Cute Kid Note Of The Day: Joshua's Timeline

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/27/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-joshuas-timeline_n_2958603.html?1364401579" target="_blank">Joshua's Timeline </a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/20/how-to-be-a-cool-person-cute-kid-note_n_2916368.html?1363804857" target="_blank">How To Be A Cool Person</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/17/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-tyler_n_2812772.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day" target="_blank">A Crying Little Devil </a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/14/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-math-problem_n_2868938.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day" target="_blank">Matthew Has 20 Girlfriends...</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/21/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-kyles-ideal-friend_n_2083717.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day">My Ideal Friend</a>

Dear Disney Cruise Line

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/07/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-love-letter-to-mom_n_2599928.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day">A Love Letter To Mom</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/03/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-sisterly-love_n_1954236.html">Sisterly Love?</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/cute-kid-note-of-the-day">Nice Try...</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/27/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-never-seen-a-man-cry_n_2123205.html" target="_hplink">I've Never Seen A Man Cry Before</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/cute-kid-note-thank-you-michelle-obama_n_2233557.html" target="_hplink">Thank You Michelle Obama</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/14/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-genius-inside_n_2442300.html" target="_hplink">Do Not Disturb</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/10/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-you-should-not-hit-dogs_n_2449837.html" target="_hplink">You Should Not Hit Dogs</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/07/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-the-westing-game_n_2424802.html" target="_hplink">Thank You For The Books</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-2013-goals_n_2397998.html" target="_hplink">2013 Goals</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/12/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-muslim-student-letter-to-santa_n_2286714.html" target="_hplink">A Question For Santa</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/11/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-hanukkah-card_n_2271774.html?1355238952" target="_hplink">Let's Not Fight</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/06/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-dear-santa_n_2237847.html?utm_hp_ref=parents&ir=Parents" target="_hplink">Dear Santa</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/04/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-letter-to-queen_n_2165500.html?utm_hp_ref=parents&ir=Parents" target="_hplink">A Letter To The Queen</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/28/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-spy-rules_n_2083816.html?utm_hp_ref=parents&ir=Parents" target="_hplink">Spy Rules</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/16/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-i-will-not_n_2146008.html?utm_hp_ref=parents&ir=Parents" target="_hplink">I Will Not</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/08/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-idea-for-blog_n_2088991.html" target="_hplink">Idea For Blog</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/31/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-halloween-ninja_n_2049421.html" target="_hplink">I Will Be A Ninja For Halloween</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/23/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-allergic-to-facebook_n_1901696.html" target="_hplink">"Allergic To Facebook"</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/19/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-if-i-get-a-boyfriend_n_1922946.html?utm_hp_ref=parents&ir=Parents">If I Get A Boyfriend...</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/03/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-tooth-fairy_n_1935936.html?utm_hp_ref=parents&ir=Parents" target="_hplink">My Tooth Whint Down The Drane</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/27/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-what-is-love_n_1920001.html?utm_hp_ref=parents&ir=Parents" target="_hplink">What Is Love?</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/25/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-i-love-you-more-than-cow_n_1913149.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day">I Love You More Than Cow</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/13/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-i-am-god_n_1861472.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day">I Am God</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/06/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-run-away_n_1819603.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day">Don't Forget To RUN AWAY</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/cute-kid-note-stuffed-animal-rules-hurricane-isaac_n_1842734.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day">Ashley's Hurricane Rules</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/22/girl-makes-unfortunate-spelling-error-fathers-day-card_n_1822691.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day">Your Dad Is The Best WHAT?!</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/15/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-how-to-raise-some-cats_n_1751695.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day">How To Raise Some Cats</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/07/i-am-a-star-because-i-just-am-note_n_1748601.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day">I Am A Star Because...</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/01/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-and-i-think_n_1723626.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day">Chasing Annie</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/25/lie-to-mommy-kid-note_n_1687502.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day">I Will Lie To Mommy</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/being-a-girl-is-wonderful-kid-note_n_1690858.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day">Why Being A Girl Is Wonderful</a>

<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/10/summertime-kid-list_n_1659302.html?utm_hp_ref=kid-note-of-the-day">Flow Of Evening</a>

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/27/cute-kid-note-of-the-day-joshuas-timeline_n_2958603.html

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Ex-Florida GOP chair gets 1? years for stealing

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) ? The former chairman of the Republican Party of Florida was sentenced Wednesday to one-and-a-half years in prison for stealing $125,000 in party funds, marking the fall of a man who once was one of the most powerful political figures in the state.

Jim Greer, 50, was sentenced in an Orlando courtroom, more than a month after he pleaded guilty to four counts of theft and a single count of money laundering. The guilty pleas in February ended Greer's trial before it started.

Circuit Judge Marc Lubet handed down a sentence Wednesday that was less severe than the three-and-a-half years in prison requested by prosecutors. Lubet explained that he went with a more lenient sentence because Greer had already paid $65,000 in restitution to the Republican Party of Florida and because Greer's former right-hand man, Delmar Johnson, had committed the same crimes but hadn't been charged.

Johnson had been scheduled to be prosecutors' star witness and was granted immunity in exchange for his testimony. He didn't return a phone call seeking comment on Wednesday.

"I feel that this crime deserves prison," Lubet told Greer. "You egregiously violated a position of trust."

After the hearing, Greer was led from the courtroom in handcuffs. His attorney, Damon Chase, said Greer had entered the guilty pleas to avoid the risk of a jury convicting him and getting a lengthy prison sentence.

"Mr. Greer did fall on his sword for this one," Chase said. "He did what he felt was best for his family. He feels good about it ... Next year, he will be spending time with his family and everything will be fine."

An attorney for the Republican Party of Florida said he received a $65,000 wire transfer representing Greer's restitution from Jacksonville attorney Hank Coxe on Monday. Stephen Dobson said he didn't know how Greer came up with the money, given that the former chairman has reported being financially strapped since his arrest in 2010. Chase refused to answer questions about where the money came from and Coxe didn't return a phone call and email Wednesday afternoon.

Greer also has agreed to drop a civil lawsuit against the Republican Party of Florida. The lawsuit accused the party of failing to pay him a severance.

"Eighteen months in prison for somebody like Jim Greer," Dobson said. "I don't think anybody thought a couple of years ago that he'd go to prison like this."

The trial had threatened to expose the underbelly of Florida's dominant political party and its formerly high-spending ways. Some of Florida's most powerful politicians were scheduled as witnesses, including former Gov. Charlie Crist, former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux, former Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum and several state House and state Senate leaders.

Topics covered in pretrial depositions included allegations of prostitutes at a state GOP fundraiser in the Bahamas, the drinking habits of Crist and intraparty strife.

Prosecutors said Greer funneled almost $200,000 to a company he had formed with Johnson to help with fundraising for the Republican Party of Florida. He kept $125,000 of the money funneled to Victory Strategies for himself. Under the arrangement, Victory Strategies would get a cut of all party fund-raising after Greer and Johnson took over that responsibility from a fulltime fund-raiser. Johnson contacted law enforcement officials after Greer stepped down as the party's chairman.

Assistant Statewide Prosecutor Michael Williams said failing to charge Johnson was the cost of doing business.

"With Delmar Johnson, that's always the risk. We wouldn't have had a case without him either," Williams said. "That is something we just have to live with. We have to do that every day of the week."

Greer was vice mayor of the small central Florida town of Oviedo when Crist surprisingly picked him to be the state party chairman after he led local efforts to help Crist get elected governor in 2006. He previously was the president and CEO of a company that provides training to the hospitality industry on how to comply with alcohol laws.

The plea arrangement was reached at the last minute. Jury selection was set to begin early last month, but neither Greer nor prosecutors had appeared in the courtroom an hour after the trial was supposed to start.

Until he entered his guilty pleas, Greer had contended that party leaders, including Crist, knew about the financial arrangement that gave Greer's company a cut of party money in exchange for fundraising efforts. Greer had said he was targeted because of his support for Crist, who later defected from the GOP to run as an independent for U.S. Senate but lost to Rubio. Crist is now a Democrat and is being touted as a potential challenger to incumbent Republican Gov. Rick Scott next year.

During the sentencing hearing, Chase once again said Crist knew about the financial arrangement with Greer.

Crist has denied ever knowing about the arrangement. Pre-trial depositions and an affidavit have offered conflicting statements as to how much Crist knew.

"If you're asking me, 'Do I think he knew?' I look at it in more simplistic terms," Williams said. "He is running the state at the time. Did he get lost in the weeds with Jim Greer fund-raising? ... We didn't share the concerns that the defense did."

___

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ex-florida-gop-chair-gets-1-years-stealing-182352639.html

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Cancer biologists find DNA-damaging toxins in common plant-based foods

Mar. 27, 2013 ? In a laboratory study pairing food chemistry and cancer biology, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center tested the potentially harmful effect of foods and flavorings on the DNA of cells. They found that liquid smoke flavoring, black and green teas and coffee activated the highest levels of a well-known, cancer-linked gene called p53.

The p53 gene becomes activated when DNA is damaged. Its gene product makes repair proteins that mend DNA. The higher the level of DNA damage, the more p53 becomes activated.

"We don't know much about the foods we eat and how they affect cells in our bodies," says Scott Kern, M.D., the Kovler Professor of Oncology and Pathology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "But it's clear that plants contain many compounds that are meant to deter humans and animals from eating them, like cellulose in stems and bitter-tasting tannins in leaves and beans we use to make teas and coffees, and their impact needs to be assessed."

Kern cautioned that his studies do not suggest people should stop using tea, coffee or flavorings, but do suggest the need for further research.

The Johns Hopkins study began a year ago when graduate student Samuel Gilbert, working in Kern's laboratory, noted that a test Kern had developed to detect p53 activity had never been used to identify DNA-damaging substances in food.

For the study, published online February 8 in Food and Chemical Toxicology, Kern and his team sought advice from scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture about food products and flavorings. "To do this study well, we had to think like food chemists to extract chemicals from food and dilute food products to levels that occur in a normal diet," he says.

Using Kern's test for p53 activity, which makes a fluorescent compound that "glows" when p53 is activated, the scientists mixed dilutions of the food products and flavorings with human cells and grew them in laboratory dishes for 18 hours.

Measuring and comparing p53 activity with baseline levels, the scientists found that liquid smoke flavoring, black and green teas and coffee showed up to nearly 30-fold increases in p53 activity, which was on par with their tests of p53 activity caused by a chemotherapy drug called etoposide.

Previous studies have shown that liquid smoke flavoring damages DNA in animal models, so Kern's team analyzed p53 activity triggered by the chemicals found in liquid smoke. Postdoctoral fellow Zulfiquer Hossain tracked down the chemicals responsible for the p53 activity. The strongest p53 activity was found in two chemicals: pyrogallol and gallic acid. Pyrogallol, commonly found in smoked foods, is also found in cigarette smoke, hair dye, tea, coffee, bread crust, roasted malt and cocoa powder, according to Kern. Gallic acid, a variant of pyrogallol, is found in teas and coffees.

Kern says that more studies are needed to examine the type of DNA damage caused by pyrogallol and gallic acid, but there could be ways to remove the two chemicals from foods and flavorings.

"We found that Scotch whiskey, which has a smoky flavor and could be a substitute for liquid smoke, had minimal effect on p53 activity in our tests," says Kern.

Liquid smoke, produced from the distilled condensation of natural smoke, is often used to add smoky flavor to sausages, other meats and vegan meat substitutes. It gained popularity when sausage manufacturers switched from natural casings to smoke-blocking artificial casings.

Other flavorings like fish and oyster sauces, tabasco and soy sauces, and black bean sauces showed minimal p53 effects in Kern's tests, as did soybean paste, kim chee, wasabi powder, hickory smoke powders and smoked paprika.

Funding for the study was provided by the National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute (CA62924) and the Everett and Marjorie Kovler Professorship in Pancreas Cancer Research.

In addition to Kern, Gilbert and Hossain, other scientists involved in the research include Kalpesh Patel, Soma Ghosh, and Anil Bhunia from Johns Hopkins.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Johns Hopkins Medicine, via Newswise.

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. M. Zulfiquer Hossain, Samuel F. Gilbert, Kalpesh Patel, Soma Ghosh, Anil K. Bhunia, Scott E. Kern. Biological clues to potent DNA-damaging activities in food and flavoring. Food and Chemical Toxicology, 2013; 55: 557 DOI: 10.1016/j.fct.2013.01.058

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/rIaA_10aDzM/130327163302.htm

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Cypriot banks set to reopen after 12 days -- but customers can only withdraw $383 each

Katia Christodoulou / EPA

People wait outside a branch of the Bank of Cyprus, in Nicosia, Cyprus, as banks on the island prepared to open for the first time since March 16.

By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

Banks on the tax haven of Cyprus opened Thursday for the first time in 12 days amid the island's continuing financial crisis.

Strict limits on the amount of money that could be withdrawn have been imposed ? people will be able to withdraw 300 euros ($383) a day and no checks will be cashed ? amid fears of a run on the banks.

Account holders showed up hours before the banks were due to open to get in line.

?

Early indications were that there was no mass rush to withdraw cash, with just 13 people waiting outside one large Bank of Cyprus branch on the island as it opened at noon local time (6 a.m. ET). They were surrounded by a scrum of journalists.

Previously people could only withdraw 100 euros (about $127) a day from the country's two biggest banks from ATMs.?Most who lined up for the opening were elderly people and those without ATM cards.?

However a small crowd of people did press against the doors of a branch of Laiki Bank, which is being liquidated. CNBC sources estimate those with more than 100,000 euros (about $128,000) in accounts in Laiki Bank could lose 40 to 70 percent of their deposits.

Deposits above 100,000 euros with the Bank of Cyprus will be frozen and 40 percent of each account will be converted into bank stock. Accounts in both banks with balances under 100,000 euros will be fully protected.

A previous proposal to take less from all bank accounts?was vetoed by the Cypriot parliament.

The country is seeking to meet the terms of a bailout from the European Union of 10 billion euros ($12.9 billion) and, in order to raise enough funds to meet strict conditions imposed by the EU, it is preparing to take money from bank accounts.

Ahead of the banks? reopening, money was flown into the island and guards were seen delivering cash to banks in armored vehicles.

The banks were due to close at 6 p.m. local time (12 p.m. ET).

There was some relief on the island that the banks were finally opening again, but this was mixed with fear about what could happen.

The banks in Cyprus are set to reopen after days of being closed as a measure to prevent a run on deposits during the country's financial crisis. Millions in cash is on the move tonight as people camped out in expectation. ITV's Emma Murphy reports

'Slow death'
Yorgos Georgiou, who owns a dry cleaning business in Nicosia, told Reuters that "finally people's mood will be lifted and we can start to trust the system again."

But he added: "I'm worried about the poor kids working in the cashiers today, because people might vent their anger at them. You can't predict how people will react after so many days."

Kostas Nikolaou, a 60-year-old retiree, told Reuters that the uncertainty of the past two weeks had been "like a slow death."

"How can they tell you that you can't access your own money in the bank? It's our money, we are entitled to it,? he added.

The country?s president, Nicos Anastasiades, has described the bailout deal as ?painful? but essential.

However, Nobel laureate economist Christopher Pissarides said it was ?extremely unfair to the little guy.?

?For the first time in the euro zone, depositors are (being) asked to bail out failing banks," he said. "Now that used to be the case in the 1930s, especially United States (and) caused big bank runs. It has been decided since then that we shouldn?t allow that to happen again.?

As Cyprus celebrates its Independence Day, the ?government is defending the last-minute bailout deal it's negotiated with the European Union. This means shutting down the country's second biggest bank, with big savers facing ?losses. ?ITV's Emma Murphy reports.

Among other controls, the island's central bank will review all commercial transactions over 5,000 euros and scrutinize transactions over 200,000 euros on an individual basis, Reuters reported. People leaving Cyprus can take only 1,000 euros with them. An earlier draft of the decree had put the figure at 3,000.

Reuters summed up the situation facing the island:

With just 860,000 people, Cyprus has about 68 billion euros in its banks - a vastly outsized financial system that attracted deposits from foreigners as an offshore haven but foundered after investments in neighboring Greece went sour.

The European Union and International Monetary Fund concluded that Cyprus could not afford a rescue unless it imposed losses on depositors, seen as anathema in previous euro zone bailouts.?The bailout looks set to push Cyprus deeper into an economic slump, shrink the banking sector and cost thousands of jobs.

European leaders said the bailout deal averted a chaotic national bankruptcy that might have forced Cyprus out of the euro.

Many Cypriots say the deal was foisted upon them by Cyprus's partners in the 17-nation euro zone within the European Union, and some have taken to the streets to vent their frustration.

CNBC's Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related:

Cypriots fear run on banks as branches prepare to reopen

Cypriots: Hope, but also fear they 'will be like slaves' to Russia

EU to Cypriots: Let us raid your savings or no bailout

This story was originally published on Thu Mar 28, 2013 4:52 AM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/2a15ce9e/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C280C174975730Ecypriot0Ebanks0Eset0Eto0Ereopen0Eafter0E120Edays0Ebut0Ecustomers0Ecan0Eonly0Ewithdraw0E3830Eeach0Dlite/story01.htm

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Animal rights groups sue FDA over egg labeling concerns

(Reuters) - Animal rights advocates on Thursday sued U.S. regulators to correct what they say is misleading labeling on cartons of eggs that come from caged hens.

The lawsuit comes more than seven years after animal rights groups started petitioning the federal government to take action, with no success. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California, alleges that claims made in unregulated egg labeling falsely portray a higher standard of animal treatment to consumers than actually exists, and that various government agencies, led by the Food and Drug Administration, have failed to address the plaintiffs' petitions on the matter, as required by law.

The lawsuit asks that egg producers nationwide be required to clearly label egg cartons with egg production methods, including the identification of "Eggs from Caged Hens," said Megan Backus, a spokeswoman for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, a non-profit group that is one of the plaintiffs.

FDA officials could not immediately be reached for comment.

(Reporting By Carey Gillam; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/animal-rights-groups-sue-fda-over-egg-labeling-223257905.html

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Fewer children mean longer life?

Thursday, March 28, 2013

New research into ageing processes, based on modern genetic techniques, confirms theoretical expectations about the correlation between reproduction and lifespan. Studies of birds reveal that those that have offspring later in life and have fewer broods live longer. And the decisive factor is telomeres, shows research from The University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

Telomeres are the protective caps at the end of chromosomes. The length of telomeres influences how long an individual lives.

Telomeres start off at a certain length, become shorter each time a cell divides, decline as the years pass by until the telomeres can no longer protect the chromosomes, and the cell dies. But the length of telomeres varies significantly among individuals of the same age. This is partly due to the length of the telomeres that has been inherited from the parents, and partly due to the amount of stress an individual is exposed to.

"This is important, not least for our own species, as we are all having to deal with increased stress," says Angela Pauliny, Researcher from the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences at the University of Gothenburg.

Researchers have studied barnacle geese, which are long-lived birds, the oldest in the study being 22 years old. The results show that geese, compared to short-lived bird species, have a better ability to preserve the length of their telomeres. The explanation is probably that species with a longer lifespan invest more in maintaining bodily functions than, for example, reproduction.

"There is a clear correlation between reproduction and ageing in the animal world. Take elephants, which have a long lifespan but few offspring, while mice, for example, live for a short time but produce a lot of offspring each time they try," says Angela Pauliny.

The geese studied by researchers varied in age, from very young birds to extremely old ones. Each bird was measured twice, two years apart. One striking result was that the change in telomere length varied according to gender.

"The study revealed that telomeres were best-preserved in males. Among barnacle geese, the telomeres thus shorten more quickly in females, which in birds is the sex with two different gender chromosomes. Interestingly, it is the exactl opposite in humans," says Angela Pauliny.

###

The journal BMC Evolutionary Biology has classified the research article "Telomere dynamics in a long-lived bird, the barnacle goose" as "Highly Accessed".

Link to the article: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2148/12/257

University of Gothenburg: http://www.gu.se/english

Thanks to University of Gothenburg 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/127500/Fewer_children_mean_longer_life_

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Google Maps Engine Lite beta lets amateurs craft their own location sets

Pros have long had access to Google Maps Engine if they need to highlight anything from local stores to natural resources. Today, Google is catering to the rest of us would-be cartographers with a beta for Google Maps Engine Lite. The web service lets everyday users draw objects and import locations for their own reference, whether it's plotting favorite hiking trails or pinpointing worthwhile places on an upcoming vacation. Map makers can stylize the maps and share them with others, if they like -- the Lite label mostly limits users to "small" spreadsheet imports and a maximum of three data sets for comparisons. As long as you can live within those prescribed boundaries, you can try the slimmed down engine right now.

Filed under: Internet, Google

Comments

Via: Google Lat Long Blog

Source: Google Maps Engine Lite

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/tCLSrg7v8ag/

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Richmond CA Bankruptcy Lawyer Recognized For Helping Locals ...

If you are having financial difficulties, a Richmond CA bankruptcy lawyer is there with all kinds of help. There are many things to know about current laws concerning bankruptcies and a trained and experienced attorney keeps up with all the important changes. Here are some reasons to consult qualified legal advice when one is not sure what to do.

When the economy stumbles many people lose their jobs, and it is through no fault of their own. Once this occurs, it may be very difficult to meet certain financial obligations. Yet, one does not have to endure these kinds of difficulties when qualified help is at hand.

When major illness strikes a family it can be devastating. In fact, it can easily deplete savings. One may have to take care of a pile of medical expenses, and it does not take long for these bills to completely overwhelm most families. There may be no possible way to pay them.

If you cannot pay all your bills, you could be placed under an enormous amount of stress. Bill collectors and credit services may be calling your home at all hours of the day and evening. In fact, you may be afraid to answer your phone because of harassing calls.

There are ways to take care of creditors and services that call and harass you. Your trained attorney can help you put an immediate stop to these things. You have someone you can trust that provides important advice. This way, you know exactly what to do and are less likely to make mistakes.

Your Richmond CA bankruptcy lawyer is familiar with all the problems that you are experiencing. Once you call a legal professional you can rest assured that your financial problems will soon be a thing of the past. This is a great way to reduce a lot of stress and help you relax and sleep well at night. Your attorney is trained to guide you through a very difficult time.

Find a review of the benefits you get when you consult a Richmond CA bankruptcy lawyer and more information about a reputable attorney at http://www.dowebankruptcylaw.com now.

Source: http://bestfinance1.com/richmond-ca-bankruptcy-lawyer-recognized-for-helping-locals-during-tough-times

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Google Calendar in Windows 8, DIY Mallets, and Laundry Timers

Readers offer their best tips for accessing Google Calendar in Windows 8, replacing the rubber mallet you don't have, and timing your laundry.

Every day we receive boatloads of great reader tips in our inbox, but for various reasons?maybe they're a bit too niche, maybe we couldn't find a good way to present it, or maybe we just couldn't fit it in?the tip didn't make the front page. From the Tips Box is where we round up some of our favorites for your buffet-style consumption. Got a tip of your own to share? Add it in the comments, email it to tips at lifehacker.com, or share it on our tips and expert pages.

Subscribe to Your Google Calendars In Windows 8 with a Workaround

Microsoft recently removed the ability to use Google Calendar in Windows 8, but DDenbigh shares a workaround that eases the pain:

If you want to subscribe to Google calendars in Windows 8, head to that calendar's settings and find the private ICS feed. Then, subscribe to that in Windows Live calendar. Then you'll be able to view it in Windows 8 (it's read-only, but better than nothing). This works for all your calendars in Google, not just the primary one

You can see more detailed instructions here.

Turn a Hammer Into a Mallet with a Tennis Ball

Sometimes, a hammer doesn't do the job, and you need a rubber mallet (or something similar). James solves this problem elegantly:

Today I needed a mallet for a car repair, but I don't have one. So I cut a tennis ball and slipped it onto my hammer. Problem solved.

Use Your Phone's Voice Assistant for an Instant Laundry Timer

We've shared a few clever uses for voice recognition, but sicklyslick shares a really simple one:

Voice Actions are very useful for laundry. Whenever i do laundry I just tell my phone "remind me to check the laundry in 45 minutes" and Google Now will add an alarm. You can also say "add calendar" or "set an alarm at."

Obviously, you can do this with Siri as well. It's simple, but really useful for those of us that forget to set timers, or want to do it as quickly as possible.

Keep Projects on Separate Drives to Avoid Distraction

Geekgirlbarbie keeps herself focused with a few flash drives:

I'm very easily distracted, and while I loved the idea of interchangeable workspaces, I've always had trouble figuring out how to do it for digital-based projects. And now I have!

For any digital based project, I keep a small separate flash drive, which I label with the projects name. On the flash drive I include any necessary files or PDFs, plus a portable version of Firefox with the websites I need bookmarked: helpful articles, sites to search for information, etc.

It keeps me focused, since the project is RIGHT in front of me and takes away a number of distractions ("Where's that file, these are a mess, I should organize them" or "Wow, I haven't worked on this file in 3 days! I'll do that now instead!").

It also makes switching between tasks a breeze: the timer goes off, I eject flash drive, grab different flash drive, and I'm good to go.

Photo by USBMemoryDirect.com.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/yYuSk8xPxmc/google-calendar-in-windows-8-diy-mallets-and-laundry-timers

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Pia Rizza: Playboy Passes, Porn Company Totally Game!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/pia-rizza-playboy-passes-porn-company-totally-game/

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Feeling sick makes us less social online, too

Mar. 25, 2013 ? When it comes to posting on social media, there are few areas of our lives that are off limits.

We post about eating, working, playing, hunting, quilting -- you name it. Just about everything is up for public consumption ? except our health.

A new study from BYU finds that while most of us go online regularly for help in diagnosing health issues, very few of us actually post information, questions or experiences on health topics.

"Less than 15 percent of us are posting the health information that most of us are consuming," said Rosemary Thackeray, BYU professor of health science and lead author of the study appearing online in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

According to the study, more than 60 percent of Internet users go online for health help, looking for advice, digging up user experiences on social media and consulting online reviews in hunt of health providers and health care facilities.

Thackeray believes if people were more "social" about health information on social media, the better the information would become.

"If you only have a few people sharing their experience with using a painkiller, that's different than 10,000 people doing that," Thackeray said. "If we're really going to use this social media aspect, there needs to be a true collective wisdom of the crowds."

According to data Thackeray and BYU colleagues Ben Crookston and Josh West used from the Pew Internet and American Life Project, three-fourths of people begin their hunt for medical or health information online by using a search engine such as Google or Yahoo.

By the end of their search, nearly a third have used social networking sites (Facebook, Twitter) for health- related activities while 41 percent have consulted online rankings or reviews of doctors and health care facilities.

However, only 10 percent of respondents actually posted reviews and 15 percent posted comments, questions or information when it came to health-related info.

"The inherent value of 'social' in social media is not being captured with online health information seeking," Thackeray said. "Social media is still a good source of health information, but I don't think it's ever going to replace providers or traditional health care sources."

But, the researchers say social media could be more valuable to all parties if more people joined in on the health discussion. Patients could become more empowered and doctors could be more aware of the public discourse around certain medical issues.

The challenge now is how to get more people to contribute health info on social media sites.

"We're just not there yet, but we'll probably get there in the future," Thackeray said.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Brigham Young University.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Rosemary Thackeray, Benjamin T Crookston, Joshua H West. Correlates of Health-Related Social Media Use Among Adults. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 2013 DOI: 10.2196/jmir.2297

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/living_well/~3/DYkj6cdhnz0/130325101524.htm

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Israelis get kosher cigarettes for Passover

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Observant Jews in Israel craving a smoke during the week-long Passover holiday that starts at sundown Monday can now enjoy a rabbi-approved puff.

It's the first time cigarettes have joined the long list of goods stringently checked to ensure they comply with Passover rules on what items are allowed, or kosher for the holiday ? meaning they have not come in contact with grains or other forbidden ingredients.

The stamp of approval came from the Beit Yosef private rabbinic group, which certifies foods as compliant with Jewish dietary restrictions. Last month, Beit Yosef approved three local cigarette brands for smoking during Passover. The chief rabbinate in Israel, however, disapproved of the measure, saying cigarettes are life-threatening and should not be approved by rabbis.

"Poison is not kosher. For all days of the year, not just Passover," said the chief rabbinate's spokesman, Ziv Maor.

But Rabbi Igal Ben Ezra, Beit Yosef's chief supervisor, said the certification was meant for Israeli smokers who only buy products marked as "kosher for Passover" and who might be concerned about buying cigarettes without such a label. It's "mostly for people who have doubts on this subject," said Ben Ezra.

The Jewish holiday of Passover celebrates the biblical Exodus story of the Israelites' escape from slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. According to tradition, the Israelites were in a rush and had no time to let their bread rise as they fled. To commemorate the hasty Exodus, Jews eat matzo, or flat wheat crackers that symbolize unleavened bread, and refrain from foods containing leavening such as pasta during Passover.

During the holiday, Jewish law forbids chametz ? anything consisting of grains that may have come in contact with water, starting the process of fermentation.

Jews, including many who are not religiously observant the rest of the year, spend weeks ahead of Passover cleaning their homes and belongings to rid them of any morsel of food considered to be chametz.

The week-long Passover diet is in addition to the year-round kosher regulations that ban pork and shellfish, require meat to be ritually slaughtered and forbid the mixing of meat and dairy.

And even though only about 20 percent of Israeli Jews identify themselves as Orthodox, statistics suggest almost everyone attends the traditional Passover meal and most Israeli Jews refrain from eating foods that contain forbidden grains throughout the holiday.

To accommodate them, the Israeli food industry transforms ahead of Passover.

Manufacturers of popular snacks substitute their regular recipes with ingredients approved for Passover. Cows eat corn and alfalfa instead of grain-based hay so that observant Jews can drink their milk because religious practice forbids deriving benefit from an animal that has eaten banned grains. Kosher restaurants, including kosher branches of McDonalds, serve buns made of alternative ingredients, such as potato flour.

Determining what exactly is permitted during Passover has become more complicated in the modern age, as rabbis have pondered what to do with products like pet food and pills. Many industries have adapted and as a result, there are now pet products and medicines that are labeled kosher-for-Passover.

This is the first time, however, that cigarettes in Israel are carrying such a label for the holiday.

Ben Ezra, the Kosher supervisor, said the local cigarette company, Dubek contacted him to help settle the kosher debate.

After an inspection of the company's factory a month ago, he concluded that Noblesse, Time and Golf cigarettes could be deemed kosher for smoking on Passover ? as long as the factory used ingredients that had not come in contact with leavened products. He would not specify those ingredients, saying he was sworn to secrecy.

Ben Ezra said he himself quit smoking eight months ago but used to smoke during Passover even without such a thing as "kosher cigarettes."

Maor, the spokesman for Israel's chief rabbis who oversee kosher supervision of foods, said they do not approve of labeling cigarettes as kosher and permitted for Passover, but were unable to prevent it because they only regulate the food market.

"There are some communities who consider it important that everything they bring home has a kosher stamp on it," said Maor.

Cigarettes have not been alone in the debate over what's kosher for Passover.

In the 1990s, some particularly devout officials asked the national water authority to stop pumping water on Passover from the country's sole freshwater lake, the Sea of Galilee. They were concerned that Jews could break Passover rules by drinking tap water possibly "contaminated" by fishermen who may have thrown grain-based fish food into the lake or picnicking Israelis who may have tossed breadcrumbs into it.

As a result, Israel's water authority began plugging the pipe from the Sea of Galilee three days before Passover and pumping water from underground aquifers and water reservoirs instead ? though most rabbis, even from the strictest streams of ultra-Orthodox Judaism, say this is unnecessary.

"No one feels the difference," said Uri Schor, spokesman of the water authority. "Whenever you open the faucet, you have water."

Hours ahead of Passover, many Israelis were finishing cleaning their homes Monday of every last bread crumb, feverishly cooking and swarming supermarkets to stock up on food for the Seder, the traditional Passover meal.

In Jerusalem, smoke filled the air as some religious Jews burned the last of their bread crumbs while others dunked their plates in large vats of hot water set up around the city, so their dishes would be completely free of bread products.

The airport was busier than usual with travelers taking advantage of the holiday to travel abroad, and local TV stations gave Israelis advice on avoiding traffic jams when driving to their relatives for the Seder.

The military announced a two-day closure on the West Bank to keep Palestinians out of Israel at the start of the holiday, with exemptions for medical emergencies and other humanitarian reasons. The army imposes such security closures during Jewish and Israeli holidays.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israelis-kosher-cigarettes-passover-144411923.html

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Deb Milbrath, Cartoon Movement - GOP TURN AROUND

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/120917/

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Surprises in the South polar vortex in Venus' atmosphere

Public release date: 24-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Aitziber Lasa
a.lasa@elhuyar.com
34-943-363-040
Elhuyar Fundazioa

A group of UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country astronomers have studied the South pole vortex of the atmosphere of Venus, thanks to the data sent by the Venus Express probe.

This press release is available in Spanish.

The astronomers in the UPV/EHU's Planetary Science Group have published, on-line in the prestigious journal Nature Geoscience, a study of the atmospheric vortex of the south pole of Venus, a huge whirlwind the size of Europe. In the atmosphere there are two main cloud layers separated by a distance of 20km. The UPV/EHU astronomers have been closely monitoring the movement of the vortex on both levels, and have been able to confirm the erratic nature of this movement.

"We knew it was a long-term vortex; we also knew that it changes shape every day. But we thought that the centres of the vortex at different altitudes formed only a single tube, but that is not so. Each centre goes its own way, yet the global structure of the atmospheric vortex does not disintegrate," explains Itziar Garate-Lopez, head researcher and member of the UPV/EHU's Planetary Science Group.

In fact, the centres of rotation of the upper and lower vortex rarely coincide in their position with respect to the vertical, and as the researchers have published in their paper, "they form a constantly evolving permanent structure" on the surface of Venus.

Long-term vortices are a frequent phenomenon in the atmospheres of fast rotating planets, like Jupiter and Saturn, for example. Venus rotates slowly, yet it has permanent vortices in its atmosphere at both poles. What is more, the rotation speed of the atmosphere is much greater than that of the planet. "We've known for a long time that the atmosphere of Venus rotates 60 times faster than the planet itself, but we didn't know why. The difference is huge; that is why it's called super-rotation. And we've no idea how it started or how it keeps going."

The permanence of the Venus vortices contrasts with the case of the Earth. "On the Earth there are seasonal effects and temperature differences between the continental zones and the oceans that create suitable conditions for the formation and dispersal of polar vortices. On Venus there are no oceans or seasons, and so the polar atmosphere behaves very differently," says Garate-Lopez.

Looking at the poles of Venus

The UPV/EHU group has been able to monitor the evolution of the south pole vortex thanks to one of the instruments on board the European Space Agency's Venus Express spacecraft, which has been orbiting our neighbouring planet since April 2006. "The orbit of this craft is very elliptical: it gets very close to the North pole and South pole, yet the planet is observed from a greater distance, which allows a more global vision to be obtained. This is what we needed for our study, a more complete view of the vortex and at a lower speed, so that the instrument we used could capture the images we needed." Also needed was a more extended view offering a detailed view of the planet's south pole, whereas the north pole is observed from much shorter distances, which prevents it from being observed globally," explains Garate-Lopez.

The UPV/EHU astronomers have been using the VIRTIS-M infrared camera on the Venus Express probe and have been analysing data obtained in the course of 169 earth days, and in particular, they have been studying in great detail the data on the 25 most representative orbits.

Garate-Lopez explains that this is no straightforward task: "This camera doesn't take individual photos like an ordinary camera, it divides the light into different wave lengths that enable various vertical layers of the planet's atmosphere to be observed simultaneously. Besides, we have compared images separated by one-hour intervals and this has enabled us to monitor the speed at which the clouds move," says Garate-Lopez.

###

The UPV/EHU astronomers Agustn Snchez-Lavega, director the Planetary Science Group, Ricardo Hueso and Itziar Garate-Lopez have been working in collaboration with experts from the Astrophysics Institute of Andalusia (CSIC-Spanish Scientific Research Council), the Astronomical Observatory of Lisbon (CAAUL), the Paris Observatory and the Institute of Space Astrophysics and Cosmic Physics in Rome.

Reference:

Garate-Lopez, I., R. Hueso, A. Snchez-Lavega, J. Peralta, G. Piccioni, P. Drossart. A chaotic long-lived vortex at the southern pole of Venus. Nature Geoscience, 24 March 2013, DOI: 10.1038/NGEO1764.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 24-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Aitziber Lasa
a.lasa@elhuyar.com
34-943-363-040
Elhuyar Fundazioa

A group of UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country astronomers have studied the South pole vortex of the atmosphere of Venus, thanks to the data sent by the Venus Express probe.

This press release is available in Spanish.

The astronomers in the UPV/EHU's Planetary Science Group have published, on-line in the prestigious journal Nature Geoscience, a study of the atmospheric vortex of the south pole of Venus, a huge whirlwind the size of Europe. In the atmosphere there are two main cloud layers separated by a distance of 20km. The UPV/EHU astronomers have been closely monitoring the movement of the vortex on both levels, and have been able to confirm the erratic nature of this movement.

"We knew it was a long-term vortex; we also knew that it changes shape every day. But we thought that the centres of the vortex at different altitudes formed only a single tube, but that is not so. Each centre goes its own way, yet the global structure of the atmospheric vortex does not disintegrate," explains Itziar Garate-Lopez, head researcher and member of the UPV/EHU's Planetary Science Group.

In fact, the centres of rotation of the upper and lower vortex rarely coincide in their position with respect to the vertical, and as the researchers have published in their paper, "they form a constantly evolving permanent structure" on the surface of Venus.

Long-term vortices are a frequent phenomenon in the atmospheres of fast rotating planets, like Jupiter and Saturn, for example. Venus rotates slowly, yet it has permanent vortices in its atmosphere at both poles. What is more, the rotation speed of the atmosphere is much greater than that of the planet. "We've known for a long time that the atmosphere of Venus rotates 60 times faster than the planet itself, but we didn't know why. The difference is huge; that is why it's called super-rotation. And we've no idea how it started or how it keeps going."

The permanence of the Venus vortices contrasts with the case of the Earth. "On the Earth there are seasonal effects and temperature differences between the continental zones and the oceans that create suitable conditions for the formation and dispersal of polar vortices. On Venus there are no oceans or seasons, and so the polar atmosphere behaves very differently," says Garate-Lopez.

Looking at the poles of Venus

The UPV/EHU group has been able to monitor the evolution of the south pole vortex thanks to one of the instruments on board the European Space Agency's Venus Express spacecraft, which has been orbiting our neighbouring planet since April 2006. "The orbit of this craft is very elliptical: it gets very close to the North pole and South pole, yet the planet is observed from a greater distance, which allows a more global vision to be obtained. This is what we needed for our study, a more complete view of the vortex and at a lower speed, so that the instrument we used could capture the images we needed." Also needed was a more extended view offering a detailed view of the planet's south pole, whereas the north pole is observed from much shorter distances, which prevents it from being observed globally," explains Garate-Lopez.

The UPV/EHU astronomers have been using the VIRTIS-M infrared camera on the Venus Express probe and have been analysing data obtained in the course of 169 earth days, and in particular, they have been studying in great detail the data on the 25 most representative orbits.

Garate-Lopez explains that this is no straightforward task: "This camera doesn't take individual photos like an ordinary camera, it divides the light into different wave lengths that enable various vertical layers of the planet's atmosphere to be observed simultaneously. Besides, we have compared images separated by one-hour intervals and this has enabled us to monitor the speed at which the clouds move," says Garate-Lopez.

###

The UPV/EHU astronomers Agustn Snchez-Lavega, director the Planetary Science Group, Ricardo Hueso and Itziar Garate-Lopez have been working in collaboration with experts from the Astrophysics Institute of Andalusia (CSIC-Spanish Scientific Research Council), the Astronomical Observatory of Lisbon (CAAUL), the Paris Observatory and the Institute of Space Astrophysics and Cosmic Physics in Rome.

Reference:

Garate-Lopez, I., R. Hueso, A. Snchez-Lavega, J. Peralta, G. Piccioni, P. Drossart. A chaotic long-lived vortex at the southern pole of Venus. Nature Geoscience, 24 March 2013, DOI: 10.1038/NGEO1764.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/ef-sit032313.php

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Shazam Poaches New Product Chief From BBC iPlayer To Lead Its TV Discovery Push

Shazam, the erstwhile exclusively music discovery app that has expanded into TV as a companion app letting users 'tag' TV shows (and ads) to get quick access to a plethora of related content, has today named a new chief product officer -- poaching Daniel Danker from the BBC to lead "the product expansion of the Shazam service".

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/PEKpNA-PkHk/

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'Fifty Shades Of Grey' Journal Helps Fans Find Their 'Inner Goddess'

E L James will share writing tips and more in the leather-bound journal, to be released May 1.
By Driadonna Roland

"Fifty Shades of Grey" book cover
Photo: The Writer's Coffee Shop

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1703431/fifty-shades-grey-journal.jhtml

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Therapies for ALL and AML targeting MER receptor hold promise of more effect with less side-effect

Public release date: 11-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Garth Sundem
garth.sundem@ucdenver.edu
University of Colorado Denver

2 University of Colorado Cancer Center studies show that targeting Mer receptors sensitize AML and ALL to chemotherapies

Two University of Colorado Cancer Center studies show that the protein receptor Mer is overexpressed in many leukemias, and that inhibition of this Mer receptor results in the death of leukemia cells without affecting surrounding, healthy cells.

The first study, published today in the journal Oncogene, worked with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), for which current chemotherapies offer a cure rate of only about 55 percent.

"In about 2/3 of all AML patients and about 90 percent of adult AML patients, we found that the Mer receptor was upregulated. Mer receptor protein shouldn't exist in normal myeloid cells, but we found it abnormally expressed," says Doug Graham, MD, PhD, investigator at the CU Cancer Center and associate professor of pediatrics and immunology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

The Mer receptor sits within the cell membrane, and when it becomes activated the cell receives signals to grow and survive. Leukemia and perhaps many solid cancers have taken advantage of Mer's cell survival function to assist the cancer's rampant proliferation. When Graham and colleagues used shRNA to silence the production of Mer in leukemia cells, they showed decreased leukemia cell survival, increased sensitivity to existing chemotherapies and longer survival in mouse models of leukemia.

A second study, published this month in Blood Cancer Journal, shows similar results with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common pediatric cancer.

"The ALL cure rate is already over 80 percent, but for patients who relapse, the prognosis is much less optimistic. We need targeted therapies to use as second-line treatments for the population for whom existing therapies aren't lasting, particularly in patients with relapsed T cell ALL," Graham says.

Second, he points out that a quarter of pediatric ALL patients who respond to existing chemotherapies do so at the price of significant long-term side-effects. "And so in addition to increased survival, the second goal of targeted therapies is decreased side-effects," Graham says.

Inhibition of the Mer protein receptor is promising on both accounts.

"Not only do B-cell and T-cell leukemia cells die when you knock down Mer receptor expression, but these cells are also much more sensitive to existing chemotherapies. By hitting Mer, we're making the chemotherapy more effective," Graham says.

In ALL and AML, Graham's studies show that making Mer inhibition means that less chemotherapy may have equal or stronger effect. Strong preliminary evidence shows that Mer may be the key to less toxic, more effective therapies for leukemia.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 11-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Garth Sundem
garth.sundem@ucdenver.edu
University of Colorado Denver

2 University of Colorado Cancer Center studies show that targeting Mer receptors sensitize AML and ALL to chemotherapies

Two University of Colorado Cancer Center studies show that the protein receptor Mer is overexpressed in many leukemias, and that inhibition of this Mer receptor results in the death of leukemia cells without affecting surrounding, healthy cells.

The first study, published today in the journal Oncogene, worked with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), for which current chemotherapies offer a cure rate of only about 55 percent.

"In about 2/3 of all AML patients and about 90 percent of adult AML patients, we found that the Mer receptor was upregulated. Mer receptor protein shouldn't exist in normal myeloid cells, but we found it abnormally expressed," says Doug Graham, MD, PhD, investigator at the CU Cancer Center and associate professor of pediatrics and immunology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

The Mer receptor sits within the cell membrane, and when it becomes activated the cell receives signals to grow and survive. Leukemia and perhaps many solid cancers have taken advantage of Mer's cell survival function to assist the cancer's rampant proliferation. When Graham and colleagues used shRNA to silence the production of Mer in leukemia cells, they showed decreased leukemia cell survival, increased sensitivity to existing chemotherapies and longer survival in mouse models of leukemia.

A second study, published this month in Blood Cancer Journal, shows similar results with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common pediatric cancer.

"The ALL cure rate is already over 80 percent, but for patients who relapse, the prognosis is much less optimistic. We need targeted therapies to use as second-line treatments for the population for whom existing therapies aren't lasting, particularly in patients with relapsed T cell ALL," Graham says.

Second, he points out that a quarter of pediatric ALL patients who respond to existing chemotherapies do so at the price of significant long-term side-effects. "And so in addition to increased survival, the second goal of targeted therapies is decreased side-effects," Graham says.

Inhibition of the Mer protein receptor is promising on both accounts.

"Not only do B-cell and T-cell leukemia cells die when you knock down Mer receptor expression, but these cells are also much more sensitive to existing chemotherapies. By hitting Mer, we're making the chemotherapy more effective," Graham says.

In ALL and AML, Graham's studies show that making Mer inhibition means that less chemotherapy may have equal or stronger effect. Strong preliminary evidence shows that Mer may be the key to less toxic, more effective therapies for leukemia.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/uocd-tfa030513.php

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Can MOOCs Save Academic Freedom? | Edudemic

Historically, the three forces that have defined the human condition and human progress have been economic wealth, political power and social beliefs and values. Like the keeper of the fire, academia in the role of keeper of knowledge, has sought to preserve and protect the light of reason and wisdom against the excess of wealth, power and fanaticism. This is the ultimate modern purpose of academic freedom.

Although globalization is commonly treated primarily as an economic concept, its impact on political power and social beliefs and values has changed the frame of reference for how we must now think about academic freedom.

The digital communication revolution that has flattened the earth into a global playing field is disrupting higher education in the form of massive open online courses (MOOCs). However, the value of MOOCs as a powerful force to protect the fundamental purpose of academic freedom has been lost in the current distraction of debating the relative value of online as opposed to traditional classroom teaching.

Of far greater importance for human progress and the nature of the human condition is the essential prerequisite of independent critical thinking that can neither be bought nor suppressed.

This noble justification of academia is now more than theoretical, it is actually possible ? but not without a struggle. The commercialization of learning that has overtaken higher education over the past 50 years has embraced MOOCs as the next big growth opportunity for venture capital. In this sense, MOOCs have become the last stand for the defense of academic freedom because ownership of knowledge and information is the key to controlling the political power and social beliefs and values determining the distribution of wealth in the 21^st Century.

Unfortunately, academics are typically weak warriors, and our colleges and universities are deeply compromised fortresses for combating power and belief in the service of greed.? For example, at the University of Wyoming, the mining industry was successful in the early removal of a ?Carbon Sink? sculpture which called attention to the dangers of climate change. At the University of Iowa, the appointment of a director for the Center for Sustainable Agriculture was blocked by agribusiness because the nominee?s research supported the mission of the Environmental Protection Agency. The student loan crisis provided a financial accounting of shifting the cost of a college degree from a public to a personal responsibility, to mention only a few illustrations of the commodification of education.

On the one hand, MOOCs offer the opportunity to fully democratize knowledge and learning, by facilitating the flow of all information into the public domain. Finally, with open online courses there is an opportunity to make teaching and learning available to everyone. Now, the ultimate civic accomplishment of balancing the dynamic resultant of the three forces of wealth, power and belief in the service of human progress and the enhancement of human condition is possible.

But, our institutions, as owners of copyrights and patents, contribute to making knowledge and information a commodity by removing it from the public domain. Apple is attempting to control the K-12 academic market in which an iPad can replace many of the functions of a physical classroom. State legislators see the cost of education going down and control of content going up through online learning. AAUP is confronted with a dilemma that the instrumentality of job protection as the strategy of choice for defending academic freedom will be compromised by MOOCs. Colleges and universities are searching for a business model to survive in a competitive market in which a few winners supported by venture capital provide courses administered by others with a minimum of financial support from state governments.

The potential endpoint is an economic market which owns the political power and social beliefs which determines the preconditions for the distribution of wealth, globally and nationally.

MOOCs may well be the last stand in defense of academic freedom if knowledge is to increasingly belong in the public domain, and not increasingly become a commodity. This is our academic challenge. We must own and use MOOCs to elevate general public knowledge to be an effective civic moderator of wealth, power and belief. If we do not, control of information will replace resources, just as resources replaced land, as the currency defining the human condition.

Seeing knowledge as public domain, not as the newest commodity market, can secure our legitimate place in human progress as the keeper of the fire. We must now occupy learning. In the long term, MOCCs can provide a strategic and powerful defense of the ultimate purpose of academic freedom, not job security in the short term.

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Professor Renner teaches a MOOC in the Honors College at the University of South Florida.

K. Edward Renner, PhD
Courtesy Professor, Department of Psychology
Adjunct Professor, Honors College
University of South Florida

Source: http://edudemic.com/2013/03/moocs-academic-freedom/

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Of New Pope Election, Vatican Spokesman Says There's 'No Reason' Conclave Will Be Long

Rumors about the ultra-secret voting for the next pope held at the Sistine Chapel next week have included stories about fierce competition between Italian and non-Italian cardinals, leaks about cardinals who want to dig into classified Vatican dossiers and a rotating list of names of the latest papal candidates du jour.

Is there a consensus among the 115 cardinals who will choose the leader of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics? Perhaps. Will it be an Italian, such as Milan Cardinal Angelo Scola, or a South American, like Brazilian-born Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer? How about an American? Or will the next leader hail from Africa, Asia or Central America?

On Saturday, one of the few sources of official information on the Vatican gave reporters hints about the mood of the cardinals who will start the papal conclave Tuesday afternoon.

There's "no reason to believe it will take long" to have a new pope, Vatican spokesman the Rev. Fredrico Lombardi said. While he didn't elaborate, the words suggested a frontrunner or frontrunners had developed and that there could be a pope before Friday. Recent papal elections have not been long; both Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Pope John Paul II were elected after two days.

In Saturday's briefing, Lombardi also denied any "huge discussion" among cardinals about when to start voting for a new pope. Leading up to Friday's announcement about the start of the conclave, Vatican reporters suggested that Italian cardinals wanted an earlier conclave to have more influence over the votes, leaving cardinals who had traveled to Rome less time to consider the candidates.

Through Saturday, cardinals had met nine times in General Congregations, which are pre-conclave meetings for discussing priorities for the church as well as deciding on a conclave date. Lombardi said Saturday that cardinals "unequivocally" decided on March 12 for the conclave, by a 10-to-1 margin.

Lombardi added that participants in recent General Congregation meetings have discussed hopes for the new pope, regional developments in the church and "improving the work of the curia" -- the mostly Italian cardinals who run the Vatican. The meetings will continue Monday There will be no General Congregation on Sunday.

The spokesman also detailed the timetable for the voting process. Cardinals drew lots on Saturday for rooms at the Casa Santa Marta, a closely guarded Vatican residence where they'll stay during the conclave. They'll move into the building Tuesday morning before the Mass Pro Eligendo Pontifice ("for the Election of the Roman Pontiff") at 10 a.m. at the Pauline Chapel. The chapel is connected to the Sistine Chapel, to which cardinals will proceed at 4:30 p.m. They will take an oath of secrecy, then anyone not taking part in the conclave will be asked to leave the building.

The cardinals will listen to a meditation by Italian Cardinal Prospero Grech about their responsibilities during the conclave and will vote up to two times. At 7 p.m., they'll pray and at 7:30 return to the Casa Santa Marta.

Aside from the two votes Monday, there will be four votes per day (one set of two in the morning, another set of two in the afternoon). The new pope needs two-thirds of the vote (77 votes), and if he is elected in just one vote instead of two, white smoke will arise from the Sistine Chapel at 10:30 a.m. or 5:30 p.m., depending whether the vote was in the morning or afternoon. If two votes occur, there will be either white or black smoke at noon and/or 7 p.m.

Black smoke means no pope was elected. Lombardi clarified that the new pope has to accept the position before white smoke is released, and said if smoke is released at night, the Sistine Chapel chimney will be lit up so onlookers can see it.

Starting Wednesday, the cardinals will have up to two votes before prayer and lunch at 12:30 p.m., and up to two votes at 4 p.m. before prayer at 7:15 p.m.

If there's no election by Friday, cardinals will pause on Saturday for a day of reflection and prayer. The voting would continue in that pattern (three days of voting with a one-day break) until the 34th voting round. Then there would be a runoff between the top two candidates.

When a pope is chosen and white smoke rises from the chapel, the bells of St. Peter's Basilica will ring, as they did in 2005 when Benedict was elected. Lombardi noted it took about 40 minutes between the white smoke and official announcement in 2005.

This year, it will be French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the senior cardinal deacon, who will stand on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to shout "Habemus Papam!" ("We have a new pope!"). He'll present the new pope, who will be in white papal cassocks (three sizes are kept on reserve) and give his first blessing as pope.

Related on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/09/new-pope-election-vatican-conclave_n_2844822.html

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