Ash, Texas rally to stun No. 15 Oregon State

By PAUL J. WEBER
AP Sports Writer

SAN ANTONIO (AP) - David Ash wasn't sure he would start the Alamo Bowl. No one will remember after the way he finished Texas' rocky season with a validating and dazzling victory.

The sophomore threw a 36-yard touchdown strike to Marquise Goodwin with 2:24 left for the last of two fourth-quarter touchdown passes, stunning No. 15 Oregon State and lifting the Longhorns to a 31-27 comeback victory Saturday night.

The Longhorns (9-4) never led before Goodwin scored his second touchdown on a deep post pattern, just a down after Texas converted a fourth-and-1 play to keep its chances alive.

"I guess in in every situation you have to be thankful," said Ash, who was pulled in a loss to TCU a month ago and wasn't immediately selected the starter for the Alamo Bowl. "I learned a lot at TCU. It was a tough situation I was in. I was just really thankful I got another opportunity to play a game I love."

With Texas down 20-10 at halftime, Longhorns coach Mack Brown said he told his players they would win.

"I told them this it wasn't going to be easy, but I told them this game was ours and we would win it," Brown said. "This one is really special."

Storm Woods ran for 118 yards and scored two touchdowns for the Beavers (9-4), who left stunned after looking as though they would wrap up their first 10-win season since 2006.

"Not to take anything away from Texas, that was a great team offensively and defensively," Wood said. "In the first half we had a great style of football. In the second half, Texas made some adjustments and I guess, they just wanted it more."

The victory was a dose of much-needed good news for Texas after coming into the game under a cloud of questions following the suspensions of backup quarterback Case McCoy and injured linebacker Jordan Hicks.

Ash, whose been pulled at times for McCoy this season, was 21 of 33 for 241 yards. Ash sputtered until the fourth quarter, when he went 9 for 11 for 146 yards. Even if there were doubts about Ash before then, Texas had no choice but to stick with him: the only backups were two redshirt freshmen who haven't taken a snap all season.

Brown announced the suspensions Friday but wouldn't reveal which players were sent home. A person with knowledge of the suspensions told The Associated Press the players were McCoy and Hicks, speaking on condition of anonymity because Texas wasn't releasing the names.

Brown addressed the suspensions during a previously schedule news conference and referred to a local TV report that police were investigating two unidentified Texas players in an alleged sexual assault at a San Antonio hotel. Police released a heavily redacted incident report that only identifies the suspects as two students, one 20 and the other 21.

Authorities are still investigating and no charges have been filed.

Brown said he would not address the suspensions further.

Oregon State quarterback Cody Vaz was 15 of 28 for 194 yards and two interceptions. The Beavers had negative 4 yards in the fourth quarter as they were muffled by the Longhorns defense that was led by Alex Okafor, who finished with 4 1/2 sacks.

"When we tried to just drop back and pass, it was difficult," Oregon State coach Mike Riley said. "That's why Cody had to just hang in there. It was very, very tough. He made some plays and some other plays didn't develop because he didn't just have time."

Although Goodwin's touchdown catch might have won the game, two spectacular Texas plays in an earlier 83-yard scoring drive handed the Longhorns momentum - and a chance.

First was wide receiver Jaxon Shipley rescuing a pass sailing behind him with a dazzling one-handed grab at midfield. Ash made up for that off-target throw six plays later, slithering out of safety Anthony Watkins' near-certain sack and flinging the ball to Johnathan Gray, who then zipped down the sideline for a 15-yard scoring play that got the Longhorns to 27-24

The Longhorns played for a national championship in 2009. What's followed has been the shakiest of Brown's 15 years at Texas: a combined 22-16 record, an overhaul of assistant coaches and stubborn instability at quarterback following seven spoiled years with Heisman Trophy finalists Colt McCoy - the suspended player's brother - and Vince Young under center.

A surge of four consecutive victories late this season put this nine-win season in reach - a benchmark that had been the ho-hum standard of the Brown era. It comes following an unexpected twist earlier this month, when school President Bill Powers went to his blog to write that Brown had his "full support" and would remain the head coach.

Powers cited an increase an "increase in media speculation" about Brown's future. It was published on his blog the same day Brown would not yet commit to Ash or Case McCoy as his starting quarterback for the Alamo Bowl.

___

Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/pauljweber

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

Source: http://www.wmbfnews.com/story/20467730/ash-texas-rally-to-stun-no-15-oregon-state

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Blast in Pakistan's Karachi kills six on bus, 48 hurt

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A homeless woman was in critical condition in a Los Angeles hospital after a man doused her with liquid accelerant and set her on fire as she slept on a bus bench, police said on Thursday. Officers arrested Dennis Petillo, 24, in connection with the early morning attack, and he has been booked in jail on suspicion of attempted murder, police said. The woman, whose name has not been released, was being treated at a local hospital with burns all over her body, said Los Angeles police Lieutenant Damian Gutierrez. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blast-pakistans-karachi-kills-six-bus-48-hurt-123159946.html

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Deal reached to avert East coast port strike ... for now

(Reuters) - A union representing dockworkers on the U.S. East Coast and an alliance of shippers have reached a labor agreement that will avert a strike that threatened to wreak havoc on the United States' economy.

The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA), which represents 14,500 workers at 15 container ports in the eastern United States, and the U.S. Maritime Alliance (USMX) of shippers, terminal operators and port authorities, have agreed to extend their current contract by 30 days to finalize details, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service said in a statement on Friday.

Both sides have agreed "in principle" on the contentious issue of royalty payments for shipping containers, payments to ILA workers based on the tons of container cargo that move through a port.

The statement on Friday was light on details of the actual agreement, and the USMX declined to comment further.

The new contract does not eliminate the royalty payments, according to Benny Holland, an executive vice president for the ILA.

"The royalty will stay intact. We have worked out a formula for it," he said in an interview.

Established in 1960, the royalty payments to ILA workers are based on the tons of container cargo that move through a port. That tonnage has risen from 50 million tons in 1996 to 110 million last year, according to the alliance. Total payments last year were $211 million, according to the USMX, or an average of $15,500 per worker.

The original idea of the royalty payments was to protect longshoremen from wage losses expected as a result of "containerization," in which more and more goods are packed in the now-familiar 20- and 40-foot long boxes. Those take less manpower to off-load than the less-standardized containers they replaced.

Both sides also fought over the guaranteed eight-hour workday in the current contract and the seven-man "lashing gang." Lashing crews, or gangs, secure the cargo containers to the vessel using metal lashing rods to keep them from moving while the vessel is at sea. The maritime alliance wanted to eliminate each.

The agreement comes as union forces felt emboldened by recent victories by other unions across the United States. At the same time, shipping companies and port operators have been using more automation, and have seen profits shrink. The Baltic Dry index, which tracks the cost to ship materials overseas, is down 55 percent in the past year and currently at levels it hasn't been in a decade.

(Reporting By Ernest Scheyder, additional reporting by Kevin Gray in Miami; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Bob Burgdorfer and Andrew Hay)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mediator-says-deal-reached-avert-port-strike-now-171126727.html

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Proposals and Creative Writing | Event Experts

Students of the Academy will know that we promote the idea of story writing as a way to sell your ideas to clients. ?In my role as a tutor, I find that the idea of needing to ?write? scares many people but I also find, that almost everyone has the ability to write a story, if they try.

I am lucky, I enjoy the writing process and studied creative writing at University. ?I say lucky, not because that experience in itself gives me superior writing skills, but because my lecturers drummed into me two very important facts about writing. ?The first is that writing is a craft. ?It is not a super-natural ability you are just born with. ?Ok, some people do find that writing comes more naturally to them than others do, but even great writers must work at their craft. ?As writing is a craft it is something you can learn. So that is the good news. ? The second fact, related to the first, is that writer?s write. ?Writing comes more naturally to you the more you do it. ?Every writer cringes at work they did in their early years (and sometimes work they did yesterday too!) but they keep at it and if you do that too it will help you to develop your skills as a writer.

In this blog post, I explore the idea of writing creatively to sell your ideas to clients and I give you some writing exercises to help you on your way to improving your skills.

Do you have a writing tip or exercise? ?Share it with us here.

Source: http://www.eventexperts.com.au/general/proposals-and-creative-writing/

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Tips To Keep You On Top With Commercial Real Estate - Maynas Eric

Establishing oneself in the market for commercial real estate need not be a major challenge. However, you need certain pieces of knowledge prior to starting towards any property. This article is packed with useful guidelines and insight that should facilitate a more thorough understanding of the commercial real estate market.

When you are setting up your home office or commercial property for selling purposes, consider the Asian art of feng shui. Spaces that allow energy to flow freely, without obstacles, also appeal to buyers.

Find a good attorney who will help you through every step of your commercial transaction. Make sure you keep your name clear of all threats if you happen to have anything go sour with any real estate endeavors you have set forth for yourself.

TIP! When making decisions between one commercial property and another, think big. If you will be financing the purchase, you should take into account that doing so will require just as much time and effort for a small lot as it will for a larger lot.

Before placing an offer on any commercial property, first find a lender. Research the interest costs and satisfaction ratings for lenders in your town. Do some research, and select the one that can help you reach your goals prior to purchasing the property. If you take some time to organize your paperwork, then it will be much easier to get that loan approved.

Real Estate

If you are under a lease for commercial real estate, be wary of standard lease forms. Big real estate companies will sometimes slip additional covenants or requirements into the lease document, which can at times be very long. If you read the lease with care, it can help you from having a horrible experience.

TIP! Make sure you know how the firm that you are working with measures their results. Find out what they mean when they say a property has enough space, that a negotiation went well or other critical factors used in assessing and acquiring commercial property.

Clarify how much space is available in square footage. A commercial property?s square footage can be measured two different ways. The first way is usable square footage which is the amount of square footage that can be used for business purposes. The other is total square feet which includes all square footage including square footage that cannot be currently used. Get both measurements so you have a solid understanding of the size of the property.

Whether buying or selling, negotiate. Ensure that your opinion is known, and wrangle for the best price you can get on the property.

Investors of commercial real estate should be sure to be conscious that drastic inflation is a real possibility in the near future and shouldn?t overlook it when thinking about buying. In the past, many leases had built-in clauses that made adjustments according to the Consumer Price Index, which protected signers from inflation. This protection is rarely available today, so signers are more less protected to losses due to inflation.

TIP! One way to do this is to use the internet. Either send out a monthly commercial real estate newsletter, or be active on social media related to commercial real estate.

When purchasing property, look at the amount of units available. More units equal greater opportunity to earn more money. A lot of buyers won?t give a first glance to properties with nine or less units, and most buyers assume that more units equates to more money making potential.

Use a digital camera to take pictures. The picture needs to show defects like carpet spots, wall holes, or discolored sinks and tubs.

Know that you need to charge the proper amount of rent so as to make money on your investment. You should know exactly what you?ll be charging for rent before you speak with any possible tenants. This will keep you from straying from your overall business plan, ensuring an increased chance for future success in regard to your investment.

TIP! Keep in mind that a property will only last so long. You have the potential of making a huge mistake by ignoring the fact that you might have to spend money in order to maintain the property.

Know that there are many different kinds of brokers when it comes to commercial real estate. Agents that work with tenants and landlords both are called full service brokers. There are also agents that only represent tenants. If you are a tenant, you may be much better off by using a broker who only works with tenants as they have a lot more experience with successful tenant representation.

Real Estate

Don?t be afraid to question any potential real estate agents, and ask for references. Your broker should be able to explain what standard they use to measure results. Strive to understand the various strategies that they employ. Work with a real estate broker only if you share the same beliefs and strategies.

TIP! Make sure that the commercial real estate you want to purchase is equipped with connections to all of the utilities you?ll need. You are going to need to sign up for utility services on your commercial property, along with the ones you have at your business.

As we stated at the top of this article, it is best to know about commercial real estate before you start looking for a property. The purpose of the article was to give you information to help you on your quest for success with commercial real estate.

Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/tips-to-keep-you-on-top-with-commercial-real-estate-4

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Apple loses another copyright lawsuit in China: Xinhua

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - A Chinese court has fined Apple Inc 1 million yuan ($160,400) for hosting third-party applications on its App Store that were selling pirated electronic books, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Friday.

Apple is to pay compensation to eight Chinese writers and two companies for violating their copyrights, the Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court ruled on Thursday, Xinhua said.

Earlier in the year, a group of Chinese authors filed the suit against Apple, saying an unidentified number of apps on its App Store sold unlicensed copies of their books. The group of eight authors was seeking 10 million yuan in damages.

"We are disappointed at the judgment. Some of our best-selling authors only got 7,000 yuan. The judgment is a signal of encouraging piracy," Bei Zhicheng, a spokesman for the group, told Reuters.

Apple said in a statement that it takes copyright infringement complaints "very seriously".

"We're always updating our service to better assist content owners in protecting their rights," Apple spokeswoman Carolyn Wu said.

China has the world's largest Internet and mobile market by number of users, but piracy costs software companies billions of dollars each year.

Apple, whose products enjoy great popularity in China, has faced a string of legal headaches this year. In July, Apple paid 60 million yuan to a Chinese firm, Proview Technology, to settle a long-running lawsuit over the iPad trademark in China.

($1 = 6.2360 Chinese yuan)

(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom and Melanie Lee; Editing by Kazunori Takada and Matt Driskill)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-loses-another-copyright-lawsuit-china-xinhua-093548443--finance.html

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Egypt's prosecutor orders probe against opposition

AAA??Dec. 27, 2012?9:59 AM ET
Egypt's prosecutor orders probe against opposition
By SARAH EL DEEBBy SARAH EL DEEB, Associated Press??

FILE - In this Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012 file photo, former Egyptian presidential candidate, Hamdeen Sabahi, left, speaks to former director of the U.N.'s nuclear agency and Nobel peace laureate, Mohamed El Baradei, during a news conference flanked by other prominent politicians, not shown, from outside the Muslim Brotherhood, to decry what was interpreted as a de facto declaration of emergency law by Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, in Cairo Egypt. An Egyptian official says the country?s top prosecutor has ordered an investigation into accusations against opposition leaders, Mohammed ElBaradei, Amr Moussa, and Hamdeen Sabahi, of incitement to overthrow the regime. (AP Photo/Mostafa El Shemy, File)

FILE - In this Thursday, Nov. 22, 2012 file photo, former Egyptian presidential candidate, Hamdeen Sabahi, left, speaks to former director of the U.N.'s nuclear agency and Nobel peace laureate, Mohamed El Baradei, during a news conference flanked by other prominent politicians, not shown, from outside the Muslim Brotherhood, to decry what was interpreted as a de facto declaration of emergency law by Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, in Cairo Egypt. An Egyptian official says the country?s top prosecutor has ordered an investigation into accusations against opposition leaders, Mohammed ElBaradei, Amr Moussa, and Hamdeen Sabahi, of incitement to overthrow the regime. (AP Photo/Mostafa El Shemy, File)

FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2012 file photo, released by the Egyptian Presidency, Nobel Peace Prize winner and head of the opposition Egyptian Constitution political party, Mohamed ElBaradei, left, meets with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, in Cairo, Egypt. An Egyptian official says the country?s top prosecutor has ordered an investigation into accusations against opposition leaders, Mohammed ElBaradei, Amr Moussa, and Hamdeen Sabahi, of inciting the overthrow of Egypt's first elected president, Mohammed Morsi. (AP Photo/Egyptian Presidency, File)

FILE - In this Friday, Nov. 30, 2012 file photo, former foreign minister and presidential candidate Amr Moussa, center, greets supporters as he arrives to Tahrir Square to join other liberal and secular parties for a major protest against Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi's latest decrees granting himself almost complete powers and allowing a rushed constitution to be presented for a vote. An Egyptian official says the country?s top prosecutor has ordered an investigation into accusations against opposition leaders, Mohammed ElBaradei, Amr Moussa, and Hamdeen Sabahi, of incitement to overthrow the regime. (AP Photo/Thomas Hartwell, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010 file photo, former U.N. nuclear chief Mohamed el Baradei talks during an interview with the Associated Press at his house in the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. An Egyptian official says the country?s top prosecutor has ordered an investigation into accusations against opposition leaders, Mohammed ElBaradei, Amr Moussa, and Hamdeen Sabahi, of incitement to overthrow the regime. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)

FILE - In this Monday, Dec. 24, 2012 file photo, Egyptian opposition leader Hamdeen Sabahi speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at his office in Cairo, Egypt. An Egyptian official says the country?s top prosecutor has ordered an investigation into accusations against opposition leaders, Mohammed ElBaradei, Amr Moussa, and Hamdeen Sabahi, of incitement to overthrow the regime. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser, File)

CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's chief prosecutor ordered Thursday an investigation into the leaders of the country's opposition after a lawyer accused them of incitement to overthrow the regime of newly elected Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, a prosecution official said.

The order, issued by an appointee of Morsi, is likely to aggravate political tensions that have erupted into street violence, most recently surrounding the newly passed but divisive constitution.

The accusation, filed last month, alleged that Mohammed ElBaradei, a Nobel Prize laureate and former head of the U.N. nuclear agency, along with Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister, and Hamdeen Sabahi, a former presidential candidate, campaigned to seek Morsi's overthrow.

The probe does not necessarily mean charges will be leveled but it is unusual for state prosecutors to investigate such broad charges against high profile figures. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with government policies.

Yara Khallaf, a spokeswoman for Moussa, said there were no official charges or summoning for investigation, declining to comment on the accusation.

Emad Abu Ghazi, the secretary general of the opposition party ElBaradei heads, said he had no details about the investigation but that the accusations and probe were "an indication of a tendency toward a police state and the attempt to eliminate political opponents."

Abu Ghazi said the former regime of Mubarak dealt in the same way with the opposition. There was no immediate comment from ElBaradei or Sabahi.

The accusation came during a political crisis over a series of presidential decrees that granted Morsi, Egypt's first elected president, and the committee drafting the disputed constitution immunity from judicial oversight.

The opposition called on Morsi to rescind his decrees and accused him of amassing too much power in his hands. It also asked for the draft constitution to be withdrawn.

The opposition organized a number of massive rallies in protest, including one outside Morsi's palace in which protesters chanted "Leave." It was a common refrain during the protests against former President Hosni Mubarak, who was ousted in a popular uprising last year.

The rally turned violent when supporters of Morsi, who perceived the protest as a threat to his legitimacy, attacked their opponents.

Clashes erupted that turned deadly and were followed by attacks on offices of the Muslim Brotherhood, the main backers of the constitution and from which Morsi hails, and the office of a liberal opposition party, al-Wafd. At least 10 people died in the violence, and the Brotherhood claimed they were mostly its supporters.

Morsi and Brotherhood officials accused the opposition of working to undermine the president's legitimacy, and accused former regime officials of working to topple him.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-27-Egypt/id-f6bbf479c6624b0e89726e95a3d152a6

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Fluctuating environment may have driven human evolution

Dec. 24, 2012 ? A series of rapid environmental changes in East Africa roughly 2 million years ago may be responsible for driving human evolution, according to researchers at Penn State and Rutgers University.

"The landscape early humans were inhabiting transitioned rapidly back and forth between a closed woodland and an open grassland about five to six times during a period of 200,000 years," said Clayton Magill, graduate student in geosciences at Penn State. "These changes happened very abruptly, with each transition occurring over hundreds to just a few thousand years."

According to Katherine Freeman, professor of geosciences, Penn State, the current leading hypothesis suggests that evolutionary changes among humans during the period the team investigated were related to a long, steady environmental change or even one big change in climate.

"There is a view this time in Africa was the 'Great Drying,' when the environment slowly dried out over 3 million years," she said. "But our data show that it was not a grand progression towards dry; the environment was highly variable."

According to Magill, many anthropologists believe that variability of experience can trigger cognitive development.

"Early humans went from having trees available to having only grasses available in just 10 to 100 generations, and their diets would have had to change in response," he said. "Changes in food availability, food type, or the way you get food can trigger evolutionary mechanisms to deal with those changes. The result can be increased brain size and cognition, changes in locomotion and even social changes -- how you interact with others in a group. Our data are consistent with these hypotheses. We show that the environment changed dramatically over a short time, and this variability coincides with an important period in our human evolution when the genus Homo was first established and when there was first evidence of tool use."

The researchers -- including Gail Ashley, professor of earth and planetary sciences, Rutgers University -- examined lake sediments from Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania. They removed the organic matter that had either washed or was blown into the lake from the surrounding vegetation, microbes and other organisms 2 million years ago from the sediments. In particular, they looked at biomarkers -- fossil molecules from ancient organisms -- from the waxy coating on plant leaves.

"We looked at leaf waxes because they're tough, they survive well in the sediment," said Freeman.

The team used gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to determine the relative abundances of different leaf waxes and the abundance of carbon isotopes for different leaf waxes. The data enabled them to reconstruct the types of vegetation present in the Olduvai Gorge area at very specific time intervals.

The results showed that the environment transitioned rapidly back and forth between a closed woodland and an open grassland.

To find out what caused this rapid transitioning, the researchers used statistical and mathematical models to correlate the changes they saw in the environment with other things that may have been happening at the time, including changes in the Earth's movement and changes in sea-surface temperatures.

"The orbit of the Earth around the sun slowly changes with time," said Freeman. "These changes were tied to the local climate at Olduvai Gorge through changes in the monsoon system in Africa. Slight changes in the amount of sunshine changed the intensity of atmospheric circulation and the supply of water. The rain patterns that drive the plant patterns follow this monsoon circulation. We found a correlation between changes in the environment and planetary movement."

The team also found a correlation between changes in the environment and sea-surface temperature in the tropics.

"We find complementary forcing mechanisms: one is the way Earth orbits, and the other is variation in ocean temperatures surrounding Africa," Freeman said. The researchers recently published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences along with another paper in the same issue that builds on these findings. The second paper shows that rainfall was greater when there were trees around and less when there was a grassland.

"The research points to the importance of water in an arid landscape like Africa," said Magill. "The plants are so intimately tied to the water that if you have water shortages, they usually lead to food insecurity.

"Together, these two papers shine light on human evolution because we now have an adaptive perspective. We understand, at least to a first approximation, what kinds of conditions were prevalent in that area and we show that changes in food and water were linked to major evolutionary changes."

The National Science Foundation funded this research.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Penn State, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. C. R. Magill, G. M. Ashley, K. H. Freeman. Feature Article: Water, plants, and early human habitats in eastern Africa. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1209405109

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/top_environment/~3/QZT6tyeO2w4/121226080906.htm

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US household debt burden hits 29-year low

1 hr.

Reuters

WASHINGTON --?A measure of the burden of U.S. household debt tumbled in the third quarter to its lowest level in 29 years, which should help free up money for consumer spending and support the economy.

The household debt service ratio -- an estimate of the share of debt payments to disposable personal income -- fell to 10.61 percent from 10.72 percent in the second quarter, the Federal Reserve said on Thursday.

It was the lowest level since the fourth quarter of 1983.

"Consumers have more money in their pockets to spend, which should be positive for the economic recovery going forward," said Gennadiy Goldberg, an economist at TD Securities in New York.

U.S. households built up a massive debt load as the housing bubble expanded and efforts to pay down those debts have been a restraint on spending and the economy's recovery.

The debt service ratio, which takes into account outstanding mortgage and consumer debt, peaked in the third quarter of 2007, shortly before the economy tipped into recession.

The Fed has sought to help consumers dig out by keeping interest rates near record lows. It has held overnight rates near zero since December 2008 and has bought around $2.4 trillion in bonds to further lower borrowing costs.

Even though households are now in better shape, analysts caution that consumer spending could stall if Congress fails to prevent higher taxes from taking hold next year.

An even broader measure of financial obligations that includes automobile lease payments and the cost of renting a home also fell in the third quarter, dropping to 15.74 percent of disposable income -- the lowest level since the first quarter of 1984.

That drop reflected an easier burden for homeowners as mortgage debt payments dropped to 8.90 percent of disposable income in the third quarter, the lowest in 11 years.

Both the overall homeowners measure and separate mortgage gauge peaked in the third quarter of 2007.

"You have a lot of people refinancing their mortgages at lower rates," Goldberg said.

In contrast, the relative cost of rent rose to its highest level since the first quarter of 2010.

The weak housing market has led Americans away from home ownership and toward renting, pushing up rents. At the same time, a modest economic recovery has encouraged some people who had moved in with family and friends to seek their own lodgings, further strengthening the rental market.

While a lightening of household debt burden puts the recovery on firmer ground, it also highlights a hesitance to take on new debt, which could be an obstacle to spending.

"We all (would) like to see better growth in credit, banks being more willing to make more loans to consumers, demand for loans rising," said Omair Sharif, an economist at RBS in Stamford, Connecticut.

"That would push the ratio higher, but that's not necessarily a such a bad thing, especially if rates are so low and you are able to service that debt."

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/us-household-debt-burden-hits-29-year-low-1C7753188

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Renting Cabins In GeorgiaTravel & Leisure | Travel & Leisure

The peach state, Georgia offers a lot of relaxing southern atmosphere. Some people prefer to take in this beautiful state by renting cabins instead of hotel rooms. Renting Cabins In GeorgiaGeorgia is a great vacation spot for friends and family. Whether you would rather stay in north Georgia, home of the Blue Ridge Mountains, or closer to Florida, Georgia is the way to go. Cabins are an economical and fun way to stay together as a family without the hustle and expense of a hotel. While being more like a home away from home, they offer the amenities of a house with the rustic charm of camping ? all with Southern hospitality.If you think you might enjoy the hiking, fishing and natural wonders of the Blue Ridge mountains, north Georgia is definitely for you. This area is home to mountain peaks of over 4000 feet, and even a spot where you can see three states! The town of Blue Ridge, Georgia, is a great place to set up your home base, and with tons of different cabin options to choose from, you will be sure to find one that suits your needs.Premier Cabin Rentals, based out of Blue Ridge, offers many different styles of cabin for rent. All cabins include a hot tub and at least one fireplace for that relaxing country feel. Cabins are available on Lake Blue Ridge (these range from three to five bedrooms), as well as in the mountains themselves. Amenities vary by cabin, and some have game rooms, arcades and other additions to their standard list of items. Standard amenities include a kitchen stocked with utensils, pots and pans and other necessities, linens and towels, as well as entertainment: a TV with satellite and a DVD player or VCR.The Last Resort, also located in Blue Ridge, offers both rustic and deluxe cabins with one to four bedrooms each. These cabins are all situated in the beauty of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and they all include hot tubs, satellite TV, and fully furnished kitchens. Air conditioners are present in the bedrooms, and all linens and other needs are provided (bring your own toiletries).The deluxe cabins also have central air.Choosing to stay in one of the many Georgia cabin options available can make a family trip even more memorable. Whether you would rather get away from it all with a rustic touch, or enjoy the feel of home on your trip, Georgia cabins are the way to do it all in style. Many of the cabins are not just family friendly, but pet friendly (be sure to ask your resort), so the entire family, furry included, can be in on the fun!

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faithless puller: scottcarreey: Courses for Boating | Sports n ...

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Pratt Park playground showered with bullets, and other New Orleans ...

A Pratt Park playground and football field where children were playing was showered with bullets Saturday afternoon, during what appeared to be an attempted drive-by shooting, witnesses and police said. According to the New Orleans Police Department, a report was filed claiming that a car was seen driving by the park around 4 p.m. when one or more people inside of the vehicle opened fire, spraying the nearby football field with bullets.

Police Commander John Thomas, who received the 3rd District report, said that the incident was being investigated as an illegal discharge of a weapon.

A witness, who wished to remain anonymous, said there were approximately 20 children and teenagers present at the time the shots rang out, who ran and ducked for cover during the hail of gunfire.

Witnesses claimed they saw a lime-green Chevrolet Camaro speeding away from the scene near the 5400 block of Pratt Drive, Thomas said.

"We are looking into it and are looking for the owners registered to that car now. It is not clear if they are a person of interest in the case or simply someone who heard the shots and was trying to get out of there," Thomas said.

Anyone with any information on the incident to call Crimestoppers at 504.822.1111 or toll-free at 877.903.7867. Tips can also be texted to C-R-I-M-E-S (274637); text TELLCS then the crime information. Callers or texters do not have to give their names or testify and can earn a $2,500 reward for information that leads to an indictment.

Armed robbery in Broadmoor: A 54-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint Tuesday night by three men on bicycles, police said.

The victim was standing outside on the street near the 4300 block of Washington Avenue when he was approached by three armed men riding bikes. One of the men shoved the 54-year-old to the ground and took his money before the group fled the scene.

No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing, police said.

Aggravated assault on Florida Avenue: A group of four women driving near the intersection of Alvar Street and Florida Avenue were the alleged targets of random gunfire on Saturday night, police said.

According to a police report given at a Dec. 19 5th District crime statistics meeting, the women, all in their 20s, were on their way to drop off a friend after dinner and driving in a sliver Oldsmobile Alero on Florida Avenue Saturday night when they noticed a dark blue vehicle following them.

Near the intersection of Alvar Street, police said, the blue car suddenly sped ahead and pulled out in front of the women. An unidentified man jumped out and? began to fire at them before quickly fleeing the scene, police said.

The women told police they did not know or recognize their alleged assailant. Police said they are investigating whether the shooter might have mistaken the women's car for a similar one belonging to someone else.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/12/mid-city_playground_showered_w.html

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Kodak offloads patents for $525 million, Apple and Google both grab a slice

This isn't a huge surprise, since we already knew that specialist patent buyers were circling Kodak's wares with around half a billion dollars in their baggy pockets. Nevertheless, the deal is now done, with Intellectual Ventures and RPX Corporation working together to snap up the imaging IP for $525 million. The former is an agent for Apple's interests, among others, while RPX represents Google. The good news for Kodak is that this helps it with its bankruptcy restructuring, while simultaneously putting an end to all the Apple-instigated interference that has so far hindered its efforts to stay alive.

[Image credit: Viktor Nagornyy, Flickr]

Continue reading Kodak offloads patents for $525 million, Apple and Google both grab a slice

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Genetic manipulation of urate alters neurodegeneration in mouse model of Parkinson's disease

Dec. 17, 2012 ? A study by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers adds further support to the possibility that increasing levels of the antioxidant urate may protect against Parkinson's disease. In their report published in PNAS Early Edition, the investigators report that mice with a genetic mutation increasing urate levels were protected against the kind of neurodegeneration that underlies Parkinson's disease, while the damage was worse in animals with abnormally low urate.

"These results strengthen the rationale for investigating whether elevating urate in people with Parkinson's can slow progression of the disease," says Xiqun Chen, MD, PhD, of the MassGeneral Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases (MGH-MIND) and lead author of the PNAS report. "Our study is the first demonstration in an animal model that genetic elevation of urate can protect dopamine neurons from degeneration and that lowering urate can conversely exacerbate neurodegeneration."

Characterized by tremors, rigidity, difficulty walking and other symptoms, Parkinson's disease is caused by destruction of brain cells that produce the neurotransmitter dopamine. Healthy people whose urate levels are at the high end of the normal range have been found to be at reduced risk of developing Parkinson's disease. Studies led by Michael Schwarzschild, MD, PhD, director of Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory at MGH-MIND, showed that, among Parkinson's patients, symptoms appear to progress more slowly in those with higher urate levels. These observations led Schwarzschild and his colleagues to develop the SURE-PD (Safety of URate Elevation in Parkinson's Disease) clinical trial, conducted at sites across the country through the support of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. Expected in early 2013, the results of SURE-PD will determine whether a medication that elevates urate levels should be tested further for its ability to slow the progression of disability in Parkinson's disease.

The current study by Schwarzschild's team was designed to improve understanding of how urate protects against neurodegeneration. As in most animals, mice normally have very low levels of the antioxidant because it is broken down by the enzyme urate oxidase or uricase. The higher urate levels seen in humans and great apes were caused by inactivation of the uricase gene during primate evolution. The MGH-MIND team used two strains of genetically altered mice. In one, the gene for uricase is knocked out as it is in humans, increasing urate levels in the blood and brain; in the other strain, the gene is overexpressed, reducing urate levels even lower than usual for mice. Animals from both strains were used in a standard Parkinson's modeling procedure in which a neurotoxin is injected into the dopamine-producing brain cells on one side of the brain.

As expected, the brains of animals with genetically elevated urate levels showed significantly less damage from the neurotoxin injection than did the brains of genetically normal mice. The damage was increased even more in the mice with genetically reduced urate levels, which also exhibited reduced dopamine production and worsened movement abnormalities. The researchers confirmed that genetically altering uricase expression did not affect levels of other molecules in the metabolic pathway that includes urate, supporting attribution of the protective role to urate alone.

"The biology of urate in the brain is largely unexplored," says Schwarzschild, an associate professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School. "Understanding both urate's mechanisms of protection and the way its levels are regulated in the body will help us determine how to better harness its protective effects, if they are substantiated. We now are searching for the mediators of urate's neuroprotection and beginning to explore how it is generated and transported in different brain cells."

Additional co-authors are Thomas Burdett, Cody Desjardins, Robert Logan, Sara Cipriani, PhD, and Yuehang Xu, all of MGH-MIND. The study was supported by grants from the RJG Foundation, the Michael J. Fox Foundation, the American Federation for Aging Research Beeson Collaborative Program, by National Institutes of Health grants R21NS058324 and K24NS060991, and by Department of Defense grant W81XWH-11-1-0150.

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Journal Reference:

1. Xiqun Chen, Thomas C. Burdett, Cody A. Desjardins, Robert Logan, Sara Cipriani, Yuehang Xu, and Michael A. Schwarzschild. Disrupted and transgenic urate oxidase alter urate and dopaminergic neurodegeneration. PNAS, December 17, 2012 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1217296110

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/8foLMUoQ1Mg/121217152643.htm

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Real Estate Marketing Trends in 2013 | YouSpin Blog

As the year is drawing to a close, it is that time again where you have to review how your marketing efforts have fared and whether or not you have to implement new ones and ditch some of the old strategies. So what are the hot marketing trends of 2013 that marketing experts forecast?

Niche Marketing

Since more real estate agents are finding it very hard to compete with those who are doing a ?one-size-fits-all? marketing approach, settling for a single niche and focusing all efforts there is becoming more practical. If you worry about losing on the other niches that you have penetrated, there is no need to cut them out altogether. Shift your marketing techniques to your chosen niche gradually and establish your own brand while maintaining the same strategies in your current niches. Who knows, this approach might just be the ticket to better performance next year.

Interactive Photography

Real estate property buyers are getting more demanding everyday as they seek to know everything about a property just by looking at it online. How better to engage them no less than 360 degree interactive images? Yes, you may present real estate through videos and virtual tours but these take a lot of time and resources. So the spotlight will be turned on the benefits of 360 degree photography next year as it offers cost-effective marketing solutions to agents.

Take a look at a 360 degree image of a property below taken with our own YouSpin Real Estate

Mobile Marketing

More than 50% of adult cellphone users are now accessing the Web so this figure is expected to double in 2013. If you don?t have marketing strategies for mobile yet, you need to make your real estate website compatible to all kinds of mobile devices now and start targeting these users. Again, we can go back to the importance of implementing 360 product animations that will work on smartphones, tablets and other gadgets. When these are properly put in place, your real estate property marketing is sure to soar high next year.

Source: http://youspin.co/blog/real-estate-internet-marketing-trends-in-2013/

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Egypt's Islamists Claim Narrow Victory in First Part of Referendum (Voice Of America)

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Gun nuts: Sandy Hook Elementary teachers should have been armed (Americablog)

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Red algae bloom closes Sydney's beaches, but probably not for long

Bloody waters before summer has even started may sound like a drag on tourism, but it's a mere drop in the sea for Australia.

By Helen Clark,?Contributor / November 28, 2012

A couple of young surfers play with a small wave during a morning surf at Coogee beach in Sydney, Australia, in October. A red algae bloom has closed 10 beaches so far in and around Sydney and up the more northerly Central Coast in Australia during the past 24 hours.

Daniel Munoz/Reuters/File

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Don?t worry. It?s not blood. It?s not even poisonous, just an irritant to skin and eyes and to anyone hoping for a swim now that summer?s finally about to hit Sydney.

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A red algae bloom has closed 10 beaches so far in and around Sydney and up the more northerly Central Coast in Australia during the past 24 hours.?And more beach closures could be on the way, say officials. But aside from some startlingly other-world pictures, it's not likely to scare away the tourists.

The "crimson tide," or an algal bloom that has variously been compared to shark attacks or oily tomato sauce in the Aussie media, washed up on Sydney shores earlier this week, temporarily closing famed tourist beaches like Bondi. But it doesn't seem like too many around here are worried.

Turns out the blood-colored algal bloom isn?t a result of pollution, but rather an upswelling of nutrient-rich waters that the buoyant algae can feed off. Two different blooms have apparently come from the same source and essentially floated to Sydney?s shores. Their ammonia-rich diet can cause skin and eye irritations but little else problematic, according to experts.?

"This bloom has likely occurred as a result of the upwelling of nutrient-rich deep ocean water on to the continental shelf," the Metropolitan Sydney, South Coast, and Hunter Regional Algal Coordinating Committees told media Tuesday.?They said tests had identified the algae as noctiluca scintillans or "Sea Sparkle" (for its phosphorescence) and pointed out that?most algal blooms last around a week.?

Despite the closure of Sydney?s favorite beaches on the cusp of a hot summer ? and a possible heat wave of a weekend, with temperatures predicted to pass 100 Fahrenheit ? it?s doubtful this red tide will cause any longstanding problems either for locals or the tourism industry. And in the meantime, not all of Sydney's beaches are closed, and there are plenty of hotels with swimming pools.

And anyway, Australia has faced much worse in the water: Real blood in the water with the odd shark attacks, or stings from one of the many species of?box jellyfish?like the Chironex fleckeri, the world?s most venomous animal. The sting from this particular jellyfish can cause death in minutes, according to Australian jellyfish experts.

It will take much more to keep people from hitting Sydney's beaches.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/fHQYa2kckUk/Red-algae-bloom-closes-Sydney-s-beaches-but-probably-not-for-long

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McAfee: I'll answer questions in 'neutral country'

1 day

Matthew J. Belvedere, Street Signs Producer

Anti-virus software pioneer John McAfee insists he "had nothing to do" with the killing of his neighbor in Belize, telling CNBC on Friday he would answer questions about the slaying in a neutral country.

McAfee is now in Miami after being deported on Wednesday from Guatemala, where he sneaked in illegally from Belize."I'm certainly not going to turn myself in to the authorities [there], who've been trying to lay hands on me," he said on "Squawk Box."?

John McAfee: ?I Will Not Be Charged With This?

"I had nothing to do with the murder of Gregory Faull," McAfee said. "I spoke 50 words to that man. ? I did not have a history with him."McAfee, 67, has been on the run for a month from Belizean authorities, who term him a "person of interest" in the Nov. 11 death of his neighbor. McAfee said there's no truth to speculation of bad blood with the neighbor.

"He complained about my dogs. But every neighbor complained about my dogs. I complained about my dogs. They kept me awake, too. I was trying to fix the problem." ?

McAfee: ?I?m Prepared to Go All the Way?

No charges have been filed against McAfee. "I will not be charged with this," he said.

Belize does have extradition with the U.S., but only for suspected criminals. Should he be charged, he said, he'd face and fight them.?

McAfee?s Unusual Gospel of Wealth Led Him to Belize

As founder of the McAfee anti-virus software company, he was worth over $100 million at one point. When he moved to Belize in 2009, he told The New York Times he had only $4 million left after the financial crisis.

Addressing speculation that he's now worth $20 million, McAfee told CNBC he doesn't know exactly how much money he has, but it's "less than $5 million." He said he fears that the government of Belize is going to seize his assets.?

McAfee Not a Suspect in Murder Case: Belize Police

?By CNBC's Matthew J. Belvedere; Follow him on Twitter@Matt_SquawkCNBC

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/mcafee-ill-answer-questions-neutral-country-1C7606148

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Key gene for brain development

Dec. 13, 2012 ? About one in ten thousand babies is born with an abnormally small head. The cause for this disorder -- which is known as microcephaly -- is a defect in the development of the embryonic brain. Children with microcephaly are severely retarded and their life expectancy is low. Certain cases of autism and schizophrenia are also associated with the dysregulation of brain size.

The causes underlying impaired brain development can be environmental stress (such as alcohol abuse or radiation) or viral infections (such as rubella) during pregnancy. In many cases, however, a mutant gene causes the problem.

David Keays, a group leader at the IMP, has now found a new gene which is responsible for Microcephaly. Together with his PhD-student Martin Breuss, he was able to identify TUBB5 as the culprit. The gene is responsible for making tubulins, the building blocks of the cell's internal skeleton. Whenever a cell moves or divides, it relies on guidance from this internal structure, acting like a scaffold.

The IMP-researchers, together with collaborators at Monash University (Victoria, Australia), were able to interfere with the function of the TUBB5 in the brains of unborn mice. This led to massive disturbances in the stem cell population and impaired the migration of nerve cells. Both, the generation of large numbers of neurons from the stem cell reservoir and their correct positioning in the cortex, are essential for the development of the mammalian brain.

To determine whether the findings are also relevant in humans, David Keays collaborates with clinicians from the Paris-Sorbonne University. The French team led by Jamel Chelly, examined 120 patients with pathological brain structures and severe disabilities. Three of the children were found to have a mutated TUBB5-gene.

This information will prove vital to doctors treating children with brain disease. It will allow the development of new genetic tests which will form the basis of genetic counseling, helping parents plan for the future. By understanding how different genes cause brain disorders, it is hoped that one day scientists will be able to create new drugs and therapies to treat them.

The new findings by the IMP-researchers are published in the current issue of the journal Cell Reports. For David Keays, understanding the function of TUBB5 is the key to understanding brain development. "Our project shows how research in the lab can help improve lives in the clinic," he adds.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Research Institute of Molecular Pathology, via Newswise.

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Journal Reference:

1. Martin Breuss, Julian?Ik-Tsen Heng, Karine Poirier, Guoling Tian, Xavier?Hubert Jaglin, Zhengdong Qu, Andreas Braun, Thomas Gstrein, Linh Ngo, Matilda Haas, Nadia Bahi-Buisson, Marie-Laure Moutard, Sandrine Passemard, Alain Verloes, Pierre Gressens, Yunli Xie, Kathryn?J.H. Robson, Deepa?Selvi Rani, Kumarasamy Thangaraj, Tim Clausen, Jamel Chelly, Nicholas?Justin Cowan, David?Anthony Keays. Mutations in the ?-Tubulin Gene TUBB5 Cause Microcephaly with Structural Brain Abnormalities. Cell Reports, 2012; DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2012.11.017

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/cN3TNyN104g/121213151446.htm

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Measuring Progress in Health Care Reform - LIVESTRONG Blog

Dec 13, 2012 by Naveen Rao (LIVESTRONG Staff)

Over the last couple of years the nation has been talking about how to reform health care. The discussion involves everyone from policymakers to IT experts, patients to doctors, caregivers to executives, and all combinations of the above. Regardless of who is involved however, the themes of the discussion hardly change: Patient-centeredness. Quality. Value. Here at LIVESTRONG we spend a lot of time focused on the first aim, through our programmatic work, our navigation services, and our research agenda to establish survivorship as a critical area for the health care system to improve.

The last two you may be less familiar with. Quality and Value can be very abstract terms ? everyone has heard of them, but they can mean many things. In the context of driving health care improvement however, they both come down to one critical concept: measurement. As the saying goes, ?You can?t manage what you can?t measure.? This is especially true in health care, as there are dozens of moving parts during an individual?s treatment journey for any particular injury or disease.

But cancer is not just another disease ? it is one of the most complicated challenges we?ve faced. And getting better at treating it means seeing if what we are doing is successful or not. One of the biggest challenges in measuring how we treat a disease like cancer is the tendency to look at the science, the pathways, the process, and the immediate outcome. We are still missing the type of cross-cutting measures that matter to patients, such as what needs to happen before treatment, how well symptoms are managed, how effectively we are transitioning patients between different facilities, or what happens after discharge from the hospital or in the months after the final round of therapy. And developing these measures is tough work: it takes time and energy to conduct rounds of validation by professionals scattered around the country, from statisticians to researchers, doctors, administrators and patient advocates.

But there is good news: The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) has formed a program called the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative, or QOPI. QOPI aims to raise the bar for oncologists by promoting ?a culture of self-examination and improvement? and providing tools and resources to examine all aspects of the care process, including the kind of patient-centered measures that are sorely lacking today. LIVESTRONG attended the Collaborative Cancer Measure Summit last week with experts from all realms of oncology and patient advocacy. The goal of the summit was to outline potential measure areas and compile an action plan for how to get these tools developed and into the hands of the practices who are part of the QOPI program. Two of our staff, Ruth Rechis and Sarah Arvey, attended and presented their ideas based on LIVESTRONG?s research in survivorship.

The next steps for Summit leaders will be to distill this group down into a handful of measure areas and collaborate with other national measurement organizations on final selection. And soon after that, the final list will work its way into various quality improvement programs around the country. All in all, this work is a buildup to putting together the kinds of checklists and processes that ensure we are paying proper attention to the kinds of things that will truly lead us towards a reformed health care system: Quality, Value and Patient-Centeredness.

Source: http://blog.livestrong.org/2012/12/13/measuring-progress-in-health-care-reform/

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More than 200 genes identified for Crohn's Disease

Friday, December 14, 2012

More than two hundred gene locations have now been identified for the chronic bowel condition Crohn's Disease, in a study that analysed the entire human genome.

Published today in The American Journal of Human Genetics, scientists at UCL have devised a new method for identifying and mapping gene locations for complex inherited diseases. Using this method, they have been able to identify a large number of additional genes for Crohn's Disease, making a total of more than 200, which is more than have been found for any other disease. For example, there are just 66 known gene-regions for type 2 diabetes.

Crohn's Disease, a type of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, is a chronic illness of complex origins affecting approximately 100 to 150 people per 100,000. Understanding the genetic component of such complex diseases is central to explaining patients' symptoms and improving treatment.

Despite Crohn's having a large genetic component, this has been hard to dissect. This is partly due to the large number of genes involved, their complex interactions with environment and the spectrum of clinical presentations. As a result, many scientists have been focusing on ever larger cohorts of patients under the impression that larger data sets data will give better results.

This study shows how studying smaller but better defined groups can lead to a better understanding of how complex diseases are inherited, and paving the way for personalised treatment.

Dr Nikolas Maniatis, senior author from the UCL Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, said: "The discovery of so many gene locations for Crohn's Disease is an important step forward in understanding the disease, which has a very complicated genetic basis. We hope that the method we have used here can be used to identify the genes involved in other diseases which are similarly complex, for example different cancers and diabetes."

The research team used UK data provided by the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium (WTCCC), which includes genetic information of 1698 CD patients. The team's results were also replicated using independent US data provided by the American National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), which contains genetic information of 813 patients with CD.

Dr Maniatis said: "The discovery of so many additional genes for Crohn's and much more precise locations within the gene-regions was partly because of the highly informative genetic maps of the human genome that we have used in our approach to locating the genes involved."

He added: "The success of our work was also attributable to the fact that we were able to subdivide patients by disease presentation. Data stratification can help sort out the genetics, and before long genetics will be able to sort out patients".

The team have provided the first clear evidence that some clinical sub-groups of patients are likely to carry different risk genes and their study shows how with a sufficiently powerful method more genes can be found in small groups of patients.

Professor Dallas Swallow, a collaborator and co-author also from the UCL Research Department of Genetics, Evolution & Environment, said: "Some genes are likely to have a large effect and some small, but not all genes will act the same way in all patients. We can combine all this information with that obtained by others from examining cellular and molecular changes to sort this out. This will ultimately lead to more personalised strategies for treatment".

###

University College London: http://www.ucl.ac.uk

Thanks to University College London for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125928/More_than_____genes_identified_for_Crohn_s_Disease

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