cristabel suture: December 2011

Saturday, December 31, 2011

AskJune_USAA: TY 4 RTs! HNY! @ryanguinea @militarywallet @michaelfkelly Does SCRA cover military spouse debts? | http://t.co/OzvGvfaM http://t.co/BNI901Sd

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Silky Microneedles Could Make Shots Painfree

60-Second Science | Technology

Researchers have created a potentially pain-free drug delivery system that uses an array of microneedles made of silk protein to get under the skin. Sophie Bushwick reports.

December 29, 2011

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Nobody likes getting shots. But what if you could make the needles so tiny that they broke the skin painlessly? Engineers from Tufts University have created such microneedles?made from the major protein in silk, fibroin. The work is in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.[Konstantinos Tsioris et al, Fabrication of Silk Microneedles for Controlled-Release Drug Delivery]

The researchers created molds for arrays of needles just 500 microns tall and 10 microns wide. That?s a tenth the width of the average human hair. They then poured a solution of fibroin mixed with a drug into the molds. The resulting microneedles are dried and undergo further processing.

In tests, a patch containing numerous microneedles successfully released the drug, which maintained its biological activity. The tiny needles are too short to reach the nerves under the skin, so they can deliver drugs without the pain of a traditional shot. Even better, they can gradually release medication over time. While skin patches and slow-release pills are currently used for this purpose, they only work with certain kinds of medication. The new microneedle system could make the gradual delivery of many drugs smooth as silk.

?Sophie Bushwick

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]
?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=cec8737b40101bc1d589250ee994cce8

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Friday, December 30, 2011

ozsultan: Argentina Bans BlackBerry And iPhone Sales, This Christmas In Smartphones, Google Ticks Off Travel Sites http://t.co/NMfMRcTy

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CA: California to explore online sales of lottery tickets

Reporting from Washington?

The inexorable push to sell almost everything online could soon include lottery tickets.

Officials at the California State Lottery said they will explore selling tickets over the Internet after the Justice Department determined that such sales would not violate federal law.

"It does open up a major potential channel for lottery sales in California, but right now it's just a potential channel," Robert O'Neill, who was named last week to head the state lottery, said Tuesday.

State lottery officials will review the Justice Department's legal opinion, which allows states to sell lottery tickets over the Internet and possibly to offer poker and other types of online gambling. The opinion clarified that a 40-year-old law, known as the Federal Wire Act, applies only to sports betting, not to other online gambling that states may permit.

O'Neill said that the California lottery would not consider online poker at this point. "Internet poker's a whole other discussion," he said.

He didn't say when the lottery would make a decision.

The Justice Department's latest interpretation of federal law could be a boon for states looking to expand their lotteries as a way to help close large budget deficits, said I. Nelson Rose, a professor at Whittier Law School and author of the blog Gambling and the Law.

He predicted that most states would be offering online gambling within a decade.

"It undoes the single obstacle that was preventing the states from authorizing all forms of Internet gambling," Rose said of the new legal opinion, which appears only to rule out sports betting. "I think we're going to see an explosion in the next couple of years."

Assistant U.S. Atty. Gen. Virginia A. Seitz said in a 13-page legal opinion quietly released last week that proposals from state lotteries in Illinois and New York to sell online tickets to adult residents would not violate the 1961 Federal Wire Act.

State-run online lotteries also would not violate a controversial 2006 law, the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act, which has been used to crack down on foreign online poker sites. That law seeks to prevent people from circumventing existing state or federal anti-gambling laws, but it allows Internet gambling within a state if it is legal there.

The law helped pave the way for the Justice Department opinion because it specifically said that online bets could be routed through servers or transaction processors in other states as long as the person making the wager was in the state where gambling was allowed.

The Wire Act prohibits interstate transmission of gambling-related communications. But Seitz determined that Congress passed that act 40 years ago to stop sports gambling, and the transmission of other types of gambling wagers would be legal.

"This is a perfect ... progression for any lottery because it's adapting to new consumer buying habits and new technologies," said Michael Jones, superintendent of the Illinois Lottery.

Many more people would buy tickets if they could do so online shortly before the drawing for large jackpots, such as the multistate Mega Millions or Powerball lotteries, Jones said.

From 8% to 12% of adults play the lottery in Illinois at least once a week, but 80% of adults said they were in favor of the lottery, he said. The number of players could be expanded by 200,000 to 400,000 if online ticket sales were allowed, generating more than $100 million a year in additional revenue for Illinois.

"The whole idea of a lottery is to get a lot of people to play a little, not a few people to play a lot," Jones said. "There is this enormous potential marketplace."

Illinois enacted a law two years ago mandating the lottery undertake a three- to four-year pilot program testing online sales of tickets to existing state lottery games. As part of the law, the Illinois Legislature required state officials to seek a legal opinion from the Justice Department.

The New York Lottery, which also wants to offer online ticket sales, made a similar request.

The Nevada State Gaming Control Board, which has been studying online gambling, last week approved regulations to allow Internet poker. The District of Columbia Lottery also is moving ahead with plans to offer Internet poker.

California State Lottery's O'Neill said the security of online ticket sales is the main concern.

"Before we even step into any venture like that, we'd have to be very certain about the integrity of the system to perform," he said.

Jones said the Internet offers the ability to limit how much money someone spends on the lottery.

"Right now, I can't stop someone from going down to a brick-and-mortar retailer and spending $1,000 on Mega Millions tonight," he said.

But online registration and credit card tracking would allow the Illinois Lottery to intervene if somebody did that over the Internet, Jones said.

He expects Illinois to start selling online lottery tickets this spring.

jim.puzzanghera@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-EconomyBusiness/~3/_4DHyatXvsI/la-fi-online-gambling-20111228,0,1232552.story

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Man United rolls

By STEVE DOUGLAS

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 4:12 p.m. ET Dec. 27, 2011

LONDON (AP) -Tottenham established itself as the likeliest challenger to the dominance of the Manchester clubs in the Premier League this season, beating Norwich 2-0 on Tuesday to tighten its grip on third place.

A classy second-half double by winger Gareth Bale lifted Spurs to within seven points of City and United, with the London club still holding a game in hand - at home to Everton next month.

With fifth-place Arsenal drawing 1-1 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers to join fading title hopefuls Chelsea and Liverpool in dropping points in the latest round of league fixtures, it looks increasingly like a three-horse race for the title.

However, Bale and Spurs aren't getting ahead of themselves.

"We said at the start of the season that our main objective was to get back in the Champions League and that's still the case," said the 22-year-old Bale. "We are just going to take it one game at a time."

Heading into the game at Carrow Road, Tottenham knew Manchester United - which is level on points with City - was the only team in the top six to have won in the latest round of fixtures.

The pressure was on Harry Redknapp's team to take advantage and it did just that, with Bale capping an impressive individual display by scoring goals in the 55th and 67th minutes.

His first was a sidefooted finish from close range, while his second demonstrated his pace and power, bursting through the middle before supplying a deft finish over Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy.

Bale could have had more goals. Out of Spurs' 15 shots, he had seven.

"He's an amazing player isn't he?" Redknapp said of Bale, who emerged as a potential superstar in a breakthrough 2010-11 season in which he wowed football fans worldwide with his performances in the Champions League.

"When he picks the ball up, turns and runs at you, he is unplayable."

Arsenal has never finished behind fierce north London rival Tottenham since the Premier League's inception in 1992 but this could be the season.

Arsene Wenger's team missed a great chance to climb above Chelsea into fourth place by only drawing against Wolves, who played the last 17 minutes with 10 men following the harsh straight red card handed to Serbia midfielder Nenad Milijas for a studs-first tackle.

Ivory Coast forward Gervinho opened the scoring for Arsenal in the eighth minute but the hosts failed to make the most of a series of chances, the majority of which fell to leading scorer Robin van Persie, and Wolves equalized through Steven Fletcher in the 38th.

Visiting goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey foiled the Gunners time and again in the second half, leaving them fifth in the table.

"It was the kind of game that if you played 20 times, you win 19 of them. Unfortunately this was the one time we didn't win," Wenger said. "Their keeper played the game of his life."

Queens Park Rangers ended its three-match losing run by drawing 1-1 at Swansea in Tuesday's other game, moving three points clear of the relegation zone.

Jamie Mackie scored QPR's equalizer at the Liberty Stadium when he got in behind Swansea's notoriously stubborn defense to stab home a finish in the 58th minute, canceling out Danny Graham's goal for Swansea in the 14th minute.

More newsAdrian Dennis / AFP - Getty Images

Arsenal blows opportunity

Arsenal's flailing title hopes in the Premier League received a setback when it was held 1-1 at home by struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday.

Man United rolls

Manchester United flourished as Manchester City floundered on Monday to wipe out its neighbor's lead in the Premier League title race.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44131091/ns/sports-soccer/

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NASA's Twin Moon Probes Set for Lunar Arrival This Weekend (SPACE.com)

A pair of NASA spacecraft is getting set to orbit the moon this weekend, a move that will kick off the probes' effort to study Earth's nearest neighbor from crust to core.

NASA's twin Grail spacecraft are slated to start circling the moon one day apart, with Grail-A arriving on Saturday (Dec. 31) and Grail-B following on Sunday (Jan. 1). The two probes will then fly around the moon in tandem, mapping the lunar gravity field in unprecedented detail and helping scientists better understand how the moon formed and evolved.

"This mission will rewrite the textbooks on the evolution of the moon," Grail principal investigator Maria Zuber, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said in a statement.

Precision flying

The $496 million Grail mission (short for Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory) launched on Sept. 10 from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The two washing-machine-size probes have taken their sweet time since, charting circuitous, energy-efficient courses that will get them to the moon after more than three months of flying. Contrast that with NASA's manned Apollo 11 mission, which prioritized speed and got there in three days back in 1969.

Grail-A and Grail-B won't be ready to start their science campaign immediately upon arriving at the moon. Rather, they'll spend another two months circling lower and lower, eventually settling into orbits just 34 miles (55 kilometers) above the lunar surface, researchers said.

The twin probes will begin taking measurements in March. They'll chase each other around the moon for 82 days, staying 75 to 225 miles (121 to 362 km) apart. [Video: Grail's Mission to Map Moon Gravity]

Regional differences in the moon's gravitational field will cause the two spacecraft to speed up or slow down slightly, changing the distance between them as they fly. Using microwave signals that they bounce back and forth to each other, Grail-A and Grail-B will gauge these distance variations constantly.

And they'll do so with incredible precision. The Grail probes will be able to determine how far apart they are from each other to within a few microns ? less than the width of a human red blood cell, researchers have said.

Mapping the moon's interior

The Grail team will use the twin probes' measurements to construct highly detailed maps of the lunar gravity field. These maps should help scientists plan out future lunar landings, of both robotic and manned spacecraft, officials have said.

And the mission's observations should yield other benefits as well.

Specifically, Grail's data should reveal the moon's structure in great detail, allowing scientists to draw insights about how the rocky body formed and how it has changed over time.

"Grail is a journey to the center of the moon," Zuber told reporters Wednesday (Dec. 28). The two probes' measurements, along with data collected by other spacecraft, she added, "will enable us to reconstruct the moon's early evolution."

This information, in turn, could shed light on how other large objects in the inner solar system came to be, researchers have said.

An extended mission?

Grail's primary science work should wrap up in June. But the Grail team hopes NASA grants the two spacecraft a mission extension through next December, Zuber said. She and her colleagues want to take Grail even lower, to just 15 miles (25 km) or so above the lunar surface.

"I call it flying over the treetops of the moon," Zuber said of the proposed extended mission. "We will take the spacecraft down as low as we can, to map, have a sensitivity to the shallowest, shallowest structures of the lunar crust."

Researchers also want Grail to raise public awareness about the moon, and to help engage kids in math and science. To this end, special cameras aboard the probes will be used to encourage middle school students to participate in lunar research and follow along with Grail, during both its nominal mission and any extended campaign.

The so-called MoonKam project, which will snap photos of the lunar surface for students on Earth, is led by former NASA astronaut Sally Ride and her educational company Sally Ride Science.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20111228/sc_space/nasastwinmoonprobessetforlunararrivalthisweekend

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Afghanistan cabinet OKs oil deal with China's CNPC

KABUL - Afghanistan's cabinet cleared the way for the war-torn state to sign a deal with China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) for the development of oil blocks in the Amu Darya basin, the Afghan president's office said on Monday.

The deal covering drilling and a refinery in the northern provinces of Sar-e Pul and Faryab will be the first international oil production agreement entered into by the Afghan government for several decades.

It marks the second major deal for China in Afghanistan after Metallurgical Corp of China signed a contract in 2008 to develop the huge Aynak copper mine south of Kabul, which is due to start producing by the end of 2014.

"The Afghan cabinet has ordered Mines Minister Wahidullah Shahrani to sign an oil exploration contract for Amu Darya with China National Petroleum Corporation," the statement said.

Jawad Omar, a spokesman for the mines ministry, said the contract would be signed on Wednesday.

State-owned CNPC and joint venture partner Watan Group -- a diversified Afghan company -- will explore for oil in three fields in the basin - Kashkari, Bazarkhami and Zamarudsay, which are estimated to hold around 87 million barrels of oil.

Under the contract, CNPC will agree to pay a 15 percent royalty on oil, a 20 percent corporate tax and give up to 70 percent of its profit from the project to the Afghan government.

The mines ministry said in October that the deal was likely to result in government revenues of $5 billion over the next 10 years.

Indian and Chinese bidders have been front-runners for deals to develop Afghanistan's vast mineral deposits, which are valued at $3 trillion, worrying Western firms that have hesitated to invest in the country due to security concerns.

Experts have warned that mining projects in Afghanistan are likely targets for insurgents, that production and transport costs will be high and that sovereign risk is a serious concern.

But China and India, where demand for energy and industrial inputs is booming, are willing to take risks to secure supplies.

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/45790058?__source=RSS*tag*&par=RSS

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

xoopia: A Must Have App For The Holidays: Calorie Counter by FatSecret: If you?re gearing up to head h... http://t.co/6puGyudt #xoopia #android

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A Must Have App For The Holidays: Calorie Counter by FatSecret: If you?re gearing up to head h... bit.ly/rKLbn2 #xoopia #android Il y a environ 3 heures via twitterfeed

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Aide to top Mexican drug boss Guzman captured (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY, Dec 26 (Reuters) ? Mexico landed its third blow against the country's most wanted drug trafficker in as many months after capturing a suspected lieutenant of Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, boss of the powerful Sinaloa cartel.

On Monday, masked Mexican soldiers presented Felipe Cabrera, known as "el Inge," to the media following his capture in Culiacan, capital of Sinaloa, the northwestern Pacific state after which the drug cartel is named.

Cabrera, whose nickname is an abbreviation of the Spanish word for engineer, was the second suspected Guzman lieutenant to be seized there in the past two months.

"These are blows to the (Sinaloa) organization, but the structure for drug trafficking and money laundering is still intact," Alberto Islas, a security expert at consultancy Risk Evaluation, said after Cabrera's media parade in Mexico City.

In what may have been another bitter pill for Guzman, the government said later that the navy had seized 21 tonnes of monomethylamine - a compound used to make methamphetamines - in the Pacific port of Manzanillo, traditionally his turf.

The shipment may have been intended for Guzman given that several others belonging to him had been seized there, one official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Islas said the haul, which was intercepted on its way from Peru to Guatemala - where the Sinaloa cartel is also active - was probably worth at least $50 million in unprocessed form.

CRACKDOWN

President Felipe Calderon's conservative administration has been dominated by a military crackdown on drug cartels, which has claimed over 45,000 lives in the past five years, eroding support for his National Action Party, or PAN.

The PAN has been trailing its main rival for months as Mexico gears up for a presidential election in July 2012.

The government has captured or killed dozens of top smugglers, but Guzman, the most notorious, is still at large.

Defense ministry spokesman Ricardo Trevilla hailed the arrest of Cabrera as a setback for the operational and leadership capabilities of the Sinaloa cartel, regarded as the main trafficker of drugs into the United States.

The ministry said Cabrera was in charge of the cartel's operations in Durango, a state bordering Sinaloa and a Guzman bastion where the kingpin has been rumored to live.

Guzman runs an empire of methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine smuggling that has earned him a spot on Forbes magazine's list of billionaires.

The ministry added that Cabrera also had responsibility for the southern part of the border state of Chihuahua, through which many drugs are smuggled into the United States.

Cabrera, who allegedly headed Guzman's personal security in the Durango area, is suspected of involvement in a host of violent crimes ranging from arson to kidnapping and extortion.

He was captured on Friday as part of an operation which led to the arrest of 23 suspected operators in the Sinaloa cartel and their bitter rivals, Los Zetas.

(Editing by Eric Beech and Christopher Wilson)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111226/wl_nm/us_mexico_drugs

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LA's 'Wonderful Life' Day honors Frank Capra film

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? George Bailey can rest easy. He really did make a difference in the lives of people, including all 3.8 million in Los Angeles.

Bailey, for the one or two people who still haven't seen the classic Frank Capra film "It's A Wonderful Life," is a man driven to the brink of suicide when he comes to believe his life never really mattered.

It's up to his quirky guardian angel Clarence to set him straight by showing Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, what the world would have been like without him.

In honor of the film's 65th anniversary, the City Council declared Friday "It's A Wonderful Life Day" in Los Angeles.

To get people in the spirit, Councilman Tom LaBonge, several members of Capra's family and a few others gathered at the director's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on a sunny holiday morning.

The section of the walk, it turns out, is one filled with cheesy souvenir shops and sex toy emporiums. They give it more the look of Pottersville, the disreputable place in the film that the evil banker Mr. Potter turns bucolic Bedford Falls into when Bailey isn't there to stop him.

That didn't dampen Friday's celebration, however, which included Jimmy Hawkins, the actor who played Bailey's 5-year-old son, Tommy.

As one of the last surviving cast members, the 70-year-old actor-producer said he considers it an honor to introduce new audiences to the movie.

When it debuted in theaters in 1946, "It's A Wonderful Life" was actually a commercial and critical flop. But if that bothered Capra, he never let it show.

"My father always said that 'It's A Wonderful Life' was the best movie that he ever made," Tom Capra said. "As a matter of fact, he said it was the best movie ever made."

The film, whose story takes place at Christmas, became a holiday classic with the dawn of television, when families began to gather each holiday season to watch it.

It airs again Saturday night on NBC.

"It carried with it the message that you can find in each of my dad's films. The message of hope," Capra said. "Maybe like George Bailey, we should pause for a brief moment and examine our lives and see if we can make a difference as long as we never give up."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-12-23-Wonderful%20Life%20Day-LA/id-3acfbea9c29244bc9ceaa3baebf3ca84

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Partner Communications Announces a Change in the ...

December 25, 2011

[Business Wire] ? Partner Communications Company Ltd. , a leading Israeli communications operator, announces today a change in the organizational structure of the group, in which infrastructure and headquarter parallel activities of Partner and its fully owned subsidiary, 012 Smile Telecom Ltd.

Read the entire article at the source.

This entry was posted on December 25, 2011 at 6:19 am and is filed under Tech Stock Newswire. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Source: http://mytechstocks.com/2011/12/25/partner-communications-announces-a-change-in-the-organizational-structure-of-the-group-and-the-appointment-of-a-chief-operational-officer/

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PFT: Barkley taking big risk by delaying NFL move

Getty Images

Though it would be fitting for a kid named ?Luck? to play for a team with a horseshoe on its helmet, the Colts are experiencing an unlikely late-season surge that could cost the team that had presumably locked up the first overall pick a clear shot at their franchise quarterback of the future.

Thanks to an unlikely come-from-behind win over the Texans, the Colts have moved to 2-13 on the season.? If the Vikings lose to the Redskins and/or the Rams lose to the Steelers on Saturday, Week 17 would feature not only the resolution of multiple playoff spots and positioning, but also the final resolution of the ?Suck for Luck? sweepstakes.

If the Colts lose to the Jaguars in Jacksonville on January 1, they?ll clinch the pick via the strength of schedule tiebreaker, which is the first measure used to determine draft position among non-playoff teams.? But if the Colts continue their hot streak and beat the mediocre-at-best Jaguars, either the Rams or the Vikings would slide into the top position position, if either or both lose in Week 17.

And so the fate of Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck won?t be decided for at least a week ? unless both the Rams and Vikings win on Saturday.? Even then, the question of whether Luck will make an Elway/Eli-style power play will move to the front burner, and likely stay there for weeks if not months, once it?s known where the first pick will go.

The Colts? presumed stranglehold on the first overall pick evaporated via their ability to stay close to the Texans throughout Thursday night?s NFL Network season finale, even though it appeared the Texans would roll over Indy after a first-snap-from-scrimmage sack-fumble forced by linebacker Brian Cushing.? One play later, running back Arian Foster gave Houston a 7-0 lead (with the extra point, of course).

Hampering the Texans was a pathetic 10-percent conversion rate on third down.? The only time Houston turned a third down into a first down came late in the game, on a bouncing-ball pass that receiver Jacoby Jones snatched out of the air and carried past the sticks, extending deeper into Indy territory a drive that culminated in another Neil Rackers field goal, making the score 16-12.

But the Texans left the Colts with enough time to piece together a 12-play, 78-yard drive fueled by an uncanny ability of Colts quarterback Dan Orlovsky to sense the pressure and step up in the pocket, a 34-yard pass from Orlovsky to receiver Reggie Wayne on third and seven from the Indy 46,?a pair of penalties on Texans defensive end J.J. Watt, a pass interference call at the Houston one, and a one-yard touchdown pass from Orlovsky to Wayne.

The touchdown and the extra point gave the Colts a 19-16 lead, and with only 19 seconds remaining the Texans couldn?t mount a serious threat for a game-tying field goal.

The loss virtually ensures that the Texans will not earn a playoff bye, forcing them to host the No. 6 seed in the wild-card round.? In fact, there?s a chance that the Texans could fall to No. 4 in the AFC, if Houston loses to Tennessee next week and the Broncos win their final two games.? The resulting 10-6 tie wouldn?t be settled by the first four tiebreakers, pushing the issue to strength of victory then strength of schedule then all sorts of crazy stuff based on points scored and allowed, culminating in a 12th-step coin-toss.

Regardless, the suddenly slumping Texans will host a team like the Steelers or the Jets or maybe the Bengals on the weekend of January 7, making the first postseason game in franchise history a very challenging one.? Based on the way the Texans played against the Panthers on Sunday and the Colts on Thursday night, a one-and-out postseason debut seems to be looming in Houston.

But at least they possibly have saved themselves from having to face Andrew Luck for the next 15 years.

UPDATE 12:21 a.m. 12/23/11:? As a reader wisely points out in the comments, the Jaguars could avoid seeing Luck in the division as well by laying down for the Colts next Sunday.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/22/barkley-takes-a-big-risk-by-sticking-around/related/

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Study: Indoor Tanning Linked With Early Onset of Skin Cancer (Time.com)

Given that indoor tanning beds were officially classified as a human carcinogen in 2009 -- up there with cigarettes and asbestos -- it should be fairly obvious that frequent tanning-booth exposure would increase your risk of skin cancer.

Indeed, the evidence linking indoor tanning with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, and squamous cell carcinoma, one of the more common forms of the disease, is "convincing," according to the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. But the research concerning tanning beds and basal cell carcinoma, the third and most frequent major type of skin cancer -- which accounts for some 80% of all skin cancer cases in the U.S. -- has thus far been inconsistent. (See pictures of a photographer's intimate account of her mother's cancer ordeal.)

Basal cell carcinoma, a slow-growing cancer, has traditionally been a disease of middle age. But it's been appearing with increasing frequency in people under 40, especially in women -- a demographic that also happens to like indoor tanning -- suggesting a link. So researchers at the Yale School of Public Health sought to study the association.

The study included 376 people under 40, who had been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma between 2006 and 2010. They were matched with a control group of 390 dermatology patients who were diagnosed with minor skin conditions like cysts and warts. All participants had skin biopsies, and all were drawn from a Yale University database.

The researchers interviewed each participant about their UV exposure -- both in tanning beds and outdoors. They also asked about their history of sunburns, sunscreen use, family history of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, and their self-reported eye, skin and hair color.

The conclusion: people who had ever used a tanning booth were 69% more likely to develop early-onset basal cell carcinoma than never tanners. Those who used tanning booths more regularly -- for at least six years -- were more than twice a likely to develop basal cell carcinoma, compared with never tanners.

The study found that women were far more devoted than men to indoor tanning, which might help explain why 70% of all early onset basal cell carcinomas occur in females. The authors concluded that about 27% of cases of early onset disease -- including 43% of cases in women -- could be prevented if people simply stopped using tanning booths.

That's a tall order, considering that some 30 million Americans use indoor tanning beds each year. Policy changes, such as the recent California ban on teen tanning, may help, the authors suggest. So would behavioral interventions aimed at women -- at least one study in 2010 found that the best way to get young women to tan less was to warn them about the skin-wrinkling effects of tanning-bed exposure, not the risk of skin cancer.

"Importantly, indoor tanning is a behavior that individuals can change. In conjunction with the findings on melanoma, our results for [basal cell carcinoma] indicate that reducing indoor tanning could translate to a meaningful reduction in the incidence of these two types of skin cancer," said Leah M. Ferrucci, first author of the paper and a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Public Health, in a statement.

See TIME's Pictures of the Week.

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View this article on Time.com

Russia and US clash over NATO bombing probe

UNITED NATIONS?? Russia urged the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to investigate civilian deaths in Libya from NATO's bombing campaign, a move the United States immediately dismissed as "a cheap stunt" to distract from Moscow's failure to condemn the Syrian government's ongoing killing of protesters.

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The sharp exchange reflected the deep division in the council over the NATO campaign which the U.S., France, Germany and others hailed for saving hundreds of thousands of Libyan lives, but which Russia, China and the African Union have strongly criticized.

Russia and its supporters argue that NATO misused the limited council resolution imposing a no-fly zone and authorizing the protection of civilians as a pretext to promote regime change in Libya. Libya's longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was ousted after 42 years, captured and killed in October.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said a council-mandated investigation is essential "given the fact that initially we were led to believe by NATO leaders there are zero civilian casualties of their bombing campaign."

U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, who stepped to the microphone after Churkin, said: "Oh, the bombast and bogus claims."

"Is everyone sufficiently distracted from Syria now and the killing that is happening before our very eyes?" she said.

"I think it's not an exaggeration to say that this is something of a cheap stunt to divert attention from other issues and to obscure the success of NATO and its partners ? and indeed the Security Council ? in protecting the people of Libya," Rice said.

France's U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud, standing beside her, said there were two ongoing investigations of NATO's actions in Libya, one by a U.N. Human Rights Council which is scheduled to report in March and the second by the International Criminal Court.

"We are not talking about years ... and in the two cases they are absolutely competent to handle the NATO military operations," he said. "So why ask for a third one while we don't have any investigation committee in Syria, when in the last 3-4 days more than 250 people have been killed."

Last month, NATO spokesperson Oana Lungescu in Brussels said NATO is confident its forces carried out the campaign "in full compliance with international law."

NATO leaders have hailed the precision with which the mission was carried out, citing the small number of civilian deaths caused by the bombing as evidence of its success. Representatives of the military alliance based in Brussels have said that all NATO air strikes in Libya were aimed at military targets.

Churkin, this month's council president, insisted that he was not diverting attention because Thursday's council meeting was on Libya and heard a briefing by videolink from U.N. envoy Ian Martin in Tripoli.

Martin said "the past few weeks have witnessed a series of armed clashes of varying seriousness, giving rise to growing popular pressure, in particular in Tripoli, to put in place security arrangements which do not rely heavily on the armed brigades" who fought in the uprising against Gadhafi.

Martin warned that unless the security situation is addressed quickly and effectively, "the legitimate authority of the state" could be undermined.

In what many saw as a backlash against the council's authorization of military action to protect civilians in Libya, Russia and China vetoed a European-backed resolution in October threatening sanctions against Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime if it didn't immediately halt its military crackdown against civilians.

Last week, Russia surprised fellow council members with a proposed new resolution calling for an end to the violence that the U.N. estimates has killed 5,000 people over nine months.

Western members welcomed the move, but said it didn't go far enough because it didn't mention sanctions and equated violence against civilians with violence against the government and its security forces.

Britain, France, Germany and the U.S. have proposed amendments to the Russian text and Churkin said he hopes to have a new version on Friday.

But he said the Western nations wanted to send "completely different messages" and diplomats were pessimistic about quick agreement on a Syria resolution.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45770947/ns/world_news-europe/

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Litt?rature > ActuaLitte.com int?gre Google Livres, et ses 15 millions d?ouvrages num?ris

Voil? un partenariat de bon sens. Le magazine litt?raire en ligne ActuaLitte.com et Google viennent de signer un partenariat (non-exclusif) qui met ? disposition des lecteurs du site Internet l?int?gralit? du catalogue de Google Livres.

Google Livres, c?est une biblioth?que num?rique compos?e de pr?s de 15 millions d?ouvrages (tomb?s dans le domaine public et donc libres de droit) num?ris?s depuis 2004 par le groupe Internet.

L?ensemble de ces livres peut ?tre t?l?charg? sans DRM, en version PDF ou EPUB ? l?adresse suivante www.actualitte.com/biblioth?que.

La biblioth?que num?rique est accessible depuis la page d?accueil du site, via une interface personnalis?e.

Des options de recherche plein texte, ou en mode image, sont int?gr?es pour simplifier l?exploration de chaque ouvrage.

Les recherches peuvent ?galement se faire au travers d?une trentaine de th?matiques telles que le d?veloppement personnel, la po?sie, les sciences sociales ou encore les voyages.

Chaque semaine, ActuaLitte, pr?sentera (comme son nom l?indique) des livres en ?cho avec l?actualit?.

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Source: http://www.newzilla.net/2011/12/22/litterature-actualitte-com-integre-google-livres-et-ses-15-millions-d%E2%80%99ouvrages-numerises/

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Actavis prepares for end of generic drugs model (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Western generic drugmakers need to adapt to cope with rapid changes in the pharmaceuticals market that are blurring the distinctions between innovator companies and makers of cheaper copycat products.

That is the view of Claudio Albrecht, chief executive of Swiss-based Actavis, which struck a deal on Wednesday with QRxPharma to sell a new patented painkiller called MoxDuo that combines morphine and oxycodone.

Albrecht said he expected to do more such deals for patented and branded medicines in future, including a push into insulins, under deal to be signed shortly with Poland's Bioton, and the development of so-called "biosimilar" drugs.

The pharmaceutical industry is currently going through a record wave of patent expires on mass-market medicines, with blockbusters like Pfizer's Lipitor, for cholesterol, losing U.S. protection last month and AstraZeneca's schizophrenia drug Seroquel facing generic rivals in 2012.

While this is a bonanza for makers of generics, Albrecht told Reuters that the game was about to change, with few conventional chemical products losing patent protection after 2014 as attention turns instead to expiries on biotech drugs.

Unlike chemical medicines, which can be given as pills, biotech products are impossible to copy precisely, forcing generic companies to develop biosimilars, which are close to the original but need to be sold as separate medicines.

"It means generic companies will have to start promoting again and it will become more of a scientific way of selling," Albrecht said in a telephone interview from Zug.

"Looking ahead 5 to 10 years, if you want to be in the front line as a generics player you will have to change your model. The generics business as we know it today will be gone within the next 10 years."

At same time, innovator companies like Pfizer and Merck are starting to build up their own presence in biosimilars, further blurring the distinctions -- and at the other end of the spectrum, Indian and Chinese firms are moving in to scoop up the commodity business.

Increasingly, governments in Europe are using tenders to get the lowest possible price for conventional chemical drugs. It is a trend that Albrecht expects to accelerate, leaving little profit margin for Western players.

"For the classic generics you will see, over time, that the real cost leaders come from countries like China and India," he said. "It's going to be very difficult to have European or American quality standards and processes and still be successful in these very aggressive tenders."

WORLD NO.4 IN GENERICS

Former Iceland-based Actavis, which moved to Zug at the end of 2010, is the world's fourth-largest maker of generic drugs behind Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Novartis's unit Sandoz and Mylan.

Albrecht said sales were growing steadily and should reach around 2.1 billion euros ($2.75 billion) in 2012, up from 1.85-1.90 billion this year and 1.75 billion in 2010.

After rapid expansion in the early 2000s, Actavis underwent a leveraged buyout in 2007 by Icelandic tycoon Bjorgolfur Thor Bjorgolfsson, which left Deutsche Bank holding billions of euros of its debt.

Albrecht, who took over as the group's first non-Icelandic chief executive in June 2010, reiterated that a merger with another company or an initial public offering was a possibility at some point in the future. ($1 = 0.7628 euros)

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/meds/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111221/hl_nm/us_actavis_generic_drugs

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

BBCBreakfast: RT @steve_run: @BBCBreakfast fantastic pictures of the baby polar bear, made me smile - they are also on our facebook page!

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RT @steve_run: @BBCBreakfast fantastic pictures of the baby polar bear, made me smile - they are also on our facebook page! Il y a environ 3 heures via HootSuite Retweeted by 4 people

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Source: http://twitter.com/BBCBreakfast/statuses/149748865262813184

Monday, December 19, 2011

AP sources: Rollins, Phils agree on 3-year deal

FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2011, file photo, Philadelphia Phillies' Jimmy Rollins bats during the sixth inning of Game 3 of baseball's National League division series against the St. Louis Cardinals in St. Louis. Two people familiar with the negotiations tell The Associated Press on Saturday, Dec. 17, that Rollins has agreed to a 3-year, $33 million contract with the Phillies. The deal includes a vesting option for a fourth year. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement is not official. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Jimmy Rollins is bringing his swagger back to the Phillies. Three people familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that Rollins has agreed to a 3-year, $33 million contract with Philadelphia. The deal includes a vesting option for a fourth year.

The people spoke on condition of anonymity Saturday because the agreement is pending a physical.

"Gotta deal with me for 3 (4) more years!" Rollins wrote on Twitter. He also thanked former Philadelphia Eagles safety Brian Dawkins, who tweeted congratulations to Rollins and the Phillies.

Rollins is a three-time All-Star shortstop and the 2007 NL MVP. He has spent his entire career with the Phillies after being selected in the second round of the 1996 amateur draft, and was a free agent for the first time.

Rollins, who turned 33 last month, sought at least a five-year deal. The Phillies didn't want to go that long, and were able to reach an agreement after the market for Rollins lessened.

From the start, Rollins said he wanted to stay in Philadelphia. He has been the heart and soul of a team that has won five consecutive NL East titles and the 2008 World Series. Rollins is undeniably the team leader, a charismatic personality who brings a special confidence to the clubhouse.

Rollins was the guy who boldly proclaimed the Phillies were the team to beat in the division before the 2007 season, even though Philadelphia hadn't won anything in 14 years. He backed that up by having an MVP year, and leading the Phillies to their first postseason appearance since 1993.

Rollins hasn't come close to matching the numbers he put up in 2007 ? .296 average, 30 homers, 94 RBIs, 20 triples, 41 steals. But he remains one of the best defensive players at his position, and is still an offensive threat atop the lineup.

He hit .268 with 16 homers, 63 RBIs and 30 steals this year. He has been plagued by leg injuries in three of the last four years, and played in a career-low 88 games in 2010. He started 135 this year.

Re-signing Rollins had been a top priority for the Phillies. Their biggest move of the offseason was giving former Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon a $50 million, four-year contract.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-17-BBN-Phillies-Rollins/id-1e631202d5504f0494016181fc78d359

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Report: Gableman got free legal help

MADISON (AP) - Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman received free legal services from one of the state's largest law firms to help him fight an ethics complaint - a situation that seems to conflict with ethics rules on accepting gifts, according to the state's largest newspaper.

The law firm of Michael Best & Friedrich defended Gableman against a state Judicial Commission complaint accusing him of violating the judicial code of ethics in a 2008 campaign ad. The ad accused Justice Louis Butler of finding a loophole for an offender who went on to molest another child. It didn't mention that Butler failed to get the offender out of prison early and that the offender committed the new crime after he had served his sentence. The Supreme Court ultimately deadlocked 3-3 on whether the ad amounted to a violation.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Thursday that Michael Best & Friedrich attorney Eric McLeod never billed Gableman for his services. It's unclear exactly how much Gableman might have owed McLeod, but other attorneys have speculated it was thousands of dollars, the newspaper said.

Wisconsin's ethics code prohibits state officials from accepting free gifts because of their position. The judicial ethics code also prohibits judges from accepting gifts from anyone who is likely to appear before them. Michael Best & Friedrich has five cases before the Supreme Court and Gableman is taking part in all of them.

The Journal Sentinel obtained a letter that Michael Best & Friedrich's chief attorney wrote to the Supreme Court explaining that McLeod and Gableman had an agreement. The attorney, Jonathan Margolies, wrote that Gableman would pay only if he recovered his attorney fees from the state, similar to arrangements common in personal injury cases where plaintiff's attorneys get nothing if they lose the case.

Under state law, judges who win ethics cases can ask the state Claims Board to reimburse their legal fees. But because the Supreme Court tied over the ethics complaint, Gableman couldn't argue to the board that he had won and the state should cover his fees, Margolies said in the letter. Gableman was responsible for out-of-pocket expenses, which he paid, the letter said.

Margolies declined to disclose the value of the firm's work for Gableman in an interview with the Journal Sentinel. But he said he was sure the payment agreement was above board.

Jonathan Becker, the ethics administrator for the Government Accountability Board, declined to comment on Gableman's situation to the Journal Sentinel, but told the newspaper that in general the board would weigh how common such a fee arrangement is in the legal industry if it was reviewing a deal a public official struck.

"In my view the `no financial exposure' benefit the firm gave Gableman requires him to recuse himself indefinitely from cases the firm brings to the court," Stephen Gillers, a New York University Law School professor, told the Journal Sentinel.

Wisconsin judges decide for themselves whether they should step out of cases. Indiana University law professor Charles Geyh said Gableman must consider the value of any free legal serve he received from Michael Best & Friedrich and public perception when deciding whether to participate in cases involving the firm.

"A reasonable perception would be, `This guy owes him one,"' Geyh told the Journal Sentinel, adding he thinks Gableman shouldn't hear cases involving the firm for two or three years after receiving the legal service and hold off even longer before taking any cases involving McLeod.

In addition to the five cases the firm now has before the court, it represented a Republican group that wants force the Government Accountability Board to apply newly redrawn legislative district maps in potential recalls against four GOP state senators, a move that would favor the Republicans. The group has asked the Supreme Court to take the case and filed it separately in Waukesha County. It has dropped Michael Best & Friedrich from the Supreme Court request but has retained the firm in the other case.

Gableman also hired Indiana attorney James Bopp to defend him against the ethics complaint. Bopp declined to describe his arrangement with Gableman to the Journal Sentinel, saying only it complied with Wisconsin's ethics laws.

Source: http://www.fox11online.com/dpp/news/wisconsin/report-says-justice-michael-gableman-got-free-legal-help

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Russian customs seize Iran-bound radioactive metal

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russia's customs agency said Friday that it seized radioactive metal from the luggage of an Iranian passenger bound for Tehran.

Spokeswoman Kseniya Grebenkina told The Associated Press that the luggage had been seized some time ago, but could not specify when. The Iranian hasn't been detained, she said.

The Federal Customs Service said in a statement that its agents found 18 pieces of metal at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport after a radiation alert went on. It says the gauges showed that radiation levels were 20 times higher than normal.

It was not immediately clear if the substance could have any use in Iran's controversial nuclear program.

The pieces contained Sodium-22, she said, a radioactive isotope of sodium that could be produced in a particle accelerator. Sodium-22 is a positron-emitting isotope that has medical uses, including in nuclear medicine imaging.

Grebenkina said prosecutors have launched a probe into the incident.

Sergei Novikov, spokesman for the Rosatom nuclear agency, told the AP that the pieces are highly unlikely to have come from Rosatom and said the isotope is produced by particle accelerators, not by nuclear reactors.

In Russia, universities, research institutes and big medical centers have the technology to produce it, he said.

"There is an extremely slim chance that it could have come from Rosatom," he said.

Novikov said that Rosatom has never sold Sodium-22 to Iran, but it has supplied it with other types of medical isotopes.

Grebenkina of the Customs Service insisted that the material seized is not highly radioactive.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday endorsed harsher sanctions against Iran aimed at derailing its suspected pursuit of nuclear weapons. Iran denies Western allegations that it is seeking to build nuclear weapons.

Earlier this year, Atomstroiexport, a Rosatom subsidiary, launched Iran's first nuclear reactor in Bushehr.

Russian officials have insisted that the deal with Iran is in line with international agreements and will oblige Tehran to ship all the spent fuel from the plant back to Russia for reprocessing to avoid a possibility of it being used in a covert weapons program.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-16-EU-Russia-Iran/id-cd9e0d6740b240a69e18f8000ed96c14

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