Saturday 31 December 2011

Scientists discover a brain cell malfunction in schizophrenia

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have discovered that DNA stays too tightly wound in certain brain cells of schizophrenic subjects.

The findings suggest that drugs already in development for other diseases might eventually offer hope as a treatment for schizophrenia and related conditions in the elderly.

The research, now available online in the new Nature journal, Translational Psychiatry, shows the deficit is especially pronounced in younger people, meaning treatment might be most effective early on at minimizing or even reversing symptoms of schizophrenia, a potentially devastating mental disorder associated with hallucinations, delusions, and emotional difficulties, among other problems.

"We're excited by the findings," said Scripps Research Associate Professor Elizabeth Thomas, a neuroscientist who led the study, "and there's a tie to other drug development work, which could mean a faster track to clinical trials to exploit what we've found."

A Promising New Field

Over the past few years, researchers have increasingly recognized that cellular-level changes not tied to genetic defects play important roles in causing disease. There is a range of such so-called epigenetic effects that change the way DNA functions without changing a person's DNA code.

One critical area of epigenetic research is tied to histones. These are the structural proteins that DNA has to wrap around. "There's so much DNA in each cell of your body that it could never fit in your cells unless it was tightly and efficiently packed," said Thomas. Histone "tails" regularly undergo chemical modifications to either relax the DNA or repack it. When histones are acetylated, portions of DNA are exposed so that the genes can be used. The histone-DNA complexes, known as chromatin, are constantly relaxing and condensing to expose different genes, so there is no single right or wrong configuration. But the balance can shift in ways that can cause or exacerbate disease.

DNA is the guide that cellular machinery uses to construct the countless proteins essential to life. If portions of that guide remain closed when they shouldn't because histones are not acetylated properly, then genes can be effectively turned off when they shouldn't be with any number of detrimental effects. Numerous research groups have found that altered acetylation may be a key factor in other conditions, from neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease to drug addiction.

A Good Idea

Thomas had been studying the roles of histone acetylation in Huntington's disease and began to wonder whether similar mechanisms of gene regulation might also be important in schizophrenia. In both diseases, past research in the Thomas lab had shown that certain genes in sufferers were much less active than in healthy people. "It occurred to me that we see the same gene alterations, so I thought, 'Hey, let's just try it,'" she said.

Working with lead author Bin Tang, a postdoctoral fellow in her lab, and Brian Dean, an Australian colleague at the University of Melbourne, Thomas obtained post-mortem brain samples from schizophrenic and healthy brains held at medical "Brain Banks" in the United States and Australia. The brains come from either patients who themselves agreed to donate some or all of their bodies for scientific research after death, or from patients whose families agreed to such donations.

A great deal of epigenetic research has focused on chemical alterations to DNA itself. Histone alterations have been much more difficult to study because such research requires that the histones and DNA remain chemically intact. Many researchers feared that these bonds were disrupted in the brain after death. However, Thomas's group was able to develop a technique for maintaining the histone-DNA interactions. "While many people thought this was lost, we were able to show that indeed these interactions are preserved in post-mortem brain, allowing us to carry out these studies," said Thomas.

Compared to healthy brains, the brain samples from subjects with schizophrenia showed lower levels of acetylation in certain histone portions that would block gene expression. Another critical finding was that in younger subjects with schizophrenia, the problem was much more pronounced.

Need for New Treatment Options

Just what causes the acetylation defects among schizophrenic subjects?what keeps certain pages of the DNA guide closed?isn't clear, but from a medical perspective it doesn't matter. If researchers can reliably show that acetylation is a cause of the problem, they can look for ways to open the closed guide pages and hopefully cure or improve the condition in patients.

Thomas sees great potential. Based on the more pronounced results in younger brains, she believes that treatment with histone deacetylase inhibitors might well prove helpful in reversing or preventing the progression of the condition, especially in younger patients. Current drugs for schizophrenia tend to treat only certain symptoms, such as hallucinations and delusions, and the drugs have major side effects including movement problems, weight gain, and diabetes. If deacetylase inhibitors effectively treat a root cause of the disease and prove sufficiently non-toxic, they might improve additional symptoms and provide a major expansion of treatment options.

Interestingly, some of the cognitive deficits that plague elderly people look quite similar biologically to schizophrenia, and the two conditions share at least some brain abnormalities. So deacetylase inhibitors might also work as a treatment for age-related problems, and might even prove an effective preventive measure for people at high risk of cognitive decline based on family history or other indicators.

###

This study, "Disease- and age-related changes in histone acetylation at gene promoters in psychiatric disorders," was supported by the National Institutes of Health. Samples were provided by the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, and Australia's Victorian Brain Bank Network. For more information on the research, see http://www.nature.com/tp/journal/v1/n12/abs/tp201161a.html

Scripps Research Institute: http://www.scripps.edu

Thanks to Scripps Research Institute for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116338/Scientists_discover_a_brain_cell_malfunction_in_schizophrenia

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The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 5PM!

No Tim this week, sadly, but that won't stop this runaway podcasting freight train. Darren and Terrence will be joining Brian to discuss the biggest news of this post-holiday / pre-CES lull, but mostly we'll be talking about the year that wasn't -- join us in the chat below or send a note to podcast (at) engadget (dot) com to share your thoughts on the biggest tech misfires of the year.

Continue reading The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 5PM!

The Engadget Podcast is live tonight at 5PM! originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 16:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Friday 30 December 2011

No. 13 Texas Tech women stay undefeated

? Shauntal Nobles scored a career-high 14 points to help No. 13 Texas Tech remain undefeated with an 81-63 win over Cal State Bakersfield in the Surf N' Slam Classic on Thursday night.

Texas Tech (11-0) is off to its best start since winning 15 straight to open the 2004-05 season. The Lady Raiders are one of six undefeated Division I teams.

Monique Smalls and Mary Bokenkamp each had 10 points for the Lady Raiders, who scored 15 straight points in the second half for a 72-43 lead over the outmanned Roadrunners.

Kristine Herman and Ciarra Ford led Cal State Bakersfield (3-14) with 19 points apiece. The Roadrunners, hard hit with injuries, suited up just six players.

Texas Tech, playing its first game in eight days, used its overwhemling size to outrebound Cal State Bakersfield 59-31, including 29 offensive rebounds.

The Associated Press

Source: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/dec/29/no-13-texas-tech-women-stay-undefeated/

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Thursday 29 December 2011

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Wednesday 28 December 2011

EricLigman: Running Windows 8 on a slate? If so, check out the @Microsoft Touch Pack: http://t.co/25ybWVu6 #mspartner

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97% The Artist

Ever since it charmed audiences at the Cannes Film Festival, The Artist has been one hot commodity. The Weinstein Company snapped up the film rights though they have a bit of a hard sell. The movie takes place in the era of silent movies and it also happens to be a silent movie itself. Ignoring Mel Brooks' unsung efforts, asking paying customers to sit through 100 minutes of silence, albeit accompanied by a musical score, may be a risky financial bet. That's where the appeal of being an award-winner comes into play. The Artist has been racking up awards since Cannes and has been tagged by many as the favorite to take home a Best Picture Oscar. This celebration of the Hollywood of old is a nostalgic trip through the ages, but I'm doubtful that the film is deserving of the gushing admiration. I think this would have been better had it been one of them new-fangled talkies. In 1927, the biggest star in Hollywood is George Valentin (Jean Dujardin). His latest spy caper is knocking them dead. He's prancing before a sea of photographers when he bumps into Peppy Miller (Berenice Bejo). He graciously brings her into the act and the two pose for pictures. "Who's the new girl?" demands the newspaper headlines. Peppy is given her big break as George's co-star in his spy series. Peppy is a natural and over the course of two years she becomes a bona fide star. Also over those two years Hollywood has undergone a drastic makeover. New "talkies" are all the rage with the public, who now demand to hear their favorite actors speak. George is adamant that talking pictures are only a fad and he plunks his personal fortune to bankroll his directorial debut. The movie is a flop. George is viewed as a has-been; yet Peppy has been keeping a watchful eye on her old friend and waiting for the time to reveal her love for the fallen star. The Artist is a completely silent movie except for two key sequences; one of them a nightmare where George hears objects make noise. The film is an unabashed love letter to old Hollywood, and writer/director Michel Hazanavicius makes witty use of the storytelling techniques of the silent era. Much relies on editing and reactions for shaping the narrative. The story, therefore, is broken down to its simplest incarnation. Peppy Miller's star rises, as George's grows fainter. Still, The Artist has many recognizable pieces for fans of the silent era. George even has a trusted Jack Russell Terrier at his side, a clever pooch with keen mimicking abilities. There's a cute moment where Peppy slips her arm into George's coat hanging on a coat rack and pretends to caress her self as him. It's a small yet slyly tender moment. It's not a prerequisite to be well versed on silent cinema, though it helps. While a French film (a foreign designation seems superfluous when it's silent), the movie was shot in Los Angeles and is stocked with English stars like John Goodman (TV's Treme) as a film director, James Cromwell (Babe) as George's dutiful butler, Penelope Ann Miller (Flipped) as George's unhappy wife, Missi Pyle (Big Fish) as a silent film co-star, Beth Grant (Donnie Darko) as a maid, Ken Davitian (Borat) as a pawnbroker, and Malcolm McDowell (Halloween II) as a dismissive old man in a chair (the role he was bon to play). It almost becomes a side game of cameos. It's a sprightly, charming, sometimes enchanting little experiment, but in the end an experiment is all the movie turns out to be. The Artist is no great story; in fact it's pretty much the 80th rendition of A Star is Born. The transition between silent films and talkies is a subject rife with drama, and a lead character who sees his fame and fortune crumble by being left behind in a changing society, well that should be interesting. What's surprising to me the most about this film is how little you invest with it. I don't know if it's the silent gimmick or just the idle characterization, but I found myself never really engaging with the movie, always a step removed. The characters were nice but I neither celebrated their triumphs nor bemoaned their hardships. The entire affair has such a slight feel to it; the movie is a confection, a sweet treat that melts away instantly after viewing. If you strip away all the old Hollywood nostalgia, there is very little substance here. Praise Hazanavicius for his dedication to silent filmmaking techniques, but let's be reasonable here because The Artist is a pleasant experiment but nothing more. The characters and story do not bear scrutiny. This story would have been more interesting had the movie been a traditional talky. Alas, we are limited to a handful of title cards with single lines of dialogue and extreme amounts of pantomiming. If you took away the central gimmick, would anyone be interested in this movie? I wanted to be swept away by The Artist after reading all the fawning accolades, but I wasn't. The commitment of the artists on screen is commendable, but the finished product is little more than an amusing trifle of a movie. Dujardin (OSS: Lost in Rio) and Bejo (Modern Love) look like they stepped off the screen from an old Hollywood movie, al la Purple Rose of Cairo. Dujardin is a suave presence with great comedic physicality at his disposal. There's a poignant moment where George, broken down and washed up, looks into a tuxedo store window, seeing his reflection appear above the neck of the tuxedo. He gingerly smiles, wistful of times gone by, and in that sad, face crinkling little moment, Dujardin reveals more about the man behind the flashbulbs than the script ever will. Even without a word spoken, you can tell that Dujardin and Bejo have great chemistry. Bejo, the wife of the director by the way, matches Dujardin note for note in terms of star wattage. She's got a terrific smile and one of those classic faces for an Age When They Had Faces. It's a shame that the characters don't have more interaction. The Artist is a fine film but ultimately disappointing given the hype. The saddest part about my reaction to The Artist is how little I find myself having to say about this much-ballyhooed silent film. It's an exercise in nostalgic back-patting, but if you strip away the silent movie gimmick I feel like there's so little at heart here. I walked away liking the movie, being charmed by the actors but feeling unengaged and mildly indifferent. The threadbare story is too familiar, the characterization is slight, and the movie ultimately becomes light, airy, and insubstantial. The novelty eventually does wear off and you may find yourself adding a mental commentary to the film to fill in the blanks. You'd have to be a Scrooge to resist the film's whimsy and the talents of the charismatic performers, but I'm scratching my head at the adulation give to The Artist. In a year heavy with reminiscence, The Artist overdoses on feel-good Hollywood nostalgia, and in a down year at the movies, perhaps that's enough when it comes time for awards. Nate's Grade: B

December 28, 2011

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

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wpdevpodcast: Weigh in Wednesday: How much market share will Windows Phone gain in 2012? http://t.co/4D6Jcexn #wpdev #microsoft #att #verizon #sprint

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Tuesday 27 December 2011

Familiar face takes mayor's gavel in Pinole

backgroundblue line Monday 26th December, 2011

Familiar face takes mayor's gavel in Pinole ??



?????Monday 26th December, 2011??Source: Oakland Tribune ??
Pete Murray began his fifth tour as Pinole mayor this week with a thank-you to his family, praise for the city staff, and appreciation for the tone of respect prevalent on the City Council.
Outgoing Mayor Roy Swearingen sounded similar themes in a going-out speech earlier in the evening, also praising the city staff, thanking volunteers for jumping...

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Teesside University Students' Union Entertainment (Tue, 3rd Jan to Sun, 19th Feb 2012)

Tue 3 January

"We've got the best entertainment and drinks promotions you'll find anywhere 7 nights a week during term time. Check out everything coming up in Jan..."

Mon 23 January

"A whole week of stalls, info, special offers and entertainment to remind you why you feel in love with TUSU in the first place! Keep checking here ..."

Mon 30 January

"From this date until the close of nominations on 13th February it's make your mind up time! Are you going to run in the elections to be one of the ..."

', grid: '', day:'2', genre:'0', venue:'0', event_type:'0' }; events.push(obj); var obj = { id:'728423', date:'23', month:'Jan', fdate:'Mon 23 January', edate:'2012123', desc:"A whole week of stalls, info, special offers and entertainment to remind you why you feel in love with TUSU in the first place! Keep checking here ...", ed:'e', file:'a3-poster.jpg', mini:'0', title:'I love TUSU Week (Mon, 23rd to Fri, 27th Jan 2012)', ticket: '', grid: '', day:'1', genre:'0', venue:'0', event_type:'0' }; events.push(obj); var obj = { id:'724513', date:'30', month:'Jan', fdate:'Mon 30 January', edate:'2012130', desc:"From this date until the close of nominations on 13th February it's make your mind up time! Are you going to run in the elections to be one of the ...", ed:'e', file:'webbanner1.jpg', mini:'0', title:'SU Elections 2012 - Nominations Open (Mon, 30th Jan from 10am)', ticket: '', grid: '', day:'1', genre:'0', venue:'0', event_type:'0' }; events.push(obj); function changeDisplay(type){ if(!type) type = 0; type = parseInt(type); if(type == display_type) return; if(display_type==2 && type!=2){display=[];} display_type = type; if($.cookie){$.cookie("events_display",display_type,{"expires":1});} if(display.length

Back

"+Months[cal_month]+"

Forward

"); top += 40; $("#cal_topbar div").click(function(){ if(this.id != 'cal_bck' && this.id != 'cal_fwd') return; if(this.id=='cal_bck'){ cal_month--; if(cal_month==-1){ cal_month = 11; cal_year--; } } else{ cal_month++; if(cal_month==12){ cal_month=0; cal_year++; } } $("#events_area").children().remove(); displayEvents(); }); while(!completed){ var l = 0; for(i=1; i"+e.title+"

Source: http://www.tees-su.org.uk/events/index.php?page=article&event_id=731973

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Monday 26 December 2011

Kim Jong Il's son strengthens power with new post (AP)

PYONGYANG, North Korea ? North Korea identified Kim Jong Il's son as head of a top ruling party body Monday, a post that gives him authority over political matters in addition to the military control attributed to him in recent days.

Kim Jong Un has rapidly gained prominence since the death of his father on Dec. 17, with the state media showering new titles on him almost daily.

On Saturday, state media referred to the younger Kim as "supreme leader" of North Korea's 1.2 million-strong armed forces and said the military's top leaders had pledged their loyalty to him. On Monday, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper described him as head of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party ? a post that appears to make him the top official in the ruling party.

Kim Jong Il, who ruled North Korea for 17 years, wielded power as head of three main state organs: the Workers' Party, the Korean People's Army and the National Defense Commission. His father, North Korea founder Kim Il Sung remains the nation's "eternal president" long after his 1994 death.

The Kim family has extended its control over the country of 24 million people to a third generation with Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s and was revealed last year as his father's choice among three sons for successor.

He was named a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party, but was expected to ascend to new military and political posts while being groomed to become the next leader.

Monday's reference to his new title was in commentary in the Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Workers' Party, urging soldiers to dedicate their lives "to protect the party's Central Committee headed by respected Comrade Kim Jong Un." The editorial called on the people to become "eternal revolutionary comrades" with Kim Jong Un, "the sun of the 21st century."

The language echoed slogans used years ago to rally support for Kim Jong Il, and made clear the son is quickly moving toward leadership of the Workers' Party, one of the country's highest positions, in addition to the military.

North Korea refers to Kim Il Sung as the "sun" of the nation and his birthday is celebrated as the "Day of the Sun," and state media have sought to emphasize Kim Jong Un's role in carrying out the Kim family legacy throughout his succession movement.

His titles are slight variations of those held by his father, but appear to carry the same weight. It was unclear whether the nation's constitution had been changed to reflect the transfer of leadership as when Kim Jong Il took power after his father's death.

A day earlier, state TV showed footage of Kim Jong Un's uncle and key patron, Jang Song Thaek, in a military uniform with a general's insignia. It was the first time that Jang, who was promoted last year to vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party along with Kim Jong Un, was shown on state TV in military garb.

Mourning continued, meanwhile, despite frigid winter weather, in the final days before Kim Jong Il's funeral is set to take place Wednesday and a memorial Thursday.

People continued lining up Monday in central Kim Il Sung Square, where a massive portrait that usually features Kim Il Sung has been replaced by one of Kim Jong Il, to bow before his smiling image and to lay funereal flowers. Heated buses stood by to give mourners a respite from the cold, and hot tea and water were distributed from beverage kiosks.

South Koreans were among the mourners in Pyongyang. The widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, who held a landmark summit with Kim Jong Il in 2000, and Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, whose late husband had ties to the North, each led delegations that drove across the heavily fortified border to Pyongyang.

They were greeted by North Korean officials during a stop at a factory park in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, according to footage from AP Television News in North Korea. North Korea sent delegations to Seoul when the women's husbands died.

Meanwhile, a South Korean activist was also in Pyongyang to pay respects to Kim Jong Il but without South Korean government permission, her colleagues said in a statement. For South Koreans, making unauthorized trips to North Korea is punishable by up to three years in prison, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry.

The Korean peninsula remains in a technical state of war because the three-year Korean war ended in a truce in 1953, not a peace treaty.

___

Associated Press writers Foster Klug, Hyung-jin Kim and Jiyoung Won in Seoul, South Korea, and AP Korea bureau chief Jean H. Lee, contributed to this report. Follow AP's Korea coverage at twitter.com/newsjean and twitter.com/APKlug.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_re_as/as_kim_jong_il

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Writer annoyed that Jon Jones got snubbed in AP voting, why?

Writer annoyed that Jon Jones got snubbed in AP voting, why?

Another year has just about come and gone for the world of mixed martial arts. The growth and progress of the sport since 2001 has been simply incredible.

It's come a long way, but are the athletes revered and respected like those in the traditional "major" sports?If you're looking at media coverage, probably not. Mike Chiappetta from MMAFighting.com says definitely not. He penned a piece this week to express his anger that Jon Jones, the clear choice for king of the MMA world in 2011, got zero respect from those voting for the AP's 2011 Male Athlete of the Year award.

Green Packers Super Bowl winning QB Aaron Rodgers won the award with MLB AL Cy Young winner Justin Verlander finishing second. Others getting votes included Novak Djokovic, Cam Newton, Tony Stewart, Kelly Slater, Derek Jeter, Dario Franchitti,? and Usain Bolt. That's right, there's also a surfer, driver and sprinter on the list, but no MMA fighter.

Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole and MMA analyst Frank Trigg joined myself during our "The MMA Insiders" show on ESPN1100/98.9 FM in Las Vegas to debate whether Jones got hosed.

Maybe the time hasn't arrived yet for athletes like Jones to be considered along with stars from the NFL, NBA and MLB. Or as Chiappetta and Iole suggest, the lack of respect for Jones is more a sign that the folks voting for the award are out of touch with the younger demographic and the hottest sport for males 18-34 years old.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Writer-annoyed-that-Jon-Jones-got-snubbed-in-AP-?urn=mma-wp11100

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Sunday 25 December 2011

Va. police find 2-year-old boy in stolen SUV

In this image provided by the Virginia State Police authorities late Saturday Dec. 24, 2011 identified the suspect as 27-year-old Jamal Louis Clemons of Richmond, Va. They say Clemons is wanted for abduction, robbery, robbery with a firearm and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony by a convicted felon. A massive Christmas Eve search for a 2-year-old Kaiden Burnside who was in the backseat of an SUV that was stolen following a double-slaying in Richmond ended around midnight with the boy being found safe. (AP Photo/Virginia State Police)

In this image provided by the Virginia State Police authorities late Saturday Dec. 24, 2011 identified the suspect as 27-year-old Jamal Louis Clemons of Richmond, Va. They say Clemons is wanted for abduction, robbery, robbery with a firearm and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony by a convicted felon. A massive Christmas Eve search for a 2-year-old Kaiden Burnside who was in the backseat of an SUV that was stolen following a double-slaying in Richmond ended around midnight with the boy being found safe. (AP Photo/Virginia State Police)

RICHMOND (AP) ? A massive Christmas Eve search for a 2-year-old boy who was in the backseat of an SUV that was stolen following a double-slaying in Richmond ended around midnight with the boy being found safe, police said.

Richmond police said in a Tweet late Saturday: "2-year-old Kaiden Burnside is OK. Found alone inside SUV off Jennie Scher Road. Thanks to everyone for assistance."

City police spokeswoman Karla Peters told the Richmond Times-Dispatch (http://bit.ly/svXlqT ) the child was found sleeping alone in the parked vehicle.

"He's being checked out by EMS and will soon be reunited with his mother," Peters said.

Authorities late Saturday identified the suspect as 27-year-old Jamal Louis Clemons of Richmond, Va. They say Clemons is wanted for abduction, robbery, robbery with a firearm and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony by a convicted felon.

Richmond city police said in a press release that shortly after 5 p.m., officers responded to a report of two persons down and found an adult man and an adult woman inside a Church Hill residence. Both had been fatally shot.

Witnesses reported that a man fled the scene inside a 2012 white GMC Terrain SUV that was left with the motor running and the boy strapped in the back seat, the news release said.

The Virginia State Police issued an Amber Alert at 9:39 p.m. EST Saturday for the boy, identified as Kaiden Gage Burnside. They described him as having short blond hair and blue eyes, and wearing a red plaid shirt, a cream-colored vest with a red truck carrying a Christmas tree, dark green corduroy slacks and white light-up sneakers.

"The child is believed to be in extreme danger," the alert said.

City police described the suspect ? later identified as Clemons ? as a black man in his mid- to late 20s, 5-foot-8 and 150 to 160 pounds, with black hair and wearing dark jeans and a black zip-up sweat shirt with a hood. He is believed to be armed with a revolver.

"We don't believe that he knew there was a child in the back seat," Richmond police Maj. Steve Drew told the newspaper.

Police said they didn't believe the shooting was random but have not released additional details about the victims or their potential relationship to the suspect.

Officers continued to search early Sunday for the suspect.

Richmond police did not return repeated calls from The Associated Press on Saturday evening.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-25-Richmond%20Double%20Killing/id-019377094bf545c1b106d23a05b825a3

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Thousands enjoy merry Christmas in Bethlehem (AP)

BETHLEHEM, West Bank ? Tens of thousands of tourists and Christian pilgrims packed the West Bank town of Bethlehem for Christmas Eve celebrations Saturday, bringing warm holiday cheer to the traditional birthplace of Jesus on a raw, breezy and rainy night.

With turnout at its highest in more than a decade, proud Palestinian officials said they were praying the celebrations would bring them closer to their dream of independence.

Meanwhile, Christmas celebrations began to take place around the globe, with Pope Benedict XVI celebrating Christmas Eve Mass two hours before midnight at Vatican City and urging the faithful to look beyond the commercialization of the holiday and discover its true meaning.

"Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light," Benedict told congregants in a packed St. Peter's Basilica.

Bethlehem, like the rest of the West Bank, fell onto hard times after the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation broke out in late 2000. As the fighting has subsided in recent years, the tourists have returned in large numbers.

By late night, the Israeli military, which controls movement in and out of town, said some 100,000 visitors, including foreigners and Arab Christians from Israel, had reached Bethlehem, up from 70,000 the previous year.

Thousands of Palestinians from inside West Bank also converged on the town.

"It's wonderful to be where Jesus was born," said Irma Goldsmith, 68, of Suffolk, Virginia. "I watch Christmas in Bethlehem each year on TV, but to be here in person is different. To be in the spot where our savior was born is amazing."

After nightfall, a packed Manger Square, along with a 50-foot-tall (15-meter-tall) Christmas tree, was awash in Christmas lights, and the town took on a festival-like atmosphere.

Vendors hawked balloons and corn on the cob, and bands played Christmas songs and tourists packed cafes that are sleepy the rest of the year. As rain began falling in the early evening, many people cleared out of the square and raced to nearby restaurants.

Festivities were to culminate with Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born.

Among the visitors were a surprisingly large number of veiled Muslim women with their families, out to enjoy an evening out in what is normally a quiet town.

"We love to share this holiday with our Christian brothers," said Amal Ayash, 46, who came to Manger Square with her three daughters, all of them covered in veils. "It is a Palestinian holiday and we love to come here and watch."

Israel turned Bethlehem over to Palestinian civil control a few days before Christmas in 1995, and since then, residents have been celebrating the holiday regardless of their religion.

Pilgrims from around the world also wandered the streets, singing Christmas carols and visiting churches.

"It's a real treat to come here," said John Houston, 58, a restaurant owner from Long Beach, California. "It makes me feel really good to see what I have been learning from the time I was a kid in Sunday school until today."

Houston said he was surprised by Bethlehem's appearance, which is a far cry from the pastoral village of biblical times. Today, it is a sprawling town of cement apartment blocs and narrow streets that combined with several surrounding communities has a population of some 50,000 people.

Located on the southeastern outskirts of Jerusalem, Bethlehem is surrounded on three sides by a barrier Israel built to stop Palestinian militants from attacking last decade.

Palestinians say the barrier has damaged their economy by constricting movement in and out of town. Twenty-two percent of Bethlehem residents are unemployed, the Palestinian Authority says. Israeli settlements surrounding Bethlehem have added to the sense of confinement.

The Christmas season is essential for Bethlehem's economy, which depends heavily on tourism.

Most visitors entering Bethlehem, including the top Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, had to cross through an Israeli-controlled checkpoint to reach town.

Twal, a Palestinian citizen of Jordan, arrived in a traditional midday procession from Jerusalem, and later, celebrated Midnight Mass at the Church of the Nativity.

In his homily, he referred to the Arab Spring, imploring Arab leaders to have "wisdom, insight and a spirit of selflessness toward their countrymen" and praying for reconciliation in Syria, Egypt, Iraq and North Africa.

He also noted the Palestinian campaign to join the United Nations, and complained that the U.N. was "less than united" in its support for the now-stalled initiative. He also criticized the international community for pushing the Palestinians to "re-engage in a failed peace process" which has "left a bitter taste of broken promises and of mistrust."

The patriarch lamented the Israeli barrier enveloping Bethlehem ? "let us tear down the walls of our hearts in order to tear down the walls of concrete" ? and prayed for peace for both Palestinians and Israelis

The Palestinians have subtly tried to draw attention to their plight with this year's Christmas slogan, "Palestine celebrating hope," a veiled reference to their bid to win U.N. recognition. With peace talks at a standstill, the Palestinians are seeking membership as a state in the United Nations and recently gained admission to UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency.

"We are celebrating this Christmas hoping that in the near future we'll get our right to self-determination, our right to establish our own democratic, secular Palestinian state on the Palestinian land. That is why this Christmas is unique," said Mayor Victor Batarseh, who is Christian.

Late Saturday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told a meeting of Christian leaders that he is committed to reaching peace with Israel, despite a three-year standstill in negotiations.

"I hope they will come back to their senses and understand that we are seekers of peace, not seekers of war or terrorism," said Abbas, a Muslim. "The mosque, church and synagogue stand side by side in this Holy Land."

Today, only about one-third of Bethlehem's residents are Christian, reflecting a broader exodus of Christians from the Middle East in recent decades. Overall, just 60,000 Christians live in the Palestinian territories, making up less than 2 percent of the population, according to Palestinian officials.

At the Vatican, Benedict kicked off an intense two weeks of public appearances that will test the 84-year-old pontiff's stamina amid signs that fatigue is starting to slow him down.

The Christmas Eve Mass was moved up to 10 p.m. from midnight several years ago to spare the pope a late night that is followed by an important Christmas Day speech. In a new concession this year, Benedict processed down the basilica's central aisle on a moving platform to spare him the long walk.

Benedict appeared tired by the end of the Mass and a dry cough interrupted his homily.

On Sunday, Benedict will deliver his traditional "Urbi et Orbi" speech, Latin for "to the city and the world," from the central loggia of St. Peter's overlooking the piazza. Usually, the speech is a survey of sorts of the hardships and wars confronting humanity, and ends with the pope delivering Christmas greetings in dozens of languages.

President Barack Obama was spending the holiday with his family in Hawaii. In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama wished all Americans a merry Christmas and happy holidays, with a special message of thanks to U.S. troops, especially those serving in Afghanistan.

"Let's take a moment to give thanks for their service; for their families' service; for our veterans' service," the president said Saturday. Obama noted that with the Iraq war over, the last troops from that conflict are home for the holidays.

___

Associated Press writer Nicole Winfield contributed to this report from Vatican City.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111224/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_holy_land_christmas

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Saturday 24 December 2011

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Struggling Quiznos sandwich chain working with creditors on debt restructuring

Quiznos at 1275 Grant Street in Denver is the franchise's first chain. (Kathryn Scott Osler, Denver Post file)

The Quiznos sandwich chain plans to ask creditors to support a debt-restructuring deal hammered out with other big lenders or face the prospect of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy-protection filing, people familiar with the matter told Dow Jones Newwires.

Denver-based Quiznos, struggling amid slumping sales and a recent violation of debt terms, reached a deal to hand ownership to Avenue Capital Group, the hedge fund controlled by billionaire Marc Lasry, the people said.

Avenue would convert debt to equity and invest cash in Quiznos as part of a tentative deal, they said, giving the hedge fund more than a 70 percent ownership stake in the chain.

The plan would reduce Quiznos's roughly $875 million in debt by about $281

million. Quiznos plans before the end of the year to ask other creditors to support the deal or force them to go along with it in a prepackaged bankruptcy, the people said. Creditors will have about 30 days to decide whether to accept the deal.

The deal requires creditors to forgive debts and push out due dates on obligations, depending on the circumstances. They could fare worse if Quiznos filed for bankruptcy protection. Senior lenders would likely get less of their debt paid back, and other creditors would end up owning less of Quiznos if the deal gets done in bankruptcy court, the people said. Spokespeople for Quiznos and Avenue declined to comment.

Quiznos' owners, private-equity firm CCMP Capital Advisors LLC and Consumer Capital Partners, an investment firm owned by Rick Schaden, aren't likely to get any recovery on their investments, the people said.

A representative for Consumer Capital had no immediate comment. A CCMP spokeswoman declined to comment.

Lasry of Avenue, like other distressed-debt investors, often tries to gain control of troubled companies by purchasing discounted debt and later converting it to equity, which carries more risk but also the potential for greater reward.

In the wake of the financial crisis, he's led investors gaining control of three Atlantic City, N.J., casinos bearing Donald Trump's name and broadcaster ION Media Networks Inc., among other companies. Avenue also sometimes writes equity checks to bolster ownership stakes in firms it is in the process of acquiring through debt holdings.

Source: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_19593686?source=rss

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Monday 19 December 2011

Can Beaten-Down Frontier Communications Keep On Fighting ...

Frontier Communications (FTR) looks a lot like Chuck Wepner after his fight with former heavyweight champion Sonny Liston. Like Wepner, Frontier has been relentlessly pounded, although this pounding is taking place in the market, where Frontier closed below $5 a share and its yield went over 15% by the close of the market on December 15. After the fight, which Wepner lost, he needed 120 stitches to stop the bleeding. How many stitches will Frontier need to get patched up?

I wrote an article on Frontier November 28, when it was trading at $5.39, that recommended a way to capture the dividend and trade the stock using covered calls to reduce risk. I obviously did not expect to see the stock lose nearly 10%, or $0.52, in the two weeks since I wrote it. And, when seeing a move of this magnitude, I start looking for reasons.

The stock went ex-dividend by $0.1875 per share in the intervening period, and that could account for about one-third of the decline. Still, that leaves a lot unaccounted for, and it ignores the fact that the stock climbed from $5.39 to an intra-day high of $5.85 on December 5 before going ex-dividend and seeing the rapid reversal. There have been no press releases by the company indicating any changes in strategy or reductions to the dividend.

There was a press release on December 2nd about the company moving from the NYSE to the Nasdaq on December 16. The reason for the move is to save money. Is it possible that some index portfolio shifting caused the decline? It is possible, but that doesn't explain the fact that the stock moved to the $5.85 level after the announcement. It is just as likely that the announcement helped the shares move higher due to the same portfolio shifting for Nasdaq funds.

One explanation might be the December 2 announcement by Verizon (VZ) that it was acquiring wireless spectrum.

SpectrumCo, LLC, a joint venture between Comcast Corporation (CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (TWC), and Bright House Networks, today announced it has entered into an agreement pursuant to which Verizon Wireless will acquire its 122 Advanced Wireless Services spectrum licenses covering 259 million POPs for $3.6 billion. Comcast owns 63.6% of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $2.3 billion from the sale. Time Warner Cable owns 31.2% of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $1.1 billion. Bright House Networks owns 5.3% of SpectrumCo and will receive approximately $189 million. ...

The cable companies, on the one hand, and Verizon Wireless, on the other, will become agents to sell one another's products and, over time, the cable companies will have the option of selling Verizon Wireless' service on a wholesale basis. Additionally, the cable companies and Verizon Wireless have formed an innovation technology joint venture for the development of technology to better integrate wireline and wireless products and services.

Karl Bode wrote about the threat to Frontier's DSL business that this deal could present. The headline of his article reads "SpectrumCo Deal Could Spell Trouble for DSL - Verizon Could Target Other Telcos With LTE." While this is all possible, the threat is not immediate. The transaction, according to the joint press release "is subject to approval by the Federal Communications Commission and review under the Hart-Scott Rodino Act and other customary conditions.

Still not satisfied that this explained the price action, I decided to go back and carefully listen to two recent investor conference presentations by senior Frontier executives. The first was by David Whitehouse, Senior Vice President & Treasurer at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAC) Leveraged Finance Conference on December 1. He revealed nothing new as he talked about the rollout of broadband availability, continued progress on merger related cost synergies and the conversion of the remaining nine states to Frontier's legacy systems. During the Q&A, not surprisingly, the first question was about the company's dual goal of maintaining the dividend and reducing leverage and what the market was missing.

Whitehouse said that nothing has changed, although perhaps the company should have been clearer about how long deleveraging would take. They are not mutually exclusive goals and the company is still focused on getting to 2.5x leverage. He noted that there is a balancing act between meeting customer needs and satisfying investors.

On December 5, Maggie Wilderotter, Chairman, CEO and President, along with Donald Shassian, CFO and Executive Vice President, spoke at the UBS Media and Communications Conference. They also maintained that the company was on track with broadband availability, cost synergies and the conversion to legacy systems. Also discussed was the impact of a new FCC report about changes to the USF. The report was more than 600 pages, left certain issues open and had not been fully reviewed, but was believed to be neutral for Frontier. When the question about Verizon's recent deal with the cable companies came up, Wilderotter expressed no concern at all. There were however two points that may have raised some concerns with analysts and investors.

The first dealt with revenue. Wilderotter said that the number of new broadband customers in Q4 would be coming in less than Q3 as the company focused resources on the cutover to legacy systems in October. It was also noted that there was a continued loss of traditional land-line customers, although the rate of decline was lessening. Any time top line growth comes into question, analysts and investors get concerned, even if the situation is only temporary.

The second point was about the dividend and leverage level. Wilderotter was asked to respond to those that thought the dividend should be cut in order to reduce the leverage. She said that Frontier had always intended to be shareholder friendly and expected to pay a high dividend of around 7-8%. She went on to say that they have made no statements about cutting the dividend and that the payout ratio in the mid-70s had been expected when the merger took place.

She also said the company wants to reduce leverage from 3-3.1x to 2.5-2.6x and that they expect to do this by improving on the fundamentals and paying down debt. They want to drive the dividend payout ratio to below 50%. These are goals for the 2013 time frame. Some of this will happen as the company completes the broadband rollout and the cap-ex declines from 18-19% to a more traditional 10-11% range. Some will come from cost savings and revenue growth.

I remain long, really like the 15% yield and have recently added to my position. I began this article with a reference to Chuck Wepner, the Bayonne Bleeder. He also fought Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight title. He knocked the champ down in the 9th round with a body blow to the ribs (although Ali claimed Wepner stepped on his foot). Wepner fought into round 15 before the referee stopped the fight on a TKO with 19 seconds left. Wepner also fought wrestler Andre the Giant. Does this sound familiar? Wepner has been said to be the inspiration for the movie Rocky.

Rocky went the full 15 rounds. Frontier is yielding a full 15%. I hope the market will let this beaten-up stock emulate Rocky and get back up off the canvas.

Disclosure: I am long FTR, VZ, CMCSA, BAC.

Additional disclosure: I have no positions in TWC or UBS and may add to my Frontier position at any time.

Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/314366-can-beaten-down-frontier-communications-keep-on-fighting

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Sunday 18 December 2011

Russian rig sinks, more than 50 feared dead (Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) ? A drilling rig with 67 crew on board capsized and sank off Russia's far eastern island of Sakhalin on Sunday while being towed through a storm, leaving more than 50 dead or missing in the icy Sea of Okhotsk.

Emergency officials said the crew of an icebreaker and tugboat rescued 14 workers alive from the jack-up rig, the 'Kolskaya', which was operated by a Russian offshore exploration firm. They recovered four bodies from the water.

Four of the survivors, suffering from hypothermia, were airlifted by helicopter to land and taken to hospital after the disaster struck at 12:45 p.m. (0145 GMT).

The rest of the crew were missing, 200 km (125 miles) off the coast of remote Sakhalin island. The water temperature was one degree Celsius (33.8 Fahrenheit), giving survivors around 30 minutes before death from freezing, according to maritime and rescue websites.

"The Kolskaya keeled to its side ... and sank within 20 minutes. The depth of the water at the site is 1,042 metres (0.65 miles)," Russia's federal water transport agency said in a statement on its website.

Several rescue crafts and helicopters had been sent to the site to scour the waters for survivors from the rig owned by Arktikmorneftegazrazvedka (AMNGR), a unit of state-owned Zarubezhneft.

"There is no ecological danger. The vessel was carrying the minimum amount of fuel as it was being tugged by two craft," said a spokesman for AMNGR.

But the incident will deal a blow to efforts by Russia, the world's largest energy producer, to step up offshore oil and gas exploration to stave off a long-term decline in onshore production.

The jack-up rig, which has three support legs that can be extended to the ocean floor while its hull floats on the surface, was heading from Kamchatka to Sakhalin when it overturned in stormy winter conditions with a swell of up to 6 metres (19.7 feet).

"(President) Dmitry Medvedev has ordered all necessary assistance be provided to the victims of the drilling platform accident and has ordered a probe into the circumstances of the loss of the platform," the Kremlin said. The Emergencies Ministry said it would work through Sunday night.

"The violation of safety rules during the towing of the drilling rig, as well as towing without consideration of the weather conditions ... are believed to be the cause of the (disaster)," investigators said in a statement on their website.

The 'Neftegaz-55' tugboat, also owned by AMNGR, had been towing the Kolskaya and took part in the search effort, but pulled out after suffering hull damage from the high waves.

The tug, carrying most of the crew rescued from the rig, was taking on water and trying to limp to port. An icebreaker, the 'Magadan', was still at the scene.

RIG WAS WORKING FOR GAZPROM

The rig, built in Finland in 1985, had been doing work on a minor gas production project in the Sea of Okhotsk for a unit of state-controlled gas export monopoly Gazprom, the company said.

Russia's prize offshore gas and oil fields lie to the northeast of Sakhalin. Two major offshore projects are already producing oil and gas off the island - Sakhalin-1, operated by Exxonmobil and Sakhalin-2, in which Gazprom has a controlling stake.

The disaster is unlikely to seriously affect oil or gas production. AMNGR said the vessel was no longer under contract when it sank.

OFFSHORE DRILLING

Operating conditions in the region, explored by Soviet geologists in the 1960s and 1970s, are among the harshest for Russian energy companies.

Winter often lasts 220-240 days in the waters off Sakhalin, where the main companies operating are ExxonMobil, Gazprom, and Royal Dutch Shell. They produce oil and gas, sometimes in icebound conditions, for export largely to Asian markets.

Sakhalin-2, in which Shell and Mitsui also have stakes, produces 10 million tonnes per year of liquefied natural gas at Russia's only LNG plant in the port of Prigorodnoye for export to Asia, much of it to Japan.

Each tanker of crude oil produced by at the 160,000 barrels-per-day Sakhalin-1 project, operated by ExxonMobil, is escorted by two icebreakers when ice thickness reaches 60 cm (2 feet).

State-controlled Rosneft this year reached a major deal with Exxon to explore for oil and gas in the Kara Sea, to the north of the Russian mainland, a largely unexplored region estimated to hold over 100 billion barrels of oil.

A combination of poor infrastructure and chronic corner-cutting has dealt the country its share of sea disasters, notably the 2000 sinking of the nuclear submarine Kursk in the Barents Sea in August 2000, killing all 118 aboard and prompting criticism of the sluggish response.

(Additional reporting by Douglas Busvine; editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111218/wl_nm/us_russia_platform_capsize

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Lagarde: Global economy facing gloomy prospects (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The head of the International Monetary Fund sketched a dim outlook for the global economy and said all countries must work together to resolve Europe's escalating debt crisis.

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said Europe's problems will not be solved by Europe alone.

"It's not a crisis that will be resolved by one group of countries taking action," Lagarde said in remarks at a State Department conference. "It's going to be hopefully resolved by all countries, all regions, all categories of countries actually taking action."

She said if the issues are not dealt with decisively, the global economy could confront the same threats that pushed the world into the Great Depression of the 1930s.

"It's a question of actually facing the issues, not being in denial, accepting the truth, accepting the reality, then dealing with it," Lagarde said.

She did not provide details on what actions she expected individual countries or the IMF to take.

She also cautioned financial markets to allow time for individual nations to work through the political process to arrive at a solution.

"It would be ideal and it would be lovely from a market perspective if it was not just currently but immediately signed, sealed and delivered, done deal, overnight," she said. "Unfortunately, for those of you who have the privilege of belonging to democracies, things do not happen in that way and things do take time and have to go through parliamentary processes."

Last week, a number of European countries said their central banks would make loans to the IMF to bolster IMF resources. After the announcement, the Obama administration said it would not provide more support to the IMF because it said the agency had sufficient resources.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_bi_ge/us_imf_europe

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Saturday 17 December 2011

PETA wants NC opossum drop custom curtailed

(AP) ? If a national animal rights group gets its way, people in a small mountain town in North Carolina will have to greet the new year without lowering a scrappy marsupial to the ground.

Clay Logan, who owns the Clay's Corner store in the far western tip of the state, has been lowering an opossum in a transparent box to the ground every New Year's for 18 years, in a local homage to the famous ball drop in Times Square.

This year, though, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has called on the state Wildlife Resources Commission to put a halt to the tradition, saying the activity is both cruel and illegal.

"Ignorance of the law is not a defense, and cruelty to animals is indefensible," PETA Director Delcianna Winders said. "Using a captive opossum as the centerpiece of a raucous party is cruel and illegal."

PETA's letter, sent this week, is being reviewed, according to a commission spokesman, who said no decision has been made yet. The group claims that Logan lacks the necessary permit to have wild animals, and that the annual event fails to meet the legal standard of "humane treatment" of animals.

"Oh yeah, they love me," Logan said of PETA.

Logan disputes the group's characterization of the event, saying the opossums ? it's generally a different animal from year to year ? are treated well, and that despite the name, nothing is "dropped." Instead, he said, the critter is gently brought to the ground from a height of about 18 feet, although PETA claims it's 40 feet.

"It's a lot of good clean family fun. No alcohol," Logan said. "We advertise it as the only New Year's party you'll remember the next day no matter how much fun you had."

The opossum drop is the centerpiece of the annual event, but it has grown to become what Logan's website calls "the epicenter of the entertainment scene in Brasstown," which has about 250 residents. The program for this year also includes a bull riding competition, a church choir and the traditional cross-dressing beauty competition.

"It fills the place up," Logan said. "On a warm night, it's about 3,000 people. If it's cold, maybe 2,000."

PETA says they've also sent a letter to Logan in hopes of persuading him to find an alternative to using a live animal at the event. They want him to emulate Tallapoosa, Ga.'s New Year's Eve Possum Drop.

"The great thing about Tallapoosa is that they don't use a live possum," PETA lawyer Brittany Peet said. "They use a taxidermied possum." And because it's the same stuffed critter every year, it's become something of a local mascot, Peet said.

The Opossum Drop may be North Carolina's most distinctive New Year's celebration, but the state has plenty of other "drops" planned for that day as well, including a giant acorn, a 30-pound flea made of fabric and wool and a light-up pickle replica in the vegetable-canning hotbed of Mt. Olive.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2011-12-16-Opossum%20Drop/id-de1f973971e741be837ec18dcb5e8899

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IASLC sets up committee to move CT lung cancer strategic screening forward

IASLC sets up committee to move CT lung cancer strategic screening forward [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Kristal Griffith
kristal.griffith@ucdenver.edu
303-724-5796
International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer

Findings published in Dec. 15 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) has taken a proactive role in advancing discussions with the international lung cancer community on how we should take lung cancer screening forward. The IASLC released an initial statement to the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) at the World Lung Cancer Conference in Amsterdam this April and also hosted a CT screening workshop with over 75 international experts in the field. The findings from this workshop are published in the Dec. 15, 2011 edition of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology titled, "International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Computed Tomography Screening Workshop 2011 Report."

This is a high priority for the IASLC since the National Lung Screening Trial found that lung cancer deaths fell by 20 percent when smokers were screened annually for three years using low-dose spiral computed tomography (LDCT) compared to standard chest x-ray. However, the research also found that nodules were detected in one-fourth of the patients screening and of those, 96 percent were not cancerous.

"The data from the NLST trial provides the first evidence that LDCT lung cancer screening can save lives and thus is the most encouraging data we have had on the international stage with respect this disease for many years," says Professor John Field, co-author of the study, chair of the IASLC Task Force on CT Screening and director of the lung cancer research program at the University of Liverpool Cancer Research Centre. "This is why we'll look at ongoing international trials which will provide further information on the outstanding issues before considering the implementation of national CT screening programs."

The IASLC has set up the Strategic CT Screening Advisory Committee (IASLC - SSAC) to define the optimal approaches to lung cancer screening. They will focus on six specific components of the lung cancer screening process including: (i) Identification of high risk individuals for lung cancer CT screening programs; (ii) Develop radiological guidelines for use in developing national screening programs; (iii) Develop guidelines for the clinical work-up of 'indeterminate nodules' resulting from CT screening programmers; (iv) Guidelines for pathology reporting of nodules from lung cancer CT screening programs; (v) Recommendations for surgical and therapeutic interventions of suspicious nodules identified through lung cancer CT screening programs; (vi) Integration of smoking cessation practices into future national lung cancer CT screening programs.

The members of the Strategic CT Screening Advisory Committee (IASLC - SSAC) are engaging international professional societies and organizations who are stakeholders in lung cancer CT to assemble information about best practices which may be utilized by individual nationals to suit their health care systems. Currently there are over twelve such international Stakeholders who wish to work with IASLC SSAC on this project.

"This is a high priority for the IASLC since strategic screening has the potential to change the face of lung cancer in the coming years," Field says.

###

About the IASLC:

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) is the only global organization dedicated to the study of lung cancer. Founded in 1974, the association's membership includes more than 3,500 lung cancer specialists in 80 countries.

IASLC members promote the study of etiology, epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and all other aspects of lung cancer and thoracic malignancies. IASLC disseminates information about lung cancer to scientists, members of the medical community and the public, and uses all available means to eliminate lung cancer as a health threat for the individual patients and throughout the world. Membership is open to any physician, scientist, nurse or allied health professional interested in lung cancer, including patients, survivors, caregivers and advocates.

IASLC publishes the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, a valuable resource for medical specialists and scientists who focus on the detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

To learn more about IASLC please visit http://iaslc.org/


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IASLC sets up committee to move CT lung cancer strategic screening forward [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Kristal Griffith
kristal.griffith@ucdenver.edu
303-724-5796
International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer

Findings published in Dec. 15 issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) has taken a proactive role in advancing discussions with the international lung cancer community on how we should take lung cancer screening forward. The IASLC released an initial statement to the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) at the World Lung Cancer Conference in Amsterdam this April and also hosted a CT screening workshop with over 75 international experts in the field. The findings from this workshop are published in the Dec. 15, 2011 edition of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology titled, "International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer Computed Tomography Screening Workshop 2011 Report."

This is a high priority for the IASLC since the National Lung Screening Trial found that lung cancer deaths fell by 20 percent when smokers were screened annually for three years using low-dose spiral computed tomography (LDCT) compared to standard chest x-ray. However, the research also found that nodules were detected in one-fourth of the patients screening and of those, 96 percent were not cancerous.

"The data from the NLST trial provides the first evidence that LDCT lung cancer screening can save lives and thus is the most encouraging data we have had on the international stage with respect this disease for many years," says Professor John Field, co-author of the study, chair of the IASLC Task Force on CT Screening and director of the lung cancer research program at the University of Liverpool Cancer Research Centre. "This is why we'll look at ongoing international trials which will provide further information on the outstanding issues before considering the implementation of national CT screening programs."

The IASLC has set up the Strategic CT Screening Advisory Committee (IASLC - SSAC) to define the optimal approaches to lung cancer screening. They will focus on six specific components of the lung cancer screening process including: (i) Identification of high risk individuals for lung cancer CT screening programs; (ii) Develop radiological guidelines for use in developing national screening programs; (iii) Develop guidelines for the clinical work-up of 'indeterminate nodules' resulting from CT screening programmers; (iv) Guidelines for pathology reporting of nodules from lung cancer CT screening programs; (v) Recommendations for surgical and therapeutic interventions of suspicious nodules identified through lung cancer CT screening programs; (vi) Integration of smoking cessation practices into future national lung cancer CT screening programs.

The members of the Strategic CT Screening Advisory Committee (IASLC - SSAC) are engaging international professional societies and organizations who are stakeholders in lung cancer CT to assemble information about best practices which may be utilized by individual nationals to suit their health care systems. Currently there are over twelve such international Stakeholders who wish to work with IASLC SSAC on this project.

"This is a high priority for the IASLC since strategic screening has the potential to change the face of lung cancer in the coming years," Field says.

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About the IASLC:

The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) is the only global organization dedicated to the study of lung cancer. Founded in 1974, the association's membership includes more than 3,500 lung cancer specialists in 80 countries.

IASLC members promote the study of etiology, epidemiology, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and all other aspects of lung cancer and thoracic malignancies. IASLC disseminates information about lung cancer to scientists, members of the medical community and the public, and uses all available means to eliminate lung cancer as a health threat for the individual patients and throughout the world. Membership is open to any physician, scientist, nurse or allied health professional interested in lung cancer, including patients, survivors, caregivers and advocates.

IASLC publishes the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, a valuable resource for medical specialists and scientists who focus on the detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

To learn more about IASLC please visit http://iaslc.org/


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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/iaft-isu121511.php

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