Neuroscientists use statistical model to draft fantasy teams of neurons

Apr. 29, 2013 ? This past weekend teams from the National Football League used statistics like height, weight and speed to draft the best college players, and in a few weeks, armchair enthusiasts will use similar measures to select players for their own fantasy football teams. Neuroscientists at Carnegie Mellon University are taking a similar approach to compile "dream teams" of neurons using a statistics-based method that can evaluate the fitness of individual neurons.

After assembling the teams, a computer simulation pitted the groups of neurons against one another in a playoff-style format to find out which population was the best. Researchers analyzed the winning teams to see what types of neurons made the most successful squads.

The results were published in the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences the week of April 29.

"We wanted to know what team of neurons would be most likely to perform best in response to a variety of stimuli," said Nathan Urban, the Dr. Frederick A. Schwertz Distinguished Professor of Life Sciences and head of the Department of Biological Sciences at Carnegie Mellon.

The human brain contains more than 100 billion neurons that work together in smaller groups to complete certain tasks like processing an odor, or seeing a color. Previous work by Urban's lab found that no two neurons are exactly alike and that diverse teams of neurons were better able to determine a stimulus than teams of similar neurons.

"The next step in our work was to figure out how to assemble the best possible population of neurons in order to complete a task," said Urban, who is also a member of the joint Carnegie Mellon/University of Pittsburgh Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC).

However, using existing methods, scouting for the best team of neurons was a seemingly daunting task. It would be impossible for scientists to determine how each of the billions of neurons in the brain would individually respond to a multitude of stimuli. Urban and Shreejoy Tripathy, the article's lead author and graduate student in the CNBC's Program in Neural Computation, solved this problem using a statistical modeling approach, known as generalized linear models (GLMs), to analyze the cell-to-cell variability. Urban and Tripathy found that by applying this approach they were able to accurately reproduce the behavior of individual neurons in a computer, allowing them to gather statistics on each single cell.

Then, much like in fantasy football, the computer model used the statistics to put together thousands of teams of neurons. The teams competed against one another in a computer simulation to see which were able to most accurately recreate a stimulus delivered to the team of neurons. In the end researchers identified a small set of teams that they could study to see what characteristics made those populations successful.

They found that the winning teams of neurons were diverse but not as diverse as they would be if they were selected at random from the general population of neurons. The most successful sets contained a heterogeneous group of neurons that were flexible and able to respond well to a variety of stimuli.

"You can't have a football team made up of only linebackers. You need linebackers and tight ends, a quarterback and a kicker. But, the players can't just be random people off of the street; they all need to be good athletes. And you need to draft for positions, not just the best player available. If your best player is a quarterback -- you don't take another quarterback with your first pick," Urban said. "It's the same with neurons. To make the most effective grouping of neurons, you need a diverse bunch that also happens to be more robust and flexible than your average neuron."

Urban believes that GLMs can be used to further understand the importance of neuronal diversity. He plans to use the models to predict how alterations in the variability of neurons' responses, which can be caused by learning or disease, impact function.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Shreejoy J. Tripathy, Krishnan Padmanabhan, Richard C. Gerkin, and Nathaniel N. Urban. Intermediate intrinsic diversity enhances neural population coding. PNAS, April 29, 2013 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1221214110

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/UpRHO-B1TAY/130429154105.htm

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Smoke signals: How burning plants tell seeds to rise from the ashes

Apr. 29, 2013 ? In the spring following a forest fire, trees that survived the blaze explode in new growth and plants sprout in abundance from the scorched earth. For centuries, it was a mystery how seeds, some long dormant in the soil, knew to push through the ashes to regenerate the burned forest.

In the April 23 early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), scientists at the Salk Institute and the University of California, San Diego, report the results of a study that answers this fundamental "circle of life" question in plant ecology. In addition to explaining how fires lead to regeneration of forests and grasslands, their findings may aid in the development of plant varieties that help maintain and restore ecosystems that support all human societies.

"This is a very important and fundamental process of ecosystem renewal around the planet that we really didn't understand," says co-senior investigator Joseph P. Noel, professor and director of Salk's Jack H. Skirball Center for Chemical Biology and Proteomics. "Now we know the molecular triggers for how it occurs."

Noel's co-senior investigator on the project, Joanne Chory, professor and director of Salk's Plant Molecular and Cellular Biology Laboratory, says the team found the molecular "wake-up call" for burned forests. "What we discovered," she says, "is how a dying plant generates a chemical message for the next generation, telling dormant seeds it's time to sprout."

While controlled burns are common today, they weren't 50 years ago. The U.S. park service actively suppressed forest fires until they realized that the practice left the soil of mature forests lacking important minerals and chemicals. This created an intensely competitive environment that was ultimately detrimental to the entire forest ecosystem.

"When Yellowstone National Park was allowed to burn in 1988, many people felt that it would never be restored to its former beauty," says James J. La Clair, a researcher from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of California who worked on the project. "But by the following spring, when the rains arrived, there was a burst of flowering plants amid the nutrient-rich ash and charred ground."

In previous studies, scientists had discovered that special chemicals known as karrikins are created as trees and shrubs burn during a forest fire and remain in the soil after the fire, ensuring the forest will regenerate.

The Salk scientists' new study sought to uncover exactly how karrikins stimulate new plant growth. First, the researchers determined the structure of a plant protein know as KAI2, which binds to karrikin in dormant seeds. Then, comparing the karrikin-bound KAI2 protein to the structure of an unbound KAI2 protein allowed the researchers to speculate how KAI2 allows a seed to perceive karrikin in its environment.

The chemical structures the team solved revealed all the molecular contacts between karrikin and KAI2, according to Salk research associate Yongxia Guo, a structural enzymologist and one of the study's lead investigators. "But, more than that," Gou says, "we also now know that when karrikin binds to the KAI2 protein it causes a change in its shape."

The studies' other lead investigator, Salk research associate and plant geneticist Zuyu Zheng, says this karrikin-induced shape change may send a new signal to other proteins in the seeds. "These other protein players," he says, "together with karrikin and KAI2, generate the signal causing seed germination at the right place and time after a wildfire."

Guo and Zheng, a married couple working as postdoctoral researchers in the Noel and Chory labs, respectively, came up with the idea for the study while talking over dinner. La Clair then joined the study, contributing his chemistry expertise. While the new findings were made in Arabidopsis, a model organism that many plant researchers study, the scientists say the same karrikin-KAI2 regeneration strategy is undoubtedly found in many plant species.

"In plants, one member of this family of enzymes has been recruited somehow through natural selection to bind to this molecule in smoke and ash and generate this signal," says Noel, holder of Salk's Arthur and Julie Woodrow Chair and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. "KAI2 likely evolved when plant ecosystems started to flourish on the terrestrial earth and fire became a very important part of ecosystems to free up nutrients locked up in dying and dead plants."

More research is needed to understand exactly how the change in shape of the KAI2 protein activates a genetic pathway that regulates germination, says Chory, the Howard H. and Maryam R. Newman Chair in Plant Biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. "But this finding is an absolutely critical step in understanding this genetic program and how plant ecosystems, forests and grasslands renew themselves."

The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health grants 5R01GM52413 and GM094428, National Science Foundation awards EEC-0813570 and MCB-0645794 and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

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Journal Reference:

1. Y. Guo, Z. Zheng, J. J. La Clair, J. Chory, J. P. Noel. Smoke-derived karrikin perception by the ?/?-hydrolase KAI2 from Arabidopsis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1306265110

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/~3/VRUclzscVAQ/130429175908.htm

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95% Gimme The Loot

All Critics (42) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (40) | Rotten (2)

A thousand-watt jolt of mischief, a spunky, funky, ebullient indie that packs its 81 minutes with cinematic exhilaration.

It may be a slight movie, but it has its sunny charms.

A movie about teenage taggers in the Bronx should be fast and raw, scruffy and loose, and Adam Leon's Gimme the Loot is just that.

As it lopes along, the movie offers a warm but very sharp portrait of New York's have-nots and their uneasy relationship with the haves.

"Gimme the Loot" shouldn't be as appealing and exuberant as it is, it really shouldn't.

Tashiana Washington and Ty Hickson are terrific in the main roles. So is Zo? Lescaze as Ginnie, a spoiled white kid who teaches the taggers a thing or two about drift and being dissolute.

Funny and freewheeling, it's a joy.

A slim, low-budget coming-of-age tale whose richness lies entirely in its interstices. A keenly observed work that celebrates the unfettered joys of youth, and rewards by reminding of the power of a simple tale told well.

Simultaneously real and hopeful, "Loot" has almost no plot, but when the setting is so fresh and the characters feel so raw and alive, who needs one?

Ghetto laughs with a sophisticated point of view.

...a magical, summery treat.

Promotes robbery and can't be serious in expecting us to care whether Malcolm and Sofia become more than friends.

The winner of the Indie Spirit 'One to Watch' award could never work again and will always have a memorable New York City film to his credit.

An impressive debut feature, Gimme the Loot is also an unusual take on characters who want to leave their stamp on "the city that never sleeps."

Much more grownup than it looks, Gimme the Loot is that rare teen-centric film whose brisk pace is unburdened by sentimentality.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gimme_the_loot_2012/

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Even Vinny Magalhaes can?t believe a judge gave him a round in UFC 159 loss to Phil Davis

At UFC 159 on Saturday night, Phil Davis showed off the best striking of his career. The NCAA Division-I champion wrestler clearly dominated Vinny Magalhaes in all three rounds on the way to a unanimous decision win. However, one of the judges thought Magalhaes won one round, and the score was 30-27, 30-27, 29-28.

It was a surprising score. It didn't take anything away from Davis' win, but it was odd enough that Magalhaes spoke up about it.

One insane judge gave me a round... I lost all 3 fair and square...

? Vinny Magalhaes (@VinnyMMA) April 28, 2013

Davis and Magalhaes talked trash to each other for months before their bout. Magalhaes left the bad blood in the cage, and was able to give himself an honest assessment moments after the loss.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/even-vinny-magalhaes-t-believe-judge-gave-him-034024125.html

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Humane Society for Greater Nashua recognized for volunteerism ...

[unable to retrieve full-text content]NASHUA ? There are about a million hours devoted to the city of Nashua by.

Source: http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/1001830-469/humane-society-for-greater-nashua-recognized-for.html

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Overseer of U.S. victim funds says work wrenching

BOSTON (AP) ? Massachusetts lawyer Kenneth Feinberg has been near the heart of some of the worst catastrophes, dealing with people who've faced profound loss after 9/1l, the BP oil spill, the Virginia Tech shootings, and the Colorado movie theater ambush.

Now, he's adding the Boston Marathon bombings to his workload, managing a victims' compensation fund as he did after the previous tragedies.

The 67-year-old Feinberg said his work takes an emotional toll but is about wanting to help, in the same spirit as those who donate.

The experiences are wrenching, he said. And recipients invariably resent him, thinking he's trying to put a price on the priceless things they've lost.

"Don't expect thanks or appreciation or gratitude, none of that," Feinberg said. "We have very emotional victims and you're offering them money instead of a limb, instead of the return of a family member. This is a no-win situation."

But he keeps saying yes to the work because he wants to help.

"Look at the amount of money that pours in from private people, private citizens?" he said. "How do you say no if the governor calls, the mayor?"

In 1984, the Brockton native was appointed to distribute money from a $180 million settlement for military veterans exposed to Agent Orange. His work was stellar enough to prompt a call when President George W. Bush was looking for someone to manage the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund. Since then, the calls have come regularly.

Currently, he is advising a panel distributing money after the December school massacre in Newtown, Conn., and mediating settlement discussions between Penn State and alleged sex abuse victims of former football coach Jerry Sandusky.

The One Fund ? now nearing $26 million ? was established to help victims of the April 15 marathon explosions that killed three people and injured more than 260. Feinberg has established an aggressive timeline in Boston. He hopes to meet with families by June 15 and get checks out by June 30.

Most of the work is pro bono, including the Boston Marathon job, though Feinberg was paid for his work with the 9/11 fund and the BP oil spill, the job that earned Feinberg the most abuse.

In his 2012 book, "Who Gets What," he said he became a "human pinata." Residents complained about the speed and distribution of the payouts, and insults flew at public meetings. "You are such a lying piece of (garbage)," one person said.

Meanwhile, lawyers scoffed at his vigorous declarations of independence from BP, a claim Feinberg said now widely believed.

Attorney Anthony Tarricone, now of the Boston firm Kreindler & Kreindler, who represented both BP and 9/11 victims, called Feinberg the perfect person to manage the marathon fund. Tarricone cited Feinberg's legal skills and the respectful, kind manner in which he dealt with 9/11 families.

"He was fair, he listened to the families, the families felt as if they were being listened to, and that he was understanding what they were going through," Tarricone said.

Former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who worked with Feinberg when he was handling the 9/11 fund, said Feinberg balances compassion for the victims with vigilance in protecting the money from abuse.

"I can't say exactly how he handles it emotionally and psychologically, I just know that he does it professionally," Ashcroft said. "I don't think the world would keep going back, knocking on his door, saying 'Ken, we need you again,' if they were displeased because there's nothing that locks him into this responsibility."

The eventual total of the One Fund will determine who can be helped. Payment for deaths takes priority, followed by compensation for physical injuries. Payment for mental health issues comes if money is available, Feinberg said.

His principle is to pay the same amount on all deaths. His top indicator for determining the seriousness of the injuries is the length of the hospital stay.

Feinberg has established an aggressive timeline. He hopes to meet with families by June 15 and get checks out by June 30. Along the way, the classical music aficionado will most likely take refuge in music when he can.

"During the day, I'm working on a project that shows you how uncivilized some people can be and how they willy-nilly, at random, kill and maim people," he said. "And at night you turn on Mozart, and it's the height of civilization." It reminds him "that mankind isn't all bad."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/overseer-us-victim-funds-says-wrenching-070532658.html

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Feds Demand Answers From Nevada Psychiatric Hospital Accused Of Busing Patients Out Of State

CARSON CITY, Nev. -- The federal agency that oversees Medicaid and Medicare compliance has put Nevada on notice of "serious deficiencies" at a Las Vegas psychiatric hospital following reports of patients being improperly discharged.

A letter Thursday from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, first reported by The Sacramento Bee and obtained Friday by The Associated Press, gave Nevada 10 days to correct problems in its mental health discharge policies at Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital or risk the loss of federal funding, potentially tens of millions of dollars.

The move follows an investigation launched by the Bee after James F. Brown, a patient at Rawson-Neal, was put on a bus alone in February and sent on a 15-hour trip to Sacramento, Calif., where he knew no one. Brown suffers from schizophrenia and depression.

The newspaper then reviewed bus ticket receipts dating to 2008 and found the hospital, part of the Southern Nevada Ault Mental Health Services, had transported about 1,500 patients to other states. Roughly 500 went to California.

Last year alone, Rawson-Neal bused out patients at a pace of more than one per day, shipping nearly 400 patients to a total of 176 cities and 45 states across the country, the Bee reported.

City attorneys in Los Angeles and San Francisco this month launched their own criminal investigations into whether Nevada engaged in "patient dumping."

California state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, who also called for an investigation, said Nevada has put people at "grave risk" and he welcomed the intervention by the federal agency.

"People with mental health disorders can recover with access to prevention, early intervention and treatment," Steinberg, a Democrat, said in a statement Friday. He called Brown's treatment "tantamount to abuse," adding that the hospital and Nevada "must be held accountable by federal regulators."

Earlier this week, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said his administration launched three separate investigations after he learned of the Brown case. He said disciplinary actions were taken and a new policy was implemented to strengthen oversight. The state now requires two physicians instead of one to sign a discharge order for patients, and the decision must be approved by a hospital administrator.

The governor's office said Nevada will also require chaperones for all state psychiatric patients who are bused out of state.

"Let me be clear, improperly discharging one patient is one patient too many," Sandoval said this week.

Late Friday, Sandoval's office said measures Nevada has implemented will be filed with the federal agency as part of its response to remediate problems.

"Corrective action was taken immediately and the corrective action plan will be submitted to CMS next week," Mary-Sarah Kinner, Sandoval's communications director, said in an email.

The federal agency noted that if Nevada's efforts are sufficient, the hospital's status as being "deemed" to meet Medicare conditions of participation will be restored after a re-survey of practices.

In the meantime, the hospital can continue billing Medicare.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/26/nevada-psychiatric-hospital-feds_n_3167373.html

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Dave Gold, founder of 99 Cents Only Stores, dies (Providence Journal)

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Survivor, 11, describes fire that killed mom, four kids

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China reports new bird flu case in Hunan province

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Saturday reported its first case of H7N9 bird flu in the southern province of Hunan, the latest sign the virus that has killed 23 people in the country is continuing to spread.

The official Xinhua news agency said the patient was a 64-year-old woman from Shaoyang city who developed a fever on April 14, four days after having contact with poultry. Her condition had improved with treatment, it added.

The flu was first detected in March. This week, the World Health Organization called the virus "one of the most lethal", and said it is more easily transmitted than an earlier strain that has killed hundreds around the world since 2003.

None of the 41 people who had come into contact with the newly-confirmed Hunan patient, identified only by the surname Guan, had shown symptoms, Xinhua said.

A 54-year-old man who fell ill in Jiangxi province was also being treated in Hunan, where he was diagnosed with H7N9, Xinhua said.

The Hunan cases come a day after the eastern province of Fujian reported its first case and during the same week that a man in Taiwan become the first case of the flu outside mainland China. He caught the flu while travelling in China.

Chinese scientists confirmed on Thursday that chickens had transmitted the flu to humans.

(Reporting by John Ruwitch; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-reports-bird-flu-case-hunan-province-115627332.html

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Samsung extends ATIV branding to all Windows PCs, adds Book 5, Book 6 and SideSync software to the roster

Samsung's ATIV branding might not yet be a household name, but that could very well change, as the company has just announced a new naming scheme that places all of its Windows PCs under the ATIV umbrella. As you may recall, the ATIV scheme was previously reserved for convertibles, but under the new structure, even Samsung's existing PC lineup -- we're looking at you, Series laptops -- will retroactively take on the new scheme. The news doesn't stop there, however, as Samsung has also announced two new ATIV Book models and a nifty bit of software known as SideSync to the mix. Read on for the details.

Gallery: Samsung ATIV Book 5 and ATIV Book 6

Filed under: Laptops, Samsung

Comments

Source: Samsung

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Zm3BgRfpeQw/

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Samsung to block access to app store in Iran

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iranian users of Samsung mobile applications are saying they have been notified that their access to the company's online store will be denied from May 22.

In a Tehran shopping mall, owners of mobile phones and tablets say they had received the message via email late Wednesday. Retailers say they had no power over the decision.

"We have heard about it, but we are only responsible for hardware here, not software and apps," said shopkeeper Bijan Ashtiani.

In the message Samsung said it cannot provide access to the store in Iran because of "legal barriers."

Many Iranians see the move as part of international sanctions on the country over its disputed nuclear program. Samsung's office in Iran was closed for the weekend and could not be immediately reached.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/samsung-block-access-app-store-iran-120700300--finance.html

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What if the entire world were gay, and everyone hated straight people? (video) (Americablog)

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Danica Patrick Divorce: Finalized!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/danica-patrick-divorce-finalized/

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Futures move higher on strong earnings

NEW YORK (AP) ? Stock futures rose Thursday with U.S. corporate earnings continuing to impress.

Dow Jones industrial futures rose 58 points to 14,673. The broader S&P futures added 7.8 points to 1,581.90. Nasdaq futures are up 18 points to 2,842.

On top of strong earnings from the likes of Harley-Davidson, Southwest Airlines and Dow Chemical, the government said that unemployment benefit applications fall to 339,000, second-lowest level in 5 years.

That was better than most economists had expected and further tamped down apprehensions about a terrible jobs report from March.

There are more earning on the way in one of the busiest weeks of the quarter for U.S companies.

Also reporting Thursday are UPS, United Continental, Starbucks and Expedia.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/futures-move-higher-strong-earnings-114431990--finance.html

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Mac Miller Fights Corey Feldman To The Death In 'S.D.S.' Video

Mac Miller dons a cape, tights and a fanny pack in the brand-new clip.
By Rob Markman

Mac Miller and Corey Feldman in the video for "S.D.S."
Photo: Rostrum Records

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1706299/mac-miller-sds-video.jhtml

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NYPD tests subways by releasing inert gas

This summer, New York City will witness what might be called an airborne non-toxic event, to corrupt a term coined in Don DeLillo's 1985 novel White Noise.Over three days in July, the New York Police Department and scientists from Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., will release small amounts of a harmless, colorless gas in the subways and on the streets to trace its flow through the city, both above and below the surface. The aim of the $3.4-million airflow experiment is to investigate how a harmful agent would disperse in the event of an accidental release or a terrorist attack, such as the 1995 sarin gas release in the Tokyo subway by the Aum Shinrikyo cult."The NYPD works for the best but plans for the worst when it comes to potentially catastrophic attacks such as ones employing radiological contaminants or weaponized anthrax," police commissioner Ray Kelly said in a prepared statement.A similar project, carried out in 2005, tracked the spread of aboveground gases in midtown Manhattan. This summer's Subway-Surface Air Flow Exchange experiment will cover all five boroughs, including dozens of stations on 21 subway lines, and will employ some 200 detectors to monitor the dispersal of gas.As in the 2005 test, the researchers will release gases known as perfluorocarbon tracers, which exist in such small quantities in the atmosphere--just a few parts per quadrillion, for some molecules--that their spread following a controlled release can be clearly tracked using sensitive detectors. Perfluorocarbon tracer gas systems were developed at Brookhaven in the 1980s and have been used to identify leaks in hazardous waste-containment systems as well as to trace the potential migration of airborne pollutants across distances of hundreds or even thousands of kilometers.The gases are nontoxic, nonflammable, and chemically and biologically inert, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. But considering that 5 percent of Americans believe that airplane condensation trails are actually "chemtrails" deployed by the U.S. government for mind control and other nefarious aims, according to a recent poll, expect more than a few straphangers to steer clear of the subway system during the tracer tests. Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nypd-testing-airflow-subways-precaution-against-possible-terror-201800964.html

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Merck melanoma drug wins "breakthrough" designation

(Reuters) - U.S. regulators have granted Merck & Co's experimental treatment for advanced melanoma a "breakthrough therapy" designation, which could speed development and regulatory review of the product.

The medicine, whose chemical name is lambrolizumab, is also being tested against other forms of cancer. It belongs to a promising class of therapies that harness the body's immune system to find and attack cancer cells. It targets a protein called PD-1, or Programmed Death receptor.

The FDA created the "breakthrough therapy" designation earlier this year for medicines deemed likely to demonstrate "substantial improvement" over existing drugs.

Although it is intended to provide an easier path for drug development, Merck said it was not yet clear what specific benefits the designation would afford.

Merck shares slipped 0.6 percent in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange to $48.36.

.

(Reporting by Ransdell Pierson; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/merck-melanoma-drug-wins-breakthrough-designation-153700142--finance.html

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Dortmund beats Real Madrid 4-1 in Champs League

DORTMUND, Germany (AP) ? Borussia Dortmund followed Bayern Munich's lead in upending a Spanish power.

Robert Lewandowski scored four goals to lead Dortmund over Real Madrid 4-1 Wednesday night in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal.

"It was a royal evening for us," Dortmund midfielder Ilkay Guendogan said, playing on "real," the Spanish word for "royal."

Bayern Munich routed Barcelona 4-0 a night earlier, making it likely Europe's top club competition will have an all-German final for the first time. The second legs of the total-goals series are in Spain next week, with the winners meeting at London's Wembley Stadium on May 25.

"We still have to go to Madrid. That won't be a stroll in the park," Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp said.

Real Madrid, a nine-time winner, was favored against Dortmund, which won the Champions League for the only time in 1997.

Lewandowski opened the scoring in the eighth minute, only for Cristiano Ronaldo to tie the score with a tap-in in the 43rd after Gonzalo Higuain seized on Mats Hummels' weak backpass. It was Ronaldo's 50th Champions League goal, including 12 this season.

Lewandowski beat an offside trap in the 50th for his second goal, running onto Marco Reus' defense-splitting pass and tucking the ball past goalkeeper Diego Lopez. He made it 3-1 five minutes later when he eluded Pepe by dragging the ball back and scored from close range.

"The third goal was worth every cent ZDF and Sky give us," Klopp said, referring to broadcast networks.

Lewandowski converted a penalty kick in the 67th after Xabi Alonso shoved Reus in the back and was called for the foul.

"I'm very happy with the four goals, of course," Lewandowski said. "But we're not yet through. We have to stay as concentrated when we play in Madrid. Because up to now, we've only taken the first step."

Lewandowski became just the second player to score four or more goals in the Champions League knockout stage, joining Barcelona's Lionel Messi, who had four against Arsenal in 2010 and five against Bayer Leverkusen last year.

"I could see there was one team on the pitch that was much better than the other. The better team definitely won," Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said.

The second legs will be played in Madrid next Tuesday and in Barcelona the following day.

"In football everything is possible," Mourinho said. "Anything can happen next week.

Dortmund, the only unbeaten side remaining in the competition, is 6-0 at home. Madrid has lost its last six games in Germany.

Klopp credited Dortmund's fans, clad in the team's bee colors, for their support.

"Without this atmosphere this game would not have been possible," he said. "One hundred percent."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dortmund-beats-real-madrid-4-1-champs-league-233726668--sow.html

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Switzerland shuts the door on EU migrants: A new 'us vs. them' in Europe?

News that Switzerland is capping residence permits for Western Europeans reached the Monitor's Europe bureau chief as she was having her own intolerable immigration experience.

By Sara Miller Llana,?Staff writer / April 25, 2013

A cafe is seen in Zurich is seen in this photo taken April 18.

Arnd Wiegmann/Reuters/File

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The anti-immigration class across Europe has found many new adherents as of late, especially in the most economically devastated countries, like Greece and Italy. But now these Europeans might themselves become the unwelcome migrants, at least in Switzerland.

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Europe Bureau Chief

Sara Miller Llana?moved to Paris in April 2013 to become the Monitor's Europe Bureau?Chief. Previously she was the?paper's?Latin America Bureau Chief, based in Mexico City, from 2006 to 2013.

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As I happened to be standing in the most intolerable immigration line that I've ever faced ? more on that later ? I read on my Twitter account that the Swiss government on Wednesday announced a new policy to cap residence permits for all of Western Europe. Switzerland, which is not part of the EU but joined the Schengen bloc that allows freedom of movement of people across European borders, says that it is being overwhelmed by arrivals from across the continent, to the tune of 80,000 people each year.

So it is invoking a ?safeguard clause? it negotiated during the 1999 Schengen treaty talk, which it already implemented for eight Central and Eastern European states. Now, as of May 1, residence permits for the citizens of 17 older EU states, from Germany to Spain, will be capped at 53,700 for a year.

According to the EU Observer, the Swiss said that the million-plus EU residents who live in the country have "had a positive impact ? in particular in terms of consumer spending and on the construction industry," but that restrictions are ?needed to make immigration more acceptable to society.?

The move drew immediate criticism from Brussels. ''The measures disregard the great benefits that the free movement of persons brings to the citizens of both Switzerland and the EU,? Catherine Ashton, EU foreign policy chief, said in a statement.

Is this a new manifestation of intolerance in Europe? The levels of resentment continent-wide against the migrants from Africa and the Middle East are already clearly documented, but in the midst of crisis, is Europe even excluding Europe? And what does that mean for identity and equality moving forward?

The possibility of a new, intra-European divide struck a chord for me, as I experienced my own "us vs. them" moment in France today.

Well, more than a moment. Eight hours, in fact.

That's how long I waited in a Paris prefecture along with Moroccans, Romanians, Malians, Senegalese, Tunisians, and Peruvians ? most of us, like me, there only to get information about what we needed to have with us, only to return and stand in line again.

I got to know my fellow immigrants well as we stood outside. Some around me had been in this line before, but were told they were missing a translation, a photocopy, or any of myriad document requirements that are not posted in their totality anywhere on the Internet ? or even on the wall of the prefecture where we line up ? but rather seem to be, at least from my informal surveys today, requested at the whim of whichever officer is behind the desk. One woman was told to bring back her CV.

Some of my linemates felt the French immigration officials were being deliberately obstructionist.

?They don?t want us to get the carte de sejour,? said the Malian, referring to the permission that allows foreigners to reside in France (and, with it, the right to tap into the country?s amazing social security system).

?They do everything they can to hold us back,? said the Romanian, who was on her third trip here ? and the third day lost on her job as a cleaning woman. Today, she was told that the pay stub she brought didn?t have the minimum number of hours on it, so she needed to bring in another stub. Another lost day of productivity for this poor woman.

Regardless of the motivations, one can see the "us vs. them" motif very clearly at the prefecture. On the one side, masses desperate to get in, and feeling unwelcome all the while. And on the other side of the glass wall, a society wanting to protect a social system that is replicated in few other places in the world.

By the end of the day in the unforgiving sun, some people were clearly losing their cool, me among them. (I, an American, was more indignant about the inefficiency than most, which makes me wonder if that?s a nationality trait, but that's a subject for another time.)

?But this can?t be!? I kept saying. ?How can people waste an entire day in a line ? and for nothing! Just to come back and stand in the line again??

?Welcome to France,? said the Malian, smiling.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/oDdxIU-utNE/Switzerland-shuts-the-door-on-EU-migrants-A-new-us-vs.-them-in-Europe

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US jobless claims data shore up markets

LONDON (AP) ? Solid weekly U.S. jobless claims figures shored up markets Thursday in the run-up to the first estimate of the country's first-quarter economic growth.

This week economic data have largely disappointed expectations. However, the 16,000 fall in weekly claims to 339,000 augurs well for next week's nonfarm payrolls report for April. Before then, investors will focus on Friday's release of GDP growth during the first three months of the year.

Growth is expected to come in at an annualized rate a little above 3 percent, way up from the previous quarter's 0.4 percent.

Michael Hewson, senior analyst at CMC Markets, said the risk is that investors are setting themselves up for "significant disappointment" if the growth numbers are low.

"Given the weakness of recent data it is somewhat surprising that this 3.1 percent estimate hasn't been revised lower, especially in light of the poor data seen in March, from employment, retail sales, existing home sales and durable goods yesterday," Hewson said.

Following the claims figures, European markets were trading more or less where they were before whereas Wall Street opened solidly.

In Europe, Germany's DAX rose 0.6 percent to 7,805, while the CAC-40 fell 0.2 percent to 3,835. Spain's IBEX underperformed all others, trading 0.8 percent lower after figures showed the unemployment rate climbed to a record high of 27.2 percent at the end of the first quarter of 2013.

The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was flat at 6,433 even though official figures showed the country's economy grew by a greater than anticipated quarterly rate of 0.3 percent in the first three months of the year.

Many in the markets were predicting that Britain would sink into its third recession in less than five years. But the rise eased expectations that the Bank of England will soon announce another big monetary stimulus. That gave the British pound a lift ? it was trading 1.3 percent higher at $1.5466 and near two-month highs.

Sentiment has held up this week largely because investors think the world's major central banks will continue with their super-easy monetary policies. That's increasingly the case in Europe, where investors think the European Central Bank will likely cut interest rates at its policy meeting next Thursday.

"The case for an ECB rate cut at the 2 May policy meeting is quite strong," said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.

Currency markets elsewhere were unspectacular, with the euro down 0.1 percent at $1.3009 and the dollar 0.1 percent lower at 99.37 yen.

Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 0.6 percent to close at 13,926.08 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1 percent to 22,401.24. South Korea's Kospi added 0.8 percent to 1,951.60.

Oil prices were fairly flat too after recovering above $90 a barrel on Wednesday ? the benchmark rate was down 15 cents at $91.27 a barrel.

____

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-jobless-claims-data-shore-markets-145707501--finance.html

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Engadget's smartphone buyer's guide: spring 2013 edition

Stepping into a carrier's store can be like a visit to the candy shop for the gadget junkie, but once playtime is over and it's time to choose just one, the decision can get a bit overwhelming. You'll find Android phones that range in size from tiny to massive, Windows Phone handsets that cover the rainbow in colors and, of course, the ubiquitous iPhone, which has a price point to suit every need. There's also the latest BlackBerry, which melds a familiar name with a brand-new operating system.

Naturally, it's no easy task to sort through the wide number of options on the market today, and it's even more difficult to find the best of the best. That's where Engadget's smartphone buyer's guide comes in handy. Here, you'll find a very exclusive list of the smartphones that we confidently use and achingly desire. Regardless of your financial situation or platform preference, you're bound to find a stellar choice that's a great fit for your needs. So read on as we round up the very best smartphones of the season.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Apple, Samsung, HTC, Nokia, Google, Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/CJNUef9OzxE/

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Find Effective Personal Finance Advice And Tips! | Sonipa.net

Finances can be stressful. Use this understanding to improve your life, remove the stress created by money problems and enjoy an improved credit rating. Whether or not you are experiencing this problem, you could still learn tips on how to organize your personal finances better, so you could save money as opposed to mindlessly spending it.

Make sure that you do not become overwhelmed with credit cards as this can lead to a lot of stress and anxiety. Once you are overextended with too many credit lines, your credit rating may go down and you may end up paying higher annual interest rates.

A good way to improve your finances is making an effort to pay monthly bills early each month. Paying off your bills early helps you to see the exact amount of money left over for spending and saving. You will spend less time stressing over whether or not you have enough money to cover bills if you need to make an unexpected purchase.

Don?t take out loans or lines of credit if it is unnecessary. Sometimes credit is necessary, but debt free is the way to be, so save your funds for big-ticket expenses in the future. Cars and houses are things for which most people need to get loans.

Saving Money

Saving money for an account is important for managing your finances. Maybe you are interested in funding the purchase of a new car, or a nice flat screen TV. You should also think about putting some money aside for your retirement. Saving money should become a habit; you should put a certain percentage of your income aside every month.

Always review your bank statements. This will help you see if any of the fees or rates have gone up. Many folks don?t review bank statements and end up paying more in fees than necessary. Read your bank statements to track this.

Look for creative ways to decrease your expenses, such as learning to give do-it-yourself haircuts. Your hairdresser might be doing a better job, but you can save a lot this way. Cutting your own hair and your family members hair is totally free.

Prior to purchasing a vehicle or home, make sure that your credit score is as high as possible. You can either take a small loan and pay it back quickly or get one or two credit cards and always pay them on time. Be sure to pay a larger amount that minimum.

Cut back on how much alcohol you drink so that you can prevent poor decision making that ruins your financial plans. Instead, drink water to keep your mind sharp for important decisions.

Review insurance plans. You might find that you?re paying a lot when it comes to your insurance. Another company may give you a cheaper rate for the same service. In addition, some insurance options aren?t necessary for people in certain stages of life. Trim the fat from your budget and put that money into savings.

Avoid investing in poorly performing stocks out of a sense of loyalty. Once you notice that one of your investments has been performing poorly for an extended period, consider getting out and shifting your funds to something stronger.

Use refunds from your income taxes to help repay existing debt. Resist the temptation to spend this money! Unfortunately, the money is spent quickly and the debt still remains.

The night before you get paid, make out your weekend budget. Then, when your paycheck comes on Friday, you will not spend any of it. If you do this, your entire paycheck will still be there on Monday instead of spending it on excesses and unwise purchases.

Cell Phone

One way to save money is to cut off your cell phone. Most people do not like this suggestion, but years ago, no one had cell phones and they all managed to survive. A cell phone is a convenience ? not a necessity. Start this process by taking a look at how many minutes you use and switch to a less expensive plan.

Stop drinking bottled water. Tap water is free and will save you lots of money. If you hate the taste of it, then consider buying a filter to install on your faucet. You could also buy flavored drink mixes to put into your water. Both things can help improve your tap water?s taste, which will motivate you to prevent drinking bottled water.

You can improve your finances dramatically by taking advantage of available discounts. Reconsider your brand loyalties, instead favoring products for which you have coupons. As an example, if Tide has normally been your detergent of choice, but Gain has a $3 off coupon available, choose the money savings.

Do not take on debt when you are trying to balance your personal finances. Sometimes you can?t avoid debt (e.g. education loans, mortgages) however, you should avoid debt such as that created by credit cards, as it can be deadly. The less money you borrow, the less you will have to pay in interest charges and other fees.

You should now know why it?s better to save and how to deal with miscellaneous expenses after going over this article. Do not be concerned if it takes some time to get your finances in order. Similar to when you may have tried to lose weight, nothing happens immediately. Be consistent and responsible and your situation should improve.

When it comes to what investment tools are there in the stock market, there is a load of information available. Make certain to start out with correct information. This article is a great resource about what investment tools are there in the stock market. Be sure to review the article a couple of times for complete understanding.

Source: http://www.sonipa.net/find-effective-personal-finance-advice-and-tips/

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Mark Pryor May Soon Have A Bloomberg Problem

Mayor?s Against Illegal Guns, the well-funded group co-founded by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, is seriously considering a months-long television, radio and direct-mail campaign against Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor, one of four Democrats who opposed expanding a background check for guns.

The goal: Make an example of him.

Senior members of Mayor?s Against Illegal Guns met at length Sunday to debate potential responses to the failure of President Obama?s gun regulation package, including a watered-down background check provision that fell five votes short.

In addition to Pryor, three Democratic senators abandoned Obama: Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. The group discussed targeting two of those senators: Pryor and Baucus, according to a senior official involved in the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity.?

Unlike the others who face election in 2014, Heitkamp was just elected to a six-year term. Begich was considered more secure politically than Pryor and Baucus, and thus a less attractive target.?Baucus announced Tuesday that he will not seek re-election.

That leaves Pryor as possibly the lone target of a campaign to convince Democrats that there is a price to pay for opposing modest gun regulations, even in a conservative-leaning state like Arkansas.

The broader goal of the Bloomberg group is to provide a political counterweight to the National Rifle Association which has had virtually unmitigated influence over Congress since 1994, when Democrats lost control of the House and blamed then-President Clinton?s assault-weapons ban.

The Bloomberg group is mulling a variety of messages and methods for Arkansas. One approach would be to target reliable Democratic voters, including African Americans, with advertising that calls out Pryor for ?opposing the president?s agenda,? the official said. Another would be to expand the campaign to suburban women and other moderates.The campaign might not be limited to the issue of guns.

?Money would not be an object,? the official said, adding that a decision on whether to target Pryor would come soon and that action against other Democrats is still possible.

The son of a popular former senator, Pryor is a brand name in Arkansas who nonetheless faces a tough re-election. The Democratic bench in Arkansas is shallow, which limits Bloomberg?s ability to impact the Democratic primary.

The risk to Democrats is that Bloomberg?s money could weaken Pryor for the general election, tipping the race to the GOP. On the general notion of sending Pryor a message, liberal columnist Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times recently wrote, ?It will mean electing someone who is even worse on guns and just about everything else, most likely the Club for Growth's emissary to Arkansas, Tom Cotton."

Brantley noted in an interview that Pryor supported Obamacare. On gun control, the veteran columnist said, ?Democrats aren?t that much different than Republicans in Arkansas.?

That will be the case for much of the 2014 midterms, when Senate elections will be fought predominantly in pro-gun territory ? Southern and Mountain West conservative states. The picture is brighter for Bloomberg and Obama in 2016, when Electoral College math favors those who back gun regulations.

Obama's political operation, Organizing for Action, is urging its activists today to tweet those who opposed Obama, including Pryor. There are no plans for an ad campaign against the four Democrats, an official said.

?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mark-pryor-may-soon-bloomberg-problem-230611229--politics.html

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Tart cherries linked to reduced risk of stroke

Apr. 23, 2013 ? For the millions of Americans at risk for heart disease or diabetes, a diet that includes tart cherries might actually be better than what the doctor ordered, according to new animal research from the University of Michigan Health System.

A class of drugs called PPAR agonists that help regulate fat and glucose was considered promising by doctors who prescribed them for patients with metabolic syndrome -- a collection of risk factors linked to heart disease and type 2. However, studies have shown the long-term use of these drugs can also increase stroke risk, which has prevented many from securing FDA approval.

The new research from the U-M Cardioprotection Research Laboratory suggests that tart cherries not only provide similar cardiovascular benefits as the prescribed medications, but can also reduce the risk of stroke, even when taken with these pharmaceutical options.

The results, which were seen in stroke-prone rats, were presented April 23 at the Experimental Biology 2013 meeting in Boston.

The group's previous research has shown that intake of U.S.-produced, Montmorency tart cherries activates PPAR isoforms (peroxisome proliferator activating receptors) in many of the body's tissues. Researchers believe that anthocyanins -- the pigments that give the fruit its red color -- may be responsible for PPAR activation.

PPARs regulate genes involved in fat and glucose metabolism, and when modified can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. PPAR agonists, among them medications such as Actos (pioglitazone), act in a similar way but cardiovascular side effects have limited their use.

"Our previous research has shown that Montmorency tart cherries can have a positive effect on cardiovascular health and can reduce risk factors like high cholesterol and diabetes," says E. Mitchell Seymour, Ph.D., supervisor of the Cardioprotection Research Laboratory. "While prescribed drugs improve the outlook for certain risk factors, they've also shown to have undesirable side effects. We wanted to see if a tart cherry-rich diet might provide similar cardiovascular benefits without the risk of heart attack or stroke."

The researchers compared the effect of tart cherries and the drug Actos in stroke-prone rats by measuring the animals' systolic blood pressure as well as locomotion, balance, coordination, all of which can show the aftereffects of a stroke.

By putting the rats through various physical tests, such as walking on a tapered beam and climbing a ladder, the researchers found that compared to Actos, tart cherry intake significantly improved balance and coordination, and at the same time lowered blood pressure.

While the research results indicate that rats who consumed only tart cherries had the best results, those who had the combination of tart cherries and Actos also did better than those who only took the drug. Seymour cautioned that the results can't be applied directly to humans, but they are a potentially positive sign for those taking medications.

"We weren't sure if the risk for stroke would decline in animals taking both tart cherry and the drug," Seymour says. "It turns out that the cherries did have a positive effect even when combined with the medication."

Steven Bolling, M.D., a U-M cardiac surgeon and the laboratory's director, said the study adds to the group's growing body of research linking cherries to positive heart health. The results provide the groundwork for continued investigation into the topic, he says.

"This research is the first to link to cherries to a reduction in stroke-related symptoms," Bolling says. "It gives us a good preclinical model to further explore the positive stroke-related benefits of an anthocyanin-rich diet."

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/CXXrZPSXKLY/130423102129.htm

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Huawei tones down long-term expansion target for enterprise sales

By Yimou Lee and Lee Chyen Yee

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, the world's No.2 telecoms equipment maker, toned down its long-term target for networking equipment sales to enterprises, saying a prior figure was too optimistic.

Eric Xu, Huawei executive vice president and one of its rotating CEOs, also voiced frustration with security issues that are thwarting the Chinese company in the key U.S. telecoms equipment market.

Xu said the company's enterprise unit, targeted for expansion as sales to telecoms operators turned sluggish, was aiming to boost sales to $10 billion by 2017, below a goal by Huawei executives last year of $15 billion. The division posted 11.5 billion yuan ($1.9 billion) in sales last year.

"If we can achieve $10 billion sales by 2017, that will be good enough for me," Xu told an analyst conference in Shenzhen, China, where the company is headquartered.

He said $10 billion was a more realistic target after assessing the market situation more closely.

"We now have a deeper understanding of the market," he said.

Huawei's enterprise unit, which contributed around 5 percent to total revenues in 2012, sells network gear to companies and corporations.

Its flagship carrier business, which accounted for nearly three quarters of its revenue, sells equipment to telecom operators.

Its consumer group sells handsets and tablets to end-users and has been rising in the ranks of the booming smartphone market to compete with high-profile brands such as Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Xu also said on Tuesday that the company expects its IT business, which provides IT-related gear and services to enterprises and telecoms operators, to generate between $800 million and $1 billion in revenue this year.

The Chinese firm, founded by former Chinese military officer Ren Zhengfei in 1987, faces obstacles in the telecoms equipment business in the United States, Canada and Australia due to security concerns. Huawei is not allowed to sell telecoms equipment to U.S. carriers.

Last year, the U.S. House Intelligence Committee released a report urging U.S. telecommunications companies not to do business with Huawei and ZTE Corp, another Chinese equipment maker.

It said potential Chinese state influence on the companies posed a threat to U.S. security. Those concerns have benefited global rivals such as Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent SA and Nokia Siemens Networks.

Xu replied with exasperation on Tuesday when asked about U.S. congressional committee hearings on Huawei and ZTE.

"We are not interested in the U.S. market anymore. Generally speaking, it's not a market that we pay much attention to." He did not respond to a follow-up question about the company's continuing business selling mobile handsets in the United States.

($1 = 6.1826 Chinese yuan)

(Editing by Edmund Klamann)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/huawei-sees-enterprise-sales-rising-10-billion-2017-042421703--finance.html

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