golanmann: April 2013

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Whales are able to learn from others: Humpbacks pass on hunting tips

Apr. 25, 2013 ? Humpback whales are able to pass on hunting techniques to each other, just as humans do, new research has found.

A team of researchers, led by the University of St Andrews, has discovered that a new feeding technique has spread to 40 per cent of a humpback whale population.

The findings are published April 25 by the journal Science.

The community of humpback whales off New England, USA, was forced to find new prey after herring stocks -- their preferred food -- crashed in the early 1980s.

The solution the whales devised -- hitting the water with their tails while hunting a different prey -- has now spread through the population by cultural transmission. By 2007, nearly 40 per cent of the population had been seen doing it.

Dr Luke Rendell, lecturer in the School of Biology at the University of St Andrews, said: "Our study really shows how vital cultural transmission is in humpback populations -- not only do they learn their famous songs from each other, they also learn feeding techniques that allow them to buffer the effects of changing ecology."

The team -- also including Jenny Allen from the University of St Andrews, Mason Weinrich of the Whale Center of New England and Will Hoppitt from Anglia Ruskin University -- used a new technique called network-based diffusion analysis to demonstrate that the pattern of spread followed the network of social relationships within the population, showing that the new behaviour had spread through cultural transmission, the same process that underlies the diversity of human culture.

The data were collected by naturalist observers aboard the many whale-watching vessels that patrol the waters of the Gulf of Maine each summer.

Dr Hoppitt said: "We can learn more about the forces that drive the evolution of culture by looking outside our own ancestral lineage and studying the occurrence of similar attributes in groups that have evolved in a radically different environment to ours, like the cetaceans."

Humpbacks around the world herd shoals of prey by blowing bubbles underwater to produce 'bubble nets'.

The feeding innovation, called 'lobtail feeding', involves hitting the water with the tail before diving to produce the bubble nets.

Lobtail feeding was first observed in 1980, after the stocks of herring, previously the main food for the whales, became depleted.

At the same time sand lance stocks soared, and it would seem the innovation is specific to that particular prey, because its use is concentrated around the Stellwagen Bank, spawning grounds where the sand lance can reach high abundance.

Using a unique database spanning thirty years of observations gathered by Dr Weinrich, the researchers were able track the spread of the behaviour through the whales' social network.

Jenny Allen said: "The study was only made possible because of Mason's dedication in collecting the whale observations over decades, and it shows the central importance of long-term studies in understanding the processes affecting whale populations."

The scientists believe their results strengthen the case that cetaceans -- the whales and dolphins -- have evolved sophisticated cultural capacities.

The skills, knowledge, materials and traditions that humans learn from each other help explain how we have come to dominate the globe as a species, but how we evolved the capabilities to transmit such knowledge between ourselves remains a mystery that preoccupies biologists, psychologists and anthropologists.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of St. Andrews, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

Journal Reference:

J. Allen, M. Weinrich, W. Hoppitt, L. Rendell. Network-Based Diffusion Analysis Reveals Cultural Transmission of Lobtail Feeding in Humpback Whales. Science, 2013; 340 (6131): 485 DOI: 10.1126/science.1231976

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/strange_science/~3/mZt8q9y9ovA/130425142353.htm

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Man Arrested For "Mr. Right" T-Shirt, Refusal to Leave Park

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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Senators Are Trying to Rush Through a Massive Online Sales Tax Hike

A band of pro-tax Senators are attempting to rush through policy that would see online sales tax being paid even in states that don't have sales tax. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/a_pFvvrFnwU/senators-are-trying-to-rush-through-a-massive-online-sales-tax-hike

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Monday, April 22, 2013

Cased jump today, lower back pain - Health & Fitness - ThumperTalk

View Post LEllis7motox, on 20 April 2013 - 09:55 AM, said:

Cased a nice 75 foot step up about an hour ago or so pulled off the track and layed on the ground for a few minutes from back pain, got up rode back to my camper and the pain is still all there. Sitting, standing, laying. Laying down feels the best. My back was straight and I believe I just smacked the seat real hard and "jammed" my back, is this such a thing? I??have racing tomorrow and I'm here camping out and not sure what to think... I have no numbness, it doesn't hurt when I push down on my lower back or anything, it's just a constant pain right where the lower back bends, bad enough to where I don't want to stand up for more than a minute or two. Thoughts?

View Post LEllis7motox, on 20 April 2013 - 09:55 AM, said:

??Get it checked for what it is worth. I made the mistake of not going to hospital twice last year. Once in April only went to the hospital a week later to find our I had chipped my collar bone. Then in September some one t boned me??and I come off bad hurt my ribs and hand??it was a week and a half before I went to the hospital again to find I had broke 3 ribs and my hand which has now set at little bit funny. so its proberly worth a trip to A&E.
Hope your ok

Source: http://www.thumpertalk.com/topic/1019347-cased-jump-today-lower-back-pain/

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Sunday, April 21, 2013

Climate Change Takes Flight in New Novel

Writer Barbara Kingsolver is one of a handful of novelists with a science background, and she puts it to use in her new novel Flight Behavior. Kingsolver discusses the book and why she chose to look at the the issue of climate change in a fictional work set in rural Tennessee.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/04/19/177944084/james-webb-space-telescope-wings-it?ft=1&f=1007

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Saturday, April 20, 2013

NBN bringing 1Gbps network to Aussies by the end of 2013

Don't want to trek it to Provo, Utah -- or Austin or Kansas City -- to get 1Gbps internet courtesy of Google Fiber? By the end of this year, you can venture Down Under to get comparable speeds courtesy of Australia's National Broadband Network (NBN). The wholesale price for the network's 1Gbps service will be AU$150 (about $155) per month, with an additional fee to be tacked on by ISPs. NBN will also roll out 250Mbps and 500Mbps services by December, naturally for a lower monthly cost. Sure, 1Gbps speeds may not be necessary for the average household, but leave it to Japan to make those numbers look positively puny with its recently launched service offering 2 Gbps down. Planning that next vacation around internet speeds might just be the way to go.

Filed under: Internet

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Via: The Age

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/19/nbn-1gbps-network-to-aussies-end-of-2013/

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Friday, April 19, 2013

Making fruit easier to eat increases sales and consumption in school cafeterias

Apr. 17, 2013 ? Previous studies and surveys have shown that kids love to eat fruit in ready-to-eat bite-sized pieces, yet in most school settings, the fruit is served whole, which could be the cause that children are taking fruits but not eating them. Most people believe that children avoid fruit because of the taste and allure of alternative packaged snacks. A study by Cornell University's Food and Brand Lab researchers Brian Wansink, David Just, Andrew Hanks, and Laura Smith decided to get to the bottom of why children were avoiding their fruit. Could, perhaps, increasing the convenience of fruit increase consumption?

To address this question, researchers conducted a pilot study in eight elementary schools within the same district. Each school was given a commercial fruit slicer and instructed to use it when students requested apples. The fruit slicer cut the fruit into six pieces and the process took three to four seconds. Results from interviews conducted with students during this pilot indicated they dislike eating fruit for two main reasons: for younger students, who might have braces or missing teeth, a large fruit is too inconvenient to eat; for older girls, it is unattractive-looking to eat such a fruit in front of others. Initial results showed fruit sales increased by an average of 61%, when the fruit was sliced.

Fruit Bytes with Paula Mee -- Getting Kids to Eat Fruit

To confirm this finding, six middle schools in this same district were added to the study. Three of the schools were given fruit slicers, while the other three continued normal cafeteria operations to act as a control. Fruit slices were placed in cups in two of the three schools and on a tray in the third school. To assess actual consumption, trained field researchers were assigned to every school to record how much of the apple was wasted by counting the number of slices thrown away by each student.

Results showed that apple sales in schools with fruit slicers increased by 71% compared to control schools. More importantly, researchers found that the percentage of students who ate more than half of their apple increased by 73%, an effect that lasted long after the study was over.

This study shows that making fruit easier to eat encourages more children to select it and to eat more of it. With an initial investment of just $200, fruit slicers constitute a means for school cafeterias not only to encourage fruit consumption among students but also to prevent food waste.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Cornell Food & Brand Lab. The original article was written by Joanna Ladzinski and Brooke Pearson.

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

Journal Reference:

Wansink, B., Just, D.R., Hanks, A.S. & Smith, L.E. Pre-Sliced Fruit in School Cafeterias: Children?s Selection and Intake. American Journal of Preventative Medicine, 2013

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/UHhqISMts3o/130417165007.htm

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The Many Benefits Of Self Improvement | MySpareTime.net

By learning more about methods of self improvement, you will give yourself the best chance to achieve your potential. There are several tips to utilize for developing mentally and spiritually, so read the ideas below and apply them.

Use your core principals to your advantage. People have their beliefs that act as the center of themselves. Having a good foundation based on your core principles will benefit your sense of self esteem. Another bonus is the fact that doing so will encourage you to be steadfast in how you conduct your life, and that is something that will garner great respect.

Individuals who are dealing with severe problems may benefit from regular therapy. Self help books are useful to an extent, but they lack the substance or personal touch that a therapist can provide to a patient. Simply talking can help motivate you to succeed. Books don?t offer the opportunity for discussion that psychiatrists can.

Try talking to the pastor at your church, or a therapist; it can help. They have a great deal of experience in dealing with personal thoughts and are even licensed to do so. They are ready to listen and to analyze certain things that will have you on the path to enlightenment. Taking the time to talk out your problems is very beneficial for your mental health, and having someone to bounce your ideas off makes it even better.

TIP! You need to figure out the things that are the most important and pay more attention to that throughout life. When it comes to focusing your feelings and emotions, strive to apply them to the important aspects of your life that build happiness, and do not waste them on the negative aspects that weigh you down and prevent inner peace.

Write a list of goals to help you grow in your self improvement. If you are trying to become more confident, write that down. Next, find current or past situations where you could have done something to demonstrate confidence. Picture everyday situations that allow you to work toward that goal. By methodically tackling it, you have a higher chance of success.

Be sure you?re humble. We are all very small parts of this universe. Everyone has faults, and something to learn from everyone else. New insights and potential will be yours if you embrace this concept. You will find you can learn something from everyone, even from people with less experience than you.

Having trouble meeting a significant other in your life? Think about looking on the Internet. These days, forty percent of all relationships start on the Internet. You never know, the person you are looking for could also be looking for someone! There are pluses and minuses to both.

Get rid of every part of your life that is disorganized. When you are organized you have much more of a feeling of being in control, and this will help you gain self confidence. Better yet, you will no longer worry about finding necessary things or dealing with the stress that comes with living in a cluttered environment. Being able to find whatever you are looking for is an amazing feeling.

TIP! Look for new ways to challenge yourself. There are always new growth opportunities with new challenges.

Take the time to research the lives of successful people. The best method of learning how you can prevent mistakes in your life is to find out what steps others have taken towards success. Finding out how other people did things will make your own journey toward success that much easier.

Make friends who are positive-minded and bring joy to your life. Not only will this strengthen your resolve and reinforce positive attitudes in yourself, but it will also allow you a break from people who are toxic that badmouth your goals and dreams at every turn.

Educating yourself is an important part of self improvement. It?s up to you to take the knowledge you gain and apply it to your life, though. There are many different facets to self-improvement. After you implement some of the hints and tips in the above article, you should notice an increase in your confidence levels.

Everyone makes unhealthy food choices every now and then. Stress is as bad for your body as a piece of cake, so remember that life is too short to sweat the small stuff.

TIP! Remaining humble will always benefit you. Compared to the immense universe we are really very small.

Read the following article, you might find it very interesting!
5 Tips For You To Get Your Ex Back Guaranteed

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Source: http://mysparetime.net/the-many-benefits-of-self-improvement/

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Thursday, April 18, 2013

Arris closes deal to buy Motorola Home cable and internet biz from Google

About a year and a half after Google announced its acquisition of Motorola, it's closed a deal to sell the Motorola Home half to Arris. Motorola Home covers the company's cable TV and internet device, which combined with Arris' existing businesses creates what it's calling "the Premier Video Delivery and Broadband Technology Company." Meanwhile, Google keeps the Motorola Mobility half that covers its cellphones, tablets and of course, the related patents. The move cost Arris $2.2 billion in cash along with 10.6 million shares of its stock issued to Google. That's on top of 10.6 million shares for Comcast in return for its $150 million investment, making them equal part (7.7 percent) owners with the folks from Mountain View. What does all of this mean? Your next cable-provided box will probably say Arris on it, and any faint dream of Motorola-built Android TV set-top boxes becoming widely available is officially over.

Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Google

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Source: Arris

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/_qK3CfEhp8A/

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Bipartisan bill would remake immigration system

FILE - In this March 12, 2013 file photo, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. Rubio says a proposed immigration bill expected to be introduced this week won't offer amnesty to those who entered the U.S. illegally. Speaking on the news shows, Sunday, April 14, 2013, Rubio said, quote "there will be consequences for having violated the laws." (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The U.S. immigration system would undergo dramatic changes under a bipartisan Senate bill that puts a new focus on prospective immigrants' merit and employment potential, while seeking to end illegal immigration once and for all by creating legal avenues for workers to come here.

The bill would put the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally on a 13-year path to U.S. citizenship that would cost each $2,000 in fines plus additional fees, and would begin only after steps have been taken to secure the border, according to an outline of the measure.

The sweeping legislation also would remake the nation's inefficient legal immigration system, creating new immigration opportunities for tens of thousands of high- and low-skilled workers, as well as a new "merit visa" aimed at bringing people with talents to the U.S. Senators had planned to formally introduce the bill Tuesday, but after Monday's bombing at the Boston Marathon a planned press event was delayed until later in the week.

Employers would face tough new requirements to check the legal status of all workers. Billions of dollars would be poured into border security, and millions of people who've been waiting overseas for years, sometimes decades, in legal immigration backlogs would see their cases speeded up.

Overall, the changes represent the most dramatic overhaul to U.S. immigration law in more than a quarter-century.

"There's a realization among most Republicans and Democrats that this issue needs to be addressed," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a leader of the effort. "You can't have 11 million people living in the shadows forever."

McCain and another leader of the group, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., were to meet with President Barack Obama on Tuesday to brief him on the legislation. It's a top second-term priority for the president.

The bill is the result of months of secretive negotiations among eight lawmakers. In addition to Schumer and McCain, they are Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado, working with Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona.

The legislation is a painstaking attempt to balance a focus on border security and legal enforcement sought by Republicans in the group with Democratic priorities like making citizenship widely accessible. Crafting the bill was a time-consuming process of seeking compromise and bringing together traditionally opposed groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO, the United Farm Workers and the American Farm Bureau Federation.

But even harder work lies ahead now that legislative language will become public for other lawmakers and groups on all sides to examine and react to. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on the bill beginning Friday and likely move to amend and vote on it in May, with action on the Senate floor expected later in the summer. The Republican-controlled House also must act, and opposition from some conservatives there is likely to be fierce.

"The Senate proposal issues an open invitation to enter the country illegally," Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said on the House floor Monday. "Millions more will do so before the border is secure. The Senate proposal will dramatically increase illegal immigration."

Under the bill, immigrants here illegally could gain a provisional legal status six months after enactment as long as they meet certain criteria, and if the Homeland Security Department has moved forward on plans to secure the border. They would remain in that provisional status for 10 years, able to work legally but barred from federal benefits like welfare or health care. After 10 years they could seek green cards conferring permanent legal status, and three years after that they could petition for citizenship.

They would have to pay a total of $2,000 in fines along the way, and at least hundreds more in fees, though that number has not been determined.

People brought here illegally as youths would have a faster path: They could get green cards in five years and would become eligible for citizenship immediately thereafter.

U.S. citizens no longer would be able to sponsor their siblings for eventual U.S. citizenship, a change activist groups have opposed. That's among several changes aimed at rebalancing an immigration system that now awards around 15 percent of green cards to people with employment ties, and the majority to people with family ties, to a system that awards 45 percent to 50 percent of green cards based on employment ties.

There would be no limit in the number of green cards awarded to people of extraordinary ability in science, arts, education, business or athletics, or to outstanding professors, doctors and others. A new startup visa would be created for foreign entrepreneurs trying to come here to start their own companies.

Visas for highly skilled workers greatly in demand by technology companies would nearly double. Low-skilled workers would be able to come in for jobs in construction, long-term care and other industries, ultimately up to 200,000 a year. A new agriculture visa program would bring farm workers to the U.S.; farm workers already here illegally would get a faster path to citizenship than others here illegally, able to seek a green card in five years, an effort to create a stable agricultural workforce.

The bill is titled the "Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-16-Immigration/id-8067761bb13a47ba80a9f003c482f0fb

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Funeral held for diplomat killed in Afghanistan

RIVER FOREST, Ill. (AP) ? Family and friends of a young American diplomat killed while delivering textbooks to a school in southern Afghanistan remembered her Wednesday as a brave, selfless woman who did not let fear stop her from trying to make a difference in faraway places.

A funeral service for Anne Smedinghoff drew hundreds of people to a church in the Chicago suburb of River Forest, where she grew up.

Mourners lit small candles as they sat in the pews and some held white roses. They watched as pall bearers removed the U.S. flag draping her wooden coffin. For many blocks surrounding the church, white ribbons were tied around trees and lampposts.

The 25-year-old a foreign service officer was killed April 6 in southern Afghanistan along with four other Americans and an Afghan doctor while they were walking from a military base to a nearby school. Two explosions occurred, apparently a suicide car bombing followed by a roadside blast.

"It is with tremendous sadness that we gather here today," said the Rev. Kenneth Fischer, speaking to the mourners as the funeral began. "We are all heartbroken with you."

He called Smedinghoff a "bright, talented, generous young woman. ... Only 25 years old, she had so much more to give."

Speaking before the service at the church, attached to the Catholic school that Smedinghoff attended as a child, family friend Kevin Udrow talked about the tough assignment she signed up for in Afghanistan.

"Some people do not fear situations like that, feeling that they can make it a better place," Udrow said. "She just thought that she could correct some of the evils in the world."

Since her death, co-workers, family and former teachers have remembered her as an adventuresome traveler who volunteered for the toughest assignments because places like Paris and London, she once told her father, would be so boring.

She joined the U.S. Foreign Service straight out of college. Her first assignment for the foreign service was in Caracas, Venezuela, and she volunteered for the Afghanistan assignment after that.

While in Afghanistan, one of Smedinghoff's favorite projects was working with the Afghan women's soccer team and helping it gain greater acceptance inside the deeply conservative country. To ensure she would better interact with the Afghan players, Smedinghoff even practiced her own soccer skills on her days off.

Smedinghoff, the daughter of an attorney and the second of four children, grew up in River Forest, an upscale suburb about 10 miles west of Chicago.

She went to Johns Hopkins University, where she majored in international studies and became a key organizer of the university's annual Foreign Affairs Symposium in 2008. The event draws high-profile speakers from around the world.

At a memorial last week at Fenwick High School, Smedinghoff's former Spanish teacher, Irene Drago, said the woman had a gift for foreign languages and a quiet intelligence.

Drago said teachers are supposed to inspire their students, but sometimes students like Smedinghoff come along and inspire their teachers.

Smedinghoff continued to visit the school, most recently a few months ago.

Secretary of State John Kerry stopped in Chicago on Monday to visit Smedinghoff's parents. Kerry praised Smedinghoff as being "full of idealism and full of hopes" in taking books to school children.

Smedinghoff had assisted Kerry during a visit to Afghanistan two weeks before she died.

The April 6 attack also killed three U.S. service members, a U.S. civilian Defense Department worker and an Afghan doctor.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/funeral-held-diplomat-killed-afghanistan-153146369.html

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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Court: Can human genes be patented?

WASHINGTON (AP) ? DNA may be the building block of life, but can something taken from it also be the building block of a multimillion-dollar medical monopoly?

The Supreme Court grapples Monday with the question of whether human genes can be patented. Its ultimate answer could reshape U.S. medical research, the fight against diseases like breast and ovarian cancer and the multi-billion dollar medical and biotechnology business.

"The intellectual framework that comes out of the decision could have a significant impact on other patents ? for antibiotics, vaccines, hormones, stem cells and diagnostics on infectious microbes that are found in nature," Robert Cook-Deegan, director for genome ethics, law & policy at Duke University, said in a statement.

"This could affect agricultural biotechnology, environmental biotechnology, green-tech, the use of organisms to produce alternative fuels and other applications," he said.

The nine justices' decision will also have a profound effect on American business, with billions of dollars of investment and years of research on the line. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been awarding patents on human genes for almost 30 years.

And Myriad Genetics alone has $500 million invested in the patents being argued over in this case. Without the ability to recoup that investment, breakthrough scientific discoveries needed to combat all kind of medical maladies wouldn't happen, the company says.

"Countless companies and investors have risked billions of dollars to research and develop scientific advances under the promise of strong patent protection," said Peter D. Meldrum, the president and CEO of Myriad Genetics, in a statement.

But their opponents argue that allowing companies like Myriad to patent human genes or parts of human genes will slow down or cripple lifesaving medical research like in the battle against breast cancer.

"What that means is that no other researcher or doctor can develop an additional test, therapy or conduct research on these genes," said Karuna Jagger, executive director of Breast Cancer Action.

The Supreme Court has already said that abstract ideas, natural phenomena and laws of nature cannot be given a patent, which gives an inventor the right to prevent others from making, using or selling a novel device, process or application.

Myriad's case involves patents on two genes linked to increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Myriad's BRACAnalysis test looks for mutations on the breast cancer predisposition gene, or BRCA. Those mutations are associated with much greater risks of breast and ovarian cancer.

Women with a faulty gene have a three to seven times greater risk of developing breast cancer and a higher risk of ovarian cancer. Men can also carry a BRCA mutation, raising their risk of prostate, pancreatic and other types of cancer. The mutations are most common in people of eastern European Jewish descent.

Myriad sells the only BRCA gene test.

The American Civil Liberties Union challenged Myriad's patents, arguing that genes couldn't be patented, and in March 2010 a New York district court agreed. But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has now twice ruled that genes can be patented. In Myriad's case, it's because the isolated DNA has a "markedly different chemical structure" from DNA within the body.

Mark C. Capone, president of Myriad Genetics Laboratories, Inc., a subsidiary of Myriad, said some of the concerns over what they have patented are overblown and some simply incorrect.

"Myriad cannot, should not and has not patented genes as they exist in the human body on DNA," Capone said in an interview. "This case is truly about isolated DNA molecules which are synthetic chemicals created by the human ingenuity of man that have very important clinical utilities, which is why this was eligible for a patent."

But the ACLU is arguing that isolating the DNA molecules doesn't stop them from being DNA molecules, which they say aren't patentable.

"Under this theory, Hans Dehmelt, who won the Nobel Prize for being the first to isolate a single electron from an atom, could have patented the electron itself," said Christopher A. Hansen, the ACLU's lawyer in court papers. "A kidney removed from the body (or gold extracted from a stream) would be patentable subject matter."

The Obama administration seems to agree. Artificially created DNA can be patented, but "isolated but otherwise unmodified genomic DNA is not patent-eligible," Solicitor General Donald Verrilli said in court papers.

That was the ruling of the original judge who looked at Myriad's patents after they were challenged by the ACLU in 2009. U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet said he invalidated the patents because DNA's existence in an isolated form does not alter the fundamental quality of DNA as it exists in the body or the information it encodes. But the federal appeals court reversed him in 2011, saying Myriad's genes can be patented because the isolated DNA has a "markedly different chemical structure" from DNA within the body.

The Supreme Court threw out that decision and sent the case back to the lower courts for rehearing. This came after the high court unanimously threw out patents on a Prometheus Laboratories, Inc., test that could help doctors set drug doses for autoimmune diseases like Crohn's disease, saying the laws of nature are unpatentable.

But the federal circuit upheld Myriad's patents again in August, leading to the current review. The court will rule before the end of the summer.

"The key issue now for the court will therefore be whether the scientist working in the lab to isolate a particular gene innovated in a way that allows for that isolated gene to be patented," said Bruce Wexler, a lawyer with the law firm Paul Hastings, who advises pharmaceutical and biotech companies on patent issues.

The case is 12-398, Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-04-15-Supreme%20Court-Patenting%20Genes/id-539f783ed24f43099e020a47497deb7f

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Drinking cup of beetroot juice daily may help lower blood pressure

Apr. 15, 2013 ? A cup of beetroot juice a day may help reduce your blood pressure, according to a small study in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension.

People with high blood pressure who drank about 8 ounces of beetroot juice experienced a decrease in blood pressure of about 10 mm Hg. But the preliminary findings don't yet suggest that supplementing your diet with beetroot juice benefits your health, researchers said.

"Our hope is that increasing one's intake of vegetables with a high dietary nitrate content, such as green leafy vegetables or beetroot, might be a lifestyle approach that one could easily employ to improve cardiovascular health," said Amrita Ahluwalia, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a professor of vascular pharmacology at The Barts and The London Medical School in London.

The beetroot juice contained about 0.2g of dietary nitrate, levels one might find in a large bowl of lettuce or perhaps two beetroots. In the body the nitrate is converted to a chemical called nitrite and then to nitric oxide in the blood. Nitric oxide is a gas that widens blood vessels and aids blood flow.

"We were surprised by how little nitrate was needed to see such a large effect," Ahluwalia said. "This study shows that compared to individuals with healthy blood pressure much less nitrate is needed to produce the kinds of decreases in blood pressure that might provide clinical benefits in people who need to lower their blood pressure. However, we are still uncertain as to whether this effect is maintained in the long term."

The study involved eight women and seven men who had a systolic blood pressure between 140 to 159 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), did not have other medical complications and were not taking blood pressure medication. The study participants drank 250 mL of beetroot juice or water containing a low amount of nitrate, and had their blood pressure monitored over the next 24 hours.

Blood pressure is typically recorded as two numbers. Systolic blood pressure, which is the top number and the highest, measures the pressure in the arteries when the heart beats. Diastolic blood pressure, the bottom and lower number, measures blood pressure in the arteries between heart beats.

Compared with the placebo group, participants drinking beetroot juice had reduced systolic and diastolic blood pressure -- even after nitrite circulating in the blood had returned to their previous levels prior to drinking beetroot. The effect was most pronounced three to six hours after drinking the juice but still present even 24 hours later.

In the United States, more than 77 million adults have diagnosed high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart diseases and stroke. Eating vegetables rich in dietary nitrate and other critical nutrients may be an accessible and inexpensive way to manage blood pressure, Ahluwalia said.

Getting people to eat more fruits and vegetables is challenging, but results of the study offer hope, she said. "In the U.K., the general public is told that they should be eating five portions of fruit or vegetables a day but this can be hard to do. Perhaps we should have a different approach to dietary advice. If one could eat just one (fruit or vegetable) a day, this is one more than nothing and should be viewed as positive."

The USDA recommends filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables, and the American Heart Association recommends eating eight or more fruit and vegetable servings every day.

Co-authors are Suborno M. Ghosh, B.Sc.; Vikas Kapil, M.A., M.B.B.S., M.R.C.P.; Isabel Fuentes-Calvo, Ph.D.; Kristen J. Bubb, Ph.D.; Vanessa Pearl; Alexandra B. Milsom,BSc PhD; Rayomand Khambata, B.Sc., Ph.D.; Sheiva Maleki-Toyserkani, B.Med.Sci.; Mubeen Yousuf, B.Med.Sci.; Nigel Benjamin, M.D., F.R.C.P.; Andrew J. Webb, Ph.D., M.R.C.P.; Mark J. Caulfield, M.D., F.R.C.P.; and Adrian J. Hobbs, B.Sc., Ph.D. Author disclosures are on the manuscript.

The British Heart Foundation funded the study.

The American Heart Association has tips on adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet.

Follow @HeartNews on Twitter for the latest heart and stroke news.

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Journal Reference:

Amrita Ahluwalia et al Advanced search Other content in.. Categories Health Keywords Medical Regions Europe North America. Enhanced vasodilator activity of nitrite in hypertension: critical role for erythrocytic xanthine oxidoreductase and translational potential. Hypertension, 2013

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/nutrition/~3/cc5iarpe-4A/130415172230.htm

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Friday, April 12, 2013

Zuckerberg, Schmidt, Mayer and others back FWD.us tech political lobby group

If you thought that Mark Zuckerberg's aspirations ended at commanding your smartphone, then think again. The Facebook chief has teamed up with a raft of other tech heavyweights including Eric Schmidt, Marissa Mayer and Elon Musk to form FWD.us, a political lobby group designed to promote tech-friendly causes. The first issue it wants to tackle is immigration reform to make it easier to woo foreign engineering talent, but it also has designs on scientific research, education reform and job creation. Evidently, these people still have spare time even after their stressful day jobs.

Filed under: Misc, Internet

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Via: TechCrunch

Source: FWD.us

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/11/FWD.us/

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This notepad folio has a place for your smart phone

I’ve seen cases that combine a paper notepad with tablet storage, but the Carezza Phone Pocket Folio from Levenger is the first I’ve seen that has storage for a smart phone. ?Carezza leather is buttery soft but strong, and it’s available in the black or purple shown in the image (click for a better view). [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2013/04/12/this-notepad-folio-has-a-place-for-your-smart-phone/

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Fed flubs, releases economic policy review early

Staff reports , CNBC.com ? ? ? 5 hrs.

The Federal Reserve released the minutes of its March policy review earlier than anticipated Wednesday after the central bank emailed them inadvertently to congressional staffers and trade lobbyists on Tuesday.

The Federal Open Market Committee minutes, as the review is called, is a snapshot into the Fed's thinking on interest rate policy and the economy. It can be a motivation for trading in financial markets.

According to the Fed, the minutes were mistakenly released sometime after 2 p.m. EDT Tuesday to about 100 congressional staffers and trade lobbyists. The minutes had been scheduled to be released at 2 p.m. EDT Wednesday.

The Fed has contacted the Securities and Exchange, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and its inspector general to see if there was any trading tied to this early release of information.

In the minutes, Fed policy makers worried about increased risks due to the central bank's aggressive monetary stimulus, though most view those dangers as "manageable" for now.

Minutes from the most recent Fed meeting suggest that members have grown increasingly concerned that things could get messy if it continues its policies too far into the future.

Among those concerns are instability to the financial system, a sudden rise in interest rates and inflation.

"In particular, participants pointed to possible risks to the stability of the financial system, the functioning of particular financial markets, the smooth withdrawal of monetary accommodation when it eventually becomes appropriate, and the Federal Reserve's net income," the March meeting minutes state. "Their views on the practical importance of these risks varied, as did their prescriptions for mitigating them.

Market reaction was fairly muted despite the seeming discontent among Fed board members.

The release of the minutes comes as Wall Street tries to anticipate when the Federal Reserve will begin scaling back its asset-buying program, known as quantitative easing.

Under the latest version of QE, the central bank is buying $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities, while critics warn of potential asset bubbles and inflation problems.

The comments as reported in the minutes reflect some of the strongest misgivings yet about Fed policy.

Members indicated a general tone that the moves have been necessary to stabilize the economy following the financial crisis that began in 2008.

The Fed aggressively drove down interest rates to the point where mortgage borrowing hit historic lows. At the same time, the stock market has soared, sending both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Standard & Poor's 500 have hit record highs.

But some also said that the costs are escalating the longer the program continues.

"A number of participants remained concerned about the potential for financial stability risks to build," the minutes said.

The discussions also provided a clearer path for how the Fed intends to unwind its $3.2 trillion balance sheet, though an exit from the zero interest rate policy remains less clear.

At least as far as the $1.1 trillion mortgage-backed securities portion is concerned, the Fed is unlikely to sell those back into the marketplace, opting instead to hold that debt to duration. Members felt that would minimize marketplace disruptions.

"A few participants noted that curtailing the purchase program was the most direct way to mitigate the costs and risks," the minutes said.

That reflected a growing sentiment that the best way to manage policy risks was to stop.

"A few participants noted that they already viewed the costs as likely outweighing the benefits and so would like to bring the program to a close relatively soon," the minutes said. "A few others saw the risks as increasing fairly quickly with the size of the Federal Reserve's balance sheet and judged that the pace of purchases would likely need to be reduced before long."

Nevertheless, the final vote saw only dissent, coming from Esther L. George, while the other 11 members affirmed the policy statement.

CNBC.com senior writer Jeff Cox contributed to this report.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653351/s/2a8e2e8b/l/0L0Snbcnews0N0Cbusiness0Ceconomywatch0Cfed0Eflubs0Ereleases0Eeconomic0Epolicy0Ereview0Eearly0E1C9291237/story01.htm

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Thursday, April 11, 2013

Why I?m Not Nice To Conservatives (OliverWillisLikeKryptoniteToStupid)

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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

RNA interference drug demonstrated activity and safety in phase I trial

Apr. 9, 2013 ? Early results from a phase I, first in-human study indicate that a potential new class of drugs, RNA interference (RNAi) drugs, can be safely administered in humans, according to a researcher who presented data on the safety and preliminary efficacy of TKM-080301 at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013, held in Washington, D.C., April 6-10. TKM-080301, also known as TKM-PLK1, is an RNAi drug being developed by Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation.

"RNAi therapies are a unique approach to cancer treatment as they have the potential to 'turn off' the genes' coding for proteins involved in cancer cell division," said Ramesh K. Ramanathan, M.D., medical director of the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center Clinical Trials Program at Scottsdale Healthcare and deputy director of the Clinical Translational Research Division of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) in Phoenix, Ariz. "Using a lipid nanoparticle, the RNAi drug can be delivered to a cancer cell to block the expression of specific proteins involved in tumor growth."

TKM-080301 targets a specific gene called polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1), which codes for a protein involved in tumor cell growth. Prior research has shown that high levels of PLK1 are present in many types of cancer, including many of the more aggressive forms.

"Our preclinical results have shown that by decreasing PLK1 levels in cancer cells, we can stop tumor growth and kill the cancer cells," Ramanathan said.

He and his colleagues have been enrolling patients with advanced solid tumors or lymphoma into the ongoing multicenter, open-label, dose-escalation study. Sequential cohorts of three to six patients have been assigned to escalating doses of TKM-080301 as a 30-minute intravenous infusion. To date, the researchers have assigned 23 patients to the drug at doses ranging from 0.15 mg/kg per week to 0.9 mg/kg per week.

The most common drug-related adverse events have been mild to moderate and include fever, chills, nausea, vomiting and fatigue. Dose-limiting toxicities were observed at the 0.9 mg/kg per-week dose. One patient with a history of asthma experienced shortness of breath and hypoxia; another patient had thrombocytopenia. The researchers subsequently reduced the maximum dose to 0.75 mg/kg per week.

Two patients have been assigned to TKM-080301 for more than six months and have shown no evidence of cumulative toxicity. One of these patients has stable disease and the other has a durable confirmed partial response.

"RNAi therapies, such as the one used in our study, have the potential to make a significant and broad impact on how we treat cancer because we have the ability to target virtually any protein involved in the disease," Ramanathan said. "This approach has the potential to augment the currently available cancer treatments to improve outcomes for the patient."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), via Newswise.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/health_medicine/genes/~3/UKfft2xBqHI/130409155821.htm

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