First Drug Ok'd to Combat Spreading Basal Cell Skin Cancer (HealthDay)

MONDAY, Jan. 30 (HealthDay News) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a drug to treat the most common form of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma.

Erivedge (vismodegib) is the first drug sanctioned in the United States to treat basal cell skin cancer that has metastasized, or spread. The once-daily pill is also designed for cases deemed unsuitable for surgery or radiation, the agency said in a news release.

This usually slow-growing, painless form of cancer starts in the epidermis, the top layer of skin. Frequent exposure to sunlight and other forms of ultraviolet radiation are the typical causes, the FDA said.

Researchers evaluated the safety and effectiveness of Erivedge in a clinical study of 96 people with locally advanced or metastatic cancer. Of those with metastatic disease, 30 percent had at least a partial response to the drug, while 43 percent of people with locally advanced basal cell had at least a partial response.

One specialist welcomed the drug's approval.

"Eviredge is an amazing revolutionary approach to treating skin cancer," said Dr. Michele Green, dermatologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. "I have many patients who are elderly and infirm for whom getting surgery is a major ordeal. Molecular biology has advanced to the point where such an important advance in therapy was unthinkable even a few years ago."

Skin cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in the United States, and it is estimated that one in five Americans will develop it in their lifetime. Caught early, it is highly treatable.

The most frequently cited side effects of Erivedge included muscle spasms, hair loss, weight loss, nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, distorted sense of taste, decreased appetite, constipation and vomiting.

Because of the potential risk for death or severe birth defects to a fetus, the drug will be packaged with a label warning, and doctors will not prescribe it to women who are pregnant, the agency said. Men and women will be advised to use birth control while taking the pills.

Erivedge, marketed by San Francisco-based Genentech, won expedited approval under a priority review program for drugs that may represent a major treatment advance.

More information

The Skin Cancer Foundation has details about basal cell.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120131/hl_hsn/firstdrugokdtocombatspreadingbasalcellskincancer

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How Gossip Saves Society [Science]

Everybody loves to talk about other people. It's human nature. But our society seems to stigmatize gossip, branding it as common, rude and just a little bit shameful. Turns out, though, it's not all bad. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/NYpB-YLOq5g/how-gossip-saves-society

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Marshall's monster day leads AFC

Dolphins receiver catches 6 passes for 176 yards and 4 TDs in 59-41 win

By JAYMES SONG

updated 1:00 a.m. ET Jan. 30, 2012

HONOLULU - While everyone was playing at half-speed and ready to extend their Hawaiian vacation, Brandon Marshall played as if it was his last game.

The Miami Dolphins wide receiver caught six passes for 176 yards and a Pro Bowl-record four touchdowns, and the AFC used a second-half surge to beat the NFC 59-41 on Sunday.

"You never know when you're going to be back," Marshall said, "and I wanted to go all out today because it could be my last Pro Bowl."

Marshall had a touchdown catch in each quarter, including an early 74-yarder and a 3-yarder in the fourth, in a game filled with highlight-reel grabs.

He was selected the game's MVP, and his name now will join the likes of Walter Payton and Jerry Rice on the MVP banners at Aloha Stadium.

"You know what? I wanted it," he said. "It's a Pro Bowl. Some guys are playing 100 (percent), some guys are playing 90, some guys aren't playing at all, but it means a lot to be up in the rafters with some of these guys."

The 59 points by the AFC set a Pro Bowl mark, and the 100 points scored by the teams combined was the second highest, a touchdown shy of the 107 scored in 2004.

But it was clear from the start it was Marshall's day. He hauled in a deflected, go-ahead 47-yard TD pass from Andy Dalton, while on his back, to give the AFC a 38-35 lead late in the third quarter. It was Marshall's third TD catch of the game, tying Jimmy Smith's Pro Bowl record set in 2004.

"It was the most unathletic highlight I ever had," he said. "Andy put it up there for me to make a play. I saw the ball, got nervous, fell, saw the ball, kicked it up and it just fell in my hands."

Marshall, making his third Pro Bowl appearance, then nabbed a 3-yard TD pass from Dalton that gave the AFC a 52-35 lead with 8:25 left and put the game away.

"People were saying throw to him. I saw the matchup I had and he's a great receiver, so I knew he could make the play," Dalton said.

Hawaii has been kind to Marshall, who also won MVP honors at Aloha Stadium in his final game at Central Florida in the 2005 Hawaii Bowl, where he caught 11 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns.

Marshall noted he had six TDs this season, but four this game.

"It says a lot when you're playing with these type of quarterbacks," Marshall said. "They just put it in the right place and I just made the play. Hats off to those guys throwing me the ball."

The game featured 36 first-timers, including rookie quarterbacks Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers and Dalton of the Cincinnati Bengals, who replaced Super Bowl quarterbacks Eli Manning and Tom Brady. Their selection made this Pro Bowl the first to feature two rookie signal callers.

Dalton and Newton played the entire second half.

While Dalton looked composed, Newton played horribly ? struggling to move the ball, stay in the pocket and find his targets, which drew some boos from the sun-splashed, sellout crowd of 48,423.

"No excuses," Newton said. "When you hang the ball up there, against these kind of players, that's what you get," Newton said. "It's the good and the bad of playing in a Pro Bowl. I learned a lot."

Newton finished 9 of 27 for 186 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Dalton, meanwhile, was 7 of 9 for 99 yards and two TDs.

On his first series, Newton overthrew a wide-open Tony Gonzalez over the middle, with the ball sailing into Eric Weddle's hands. The San Diego Chargers safety popped up to his feet and returned it 63 yards to the NFC 23, leading to a 37-yard FG by Sebastian Janikowski, which gave the AFC its first lead of the game at 31-28.

Newton recovered on the next series, airing out a 55-yard go-ahead touchdown pass to Panthers teammate Steve Smith, making it 34-31. But he was intercepted again on the next series.

Weddle also intercepted another pass by Newton late in the game. After picking off the deep pass, he pitched it to teammate Derrick Johnson, who rumbled 60 yards for the AFC's final score.

"None of us want to go out and lose, so we picked it up and went out and made some plays," Weddle said. "Got the 'W,' that's the main thing."

With the Pro Bowlers unable to get out of third gear ? particularly on the offensive and defensive lines ? and hitting each other as though they were having a pillow fight, the Pro Bowl featured some good, bad and real ugly ? sometimes on the same play. For example, Aaron Rodgers caught a pass from himself. His throw was deflected at the line and he leaped to catch the ball and backpedaled for a 15-yard loss.

Rodgers was 13 of 17 for 141 yards and two TDs, giving him a quarterback rating of 139.6, higher than his NFL record 122.5 rating during the season. But he was watching late in the game as Newton struggled.

Rodgers said it's easier to play in the first quarter when the game isn't as intense.

"It's tough to be the last guy in, when it's the fourth quarter and money becomes an issue," he said. "Guys are playing a little bit harder. They come at you."

The NFC had three players with 100-yard yard receiving: Gonzalez (seven for 114), Larry Fitzgerald (6 for 111) and Smith (5 for 118).

The AFC and NFC traded score after score, and turnover after turnover in the first half.

Rodgers and Fitzgerald connected for a pair of scores on back-to-back plays to put the NFC up 14-0 early in the game.

After stopping the AFC on fourth down at midfield, Rodgers drove the NFC down the field and threw a 10-yard TD toss to Fitzgerald. Six seconds later, Rodgers aired a 44-yard rainbow in the end zone to Fitzgerald for another score after the NFC got the ball back with a surprise onside kick.

The reception was Fitzgerald's sixth career TD catch in the Pro Bowl, tying Gonzalez's record. He would break the record with the game's last touchdown, on a 36-yard pass from Newton.

The AFC came right back and tied it up on two deep TD passes on the right side by Ben Roethlisberger. He threw a 34-yarder to rookie A.J. Green, and then connected with Marshall on a 74-yarder.

But Drew Brees and the NFC kept the scoring going. Just like in the regular season, Brees and Saints teammate Jimmy Graham hooked up to give the NFC a 21-14 lead in the second quarter. On fourth-and-goal, Brees zipped a pass to Graham for a 6-yard score and would later find Greg Jennings for an 11-yard TD. Brees finished 10 of 14 for 146 yards and two touchdowns.

Antonio Gates pulled in a 27-yard TD from Chargers teammate Rivers as time expired in the half to tie it at 28.

Each AFC player earned a record $50,000 for the win, while the NFC players received $25,000.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Kent Nishimura / Getty Images

Marshall's monster day leads AFC

??Brandon Marshall caught six passes for 176 yards and a Pro Bowl-record four touchdowns and the AFC used a second-half surge to beat the NFC 59-41 on Sunday.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46185221/ns/sports-nfl/

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Video: Difficulties continue at crippled cruise ship

A 17th body is recovered from the Costa Concordia, but at least 17 more people are missing as weather hampers efforts to remove a half-million gallons of fuel. NBC?s Michelle Kosinski reports from Isola del Giglio.

>>> causing significant delays for those trying to pump fuel out of the " costa concordia " and rough seas are hampering the efforts to save people still missing. we have the latest from the tuscan coast.

>> reporter: divers tried to work today. entering cold, choppy water. immediately descending into darkness . along deck after deck of the con concordia, down to the crushed edges, where the reef displays an ugly tangle of what was inside. mattresses, furniture, and then a single shoe. in this deeply submerged back of the ship, this is where divers did find the body of a woman near an evacuation point. perhaps flooded too quickly that night, while thousands of people aboard scrambled for lifeboats. 17 victims have been recovered, but nearly that same number are still missing. searchers today wanted to use robotic cameras to help, but the rough seas wouldn't allow it. as if that were not enough, another task needs to happen out here at the same time. pumping out fuel before it leaks. salvage teens drilled through the hull into the tanks. but the waves stopped that too. they had to detach equipment and back off. likely now won't be able to start until the middle of next week. for the uninjured survivor, they offered roughly $14,000 and plus all travel expenses , though some have chosen a legal route. this lawsuit filed yesterday in miami by six passengers seeks hundreds of millions of dollars, as punishment. saying passengers were left to fend for themselves. it will be a process, and this unwelcome view a reminder for months to come. michelle kaczynski, nbc news, giglio, italy.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46176621/

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iNdustrial Revolutions

To paraphrase Otto von Bismarck, "iPads are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." It's an ugly story. Over a hundred employees "injured by n-hexane, a toxic chemical that can cause nerve damage and paralysis" because its use "meant workers could clean more screens each minute." Other workers killed or injured by explosions. All so that iPads can be built as cheaply as possible, so that Apple can maintain its 44.7% gross margins. Isn't that awful? Yes, of course -- but let's try to maintain a nuanced perspective here. This is hardly a new story, and it's hardly unique to the tech industry. Think of the exploitation of child labor to harvest Egyptian cotton and Cote d'Ivoire cocoa. Plus ?a change; a decade ago it was Indonesian sweatshops and Indian fireworks exciting outrage. Think of the exploitation of Congolese workers to mine coltan, used in electronics everywhere. Show me a country with a large population of desperately poor people, and I'll show you horrific exploitation of impoverished workers. Please note, though, that the latter is an inevitable symptom of the former; and again, let's please try to maintain a sense of perspective. It's awful that a dozen Chinese workers were killed and hundreds injured building iPads--but at the same time, coal mining kills more than two thousand Chinese workers a year (down from almost 7000 ten years ago) and nobody's suddenly outraged about them. We in the West don't really seem to care that Chinese employees work under awful conditions and die in appalling numbers -- unless they make shiny things that we use. We claim we don't want people to suffer, but in fact we just don't want our iProducts tainted by that suffering. Isn't that more than a little hypocritical?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/LPewG8--NOU/

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Loved and loathed, Lana Del Rey set to face the music (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Rarely has a pop star just starting out been so loved and loathed as Lana Del Rey, the 25-year-old who has filled acres of newspaper column inches even before her debut album "Born to Die" hits shelves next week.

First came the "breakthrough" when her video for the song "Video Games" was viewed millions of times on YouTube leading to the sultry chanteuse becoming the talk of the music business.

That success prompted the question 'just who is Del Rey?' and inquisitive fans quickly uncovered that the New York native, whose real name is Elizabeth Grant, was the daughter of Internet domain investor Rob Grant and came from a wealthy background.

Then, it was learned singer had previously been signed to a label, which fueled debate about her authenticity as an indie music artist garnering success through a viral video. The backlash picked up steam after Del Rey's recent, shaky singing as the musical guest on U.S. sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live." It was attacked with vitriol by fans and critics alike.

"She's hit a nerve in some way, which is both a good thing and a bad thing as people are talking about her," said Lyndsey Parker, blogger at Yahoo! Music.

"There's a huge curiosity about her and if that was what the label wanted, they've done a great job."

But rather than addressing the criticism directly, Del Rey's response has been to retreat from the public eye and shun live performances ahead of the album's release -- a rarity these days when promotion is the name of the game in show business if stars want to sell records, books, movies or TV shows.

She appears to have given only one interview following the "Saturday Night Live" performance, published last week in British newspaper The Telegraph.

"I don't want to talk about how it (the criticism) made me feel because I think it's disrespectful to God to go to a dark place with this kind of thing. People just want to see me go off the rails. That's the only reason they're watching," Del Rey told the Telegraph.

That interview has seemed only to add to the intrigue surrounding the singer who many have tipped as the next big thing among female solo acts. Del Rey, through her representatives, declined an interview with Reuters.

"It's really hard to get people to stop and pay attention to you, and Lana Del Rey has done that. So, she's cleared a hurdle that ninety-nine percent of millions of artists never clear," said Bill Werde, editorial director of Billboard. "The next hurdle is, can she deliver a hit song or hit album?"

"HITCHCOCK HEROINE"

Part of Del Rey's appeal has been her manicured, vintage-inspired appearance, with waves of tumbling auburn hair framing an often expressionless demeanor in a look that Yahoo's Parker likened to an "icy, Hitchcock heroine."

Del Rey has denied that her look, which has earned her a modeling contract, and on-stage persona is a gimmick. But whether pre-meditated image-making or just personal taste, one thing is certain: the singer's retro style and attractive features have won over fans and critics.

"The image matches the music and it does make her stand out in an era where a lot of people dress in hotpants, almost naked, and her throwback image is kind of cool," said Parker.

Del Rey's voice ranges from syrupy sweet to huskily haunting on what Freddie Campion at Vogue calls "epic, scene-setting melodies" when she sings lyrics such as "You were sorta punk rock, I grew up on hip hop, but you fit me better than my favorite sweater" on her single, "Blue Jeans."

Lyrically, the "Born To Die" album tracklist fluctuates between dark tales of star-crossed lovers in "Lucky Ones" and "Blue Jeans" and gritty stories of broken dreams in songs like "Carmen." She references teen drinking and drug abuse in the ode "National Anthem" and in "This is What Makes Us Girls."

Whether Del Rey earns hit status with her new album remains to be seen. Early reviews have been mixed.

New York Times' Jon Caramancia likened "Born To Die" to "a multiple choice test with every answer scanned 'C'."

Andrew Hampp at Billboard.com called the record "as puffy as the singer's oft-debated lips," adding that some of the songs became stale throughout the album.

But there has been positive, too. James Lachno at The Telegraph gave the record four out of five stars, saying the "misty-eyed retro-pop makes for compelling listening."

For Del Rey, the album marks a personal achievement after her struggle to break in to the industry.

"I think it's beautiful. I think it's gorgeous. This album is myself in song form," she told The Telegraph. "All I wanted to do was make something beautiful, and I think I've done that."

"Born to Die" will be released on Interscope, part of the Universal Music Group, on January 30 in the United Kingdom and January 31 in the United States.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Mike Collett-White)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/people_nm/us_lanadelrey

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Save Money on Car Insurance with a Lump Sum Payment | Cheap ...

When you purchase a car insurance policy, you are given the option of paying one lump sum payment for your insurance coverage or paying monthly payments. Many people decide that they will pay their auto insurance premiums in monthly installments. However, this can be a costly mistake to make each month.

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Source: http://www.cheapcarinsurance.net/save-money-on-car-insurance-with-a-lump-sum-payment/

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Can economy help Obama reelection? One statistic gives him hope.

Since 1948 only one incumbent president has won reelection with joblessness over 7 percent. There is another unemployment statistic, however, that could play in President Obama's favor.

With the nation's jobless rate edging downward and news Friday that the economy grew at a 2.8 percent pace in the fourth quarter, it's possible that the state of the economy may now be transforming from a political millstone into less of a losing issue for President Obama.

Skip to next paragraph

Polls released this week show President Obama ahead in potential match-ups against Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich.

But Obama is still struggling with low approval ratings, and forecasters generally envision a tight race for the White House, with still-high unemployment offsetting Mr. Obama's status as the incumbent.

It certainly doesn't look like he'll coast to an easy win.

Consider that in the time period since 1948 (for which monthly unemployment data are available) only one incumbent president has won reelection with joblessness over 7 percent. That was Ronald Reagan in 1984. Today the unemployment rate is higher than it was then, and many economists expect it to remain above 8 percent through much or all of 2012.

But here's another data point to consider: No incumbent seeking reelection has lost with unemployment falling for two years prior to the vote.

It may be the relative direction of the economy, rather than the absolute level of unemployment, that most determines voters perceptions of how a president is doing on pocketbook issues.

If that's the case, Obama's reelection hopes look brighter.

When Reagan was reelected, joblessness was high but had been falling for two full years.

When George H. W. Bush lost in 1992, unemployment had barely begun to edge down after a recession the year before. When Gerald Ford lost in 1976, the jobless rate was falling for about a year and half. Another big factor in that vote: Americans were disillusioned with Washington after the?Watergate scandal, and outsider Jimmy Carter promised change.

Obama can point to more than two years of decline in the jobless rate, with more than nine months still to go before the election. (Unemployment peaked at 10 percent in October 2009.)

At the same time, what's distinctive is the depth of the recession from which the nation is still recovering. It was the worst since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The president chose his words carefully earlier this week in a State of the Union speech that was, as much as anything, an official launching point for his year-long campaign. "The state of our Union is getting stronger," he said, acknowledging the financial stress millions of Americans feel but pointing to progress in job creation and factory-floor expansion.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/4sAVdv5PaXM/Can-economy-help-Obama-reelection-One-statistic-gives-him-hope

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Gingrich reveals income, but not how he earned it (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich beat his main GOP presidential rival, Mitt Romney, to the punch by releasing his most recent tax return. But Gingrich still hasn't revealed how he earned most of his $3.1 million.

The 2010 tax return made public last week shows that $2.4 million, more than three-fourths of Gingrich's income, came in payments he regularly received, in addition to his salary, from different businesses he ran before announcing his candidacy for president. Those businesses managed speaking engagements, appearance fees, consulting work, book and video deals and paid positions that Gingrich held in other groups.

Gingrich, who has demanded more transparency from Romney, doesn't identify where the money came from, including amounts he received from his consulting business.

The Associated Press requested details about Gingrich's income and the identities of who paid him for his services. The campaign has not decided whether it will release further information about Gingrich's income, spokesman R.C. Hammond said.

Other GOP presidential candidates, including Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, have provided details of such income. Romney's financial reports filed last year and his 2010 tax return released this week specify groups that paid him for appearances and how much he received. Santorum, who has yet to release his tax return, lists on a financial report the businesses that paid him as a consultant, payments he received serving on specific boards and activist groups, and money he earned as a FOX News contributor and a newspaper columnist.

The way Gingrich has earned a living in recent years has become an avenue for political attack by Romney. Romney charges that the $1.65 million Gingrich received from the government-backed mortgage company Freddie Mac from 1999 to 2007 was for influence peddling, which Gingrich has denied. Romney also has demanded that Gingrich identify other clients who paid for his services and what he did for them, accusing Gingrich of "potentially wrongful activity."

"If you're getting paid by health companies, if your entities are getting paid by health companies that could benefit from a piece of legislation, and you then meet with Republican congressmen and encourage them to support that legislation, you can call it whatever you'd like. I call it influence-peddling," Romney told Gingrich.

Gingrich has accused Romney of attacking his consulting work out of political desperation, hoping to stifle Gingrich's rising popularity among GOP voters. Gingrich said he has never been a lobbyist.

But he is battling the perception that he was selling his influence, if not actually lobbying, as he campaigns to win Florida's GOP presidential primary on Tuesday. Gingrich has said he was exercising his rights as a citizen, not a lobbyist, in 2003 when he publicly advocated changes in Medicare. And he's argued that he and his group, which received millions from dozens of health-related businesses, made sure not to cross the line into lobbying when he met with congressional members and others to promote the Medicare changes sought by then President George W. Bush.

A liberal-leaning watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is urging a federal investigation of Gingrich's activities.

"Mr. Gingrich's claim that he simply engaged in `public advocacy' doesn't pass the smell test," said Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director. "Mr. Gingrich was a lobbyist, and he should not be allowed to play word games with the American people."

To make its case that Gingrich was lobbying, Sloan's group cites the Lobbying Disclosure Act, which defines a lobbyist as someone who receives payment for services from a client, makes more than one lobbying contact for the client on an issue and spends at least 20 percent of their time in a three-month period on lobbying activities. A lobbying contact is defined as communication on behalf of a client regarding "the formulation, modification or adoption of federal legislation."

Gingrich's tax return doesn't show how much money he received as a consultant working through his Gingrich Group and his Center for Health Transformation. The center urges changes to health-related policies and laws, practices and technology but says it "does not provide lobbying services nor directly or indirectly participate in lobbying activities of any kind." Instead, all of Gingrich's income is lumped together as $2.4 million in payments from Gingrich Holdings, a sort of parent company managing his interests in other businesses.

The Center for Health Transformation served more than 100 companies in 2010, with some paying as much as $200,000 a year to join Gingrich's organization. While the center has said it generated $55 million from hundreds of corporate sponsors from 2001 to 2010 with Gingrich leading the effort, it said it won't release a list of clients due to confidentiality clauses in its contracts.

Last year as he prepared for the presidential run, Gingrich sold his interest in the Gingrich Group and the Center for Health Transformation. He hasn't said how much he received in the buyout, but his financial disclosure form shows his Gingrich Productions is owed between $5 million and $25 million from the Gingrich Group.

Gingrich's tax return also doesn't show how much he received from his Fox News contract as a frequent on-air contributor. That contract was managed by Gingrich Communications, a business that handles his appearances and speaking engagements.

Last fall when Gingrich was first denying ever working as a lobbyist, he told a South Carolina audience that he didn't need to walk the halls of Congress to make a living because of the bounty he received in speaking fees.

"I'm going to be really direct, OK? I was charging $60,000 a speech. And the number of speeches was going up, not down," he said.

Gingrich has not identified the groups that paid him for those speeches.

Gingrich also continued to earn money as an author, although it's not clear how much of his earnings came from payments received by Gingrich Communications from his books.

While the $2.4 million in Gingrich's business payments are not detailed, the tax return does identify more than $712,000 of other income:

_$252,500 for his salary from Gingrich Holdings;

_$191,827 for his wife's salary from Gingrich Productions and $5,918 from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington as a member of the church's professional choir;

_$76,200 for his congressional pension;

_$72,274 from his share of his daughter's business;

_$38,637 for dividend and interest payments;

_$33,124 in tax refunds;

_$21,625 in speaking fees paid directly to Gingrich and not his businesses;

_$20,000 for him and his wife for serving on boards of directors. The boards are not identified.

___

Follow Blackledge on Twitter: http://twitter.com/brettblackledge

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_el_pr/us_gingrich_income

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US: 'Serious' questions on oil pipeline bill

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. State Department says a Republican bill that would strip President Barack Obama of his authority to decide on a Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline raises "serious" legal questions.

A top State Department official told Congress on Wednesday that the bill "imposes narrow time constraints and creates automatic mandates that prevent an informed decision" on the Keystone XL pipeline.

The bill, sponsored by Republican Rep. Lee Terry of Nebraska, would transfer authority over the 1,700-mile (2,735-kilometer) pipeline to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

Obama blocked the $7 billion pipeline last week, saying officials did not have enough time to review an alternate route that avoided environmentally sensitive areas of Nebraska.

The plan by Calgary-based TransCanada Corp. would carry tar sands oil from western Canada across six U.S. states to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-25-Oil%20Pipeline/id-593628052de444f397c547347eeecde2

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Summary Box: Ireland returns to debt markets (AP)

IRISH RETURN: Ireland tapped the bond markets Wednesday for the first time since September 2010, when bond yields surged above 6 percent.

WHAT HAPPENED: Bondholders swapped $4.6 billion in bonds due in January 2014 for new bonds due in February 2015, delaying some of the country's debt obligations.

CONTEXT: The European Union and International Monetary Fund had to rescue Ireland out with cheap loans in November 2010 because of massive budget deficits stemming from the huge costs of bailing out the country's indebted banks.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_ireland_financial_crisis_summary_box

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Patterns of chromosome abnormality: The key to cancer?

Monday, January 23, 2012

A healthy genome is characterized by 23 pairs of chromosomes, and even a small change in this structure ? such as an extra copy of a single chromosome ? can lead to severe physical impairment. So it's no surprise that when it comes to cancer, chromosomal structure is frequently a contributing factor, says Prof. Ron Shamir of the Blavatnik School of Computer Science at Tel Aviv University.

Now Prof. Shamir and his former doctoral students Michal Ozery-Flato and Chaim Linhart, along with fellow researchers Prof. Shai Izraeli and Dr. Luba Trakhtenbrot from the Sheba Medical Center, have combined techniques from computer science and statistics to discover that many chromosomal pairs are lost or gained together across various cancer types. Moreover, the researchers discovered a new commonality of chromosomal aberrations among embryonic cancer types, such as kidney, skeleton, and liver cancers.

These findings, recently published in Genome Biology, could reveal more about the nature of cancer. As cancer develops, the genome becomes increasingly mutated ? and identifying the pattern of mutation can help us to understand the nature and the progression of many different kinds of cancer, says Prof. Shamir.

Looking at the big picture

As cancer progresses, the structure of chromosomes is rearranged, individual chromosomes are duplicated or lost, and the genome becomes abnormal. Some forms of cancer can even be diagnosed by identifying individual chromosomal aberrations, notes Prof. Shamir, pointing to the example of a specific type of leukemia that is caused by small piece of chromosome 9 being moved to chromosome 22.

When analyzing many different kinds of cancer, however, the researchers discovered that chromosomal aberrations among different cancers happen together in a noticeable and significant way. The researchers studied a collection of more than fifty thousand cancer karyotypes ? representations of chromosomal layouts in a single cell ? and charted them according to commonalities. The researchers were not only able to confirm different chromosomal aberrations that appeared in specific cancer types, but also for the first time identified a broader effect of pairs of chromosomes being lost or gained together across different cancer types.

It was also the first time that researchers saw a connection among solid kidney, skeleton, and liver cancers. While it was known that these cancers all develop in the embryo, they were previously analyzed independently. The TAU researchers have now confirmed that they share chromosomal characteristics and aberrations, much like various forms of leukemia or lymphomas.

Aberrations a driving force for cancer

Under normal circumstances, even a small change to a person's chromosomal structure can be devastating. For example, Down's syndrome is caused by a single extra copy of Chromosome 21. "But in cancer, there are many cases of extra or missing chromosomes. Yet cancer cells thrive more effectively than other cells," Prof. Shamir says.

Prof. Shamir hopes that future investigation into these chromosomal aberrations will give researchers more clues into why something that is so detrimental to our healthy development is so beneficial to this disease. Cancer is the result of sequences of events, he says, each causing the genome to become more mutated, mixed, and duplicated. Tracking these changes could aid our understanding of the driving forces of cancer's progress.

###

American Friends of Tel Aviv University: http://www.aftau.org

Thanks to American Friends of Tel Aviv University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116946/Patterns_of_chromosome_abnormality__The_key_to_cancer_

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PFT: Allen is Raiders' top candidate for coach

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In a lengthy interview containing plenty of content, context, and clues about the future of the Colts current franchise quarterback, Peyton Manning makes it abundantly clear to Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star that now isn?t the best time to be an employee of the team.

?I?m not in a very good place for healing, let?s say that,?? Manning said, regarding the team?s facility.? ?It?s not a real good environment down there right now, to say the least.? Everybody?s walking around on eggshells.? I don?t recognize our building right now.? There?s such complete and total change.??

That explanation implies that Manning is still healing.? Which means he isn?t healthy.? And it also means he?s necessarily frustrated by the fact that he has to try to get healthy in the midst of revolutionary change.

?I mean, it?s 20 degrees, it?s snowing, the building is absolutely empty except when you see coaches cleaning out their offices,?? Manning told Kravitz.? ?I guess it?s the reality of the football world, just not something I?ve had to deal with very often.? But I?m in there every day, so I have to sit there and see it.? Everybody?s being evaluated and I?m no different.? It?s not the best environment.?

Peyton adroitly has positioned the decision on his future as a decision that not he but owner Jim Irsay will make.

?One thing [new G.M. Ryan Grigson] kind-of, sort-of told me, without really wanting to tell me, was that Irsay will be the guy I?m going to sit down and talk with,?? Manning said.? ?That?s going to happen at some point, but we haven?t had that conversation yet because we really don?t need to have that conversation yet.??

Did you catch that one?? It?s subtle, but significant.? Not ?Jim? or ?Jimmy? or ?Mr. Irsay.?? Just ?Irsay.?? Peyton refers to ?Irsay? as ?Jim? on at least two other occasions in the interview, but to call the owner only ?Irsay? in that specific moment is telling.

Folks, Peyton isn?t happy.

?One of the things about football is, it?s a relationship business,?? Manning said.? ?Sometimes guys get fired, it goes across the ticker, ?Jim Caldwell got fired? and that?s that.? But when it?s every day in a relationship business . . . with Bill [Polian], with Marvin [Harrison], Edge [James], guys who retire, get cut, traded or fired, it?s just really hard.? I don?t think I have an emotion for it.?

Did you catch that one?? Peyton puts Bill Polian in the same category as Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James.

Folks, Peyton isn?t happy.

?I just want to pay tribute to all those guys,? Manning said.? ?It?s unfortunate because so many of them have been such a big part of so many big wins here, and this is so . . . sudden.? Their keys didn?t work the next day.? There?s no other way to do it?? I don?t know.? That?s hard to see, all these people leaving.?

Folks, Peyton really isn?t happy.

But he?s setting it up so that if (when) he ends up playing for another team, it?ll happen because the Colts left him with no options.

?I don?t want to get into some kind of fan campaign with the owner, but I think it?s well documented that I want to play in the same place my whole career,?? Manning said, which could be just enough to launch a fan campaign with the owner.? ?It?s been a privilege to play here.? I love the fans, the city, the transformation of the fans, how our place has become the toughest stadium to play in, the fact our fans wear more jerseys to games than anybody else.? It?s been fun to be a part of that.

?But I understand how it works.? I understand tough decisions have to be made.? There?s personal and there?s business and that?s where we?ve got to separate the two. I?ve seen other guys leave places and it was personal.? I?ve invested too much into this city for that to happen.? We live here, we?ve given lots of time and money to the community and our church, and that?s never going to change.? Nothing changes that.?

Manning says nothing about whether he?ll agree to delay the $28 million option bonus that comes due on March 8 in order to give the team more time to determine whether he?s healthy before paying him that money.? But given his current mindset, it?d be surprising to see him do anything he doesn?t have to do in order to make things any easier for an organization that has made things harder than necessary on Manning?s former coworkers.

?There?s no other way to do it??

Yep, Peyton won?t be doing ?Irsay? any favors.

At the heart of the matter is, I firmly believe, the team?s apparent intention to use the first overall pick in the draft on Peyton?s successor instead of dangling that pick for the kind of modern-day Herschel Walker package that could propel the Colts to more Super Bowl wins.? I?d previously believed that Peyton already had made that known to ?Irsay.?? I now believe that Peyton has come to that conclusion without articulating it to the team.? Yet.

Manning may never have to.? If, due to the current environment in the building, he?s not healed by March 8 and not willing to throw ?Irsay? a bone by backing up the due date, the decision that Manning may secretly want will be made by someone else.

The only thing we know for sure is that, contrary to the ?report? last week from Rob Lowe, Peyton isn?t retiring.? Yet.

?I never thought ?Sodapop Curtis? would announce my retirement,? Manning said.

The full interview merits a complete read.? And none of this should be regarded as criticism of Peyton Manning.? I?m simply trying to analyze and interpret the facts, the statements, and the possible motivations.? He?s a smart guy, and he?s hardly a passive participant in his life.

Peyton surely knows what he wants to do, and his comments to Kravitz surely are aimed at making it happen that way, with minimal damage to the Peyton Manning brand, in Indy or elsewhere.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/24/dennis-allen-is-the-leading-candidate-in-oakland/related/

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Bonobos' unusual success story

Public release date: 23-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Dr. Tobias Deschner
deschner@eva.mpg.de
49-341-355-0207
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Max Planck researchers reveal the structure of the cellular protein degradation machinery

This release is available in German.

Mate competition by males over females is common in many animal species. During mating season male testosterone levels rise, resulting in an increase in aggressive behavior and masculine features. Male bonobos, however, invest much more into friendly relationships with females. Elevated testosterone and aggression levels would collide with this increased tendency towards forming pair-relationships.

Bonobos are among the closest living relatives of humans. Like other great apes they live in groups made up of several males and females. Contrary to other ape species however, male bonobos do not, in general, outrank female individuals and do not dominate them in mating contexts. This constellation suggests that the selection for typically masculine behavioral patterns like aggression, dominance and intrasexual competition are met with antagonistic forces: On one hand it is advantageous if a male outcompetes a fellow male. This, however, implies that there is increased aggression and an elevated level of testosterone in high-ranking males. On the other hand as dominance relations between the sexes are rather balanced in bonobos it is likely that males benefit from having friendly pair-relationships with female individuals. Studies with birds and rodents show that a tendency towards forming pair-relationships correlates with lower male aggression rates and testosterone levels.

In a current study, Martin Surbeck, Gottfried Hohmann, Tobias Deschner and colleagues of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, found that in wild bonobos high-ranking males were more aggressive and their mating success was higher when compared to lower-ranking males. Contrary to other species in which males compete fiercely over access to females, there was no correlation between dominance status or aggression with testosterone levels. In addition, the researchers found that high-ranking males invested more often than lower-ranking group members into friendly relationships with females. This suggests that these friendly relationships between the sexes are associated with lower male testosterone levels.

"Our study suggests that in bonobos as in in humans intersexual friendships result in hormonal patterns that we know from species in which male individuals are actively participating in raising their young and in which the two sexes enter lasting pair-relationships", says Martin Surbeck.

###

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?

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: 23-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Dr. Tobias Deschner
deschner@eva.mpg.de
49-341-355-0207
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

Max Planck researchers reveal the structure of the cellular protein degradation machinery

This release is available in German.

Mate competition by males over females is common in many animal species. During mating season male testosterone levels rise, resulting in an increase in aggressive behavior and masculine features. Male bonobos, however, invest much more into friendly relationships with females. Elevated testosterone and aggression levels would collide with this increased tendency towards forming pair-relationships.

Bonobos are among the closest living relatives of humans. Like other great apes they live in groups made up of several males and females. Contrary to other ape species however, male bonobos do not, in general, outrank female individuals and do not dominate them in mating contexts. This constellation suggests that the selection for typically masculine behavioral patterns like aggression, dominance and intrasexual competition are met with antagonistic forces: On one hand it is advantageous if a male outcompetes a fellow male. This, however, implies that there is increased aggression and an elevated level of testosterone in high-ranking males. On the other hand as dominance relations between the sexes are rather balanced in bonobos it is likely that males benefit from having friendly pair-relationships with female individuals. Studies with birds and rodents show that a tendency towards forming pair-relationships correlates with lower male aggression rates and testosterone levels.

In a current study, Martin Surbeck, Gottfried Hohmann, Tobias Deschner and colleagues of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, found that in wild bonobos high-ranking males were more aggressive and their mating success was higher when compared to lower-ranking males. Contrary to other species in which males compete fiercely over access to females, there was no correlation between dominance status or aggression with testosterone levels. In addition, the researchers found that high-ranking males invested more often than lower-ranking group members into friendly relationships with females. This suggests that these friendly relationships between the sexes are associated with lower male testosterone levels.

"Our study suggests that in bonobos as in in humans intersexual friendships result in hormonal patterns that we know from species in which male individuals are actively participating in raising their young and in which the two sexes enter lasting pair-relationships", says Martin Surbeck.

###

---

[ | 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/2012-01/m-bus012312.php

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Make way for cyclists in Tel Aviv

The 'Amsterdam of the Middle East,' Tel Aviv has miles of urban cycling paths and a new bike-share program.

? A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.

Skip to next paragraph

Back in the 1990s, Tel Aviv?s bicycles were pushed to the margins of the urban landscape, which lacked bike lanes or bike racks.

In the past decade, however, Israel?s cosmopolitan capital has reimagined itself as an Amsterdam of the Middle East with miles of bike paths on sidewalks, boulevards, and in the streets.

With its generally flat terrain and temperate climate, Tel Aviv is an ideal city to navigate on two wheels. The network, marked with bicycle stencils, runs the length of the city?s Mediterranean seacoast, reaches down leafy historical avenues, and sweeps through the commercial center. The city also inaugurated a bike rental system, the Tel-O-Fun, with some 150 rental stations throughout the city. Usage has exceeded expectations, and the distinctive green and gray bikes with upright seating have become ubiquitous. A leading enthusiast is Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, who test-drove one of the Tel-O-Fun bikes and christened a bike traffic light.

Let?s be clear: Tel Aviv is no Amsterdam ? most of the bike lanes are on sidewalks. On trendy Rothschild Boulevard, the cyclists must dodge cafe tables, and on Ibn Gavirol, the bike path is interrupted by trees, benches, and building columns. But in a country where the volatile Israeli driver dominates the roads, some of that turf is being retaken by cyclists.

Think you know the Middle East? Take our geography quiz.

Get daily or weekly updates from CSMonitor.com delivered to your inbox.?Sign up today.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/J-6g-6HQtwI/Make-way-for-cyclists-in-Tel-Aviv

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U.S. envoy says no decision on Taliban transfers (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) ? The United States has not taken a decision on whether to release five prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay to support a nascent peace process with the Taliban, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan said on Sunday.

Marc Grossman, after two days of talks in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and advisors, said he agreed with Afghan government demands that any negotiations should be under the umbrella of "a peace process among Afghans."

He also said any release of Taliban prisoners would first have to be agreed by U.S. lawmakers.

"We haven't made any decisions and it's no surprise to any of you that this is an issue in the Unites States of law. We have to meet the requirements of our law," Grossman said.

The Taliban announced this month that it would open a political office in Qatar as a prelude to holding peace talks with the United States and its allies, seen by their supporters as the best chance of ending the decade-long war ahead of a withdrawal of foreign combat troops in 2014.

As a confidence-building measure, the Islamist group called for the release of five officials being held at Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. military enclave and detention centre in Cuba.

But Karzai said on Saturday, after meeting Grossman, that Afghanistan was "not a place for foreigners to do their political experiments," pushing for more Afghan control of the process.

Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin, standing with Grossman, said the Afghan government was supportive of any process that could end fighting.

There were still many steps to be taken before the opening of a Taliban office in Doha, Ludin said, but the Afghan government had given Grossman support in principle and hoped to bring Qatari diplomats to Afghanistan in the coming weeks to discuss the process.

"We support every effort that would lead to peace, that will bring peace and put an end to violence in Afghanistan," he said.

INSURGENT FACTIONS

Grossman has been holding talks with Taliban negotiators for more than a year and his visit could accelerate more talks within weeks now he has the backing of Karzai.

But Grossman said the Taliban would first have to renounce international "terrorism" and say they were prepared to take part in a process where "Afghans talk to Afghans about the future."

Karzai, to underscore his ability to bring non-Taliban insurgent factions into fledgling negotiations, said at the weekend he had met the party of warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, head of the militant Hizb-i-Islami group, which shares many of the Taliban's anti-foreigner, anti-government aims.

But it was unclear if the Haqqani insurgent network, behind some of the deadliest attacks on U.S.-led forces and accused of receiving sanctuary in Pakistan, could play a role in any talks.

Grossman left the door open to the inclusion of the Haqqani network and reiterated that the United States had held one meeting with the network.

"From the Afghan perspective anyway, this is an inclusive process, but we'll have to see what turns up," he said.

Grossman was forced to drop plans to visit Pakistan ahead of his visit to Kabul as relations between Washington and Islamabad are still in a chill after a NATO cross-border air attack in November killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Pakistan's foreign minister told Reuters this week Washington should not push Islamabad to go after militant groups or bring them to the Afghan peace process.

Grossman said he was prepared to visit Pakistan and brief the government on the peace process "at any time, at any place," after the Pakistan government completed a review of relations between the two countries.

(Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120122/wl_nm/us_afghanistan_guantanamo

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Rap group 2 Live Crew to reunite, tour this summer (AP)

PARK CITY, Utah ? The rap group that created controversy in the early 1990s with songs like "Me So Horny" is reuniting and hitting the road.

Luther Campbell said Saturday that 2 Live Crew is back together and will tour this summer.

The rapper and producer made the announcement at the Sundance Film Festival, where he is promoting his appearance in the short film "The Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke."

The 51-year-old entertainer describes the offbeat film as "an art piece" that he did to help young filmmakers who were inspired by his hip-hop work. But his mind was on getting back with the old crew.

"I just can't wait to just start practicing," he said. "That's going to be a blast."

So will they be "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" (the title of the group's 1989 album that a judge deemed obscene, a ruling later overturned by the United States Court of Appeals)?

Not really, Campbell said.

"We're going to perform the songs and everybody's going to be excited," he said. "Some of the older people of our generation will be able to tell their kids, `You're staying home tonight, we're going to see 2 Live Crew and shake our booty!'"

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: www.twitter.com/APSandy.

___

Online:

http://www.sundance.org/festival/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_en_mu/us_film_sundance2_live_crew

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Sail boats face piracy threats, head to safe haven

MALE, Maldives (AP) ? Boats competing in the Volvo Ocean Race were transported onboard an armed ship again to the safe haven of the Maldives capital because of the threat of pirates along the east coast of Africa.

Dutch ship Happy Diamond was protected by barbed wire when it delivered the six-strong fleet safely to Male.

"It has been a very tense and difficult time for us, and obviously we did not want to have to take this measure," Race CEO Knut Frostad said. "But we had no option but to take our security experts' advice. Now we're just looking forward to getting back to racing."

In an unprecedented move the 38-year history of the race, boats in the race were transported in late December on an armed ship through the Indian Ocean. They completed the leg with a short sprint into Abu Dhabi in the first week of January.

More than four months ago, only team and race officials knew of the decision to use the Maldives as a safe haven. They were required to sign non-disclosure documents.

The race, which started in late October from Alicante, Spain, has already had its share of drama. The boats were forced to suspend racing four times because of broken rigging and a holed hull.

The third leg promises to be just as hazardous with the fleet racing more than 3,000 nautical miles across the Indian Ocean, through the Malacca Strait and into the South China Sea.

The fleet will face monsoon winds and long stretches of upwind sailing through rough seas. They'll dodge container ships while picking their way through some of the busiest shipping lanes.

Team Telefonica of Spain, led by co-world sailors of the year Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez, lead the overall standings. Camper (Spain/New Zealand) and French boat Groupama trail the leader.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-21-SAI-Volvo-Ocean-Race/id-48f7a1a9b2a046f8895d530b4e3e0a40

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Chemists unlock potential target for drug development

ScienceDaily (Jan. 19, 2012) ? A receptor found on blood platelets whose importance as a potential pharmaceutical target has long been questioned may in fact be fruitful in drug testing, according to new research from Michigan State University chemists.

A team led by Dana Spence of MSU's Department of Chemistry has revealed a way to isolate and test the receptor known as P2X1. By creating a new, simple method to study it after blood is drawn, the team has unlocked a potential new drug target for many diseases that impact red blood cells, such as diabetes, hypertension and cystic fibrosis.

Researchers can evaluate the receptor not only in developing new drugs but also re-testing existing medications that could work now by attaching to the receptor.

"Scientists are always looking for new 'druggable' receptors in the human body," Spence said. "This receptor, P2X1, has long been viewed as not important in platelets; our studies show that is not necessarily true. The receptor is very active; you just need to be careful in working with it."

The research is published in the current issue of Analytical Methods, a journal from the Royal Society of Chemistry in London.

The main job of platelets is to help prevent bleeding via clotting, Spence said. They work by getting sticky in the bloodstream, but the problem with some diseases such as diabetes or sickle-cell anemia is that the platelets get sticky even when they shouldn't, preventing proper blood flow and blocking vessels.

Platelets are activated when their receptors are "turned on"; currently, researchers have always focused on the P2Y receptor, which is easily studied. On the other hand, the P2X1 receptor was not thought to play a major role in platelet activation, and it proved very troublesome to study since it became desensitized once blood is drawn from the body, Spence said.

Though scientists tried a pair of methods to get around that issue -- by using different additives or enzymes -- the results did not prove fruitful in studying the receptor.

What Spence and his team found is that by adding a simple molecule called NF449 -- originally thought to block the receptor -- they were able to activate the P2X1 receptor in platelets after a blood draw.

"We have discovered a way to prepare and handle platelets so that we can study the receptor authentically," he said. "This research opens up new avenues of study and will allow researchers and pharmaceutical companies to re-appraise this receptor as a druggable target."

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Journal Reference:

1. Kari B. Anderson, Welivitiya Karunarathne, Dana M. Spence. Measuring P2X1 receptor activity in washed platelets in the absence of exogenous apyrase. Analytical Methods, 2012; 4 (1): 101 DOI: 10.1039/C1AY05530E

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://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120119133928.htm

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Streaming music app Raditaz hopes to beat Pandora at its own game (Appolicious)

Ever since the take-off in popularity of streaming music service Pandora, it seems like the field for services that bring music over the Internet has exploded, with all kinds of offerings. Some take different approaches to streaming music ? Spotify and Rdio, for example, are more on-demand ? while Pandora is more akin to listening to the radio. A new entrant into the race, Raditaz, takes the same approach as Pandora, with the aim to do it better.

The new service just launched an app for Android today, as well as on Apple?s iOS platform. Like Pandora, Raditaz offers music in a sort of randomized, radio-like presentation. You choose a song, artist or album you like, and Raditaz brings more songs similar to what you picked in order to create a ?station,? curating the list on the fly.

But Raditaz?s model seems to largely look at the things that are limiting or slightly irritating about Pandora and fix them on its own service. For example, the free version of Pandora that?s available to all users is ad-supported, which means every few tracks, users have to sit through a quick ad. As of right now, Raditaz is also free. It also boasts 15 million songs in its databases, compared to Pandora?s 900,000.

As for ad support, Raditaz uses advertising to pay for its service just as Pandora does, but it takes a different approach, focusing on ?geographically relevant? advertising based on where listeners are located as they use their mobile devices to access the service. In fact, geography seems to be Raditaz?s defining feature: the service pays attention to where and when you?re listening, gathering the information to make the service better. It also allows you to see what music is trending in the physical area around you, tying you into your location in new and different ways not approached by other services.

Raditaz seems to bring some cool ideas to the streaming music scene, but it?s likely to find it a tough one into which to break. At the moment, streaming, cloud-based music services are everywhere: Spotify, Pandora and Rdio lead the list of services, while Google Music, Amazon Cloud and iTunes Match make up the three big cloud-based storage services for users? music libraries. There have never been so many options for accessing and listening to music on the Internet before, and as Raditaz joins the race, it?ll likely find it crowded.

But there?s definitely a lot of value in tying social aspects into music services ? Spotify is seeing some real successes there with its Facebook integration ? and Raditaz has new things to offer in that department. It also doesn?t have to beat everyone if it can beat just one competitor: Pandora.

The audience Pandora serves is necessarily different than that served by Google, Amazon, Apple and Spotify: these are users who want to discover new music they might like and enjoy not know what they?ll hear next. Raditaz is approaching the radio model of music streaming, and if it can establish its foothold there, it has the potential to catch on the way Pandora has.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_androidapps_com_articles10820_streaming_music_app_raditaz_hopes_to_beat_pandora_at_its_own_game/44234499/SIG=13isv8n4e/*http%3A//www.androidapps.com/tech/articles/10820-streaming-music-app-raditaz-hopes-to-beat-pandora-at-its-own-game

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Iran says scientist's killer may have used U.N. info (Reuters)

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) ? Iran charged on Thursday that assassins who killed an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran last week may have used information obtained from the United Nations.

Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan, 32, was killed by a motorbike hitman who put a magnetic bomb on his car on a street during the morning rush hour on January 11. Iran, at odds with Western governments over its nuclear program, has accused U.S. and Israeli agents of being behind the killing.

Iran's deputy U.N. ambassador Eshagh Al Habib said there was a "high suspicion that ... terrorist circles used the intelligence obtained from United Nations bodies, including the sanctions list of the Security Council and interviews carried out by IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) with our nuclear scientists, to identify and carry out their malicious acts."

Ahmadi-Roshan recently met with IAEA inspectors, Al Habib told the Security Council, "a fact that indicates that these U.N. agencies may have played a role in leaking information on Iran's nuclear facilities and scientist."

He also accused the world body of failing to observe secrecy over its inspections of nuclear facilities.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said he was looking into the allegations. The Vienna-based IAEA is the U.N. nuclear watchdog and has played a key role in trying to determine whether Tehran's atomic program has military dimensions.

The murder of Ahmadi-Roshan was the fifth daylight attack in two years on technical experts involved in Iran's nuclear program, which Western countries believe is aimed at producing an atomic weapon but Tehran says is for peaceful purposes.

The United States has denied involvement in the killing and has condemned it, as has U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. An Israeli minister also said this week that Iran's charges of Israeli involvement were "completely baseless."

The Security Council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear activities. Its list of sanctioned individuals does not include Ahmadi-Roshan, but does name another scientist, Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, wounded in a Tehran car bomb blast in November, 2010.

Al Habib, addressing a Security Council debate on justice and the rule of law, said it was "odd" that the council had said nothing about attacks on Iranian scientists. "Is it the way to advance the rule of law at the international level?" he asked.

(Reporting By Soren Larson and Patrick Worsnip; Editing by Philip Barbara)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/wl_nm/us_iran_scientist_un

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Nick Cannon: I'm 'good' after health scare

Nick Cannon is speaking out for the first time since his recent kidney ordeal, saying he?s back to his old self.

The ?The America?s Got Talent? host spoke out about his recent health scare on Howard Stern?s SiriusXM radio show on Tuesday morning.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hot Shots Of Nick Cannon

?They thought it was kidney stones, then a kidney infection,? Cannon told Stern, who will be joining him on the upcoming season of ?AGT? as a judge. ?They found out my kidneys were not functioning well. So we said ?mild kidney failure.??

Cannon said he still has a few more procedures to undergo but explained, ?I?m good. I?m feeling 100 percent ? Because of this situation I know that I don?t need to go so hard,? said Cannon. ?It?s more about just my way of living ? It?s really about taking some time.?

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hot Shots Of Mariah Carey

Cannon also spoke about his marriage to wife Mariah Carey, who he says cared for him tremendously during the ordeal.

?I?m happier than happy,? he said of his pop super star wife. ?Especially through this entire process, we?ve become so much closer? I even got a chance to see a different side of my wife where she became so nurturing. I?m in debt to her forever. ?

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Hollywood Dads & Their Adorable Little Ones!

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Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46026587/ns/today-entertainment/

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