calibrator anglo: April 2013

Monday, April 29, 2013

Asylum and Entry/Exit Systems Get Another Look in Congress After Boston

If the political stars had been aligned differently, the home-made bombs that exploded at the Boston Marathon finish line earlier this month would have derailed the fast-moving immigration effort on Capitol Hill. It is not uncommon for lawmakers to shy away from hard-nosed legislative deal-making on controversial issues in the wake of such unexpected catastrophes.

However, fearing backlash from the Hispanic voting bloc for not doing something about the 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, lawmakers are forging ahead with a wide-ranging bill.

The impact of the bombings on the immigration debate has narrowed in on two isolated policy arenas?the screenings that take place for foreigners fleeing political persecution and a yet-to-be-implemented system for tracking which foreigners are in the United States at any given time.

The Tsarnaev brothers alleged to have carried out the Boston attack were immigrants. They were granted asylum from the war-torn Chechnya region in Russia more than 10 years ago as ?derivatives? (i.e., minor children) of their father. After a year, under the law, they were given green cards. Nearly 10 years went by, and both brothers applied for citizenship. The younger brother, Dzhokhar, became a naturalized citizen in September. The application for Tamerlan, the older brother, was still pending when he died.

No one on Capitol Hill opposes the idea that foreigners should be granted asylum if they face persecution in their home countries. In the wake of the bombings, however, lawmakers are saying they want to be sure that those refugees are properly vetted. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said Thursday that he wants applicants who are ?engaging in aggressive tactics? against an oppressor in their home countries to be screened in terms of their susceptibility to ?doing the same thing elsewhere."

"That obviously ought to be a part of our consideration in granting political asylum,? he said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., expressed concern at a hearing Tuesday about whether asylum applicants are ?adequately screened for national security threats.? The Senate immigration bill would ease the timing on granting asylum to applicants, and she wants to be sure the claims of ?credible fear? in their home countries don?t get short shrift.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is among the first on Capitol Hill to point out the shortcomings of the travel-tracking system highlighted by the bombing, in which a clerical error allowed the elder bombing suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, to come back into the United States from Russia without U.S. officials knowing it. ?It just kind of highlighted it more than anything else,? Grassley told National Journal Daily, speaking about the weak entry/exit tracking system. ?It would still be an issue even if the bombing hadn?t happened.?

The entry/exit tracking concept is a holdover from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when policymakers said the United States authorities should know which foreigners enter the country and which foreigners leave the country. It turned out to be a nightmare to implement, especially on the ?exit? side. Remember the sad-looking, unused US-VISIT terminals that populated airports in the mid-2000s? That was the Department of Homeland Security?s purported solution for keeping track of the ?exiters.? They were supposed to take the time--voluntarily, perhaps by standing in line--to swipe their passports into the machine before they left. It doesn?t take much of an imagination to understand why it didn?t work.

The entry/exit system would get a makeover under the Senate immigration proposal put forth by the ?Gang of Eight? Republicans and Democrats. The bill would require air and sea carriers to report foreigner exits to the federal government using machine-readable visas and passports. So far, so good, although it is not clear what would happen to people like Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who carried a Russian passport.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., is one of several ?gang? members who say the bombing incident provides an opportunity for lawmakers to improve the system through a thorough examination of what happened with the elder Tsarnaev, providing an object lesson in what needs to be changed. ?That shouldn?t hold up the bill,? he said.

As far as asylum, the current screening process is fairly rigorous. Applicants? identities, complete with fingerprints, are verified and checked against all law enforcement databases, including those in the Department of Defense, said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. For Tamerlan, who was briefly under investigation by the FBI, DHS?s warning note probably would have popped up in the process, except he was a teenager at the time.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asylum-entry-exit-systems-another-look-congress-boston-074545555.html

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Lingerie Letters ? April 2013 | Pout Perfection

Hi Poutlings!

20130417_174226 If you didn?t see my Lingerie Letters product & service review from last month ? clickety click! I just thought I?d share my April letter with you? and for everyone that giggled about my personal remark about sharing my knickers online, I?m doing it again?.

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This month was a pair of French knickers, and Lingerie Letters had gone very tres chic with their love notes they send out along with the knickers!

20130417_174416 I don?t think I own another pair of French knickers, which I believe are also called ?tap pants? in the USA? They are more similar to a pair of boxer shorts, compared to traditionally fitted underwear. If you wear these during the day, be sure to pair them with very loose fitting pants or a flowing skirt as they can create quite a large visible panty line with the likes of wearing skinny jeans for example.? I think might become a new part of my nightwear, haven?t decided yet though.

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This month Lingerie Letters also sent along with the knickers ?Comfitex Feminie Wipes?, which I assume are of a similar nature to the other products of the same genre on the market, but I have never read or can find any information on the company to be more informed, maybe Lingerie Letters would have more info on this?

Don?t forget to check out their website?LingerieLetters.co.za and sign up for the one month option, for R95,?if you are not sure about how this thing works, it?s fun, cute, a bit cheeky and a very unique idea! They are also quite interactive on their Facebook Page and I?m sure will respond to any queries you may have, alternatively, check them out on Twitter ? @LingerieLetters

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Source: http://poutperfection.com/2013/04/29/lingerie-letters-april-2013/

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Officials: 19 killed in car bombings in south Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) ? Three car bombs exploded Monday in public areas in two cities in Iraq's largely calm Shiite Muslim south, killing 19 civilians and wounding dozens, officials said.

The attacks come amid a week-long spike in sectarian violence following clashes at a Sunni protest camp in the north of the country.

Two parked car bombs went off simultaneously Monday morning in the city of Amarah near a gathering of construction workers and a market, killing 12 civilians and wounding 25, according to police. Amarah is located 320 kilometers (200 miles) southeast of Baghdad.

Another police officer said a parked car bomb exploded near a restaurant in the city of Diwaniyah, killing seven civilians and wounding 15 others. The city is located 130 kilometers (80 miles) south of Baghdad.

Two medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release information.

Sectarian violence has spiked since Tuesday, when security forces tried to make arrests at a Sunni Muslim protest camp in the northern city of Hawija. The move set off a clash that killed 23 people, including three soldiers.

The Hawija incident and a spate of follow-up battles between gunmen and security forces as well as other attacks, including Monday's, have left around 200 dead in the last week.

Bomb attacks are relatively rare in Iraq's relatively peaceful southern Shiite cities.

No one has claimed responsibility for Monday's attacks, but coordinated bombings in civilian areas are a favorite strategy used by al-Qaida in Iraq.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/officials-19-killed-car-bombings-south-iraq-082046457.html

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AP source: Stars hire Nill to replace Nieuwendyk

The Dallas Stars have chosen Jim Nill to replace fired general manager Joe Nieuwendyk, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday night because the move hadn't been announced.

Dallas fired Nieuwendyk on Sunday after four seasons with two coaches and no playoff appearances. The Stars finished their season 22-22-4 Saturday without earning a spot in the playoffs for the fifth season in a row.

Nill has helped the Detroit Red Wings extend their postseason streak to 22 straight appearances. He was Detroit's assistant general manager for 15 seasons and has worked for the franchise's front office since 1994.

The Stars have scheduled a news conference for Monday to announce their new general manager. The team has refused to comment on reports that Nill would be Nieuwendyk's replacement.

"Joe Nieuwendyk has represented the Dallas Stars extremely well as the club's general manager and has helped put pieces in place that will once again turn this team into a contender," owner Tom Gaglardi said in a statement.

"However, I believe it is time to take this organization in a different direction with our intentions set on returning to the elite of the National Hockey League. ... I am confident we have found the right general manager to return us to the pathway of success."

Nill led the Red Wings' amateur scouting department and oversaw decisions made at the NHL draft. While working for the franchise, the Red Wings won four Stanley Cups between 1997 and 2008.

The native of Hanna, Alberta, played in 524 NHL games for St. Louis, Vancouver, Boston, Winnipeg and Detroit and had 58 goals and 87 assists in his career. He was an amateur and pro scout for the Ottawa Senators for three seasons before being hired by the Red Wings.

The future of coach Glen Gulutzan wasn't addressed by the team.

Dallas holds a contract option for a third season for Gulutzan, who is 64-57-9 in his two seasons after ending the lockout-shortened regular season with a 3-0 home loss to Detroit. The Stars dropped their last five games, and won only once in their last seven after a five-game winning streak.

When asked about his job security after Saturday night's game, Gulutzan said that wasn't under his control and that he'd continue to work for the Stars until told otherwise. He also praised Nieuwendyk.

"All I can say is that Joe's been tremendous for me. I think he's done a hell of a job," Gulutzan said. "You can see with our farm team and the young guys that we have here."

As a player in Dallas, Nieuwendyk won the Conn Smythe Award as playoff MVP in 1999 when the Stars won their only Stanley Cup.

When hired by Nieuwendyk two years ago to replace the fired Marc Crawford, the 41-year-old Gulutzan had never coached in the NHL. Gulutzan had been a successful minor league coach, including two seasons with the Texas Stars, the team's primary AHL affiliate.

The Stars weren't officially eliminated from the playoff chase until Thursday night, while playing their second-to-last game. They managed to stay in postseason contention even after longtime captain Brenden Morrow was traded, a week before 41-year-old points leader Jaromir Jagr and Derek Roy were dealt away at the trading deadline.

Dallas got several young players and extra draft picks in those deals.

Within days after Jagr and Roy were traded, the young Stars went on a season-best five-game winning streak.

Morrow waived his no-trade clause to go to Pittsburgh, which entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. Morrow's rookie season in Dallas was 1999-2000, when the Stars were Stanley Cup runners-up a year after their title.

___

Follow Larry Lage on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/larrylage

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-stars-hire-nill-replace-nieuwendyk-230841189.html

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Amanda Knox opens up about experiences in Italian prison

>>> now to the trial that captivated italy and the book being released. amanda knox "waiting to be heard" she found out next month she will be retried.

>>> joining my nina burly, whose own book chronicled her time. nina , nice to see you. she reveals during her time in prison that doctors lied that she was hiv-positive. she thought about suicide. she fought off advances by a guard. how important to you think it was for her to write this book and get this published?

>> well, it was important for her to get out of jail. i think that was the first thing. the second is what kind of information is in that book, what is it that we're going to learn. from all the accounts that i have read, you know, prison is pretty boring, it's a pretty boring place. so unless she had kind of revealed something about what happened that night that we didn't already know about, or something about the case itself that we didn't already know about, i think we were, you know, we're going to be kind of underwhelm underwhelmed. was it important to write the book? well, you know, for her to have gone through four years in prison without being ability to get compensated for it through the italian system, the fact that harper collins gave her $4 million to write it, reportedly, is some sense of compensation for the time spent in prison.

>> but we have to also remember that a young woman lost her life that day in italy of knox says he wants them to read the book. are they going to get something if they read the book?

>> they're not going to get anything from reading the book, as far as i can tell. that family is very convinced that amanda knox killed their daughter. so they're not going to be reading the book. i think they're very upset about the fact that she got that much money, and one of the reasons why they're not publishing the book in the uk is that there are apparently lots of libel laws, it's easier to file a libel suit there, so they're not going to be satisfied by it.

>> real quick, nina , were you surprised when the high court in italy ordered a retrial?

>> yes, i was, absolutely. i was surprised. there isn't a lot of evidence that these two young people were involved in the case, but then again, the italian system has to work its way through. it's different from ours. it's legitimate for them. the prosecutor can bring an appeal.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653381/s/2b46919e/l/0Lvideo0Bmsnbc0Bmsn0N0Cid0C51694343/story01.htm

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Saturday, April 27, 2013

Early dialogue between parents, children stems teen smoking

Apr. 24, 2013 ? Early, substantive dialogue between parents and their grade-school age children about the ills of tobacco and alcohol use can be more powerful in shaping teen behavior than advertising, marketing or peer pressure, a University of Texas at Arlington marketing researcher has shown.

The findings of Zhiyong Yang, an associate professor of marketing in the UT Arlington College of Business, are published in a recent edition of the Journal of Business Research. Similar findings were part of a 2010 study he published in the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing of the American Marketing Association.

Yang's current work, "Demarketing teen tobacco and alcohol use: Negative peer influence and longitudinal roles of parenting and self-esteem," argues that parental influence is a powerful tool in dissuading children from smoking and drinking in their later teen years.

His 2010 article, "The Impact of Parenting Strategies on Child Smoking Behavior: The Role of Child Self-Esteem Trajectory," shows that dialogue between parents and teens is effective in combating risky behavior, such as tobacco and alcohol use, and that parental influences buffer the impact of other external factors such as social media and peer pressure.

"First, our conclusion is that parenting styles can be changed, and that's good news for the parents and the teens," said Yang, who joined the UT Arlington in 2007 and specializes in "consumer misbehavior," a branch of marketing that attempts to change undesirable or risky behavior.

Yang further elaborated, "Second, our study shows that parental influence is not only profound in its magnitude, but also persistent and long-lasting over the course of a child's entire life. Effective parenting plays the critical role as a transition belt to pass normative values of society from one generation to another."

Rachel Croson, Dean of the UT Arlington College of Business, said Yang's research sheds important light on what drives behaviors and misbehaviors.

"Marketers often study how to sell more products," Croson said. "Dr. Yang's work answers some important and thorny questions about how to sell less, and what parents may be able to do to help improve their children's health and well-being."

Each day about 3,900 people under the age of 18 begin smoking in the United States, according to the U.S. Center for Disease Control. An estimated 1,000 youth will become daily cigarette smokers. About 30 percent of youth smokers will continue to use tobacco and will die early from a smoking-related disease, the agency says.

Yang earned his doctorate from Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, and has based his research on national Canadian surveys of residents from childhood to 25 years old. Because the sampling was so large, comparable results would occur in the United States, Yang said. Canadian teen smoking statistics practically mirror those of the United States, he noted.

Yang said his findings are counter to common perceptions that parents have little influence on children's behavior after they enter adolescence. Conventional wisdom suggests that peer pressure and targeted marketing and advertising are of paramount influence on teen decisions to use tobacco and alcohol or engage in other risky behaviors.

"What our research determined is that parental influence is a far greater factor than those," Yang said. "Parenting starts from birth. What could have a greater impact than that?"

Less effective, Yang said, are parenting strategies that employ negative reinforcement, such as belittling a teenager, threats, physical discipline or using negative consequences if the teenager's behavior does not meet parental expectations.

"In fact, our research shows those negative strategies, like withholding affection, drive a teen toward smoking," Yang said.

The research also shows that parents could have a positive impact on discouraging their teen from using tobacco by sharing their own experiences.

"There's something to be said in telling a teen how you've suffered if you've smoked or engaged in a bad behavior when you were a teen," Yang said.

He said the ideal next step in the research would be to partner with local school districts to teach parents a battery of parenting strategies that can be used to curtail teen misbehaviors.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas at Arlington.

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

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/svoFzdr2ZxA/130425091623.htm

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Boston victims face huge bills; donations pour in

Cost of amputating a leg? At least $20,000. Cost of an artificial leg? More than $50,000 for the most high-tech models. Cost of an amputee's rehab? Often tens of thousands of dollars more.

These are just a fraction of the medical expenses victims of the Boston Marathon bombing will face.

The mammoth price tag is probably not what patients are focusing on as they begin the long healing process. But friends and strangers are already setting up fundraisers and online crowd-funding sites, and a huge Boston city fund has already collected more than $23 million in individual and corporate donations.

No one knows yet if those donations ? plus health insurance, hospital charity funds and other sources ? will be enough to cover the bills. Few will even hazard a guess as to what the total medical bill will be for a tragedy that killed three people and wounded more than 270. At least 15 people lost limbs, and other wounds include head injuries and tissue torn apart by shrapnel.

Health insurance, as practically anyone who has ever gotten hurt or sick knows, does not always cover all costs. In the case of artificial limbs, for example, some insurance companies pay for a basic model but not a computerized one with sophisticated, lifelike joints.

Rose Bissonnette, founder of the New England Amputee Association, said that the moment she heard about the bombings, she knew immediately that her organization's services would be needed. The advocacy group helps amputees navigate things such as insurance coverage for artificial limbs.

Bissonnette shared one group member's struggle to get coverage for artificial arms as an example of the red tape some bombing victims could face. The woman "got a call from the insurance company and the person on the other end said, 'How long are you going to need the prosthetic hands?'" Bissonnette recalled.

Bissonnette herself was in a horrific car crash 16 years ago that left her with injuries similar to those facing the Boston victims. Her mangled lower left leg had to be amputated and her right ankle was partially severed. Her five-month hospital stay cost more than $250,000. Health insurance covered all her treatment, rehab and her prosthesis.

Health economist Ted Miller noted that treating just one traumatic brain injury can cost millions of dollars, and at least one survivor has that kind of injury. He also pointed out that the medical costs will include treating anxiety and post-traumatic stress ? "an issue for a whole lot more people than just people who suffered physical injuries," he said.

Adding to the tragedy's toll will be lost wages for those unable to work, including two Massachusetts brothers who each lost a leg, Miller said. They had been roofers but may have to find a new line of work.

Many survivors will also need help with expenses beyond immediate health care, including things like modifying cars for those who lost limbs or remodeling homes to accommodate wheelchairs.

Many survivors live in Massachusetts, a state that requires residents to have health insurance, "which should cover most of their required treatment," said Amie Breton, spokeswoman for Massachusetts' consumer affairs office. "The total cost of that treatment is impossible to calculate at this early stage."

Amputees may face the steepest costs, and artificial legs are the costliest. They range from about $7,200 for a basic below-the-knee model to as much as $90,000 for a high-tech microprocessor-controlled full leg, said Dr. Terrence Sheehan, chief medical officer for Adventist Rehabilitation Hospital in Rockville, Md., and medical director of the Amputee Coalition, a national advocacy group.

Legs need to be replaced every few years, or more often for very active users or those who gain or lose weight. Limb sockets need to be replaced even more often and also cost thousands of dollars each, Sheehan said.

Massachusetts is among about 20 states that require health insurers to pay for prosthetic limbs, but many plans don't cover 100 percent of those costs, Sheehan said. "Most are skimpy beyond basic prosthetics and they have not caught up with current available technology," he said.

"The insurer will use terminology such as 'not medically necessary'" to deny computerized feet or knees that can often make the patient better able to function and more comfortable and safe, Sheehan said.

Some insurers may be willing to make exceptions for the Boston blast survivors.

"We will work to ensure that financial issues/hardship will not pose a barrier to the care that affected members' need," said Sharon Torgerson, spokeswoman for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts, one of the state's largest health insurers.

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, another big insurer, is changing its policy and will pay for some of the more expensive bionic limbs when there is a demonstrated need, said Dr. Michael Sherman, chief medical officer. He said that 15 blast survivors admitted to hospitals are Harvard Pilgrim customers and that the insurance company is discussing "whether we might absorb some of the copays and deductibles."

"This is a terrorist act, and our only thought here is about providing support," he said.

The 26 hospitals that have treated bombing victims have charity funds that will cover some of the costs, said Tim Gens, executive vice president of the Massachusetts Hospital Association. Some injured residents may be eligible for Massachusetts' public health funds for the uninsured or underinsured. People with huge medical bills they can't afford are eligible, regardless of income.

Gens said hospitals are still focused on treating survivors, not on costs.

"It's an extraordinary shock to so many individuals. The hospitals are working very hard to make sure that each family gets the support they need. Billing is not an issue they're addressing right now," Gens said.

At Massachusetts General Hospital, where 31 victims have gotten treatment, chief financial officer Sally Mason Boemer said bills "create a lot of stress. Our assumption is there will be sources we can tap through fundraising." Boemer added: "Now is not the time to add additional stress to patients."

A big chunk of charity money for survivors will come from One Fund Boston, established by Boston's mayor and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick.

The fund has gotten more than $20 million in donations. Determining who gets what is still being worked out, but victims' insurance status and place of residence won't be a factor, said Kenneth Feinberg, the fund administrator. He oversaw the 9/11 compensation fund during its first three years, distributing more than $7 billion to 5,300 families and victims.

Grass-roots fundraising efforts include online funds set up by friends and relatives of the victims.

Those victims include Roseann Sdoia, a Boston woman who was near the marathon finish line when the blasts occurred. Sdoia was hit by shrapnel, fire and a tree that became a projectile and injured her left leg, the funding site says. Her right leg had to be amputated above the knee. After several operations, Sdoia has started rehab.

"She is a fighter and her attitude is phenomenal," said her friend and former sorority sister, Christine Hart, who set up the site. More than $270,000 has been raised for Sdoia so far, money that may help pay for an artificial leg, transportation to and from rehab, and modifications to her car or home, Hart said.

The donations will help make sure "that finances are not part of the burden" she has to bear, Hart said.

Other funds have been set up in communities like Stoneham, a Boston suburb that counts at least five current or former residents among the victims. A Stoneham Strong fundraising event is set for Friday evening, with participants asked to circle the high school track to show support for the marathon victims. Hundreds are expected, said organizer Shelly MacNeill.

"The outpouring has been unbelievable," she said.

___

AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson contributed to this report.

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Donations: http://www.onefundboston.org; http://www.gofundme.com/BelieveinBoston

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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-victims-face-huge-bills-donations-pour-174957328.html

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Friday, April 26, 2013

Newfound hormone holds hope for diabetes treatment

In this April 5, 2013 photo provided by Harvard University, Harvard Stem Cell Institute Co-Director Doug Melton, right, and Peng Yi, a post doctoral fellow in his lab, review data from recent experiments in Melton's lab in Cambridge, Mass. Melton and Yi have identified a hormone that can sharply boost a mouse's supply of cells that make insulin, a discovery that may someday provide a diabetes treatment. People make the hormone naturally, and the new work suggests that giving them more might one day let patients avoid insulin shots. (AP Photo/Harvard University)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Scientists have identified a hormone that can sharply boost the number of cells that make insulin in mice, a discovery that may someday lead to a treatment for the most common type of diabetes.

People have their own version of this hormone, and the new work suggests that giving diabetics more might one day help them avoid insulin shots.

That would give them better control of their blood sugar levels, said Harvard University researcher Douglas Melton, senior author of a report published Thursday by the journal Cell.

Experts unconnected with the work cautioned that other substances have shown similar effects on mouse cells but failed to work on human ones. Melton said this hormone stands out because its effect is unusually potent and confined to just the cells that make insulin.

An estimated 371 million people worldwide have diabetes, in which insulin fails to control blood sugar levels. High blood sugar can lead to heart disease, stroke and damage to kidneys, eyes and the nervous system. At least 90 percent of diabetes is "Type 2," and some of those patients have to inject insulin. Melton said the newly identified hormone might someday enable them to stop insulin injections and help other diabetic patients avoid them.

As for its possible use to treat Type 1 diabetes, Melton called that a "long shot" because of differences in the biology of that disease.

Insulin is produced by beta cells in the pancreas.

Melton and co-authors identified a hormone they dubbed betatrophin (BAY-tuh-TROH-fin) in mice. When they made the liver in mice secrete more of it by inserting extra copies of the gene, the size of the beta cell population tripled in comparison to untreated mice. Tests indicated the new cells worked normally.

Melton said it's not known how the hormone works. Now the researchers want to create an injectable form that they can test on diabetic mice, he said. If all goes well, tests in people could follow fairly quickly.

Dr. Peter Butler, a diabetes researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, who had no role in the new work, cautioned in an email that no evidence has been presented yet to show that the hormone will make human beta cells proliferate.

But Philip diIorio, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, said he found the work to be "quite promising" because it offers new leads for research, and that it might someday help in building supplies of human beta cells in a lab for transplant into patients.

___

Online:

Cell: http://www.cell.com/

International Diabetes Federation: http://www.idf.org

___

Malcolm Ritter can be followed at http://www.twitter.com/malcolmritter

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-04-25-US-SCI-Diabetes-Hormone/id-8cc4bb37a54a456fa267cc5365bde449

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CSN: Bullpen, missed chances cost Phillies

BOX SCORE

Wednesday?s game should have been about Roy Halladay having another quality start. It should have been about Chase Utley and Ryan Howard hitting solo home runs. It should have been about the Phillies winning.

It wasn?t about those things, because the Phillies didn?t win. And the Phillies didn?t win because the bullpen failed.

That unit had been pretty good lately. In 14 of the last 16 games before Wednesday?s meeting against the Pirates at Citizens Bank Park, the Phillies' 'pen allowed one or no runs. That had a lot to do with why the Phils were 6-0 after six innings this season. They were 6-0. They aren?t any longer.

When Halladay came out of the game, the Phils had a two-run lead. Then Antonio Bastardo, Mike Adams and Jeremy Horst pitched the last three innings against Pittsburgh and that lead turned into a permanent deficit.

Pirates 5, Phillies 3 (see Instant Replay).

Bastardo, Adams and Horst combined to allow six hits and four earned runs from the seventh inning on. Adams had a particularly bad outing. He gave up two hits, two walks and two earned runs and was pulled after facing just four batters in the eighth inning. He didn?t record an out.

?It?s very frustrating,? said Adams, who got the loss. ?We got out to a lead and got to the bullpen, but we weren?t able to hold on. It?s frustrating when the guys are battling and trying to put something together. For us to let them down like that, it?s very frustrating.?

Utley hit a solo home run in the first inning, his fourth of the season. Howard added a solo home run in the fourth when he crushed an 0-2 curveball to right field. It was Howard?s second homer of the year. The blasts by Utley and Howard were the first for any of the Phillies off a left-handed pitcher this season. When Kevin Frandsen hit an RBI single in the sixth, the Phillies looked like they were in good shape.

After all, Halladay had his third solid outing in a row. In his first two starts of the season, Halladay allowed 18 base runners and lasted only 7 1/3 total innings. Since then, he?s been much better. He won his last two starts, and he looked sharp against the Pirates on Wednesday.

Halladay went six innings, surrendering just one hit, one eared run and two walks. He struck out eight and threw 95 pitches, 57 for strikes.

?To me, it was like two different games,? Halladay said. ?We did so many things early. Defensively, we made some great plays. Chase hitting a home run. Ryan hitting a home run. We did a lot of great things early on in the game. Then, obviously, later in the game we didn?t do things like we had earlier. It almost felt like two different games.?

True enough. Bastardo took over for Halladay in the seventh and surrendered a home run to Pirates third baseman Pedro Alvarez. From there, things deteriorated quickly.

?[Wednesday] our bullpen, the back end of it, we had some trouble,? Charlie Manuel said. ?We didn?t get it done.

?I felt like we were in control of the game. Even after Bastardo gave up a home run to Alvarez in the seventh, I still felt like we were in control of the game. [Wednesday] was one of those nights. Our bullpen has been real good and we didn?t get it done. That?s going to happen.?

The bullpen was the most obvious reason the Phillies fell to the Pirates, but it wasn?t the only factor. The Phillies had several opportunities to score more runs. The Phils had 10 hits, but left eight men on base. They were also just 2 for 8 with runners in scoring position.

The biggest blunder came in the fifth inning. The Phillies had runners at first and third with no outs. But when Michael Young hit a grounder to third, Jimmy Rollins, who was on third base, didn?t immediately break for home. The hesitation resulted in a rare 5-4-2 double play when Rollins was thrown out at the plate. The Phillies didn?t score that inning.

?We definitely had a chance to score more runs, but we didn?t do it,? Manuel said. ?That?s the bottom line. We had chances. They were there for us.?

Source: http://www.csnphilly.com/baseball-philadelphia-phillies/bullpen-missed-chances-lead-phillies-loss-pirates

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Today in History

Today is Thursday, April 25, the 115th day of 2013. There are 250 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On April 25, 1983, 10-year-old Samantha Smith of Manchester, Maine, received a reply from Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov to a letter she'd written expressing concern about possible nuclear war; Andropov reassured Samantha that the Soviet Union did not want war, and he invited her to visit his country, a trip Samantha made the following July.

On this date:

In 1507, a world map produced by German cartographer Martin Waldseemueller contained the first recorded use of the term "America," in honor of Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci (vehs-POO'-chee).

In 1792, highwayman Nicolas Jacques Pelletier became the first person under French law to be executed by the guillotine.

In 1859, ground was broken for the Suez Canal.

In 1862, during the Civil War, a Union fleet commanded by Flag Officer David G. Farragut captured the city of New Orleans.

In 1898, the United States formally declared war on Spain.

In 1901, New York Gov. Benjamin Barker Odell Jr. signed an automobile registration bill which imposed a 15 mph speed limit on highways.

In 1915, during World War I, Allied soldiers invaded the Gallipoli (guh-LIHP'-uh-lee) Peninsula in an unsuccessful attempt to take the Ottoman Empire out of the war.

In 1944, the United Negro College Fund was founded.

In 1945, during World War II, U.S. and Soviet forces linked up on the Elbe (EL'-beh) River, a meeting that dramatized the collapse of Nazi Germany's defenses. Delegates from some 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.

In 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping.

In 1972, Polaroid Corp. introduced its SX-70 folding camera, which ejected self-developing photographs. Actor George Sanders was found dead in his hotel room near Barcelona, Spain; he was 65.

In 1993, hundreds of thousands of gay rights activists and their supporters marched in Washington, D.C., demanding equal rights and freedom from discrimination.

Ten years ago: The Pentagon announced that Army Secretary Thomas White, whose tenure as civilian chief of the military's largest service was marked by tensions with his boss, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, was leaving office. Georgia lawmakers voted to scrap the Dixie cross from the state's flag.

Five years ago: Three New York police detectives were acquitted in the 50-shot killing of Sean Bell, an unarmed groom-to-be, on his wedding day. Triathlete David Martin, 66, was killed by a great white shark in the waters off San Diego County.

One year ago: The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments on Arizona's tough immigration law. (A divided court later threw out major parts of the law.) The Senate offered a lifeline to the nearly bankrupt U.S. Postal Service, voting to give the struggling agency an $11 billion cash infusion while delaying controversial decisions on closing post offices and ending Saturday delivery. (The House didn't pass a bill.)

Today's Birthdays: Movie director-writer Paul Mazursky is 83. Actor Al Pacino is 73. Ballroom dance judge Len Goodman (TV: "Dancing with the Stars") is 69. Rock musician Stu Cook (Creedence Clearwater Revival) is 68. Singer Bjorn Ulvaeus (ABBA) is 68. Actress Talia Shire is 67. Actor Jeffrey DeMunn is 66. Rock musician Michael Brown (The Left Banke) is 64. Rock musician Steve Ferrone (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers) is 63. Country singer-songwriter Rob Crosby is 59. Actor Hank Azaria is 49. Rock singer Andy Bell (Erasure) is 49. Rock musician Eric Avery (Jane's Addiction) is 48. Country musician Rory Feek (Joey + Rory) is 48. TV personality Jane Clayson is 46. Actress Renee Zellweger is 44. Actress Gina Torres is 44. Actor Jason Lee is 43. Actor Jason Wiles is 43. Actress Emily Bergl is 38. Actress Marguerite Moreau is 36. Singer Jacob Underwood is 33. Actress Sara Paxton is 25. Actress Allisyn Ashley Arm is 17.

Thought for Today: "There are two great rules of life, the one general and the other particular. The first is that everyone can, in the end, get what he wants if he only tries. This is the general rule. The particular rule is that every individual is more or less an exception to the general rule." ? Samuel Butler, English author (1835-1902).

(Above Advance for Use Thursday, April 25)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/today-history-050206767.html

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Thursday, April 25, 2013

BP delays $10 billion Gulf of Mexico project due to rising costs

BP's largest new oil project in the Gulf, called Mad Dog Phase 2, sits atop a 4 billion barrel oil field. BP blames 'market conditions and industry inflation' for delay.?

By Charles Kennedy,?Guest blogger / April 23, 2013

Storm clouds form near a BP station in Alexandria, Va. Rising costs have forced BP to delay its newest oil-drilling project in the Gulf of Mexico and come up with a less expensive development plan.

Molly Riley/Reuters/File

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Industry-wide, rising development costs have forced BP to re-evaluate its $10 billion oil project in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Why It Matters

Energy: Several companies, including BP, Woodside Petroleum, and Total, have had to rethink or?abandon energy projects because of rising costs.

Environment: Market forces are causing companies to delay new fossil-fuel projects.

OilPrice.com

offers extensive coverage of all energy sectors from crude oil and natural gas to solar energy and environmental issues. To see more opinion pieces and news analysis that cover energy technology, finance and trading, geopolitics, and sector news, please visit?Oilprice.com.

Cause of LED efficiency droop finally revealed

Apr. 23, 2013 ? Researchers at University of California, Santa Barbara, in collaboration with colleagues at the ?cole Polytechnique in France, have conclusively identified Auger recombination as the mechanism that causes light emitting diodes (LEDs) to be less efficient at high drive currents.

Until now, scientists had only theorized the cause behind the phenomenon known as LED "droop" -- a mysterious drop in the light produced when a higher current is applied. The cost per lumen of LEDs has held the technology back as a viable replacement for incandescent bulbs for all-purpose commercial and residential lighting.

This could all change now that the cause of LED efficiency droop has been explained, according to researchers James Speck and Claude Weisbuch of the Center for Energy Efficient Materials at UCSB, an Energy Frontier Research Center sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Knowledge gained from this study is expected to result in new ways to design LEDs that will have significantly higher light emission efficiencies. LEDs have enormous potential for providing long-lived high quality efficient sources of lighting for residential and commercial applications. The U.S. Department of Energy recently estimated that the widespread replacement of incandescent and fluorescent lights by LEDs in the U.S. could save electricity equal to the total output of fifty 1GW power plants.

"Rising to this potential has been contingent upon solving the puzzle of LED efficiency droop," commented Speck, professor of Materials and the Seoul Optodevice Chair in Solid State Lighting at UCSB. "These findings will enable us to design LEDs that minimize the non-radiative recombination and produce higher light output."

"This was a very complex experiment -- one that illustrates the benefits of teamwork through both an international collaboration and a DOE Energy Frontier Research Center," commented Weisbuch, distinguished professor of Materials at UCSB. Weisbuch, who is also a faculty member at the ?cole Polytechnique in Paris, enlisted the support of his colleagues Lucio Martinelli and Jacques Peretti. UCSB graduate student Justin Iveland was a key member of the team working both at UCSB and ?cole Polytechnique.

In 2011, UCSB professor Chris van de Walle and colleagues theorized that a complex non-radiative process known as Auger recombination was behind nitride semiconductor LED droop, whereby injected electrons lose energy to heat by collisions with other electrons rather than emitting light.

A definitive measurement of Auger recombination in LEDs has now been accomplished by Speck, Weisbuch, and their research team.

The experiment used an LED with a specially prepared surface that permitted the researchers to directly measure the energy spectrum of electrons emitted from the LED. The results unambiguously showed a signature of energetic electrons produced by the Auger process.

The results of their work are to be published in the journal Physical Review Letters.

This work was funded by the UCSB Center for Energy Efficient Materials, an Energy Frontier Research Center of the US Department of Energy, Office of Science. Additional support for the work at ?cole Polytechnique was provided by the French government.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Santa Barbara.

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

Journal Reference:

Justin Iveland, Lucio Martinelli, Jacques Peretti, James S. Speck, Claude Weisbuch. Direct Measurement of Auger Electrons Emitted from a Semiconductor Light-Emitting Diode under Electrical Injection: Identification of the Dominant Mechanism for Efficiency Droop. Physical Review Letters, 2013 [link]

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/sYjYfxnSmi4/130423102328.htm

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Livable super-Earths? Two candidates among Kepler's latest finds.

Researchers unveiled a total of three planets Thursday, including two potentially livable super-Earths. The discoveries bring the Kepler team closer to its goal.

By Pete Spotts,?Staff writer / April 18, 2013

An artist drew (l. to r.) Kepler-22b, Kepler-69c, Kepler-62e, Kepler 62f, and Earth to scale to show the similarities in size. Scientists using NASA's Kepler space telescope have found the best candidates yet for potentially life-bearing worlds beyond our solar system, officials said Thursday.

JPL-Caltech / NASA Ames / Reuters

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Two potentially livable super-Earths and an outsized version of Venus were unveiled Thursday, the latest in a string of remarkable discoveries from NASA's Kepler mission.

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Kepler is a space-based observatory whose unblinking gaze has rested on some 170,000 stars simultaneously since May 2009.

The three planets are the smallest the observatory has yet detected in stellar habitable zones. These zones represent distances where a planet receives enough light from its host star to harbor liquid water on its surface. Liquid water is essential for the emergence of organic life.

The discoveries bring the Kepler team tantalizingly close to its ultimate goal ? to find Earth-mass planets orbiting sun-like stars at Earth-like distances, while also taking a broader census to see how many planetary systems with an Earth-like planet the Milky Way may hold.

Led by William Borucki, a researcher at the National Aeronautic and Space Administration's Ames Research Center near Mountain View, Calif., the team has confirmed 115 extra-solar planets so far, and it has amassed a roster of more than 2,700 planet candidates.

Two of the new planets are part of a five-planet system orbiting a star some 1,200 light-years away in the constellation Lyra. The star, Kepler 62, is about two-thirds the size of the sun and has 70 percent of the sun's mass. It's also about 3 billion years older than the sun.

The system's three inner planets, one comparable in size to Mars, are too close to their sun to be livable. Kepler 62-e, the fourth planet out, however, falls within the habitable zone. Orbiting once every 122 days, the planet is about 60 percent larger than Earth.

The team speculates that the planet is covered with water, although the system is too far away to take the measurements needed to estimate the planet's mass. Researchers need that measurement to determine the planet's density, a major clue as to its bulk composition.

Instead, modeling studies have indicated that planets ranging from 1.5 to two times Earth's size tend to be far more watery than planets closer to Earth's size. Thus, while the nature of the planet remains speculative for now, "the fascinating idea is that we've actually found the first ocean planet, the first water world out there," said Lisa Kaltenegger, an astronomer with the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., during a mission briefing Thursday afternoon.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/Bfe6a9VuJHU/Livable-super-Earths-Two-candidates-among-Kepler-s-latest-finds

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Janet Napolitano testifies (Powerlineblog)

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Iran parks millions of oil barrels on tankers as buyers retreat

By Jonathan Saul

LONDON (Reuters) - Iran is storing millions of barrels of oil on tankers in its territorial waters as Tehran struggles with tougher Western sanctions on its vital seaborne export trade, ship industry sources say.

Iran's oil revenues have fallen by about 50 percent since tough EU and U.S. measures were imposed last year, hurting business and cutting living standards for ordinary Iranians.

"There is no doubt there are more Iranian tankers being used for floating storage at the moment on their side of the Gulf and the feeling is this is expected to rise," said a European ship industry source with knowledge of tanker movements.

"The embargo is hurting and there has been talk of attempts by Iran to unload oil cargoes at distressed prices."

Ship industry sources gave varying estimates on how much oil Iran was storing at sea, but all said the volume was higher.

Data from maritime intelligence publisher IHS Fairplay estimated 10 of Iran's supertankers, each able to carry up to 2 million barrels of crude, were storing oil, together with one smaller tanker able to carry up to 1 million barrels.

The data showed a further two supertankers were also probably deployed on floating storage, based on the length of time they were stationary, meaning as much as 25 million barrels in total.

The vessels, all belonging to Iran's top tanker operator NITC, were located close to the Iranian oil terminals of Assaluyeh, Kharg Island and Bahregan, the data showed.

"There seem to be more vessels than there were four months ago - the big area which seems to have changed is off Assaluyeh," said Richard Hurley, a senior analyst at IHS Fairplay.

"There are more ships that seem to have come in to that anchorage in the past four months or so. At one point they were down to a core storage fleet of around six vessels anchored off Kharg Island and Assaluyeh."

NITC officials could not be reached for comment.

TOUGHER TIMES

Pirouz Mousavi, managing director of the Iranian Oil Terminal Company, a unit of the state oil firm, was quoted by the Fars news agency this week as saying Iran was building several land based oil storage sites at locations including Kharg Island and Assaluyeh.

Mousavi said Iran faced no problems with oil exports.

"We have no consignment on the water and if there is any it is waiting for loading and exports," Mousavi was quoted as saying.

Another ship industry source estimated 17 NITC vessels were storing crude oil, mainly on supertankers, while another said 15 tankers were storing crude oil around Iran, with volumes close to 30 million barrels.

Last year Iran's floating storage was estimated to have reached at least 33 million barrels before buyers were found.

"Iran still does not have enough land based storage options, so all they can do is park it offshore in their own waters until they can offload the cargoes," another shipping source said.

"It is getting harder for NITC to operate, so it is feasible that oil could be discreetly discharged via ship-to-ship transfers on other vessels when they make sales."

NITC, which has a fleet with a carrying capacity of at least 76 million barrels of oil, has been blacklisted by the West as part of tougher sanctions against Iran over its disputed nuclear program.

In recent weeks, two supertankers have joined NITC's trading fleet after a further two were delivered earlier this year, IHS Fairplay data showed. All four were built at Chinese yards.

"Having more tankers gives Iran more trading options including storage, but NITC is under enormous pressure, constantly having to adapt and also deal with poor tanker market conditions," another ship industry source said. "They face a tougher time ahead."

U.S. and European Union measures aimed at choking the flow of oil money into Iran have cut around a million barrels per day from Iran's crude exports. China along with the other main buyers of Iranian crude - India, Japan and South Korea - have been under pressure since last year to reduce imports.

Iran is expected to export 1.08 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude in April, preliminary data obtained by Reuters showed, up from the 810,000 bpd that was scheduled to load in March but still far lower than 2.5 million bpd in 2011, before sanctions slashed oil sales last year.

"The problem for Iran is because the bulk of income for the budget comes from oil, this is where it is feeling the pressure. It must maintain exports at a minimum of 1.5 million barrels per day, if not more, to fund the budget," said Mehdi Varzi, a former official at the state run National Iranian Oil Co.

"Over half of Iran's current output comes from fields which were discovered 50 years ago or more and many fields have reached their production peaks. To replace that lost production Iran has to accelerate its investment, which it is not doing," said Varzi, who now runs an energy consultancy in the UK.

(Additional reporting by Daniel Fineren in Dubai, editing by William Hardy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-parks-millions-oil-barrels-tankers-buyers-retreat-155029240.html

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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

AbbVie hepatitis C drugs knock out virus at eight weeks

By Ransdell Pierson and Bill Berkrot

(Reuters) - A combination of five oral drugs being tested by AbbVie Inc cured at least 88 percent of new patients with hepatitis C after only eight weeks of treatment, without raising significant safety issues, researchers said on Tuesday.

The latest findings from an ongoing trial sponsored by AbbVie, called Aviator, also showed that 96 percent of patients taking the five medicines for 12 weeks eliminated the virus, as assessed by blood tests 24 weeks after they stopped treatment.

If the virus is undetectable 24 weeks after completing treatment, known as SVR 24, a patient is considered cured.

The latest results were deemed little different than the 99 percent sustained virologic response (SVR) rate reported in October, for patients evaluated 12 weeks after completing 12 weeks of the five-drug treatment regimen.

"We are pleased that the data remain consistent and robust," said Dr. Kris Kowdley, who is presenting the data this week at a meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) in Amsterdam.

"The data confirm that the 12-week treatment appears to be optimal, but certainly we are still very pleased with ... data for the eight-week treatment," Kowdley said in an interview.

AbbVie is deemed to be in a horse race with Gilead Sciences Inc to be first to market with an all-oral treatment for the serious liver disease, as companies work to eliminate difficult-to-tolerate intravenous interferon from the regimen, while raising cure rates and shortening treatment duration.

Current hepatitis C treatments take either 24 or 48 weeks.

Hepatitis C affects an estimated 170 million people worldwide, and if left untreated can lead to cirrhosis, liver cancer or the need for a new liver.

Gilead has been given an edge by many analysts because its experimental regimen involves fewer drugs. But Abbvie said it is also testing regimens with fewer drugs and ones that do not include the older oral drug ribavirin, which can also be difficult for some patients to tolerate.

Any oral regimen to treat hepatitis C is expected to garner billions of dollars in annual sales.

Patients in the Aviator study had the most common, but hardest to treat, genotype 1 variation of the infectious virus. The AbbVie drugs were the protease inhibitor ABT-450, whose effect was boosted by a widely used antiviral called ritonavir; the polymerase inhibitor ABT-333 and ABT-267 from a class known as NS5A inhibitors. Those were given along with the generic antiviral medicine, ribavirin.

Kowdley, director of the Liver Center of Excellence at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, said the trial also showed impressive results among patients who had failed to benefit from earlier therapy.

The cure rate after 12 weeks of treatment was 93 percent for those patients, called null responders, assessed both 12 weeks and 24 weeks after completion of their drug regimens. That compared with a cure rate of 95 percent for patients treated for 24 weeks, and then assessed 24 weeks after treatment stopped.

AbbVie said the safety of the tested drugs was similar to that seen in results presented last year. Of the 247 patients evaluated, serious side effects were seen in four patients (1.6 percent), while seven patients had elevated levels of liver enzymes that can be considered a potential sign of toxicity.

Less serious side effects seen in more than 10 percent of patients included headache, fatigue, nausea, insomnia and diarrhea.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/abbvie-hepatitis-c-drugs-knock-virus-eight-weeks-100555214--finance.html

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To meet weight loss goals, start exercise and healthy eating ...

With bathing suit season just around the corner, many of us are thinking more and more about how to shed a few extra pounds before hitting the beach or pool this summer. New research from Stanford shows that to successfully slim down, a dual approach ? addressing both improving eating habits and increasing physical activity ? is most effective.

In a study involving 200 people, Abby King, PhD, and colleagues divided participants into four groups: one made changes to diet and exercise at the same time, another adopted healthier eating habits without altering their fitness routine, a third increased their physical activity level before changing their diet, and a comparison group didn?t make any changes to their eating or exercising habits but?were given instruction on stress-management techniques. Individuals? progress was tracked for a year.

My colleague discussed the researchers? findings in a release:

Despite the challenge of making multiple changes to their already-busy routines at once, those who began changing diet and exercise habits at the same time were most likely to meet national guidelines for exercise ? 150 minutes per week ? and nutrition ? five to nine servings of fruit and vegetables daily, and keeping calories from saturated fats at 10 percent or less of their total intake.

Those who started with exercise first did a good job of meeting both the exercise and diet goals, though not quite as good as those who focused on diet and exercise simultaneously.

The participants who started with diet first did a good job meeting the dietary goals but didn?t meet their exercise goals. King, who also is a senior researcher at the Stanford Prevention Research Center, speculates this is because changing diet and introducing exercise both have unique challenges. ?With dietary habits, you have no choice; you have to eat,? she said. ?You don?t have to find extra time to eat because it?s already in your schedule. So the focus is more on substituting the right kinds of food to eat.?

Previously: What type of smartphone apps are effective for promoting healthy habits among older adults?, Computer-generated phone calls shown to help inactive adults get ? and keep ? moving, Eat a carrot and exercise ? or your iBird dies and Research shows remote weight loss interventions equally effective as face-to-face coaching programs
Photo by Jodi Green

Source: http://scopeblog.stanford.edu/2013/04/22/to-meet-weight-loss-goals-start-exercise-and-healthy-eating-programs-at-the-same-time/

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Futurama gets canceled a second time, finale to air on September 4th

Bad news, everyone. Five years into Futurama's revived presence on Comedy Central, the animated sci-fi series is getting the boot for the second time in its long and tumultuous history. Long-time fans will remember the first series finale ("The Devil's Hands are Idle Playthings") on Fox in 2003, the show's brief rerun stint on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim, the foray into four direct-to-DVD movies (which were separated into sixteen episodes for its inaugural season on Comedy Central) and its eventual deal with the cable network that brought us South Park and The Daily Show. But it seems even after stunts like playing on our gadget obsessions and coming up with a brand new mathematical theorem, the fine folks over at Planet Express just couldn't slake Viacom's thirst for viewers. So, with a heavy heart, we await the series finale (dubbed "Meanwhile") to air on September 4th. But hey, maybe someone can convince Netflix to give life to yet another brilliant-but-canceled series?

Update: To check out a preview of the show's final season -- to debut on June 19th -- take a peek at the second video after the break.

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