighboring Algeria and Libya. Larayedh said he believes some of the weapons were to carry out terrorist attacks inside Tunisia, while others were en route from Libya to Islamist militants fighting in northern Mali.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tunisia-4-custody-politicians-slaying-151457552.html

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Police and firefighters at higher risk for mental disorders following traumatic events

Feb. 26, 2013 ? Police, firefighters and other protective services workers who are repeatedly exposed to traumatic events and are new to their profession are at greater risk of developing a psychiatric disorder, according to a new study led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The researchers also found that protective services workers do not appear to have a higher prevalence of mental health problems than workers in other occupations.

The study results are featured in the February 2013 issue of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.

"Our findings suggest that exposure to diverse types of traumatic events among protective services workers is a risk factor for new onset of psychopathology and alcohol use disorders," said Christopher N. Kaufmann, MHS, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in the Bloomberg School's Department of Mental Health. "When we examined the relationship of exposure to common traumas with the development of mood, anxiety and alcohol use disorders among protective services workers, we found that these workers were at greater risk for developing a mood or alcohol use disorder. Interestingly, this relationship was not seen in those who had been in these jobs for a longer period, but was strong and statistically significant in workers who recently joined the profession. Developing curricula in coping skills and providing timely interventions for early career protective services workers may help reduce future psychiatric morbidity in these workers."

Using data from the U.S National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions researchers compared the prevalence of mental disorders of protective services workers to that of adults in other occupations. In addition, they examined the association of exposure to common traumatic experiences with the development of new mood, anxiety and alcohol use disorders among protective services workers who recently joined the workforce and those who had been in these jobs for a longer period. Lifetime and recent trauma events most commonly reported by protective services workers included: seeing someone badly injured or killed; unexpectedly seeing a dead body; having someone close die unexpectedly and having someone close experience a serious or life-threatening illness, accident or injury.

"The association between the number of different traumatic event types and incident mood and alcohol-use disorders, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder, was virtually confined to the group of early career protective services workers," said Ramin Mojtabai, MD, PhD, MPH, senior author of the study and an associate professor with the Bloomberg School's Department of Mental Health. "Future research should examine the coping skills of protective services workers who have been in these jobs for many years, which might make them less likely to develop psychiatric complications in the face of various potentially traumatic experiences."

The authors note, "Special support programs and services for these early career workers can potentially help to prevent development of chronic psychopathology and attrition from these critical jobs."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. C. N. Kaufmann, L. Rutkow, A. P. Spira, R. Mojtabai. Mental Health of Protective Services Workers: Results From the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, 2012; DOI: 10.1001/dmp.2012.55

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/WSK0dd0C2xI/130226141256.htm

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Novel combination therapy shuts down escape route, killing glioblastoma tumor cells

Feb. 26, 2013 ? Glioblastoma, the most common and lethal form of brain tumor in adults, is challenging to treat because the tumors rapidly become resistant to therapy. As cancer researchers are learning more about the causes of tumor cell growth and drug resistance, they are discovering molecular pathways that might lead to new targeted therapies to potentially treat this deadly cancer.

Scientists at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research in San Diego worked collaboratively across the laboratories of Drs. Paul Mischel, Web Cavenee and Frank Furnari to investigate one such molecular pathway called the mammalian target of rapamycin or mTOR. This signaling pathway is hyperactivated in close to 90 percent of glioblastomas and plays a critical role in regulating tumor growth and survival. Therapies that inhibit mTOR signaling are under investigation as drug development targets, but results to date have been disappointing: mTOR inhibitors halt the growth, but fail to kill the tumor cells.

A study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences uncovers an unexpected, but important molecular mechanism of mTOR inhibitor resistance and identifies a novel drug combination that reverses this resistance.

The story begins with a closer look at a gene-encoded protein called promyleocytic leukemia gene or PML. The study investigators explored the role of PML in causing resistance to mTOR inhibitor treatment. They found that when glioblastoma patients are treated with drugs that target the mTOR pathway, the levels of PML rise dramatically. Further, they showed that PML upregulation made the tumor cells resistant to mTOR inhibitors, and that if they suppressed the ability of the tumor cells to upregulate the PML protein, the tumor cells died in response to the mTOR inhibitor therapy.

"When we looked at cells in in vivo models and patients treated in the clinic, it became clear that the glioblastoma cells massively regulated PML enabling them to escape the effects of mTOR inhibitor therapy," reported senior author Paul Mischel, MD, Ludwig Institute member based at the University of California at San Diego.

"Our team hypothesized that if we could use a pharmacological approach to get rid of PML and combine it with an mTOR inhibitor, it could change the response from halting growth to cell death. The question was how?" added Mischel.

Previous research had shown that the use of low-dose arsenic could cause degradation of the PML protein in patients with leukemia. The team hypothesized that if arsenic could degrade PML, it may reverse resistance to mTOR inhibitors. The combination of mTOR and low-dose arsenic in mice indeed showed a synergistic effect, with massive tumor cell death along with very significant shrinkage of the tumor in mice with no ill side effects.

"Current therapy upregulates PML, turning off the mTOR signaling pathway. The tumor cells hide, waiting for the target signal to return," said Mischel. "When low-dose arsenic is added, not only does it stop the cell from returning, it shuts down the escape route killing the tumor cell."

These results present the first clinical evidence that mTOR inhibition promotes PML upregulation in mice and patients, and that it mediates drug resistance. The clinical relevance was confirmed when researchers looked at before- and after-treatment tissue samples from patients treated with mTOR inhibitors, confirming that PML goes up significantly in post treatment of mTOR inhibitors.

"These data suggest a new approach for potential treatment of glioblastoma," said Mischel. "We are moving forward to test that possibility in people."

Post-doctoral students Akio Iwanami and Beatrice Gini from the Mischel lab, as well as Ciro Zanca from the Furnari/Cavenee lab also contributed significantly to this paper.

This work was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Uehara Memorial Foundation, three NIH grants: NS73831, CA 119347 and P01-CA95616, the Ziering Family Foundation in Memory of Sigi Ziering and the Ben and Catherine Ivy Foundation.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. A. Iwanami, B. Gini, C. Zanca, T. Matsutani, A. Assuncao, A. Nael, J. Dang, H. Yang, S. Zhu, J. Kohyama, I. Kitabayashi, W. K. Cavenee, T. F. Cloughesy, F. B. Furnari, M. Nakamura, Y. Toyama, H. Okano, P. S. Mischel. PML mediates glioblastoma resistance to mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)-targeted therapies. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1217602110

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/BY1dFrC_5v8/130226135525.htm

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Researchers explore PKC role in lung disease

Tuesday, February 26, 2013
A JGP study examines the role of PKC in airway smooth muscle contraction and raises the possibility that this enzyme could be a therapeutic target for treating asthma, COPD, and other lung diseases. The diagram shown summarizes the pathways regulating airway smooth muscle contraction. Credit: Dixon, R.E., and L.F. Santana. 2013. J. Gen. Physiol. appear in The Journal of General Physiology, provide new insight into the mechanisms involved in regulating luminal diameter of small airways and reveal PKC as a potential target for drug therapies.

The researchers used phase-contrast video microscopy, confocal microscopy, Western blot analysis, and pharmacological activators and inhibitors to investigate the role of PKC in airway SMC contraction in mouse lung slices. Their results suggest that activation of PKC in small airways promotes an influx of calcium into SMC and subsequent intracellular release of calcium ions to generate low frequency SMC twitching. PKC activation also induces a strong calcium ion sensitization of contraction, eliciting a stronger contractile response to stimuli that increase free intracellular calcium. Consequently, PKC activation downstream of various molecules, such as thrombin, that are present in the airways in conjunction with inflammatory lung diseases, could sensitize the airway SMCs to contractile stimuli and contribute to the airway hyper responsiveness that is characteristic of asthma and COPD.

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Rockefeller University Press: http://www.rupress.org/

Thanks to Rockefeller University Press for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127020/Researchers_explore_PKC_role_in_lung_disease_

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Green Blog: On Conference?s Eve, Thailand Is Pressed to Halt Ivory Trade

As my colleague Erik Olsen just noted here, many threatened species will be competing for attention when officials from 177 countries open a conference on the trade in endangered species on Sunday in Bangkok.

On Wednesday, Thailand?s prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, received a major international petition from the World Wildlife Fund calling on Thailand itself to ban the trade of ivory within its borders. The petition, which drew 517,899 signatures online and 10,000 ?offline? in Thailand, was presented to Ms. Yingluck at a special handover event. She said that she would take the issue into ?consideration,? but an official with the conservation group said that it anticipates a change in Thai policy.

Thailand currently bans the sale of ivory from wild elephants but permits the trade in ivory from captive domestic elephants. Environmentalists say that this situation is being exploited by criminals to launder illegal ivory from Africa, and have been calling for Thailand to ban the sale of all of it.

?We are expecting a statement outlining a policy shift at the opening of the Cites? on Sunday, Janpai Ongsiriwittaya, a campaign leader at W.W.F.-Thailand, said by phone from Bangkok, referring to the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

The World Wildlife Fund argues that a blanket ban on ivory sales would be a ?win-win? for the Thai government in its role as host for a conference on tackling wildlife crime.

The trade in dozens of threatened animal species has soared in recent years, mainly because of rising demand from an increasingly affluent Asia. Among the highest-profile victims have been elephants, whose ivory is highly prized in China and elsewhere for use in decorative items. Despite an international ban on the ivory trade, poaching has climbed sharply in recent years, presenting what conservationists describe as a full-blown crisis.

As Thomas Fuller of The Times reported recently, the Thai government wants to shed its image as a marketplace for many types of wildlife and has stepped up its efforts to crack down on such trade.

At the Cites (pronounced SITE-eez) conference, some 2,000 delegates representing governments, business and nongovernmental organizations will discuss a range of proposals to add many plants and animals to its endangered list and thereby ban the international trade in those species, notably several types of sharks. Here is the full list of proposals.

Source: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/on-conferences-eve-thailand-is-pressed-to-halt-ivory-trade/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Beer lovers accuse Anheuser-Busch of watering down brews

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Beer lovers across the U.S. have accused Anheuser-Busch of watering down its Budweiser, Michelob and other brands, in class-action suits seeking millions in damages.

The suits, filed in Pennsylvania, California and other states, claim consumers have been cheated out of the alcohol content stated on labels. Budweiser and Michelob each boast of being 5 percent alcohol, while some "light" versions are said to be just over 4 percent.

The lawsuits are based on information from former employees at the company's 13 U.S. breweries, some in high-level plant positions, according to lead lawyer Josh Boxer of San Rafael, Calif.

"Our information comes from former employees at Anheuser-Busch, who have informed us that as a matter of corporate practice, all of their products mentioned (in the lawsuit) are watered down," Boxer said. "It's a simple cost-saving measure, and it's very significant."

The excess water is added just before bottling and cuts the stated alcohol content by 3 percent to 8 percent, he said.

Anheuser-Busch InBev called the claims "groundless" and said its beers fully comply with labeling laws.

"Our beers are in full compliance with all alcohol labeling laws. We proudly adhere to the highest standards in brewing our beers, which have made them the best-selling in the U.S. and the world," Peter Kraemer, vice president of brewing and supply, said in a statement.

The suit involves 10 Anheuser-Busch products: Budweiser, Bud Ice, Bud Light Platinum, Michelob, Michelob Ultra, Hurricane High Gravity Lager, King Cobra, Busch Ice, Natural Ice and Bud Light Lime.

Anheuser-Busch, based in St. Louis, Mo., merged with InBev in 2008 to form the world's largest alcohol producer, headquartered in Belgium. In 2011, the company produced 10 billion gallons of malt beverages, 3 billion of them in the U.S., and reported $22 billion in profits from that category, the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit, the company has sophisticated equipment that measures the alcohol content throughout the brewing process and is accurate to within one-hundredth of a percent. But after the merger, the company increasingly chose to dilute its popular brands of beer, the lawsuit alleged.

"Following the merger, AB vigorously accelerated the deceptive practices described below, sacrificing the quality products once produced by Anheuser-Busch in order to reduce costs," said the lead lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco on behalf of consumers in the lower 48 states.

Companion suits are being filed this week in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and elsewhere. Each seeks at least $5 million in damages.

The named Pennsylvania plaintiffs, Thomas and Gerald Greenberg of Ambler, said they buy six cases of the affected Anheuser-Busch products a month. They did not immediately return a message Tuesday, and Boxer would not elaborate on their purchases except to say the consumer-protection suit does not involve retailers or bar owners.

One of the California plaintiffs, Nina Giampaoli of Sonoma County, said she bought a six-pack of Budweiser every week for the past four years.

"I think it's wrong for huge corporations to lie to their loyal customers ? I really feel cheated. No matter what the product is, people should be able to rely on the information companies put on their labels," Giampaoli said in a news release issued by Boxer's law firm.

Bloomberg News first reported Tuesday on the lawsuits.

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Boxer said he has evidence to corroborate the former employees' allegations, but stopped short of saying the beers had been independently tested.

"AB (Anheuser-Busch) never intends for the malt beverage to possess the amount of alcohol that is stated on the label. As a result, AB's customers are overcharged for watered-down beer and AB is unjustly enriched by the additional volume it can sell," the lawsuit said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suits-more-water-less-buzz-bud-michelob-beer-200521568--finance.html

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PFT: Packers torn on keeping TE Finley

Getty Images

When I first heard about Peter King?s report that the Patriots had signed quarterback Tom Brady to a three-year, $27 million extension, I assumed the deal was worth $27 million per year.

It?s not.? For committing to the Patriots in the 2015, 2016, and 2017 seasons, Brady gets a total of $27 million.

It appears, as explained last night, to be nothing more than an effort to reduce Brady?s cap number in 2013 and 2014, the final two years of his existing deal.? It?s hard to spread money over the years of a contract if the contract covers only two more seasons.? Come 2015, the likely reality is that a new deal will be done ? after the appearance that Brady has taken less is used to squeeze other players into doing the same thing, which the Pats did masterfully last decade.

Still, teams and agents are looking at the numbers and wonder what else could be going on.? Whispers of a side deals already have begun in league circles, even though there is (and likely will be) no proof of a wink-nod arrangement that will see Brady get compensated in other ways.

Sides deals aren?t unprecedented in pro football.? The Broncos lost a second-round pick, a third-round pick, and paid a $950,000 for violations relating to $29 million in deferred payments to John Elway and Terrell Davis during the team?s Super Bowl window of the late 1990s.? Again, there is (and likely will be) no proof of a side deal in this case.

Now that more and more teams are pressed against the salary cap and trying to finagle spending space, suspicions of side arrangements and briefcases full of cash will return to the NFL ? even if no team is ever caught or is ever guilty.

In Brady?s case, the facts as presently known raise natural red flags.? At a time when the high-water mater for quarterbacks is $20 million, the notion that Brady would commit to playing for less than half that average over a three-year window starting three seasons from now makes no sense.

At a minimum, agent Don Yee has provided his competitors with more than enough ammunition for the inherently cutthroat game of chasing new clients.? At a maximum, teams and agents will probe for something/anything to explain why Tom Brady was willing to sign a contract that pays him so much less than he?ll be worth starting two years from now.

Maybe, in the end, the explanation is that, given his wife?s obscene earnings, he?s willing to take a lot less money in order to help that Pats stack the deck for another Super Bowl run or two.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/25/report-packers-torn-on-keeping-jermichael-finley/related/

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Banks in 2012 see highest profits since crisis

Emily Stephenson , Reuters ? ? ? 2 hrs.

WASHINGTON - The U.S. banking industry in 2012 recorded its highest earnings since before the 2007-2009 financial crisis, according to data released on Tuesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

The FDIC said the industry's full-year earnings were the second-highest on record at $141.3 billion, an increase over 2011 of $22.9 billion, or 19.3 percent. But the head of the agency said growth would probably slow this year, and warned that bank profits could dive if Congress does not reach a federal budget agreement that prevents automatic cuts.

Bank earnings peaked in 2006 at $145.2 billion.

Much of the earnings growth in 2012 came from banks reducing the amount they set aside in case of losses on loans, the FDIC said. Banks also saw gains on loan sales and higher servicing income.

"While there is still room for further income growth, we don't expect the pace of earnings growth to continue at these levels," FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said.

The report will likely be seen as a sign that the industry is healing after the financial crisis, although some bigger banks cut jobs last year to cope with persistent pressures such as declines in trading volume.

The industry's earnings for the fourth quarter of 2012 totaled $34.7 billion, up $9.3 billion, or 36.9 percent, from the same period in 2011, the FDIC said.

Loan balances rose during the quarter, driven by loans to commercial and industrial borrowers. Gruenberg said that was encouraging and would be a key factor going forward, when banks will have less ability to drive earnings by reducing the funds they set aside for potential loan losses.

But he said demand for credit could dry up, hurting the banking industry, if Congress does not step in to prevent $85 billion in federal government spending cuts from taking effect at the end of the week and the economy contracts as a result.

The impending cuts would affect a wide range of government programs, with the defense industry in particular expecting sequestration to hurt contractors and businesses that depend on spending by them and their employees. Many economists have warned the cuts could devastate the fledgling economic recovery.

"The industry recovery over these past three years has been aided by the slow but steady growth in the economy over that period," Gruenberg said.

"If something occurs to knock that off course ... then that could have consequences for the industry," he said.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/banks-2012-post-highest-profits-recession-1C8564802

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Dennis Rodman worms his way into North Korea

Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman, fifth from right, poses with three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, in red jerseys, and a production crew for the media upon arrival at Pyongyang Airport, North Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Rodman known as "The Worm" arrived in Pyongyang, becoming an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)

Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman, fifth from right, poses with three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, in red jerseys, and a production crew for the media upon arrival at Pyongyang Airport, North Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. Rodman known as "The Worm" arrived in Pyongyang, becoming an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)

Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman, right, scratches his face upon arrival at Pyongyang Airport, North Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The American known as "The Worm" arrived in Pyongyang, becoming an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)

Flamboyant former NBA star Dennis Rodman, right, scratches his face upon arrival at Pyongyang Airport, North Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The American known as "The Worm" arrived in Pyongyang, becoming an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. (AP Photo/Kim Kwang Hyon)

FILE - In this July, 31, 2012, file photo, former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman appears during a news conference to announce his tour and charity work in Panama City. The American known as ?The Worm? is set to arrive Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013, in Pyongyang, becoming an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco, File)

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? Former NBA star Dennis Rodman brought his basketball skills Tuesday and flamboyant style ? tattoos, nose studs and all ? to a country with possibly the world's strictest dress code: North Korea.

Landing in Pyongyang with VICE television, the American athlete and showman known as "The Worm" became an unlikely ambassador for sports diplomacy at a time of heightened tensions between the U.S. and North Korea.

Rodman is joining three members of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and a VICE correspondent for a news show on North Korea that will air on HBO later this year, VICE told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview Tuesday before they landed.

Rodman and VICE said the Americans hope to engage in a little "basketball diplomacy" by running a basketball camp for children and playing with North Korea's top basketball stars ? and, they hope, drawing leader Kim Jong Un to a game. Kim is said to be a huge basketball fan.

"Is sending the Harlem Globetrotters and Dennis Rodman to the DPRK strange? In a word, yes," said Shane Smith, the VICE founder who is host of the upcoming series, referring to North Korea by the initials of its formal name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "But finding common ground on the basketball court is a beautiful thing.

Rodman might seem an odd fit for North Korea, where men's fashion rarely ventures beyond military khaki and where growing facial hair is forbidden. Though there's a burgeoning fashion sense among the women of Pyongyang, the men in this conservative society still tend dress austerely: khaki work suits, military uniforms, dark blue Mao-style suits or Western-style suit jackets.

In contract, Rodman was a poster boy for flashy excess during his heyday in the 1990s. He called his 1996 autobiography "Bad as I Wanna Be" ? and showed up wearing a wedding dress to promote it.

Shown a photo of a snarling Rodman, piercings dangling from his lower lip and two massive tattoos emblazoned on his chest, one North Korean in Pyongyang recoiled and said: "He looks like a monster!"

But Rodman is also a Hall of Fame basketball player and one of the best defenders and rebounders to ever play the game. During a storied, often controversial career, he won five NBA championships.

On Tuesday, Rodman, now 51, was low-key and soft-spoken in cobalt blue sweatpants and a Polo Ralph Lauren cap. There was a bit of flash: white-rimmed sunglasses and studs in his nose and lower lip. But he told AP he was there to teach basketball and talk to people, not to stir up trouble.

Showier were three Harlem Globetrotters dressed in fire-engine red. Rookie Moose Weekes flashed the crowd a huge smile as he made his way off the Air Koryo plane.

"We use the basketball as a tool to build cultural ties, build bridges among countries," said Buckets Blakes, a Globetrotters veteran. "We're all about happiness and joy and making people smile."

It's the second high-profile American visit this year to North Korea, a country that remains in a state of war with the U.S. It also comes two weeks after North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test in defiance of U.N. bans against atomic and missile activity.

Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, made a surprise four-day trip to Pyongyang, where he met with officials and toured computer labs in January, just weeks after North Korea launched a satellite into space on the back of a long-range rocket.

Washington, Tokyo, Seoul and others consider both the rocket launch and the nuclear test provocative acts that threaten regional security.

North Korea characterizes the satellite launch as a peaceful bid to explore space, but says the nuclear test was meant as a deliberate warning to Washington. Pyongyang says it needs to build nuclear weapons to defend itself against the U.S., and is believed to be trying to build an atomic bomb small enough to mount on a missile capable of reaching the mainland U.S.

VICE, known for its sometimes irreverent journalism, has made two previous visits to North Korea, coming out with the "VICE Guide to North Korea." The HBO series, which will air weekly starting April 5, features documentary-style news reports from around the world.

The U.S. State Department hasn't been contacted about travel to North Korea by this group, a senior administration official said, requesting anonymity to comment before any trip had been made public. The official said the department does not vet U.S. citizens' private travel to North Korea.

Promoting technology and sports are two major policy priorities of Kim Jong Un, who took power in December 2011 following the death of his father, Kim Jong Il.

Along with soccer, basketball is enormously popular in North Korea, where it's not uncommon to see basketball hoops set up in hotel parking lots or in schoolyards. It's a game that doesn't require much equipment or upkeep.

The U.S. remains Enemy No. 1 in North Korea, and North Koreans have limited exposure to American pop culture. But they know Michael Jordan, a former teammate of Rodman's when they both played for the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s.

During a historic visit to North Korea in 2000, then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright presented Kim Jong Il, famously an NBA fan, with a basketball signed by Jordan that later went on display in the huge cave at Mount Myohyang that holds gifts to the leaders.

North Korea even had its own Jordan wannabe: Ri Myong Hun, a 7-foot-9 star player who is said to have renamed himself "Michael" after his favorite player and moved to Canada for a few years in the 1990s in hopes of making it into the NBA.

Even today, Jordan remains well-loved here. At the Mansudae Art Studio, which produces the country's top art, a portrait of Jordan spotted last week, complete with a replica of his signature and "NBA" painted in one corner, seemed an odd inclusion among the propaganda posters and celadon vases on display.

An informal poll of North Koreans revealed that "The Worm" isn't quite as much a household name in Pyongyang.

But Kim Jong Un, also said to be a basketball fanatic, would have been an adolescent when Rodman, now 51, was with the Bulls, and when the Harlem Globetrotters, an exhibition basketball team, kept up a frenetic travel schedule worldwide.

In a memoir about his decade serving as Kim Jong Il's personal sushi chef, a man who goes by the pen name Kenji Fujimoto recalled that basketball was the young Kim Jong Un's biggest passion, and that the Chicago Bulls were his favorite.

The notoriously unpredictable and irrepressible Rodman said he has no special antics up his sleeve for making his mark on one of the world's most regimented and militarized societies, a place where order and conformity are enforced with Stalinist fervor.

But he said he isn't leaving any of his piercings behind. "They shouldn't be scared of a few piercings."

__

Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington contributed to this report from Washington. Follow AP's bureau chief for Pyongyang and Seoul at www.twitter.com/newsjean.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-02-26-NKorea-Rodman/id-1dbab4ea684d41ee900a0a5cb3b3d520

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Visa and Samsung ink worldwide NFC deal, practically guarantees payWave on your Galaxy S IV

First, the good news. It appears that Visa and Samsung's Olympics trial went over so well, that it's expanding those mobile payment dreams to a global audience. Now, the rough news -- Visa has convinced Samsung to pre-load the payWave app onto every future Samsung smartphone with an NFC module. Granted, you'd be using that anyway for contactless payments... but only if you had a Visa card. At this point, it's practically a given that the impending Galaxy S IV will boast not only an NFC chip, but payWave integration from the factory.

The deal also gives banks the ability to load payment account information over-the-air to a secure chip embedded in Samsung devices (thanks, Mobile Provisioning Service), but neither company is coming clean on what devices in particular will be taking advantage. Unfortunately, this news may be even gloomier for non-Visa users -- it's unlikely Samsung's contract will allow it to announce similar deals with competing mobile payment services, but we suppose we'll see in time.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

Comments

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Visa

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/visa-samsung-worldwide-nfc-partnership-payments/

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5 most shocking Seth MacFarlane Oscar lines

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, TODAY

Seth MacFarlane's Sunday-night stint hosting the Oscars drew both criticism and praise. The "Family Guy" host definitely pushed the envelope -- it was hard to imagine some of his jokes coming from past Oscar hosts, such as Billy Crystal or Ellen DeGeneres. Here's a look at five of his most controversial lines.

Robyn Beck / AFP - Getty Images

Host Seth MacFarlane pushed the envelope on Oscar humor, and not everyone laughed.

1. "I would argue, however, that the actor who really got inside?Lincoln's?head was John Wilkes Booth."?
MacFarlane followed this up by acknowledging the audience's groans and gasps, saying "150 years and it's still too soon, huh?" Too soon, or just too crass. After all, "South Park" once joked about Lincoln's assassination, sending a giant statue of Booth after a giant rampaging statue of Lincoln. Big difference: Their joke was actually funny.?

2. "To give you an idea of how young (Quvenzhane Wallis) is, it'll be 16 years before she's too young for Clooney."
This joke doesn't even make that much sense. Wallis is 9, so he's joking about her dating someone at age 25, and Clooney may have some younger girlfriends at times, but he's no Doug Hutchison (the 51-year-old actor who wed 16-year-old Courtney Stodden in 2011.) It might be different if Clooney had a sleazy reputation. But there's one saving grace -- at least MacFarlane didn't go as far as the Onion and refer to the 9-year-old nominee with an offensive sexual term.

3. "Rex Reed will be out here to review Adele?s performance of 'Skyfall.'"
The remark assumes viewers know that movie critic Rex Reed took heat for comparing "Identity Thief" star Melissa McCarthy to a hippo. So MacFarlane's calling Adele, a gifted singer and one of the few women at the Oscars who didn't look bone-thin, a hippo? Gee, we wonder why some viewers, Adele fans or not, took offense.

4. "(There's) a?lot of controversy over the multiple uses of the n-word (in 'Django Unchained.')? I am told the screenplay is loosely based on Mel Gibson's voice mails."
When this met with disapproval from the audience, MacFarlane cracked, "Oh, you're on his side." Gibson's problems with ethnic slurs are well-documented, but they also feel a little old. No one's on Gibson's side when it comes to the slurs, but maybe they're ready to move on?

Source: http://todayentertainment.today.com/_news/2013/02/25/17089214-5-most-controversial-seth-macfarlane-oscar-lines-include-fat-joke-assassination-humor?lite

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NVIDIA details the T4i and Phoenix reference phone in latest video

NVIDIA knows we're all interested in the new Tegra 4 and Tegra 4i platform, and today they are throwing us a bit of a treat, video-style. Formerly known as Project Grey, the T4i is designed to deliver great performance in a smartphone, along with an integrated 4G LTE modem. To showcase this, they have built the Phoenix reference phone.

It's a complete package, sporting a 5-inch 1080p display, 13MP camera with NVIDIA's "Chimera" tech 60 GeForce GPU cores, and the T4i with integrated LTE. Since this isn't something that is going to be widely available for most of us, having a look at it on video may be as close as we ever get. 

Source: NVIDIA

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Fa3bXhX0cGk/story01.htm

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Source: http://enetodap.sport.fr/2013/02/24/this-in-turn-will-establish-your-sites-popularity-making-it-highly-accessible-to-interested-visitors/

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US scrambles to salvage Syrian opposition talks

LONDON (AP) ? The U.S. is frantically trying to salvage a Syrian opposition conference set for this coming week that John Kerry plans to attend during his first official overseas trip as U.S. secretary of state.

A senior Obama administration official said Sunday that Kerry has sent his top Syrian envoy to Cairo in hopes of convincing opposition leaders that the Rome conference will be critical to securing additional aid from the United States and Europe.

Some members of the sharply divided Syrian Opposition Council are threatening to boycott Wednesday's meeting.

According to the official, U.S. envoy Robert Ford will say that the conference is a chance for foes of Syrian President Bashar Assad to make their case for new and enhanced aid, and especially to America's new chief diplomat.

The official was not authorized to discuss sensitive diplomatic matters publicly and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

If the meeting with Kerry were to be postponed, the official said the delay would hurt chances for short-term boosts or shifts in Syria policy.

The U.S. is concerned that the same kind of infighting that doomed the Syrian National Council may be hindering the SOC.

In addition to Ford's trip to Cairo, the top U.S. diplomat for the Mideast, Beth Jones, planned to head to Rome on Monday to add her voice to the argument.

Kerry is on a self-described "listening tour" of Europe and the Mideast, chiefly focused on ending the crisis in Syria.

The former Democratic senator from Massachusetts has said he is bringing new ideas to increase the pressure on Assad to leave power and make way for a democratic transition. Violence in Syria has killed at least 70,000 people.

Kerry has not elaborated on those plans, but there is internal debate in the Obama administration about stepping up aid to the rebels, perhaps to include lethal military assistance.

In London, his first stop, Kerry was expected to be asked by the British about the administration's views on Britain's dispute with Argentina over the Falkland Islands. London is looking to Washington to support a referendum next month on the islands' future. Residents are expected to vote widely in favor of remaining part of Britain.

Senior officials traveling with Kerry would not discuss possible outcomes or the vote, and the U.S. position remains that it is up to Britain and Argentina to work out a resolution. Argentina claims the islands as the Islas Malvinas.

Britain asserted control of the South Atlantic islands by placing a naval garrison there in 1833. Britain and Argentina fought a brief war in 1982 after Argentina invaded the islands. More than 900 people died, most of them Argentines.

Kerry's nine-nation, 10-day trip will also take him to America's traditional European allies of Germany, France and Italy, along with Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.

In addition to Syria, he will focus on conflicts in Mali and Afghanistan, and on Iran's nuclear program.

In Germany, Kerry will discuss trans-Atlantic issues with German youth in Berlin, where he spent time as a child as the son of an American diplomat posted to the divided Cold War city. He also will meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in the German capital.

In Paris, Kerry plans to discuss France's intervention in Mali.

Despite the numerous Middle East stops. Kerry will not travel to Israel or the Palestinian territories. He will wait to visit them when he accompanies Obama there in March.

___

Online:

Trip details: http://www.state.gov/secretary/travel/2013/205086.htm

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-scrambles-salvage-syrian-opposition-talks-195009126.html

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New therapy for breast cancer

Herald Globe (IANS) Saturday 23rd February, 2013

Breast cancer patients will now have an effective and less toxic therapeutic option.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given the go-ahead to a new drug therapy for patients with HER2-positive - particularly aggressive form of breast cancer.

On Friday, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the new treatment drug, Kadcyla (trastuzumab emtansine), also known as TDM-1, which combines Traztuzumab, also called Herceptin, with the powerful chemotherapy drug emtansine.

The drug therapy is developed by Roche-owned Genentech, which funded the study.

Results from clinical trials of the drug TDM-1, known as "Super Herceptin," showed that it was more effective and less toxic than the standard regimen for this type of tumour.

The medication kept patients free of disease for longer than the standard chemotherapy regimen.

HER-2 positive breast cancer patients have been found to be positive for carrying a protein that promotes the growth of cancer cells.

TDM-1 is taken directly to cells that have the HER2 protein on the membrane, such as the cancer cells, while sparing normal cells. This results in less toxicity from the chemotherapy drug, reports Science Daily.

"TDM-1 works like the original drug Herceptin by hunting down and interfering with the cancer cells," said Melody Cobleigh, director of the Comprehensive Breast Centre at Rush centre, Illinois and lead investigator of the TDM-1 clinical trials at Rush.

Source: http://www.heraldglobe.com/index.php/sid/212775168/scat/2411cd3571b4f088

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College course success for call centre jobs

College course success for call centre jobs

2:00pm Friday 22nd February 2013 in News

A COURSE is now being offered at Warrington Collegiate to teach people how to work in a call centre.

The eight week training programme is for anyone on Job Seekers Allowance.

It is aimed at the long term unemployed - many who start it have been without a job for several years.

Tutor Mel Cooke said that because so many applications are received for jobs, call centres will only recruit candidates with experience.

She said: ?If they just applied to a contact centre without any knowledge they are probably set up to fail.

?It?s a hard industry to get in to, and if they know what?s expected of them they are more likely to succeed.?

Student Mandy Rossington, aged 37, of Old Hall, said: ?It?s a catch 22 because they are asking for experience, but without experience you can?t get a job in the first place,? she said.

?This gives you that experience. Now if there are 10 people going for that job, you have a better chance.?

Ian Yates, aged 43, of Oakwood, started the course after being without work since January 2009.

He said: ?I thought that by getting an extra qualification it would help me get back into work.

?I want to work in a contact centre so this was the natural course to do.

?I enjoy talking to customers and meeting different people.

The BTEC level 2 contact centre operations course features practical tests speaking on the phone to companies and coursework.

Partners like Golden Gates Housing Trust and General Insurance Distribution give talks and offer office tours.

Visits are also made by employers like Manweb and British Gas.

Students are guaranteed an interview for a job or apprenticeship when they complete the qualification.

Student and Appleton resident Luke Sampson, aged 24, said: ?I?m doing it for confidence building and to the learn the tricks of the trades of being on the phone.

?When it comes to interviews for contact centres I?ll have all the of the experience from here that will help me through my career.?

For more information call Warrington Collegiate on 494494.

Source: http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/pload/10235703.College_course_success_for_call_centre_jobs/?ref=rss

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