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Thursday, March 21, 2013
Study could aid development of new drugs to treat gout
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Findings from a Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine study could lead to the development of new drugs to treat gout.
The study, led by Liang Qiao, MD, and his colleagues and collaborators, was published March 19 in the journal Nature Communications.
Gout is caused by a buildup of uric acid around joints, typically the big toe, knee or ankles. The immune system revs up to attack uric acid salt crystals, and this immune response causes painful inflammation.
The innate immune response is mainly activated by calcium that enters a macrophage immune cell through an opening called the calcium channel. There are several types of calcium channels. Researchers found that a particular type of calcium channel, called TRPM2, is responsible for initiating the immune response. (TRPM2 stands for transient receptor potential melastatin 2.)
In lab mice, study collaborators from Japan knocked out a gene that is responsible for this calcium channel. Qiao's team then exposed these "knockout" mice and a comparison group of normal mice to uric acid salt crystals and to a liposome, a compound that also causes inflammation. They found that inflammation was significantly lower in the knockout mice that lacked the TRPM2 calcium channel. They therefore concluded that disabling the TRPM2 calcium channel could be key to reducing painful inflammation from gout.
The next step will be to design a compound that would block the TRPM2 calcium channel, and then test how well this compound reduces inflammation in an animal model.
The study's findings might also apply to Alzheimer's disease and arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries). These two diseases, like gout, have been linked to inflammation. And it is possible that the TRPM2 calcium channel may be key to initiating the inflammatory response in these two diseases as well. But this has not been proven yet, Qiao said.
The study also could aid in the development of new vaccines. Researchers elsewhere are studying whether liposomes could serve as more effective adjuvants in new vaccines. (An adjuvant is the component in a vaccine that stimulates the immune system to attack a pathogen such as a virus or bacterium). The Loyola study found that only liposomes with either a positive or a negative electric charge are effective in stimulating the immune system.
Liposomes with a neutral charge did not stimulate the immune system.
Qiao, senior author of the study, is a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. Co-authors of the study are Zhenyu Zhong (first author, significant contributor), Yougang Zhai, Shuang Liang and Renzhi Han, all of Loyola University Chicago; Yasou Mori of Kyoto University in Japan; and Fayyaz S. Sutterwala of the University of Iowa.
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Loyola University Health System: http://www.luhs.org
Thanks to Loyola University Health System for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/127370/Study_could_aid_development_of_new_drugs_to_treat_gout
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Survey: Low-wage workers missing out on training
In this Thursday, May 24, 2012, photo, employee Rosy Tirado pulls a pepperoni pizza from an oven at a Pizza Patron Dallas, Texas. While lower-wage American workers have accounted for the lion's share of the jobs created since the 2007-2009 Great Recession, a survey released March 2013 shows that they are also among the most pessimistic about their future career prospects, their job security and their finances. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
In this Thursday, May 24, 2012, photo, employee Rosy Tirado pulls a pepperoni pizza from an oven at a Pizza Patron Dallas, Texas. While lower-wage American workers have accounted for the lion's share of the jobs created since the 2007-2009 Great Recession, a survey released March 2013 shows that they are also among the most pessimistic about their future career prospects, their job security and their finances. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Chart shows AP-NORC poll on attitudes of low-wage workers and employers
WASHINGTON (AP) ? As they struggle to get ahead, many low-wage workers are not taking advantage of job training or educational programs that could help them make the leap to better-paying jobs. They are often skeptical about whether such programs are even worth the trouble, a new survey shows.
In many cases, workers in low-wage positions are not using the training programs their employers offer because they don't even know they exist, the two-part AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey of both workers and employers found. Two-thirds of employers said they offer coaching or mentoring programs and 61 percent provide on-the-job training. But only 36 percent of low-wage workers reported that their employers offer such programs.
The ability to move up the career ladder has become more important as America's economic recovery is fueled by a surge in low-wage jobs at restaurants, health care centers and manufacturing sites. Job training and education can play a major role in helping these workers advance their careers and someday reach middle-class status. At the same time, employers say they invest in job training to retain current workers, reduce turnover and improve the quality of products and services.
Yet the surveys revealed a wide disparity between employers and workers in how they view the importance of training programs. While 83 percent of employers said job training is extremely or very important for upward mobility, only half of low-wage workers felt as strongly about additional training. Similarly, 77 percent of employers rated education as extremely or very important, while only 41 percent of low-wage workers rated it similarly.
Of those who were aware their employers offer such training programs, 64 percent report participating in them, the surveys found. About a quarter have taken advantage of tuition assistance benefits. Yet workers who have used these programs say they are no more likely to feel confident about their prospects for advancement than those who have not received the extra training.
The AP-NORC Center conducted two surveys to gauge the experiences and perspectives of lower-wage workers. A sample of 1,606 workers earning $35,000 or less annually were interviewed last summer, while a companion poll of 1,487 employers of such workers was conducted from November through January.
About 65 percent of the jobs the U.S. economy added since the recession ended in June 2009 were lower-wage ones, according to an analysis of monthly Labor Department employment numbers by Moody's Economics.
Patrick Clements, 61, of Blue Springs, Mo., works as a security guard making $12 an hour. He took the job after he was laid off from AT&T, where he was a management-level employee earning a much higher salary.
Clements said he's not aware of any training or educational opportunities at his company, and at his age, he's not hopeful that other job training programs could help him get any higher-paying work.
"I'm so old that nobody's going to hire me anyway," he said. "They say it's illegal to discriminate by age, but man, I was looking and it happens."
Eve Weinbaum, director of the Labor Relations and Research Center at the University of Massachusetts, said most of the research shows that for the vast majority of low-wage workers, "there is not much chance that job training will lead to better jobs and higher incomes, simply because the higher-paying jobs are not there."
Low-wage workers are even less apt to use government programs that could help them get new training or find better jobs, according to the survey. Only 18 percent have used Pell grants, a student aid program, and less than 10 percent say they have used any other government-funded program, such as one-stop employment centers or welfare-funded training services.
Among employers, 86 percent say they have never taken part in a government or publicly funded training program, with half of those saying they were not aware of programs aimed at their business sector. And 40 percent said they weren't aware of government programs in their area, the surveys showed.
Most employers say their low-wage workers have the necessary skills to perform their jobs now but were not prepared when first hired. These employers are investing in training programs to get workers up to speed, but only about half are confident they can keep these investments going in the future to keep worker skills current.
For some low-wage workers, "just the predictability of scheduling or even access to adequate transportation can be barriers in terms of schooling," said Stephanie Luce, professor of labor studies at City University of New York's School of Professional Studies. "They could be barriers to job training as well."
She also questioned whether many of the programs are truly effective in helping get workers promotions or new jobs.
"It seems to me if the training programs at the work sites really were leading to successful upward mobility, workers would be taking them," Luce said.
Only 30 percent of all workers in this income category report ever having received a promotion from their current employer, and few think they have a good chance of getting one.
Nina Troisi, 52, of Mechanicsburg, Pa., was making more than $50,000 a year in banking customer service, but after being laid off, she found work as a resident assistant at an assisted-living facility for patients with dementia. She now makes less than half her previous salary.
"It's a very underpaid job," she said. "You have good days and bad days, but I'm making it."
Her position does not require certification as a nursing assistant, but she is required to participate in job training such as seminars on understanding Alzheimer's disease and how to keep patients active. Troisi said the job training could be beneficial to her career in the long run.
"Absolutely, I can take what I'm learning here and take it to some other facilities that pay more, like state facilities," she said.
The surveys revealed widespread pessimism among low-wage workers, many of whom see themselves as worse off than before the recession and view their jobs as a dead end. Half said they were "not too" or "not at all" confident their current jobs will help them achieve long-term career goals.
Both employers and workers place most of the responsibility for career advancement on the individual worker, with 81 percent of employers and 78 percent of workers saying the worker shares a lot or almost all the burden. But 73 percent of workers and 78 percent of employers say that employers share at least a moderate amount of the obligation to help workers find better jobs.
By contrast, fewer than half of low-wage workers think federal, state or local government bears more than a little of the responsibility for helping workers move ahead.
The surveys were sponsored by the Joyce Foundation, the Hitachi Foundation and NORC at the University of Chicago. The Joyce Foundation works to improve workforce development and education systems to assist job seekers who may lack skills or credentials. The Hitachi Foundation aims to expand business practices that improve economic opportunities for less well-off workers while benefiting business.
The worker survey was conducted online using the GfK KnowledgePanel and by telephone by interviewers from NORC from Aug. 1 through Sept. 6, 2012. The employer survey was conducted online and by phone by NORC from Nov. 12, 2012, through Jan. 31, 2013. The margin of sampling error for the survey of workers was plus or minus 2.9 percentage points; for employers, it was 4.5 points.
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Associated Press News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and AP writer Stacy A. Anderson contributed to this report.
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Follow Sam Hananel on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SamHananelAP
___
Online: http://www.apnorc.org
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Wednesday, March 20, 2013
U.S. military's Guantanamo buildings need attention
WASHINGTON (AP) ? As much as $170 million is needed to improve facilities for the troops stationed at the Guantanamo Bay detention center that President Barack Obama has marked for extinction, the top U.S. commander in South and Central America said Wednesday.
The head of U.S. Southern Command, Gen. John Kelly, told the House Armed Services Committee that upgrades to buildings including barracks and the dining hall for the American personnel assigned to the joint task force at the U.S. base in Cuba are badly needed. He described the living conditions at Guantanamo as "pretty questionable."
"We need to take care of our troops," said Kelly.
Kelly also said, though, the detainees are living in humane conditions.
Obama had pledged to shutter the prison at Guantanamo soon after taking office but Congress opposed it, passing a law that prohibits the government from transferring Guantanamo prisoners to U.S. soil and requiring security guarantees before they can be sent elsewhere in the world.
Kelly told the committee that the facilities at Guantanamo were designed as temporary structures and never intended to last as long as they have. The prison opened on the base in January 2002.
"These are things that we have to do right now," Kelly said of the repairs. "I'm assuming Guantanamo will be closed someday. But if you look at the past 11 years when it was supposed to be temporary, who knows where it's going. We've got to take care of our troops."
Kelly said none of the projects are aimed at improving the "lifestyle" of the detainees. But the improvements will increase security and improve the ease of movement for the detainees, which will benefit the guards by making their jobs less complicated.
The general estimated the price tag for the repairs at between $150 million to $170 million. Construction work at Guantanamo is expensive, he said, because of the base's remote location and lack of local labor.
"So a 10-penny nail costs 20 cents," Kelly said. "Everything's more expensive."
Rep. Adam Smith of Washington, the committee's top Democrat, raised concerns over the medical care for the 166 detainees at the prison. They are getting older, Smith said, and may soon require better medical care than is available at Guantanamo.
"And as the law stands now, and we have an inmate who has a heart attack, doesn't die, but needs more complicated care, where's he going to get it in Guantanamo?" Smith said. "He's not. And that opens up all kinds of implications in terms of human rights violations and problems that we would have with our own laws, as well as with international laws."
Kelly said there's a small naval hospital on Guantanamo that detainees have complete access to. He said he's received advice from the office of the Pentagon's general counsel that "we're within the law so long as they have access - immediate access to any and all medical care on-island."
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Follow Richard Lardner on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rplardner
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/general-says-guantanamo-buildings-disrepair-164548590--politics.html
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Ex-Oregon governor candidate charged in Facebook stock fraud
By Bernard Vaughan
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former Oregon gubernatorial candidate was arrested on Tuesday for his alleged role in defrauding investors who had hoped to buy shares of Facebook Inc before its initial public offering in May 2012, federal authorities said.
Craig Berkman, 71, falsely told investors he had access to scarce pre-IPO shares of Facebook and other social media companies such as LinkedIn Corp, Groupon Inc and Zynga Inc, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said in a statement.
But instead of buying shares for investors as promised, Berkman made "Ponzi-like" payments to earlier investors and funded personal expenses, including costs in a bankruptcy case, according to the SEC, which filed a civil case.
The defendant received at least $8 million from various schemes, according to U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in Manhattan, which filed criminal charges against Berkman.
"Berkman blatantly capitalized on the market fervor preceding highly anticipated IPOs of Facebook and other social media companies to fleece investors whose cash flow he treated like an ATM to fund his own living expenses and pay court-ordered claims to victims of his past misdeeds," said Andrew Calamari, director of the SEC's New York office.
Berkman was arrested at his home in Odessa, Florida, and was expected to appear in a Tampa, Florida federal court on Tuesday.
The Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office charged Berkman with two counts of securities fraud and two counts of wire fraud. Each count carries a maximum of 20 years in prison.
In one allegation, more than 50 investors sent $4.6 million into a bank account controlled by a Berkman entity called Ventures Trust II, according to the complaint filed by the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office.
Berkman told investors the funds would be used to buy pre-IPO shares of Facebook, but instead the "vast majority" was transferred to other accounts Berkman controlled for his own personal benefit, according to the complaint.
Berkman has long been active in Oregon politics and served for a time as the head of the state's Republican Party, according to press accounts. He lost in the Republican primary for governor in 1994, and he explored a bid for governor in the 2002 race, according to The Oregonian.
The SEC's order details what the agency called a "recidivist history" for Berkman.
The Oregon Division of Finance and Securities issued a cease-and-desist order and a $50,000 fine against Berkman in 2001 for offering and selling convertible promissory notes without a brokerage license, according to the SEC statement.
In 2008, an Oregon jury found Berkman liable in a private action for breach of fiduciary duty, conversion of investor funds and misrepresentation to investors related to his involvement with a purported venture capital firm, according to the SEC.
Berkman reached a settlement with the firm, called Synectic Ventures, after it filed an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition against him in 2009 for debts he didn't pay related an earlier judgment against him for $28 million, according to the SEC.
Rather than use his own money to pay the claims, Berkman spent more than $5.4 million from investors in his pre-IPO offerings to make payments in the bankruptcy settlement, according to the SEC.
The SEC brought a separate case against John Kern of Charleston, South Carolina, whom it said took part in the fraud as legal counsel to some of Berkman's companies.
Marc Blackman, a lawyer for Berkman, was not immediately available for comment.
It was not immediately clear whether Kern has hired a lawyer for his defense. Kern was not immediately available for comment.
The criminal case is U.S. v. Berkman, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 13-mg-00732.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Richard Chang)
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Video: $22 Minimum Wage?
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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/51233805/
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Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Internet Marketing Services | CulturaPopulara.ro
There are extremely few web marketing services worth while out there today. Several website marketing services are only scams pure and simple. A number of these internet marketing companies make promises they can?t and won?t deliver on. Many individuals have lost a ton of money on these internet marketing services. Some of these web marketing companies incorporate ?We will deliver 1 million qualified visitors to your site for 2999.95.? Most of these online marketing companies are bogus. Hardworking people and many good are trying to make a living online and these sham web marketing companies take full advantage of that. Totally knowing they can?t deliver what they promise. As a business owner, affiliate marketer, or anything you ought to be aware of these types of businesses. You don?t need your hard earned cash taking place the drain and making someone else rich. To be able to know what?s true and what is false you need to become an informed Website marketing professional.
Many of these so called website marketing services want to keep you ignorant and misinformed. Why? Because they can direct and lie you along a dead end street until your bank-account and entrepreneurial spirit are broke. The people running these online marketing services are a number of the lowest and unethical people I have ever run into. To begin with the Internet was supposed to be a host to education, these therefore called web marketing companies have sold out just to produce a quick buck. Today there are some really good website marketing companies out there but they get a bad name because of the less worthy people. Which really sucks for the solid website marketing services.
I am assuming you?re a business owner looking for a website marketing company to promote your products or services online. Or possibly you?re a home business owner attempting to build a home business. In any event it generally does not matter you still need to know the actual from the false. Unless of course, you enjoy giving your hard earned cash away and if that?s the case make the have a look at to Aaron Aldama. As a owner or home business owner you must make it a point to become informed on Website marketing. Your money will be taken by marketing services should you choose not these con artists who run these scam internet. For example let us take a look at these online marketing services who promise you 1 million hits to your site. First off that?s not even realistic but let?s not even enter into that. Let us enter into where this therefore called traffic is via. Are these likely to be 1 million unique visits? Meaning 1 million individual people or Internet Protocol Address addresses may visit your website. Since is wholly bogus but let us go through it. Okay how will you as a business owner know where these hits are originating from, yes you can track the hits. But how can you know they are quality people really visiting your site. You will maybe not. There goes 300 to 2,000 pounds down the drain right there. The whole key when looking for internet marketing services is for you to become educated, so you can spot the legit internet marketing services from the cons. chiropracticmarketingconsultants.com
Source: http://culturapopulara.ro/?p=35910
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Great Public Speaking: How I Became A Writer
I've always loved books and learning. My dad was a great influence on this. At 10 years old in the early 1900's he would shine shoes to get money to order electrical engineering courses from the American School. He went on to become a highly successful electrician and electrical contractor. Dad taught me at a very early age that if I wanted to learn how to do something, all I had to do was study.
I would buy "how to" books on every topic imaginable. "How to Build Muscle" by Charles Atlas; "The Lazy Man's Way to Riches" by Joe Karbo; "How I Turned $1000.00 into a Million Dollars in Real Estate" by William Nickerson were just some of my early acquisitions. I bought "How to Build a Computer" long before the PC was even thought of.."
Buying "how to" books went on for years. One day I ran across a book by Dan Poynter called the "Self Publishing Manual" I thought, this was the best thing I'd ever seen. "You mean I could actually create my own book?", I thought. This really excited me.
At the time I owned an entertainment firm in Washington, D.C. called Prankmasters. We custom designed practical jokes. One of the acts I did was an Over-the-Hill preacher routine for people turning 40, 50 or 60. The routine was hysterical and I had hundreds of funny lines about getting older. That was when "Do it Yourself Over-The-Hill Birthday Parties" was born http://www.over-the-hill.org/?.
I followed the instructions in the Poynter book and started creating "how to" books on things I knew about. I found that how to books are much easier to both write and sell. I quickly wrote, "How to Make Money in the Novelty Telegram Business" and "How to Start a Practical Joke Company". All of these books are still selling 18 years later.
This lead to one of my flagship books "Wake 'em Up!: How to Use Humor and Other Professional Techniques to Create Alarmingly Good Business Presentations" http://www.Antion.com/wakebook.htm . After the Internet came along, I found that not only could I research my own ideas easier, but that I could research and write books on things I didn't really know about. As long as the information I was compiling was credible and helpful to people, there was no shame in putting together other how to books. That's when "Instant Eulogies" and "101 Nice Things to Do After the Funeral" were born http://www.InstantEulogy.com?and "Wedding Celebration Speeches"http://www.WeddingSpeeches.org?and "Wedding Celebration Toasts" came along http://www.Wedding-Toasts.org?and the "Greatest American Speeches" four volume set. http://www.great-speeches.org/ These E-books have consistently earned over $100,000.00 a year since 2002. I added "How to Save a Fortune on Your Wedding Reception" a few years later.
All along the way I was gaining quite a reputation as a successful Internet Marketer. Besides writing books I was producing and selling tape, CD and DVD programs on the Internet. This lead to the E-book "Click: The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing for Speakers" http://www.antion.com/click.htm . The success of this e-book lead to John Wiley and sons approaching me to write "The Ultimate Guide to Electronic Marketing for Small Business.
Once you get pretty good at writing books and making money with them other deals start to pop up and you have a better chance to use your success to stimulate more success. A super publicity lady names Joan Stewart "The Publicity Hound" approached me about collaborating on another large e-book. She was great with the details of getting free publicity and I had built quite a career using media marketing. Our deal was that she would do all the writing and I would provide lots of publicity stories and information and I would also do the marketing of the book for the first year. That's when "How to Be a KickButt Publicity Hound" was born. http://www.antion.com/publicityhound.htm
After the success I saw with the publicity book, I thought, "hmmmm. I didn't have to write one word of this very substantial book and it's still selling like crazy and everybody is making money . . . I think I like this." I had used some freelancers before on writing the eulogy and wedding books, so I wasn't entirely unfamiliar with the idea of other people providing content and doing the work. I wondered if this would work for products other than books.
I called up a friend of mine Steve Hart who is a professional magician and pitched the idea. He jumped all over it and http://www.Magic4Speakers.com was born . . . a DVD set. Steve came up to my house and I videotaped him demonstrating and explaining magic tricks. I packaged the product and we have a joint copyright.
I owe quite a bit to Dan Poynter for being my initial motivation that I could write and sell books. "How To" books are my thing because they are really easy to sell and also because they're easy to write. They don't have to have intricate plots and character development.
Besides books, I write lots of material and record videos that are sold to my students in the form of a mentor program http://www.GreatInternetMarketingTraining.com?and a public speaking training site http://www.AmazingPublicSpeaking.com
I hope my story helps you get excited about writing and selling your work. Thanks to Joel for coming up with he idea for this site.
Source: http://greatpublicspeaking.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-i-became-writer.html
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Judge who fixed own tickets ordered to pay five times amount
By Andrew Mach, Staff Writer, NBC News
A previously suspended judge in Pennsylvania learned that a powerful position won?t preclude the penalty of parking tickets.
A judge on Monday fined magisterial district court judge Kelly Ballentine $1,500 for fixing three of her own parking tickets ? a charge five times more expensive than the original fines, the?Intelligencer Journal/Lancaster New Era?reported.
Ballentine pleaded guilty in February to three misdemeanor counts of tampering with public records, which carry maximum penalties of up to two years in prison.
But Chester County (Pa.) Judge Charles Smith opted for the portentous fine in lieu of jail or probation because Ballentine, 44, is a first-time offender with an ?otherwise reputable background,? he said.
Assistant Attorney General Anthony Forray said Ballentine did not try to ?rip off Lancaster County for $269.59,? ? the cost of her parking fines, but she "was given a certain amount of trust, and she abused that trust."
In court, Ballentine?s attorney said that she showed a ?major lapse in judgment? when she dismissed the tickets given to her by city police in December 2010 and January 2011.
Ballentine asked for forgiveness from her friends, family and peers in the judicial system.
"I regret any measure of shame I have brought to them at this time," Ballentine said, according to the Intelligencer.
"What's done is done, but go on and maybe you will work all the harder to do the job you were elected to do," Smith said.
The state Judicial Conduct Board is currently weighing Ballentine?s status as a district judge and could disbar her.?
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Mexico's president gathers power, pushes reform
FILE - In this March 11, 2013 file photo, Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, center, is flanked by Mexican Senate Deputy Chairman Francisco Arroyo Vieira, left, and Mexican Senate President Ernesto Cordero as he shows an agreement signed by him and the three major political parties that would create two new national television stations and form a powerful independent regulatory commission, along the lines of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, in Mexico City. Pena Nieto has been fast out of the blocks in attacking some of Mexico?s toughest issues in a country often stymied by monopolies and corruption. He says his plan will make the country more democratic and competitive in the world economy, and his drive for reform is fueling international confidence about Mexico. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini, file)
FILE - In this March 11, 2013 file photo, Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto, center, is flanked by Mexican Senate Deputy Chairman Francisco Arroyo Vieira, left, and Mexican Senate President Ernesto Cordero as he shows an agreement signed by him and the three major political parties that would create two new national television stations and form a powerful independent regulatory commission, along the lines of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, in Mexico City. Pena Nieto has been fast out of the blocks in attacking some of Mexico?s toughest issues in a country often stymied by monopolies and corruption. He says his plan will make the country more democratic and competitive in the world economy, and his drive for reform is fueling international confidence about Mexico. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini, file)
FILE - In this March 3, 2013 file photo, Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto delivers a speech during a national convention of his Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in Mexico City. Pena Nieto has been fast out of the blocks in attacking some of Mexico?s toughest issues in a country often stymied by monopolies and corruption. He says his plan will make the country more democratic and competitive in the world economy, and his drive for reform is fueling international confidence about Mexico. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, file)
MEXICO CITY (AP) ? New President Enrique Pena Nieto has been fast out of the blocks in attacking some of Mexico's toughest issues in a country often stymied by monopolies and corruption.
He arrested the most powerful woman in Mexico, leader of the largest union in Latin America, on allegations of corruption that previous presidents saw but were too compromised to tackle. He is taking on the richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, and pledges to bring diversity to a television industry dominated by the head of the largest network in Latin America, a scion of one of Mexico's leading families.
At one time all three were key allies of Pena Nieto's Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which ruled for 71 years with a combination of coercion and corruption before being voted out of office in 2000. Now, Pena Nieto is declaring that there are no more sacred cows.
The moves have built momentum behind what could be his most dramatic and difficult reform ? modernizing and drawing foreign and private capital to the behemoth state oil company, a long sacrosanct but increasingly inefficient pillar of the Mexican economy. On Sunday, at a celebration of the 75th anniversary of the nationalization of the Mexican oil business, Pena Nieto said again that he will transform Petroleos Mexicanos. The longtime head of the Pemex union, who had been expected by many to fight any changes but has been the subject of questions about unexplained family wealth, pledged his support.
Pena Nieto says his plan will make Mexico more democratic and competitive in the world economy, and his drive for reform is fueling international confidence about Mexico. Rating company Standard and Poor's raised the country's long-term sovereign credit rating from "stable" to "positive" last week, citing optimism about the government's ability to carry out structural changes. The Mexican peso is stronger against the dollar than it's been in a year and a half.
But some analysts warn against mistaking style for substance and making early declarations of victory against entrenched powers built up by the very party that now says it's trying to bring them to heel. It will take many months, in some cases years, before Pena Nieto's reform agenda becomes law and produces its first results, plenty of time for big promises to be derailed by special interests, institutional inertia and the PRI's old guard.
"It's quite remarkable to me that people are assuming that somehow we're at a new stage in political or institutional or economic development in Mexico," said John Ackerman, a law professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a visiting scholar at American University in Washington. "Increased competition is great. But the central problem that's holding back Mexico's economic development is the concentration of political and economic power at the top, and with Pena Nieto we see more of this, we see a consolidation of this in fact."
While Pena Nieto has pledged to drive down violence, he has made few changes to Mexico's security policy. There has been no credible sign of a slowdown in the waves of killings that have turned many states into battlegrounds. The most significant change, critics say, has been a clampdown on official information about crime, part of a government-wide attempt to refocus national and international attention onto Mexico's economy.
The day before his Dec. 1 swearing-in, Pena Nieto and his team got the three main political parties to sign a 94-point national legislative agenda known as the Pact for Mexico that promises everything from efficient harvesting of rainwater to opening Mexico's behemoth state oil company to private and foreign investment. The Pact for Mexico was dismissed as theatrics by some observers at the time, but it has become clear Pena Nieto intends to push for every promise to become law as quickly as possible.
Addressing his Cabinet and hundreds of dignitaries at a celebration of his first 100 days, Pena Nieto jubilantly pledged to maintain the breakneck tempo.
"The intensity won't be passing. The pace of work will keep up. We didn't come just to govern, but to transform," he declared.
The new president pushed through the most sweeping education overhaul in seven decades, a potentially far-reaching reengineering of Mexico's deeply dysfunctional education system that calls for merit-based teacher hiring and promotion to replace a system in which union domination meant jobs were inherited and sold.
Teachers' union head Elba Esther Gordillo, one of the most powerful-yet-reviled people in Mexico, had pledged to fight the plan that passed Feb. 25, but then was arrested the next day on charges that she embezzled $160 million.
Gordillo rose to her influential position thanks to earlier PRI leaders, although she had strained those ties by supporting other parties in recent years.
Last week, Pena Nieto put forward a set of constitutional and legal changes that he pledged will drive down some of the world's highest cellphone prices and bring programming choice to a country almost entirely dominated by two television magnates.
The largest broadcaster, Televisa, long has been seen as a staunch ally of the PRI. Slim helped build his fortune when he bought Mexico's failing national telephone company at a bargain-basement price from a PRI government. Slim's Telmex controls 80 percent of Mexican landlines and 70 percent of the mobile-phone market. Emilio Azcarraga's Televisa has 70 percent of the broadcast TV market and more than 45 percent of cable television.
Pena Nieto has shown "that yes, he has the capacity to take decisions like arresting Elba Esther Gordillo, difficult decisions that require strength," said Jose Antonio Crespo, a historian and researcher at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching in Mexico City. "These are good signs that's he's willing to get into serious reforms, along with the opposition."
The telecommunications reform has been enthusiastically received by most economic experts and civil-society groups in the week since its introduction, with near unanimous praise of its toughening of the Mexican regulatory system. But many say it would only make it easier for Mexico's existing tycoons to enter each other's markets ? not for new players.
And it's far from clear when the president's education revamp will result in real change in the classrooms.
Pena Nieto has made other changes that haven't drawn the fanfare, but have potentially far-reaching consequences for the power of the president, a once-imperial role during PRI rule that was weakened after the National Action Party won the presidency 12 years ago and ushered in a more democratic Mexico.
He persuaded the PRI to rewrite its rules this month, incorporating the president into the party's top leadership after years of nominal separation between the party and the government. The move will assure party fealty to the presidential agenda, avoiding the internal splits that weakened the PRI in the past, analysts said.
Providing another potential stick for Pena Nieto, Congress stripped lawmakers and other public servants of their longstanding immunity from prosecution, leaving only the president with total legal protection.
For some observers, Pena Nieto's first days are reminiscent of the splashy starts of other PRI presidents such as Carlos Salinas Gortari, who took office in 1988 and undertook a dramatic series of reforms but left office amid a devastating economic collapse fueled by overspending and budget mismanagement.
"This style is a way of saying, 'I've arrived, I'm a different president, I'm new,'" said Jesus Silva-Herzog Marquez, a political science professor at the National Autonomous Technical Institute of Mexico. "It's an assertion of power, a determination to change the rules."
___
Michael Weissenstein on Twitter: http://twitter.com/mweissenstein
___
Associated Press writers Galia Garcia-Palafox and Olga R. Rodriguez contributed to this report.
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Patrick Wensink Amazon Compensation - Business Insider
Patrick Wensink Patrick Wensink
Wensink's?novel "Broken Piano for President"?had spent a week at the top of Amazon's bestseller list, outselling "Hunger Games" and "Bossypants."
He and his family were obviously thrilled, but when they saw the royalty check it was a jarring surprise.
$12,000?
As Wensink explains, "it's not because [writers] have chosen a life of poverty. It's that poverty has chosen our profession."
So why don't more working writers talk about the less-than-desirable pay for their work? Wensink proposes that it's simply "because it's embarrassing."
This isn't a problem originating with Amazon, the bookstores, or even the authors themselves. This is nothing more than a symptom of the publishing industry doing what it needs to stay operational. It seems reasonable to posit that an author would rather see his book published than unpublished. And since the publishing companies are holding all the cards, they can arrange deals to be as beneficial as they like.
Now Watch: Where Is The Money In Mobile Publishing?
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Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/patrick-wensink-amazon-compensation-2013-3
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Thursday, March 14, 2013
Goats' milk with antimicrobial lysozyme speeds recovery from diarrhea
Mar. 13, 2013 ? Milk from goats that were genetically modified to produce higher levels of a human antimicrobial protein has proved effective in treating diarrhea in young pigs, demonstrating the potential for food products from transgenic animals to one day also benefit human health, report researchers at the University of California, Davis.
The study is the first on record to show that goats' milk carrying elevated levels of the antimicrobial lysozyme, a protein found in human breast milk, can successfully treat diarrhea caused by bacterial infection in the gastrointestinal tract.
The findings, slated to appear March 13 in the online scientific journal PLOS ONE, offer hope that such milk may eventually help prevent human diarrheal diseases that each year claim the lives of 1.8 million children around the world and impair the physical and mental development of millions more.
"Many developing parts of the world rely on livestock as a main source of food," said James Murray, a UC Davis animal science professor and lead researcher on the study. "These results provide just one example that, through genetic engineering, we can provide agriculturally relevant animals with novel traits targeted at solving some of the health-related problems facing these developing communities."
In this study, Murray and colleagues fed young pigs milk from goats that were genetically modified to produce in their milk higher levels of lysozyme, a protein that naturally occurs in the tears, saliva and milk of all mammals.
Although lysozyme is produced at very high levels in human breast milk, the milk of goats and cows contains very little lysozyme, prompting the effort to boost lysozyme levels in the milk of those animals using genetic modification.
Because lysozyme limits the growth of some bacteria that cause intestinal infections and diarrhea and also encourages the growth of other beneficial intestinal bacteria, it is considered to be one of the main components of human milk that contribute to the health and well-being of breast-fed infants.
Pigs were chosen for this study as a research model because their gastrointestinal physiology is quite similar to humans, and because pigs already produce a moderate amount of lysozyme in their milk.
Half of the pigs in the study were fed pasteurized milk that came from the transgenic goats and carried greater amounts of lysozyme -- 68 percent of the level found in human breast milk. The other half of the pigs were fed pasteurized milk that came from nontransgenic goats and thus contained very little lysozyme.
The study found that, although both groups of pigs recovered from the infection and resulting diarrhea, the young pigs fed the lysozyme-rich milk recovered much more quickly than did the young pigs that received goats' milk without enhanced levels of lysozyme. Overall, the pigs fed the lysozyme milk were less dehydrated, had less intestinal inflammation, suffered less damage to the inner intestines and regained their energy more quickly than did the pigs in the control group. And, the researchers detected no adverse affects associated with the lysozyme-rich milk.
The lysozyme-enhanced milk used in this study came from a transgenic line of dairy goats developed in 1999 by Murray, co-author Elizabeth Maga and their colleagues to carry the gene for producing human lysozyme in their milk.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Davis.
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Journal Reference:
- Caitlin A. Cooper, Lydia C. Garas Klobas, Elizabeth A. Maga, James D. Murray. Consuming Transgenic Goats' Milk Containing the Antimicrobial Protein Lysozyme Helps Resolve Diarrhea in Young Pigs. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (3): e58409 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0058409
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/G3FmiPUV9LU/130313182140.htm
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SC's Graham shows limits of tea party intimidation
WASHINGTON (AP) ? To gauge the limits of the tea party's ability to frighten re-election-seeking Republicans into a rightward panic, spend time with Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
One day he's blasting tea party hero Rand Paul on the Senate floor, calling the Kentucky senator's 13-hour filibuster ? which criticized U.S. drone policy ? wrong-headed and "ill-informed."
Another day Graham is at a groundbreaking ceremony in Greer, S.C., mixing jokes and politics in a fashion even his enemies have to admire. Citing a January CBS News poll showing Congress' approval rating at 12 percent, he asked: "Who are the 12 percent, and what do they like?"
Three years ago, South Carolina Republican clubs were condemning Graham, calling him too moderate and too willing to cooperate with President Barack Obama and other Democrats. Nikki Haley, now the state's governor, supported the censures. Graham seemed a prime candidate for the type of tea-party-backed insurrections that ousted GOP senators in Utah and Indiana, and prompted other senators to steer hard right to save their jobs.
Today, even his critics say Graham is on track to win a third Senate term next year.
"His approval numbers are pretty high," said Lin Bennett, executive director of the Charleston County Republican Party, one of two major groups that censured Graham three years ago for supporting a bank bailout and for being too accommodating on immigration.
"He offers great constituent services," Bennett said. "One unhappy county isn't enough."
Graham calls himself a proud conservative. But he makes no apologies for sometimes seeking compromise with Democrats, which some tea partyers consider villainy.
"How do we get out of this mess?" Graham asked the Greer crowd, referring to the nation's economic troubles. "The same way the country has survived and thrived for the last 200 years: find common ground. Try to find a way to make everybody a winner instead of everybody a loser."
Graham's bipartisan talk contrasts with the recent tones of Senate Republican leaders Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and John Cornyn. Both men face possible GOP primary challenges from the right next year, and they have sharpened their criticisms of Democrats.
Graham didn't pass judgment on fellow Republicans. But he said politicians needn't kowtow to ideological groups if they visit their home districts regularly and explain their positions forthrightly.
"I've been fortunate enough to be judged by the body of my work," he said in an interview in his Senate office. "I don't worry obsessively about my political re-election. And I've become a very good senator. If you don't overly worry about losing, you become hard to beat."
All politicians and states are different, so Graham's lessons and luck may not apply elsewhere. But by any measure he's folksier and friendlier than the standoffish McConnell. He's far more visible in his home state than was Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, defeated in last year's GOP primary. And he seems unlikely to be caught off guard by hard-right insurgencies, as were Republican senators in recent years in Utah and Alaska.
Graham "is a ferocious campaigner, especially when he gets back home," said Katon Dawson, a former South Carolina Republican Party chairman and a major Graham fundraiser. "Lindsey doesn't have a lot of hobbies." The Senate and politics are "a lifestyle, and he works hard," Dawson said.
Some South Carolina tea partyers still hope to challenge Graham in next year's primary. But they lost perhaps their best prospect when state Sen. Tom Davis ? a libertarian-leaning former top aide to Gov. Mark Sanford ? declined to run.
Another state senator, Lee Bright of Spartanburg, might try. Graham's criticisms of Paul's filibuster "kind of pushed me over the edge," Bright said.
But some South Carolinians see Bright as a fringe candidate.
Meanwhile, Graham has a formidable campaign fund of more than $4 million and rising. Assuming Graham survives the GOP primary, as expected, he is "completely bullet proof" in a general election against a Democrat, Dawson said.
Non-South Carolinians might be amused to hear Republicans debate whether Graham is conservative enough. Four years before being elected to the Senate he was one of 13 House managers for President Bill Clinton's impeachment. He sharply criticizes Obama at times, calling presidential budget plans "a road map to disaster."
Like his pal and mentor Arizona Sen. John McCain, however, Graham often carves an independent path. Despite conservative attacks on Republican senators who have voted to confirm Obama's judicial nominees, Graham says presidents should get their choices barring something that's clearly disqualifying.
"I don't know how to construct a world where we get all of our judges, and they never get any of theirs," he said.
Graham says he would consider higher tax revenues in exchange for serious changes to Medicare and Social Security. He says immigration reform must include a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants. Both stands are anathema to many conservative activists.
Graham most recently drew their fire for joining McCain in denouncing Paul's highly publicized filibuster. Paul ? a libertarian Republican weighing a presidential bid ? demanded White House assurances that unmanned aircraft will not be used to kill American citizens on U.S. soil and not engaged in combat.
Graham called the question groundless and defended Obama's use of deadly drones against terrorist suspects overseas. He shrugged off the resulting torrent of angry tweets and e-mails, saying he and Paul get along fine.
"Rand and I play golf together," Graham said. They differ on surveillance and other anti-terrorism policies, he said, "but these differences have been around forever in the Republican Party."
Graham supports a "big-tent" GOP, which is disdained by those conservatives who say Republicans have become too wishy-washy and too willing to compromise.
"Partisan ideas, on big issues, never fare well over time," he said. He cited Obama's embattled overhaul of health care as an example.
As for the nation's economic challenges, he said, "the path off the road to becoming Greece is a shared path."
If the Republican Party is to thrive, Graham said, it must have "tea party libertarians, tea party conservatives, married up with traditional Republicans. That's the coalition of the future."
So far, most South Carolina Republicans seem disinclined to punish him for that vision.
___
Collins reported from South Carolina.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/scs-graham-shows-limits-tea-party-intimidation-185606487--election.html
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Readdle releases new, free Calendars app, renames premium app Calendars+
Readdle has updated their popular Calendars app for iPhone and iPad, and renamed it Calendars+. That's because they're also introducing an all new, all free version under the original Calendars name.
The free version of Calendars has the same slick interface, Google sync, and other features. Calendar+ has even more features, including recurring events, task management, invitations, and multiple reminders.
I'm not a huge fan of the free app model. I'd rather pay for great apps so developers can afford to make more apps, but Denys Zhadanov of Readdle tells me they're hoping users of the free Calendars app graduate to the for-pay Calendars+.
Free - Calendars - Download now
$6.99 - Calendars+ - Download now
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/eAKcmUk4I2Y/story01.htm
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New Relic Claims Better Customer Ratings With Real-Time Performance Monitoring For iOS And Android Apps
New Relic has launched a new service for monitoring the performance of native mobile apps that the company claims can better track customer reviews on the iOS and Android app stores. New Relic for Mobile Apps?visualizes in real-time how an iOS or Android app is performing across services such as Facebook, different operating systems and in the any other variety of ways an app can be affected as it is used.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/_AGNB1uea88/
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Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Georgianna Donadio, MSc, Ph.D., D.C.: How Happy Couples Behave
It is not a coincidence that the partners in happy couples share many of the same behavioral patterns in how they treat one another. Often we think that being happy means we have fun sharing the same hobbies or doing everything as a couple. While sharing activities enhances relationships, the most important components to successful relationships are found in how the individuals within the couple treat each other, and in large part it has to do with communication and behavior. Listed below are some of the most important aspects of having a successful relationship with your significant other.
1. Be Friends - Being friends and genuinely liking your partner is one of the most important components of a happy and successful relationship. If you don't like the other person, how can you truly love them?
2. Enjoy your friend and partner's company - Laughter is not only good medicine but it is also the glue that binds relationships and creates memories. Laughing together and even crying together is meaningful in good relationships.
3. Be spontaneous - All of us have preferences, likes and dislikes. To be spontaneous about trying new food, travel plans, places to visit and so forth we expand our personal horizons and show respect for our spouse's or partner's preferences as well. Life is more interesting if we can be spontaneous together!
4. Have your own life - Developing a healthy relationship is about two independent and emotionally mature individuals joining company to share their lives together. Sometimes our needs can become interjected into our relationships in a way that creates a co-dependent dynamic and this can derail happiness in an intimate relationship.
5. Be Fully, Purely Present to Your Partner - It has been said that there is no greater gift than our full, complete presence to another. Being authentically interested and attentive to the other person is a hallmark of a healthy, happy relationship.
6. Show and Express Affection - Physical touch is an important part of happiness and fulfillment in relationships. Couples will often say that just holding hands or sharing affection with their partner is the very important part of their feeling loved and cared for.
7. Be Caring and Kind - It cannot be stated enough that kindness, compared with criticism or complaints, is one of the most attractive things about another person. When we are kind not only do we feel good about our behavior but the person we are in a relationship with feels good about our behavior too.
8. Be Honest - If we give our partners a sense that we are devoted and loyal to them and they provide that for us, we create the foundation of a truly lasting and loving relationship. Many times marriages or relationships break up because of trust issues. Trust is the foundation of a all good interactions.
9. Be Committed - When we are committed to someone it means that we are there for them and we can be counted on to support them and be there in times of need. This is what we all want from our relationships and in order to get that we need to give that as well.
10. Communicate - By actively communicating with your partner on an ongoing basis you can avoid many of the problems that arise in relationships before they occur. By being proactive and checking in with each other on a regular basis to see how things are for the other person, this will go a long way in preventing and avoiding conflicts.
Creating and sustaining a loving, trusting and lasting relationship is one of the most fulfilling experiences most of us long for and look forward to. While it is not a complicated process it does require awareness and cultivation, just like raising a child or growing a garden.
If we keep the weeds from infiltrating the flower beds we can enjoy the uninterrupted beauty of our longed-for relationship and reduce the wear and tear that neglect can produce. Relationships take time, caring and commitment, but they are truly worth it.
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Publishers File Formal Complaints Over Amazon's Bid to Secure the .Book Domain
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Tuesday, March 12, 2013
NASA Rover Finds Conditions Once Suited for Ancient Life on Mars
Mar. 12, 2013 ? An analysis of a rock sample collected by NASA's Curiosity rover shows ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.
Scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon -- some of the key chemical ingredients for life -- in the powder Curiosity drilled out of a sedimentary rock near an ancient stream bed in Gale Crater on the Red Planet last month.
"A fundamental question for this mission is whether Mars could have supported a habitable environment," said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA's Mars Exploration Program at the agency's headquarters in Washington. "From what we know now, the answer is yes."
Clues to this habitable environment come from data returned by the rover's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) and Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instruments. The data indicate the Yellowknife Bay area the rover is exploring was the end of an ancient river system or an intermittently wet lake bed that could have provided chemical energy and other favorable conditions for microbes. The rock is made up of a fine-grained mudstone containing clay minerals, sulfate minerals and other chemicals. This ancient wet environment, unlike some others on Mars, was not harshly oxidizing, acidic or extremely salty.
The patch of bedrock where Curiosity drilled for its first sample lies in an ancient network of stream channels descending from the rim of Gale Crater. The bedrock also is fine-grained mudstone and shows evidence of multiple periods of wet conditions, including nodules and veins.
Curiosity's drill collected the sample at a site just a few hundred yards away from where the rover earlier found an ancient streambed in September 2012.
"Clay minerals make up at least 20 percent of the composition of this sample," said David Blake, principal investigator for the CheMin instrument at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.
These clay minerals are a product of the reaction of relatively fresh water with igneous minerals, such as olivine, also present in the sediment. The reaction could have taken place within the sedimentary deposit, during transport of the sediment, or in the source region of the sediment. The presence of calcium sulfate along with the clay suggests the soil is neutral or mildly alkaline.
Scientists were surprised to find a mixture of oxidized, less-oxidized, and even non-oxidized chemicals, providing an energy gradient of the sort many microbes on Earth exploit to live. This partial oxidation was first hinted at when the drill cuttings were revealed to be gray rather than red.
"The range of chemical ingredients we have identified in the sample is impressive, and it suggests pairings such as sulfates and sulfides that indicate a possible chemical energy source for micro-organisms," said Paul Mahaffy, principal investigator of the SAM suite of instruments at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
An additional drilled sample will be used to help confirm these results for several of the trace gases analyzed by the SAM instrument.
"We have characterized a very ancient, but strangely new 'gray Mars' where conditions once were favorable for life," said John Grotzinger, Mars Science Laboratory project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif. "Curiosity is on a mission of discovery and exploration, and as a team we feel there are many more exciting discoveries ahead of us in the months and years to come."
Scientists plan to work with Curiosity in the "Yellowknife Bay" area for many more weeks before beginning a long drive to Gale Crater's central mound, Mount Sharp. Investigating the stack of layers exposed on Mount Sharp, where clay minerals and sulfate minerals have been identified from orbit, may add information about the duration and diversity of habitable conditions.
NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project has been using Curiosity to investigate whether an area within Mars' Gale Crater ever has offered an environment favorable for microbial life. Curiosity, carrying 10 science instruments, landed seven months ago to begin its two-year prime mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
For more about the mission, visit: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/msl , http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ and http://www.nasa.gov/msl . You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at: http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
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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.
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