Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/273934375?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, December 31, 2012
Dan Ariely Talks Creativity and Dishonesty
Dan Ariely is a professor of behavior economics at Duke University. His latest book, The (Honest) Truth about Dishonesty, explains how creativity makes us better liars--even to ourselves
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?Lots of us are able to cheat a little bit and still think of ourselves as honest people.?
Dan Ariely is a professor of behavior economics at Duke University. His latest book, The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty, explains how creativity makes us better liars?even to ourselves.
?Dishonesty is all about the small acts we can take and then think, no, this not real cheating. So if you think that the main mechanism is rationalization, then what you come up with, and that?s what we find, is that we?re basically trying to balance feeling good about ourselves. On the one hand we get some satisfaction, some utility from thinking of ourselves as honest, moral, wonderful people. On the other hand we try to benefit from cheating.
?So rationalization is what we allows you to live with some cheating and not pay a cost in terms of your own view of yourself.
?What kind of people would be able to rationalize better than other people? Better storytellers, right? Creative people, right? Because if you?re creative, you find more ways to cheat and still yourself a story about why this is okay.?
?Ingrid Wickelgren and Steve Mirsky
[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]
[You can hear Ingrid Wickelgren's full interview of Dan Ariely on the December 25th edition of the Science Talk podcast. Just go to www.scientificamerican.com/podcast and click on Science Talk.]
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=476b8b08a17b0ef195f04abadf61efb0
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2013 NFL Draft: Geno Smith?s draft stock drops in loss to Syracuse
Rich Barnes- US Presswire
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Quarterback Geno Smith may have witnessed some NFL scouts jump off his band wagon after losing to Syracuse.
Smith has been projected to be taken first over in most mock drafts by the Kansas City Chiefs, but after a mediocre performance in the Pinstripe Bowl, Smith may not be as ready for the pros as people think. Everyone knows he is a raw talent, but he is even more raw than Robert Griffin III. He could become better than Griffin III, but he will not be taken first overall in this year?s upcoming draft class.
In a snowy game, the excuses came rolling in for the West Virginia quarterback, and he played ?decent enough? according to Smith fans and other scouts.
Guess what? There is weather in football, meaning rain, wind, snow, etc. If he is a legitimate NFL quarterback, he should be able to handle games in poor weather conditions. He still went 16-for-24 passing, for only 187 yards and two touchdowns. That is minimally decent, but he had a chance to prove his worth, and failed.
He is still a first round selection, but where in the first round is yet to be determined. He can not be a first year starter, in time though, he can easily contend in the NFL.
Mike Glennon, NC State, will be the highest rated quarterback by the time the draft comes around, but there is no?guarantee?that the first overall pick will be a quarterback.
Smith?s stock will drop even more if Glennon has a big bowl game, but luckily Matt Barkley and Tyler Wilson will be absent in bowl week. This will help Smith keep his stock at a neutral level for the time being.
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Personal Finance Tips To Help You Reach Your Financial Goals ...
If you track your finances, you can make major purchases, like cars, vacations, and homes. Read on for good advice on how you can cultivate great personal finance skills.
Make sure to save for a rainy day by creating a savings account for emergencies. You can either save for something specific, like your child?s college education, or pay off debt with the extra money.
When you have extra money left over after paying bills, don?t give in to the temptation to spend more. Instead, save some money. Try to stick to your budget and do not let yourself suffer.
Steer clear of products or schemes that promise you overnight success. A lot of Internet marketers get deceived by this trap. Certainly learn, but spend more time actually doing than spending, and your profits will grow.
Credit Report
Make it a habit to review your credit report often. You can do this once year for free, more often if problems are found. Be sure to check your credit report every year as a way to make sure that there aren?t an inaccuracies.
If contributions are allowed for your IRA, make sure to do so regularly. This helps to you build a strong monetary foundation for the future. Various financial institutions, such as banks, credit unions or brokerage companies, can open IRA accounts for you. This will allow your retirement to go a lot better so be sure you put money into it when you can.
When items are on sale at the supermarket, you will not save money if you purchase more items than you can utilize. It makes good sense to stock up on things that you use the most, but you shouldn?t buy more than you can eat if it will expire before you can use it. Be sensible and only buy a bargain if it is one that you can use.
The key to having money is to never spend more than you bring in. People who always spend every last dollar or always have to borrow extra cannot possibly become rich due to their poor spending habits. Calculate your income, and shoot to spend much less than that.
If your credit card is close to its limit, use a different one rather than letting it max out. Having to pay interest on two different cards will be a lot lower than paying a maxed out one. This can serve as a great technique towards improving your credit score in the long run.
Always have a small envelope on your person. Your envelope should be used to store items such as business cards and purchase receipts. Keep this information available as a record that you might need at a later date. You never know when you?ll need to contest a credit card charge after being charged twice for something.
Proper budgeting is a huge part of being successful. You need to invest your profits as necessary in order to build your business. Carefully asses the risk of reinvesting profit to grow your net worth and see if it makes sense in terms of the return you want from your investment. Choose how much of your profit will become capital and stick to the portion or amount.
Reward Yourself
Set aside a specific allowance for personal treats so that you aren?t tempted to splurge from your savings. You can use your cash allowance to reward yourself in whatever way you want, but you can?t spend more than your allowance. This lets you treat yourself and reward yourself without messing up your budget.
Try to hold a garage sale, where you can sell all of your unwanted goods for additional cash. If you want, you can also charge your neighbors a fee to sell their stuff at your sale as well. There are plenty of inventive ways to make money at a yard sale.
The fund should have at least three months worth of income. Save 10 percent of your pay and put it in a high-yield account.
Never jeopardize your retirement savings to pay for your current living expenses. There are many options available to you to take care of your personal finances. Taking away from your own retirement might not be the best option, but it is an option nonetheless.
Start saving money now to be able to afford large purchases later. With the tips from this article in hand, you can make better decision regarding your finances.
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NBA stars career appears to be in jeopardy
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There is fresh evidence of a recovery in the US property market, with the Commerce Department reporting Thursday a solid rise in the number of homes sold in November.
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Source: http://www.breakingpropertynews.com/index.php/sid/211659435/scat/d701f9c0b5bae910
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Sunday, December 30, 2012
Things To Consider When Homeschooling Your Child | Doc's ...
Many people decide to school they children at home because of inadequacies they see in modern public schools. But there are some downfalls to homeschooling that must also be avoided. You should read this article if you are considering homeschooling your children.
Planning your meals in advance will definitely help your schedule. Being prepared will let you to focus on teaching your child and not have to worry about what?s for dinner.
As a homeschool educator, don?t allow the educational guides and textbooks to limit the scope of your teaching. Your books and your curriculum should guide you in the right direction. Utilize them as aids to help illustrate your own well-crafted lessons to the children you teach. In the end, that is the true beauty of home-based education.
TIP! You can easily burn yourself out with chores on top of your homeschooling. Do not hesitate to recruit your partner in helping with the chores, and if you can afford it, hire help from the outside.
If you have very young toddlers as well as those in school, you have to ensure that the toddlers have activities too. Carefully select some toys, art supplies and activities to coordinate with the lessons your other children are learning. This will allow them to feel a part of the group.
Be cognizant of your budget for homeschooling. This will help you to allot resources efficiently, while reducing your expenses. You need to have separate accounts for each child. Remember to give a little wiggle room as expenses can change and errors can be made.
There are lots of new things to learn about homeschooling. You can go online and find groups for parents who school their children at home. They can offer valuable advice, tips and tricks that you can use in your own curriculum. Networking with other homeschoolers with the same goals and objectives as your own is a valuable resource.
TIP! You can be creative in the ways you allow your children to get together with others Public schools provide natural opportunities to socialize, and you must think outside the box to replicate that. Go on field trips with other homeschool groups.
Encourage independent learning. It?s appropriate to offer guidance, but the point is not for you to do the work. That responsibility should be left entirely to your child. They will know what they need to do if you outline it for them and give them timelines for completion. Independence is learned this way, as well as confidence in their abilities. They will also learn the impact of goofing off instead of focusing if free time is lost because of it.
See if you can?t team-up with other like minded parents in the area who are also homeschooling their kids. Your child can get a lot of good social interaction by being in a small group on a regular basis. You can also use this as an opportunity to leave your home.
Do a comparison list of your feelings regarding homeschooling and traditional schooling. If you felt your children were not receiving everything they needed at public school, this comparison can assist you in covering those missing items. You will have essentially created a checklist of things to concentrate on and things to avoid. Keep the list handy to allow yourself to reference it whenever necessary.
TIP! Be prepared to do research for topics you don?t know enough about. You can educate yourself by reading your child?s textbooks, researching things online, and even asking others.
The best teachers are honest with themselves about their shortcomings. A lot of people who homeschool want to skip topics they feel that they are weak with. This will affect your children?s education, so it?s not a good idea. If you?re feeling deficient in some areas in the main curriculum, try to hire a tutor or trade with another parent that homeschools.
Pick a room in the house that you want to teach your child. Allowing them complete freedom throughout the home can lead to many distractions. By having a designated classroom, you can help your child remain on task.
Homeschooled children may be getting a great education, but it takes effort to ensure they also get enough socialization. Organize play dates with families and friends who have children. Bring your children to the park so they can play with other kids. Find some sport teams, clubs and organizations for your child.
TIP! Homeschooling can offer a child a lot. There is a huge advantage to teaching at home, rather than sending your child to an often overcrowded and typically underfunded public learning facility.
You need to know all you can about homeschooling before you start out. Set a workable schedule and use teaching methods that work for your child?s learning style.
High schoolers who are homeschooled must focus on passing their GED tests. Address your child?s weak areas by having them take a mock GED and then tailoring your lessons to the subjects in which he does poorly. You will be able to work on any tough spots.
Do you have trouble teaching your children something? Try a different approach. Sometimes you need to teach them in a different manner, such as by seeing it happening, hearing it or even tasting something related. Children do not learn the same way, and when you try a different approach, learning may become easier.
TIP! An online blog is something that your child can benefit from significantly. You?re going to teach them to write anyway, and a blog is the perfect learning tool.
Sometimes home schooling is a tense situation for children and parents who are spending such a tremendous amount of time together. Focus on keeping school issues at school and home issues at home. If things happen to become particularly tense, you have the flexibility to take a break. You will both benefit from this.
Look into the homeschooling laws of your state. Different states have different guidelines regarding how you are expected to homeschool. You might have to do standardized testing, but some states won?t require it. Some states go so far as to expect parents to register as a school.
You can begin to see from this article that homeschooling is a viable option. Apply the tips you just read and prepare yourself before you start homeschooling your children. Remember that your goal is to provide your children with an excellent education.
TIP! Socialization is often a sticking point for homeschooling parents. However, the opportunity to socialize is still open to all homeschoolers.
There is plenty to learn about free lead system. Luckily for you, you have found the best wisdom in this article. Although there is more free lead system information you want to learn, this article should have answered some of your questions.
Source: http://www.empowernetwork.com/global/things-to-consider-when-homeschooling-your-child-2/
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Putin signs law banning American adoptions - World News
Those already undergoing the costly process of adopting a child from Russia found out Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law barring any future adoptions, canceling the ones in progress. NBC's Kerry Sanders reports.
By NBC News staff and wire reports
President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Friday that bans Americans from adopting Russian children and imposes other measures in retaliation for new U.S. legislation meant to punish Russian human rights abusers.
The law, which has ignited outrage among Russian liberals and children's rights advocates, enters into force on Jan. 1 and is likely to strain U.S.-Russia relations.
As well as banning U.S. adoptions, it will also outlaw some non-governmental organizations that receive U.S. funding and impose a visa ban and asset freeze on Americans accused of violating the rights of Russians abroad.
The law could block dozens of Russian children expected to be adopted by American families from leaving the country and cut off one of the main international routes for Russian children to leave orphanages that are often dismal. Russia is the single biggest source of adopted children in the United States, with more than 60,000 Russian children being taken in by Americans over the past two decades.
The bill is retaliation for an American law that calls for sanctions against Russians deemed to be human rights violators and part of an increasingly confrontational stance by the Kremlin against the West.
Related: Americans may lose right to adopt Russian children
Putin said U.S. authorities routinely let Americans suspected of violence toward Russian adoptees go unpunished ? a clear reference to Dima Yakovlev, a Russian toddler for whom the bill is named. The child was adopted by Americans and then died in 2008 after his father left him in a car in broiling heat for hours. The father was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov on Wednesday said that 46 children who were about to be adopted in the United States would remain in Russia if the bill came into effect. On Thursday, he petitioned the president to extend the ban to other countries.
Courtesy Thomas family
John and Renee Thomas with their son, Jack, 7, who was adopted from Russia at the age of 3. Jack is hoping for his brother, Nikoly, now in a Russian orphanage, to join him in the United States.
Would-be adoptive parents in the United States are left hanging by Putin's signing of the bill, which was passed by Russian lawmakers last week.
Among them are John and Renee Thomas of Minnetonka, Minn., Kari Huus of NBC News reported.?The Thomases have already adopted Jack, 7, from Russia. When they found out he had a little brother, they began the process to try to adopt him, too. The wait has stretched to four years, and now the adoption may be in danger.?
"When Jack is asked about his family, he talks about his brother," John Thomas said. "He always asks, 'When is he coming home?' We just tell him we?re waiting for the call."
More: Adoption of little brother caught in US-Russia spat
UNICEF estimates that there are about 740,000 children without parental custody in Russia, while only 18,000 Russians are now waiting to adopt a child.
Russian President Vladamir Putin has said he'll sign a proposed law that would halt adoptions of Russian children to Americans. NBC's Duncan Golestani reports.
The U.S. State Department on Thursday repeated its opposition to the Russian measure.
"The welfare of children is simply too important to tie to the political aspects of our relationship," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said. "Additionally, we are deeply troubled by the provisions in the bill that would restrict the ability of Russian civil society organizations to work with American partners." ?
Critics of the bill left dozens of stuffed toys and candles outside the parliament's lower and upper houses to express solidarity with Russian orphans.?
An online petition urging the Kremlin to scrap the bill garnered more than 100,000 Russian signatures.?
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
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Indian gang rape victim dies; New Delhi braces for protests
NEW DELHI/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A woman whose gang rape sparked protests and a national debate about violence against women in India died of her injuries on Saturday, prompting a security lockdown in New Delhi and an acknowledgement from India's prime minister that social change is needed.
Bracing for a new wave of protests, Indian authorities deployed thousands of policemen, closed 10 metro stations and banned vehicles from some main roads in the heart of New Delhi, where demonstrators have converged since the attack to demand improved women's rights. Hundreds of people staged peaceful protests at two locations on Saturday morning.
The 23-year-old medical student, severely beaten, raped and thrown out of a moving bus in New Delhi two weeks ago, had been flown to Singapore in a critical condition by the Indian government on Thursday for specialist treatment.
The intense media coverage of the attack and the use of social media to galvanize the protests, mostly by young middle-class students, has forced political leaders to confront some uncomfortable truths about the treatment of women in the world's largest democracy.
Most sex crimes in India go unreported, many offenders go unpunished, and the wheels of justice turn slowly, according to social activists who say that successive governments have done too little to ensure the safety of women.
"The need of the hour is a dispassionate debate and inquiry into the critical changes that are required in societal attitudes," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in a statement.
"I hope that the entire political class and civil society will set aside narrow sectional interests and agenda to help us all reach the end that we all desire - making India a demonstrably better and safer place for women to live in."
T.C.A. Raghavan, the Indian high commissioner to Singapore, told reporters hours after the woman's death in a Singapore hospital that a chartered aircraft would fly her body back to India on Saturday, along with members of her family.
The body was taken to a Hindu casket firm in Singapore for embalming. Indian diplomats selected a gold and yellow coffin to transport her home, staff at the firm told reporters.
"We are very sad to report that the patient passed away peacefully at 4:45 a.m. on Dec 29, 2012 (2045 GMT Friday). Her family and officials from the High Commission (embassy) of India were by her side," Mount Elizabeth Hospital Chief Executive Officer Kelvin Loh said earlier in a statement.
Delhi's chief minister, Sheila Dikshit, said the woman's death was a "shameful moment for me not just as a chief minister but also as a citizen of this country".
The woman, who has not been identified, and a male friend were returning home from the cinema by bus on the evening of December 16 when, media reports say, six men on the bus beat them with metal rods and repeatedly raped the woman. Media said a rod was used in the rape, causing internal injuries. Both were thrown from the bus. The male friend survived.
The attack has put gender issues center stage in Indian politics arguably for the first time. Issues such as rape, dowry-related deaths and female infanticide have rarely entered mainstream political discourse.
Analysts say the death of the woman dubbed "Amanat", an Urdu word meaning "treasure," by some media could change that, although it is too early to say whether the protesters calling for government action to better safeguard women can sustain their momentum through to national elections due in 2014.
WORST PLACE
The public outcry over the attack caught the government off-guard. It took a week for Singh to make a public statement on the attack, infuriating many protesters who saw it as a sign of a government insensitive to the plight of women.
The prime minister, a stiff 80-year-old technocrat who speaks in a low monotone, has struggled to channel the popular outrage in his public statements and convince critics that his eight-year-old government will now take concrete steps to improve the safety of women.
"The Congress mangers were ham-handed in their handling of the situation that arose after the brutal assault on the girl. The crowd management was poor," a lawmaker from Singh's ruling Congress party said on condition of anonymity.
Protesters fought pitched battles with police around the capital last weekend. Police used batons, water cannon and teargas to quell the protests.
Commentators and sociologists say the rape has tapped into a deep well of frustration many Indians feel over what they see as weak governance and poor leadership on social issues.
A global poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in June found that India was the worst place to be a woman because of high rates of infanticide, child marriage and slavery.
New Delhi has the highest number of sex crimes among India's major cities, with a rape reported on average every 18 hours, according to police figures. Government data show the number of reported rape cases in the country rose by nearly 17 percent between 2007 and 2011.
Indian media had accused the government of sending the woman to Singapore to minimize any backlash in the event of her death but Raghavan said it had been a medical decision intended to ensure she got the best treatment.
The suspects in the rape - five men, including two brothers, aged between 20 and 40, and a 15-year-old - were arrested within hours of the attack and are in custody. The suspects, all from a slum in south Delhi, will be formally charged with murder, New Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police Chhaya Sharma told Reuters.
Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde told Times Now television the government was committed to ensuring "the severest possible punishment to all the accused at the earliest".
"It will not go in vain. We will give maximum punishment to the culprits. Not only to this, but in future also. This one incident has given a greater lesson" Shinde said.
He said earlier the government was considering hanging for rape in rare cases. Murder already carries the death penalty.
(Additional reporting by Ross Colvin and Diksha Madhok in New Delhi; Kevin Lim, Saeed Azhar, Edgar Su and Sanjeev Miglani in Singapore; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Robert Birsel and Ross Colvin)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/india-gang-rape-victim-dies-singapore-hospital-002303027.html
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Saturday, December 29, 2012
5 things to know about longshoremen negotiations
The International Longshoremen's Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance agreed Friday to a 30-day contract extension, averting a potential strike Sunday by more than 14,000 dockworkers that could have brought commerce at major ports along the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico to a near-standstill. Five things to know about the talks:
1. PORTS INVOLVED
Boston; New York-New Jersey; Philadelphia area; Baltimore; Hampton Roads, Va.; Wilmington, N.C.; Charleston, S.C.; Savannah, Ga.; Jacksonville, Fla.; the Miami area; Tampa, Fla.; Mobile, Ala.; New Orleans; and Houston.
2. THE DEADLINE
The contract expires at midnight on Jan. 28 now that the two sides agreed to a second contract extension. Federal mediators are involved, and the White House has urged dockworkers and shipping companies to reach an agreement as quickly as possible.
3. KEY ISSUE
A key sticking point until Friday was a Maritime Alliance proposal to freeze royalties workers get for every container they unload, which the union opposed. Federal mediators say this issue has been resolved but did not provide details.
4. GOODS THAT WOULD BE AFFECTED
A wide range of items transported in containers on ships, including things like flat-screen TVs, sneakers and snow shovels.
5. GOODS THAT AREN'T AFFECTED
Items including military cargo, mail, automobiles and perishables such as food.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/5-things-know-longshoremen-negotiations-172946909--finance.html
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'Rescue Me' singer Fontella Bass dies
ST. LOUIS (AP) ? Fontella Bass, a St. Louis-born soul singer who hit the top of the R&B charts with "Rescue Me" in 1965, has died. She was 72.
Bass died Wednesday night at a St. Louis hospice of complications from a heart attack suffered three weeks ago, her daughter, Neuka Mitchell, said. Bass had also suffered a series of strokes over the past seven years.
"She was an outgoing person," Mitchell said of her mother. "She had a very big personality. Any room she entered she just lit the room up, whether she was on stage or just going out to eat."
Bass was born into a family with deep musical roots. Her mother was gospel singer Martha Bass, one of the Clara Ward Singers. Her younger brother, David Peaston, had a string of R&B hits in the 1980s and 1990s. Peaston died in February at age 54.
Bass began performing at a young age, singing in her church's choir at age 6. She was surrounded by music, often traveling on national tours with her mother and her gospel group.
Her interest turned from gospel to R&B when she was a teenager and she began her professional career at the Showboat Club in north St. Louis at age 17. She eventually auditioned for Chess Records and landed a recording contract, first as a duet artist. Her duet with Bobby McClure, "Don't Mess Up a Good Thing," reached No. 5 on the R&B charts and No. 33 on the Billboard Top 100 in 1965.
She co-wrote and later that year recorded "Rescue Me," reaching No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 4 on the Billboard pop singles chart. Bass's powerful voice bore a striking resemblance to that of Aretha Franklin, who is often misidentified as the singer of that chart-topping hit.
Bass had a few other modest hits but by her own accounts developed a reputation as a troublemaker because she demanded more artistic control, and more money for her songs. She haggled over royalty rights to "Rescue Me" for years before reaching a settlement in the late 1980s, Mitchell said. She sued American Express over the use of "Rescue Me" in a commercial, settling for an undisclosed amount in 1993.
"Rescue Me" has been covered by many top artists, including Linda Ronstadt, Cher, Melissa Manchester and Pat Benatar. Franklin eventually sang a form of it too ? as "Deliver Me" in a Pizza Hut TV ad in 1991.
Bass lived briefly in Europe before returning to St. Louis in the early 1970s, where she and husband Lester Bowie raised their family. She recorded occasionally, including a 1995 gospel album, "No Ways Tired," that earned a Grammy nomination.
Bass was inducted into the St. Louis Hall of Fame in 2000.
Funeral arrangements for Bass were incomplete. She is survived by four children. Bowie died in 1999.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rescue-singer-fontella-bass-dies-155424091.html
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Childhood Obesity, Celebrities, Eating Disorders (Part 2)
Yesterday, Childhood Obesity News began tracing the history of the singer Beyonc? as it relates to the issue of childhood obesity. Beyonc?, whose weight seems to fluctuate as much as that of her fellow celebrity Oprah Winfrey, was recruited by First Lady Michelle Obama to help publicize the ?Let?s Move!? campaign. The photo on this page is from 2009, which was before Beyonc??s participation via her ?Move Your Body? video.
We also referred to ABC News, which mentioned that some doctors are pessimistic about how effective it is for middle school children to exercise to the video. Some even believe that the childhood obesity epidemic is a more challenging problem than teenage pregnancy or cigarette smoking. An associate clinical professor of medicine, Keith Ayoob, told the reporter something similar to what Dr. Pretlow has said many times, that a vicious cycle can be created.
Ayoob is quoted as saying:
Kids get teased mercilessly about their weight? That just makes them want to be active even less than they already are. These kids can often become depressed, suffer from low self esteem and just dislike who they are because of their weight? It?s a vicious cycle.
So, back to Beyonc? Knowles-Carter. The Center for Science in the Public Interest has taken an interest in her commercial endorsement activities, and asked her to un-sign a $50-million deal with PepsiCo, the makers of sugar-sweetened beverages sold all over the world, and responsible for who knows how much obesity and diabetes. Beyonc? agreed to advertise their products for another 10 years, including during the halftime show for next year?s SuperBowl. Executive director Michael F. Jacobson wrote the singing star a letter saying:
You occupy a unique position in the cultural life of this country and are an inspiring role model for millions of young people. By lending your name and image to PepsiCo, you are associating your positive attributes with a product that is quite literally sickening Americans.
This is the same group, Bloomberg journalist Duane D. Stanford reminds us, whose 1998 report titled ?Liquid Candy: How Soft Drinks Are Harming America?s Health? helped to influence legislation in some places. They are even trying to shame the musical performer by bringing in race. Stanford explains:
Obesity-related health problems have a disproportionate impact on low-income, African-American and Hispanic communities, Jacobson said, asking Beyonce to reconsider the Pepsi-Cola deal or donate the proceeds to health causes.
For a website called Bossip, a columnist known as ?shessowrite? (Get it? ?She?s so right,? but punning on ?write?) contributed some snarky attitude to the debate:
An anti-soda activist group has publicly requested that Bey Bey ditch her Pepsi endorsement, suggesting that having her as the face of the brand while being considered a ?role model? for young people encourages childhood obesity. Hmmmm. Well, we doubt the money-hungry Carters will miss out on $50 mil. But on the other hand, Bey Bey is also pretty active in First Lady Michelle Obama?s ?Move Your Body? campaign, which was a established to work towards eliminating childhood obesity? [A]nd we all know how much Bey looovves her some Obama family.
How about it, readers? Should Beyonc? back out of the deal?
Source: ?Beyonce Joins Michelle Obama?s Initiative To Fight Childhood Obesity,? ABC News, 04/29/11
Source: ?PepsiCo Pop Star Beyonce Asked to Ditch Marketing Deal,? Bloomberg, 12/18/12
Source: ?Anti-Soda Group Says Beyonce?s Pepsi Endorsement Encourages Childhood Obesity,??Bossip, 12/19/12
Image by oouinouin.
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Thursday, December 27, 2012
Video: Hot Commodity Prospects in 2013
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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50302837/
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Study hints that stem cells prepare for maturity much earlier than anticipated
Dec. 27, 2012 ? Unlike less versatile muscle or nerve cells, embryonic stem cells are by definition equipped to assume any cellular role. Scientists call this flexibility "pluripotency," meaning that as an organism develops, stem cells must be ready at a moment's notice to activate highly diverse gene expression programs used to turn them into blood, brain, or kidney cells.
Scientists from the lab of Stowers Investigator Ali Shilatifard, Ph.D., report in the December 27, 2012 online issue of Cell that one way cells stay so plastic is by stationing a protein called Ell3 at stretches of DNA known as "enhancers" required to activate a neighboring gene. Their findings suggest that Ell3 parked at the enhancer of a developmentally regulated gene, even one that is silent, primes it for future expression. This finding is significant as many of these same genes are abnormally switched on in cancer.
"We now know that some enhancer misregulation is involved in the pathogenesis of solid and hematological malignances," says Shilatifard. "But a problem in the field has been how to identify inactive or poised enhancer elements. Our discovery that Ell3 interacts with enhancers in ES cells gives us a hand-hold to identify and to study them."
In 2000, Shilatifard identified Ell3 as the third member of the Ell (for "Eleven-nineteen lysine-rich leukemia gene") family of elongation factors, proteins that increase the rate at which genes are expressed. "At the time, we didn't think much of Ell3 because it was highly expressed in testes," says Shilatifard, noting that then people thought that sperm were merely vessels used to carry paternal DNA to an egg and that associated factors would have little relevance to the regulation of future gene expression in the resulting embryo.
But a few years back, a curious Open University graduate student working in the Shilatifard lab, Chengqi Lin, started exploring a potential function for the neglected gene by initiating a global search for regions occupied by Ell3 in the genome of mouse embryonic stem cells. His search in collaboration with a bioinformatician in the Shilatifard lab, Alexander S. Garruss, revealed that Ell3 sits on more than 5,000 enhancers, including many that regulate genes governing stem cell maturation into spinal cord, kidney, and blood cells.
"What was interesting was that Ell3 marked enhancers that are active and inactive, as well as enhancers that are known as "poised," says Lin, referring to a transition state from inactive to active. "That indicated that Ell3's major function might be to prime activation of genes that are just about to be expressed during development."
The fact that silent genes can be "primed" for expression was no surprise: researchers knew that the enzymatic machine that copies DNA into the RNA blueprint for proteins -- a protein called Pol II -- often pauses at the start of a gene, presumably revving its engine in preparation to jump across the genetic start gate in response to a developmental signal. However, Shilatifard and colleagues showed several years ago that paused Pol II is not a prerequisite for rapid transcriptional induction.
The surprise came when researchers used a molecular trick to deplete mouse ES cells of Ell3 and then did a "genomic" survey. They found that paused Pol II vanished from the start sites of many genes in Ell3-deficient cells. This means that not only does Ell3 preferentially mark stem enhancers, but also that its presence there is necessary to keep an idling Pol II ready for action.
Most of the current study defines how, when the developmental time is right, enhancer-bound Ell3 cooperates with components of a big-boss elongation factor called the Super Elongation Complex to release Pol II from the start gate, allowing the expression of genes required for stem cell differentiation. Critical among those findings is their observation that mouse stem cells depleted of Ell3 failed to activate genes expressed in mature cell types.
These results alone are cause for any lab to start chilling the champagne, yet a surprising coda to the study, leaves readers with yet another revelation. Collaborating with Fengli Guo, Ph.D., head of the Stowers electron microscopy core, the team prepared highly magnified images of mouse sperm and observed that both Ell3 and Pol II were present, in sperm nuclei.
In mammals, gene expression regulated by Pol II, a process known as transcription, does not begin until the formation of a single-celled zygote, that is, well after the union of sperm and egg germ cells. "It is very significant that Ell3 and other factors that regulate transcription are found in sperm," says Lin, the study's first author. Lin is cautious in interpreting this finding, "but it would be very exciting to further investigate whether transcription factors found in sperm could contribute to the decondensation of sperm chromatin or even further gene activation after fertilization by serving as epigenetic markers."
Shilatifard is also cautious as questions remain to be explored, among them whether Ell3 and Pol II actually contact DNA inside sperm or whether similar processes occur in unfertilized eggs and function in this process. Nonetheless, he feels this finding has fundamental implications, not only for development, but also for where he's going next.
"This work has opened up a whole new area of research in my lab," says Shilatifard, who has in the last decade focused on aberrant gene expression associated with leukemia. "If we find that transcription factors bind to specific regions of chromatin in germ cells, I may focus on germ cells in the next few decades. This would open a huge door enabling us to determine the role of these factors in early development."
Zhuojuan Luo, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Shilatifard lab, also contributed to the study.
Funding for the study came from the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, the National Institutes of Health (Shilatifard R01CA89455 and R01CA150265), and Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stowers Institute for Medical Research, via Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Chengqi Lin, Alexander?S. Garruss, Zhuojuan Luo, Fengli Guo, Ali Shilatifard. The RNA Pol II Elongation Factor Ell3 Marks Enhancers in ES Cells and Primes Future Gene Activation. Cell, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2012.12.015
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/health_medicine/genes/~3/zG_FVBuF9b4/121227130202.htm
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Wednesday, December 26, 2012
Russia's adoption ban exposes political rift
Russia's upper house of parliament today unanimously approved a ban on US citizens adopting Russian children, a highly charged move that appears to have prompted an unusual public split among government officials.
The Dima Yakovlev bill, named after one of 19 Russian children to die due to abuse or negligence at the hands of adoptive US parents in the past two decades, now goes to the Kremlin for President Vladimir Putin?s consideration. In his only comments so far on the anti-adoption measure, Mr. Putin said last week that it was "emotional but adequate," which is widely seen as an indication that he will sign it into law.
The legislation was originally framed as a tit-for-tat response to the Magnitsky Act, a US measure signed into law by President Barack Obama earlier this month that aims to punish officials connected to the 2009 prison death of Russian whistle-blowing lawyer Sergei Magnitsky. But the Russian legislation has been amended beyond recognition by hardline lawmakers and now looks like a shotgun law to punish US citizens who become involved in almost any kind of non-business activity in Russia.
Recommended: Top 8 Putin moments: From Harley-riding bad boy to Formula One driver
Many experts think that Putin may yet act as the "voice of reason" and strip the ban on adoption out of the bill before he signs it.
"This whole discussion over the adoption ban has served the purpose of shifting public attention from the corrupt Russian officials targeted under the US Magnitsky Act to the problems of orphans and the dangers they face in foreign homes," says Nikolai Petrov, an expert with the Moscow Carnegie Center.
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"It's perfectly possible that Putin will ultimately adjust the adoption ban, but leave in place many of the other tough measures in this bill that haven't gotten much attention," Mr. Petrov says. Those measures include even harsher restrictions that would prevent any US passport holder from holding a leadership post in any Russian organization that is deemed by authorities to engage in politics.
The adoption ban has also become the focus of controversy and prompted a rare government split inside Russia. This week a liberal radio station leaked news of a memo by Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets warning that the proposed ban would violate Russian law and at least two treaties that Russia is party to. It would also overturn a bilateral accord on adoptions, negotiated between the United States and Russia, which came into force last month.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Education Minister Dmitry Livanov have also spoken out against the anti-adoption bill. Putin?s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, voiced annoyance that the government?s internal disagreements were being aired in public, but still signaled support for the measure.
"Learning about official correspondence from the media is not always pleasant," Mr. Peskov told the Kommersant FM radio station yesterday. But "it would be a mistake to think that there is staunch opposition to the bill within government. On the contrary, there are many arguments in favor of it," he said.
Many Russians believe it is a national shame that thousands of children are adopted by foreigners each year. According to a public opinion survey published this week by the state-run Public Opinion Fund, 56 percent of Russians support the proposed adoption ban, while just 21 percent oppose it.
Pavel Astakhov, the Kremlin's children's rights ombudsman and a strong supporter of the ban, said in a letter to Putin published today that Russia could simply pull out of the bilateral agreement with the US and that the move would violate no Russian laws.
Meanwhile, about 130,000 Russians have signed a petition at the website of opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta asking the Kremlin to scrap the proposed ban.
In a sign that the ill will generated by the issue might snowball further, a petition posted at the White House's website, signed by over 54,000 Russians and Americans, urges President Obama to expand the so-called Magnitsky List by adding the names of all the Russian lawmakers in the two chambers who voted for the adoption ban. About 7,000 signed a petition calling for Obama to add Putin's name to the list.
Over the past two decades, about 60,000 Russian children have been adopted by US families. Of those, at least 19 died due to parental abuse or neglect. Each one of those cases ignited a firestorm of public outrage in Russia, and led to two suspensions of all foreign adoptions.
It also led to several efforts to tighten up Russia's once-lax foreign adoption process. Today, prospective parents are no longer able to arrange an adoption on their own, but must work through heavily regulated and fully accredited agencies, says Alyona Senkevich, a representative of Hand-in-Hand, one of fewer than 40 US-based adoption agencies still accredited to work in Russia.
"It's heartbreaking to think that we just signed the bilateral adoption agreement. . .. The main impact of this law (if Putin signs it) would be to strip Russian orphans of the right to be adopted abroad,? she says. ?They will become the victims of political games."
Under Russian law, a child is not eligible for foreign adoption until the child has been rejected at least three times by prospective Russian adoptive parents? which usually happens for health reasons.
Albert Likhanov, president of the non-governmental Russian Children's Fund, says that the proposed ban would result in the approximately 1,000 orphans adopted each year by US families to be institutionalized instead of ending up in loving homes.
"I fully understand the wish of many Russians that our children would all be adequately cared for in Russia. But this is not the situation today, and a child cannot wait for everything to get stabilized," he says.
Mr. Likhanov said that Putin?s predecessor, Dmitry Medvedev, once pointed out that in 2008 alone there were 130,000 cases in Russia of violence against children and over 2,000 deaths.
"There is a crisis in our system, and this debate shows that there are people who are willing to use our orphans as political footballs. . . this conflict makes clear that all is not well in own kingdom,? he says.
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russias-adoption-ban-exposes-political-rift-174427014.html
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Blades and clades: Why some grasses got better photosynthesis
Dec. 24, 2012 ? Even on the evolutionary time scale of tens of millions of years there is such a thing as being in the right shape at the right time. An anatomical difference in the ability to seize the moment, according to a study led by Brown University biologists, explains why more species in one broad group, or clade, of grasses evolved a more efficient means of photosynthesis than species in another clade did.
Their findings appear this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Biologists refer to the grasses that have evolved this better means of making their food in warm, sunny and dry conditions with the designation "C4." Grasses without that trait are labeled "C3."
What scientists had already known is that while all of the grasses in the BEP and PACMAD clades have the basic metabolic infrastructure to become C4 grasses, the species that have actually done so are entirely in the PACMAD clade. A four-nation group of scientists wondered why that disparity exists.
To find out, Brown postdoctoral researcher and lead author Pascal-Antoine Christin spent two years closely examining the cellular anatomy of 157 living species of BEP and PACMAD grasses. Using genetic data the team also organized the species into their evolutionary tree, which they then used to infer the anatomical traits of ancestral grasses that no longer exist today, a common analytical technique known as ancestral state reconstruction. That allowed them to consider how anatomical differences likely evolved among species over time.
Paradoxically, to understand C4 evolution, the researchers focused on the anatomy of C3 grasses in each clade.
In general what they found was that in the leaves of many PACMAD C3 grasses the veins were closer together, and that the veins themselves were surrounded by larger cells ("bundle sheath" cells) than in BEP C3 grasses. Ultimately PACMAD grasses had a higher ratio of bundle sheath cells to mesophyll cells (cells that fill in the area between veins).
In C4 plants, such an anatomical arrangement facilitates a more efficient transfer and processing of CO2 in the bundle sheath cells when CO2 is in relatively short supply. When temperatures get hot or plants become stressed, they stop taking in as much CO2, creating just such a shortage within the leaf.
So PACMADs as a group had developed an anatomical predisposition to C4 photosynthesis that BEP grasses didn't, said senior author Erika Edwards, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Brown.
"We found that consistently these PACMAD C3s are very different anatomically than the C3 BEPs," she said. "We think that was the evolutionary stepping stone to C4-like physiology."
When the new leaves turned over
It didn't used to be this way. Back around 60 or so million years ago, BEP and PACMAD grasses were more similar and both headed in the same direction. The distance between the leaf veins in both clades had been growing closer together. But then they started to diverge in a key way. The bundle sheath cells surrounding the veins in BEP grasses started to shrink down while those in PACMAD grasses stayed larger.
For a long time the climate didn't particularly punish or reward either of those directions. But then climate changed, and opportunity knocked, Edwards said. Only PACMAD was near the proverbial door.
"When atmospheric CO2 decreased tens of millions of years after the split of the BEP and PACMAD clades, a combination of shorter [distances between veins] and large [sheath] cells existed only in members of the PACMAD clade, limiting C4 evolution to this lineage," Christin and co-authors wrote in the paper.
The researchers also found that evolution among C4 grasses was anatomically nuanced. Some C4 grasses evolved because of advantageous changes in outer sheath cells, while others saw the improvement in inner sheath cells.
Ultimately, Edwards said, studies like this one show that plant biologists have made important progress in understanding the big picture of when and where important plant traits evolved. That could lead to further advances in both basic science, and perhaps agriculture as well.
"Now that we have this increasingly detailed birds-eye view, we can start to become a more predictive science," she said. "Now we have the raw goods to ask interesting questions about why, for example, one trait evolves 10 times in this region of the tree but never over here. In terms of genetic engineering we're going to be able to provide some useful information to people who want to improve species, such as important crops."
In addition to Christin and Edwards, the paper's other authors at Brown were David Chatelet and Laura Garrison. Other authors were Colin Osborne of the University of Sheffield in the U.K.; J. Travis Columbus of Claremont Graduate University in California; Guillaume Besnard of the Universite Paul Sabatier-Ecole Nationale de Formation Agronomique in Tolouse, France; Trevor Hodkinson of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland; and Maria Vorontsova of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Surrey, U.K.
The National Science Foundation (grants 0920147 and 0843231), the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship (252568) and the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (10LABX-41) supported the research.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Brown University.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- P.-A. Christin, C. P. Osborne, D. S. Chatelet, J. T. Columbus, G. Besnard, T. R. Hodkinson, L. M. Garrison, M. S. Vorontsova, E. J. Edwards. Anatomical enablers and the evolution of C4 photosynthesis in grasses. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1216777110
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/n3yx2Ev9jt4/121226081058.htm
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Chinese professional social network Ushi launches ... - The Next Web
Ushi, often referred to as the Chinese LinkedIn, has released an app for scanning and storing name card information, as it works to build momentum for its professional social network.
The first thing you do in just about any Chinese professional setting is whip out a name card. Lots of cultures put the time-honored practice to use, but it seems to me that the East Asia region is the most strict in its observance of business cards and introductions. For countries like China, Korea and Japan where the concept of ?face? is a crucial part of doing business, name cards and the titles and roles they convey are essential.
But they?re also antiquated. We carry paper around with us, despite the face that we have powerful mobile computers at our fingertips. Often those business cards end up in a drawer collecting dust and we?re unable to find the one we need when it?s time to reconnect.
Several startups are tackling the problem. Yolu Card Reader and Evernote?s Yinxiang Biji Renmai (the localized version of Evernote Hello) come to mind, but Shanghai-based Ushi, as the latest entrant, has the weight of its social network behind it.
With 850,000 users, Ushi isn?t huge. It started out as an exclusive invite-only network targeting executives and entrepreneurs, though it has since opened up registration to all. Ushi Mingpian (Ushi Name Card) is designed to continue driving user growth by solving the name card problem. The app is currently available for both iPhone and Android.
Ushi CEO and co-founder Dominic Penaloza believes the app will help new users to a real-name professional social network because they?re already familiar with the concept of a name card being an important real-name tool. Whether Chinese netizens like it or not, real-name requirements are going to be more and more common on the country?s Internet, if not fully mandated.
?When two business people exchange business cards, not only is it the fundamental first thing they ever do, but it helps us to explain a lot of things. The name card of course is real-name. It?s for business, that?s what it?s for,? Penaloza said.
The foundation of the app is a name card scanner, but it?s more importantly designed to be a self-updating address book.
?I think we?re in the best position in the market to deliver on the promise of the self-updating address book and create even more value for users,? he said, adding that the app balances the utility of card scanning with social aspects.
In its 2 1/2 year history, Ushi has managed to attract a highly valuable demographic to its professional network. The average age is 31 years old, so it skews heavily toward middle-upper management. One-third of Ushi?s users are in the technology, media and telecom industries, while 20 percent are in professional services. Penaloza also estimates there are 15,000 headhunters, 25,000 HR professionals and about 7,000 venture capitalists on the network.
The company?s exclusive beginnings helped to Ushi to court an older crowd. Prior to launch, the team spent months in face-to-face meetings with Chinese CEOs and business leaders to convince them to become charter members. Penaloza says the network grew to 50,000 members in five months, roughly the same speed as Facebook. A year later, it was at 300,000 members and the company decided to open up registration to speed growth.
A number of prominent Chinese angel investors have backed Ushi, as well as one of its clients, expert network Gerson Lehrman Group. In April, Ushi began offering commercial services to source experts for GLG.
?It really works. It?s becoming one of [GLG's] efficient channels,? said Penaloza.
Ushi says it doesn?t need to directly make money from the new card-reading app. Penaloza compared his company?s status to that of LinkedIn, in that their revenue stream is robust enough not to have been adversely affected by the switch to mobile and the resulting lower revenue streams that non-professional Internet companies are dealing with.
?It gives us more liberty to make a great smartphone app and not worry directly about monetizing the users of it,? he said.
Tianji, China?s leading professional social network, expects the market to grow to 100 million?next year. If that?s the case, Ushi?s going to have to move fast to secure a decent share of it, since it has yet to top 1 million. The industry is heating up fast, as Sina recently revealed that it is spinning off a business-focused subset of its Weibo microblog with the help of Yolu. Ushi?s new app is a step in the right direction, so this is definitely going to be an interesting space to watch next year.
? Ushi Mingpian
Image credit: Comstock
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Tuesday, December 25, 2012
Worshippers rejoice in Jesus' Bethlehem birthplace
BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) ? Pilgrims and locals celebrated Christmas Day on Tuesday in the ancient Bethlehem church where tradition holds Jesus was born, candles illuminating the sacred site and the joyous sound of prayer filling its overflowing halls.
Overcast skies and a cold wind didn't dampen the spirits of worshippers who came dressed in holiday finery and the traditional attire of foreign lands to mark the holy day in this biblical West Bank town. Bells pealed and long lines formed inside the fourth-century Church of the Nativity complex as Christian faithful waited eagerly to see the grotto that is Jesus' traditional birthplace.
Duncan Hardock, 24, a writer from MacLean, Va., traveled to Bethlehem from the republic of Georgia, where he had been teaching English. After passing through the separation barrier Israel built to ward off West Bank attackers, he walked to Bethlehem's Manger Square where the church stands.
"I feel we got to see both sides of Bethlehem in a really short period of time," Hardock said. "On our walk from the wall, we got to see the lonesome, closed side of Bethlehem ... But the moment we got into town, we're suddenly in the middle of the party."
Bethlehem lies 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of Jerusalem. Entry to the city is controlled by Israel, which occupied the West Bank in 1967.
Hardock's girlfriend, 22-year-old Jennifer Gemmell of Longmont, Colorado, compared the festive spirit in Manger Square on Christmas Eve, saying "it's like being at Times Square at New Year's."
The cavernous church was unable to hold all the worshippers who had hoped to celebrate Christmas Day Mass inside. A loudspeaker outside the church broadcast the service to the hundreds in the square who could not pack inside.
Tourists in the square posed for pictures as vendors hawked olive wood rosaries, nativity scenes, corn on the cob, roasted nuts, tea and coffee.
An official from the Palestinian tourism ministry predicted 10,000 foreigners would visit Bethlehem on Christmas Day and said 15,000 visited on Christmas Eve ? up 20 percent from a year earlier. The official, Rula Maia'a, attributed the rise in part to the Church of the Nativity's classification earlier this year as a U.N. World Heritage Site.
Christians from Israel ? Arab citizens and others ? also boosted the number of visitors.
Information technology consultant Martin Wzork came to Bethlehem with his wife and young daughter from Krakow, Poland.
"My wife believes in God, so it's important for her," said Wzork, who described himself as a non-believer. "For me, it's interesting because it's a historical place and famous."
On Christmas Eve, thousands of Christians from all over the world packed the square, which was awash in light, resplendent with decorations and adorned by a lavishly decorated, 17-meter (55-foot) fir tree. Their Palestinian hosts, who welcome this holiday as the high point of their city's year, were especially joyous this season, proud of the United Nations' recognition of an independent state of Palestine just last month.
Israel, backed by the United States, opposed the Palestinian statehood bid, saying it was a ploy to bypass negotiations, something the Palestinians deny. Talks stalled four years ago.
Later Tuesday, the world's Christmas focus will shift to Vatican City, where Pope Benedict XVI will deliver his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" speech ? Latin for "to the city and the world" ? from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica to thousands of pilgrims, tourists and Romans gathered in the piazza below.
The speech traditionally reviews world events and global challenges, and ends with the pope delivering Christmas greetings in dozens of languages.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/worshippers-rejoice-jesus-bethlehem-birthplace-081929930.html
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Apple granted design patent for fourth-gen iPod touch, reminds us of the shorter, plumper past
Merry Christmas! The USPTO is celebrating in a big way, with the copyright stamp making some pretty big rounds today. First up is a design patent for an iPod touch, which Cupertino filed back in August of 2011. It looks to be the fourth-gen model from 2010, especially given that the patent focuses on the very rounded edges. This iPod touch was the first version to include both front- and rear-facing cameras, and in any case, the design is miles thicker and shorter than this year's touch. As Patently Apple points out, this document also happens to be one of the last to list Steve Jobs as an inventor.
Filed under: Cellphones, Apple
Via: Patently Apple
Source: USPTO
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Gene variants affect pain susceptibility in children
Dec. 24, 2012 ? At least two common gene variants are linked to "clinically meaningful" differences in pain scores in children after major surgery, reports a study in the January issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia, official journal of the International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS).
"[O]ur study is highly suggestive of a genetic component in pain response among children," concludes the study by Dr Chantal Mamie and colleagues of Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland. But an accompanying editorial question the relevance of this and previous studies of pain-related genes for management of pain in individual patients.
Gene Variants Influence Pain Scores after Surgery ?
The study was designed to explore whether several "candidate" gene variants affected pain scores in a group of 168 children undergoing major surgery -- either abdominal or bone and joint operations. The children and their parents were tested for variant forms ("polymorphisms") of six different genes previously reported as having a possible impact on pain.
The genetic results were compared with the children's pain scores, as routinely monitored during the 24-hour recovery period after surgery. During that time, the children had access to patient- (or parent- or nurse-controlled) analgesia with strong opioid (morphine-related) pain relievers.
Variants of two genes were related to "clinically meaningful" increases in pain scores -- at least four "peak" scores higher than six (on a ten-point scale) during the 24 hours after surgery. After adjustment for other factors, the risk of elevated pain scores was 4.5 times higher for children with a specific variant of the gene ABCB1, which affects the transport of opioid drugs to the central nervous system.
Risk of elevated pain scores was 3.5 times higher for children with a certain variant of the gene OPRM, a key target receptor for opioid binding. The associations with ABCB1 and OPRM variants remained significant after adjustment for patterns of gene inheritance from parents. Variants of two additional genes affecting pain perception -- NTRK and COMT -- were linked to more subtle, "subclinical" effects on pain scores.
? But Have No Effect on Use of Pain Medications
Surprisingly -- even though the gene variants affected pain scores -- they were unrelated to the total dosage of opioid medications used. The dosage of patient-controlled analgesia provides an important objective measure of pain and pain control after surgery.
"The present results are plausible given the known functionality of the candidate genes, and are consistent with the findings in adults," Dr Mamie and colleagues write. Although there has been a wealth of research on the genetic basis of pain in adults, the researchers add, "This first but small cohort study provides clues to further explore the genetic foundations of pediatric pain."
In an accompanying editorial, Drs Debra Schwinn and Ruth Landau of University of Washington, Seattle, put the findings in perspective. A decade ago, researchers thought that the discovery of genes affecting pain perception and opioid responses would soon play an important role in "individualizing" pain control after surgery. Subsequent studies have shown that the situation is more complex, and that the inheritance of pain susceptibility and opioid responsiveness is "probably less straightforward and predictable than previously foreseen."
Especially with the lack of effect on pain medication dosage, Drs Schwinn and Landau suggest that the presence of gene variants (genotype) may be less important than the way those genes are expressed in the individual (phenotype). Because of the complexity of the associations, they conclude, "[T]ailoring opioid analgesia based on selective genotyping is unlikely to occur anytime soon."
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Story Source:
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by International Anesthesia Research Society (IARS), via Newswise.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal References:
- Chantal Mamie, Michela C. Rebsamen, Michael A. Morris, Alfredo Morabia. First Evidence of a Polygenic Susceptibility to Pain in a Pediatric Cohort. Anesthesia & Analgesia, 2013; 116 (1): 170 DOI: 10.1213/ANE.0b013e31826f0637
- Ruth Landau, Debra Schwinn. Genotyping Without Phenotyping. Anesthesia & Analgesia, 2013; 116 (1): 8 DOI: 10.1213/ANE.0b013e318275355a
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/most_popular/~3/Ice5yYobJfs/121224113344.htm
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